Chris "HuK" Loranger was a professional Protoss player who is currently working as President of Gaming at The Kraft Group. HuK holds dual citizenship with both the United States and Canada.[1]

Biography [ edit ]

HuK grew up in St Petersburg, Florida, along with his brother Brian. He grew up in a troubled home, their family had troubles with alcohol, substance and even domestic abuse. HuK was often involved with the police and this climaxed with him having a stint in juvenile prison before he was 16 years old. This had been his father's last straw and he moved with his two sons to Ontario, Canada. Later HuK praised his father's decision to move saying: "Had I not moved to Canada my family and I both agree that I'd most likely be in the military, jail, or dead".[2] HuK has one of the strongest fan bases among North American players, earning many nicknames such as "HuK Norris", "The Incredible HuK", "HuKeules" and "DreamHuK". Showing much love to his fans and supporters, they in return are known to make cute images and pictures to display their appreciation of HuK's play.

After playing for Millenium a while after release, HuK was announced as the newest member of Team Liquid on September 25, 2010.[3]

During the weekend of August 13, 2011, a mystery announcement by Evil Geniuses created an elaborate countdown with audio clues revealed as the timer approached 0. This caused huge volumes of interest and speculation from the SC2 community.[4] The reveal would come on August 16, 2011, at 12:00 PM EDT when it was revealed that HuK would transfer from TL to EG as his contract was going to expire soon.[5]

On October 21, 2011, HuK moved from the oGs-Liquid house to the SlayerS house as the result of a training partnership between Evil Geniuses and SlayerS.[6]

Playstyle [ edit ]

HuK's playstyle has gone through so many different phases that it's hard to pinpoint, and that's actually become part of his play. While very familiar with safe fast expand builds, HuK loves to keep his opponents on their toes using a variety of other builds such as a 1 Gate FE (vs. Terran) or a Mothership Rush, along with the familiar standard openings of Protoss. In addition to his unpredictability, he is also known for his early aggression and excellent micro-management.

In Beta [ edit ]

A relatively unknown player at the time, HuK performed well in the beta, becoming one of the most successful North American players to date with two US.CraftCup victories, ESL, INFLOW, and decent progression through the ITL. Around May, he was ranked 1st in Platinum League Division 3 with a 106-25 (81.56%~) record. HuK has also been invited to the TeamLiquid SC2 Invitational 2. He came second in GosuCoaching Weekly #3 after losing 3-2 to IdrA in the final match, once again demonstrating his strength in weekly events. HuK has also won an ESL event going undefeated throughout, including a 3-0 final, also mimicking the same performance in a CraftCup and Inflow tournament. He also all-killed a triple strike (quarters/semi/finals with a perfect record of 10-0) during this time. HuK's success in the beta led to an invite to Day[9]'s King of the Beta tournament as well as an invitation to join team Millenium.

Wings of Liberty [ edit ]

HuK was among the 10 invitees to the IEM Season V - Global Challenge Cologne, the first major live StarCraft event in Europe. HuK managed to take a series off of Tarson 2-1, but was knocked out of his group after losing to MorroW and Artosis.

Only a week after his disappointing performance in Cologne, HuK stormed through the brackets at MLG Raleigh 2010 to win the $2500 prize. He went all the way through the Winners Bracket without dropping a series, defeating top players like SUGGY, qxc, CauthonLuck, and ultimately KiWiKaKi 4-2 in the grand finals.

His first big competition as part of Team Liquid was at IEM Season V - American Championships where Chris won his group but lost to qxc in the semifinals 3-1. However, he managed to take the third place final against drewbie 3-2.

At MLG D.C., he got to the winners bracket finals but lost to IdrA and then placed third after a very infamous game against SeleCT on Scrap Station, where he Mothership rushed because HuK mistakenly thought the crowds had been calling for it (after which they did cheer for it when HuK typed out his thoughts in-game). He was also invited to BlizzCon 2010 StarCraft II Invitational. He lost to Loner in the third round and was later knocked out by Maka in the consolation bracket.

HuK, together with all of the other Team Liquid members, competed at MLG Dallas 2010, where he got knocked down to the loser's bracket by Ret and then knocked out by TLO, finishing in ninth place. This was still a high enough placement for HuK to maintain his number one seed rank in the MLG tournament series.

After Dallas, HuK flew to Korea to stay at the oGs-Liquid house to practice and qualify for the GSL. On his first attempt, HuK was eliminated from the GSL 3 qualifiers, losing to Aya in the bracket final.

Global StarCraft II League [ edit ]

Code A [ edit ]

In late January 2011, HuK would be selected as one of the four foreigner invites to participate in the Code A tournaments for 2011 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ GSL March. He would be accompanied by teammates HayprO and Ret as well as Australian mOOnGLaDe. He would be the only one of the invitees to advance past the first round. HuK made it to the Round of 8 before falling to LosirA. Placing top 8 qualified HuK to participate in the up/down matches to attempt for a Code S spot. HuK would be held off by teammate InCa 2-0, but managed to take down Choya 2-1 to earn a place in Code S for the following season, making him the third foreigner to do so.

With the score of 1-2 in his Code S group, HuK would fall from the Round of 16 in Code S to the Round of 24 in Code A. There he would face off against KeeN, who 2-0'd him, forcing him into the Up & Down matches.

Code S [ edit ]

After qualifying for Code S for the GSL May 2011 Tournament, HuK ended up in Group H with players July, Rain and InCa. He lost both of his matches to July and InCa, leaving him only one chance to remain in Code S in the Up/Down matches. In his Up & Down match he decisively defeated MMA 2-0 to retain his Code S position.

HuK's return to Korea saw him in the Round of 32 in Group G of GSL July 2011 where he advanced out of group play, decisively defeating TSL players aLive and Killer. He played against MC once more in the Round of 16, but lost 0-2 to his teammate.

The following season, in GSL August 2011, HuK would open with a lengthy defeat against Killer but drop a close match to Bomber. The deciding set would be a rematch against Killer where HuK would make an unexpected comeback to take the match and advance to the Round of 16. This would be his final game and victory as a member of Team Liquid. Huk proceeded to the Round of 8 after defeating NaDa 2-1, where he lost 0-3 to Mvp. HuK also played in GSL October 2011 where he placed third in his group with a score of 1-2, losing both games to Virus, therefore staying in Code S, but ending his current run.

During the 2011 GSL November Round of 32, HuK had a strong finish, coming out of his group 2-0. When he played his Round of 16 games, he did not perform as well as people expected. He lost his first match to Leenock, defeated NesTea afterwards, then lost the final set to Leenock again. Placing third in his group, he would fall down to Code A.

HuK enters 2013 GSL Season 1 after receiving a seed into the up and down matches; he places 2nd in his group after defeating Flying, FanTaSy and Center. His record of 3-2 earns him 2nd place and a spot in Code S after a head to head tie breaker with Center, sending Center to Wild Card Groups.[7] Up to September 2014, this was the last time a foreign player was to ever enter a GSL Code S. HuK then got seeded into a group with previous Code S champion Sniper, who picked HuK to be in his group, as well as the two Terran players Bomber and GuMiho, both of which had an incredibly strong record vs Protoss. HuK ended up dropping out of the Group with a map score of 1-4, losing to both Sniper and GuMiho, and only winning a single match with one of his trademark gateway pushes vs Sniper. In Code A, HuK lost to Shine, and was eliminated from the GSL. HuK then moved back to the USA, to compete in the upcoming 2013 WCS Season 1 America for which he got an invite into the Premier league.

Global StarCraft II Team League [ edit ]

Thanks to the 2011 Old Generations-Team Liquid GSTL partnership, Huk made his debut in the GSTL Season 1 Jupiter Group Week 5 match that matched oGsTL against Prime. With oGsTL trailing 3-2 with MC, TOP and NaDa having already lost, he defeated both Check and MarineKing to secure a 4-3 victory. Not only did it mean that oGsTL would qualify for the playoffs, but it also made HuK the first foreigner to be named the MVP of a GSTL match.[8]

Outside Korea [ edit ]

After first moving to Korea, HuK had limited success in the foreign scene. During DreamHack Winter 2010, he flew to Sweden together with teammates InCa and TOP, where he went undefeated (3-0) in the group stage, but then lost to Socke during the first round of the playoffs.

In 2011, HuK continued to have difficulty in the foreign scene. HuK would be one of the 3 South Korean Protoss invites to the TeamLiquid StarLeague 3. He was subsequently eliminated in the first round by HasuObs, 1-2. He would also be selected for the StarsWar Killer 6 tournament where he also was defeated immediately by MorroW. His performances in notable LANs such as SteelSeries StarCraft II Challenge and MLG Dallas 2011 saw modest finishes of 8th and 10th place, respectively.

HuK's breakthrough tournament came during the June DreamHack Summer 2011 tournament. Huk managed to place first in his group with an impressive set score of 5-0, including a win over eventual tournament runner-up Moon. He then defeated PredY, Socke and July in brackets before facing Moon in the finals. In the finals, HuK managed to defeat Moon once again, with a score of 3-2. His victory would be the first time that a foreigner took first place in a tournament scene that was consistently dominated by South Koreans.

Less than a week after his triumphant victory in Sweden, HuK took first place in HomeStory Cup III, where he faced off against notable players such as MC, IdrA, and NaNiwa, the last of whom he defeated in the finals with a 4-2 victory.

Huk participated in MLG Anaheim where he was seeded into pool play. There, he placed second, falling only to DongRaeGu. In the Championship Bracket, he beat SjoW 2 - 0, but ended up falling to GanZi in the second round 0 - 2. Although he failed to reach the podium, he finished in 7th and was the only non-Korean in the top 8.

He was also one of the invites to the 2011 North American Battle.net Invitational alongside IdrA, SeleCT, KiwiKaki, teammate Sheth, TT1, dde, and ostojiy. HuK's first opponent was ostojiy, whom he defeated 2-0, but he then fell to SeleCT and was knocked into the loser's bracket. HuK then defeated fellow Canadian KiWiKaKi 2-1 and cleanly defeated IdrA 2-0 before falling to Sheth. HuK would end up placing third with a prize of $3,000, but not qualifying for a BlizzCon invite.

HuK competed in MLG Raleigh 2011, finishing in his group with a 3 - 2 record. In the championship bracket, he beat TriMaster and Noblesse before losing 2 - 0 to NaDa to finish once again as the highest placed non-Korean in 7th place overall.

HuK was invited to the Dreamhack Valencia Invitational along with his team mate IdrA, as announced on September 1.[9] He lost 1 - 2 to ThorZaIN in the first round.

HuK competed in MLG Orlando 2011 as one of the seeded players in Group D. He placed first in his group, losing only to HerO, and then swiftly took out MarineKing in the first round of winners in the Championship Bracket. Following that, he defeated TheStC 2-1 to meet MC in an extended series finals, where he won 4-1, therefore being the first player to win two MLG events as well as being the first non-Korean player to win an MLG since the GSL-MLG Exchange Program began.

On November 2011, HuK went to Finland in order to compete in ASUS ROG Stars Invite, where he was eliminated in the first round by elfi. Two days later, he wasn't more successful during the showmatches, being defeated 2-0 by IdrA and DIMAGA.

Soon after, HuK went to MLG Providence 2011 to defend his title. Due to his success during the Circuit events, HuK was seeded second. He faced off against HerO first, winning 2-0. His first match on Championship Sunday was against NaNiwa, he lost 1-2, falling to the Losers' Bracket. There he faced Leenock and lost 0-2 to the eventual champion. He finished 5th place overall, the second best non-Korean.

HuK competed in NASL Season 2. There, he finished second in his division with a record of 5-2 and qualified for the Grand Finals. He would lose in his first match to HasuObs 2-3 in a close series.

Qualified through his performance at MLG Providence, HuK played at the MLG Winter Arena 2012. There he would defeat Minigun 2-1, Socke 2-0, Ret 2-1 and Oz 2-0 to make it into the finals bracket. There however he would be crushed by both MarineKing and DongRaeGu 2-0, ending his stellar run and taking third place with a $3,600 prize.

HuK continued his excellent performance in the MLG 2012 Winter Championship, where he was placed into Pool C with viOLet, Ret and Socke, with the last two slots being filled by Heart and KawaiiRice, both of whom had qualified through the open bracket. HuK would place second in his group with a score of 4-1, losing only to Heart 1-2. In the Championship Bracket, HuK would defeat Naniwa 2-0 in an incredibly close set, making him the last foreigner standing in yet another MLG tournament. He would then defeat fellow Protoss PartinG 2-1, only to fall to Heart 2-4 once more with the extended series rule. HuK would ultimately take fourth place and $5,500.

Chris would attempt various times to qualify for the TSL 4, via the online qualifiers but without making a big splash on any, failing to get enough points to get in the tournament.

In the NASL Season 3, HuK was placed into Division 3 and displayed excellent performance, topping the group with a decisive 7-1 score, advancing directly to the Ro16. There he defeated GanZi 3-2, but when he advanced to the quarterfinals against another SlayerS player, Alicia, he would be eliminated from the tournament 3-0 in swift succession.

Heart of the Swarm [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

HuK has had several notable results in Heart of the Swarm. HuK put a multitude of up and comers, and the veteran QXC in their place to win 2013 MLG Summer Invite. He followed up that performance a week later placing second at Red Bull Training Grounds 2, narrowly losing to Snute in the seventh game of the finals. A few days later he won Hong Kong Esports Tournament: North America Qualifier, and made good on that by taking 3rd place in the Hong Kong Esports Tournament, notably defeating Sen, a player who HuK has had difficulty against in the past.

HuK's summer streak continued as he took home the gold at LANHAMMER 2013, a tournament that had virtually every North American pro except for Scarlett. HuK looked in good form at 2013 DreamHack Open: Bucharest, defeating Heart and Stardust in the round of 32, but was eliminated by Startale Life in the head to head tiebreaker as they had the same map score of 4-3.

By the end of the year, there was no question that HuK remains among the elite of the North American scene as he won a North American qualifier for every major event that had one including IEM Season VIII - New York, Red Bull Battle Grounds New York City (where he won one of the North American qualifiers by defeating Scarlett 2-1), IEM Season VIII - Singapore and HomeStory Cup VIII. Finally, HuK cemented his place among the best of North America by winning SHOUTcraft America Winter, sweeping MaSa 4-0 in the finals.

2014 [ edit ]

The first major competition HuK participated in 2014 was the Twitch Ender's Game on Blu-ray Tournament. HuK went into the tournament as one of the favorites, and in the group stage, advanced with relative ease beating CatZ and Bails and a map score of 4-1. In the Ro8, HuK beat puCK 3-1 and moved into the Ro4 as the clear favorite against Astrea, a relatively unknown player. Astrea however made the upset happen defeating HuK in a close series 3-2, made possible by both strong play on Astrea's part, but also crucial mistakes by HuK. In the match to decide the third place, HuK lost another close series to the Korean Zerg player viOlet 3-2, to eventually finish fourth overall.

Next up were his matches in the 2014 WCS Season 1 America Premier League, for which he was looking at a tough group containing the Korean veteran HerO, as well as the two Chinese players XiGua and Top. HuK managed to take down XiGua 2-0 with strong PvZ in his first match of the day. In the winners match, he was to take on HerO to decide who was going to advance to the Ro16 in first place. Against many people's expectations HuK came out on top, winning with a score of 2-1, displaying a good understanding of the PvP matchup, with his consistent harass in game 2 as well as good control in the final attack of game 3 to close out the series.

Together with only two other North Americans, Neeb and puCK, HuK had to travel over to Europe to play his Ro16 matches, as the new WCS studio in America had not yet been set up. HuK's journey started very unfortunate, arriving late and tired after almost 30 hours of travel at the venue, due to delayed flights. HuK's first opponent was the Korean Zerg player Revival. Throughout the series, HuK failed to stay concentrated enough, eventually falling apart to Revival's multi pronged attacks and Swarm Host play, losing 2-0, dropping down to the losers match where he had to face Neeb next. HuK failed again to build up momentum and lost the losers match 2-0, ending his fourth Premier league run. Nevertheless, HuK earned himself a spot in the following season's Premier League through his Top 16 finish.

In April, HuK qualified for 2014 MLG Anaheim pool play, beating North American players like JonSnow and Bails, and only falling to the Korean viOlet, one of HuK's biggest rivals in the NA scene. About a week later, HuK flew over to Europe once again to compete in the 2014 DreamHack Open: Bucharest. In Group Stage #2, HuK had to face the Korean Zerg player Leenock. HuK was not able to beat Leenock in the winners match, but qualified for the next Group Stage nevertheless, by defeating the Bulgarian Zerg stakimaN twice with a clean map score of 4-0. Due to his second place finish in the first Group Stage, HuK was seeded into an exceptionally hard group for the third Group stage containing the Korean Terran powerhouse INnoVation and the Norwegian Zerg Snute, who was regarded as the strongest foreign player at that time. HuK put up a valiant effort taking one game off of both players, but failing to close out either series and subsequently being eliminated from the 2014 DreamHack Open: Bucharest with a map score of 4-4.

In the beginning of May 2014, HuK travelled to Austin Texas to compete in Lone Star Clash 3. After initially falling to his rival viOlet 1-2, HuK made it out of the Group stage, defeating the Mexican Terran player MajOr 2-1 and the young Korean Zerg player Armani 2-0. In the Ro8, HuK had to play against Polt, one of the heavy favorites to win the tournament. HuK managed to build up a lead winning games 2 and 3 with aggressive play, but was not able to close it out, losing 2-3 against Polt finishing 5th-8th overall.

On May 20, 2014, HuK played in the Ro32 of the 2014 WCS Season 2 America Premier league. This time, HuK had to fight through an all-Korean group consisting of Revival, HerO and newcomer Pigbaby. HuK won his opening match against his former teammate HerO 2-1, advancing to the winners match, where Pigbaby was waiting for him. With the series tied 1-1, it came down to a final game on the map Frost, on which HuK decided to go for a storm build, which was fairly untypical at that time in PvP. The first fight did not go in HuK's favor and he lost the majority of his army. In an effort to come back, HuK managed to storm the entire mineral line of his opponents third base, putting pressure on Pigbaby to attack HuK's third, to not fall behind after losing a critical amount of Probes. HuK was severely down in army supply but defended the first attack by landing clutch storms and time warps, but had to pull Probes too. After that, he could not keep up with the constant Warp-ins from Pigbaby's 8 Gates, losing to the eventual champion of the tournament. In the losers match, HuK was not able to beat Revival, and the 5th Premier league run of his career ended there.

In June HuK travelled to Europe once again to compete in the 2014 DreamHack Open: Summer. In the second group stage, he was looking to advance from his group as the clear favorite after the Korean Zerg HyuN. Unexpectedly HyuN got defeated by Sjaak, a very young player from the Netherlands who was completely unknown at that time. Against all odds the newcomer also managed to win the series against HuK, sending him down to the elimination match vs HyuN, a player HuK had always struggled with. History was deemed to repeat itself and HyuN eliminated HuK from the tournament, ending his run with a disappointing 33-48th finish. Sjaak however continued to impress beyond the second group stage.

Only a few weeks later, HuK was on home soil again to participate in the pool play of 2014 MLG Anaheim for which he had already qualified in April. On day one HuK, finished with a score of 3-1 beating players from all over the world such as the Mexican MajOr, the fan favorite German TLO as well as his countrymen from Canada hendralisk only falling victim to the Korean viOlet. On day 2 competition only got harder as another two world class Korean players, who qualified through winning the stacked open bracket, joined his pool. HuK put up a good fight but fell short in the end losing two close series 1-2 against both DongRaeGu and StarDust. As his last match HuK had to face the Swedish Zerg Miniraser whom he defeated 2-1, leaving HuK with a 4-3 overall score in series and finishing 4th in his group, having only lost series to Korean opponents. Through seeding HuK was then placed into the Losers Round 3, where he had to go up against his nemesis HyuN. The Zerg decisively took the series 2-0, eliminating HuK from yet another premier tournament. Overall HuK finished 9th-12th, the second best non-Korean, however only one round short of taking home a cash prize.

2015 [ edit ]

At the start of the year, HuK had to qualify back into WCS after the season reset. He achieved this in the fourth American qualifier. In Challenger he faced the American Protoss player State and beat him in a close 3-2 series. His Premier League matches did not go as well losing against the two Protoss players Welmu and MacSed without even taking a map. HuK was therefore eliminated in the Round of 32.

In the next WCS season, HuK had to play StarDust in Challenger league for a spot in Premier. Like in the previous season, the series was close, finishing at 3-2, but this time in favor of his opponent. It was the first time that HuK was not able to qualify for Premier League, since its introduction in the WCS format in 2013. He still made an appearance in Premier League but as a caster for the matches played at the Burbank studio.

In WCS Season 3, the Canadian player once again qualified for Challenger league in the fourth American qualifier. He then had to face his fellow Canadian Zerg player Kane to whom he lost in a close 3-2 Bo5 series. For the rest of the season, he again made several appearances as a caster, including WCS Season 3 Premier League.

Legacy of the Void [ edit ]

In the beta [ edit ]

In June, the Canadian player teamed up with Acer's Scarlett for a best-of-5 Red Bull Archon Mode Showmatch in LotV beta against Beastyqt and qxc. HuK and Scarlett won 3-2 playing as Zerg, which qualified them for the Archon Mode playoffs in Santa Monica. Scarlett could not attend however and was replaced by MC.

In August 2015, in RBBG: Santa Monica, HuK and MC obliterated their opponents. When they were in potential danger, they took on the only undefeated team: TRUE and DongRaeGu due to being provoked by some trash talk. "Talk shit, get hit", stated HuK in the pre-game interview. HuK and MC went on to dispatch their opponents 2-0 before TRUE and DRG defeated the Beastyqt and qxc, and thereby qualifying themselves and HuK+MC for the grand finals in Washington.

HuK and MC stormed through the bracket in 2015 Red Bull Battle Grounds: Washington, only dropping two maps during the tournament to the second place team of Bomber and MMA. The Protoss Archon made great use of the Adept, a very powerful unit at the time, which has been nerfed in the following LotV beta patches.

2015 [ edit ]

In the end of 2015, HuK participated in the first two premier tournaments of Legacy of the Void: DreamHack ROCCAT LotV Championship and HomeStory Cup XII.

2016 [ edit ]

The 2016 WCS Winter Circuit Championship was held at the beginning of March. This tournament had a big prize pool with $150,000 divided among the top 16, and a lot of WCS Circuit Points to fight for. The qualifier for the tournament was very competitive, and at first it didn't seem that he managed to qualify for the event. But after the qualifier, it was announced that Petraeus was not able to attend the live event. HuK replaced Petraeus because he finished second in the NA qualifier where Petraeus qualified from. The main tournament consisted of 32 players in a single-elimination bracket, with a best of five until the finals. In the first match HuK was drawn against the Australian player PiG. HuK demonstrated impressive macro and non-stop aggression to secure a swift 3-0 victory against PiG. Next match was a PvP against the Polish home favourite MaNa, which also ended 3-0 in favor of HuK. The tournament was already down to eight players, and Nerchio was the next opponent. Another Polish player, and one of the favourites to win the tournament. Nerchio was aggressive and didn't let HuK get into his groove. Nerchio stopped the tournament run for HuK, also with a 3-0. This quarter-finalist finish however, secured him $8,000 in prize winnings and 600 WCS Circuit Points. HuK also became the highest placed protoss in the tournament, with him being the only protoss left in the quarter-finals.

Trivia [ edit ]

HuK is famous for his "hero probe" (fans call it the BuK probe, referring to modern gangster slang) style openings where he abuses his opponents relentlessly with his initial scouting probe.

HuK is (or was) one of the top players in "Company of Heroes", achieving "Expert" status on the main fan-site for Company of Heroes, GameReplays.org, under the nickname "GosuStarcraft". [10] [11]

HuK made a somewhat controversial statement of having "Top 3 Unit Control" in the world during Assembly. "Top 3 Control" has since become a sarcastic remark in Live Report threads / chats whenever HuK makes micro mistakes in a streamed game. [12]

HuK's father is Canadian but his mother is American. He was born in Florida and lived in the USA until he was 16, then moved to Canada. He currently possess dual-citizenship for both countries. [13]

HuK is the first player to win two MLG titles, the first person to win an MLG title (Orlando 2011) without it being his first event and the first (and - as of 24 September 2015 - only) foreigner to win an MLG since the GSL-MLG exchange program.

Wants to study Psychology after finishing his gaming career. [14]

Has a brother named Scott Loranger. [15]

Is the second North American to make the quarterfinals of GSL Code S after IdrA.

Played two impromptu exhibition Brood War series against BoxeR and TT1 at IPL3: Origins while the tournament had downtime due to Internet issues. He took a game off of each despite never having played Brood War professionally and despite Jessica playfully covering his eyes during one of the games against BoxeR.[16]

Achievements [ edit ]

Team Achievements

Rivalries [ edit ]

IdrA [ edit ]

IdrA

The history of IdrA and HuK's rivalry is perhaps the longest on the StarCraft 2 scene to date. In summer 2010 IdrA was already a well-established name because of his background as a StarCraft: Brood War progamer, while HuK was building his reputation playing on the North American ladder and participating in online tournaments. At the time he was mostly known for relying heavily on all-ins and cheese to succeed, which led to IdrA's criticism. After his victory at MLG Raleigh 2010 brought him more fame, the exchanges intensified. This led to a lot of anticipation for their meeting at MLG D.C. 2010, where IdrA won the Winners Bracket final 2-0 in a dominating fashion to knock HuK out to the Losers Bracket. In it, HuK famously lost to SeleCT after making a Mothership, which was widely regarded as throwing the game away. A few hours after the finals djWHEAT organized a special live show, which featured, amongst other progamers, IdrA. In his typical manner, he described the decision as "retarded" and gave his opinion of HuK being a player that tries to win fans by gimmicky play.

Later in 2010 they met again after HuK won the EG Masters' Cup Series 3 and thus qualified to play against the tournament's "final boss", IdrA. IdrA dominated once again, winning 3-1, and even attacking with his drones and attempting to build hatcheries in HuK's main during the final game [17]. Soon after that HuK moved to Korea and started playing on the Korean ladder, where he often played against IdrA. During this period IdrA also started streaming his ladder practice games for the first time, so many of their encounters were observed by fans of both players. The games were often accompanied by a lot of trash-talk and cheesy play, particularly the - at the time very popular - Cannon Rush.

Their next notable meeting was MLG Dallas 2011. During the group stage, IdrA won the first game and appeared to be on the course to victory in the second, only to surrender without a fight when he saw a group of Void Rays that HuK had hallucinated. [18] During the final game of the series (which HuK would win) HuK taunted IdrA in the chat and IdrA was quick to respond. Both players were criticized for their behavior; HuK for breaching the gaming etiquette and the official rules and IdrA for using obscene language in return. The two met again in the tournament the next day and this time IdrA dominated, winning all three games of the extended series match to proceed with 4-2. In the post-game interview, he dissed HuK once more, saying that he was prepared for the all-in because HuK could not win against him in a "real game".

HuK's first major victory over IdrA took place when they met on the semi-finals for the HomeStory Cup III Winners Bracket, which guaranteed him a top 3 finish. Both players demonstrated friendly behavior prior to the matches, which discarded the claims that there was strong animosity between the two.

IdrA lost to HuK in the third round of the losers bracket in the North American Blizzard Invitational, and finished 4th in the tournament, and so missed out on a place at BlizzCon 2011.

August 16th, 2011 brought a strange twist to the rivalry as HuK was acquired by EG and was now to 'join forces' with IdrA. The two will even spend time living together with PuMa when IdrA travels to Korea in late 2011. [19]





Championships [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

Interviews [ edit ]

2014 [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

2012 [ edit ]

2011 [ edit ]

2010 [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]

Remax: SC2 Talkshow – talk show hosted by HuK

Matches & VODs [ edit ]

Beta Matches [ edit ]

WoL Matches [ edit ]

HotS Matches [ edit ]

First Person View Match VODS [ edit ]

Replays [ edit ]

Statistics [ edit ]

Matchup Statistics

vs vs vs vs Total Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% as 462 - 322 58.9 % 497 - 390 56 % 602 - 477 55.8 % 24 - 0 100 % 1585 - 1189 57.1 % as 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 100 % 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 100 % as 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 0 % 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 0 %

Earnings Statistics

{"colors":["#2874b2","orange","green"],"data":[{"name":"2010","1v1 Earnings":8277.36,"Team Event Earnings":0,"Other Earnings":0},{"name":"2011","1v1 Earnings":53041.5,"Team Event Earnings":142.85714285714,"Other Earnings":0},{"name":"2012","1v1 Earnings":15401.44,"Team Event Earnings":285.71428571429,"Other Earnings":0},{"name":"2013","1v1 Earnings":17304.18,"Team Event Earnings":508.69897435897997,"Other Earnings":0},{"name":"2014","1v1 Earnings":20188.68,"Team Event Earnings":0,"Other Earnings":0},{"name":"2015","1v1 Earnings":9910,"Team Event Earnings":0,"Other Earnings":9445},{"name":"2016","1v1 Earnings":15384.85,"Team Event Earnings":0,"Other Earnings":0}],"keys":["1v1 Earnings","Team Event Earnings","Other Earnings"],"maxY":53184.35714285714,"minY":0,"stacked":true,"labels":{"x":"Year","y":"Earnings ($)"},"size":{"height":400,"width":655},"div":"bar-area-0"}

Medal Statistics

Tier Total Premier 4 0 4 8 Major 3 3 2 8 Minor 8 6 2 16 Monthly 4 3 1 8 Weekly 9 8 3 20 Show Match 2 10 0 12 Total 30 30 12 72