Aleksey "White-Ra" Krupnyk is a professional Brood War and StarCraft II player from Ukraine. White-Ra played Protoss in Brood War and continues to play Protoss in StarCraft II. White-Ra played Brood War for several years and is considered a veteran in the Brood War community. With many notable achievements over the course of his Brood War career (multiple WCG Ukraine 1st places, 1st place in The Highlander) White-Ra has become a legend and a favourite among the Brood War community. Shortly after StarCraft II's release, White-Ra received a sponsorship from Duckload and changed his handle to Duckload-Ra.

White-Ra has a very refined playstyle with a focus on the strength of builds executed well that split his opponent's attention and allow him to take control of the game from the start. He is famous for his Warp Prism play against Terran opponents and for his good sportsmanship and politeness in games and interviews, often commending opponents for their strategies or skilled play. Being over 30 years old, he is also one of the oldest StarCraft players actively competing.

In Beta [ edit ]

White-Ra's had his first success in a major StarCraft II beta tournament at the ESL StarCraft II Beta Invitational. Although he made it all the way to the finals from the loser's bracket, he was defeated by KaaZ 3-2.[1] White-Ra's first tournament win came in the TeamLiquid SC2 Invitational 1 where he defeated random player TheLittleOne 3-1 in the finals to claim the $300 prize. He also competed in the HDH Invitational, taking first place, defeating IdrA 4-2 in the finals, claiming a $2000 prize.

As reward for his beta success, he was invited to Day[9]'s King of the Beta tournament. However, he failed to make it out of group stages, which came as a surprise to many after being very successful in the Beta.

Wings of Liberty [ edit ]

2010 [ edit ]

White-Ra's first success was winning Go4SC2 Cup #27. On top of that, he was invited to the IEM Global Challenge Cologne to play in the $15,000 tournament, but failed to advance out of the group stage. White-Ra would go and play in MLG D.C. but would not have a big impact, finishing out of the Top 8 being knocked out in the Loser's Bracket by Drewbie. In 2010, White-Ra competed in Blizzcon 2010, placing 3rd behind NEXGenius and Loner.

2011 [ edit ]

In 2011, White-Ra won three major tournaments in the span of a few days in January: 2011 Homestory Cup II over NaNiwa for €1750, SCReddit Invitational over MorroW. $1000 +$600 charity to a charity of his choice and finally the DreamHost Root Gaming's WARZONE win over Sen for another $2000. This totals around $5500 in a single weekend on top of the accomplishment of winning three big tournaments.

White-Ra followed this feat by winning $3,500 in the IEM Season V - European Championships with a second place finish to SjoW. White-Ra wowed his home fans in the Ukraine by being one of two Protoss players in the Terran dominated event. White-Ra went through his group 4-1 only losing a single series to Kas before going through DeMusliM 3-2 on his way to the finals. He faced off against SjoW in grand finals but ultimately fell 3-1 to the Terran who remained unbeaten throughout the event and dropped only two maps.

Outside of Europe, in March 2011, White-Ra defeated both MaNa and Socke to qualify for a position on the World All-Star team in the 2011 GSL World Championship. During the World versus Korea showmatch he was able to snipe the heavily favored oGsMC using a warp prism build.

He would face MC yet again in the TSL3, however this time MC would crush him 0-3. Later the two would square off at the finals of the 2011 DreamHack Stockholm Invitational and White-Ra would be defeated once again, but this time with a score of 2-3.

Because of his participation in DreamHack, he had to forfeit his first match in NASL Season 1 against July.[2]

White-Ra was one of the 50 players invited to participate in the North American Starleague. He was placed into Division 2. As of June 5, 2011, he was 11-8 in his group. He had 5 series wins and 3 series losses. He made it to the live event at Ontario, California but was swept 0-2 by SeleCT, ending his run.[3]

On July 22, 2011, Slasher of MLG announced that White-Ra would appear at MLG Anaheim in the open bracket along with players Jinro and LastShadow.[4] White-Ra was disqualified in his match against Gimix because he did not make it to the game in time, but he managed to fight his way through the loser's bracket to secure him a slot in the Championship Bracket where he was stopped by SeleCT. During his path to the Championship Bracket, he once again faced Gimix, and due to his previous disqualification and MLG's extended series rule, Gimix had a 2 - 0 lead on White-Ra. Knowing that the disqualification was not "right", Gimix worker rushed the first two games so that the series would be 2 - 2, and thus be a normal best of three.

Through IPL2 Qualifier 3, White-Ra was able to compete in IGN ProLeague Season 2. White-Ra blasted through the winners’ bracket, defeating CocoA, Brat_OK, SeleCT, Strelok, and MaNa to make it to the grand finals, only dropping a game to SeleCT and 2 games to MaNa. In the grand finals, White-Ra faced off against Nerchio, who had fought all the way through the losers’ bracket. There, White-Ra defeated Nerchio with a score of 3-1, and secured his first big tournament win since HomeStory Cup II.

White-Ra was one of the notable sign ups for the Open Bracket of MLG Orlando. In the Upper Bracket, he defeated Artist before losing to Stephano 1-2 in the 4th round. From the Lower Bracket, he would defeat players such as sycknesS and HasuObs to make it into the Championship Bracket only to fall to inori 0-2.

White-Ra was invited to DreamHack Winter 2011 based on his 2nd place finish in the DreamHack Stockholm Invitational. There, he was placed in Group D with ClouD, PhoeNix and viPro. He swept his group, advancing to the Round of 32, then passed though that group to face Naama in the elimination bracket. The Finnish Terran defeated him 2-1, knocking White-Ra out of the tournament.

World Championship Series [ edit ]

2012 WCS Ukraine Nationals [ edit ]

On July 21, 2012, White-Ra participated in the World Championship Series 2012 Ukraine. After taking down UkraineStar in the first round, White-Ra lost to Bly and fell to the losers bracket. White-Ra then went on to tear through the losers bracket as he took down White, Kas, and Strelok to advance straight into the finals to face Bly. White-Ra had to settle for 2nd place as he went on to lose to Bly by a score of 2-1, 1-2.

IGN ProLeague [ edit ]

IPL Fight Club [ edit ]

On November 5, 2011, White-Ra was invited to participate in the IPL Fight Club. His first opponent was Sheth. His debut was cut short as he was knocked out in his very first match up by a score of 3-5, and was not able to defeat Sheth.

Intel Extreme Masters [ edit ]

IEM Season VII Singapore [ edit ]

On November 22, 2012, White-Ra would participate in IEM Season VII - Singapore, having qualified through the European Qualifier. He would be knocked out in the group stages, going 1-4 (3-8 on maps).

Internet Fame [ edit ]

As a Ukrainian with English not being his first language, White-Ra's humorously misspelled quotes have often been quoted by the community such as "gg your 4 gate is besty" instead of "beastly" or referring "e-sports" as "cyber sports". A story[5] based around his successful use of an obscure build from Brood War against the player Skew made the term "special tactics" well known amongst White-Ra's fans. It is now commonly used as words of support for White-Ra, especially in matches where White-Ra isn't an immediate favourite.

Trivia [ edit ]

Played Protoss in Brood War.

White-Ra, who was born in 1980, is older than the average professional gamer and is married as well. [6]

Was one of the first players to adopt early Void Ray rushes into his game after the release of SC2.

Created the slogan "More GG. More Skill."

During a ladder match on his stream, White-Ra, who was massing Carriers with Voids and Mothership support was asked by his opponent, "WTF CAN KILL THAT !@#S" to which White-Ra answered, "Upgreyds make". [7]

His catch phrase, "Special Tactics", won the 2012 TL ESPORTS Bracket.

Created the made up character popularized by Husky "Pylo".

Played in the tournament Trial of the Xel Naga, a tournament hosted by Red Bull and Day9. [8]

Served as the bartender at the ESL studios in Cologne during the combined WCS America/WCS Europe 2014 Season 1 Finals. ReDeYe made a joke on air about how he was just serving milk.

Achievements [ edit ]

Championships [ edit ]

Matches & VODs [ edit ]

Beta Matches [ edit ]

First Person View Match VODS [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

Interviews [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

2011 [ edit ]

2010 [ edit ]

Related [ edit ]

Statistics [ edit ]

Matchup Statistics

vs vs vs vs Total Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% as 110 - 141 43.8 % 197 - 166 54.3 % 206 - 179 53.5 % 15 - 6 71.4 % 528 - 492 51.8 % as 2 - 2 50 % 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 - 2 50 %

Earnings Statistics

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Medal Statistics

Tier Total Premier 1 2 1 4 Major 2 1 0 3 Minor 5 3 3 11 Monthly 2 0 1 3 Weekly 5 1 2 8 Daily 2 1 0 3 Show Match 9 7 0 16 Total 26 15 7 48