GoRush

This player has retired from competitive StarCraft.

GoRush
Background Information
Name:	박태민 Park Tae Min
Team:	(Retired)
Race:	Z
Birthday:	1984-12-24
IDs:	GoRush, [STAR]GoRush
Height/Weight:
Nicknames:	Management Magician
Fansite:	http://cafe.daum.net/gorush
Career
ELO Rank:
Peak ELO:	2311.96
Team History:	Suma Greatest Ones (GO), CJ Entus, SK Telecom T1, Air Force ACE
Draft History:
TLPD:	GoRush

GoRush is a retired Korean StarCraft progamer. He played as Zerg and is currently commentating on OnGameNet.

Biography

A witness to the growth of the StarCraft professional scene in South Korea, GoRush seized the gold medal at the World Cyber Games Challenge in 2000 (the forerunner to today’s World Cyber Games) by outplaying fellow zerg I_Love.Star (probably the forerunner to YellOw as he also placed second in two KBKs) and top non-korean NTT (forerunner to every non-korean – I’m looking at you Elky, Fisheye, Androide etc. - that has managed to beat a Korean in WCG only to lose to the gold medalist). With an automatic berth into WCG 2001, GoRush still took the bronze to a Boxer - Yellow finals.

It was then that GoRush realized the need for proper schooling and took a break from pro-gaming to continue his studies. After the two years needed to finish High School he returned to his passion in 2003. Joining the GO team he gained renown for his high level of game strategy understanding and hardworking practice ethic. Taking the crown for strongest ZvZ he killed zerg greats such as Jju 3-0 (to win Challenge League), Chojja (former ZvZ all-star), Junior (in the 1st KPGA Teamleague finals), and YellOw (in the Neowiz Pmang Proleague finals to help Suma GO win the championship). Riding into the NHN Hangame OSL as the OGN Challenge League champion he attained a record of 11 consecutive wins, breaking Boxer’s record of 10. Although he would lose to Silent_Control’s famed cheese to be knocked out of NHN he definitely had made his presence felt.

As 2004 arrived so did GoRush’s heightened ZvP skills. While he was barely knocked out in the first rounds of both Gilette OSL and EVER 1 OSL he was still able to make it back into the next ones in part due to his stellar ZvP. For 11 months he went undefeated ZvP before losing to Nal_Ra in an intense match on the KT-KTF Premiere League. Throughout all of 2004 that was his only ZvP loss. It wasn’t until the second half of 2004 however that his ZvT ascended to the next level to match his legendary ZvZ and now seemingly unstoppable ZvP. Entering IOPS OSL, You are the Golf King MSL, and the second KT-KTF Premiere League he worked with rival JulyZerg to usher in an era of zerg power. As the only truly top tier zergs since YellOw, July would be the first Zerg to win a Starleague (Gilette) and GoRush would be the first Zerg to win the MSL by defeating a very-much-in-shape NaDa 4-2 (yes, a bo7 marathon). At the same time he placed third in IOPS OSL losing a very close 2-3 series to NaDa; establishing himself as one of the best ZvTers. Meanwhile, JulyZerg and GoRush were ripping up the KT-KTF premiere league to inevitably meet in the finals where GoRush’s ZvZ failed him as he fell 2-3 to JulyZerg (previously suspected of having weak ZvZ), forever placing July above GoRush in the eyes of spectators.

This was the zenith of GoRush’s play, placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in three major leagues at the same time. At his prime it was as if he had no weak match ups (nearly undefeated ZvP, near-impossible ZvZ streaks, and being the only zerg who could stand up to NaDa in a series) and was all over the scene. His play was defined as being the master of game management (a skill that Koreans prize as one of the three pillars with macro and micro) being able to control the flow of an entire match, always with the right units in the right positions. In many ways he set the stones for sAviOr to dominate with an advanced management style in 2005 and 2006. GoRush’s ownage in this period also convinced SK Telecom T1 to recruit him and his teammate Midas[gm] (this was when SKT1 and KTF were the only sponsors with money and were able to buy skilled players from homegrown teams like Suma GO). He became a critical component of SK Telecom T1’s reign over the 2005 Proleague and still hung around for a bit in individual leagues placing 4th in the EVER 2k5 OSL.

Eventually losing to a 4pool from Chojja in OSL and another 4pool from Oversky in MSL to get knocked out of the next leagues GoRush started the dreaded slump. 2006 featured a small resurgence as he appeared in all three of the Shinhan Bank OSLs for that season being eliminated by ZergMaN, Anytime, and Much, and advancing at least to the top 16 each time. 2007 has given GoRush fan’s a taste of his brilliance once again by his impressive streak through the GOM TV MSL (winning 2-0 in the dual section by beating sAviOr’s terran with a sicknasty queen infest strategy, 2-0 over prodigy terran Sea[Shield], and 3-0 over JulyZerg before falling 1-3 to finalist and previous champion Bisu[Shield]).

2007 also brought GoRush an interesting teammate in the form of JulyZerg who was released by MBC Hero as “too expensive”. This is only the latest in a number of teammates that GoRush has had time to learn from and share with which includes XellOs, sAviOr (as IPXZerg), and Nal_Ra from Suma GO as well as his SKT1 associates such as Boxer, iloveoov, Kingdom, Midas, and now July.

Trivia

• In 2009 GoRush, accidentally typing an "a" in his second game against Backho in the 2009 Bacchus OSL Ro36 matches, became one of the first victims of a newly introduced KeSPA rule, earning him an instant disqualification in game 2 and sparking controversy all across the fan communities. See [1] for some Korean reactions and [2] for a longer description.
• In the final game of the 1st round of the Gilette OSL against Silent_Control, the game was delayed. While waiting, GoRush's opponent, Silent_Control suddenly fainted. Ongamenet officials delivered Silent_Control to the hospital where Silent_Control was diagnosed with pnuemonia and lack of rest and nutrition. GoRush opted to forego winning by automated forfeit. In the rematch, GoRush lost the match and the eligibility to participate in the semifinals.

Accomplishments

• Longest streak in professional StarCraft with 16 straight wins.

Place	Year	Event/League
3rd	2004-2005	IOPS Ongamenet Starleague
1st	2004-2005	You Are the Golf King MBCGame StarLeague
2nd	2004-2005	KT-KTF Premier League
1st	2003	2nd OnGameNet Challenge League
3rd	2001	WCG 2001 Grand Final
3rd	2001	KPGA August
1st	2000	WCG Challenge Grand Final
1st	2000	WCGChallenge Korea Preliminaries

MSL Champion
SPRIS MSL Preceeded By:   iloveoov	You are the Golf King MSL 6th February 2005-6th August 2005   Gorush	UZOO MSL Succeeded By:   sAviOr

Notable Games

• GoRush vs NaDa, Arizona, GolfKing MSL (2004-2005) Finals - Final game of the GolfKing MSL.
• BackHo vs GoRush, Outsider, Bacchus OSL 2009 - The game that sparked much controversy among fan communities.
• Stork vs GoRush on Neo Requiem - Chosen as best game broadcasted by MBC.
• GoRush vs Light on Benzene, Proleague 10/11 - TvZ beast Light was outmacroed by ACE veteran