ZerO

ZerO
Background Information
Name:	김명운 Kim Myung Woon
Team:	Woongjin Stars
Race:	Z
Birthday:	1990-02-18
IDs:	ZerO, MenSol[ZerO]
Height/Weight:
Nicknames:
Fansite:
Career
ELO Rank:	2196.9
Peak ELO:	2267.28
Team History:	Woongjin Stars (Sep 2008 - Current) Hanbit Stars (Apr 2007 - Sep 2008)
Draft History:	Hanbit Stars 2007 I
TLPD:	ZerO

To read about ZerO's StarCraft 2 career, see ZerO.
ZerO is a Korean StarCraft progamer. He plays as Zerg and is currently the captain of team Woongjin Stars.

Biography

ZerO has been a regular on Woongjin Stars' lineup since the Shinhan08 Proleague Season. He had reached the 2008 ClubDay MSL Ro32 but was eliminated there 0-2. ZerO spent the beginning of the Shinhan 08-09 season being somewhat inconsistent, with his level of play rising or falling from match to match. He became widely known for having some of the best mutalisk control of any player in Korea, and ZvZ became his best Match up when he played that matchup exclusively except for one game against Bisu, all the way to the semifinals of the 2009 Lost Saga MSL where he was eliminated by Luxury (who at the time was considered the 2nd best ZvZer in the world).

After being eliminated from the Lost Saga MSL ZerO caught on fire for a time, putting out a streak of wins in Proleague and qualifying for the 2009 Bacchus OSL with wins over IrOn and Kal. Despite performing worse in Proleague since then, ZerO managed to reach the Ro8 of the 2009 Avalon MSL (where he lost to Kwanro) and the Bacchus OSL 2009 where he lost to Jaedong.

ZerO's results in ZvZ started to falter, showing that he has lost a lot of his flair in the match-up. Currently it is believed that ZvP is his best match-up, where he showed amazing macro and creative strategies vs Protoss.

In the 09-10 Proleague season, ZerO strengthened his play and became a powerful, consistant zerg with an entertaining and creative style. His new found strength was demonstrated well in Round 1 where he finished with the second most wins with 11 wins and 4 losses with ace stats of 2 wins and 3 losses. He was seeded into the 2009 Nate MSL and the 2009 EVER OSL thanks to his deep runs in the Avalon MSL and the Bacchus OSL. He finished his Round of 32 group in second place with victories over type-b and Hyuk. He defeated type-b using a very creative and unusual build where he made several Spore Colonies to defend against the muta attack and then teched to Queens and Hive. Using ensnare he turned aerial fights in his favour. Eventually his Queen, Devourer, Muta and Crackling force overcame type-b's Muta, Crackling and Defiler army. Despite ZerO's creative use of Queen's, he claims that this build was made by teammate Crazy-Hydra. ZerO is set to play Flash in the round of 16 with Flash removing Fighting Spirit from their match. ZerO has expressed a desire to break Flash's TvZ streak after his own ZvP streak was ended by Pure but stated he was not too happy about having to play Flash.. Seeded into the OSL round of 36, ZerO defeated Firebathero 2-0 before moving onto to his round of 16 group made up of Hwasin, Pure and Yellow[Arnc]. He went 2-1 in his group, dropping a game to Pure but he must await the result of Yellow[arnc] and Hwasin before he knows whether he will have to play a tiebreaker or whether he will qualify straight into the round of 8.

Yarnc defeated Hwasin in the final game and forced the tiebreaker. Pure defeated Yarnc in the first match before losing to Zero in the second. Zero then defeated Yarnc, causing Zero to qualify 2-0, Pure to qualify 1-1 and leaving Yarnc knocked out of the OSL.

ZerO was set to play Movie in the OSL and Flash in the MSL, both in split day games. In his OSL series, Movie won the opening game against ZerO giving him a 1-0 after a large battle swung in Movie's favour due to fortunate Reaver shots despite Zero's unit advantage. In the second game on Eye of the Storm, Movie's strong PvZ dismantled a faltering Zero and gave Movie the 2-0 victory.

He started his MSL series against Flash with another opening loss. ZerO set up a fake 2-Hatch Muta build but his Spire was not scanned by Flash, leaving his deceit to go un-noticed. Flash delayed ZerO's third expansion despite very strong micro from ZerO and with a strong grip on the game, over-ran ZerO with masses of Marines. In the second game on the Terran favoured Match Point, ZerO used early Mutalisks to harass Flash before double expanding, taking advantage of Flash's late turrets. Flash attempted to push out and take out an expansion but ZerO showed great micro to defend the push. After Lurkers killed turrets and the Muta attack continued, Zero took more bases and when Swarm was ready, destroyed Flash's army and forced a gg. ZerO attempted the same opening in the third game on Odd-Eye but Flash had turrets ready this time. Zero gathered early Guardians but Flash read him well and went for 3-Port Wraiths. With Medic-Marines and Wraiths, Flash over-ran Zero and knocked him out of the Round of 16.

Style

ZerO started his career as an inconsistant Zerg player with a flair for ZvZ mirrors. His good Muta-Micro and strong strategy gave him the edge against opponents. With the introduction of Holy World in the 2009 Bacchus OSL, ZerO first unveiled his creative side by using a Queen to infest the command centre against Kal. Using overlord drops, he contained Kal and eventually broke his front, winning the game. He used a similar strategy against Hwasin and soon this creative flair was a strong part of his play. He went on to use Spawn broodlings against Bisu and Pure to snipe high templar and even used Queen's in ZvZ to give himself the edge in aerial battles. His use of Queens has earnt him the nickname "The Young Prince" or "The Zerg Prince" from Korean and Foreign fans.

Facts

• In the Lost Saga MSL, ZerO only played a single game against a non-Zerg opponent, Bisu (who at the time was considered the strongest player in the tournament), which he won. His strong ZvZ carried him to the semifinals afterwards, beating YellOw[ArnC] and Savior in Ro16 and Ro8 respectively.
• Zero is the only player to exploit the neutral Command Center on the map Holy World, turning it into an Infested Command Center and producing Infested Terrans. He did this in his games against Kal and Hwasin.
• Zero's nickname is "Young Prince" due to his strong affinity with Queens.
• Interviewed by Artosis in February 2010 on SCforAll.

Accomplishments

• Lost Saga MSL semifinal appearance
• Avalon MSL quarterfinal appearance
• 2009 Bacchus OSL quarterfinal appearance
• 2nd place in Blizzcon 2009 Tournament
• 2009 EVER OSL quarterfinal appearance
• Korean Air Starleague(OSL) quarterfinal appearance
• Korean Air Starleague Season 2(OSL) quarterfinal appearance
• PDPop MSL semifinal appearance
• ABC Mart MSL 2nd Place

Notable Games

ZvT

• vs Flash SPL 08-09 -Excellent display of ZerO playing at his best vs one of the best players at the time.

ZvP

• vs Bisu, Heartbreak Ridge, 2008 Bacchus OSL, Ro16 - Showcases ZerO playing creatively by using Queens to broodling Bisu's High Templars and create deciding momentum in the game.
• vs PerfectMan, Fighting Spirit, 2010 Korean Air OSL, S1 - Facing an admittedly mediocre opponent, ZerO again uses Queens to snipe High Templars at a critical moment, making his mass crackling follow-up viable. The gas saved by going mass lings allows ZerO to throw in Ultralisks as well, off 3 bases.
• vs Bisu, Neo Aztec, 2010-11 Shinhan Bank Proleague, Round 5 - With hes team in a shaky league position ZerO is sent out to play an Ace match against Bisu, bearing 28-6 PvZ record in 2010-11 season during that time. ZerO opens in an amazingly greedy manner, especially taking into account Bisu's style of PvZ. Nevertheless, he shows great awareness and quick responses, which, coupled with great macromanagment ability, allows him to negate the threat and establish control over the game.

ZvZ

• vs Jaedong, Shinhan Winners League -Considered one of the highest-level ZvZs ever played.
• vs Type-b, 2009 NATE MSL Round of 32 - With a creative strategy, ZerO defeats Type-b with Queens and high-tech units.
• vs Hyuk on Match Point, MST 2010 - Zero makes a rare ZvZ proxy Hatchery.