Flash

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Overview

Flash [help] [edit]

Player Information
Name:	이영호
Romanized Name:	Lee Young Ho
Birth:	July 5, 1992 (1992-07-05) (age 20)
Country:	South Korea
Race:	Terran
Team:	KT Rolster
Alternate IDs:	By.Flash
WCS Rank (Points):	#22 (400 points)
Links

To read about Flash's StarCraft: Brood War career, see Flash.

Lee "Flash" Young Ho is a StarCraft progamer from South Korea playing for team KT Rolster. He played his first official StarCraft II match during the hybrid 2011-2012 Proleague Season 2.^[1]

During his Brood War career, Flash was known for being one of the best and most dominant players in the history of the game, winning six Starleagues throughout his illustrious career (four in one year as well as the OSL/MSL in the same season). At the 2012 MLG Spring Pro Circuit, Flash won the KeSPA Exhibition Tournament by beating Bisu 2-0 in the finals in dominant fashion.

[edit] Biography

Flash came on to the Brood War scene as one of the youngest progamers to be televised at 14 years old, in 2007. His popularity skyrocketed when he won the 2008 Bacchus OSL at age 15, crushing Stork 3-0 in the finals.

Flash's career eventually reached new heights in 2010, as he went on a stunning winning spree. During this year, he was in finals of eight premier tournaments, winning five of them: two OnGameNet Starleagues, two MBCGame StarCraft Leagues, and the World Cyber Games 2010.

[edit] Wings of Liberty

[edit] Transition to StarCraft II

Following KT's win in the 2010-2011 Shinhan Bank Proleague final, while recovering from surgery on his right arm, Flash started playing StarCraft II on the ladder and quickly reached the Master League.^[2] In April 2012, he was reported to be practicing SC2 again and to be enjoying the game.^[3] In early May, Flash was reported to be considering to switch to Protoss, but kept practicing Terran as remaining with the same race for the upcoming hybrid BW/SC2 2011-2012 Proleague Season 2 seemed more suited.^[1] The South Korean player also stated that, in his opinion, it would take him a year to reach the skill level of the current SC2 top players, and one or two more years to reach his Brood War level of skills.^[1] On May 12, a South Korean website released the first videos of Flash practicing StarCraft II, playing Terran on the ladder.^[4]

Flash played his first ever official StarCraft II match on May 20, 2012, as KT Rolster faced CJ Entus in the 2011-2012 Proleague Season 2 first round, which he lost to EffOrt.^[5] He secured his first victory a week later, defeating Team 8's BaBy.^[6]

In early June, Flash was one of the eight KeSPA-affiliated players to be sent to the KeSPA exhibition tournament at the 2012 MLG Spring Championship which he won in a dominating fashion without dropping a map.^[7]

[edit] First Forays into Major StarCraft II Tournaments

Since the OSL would also fully transition into StarCraft II, Flash participated in the 2012 OSL KeSPA Dual Tournament on August 7, 2012. Flash took down Ryul2 in game one, and then advanced in to the winners bracket to face Last. After taking down Last, Flash advanced in to the 2012 SC2 OSL Season 1 with a total score of 2-0. Flash was placed in group D with three Protosses, MC, BeSt and San. He went 3-0 to place first and make it into the round of 16. There, he faced Last in the first round. Despite initially going 2-0, Flash ended up losing 3-2 to Last and therefore end his first SC2 OSL run.

Flash made his debut in the GSL in Code A of 2012 GSL Season 4. After making it through the preliminaries after beating fellow KeSPA player soO, Flash played Killer in the first round of Code A, and ended up beating him 2-1. In the following round, Flash was defeated by Mini and sent to the Up and Down Matches where despite tying for second place with a score of 2-2, lose the tiebreaker and miss his chance at Code S.

As one of the top 24 players in the KeSPA Hybrid Proleague, Flash was given a spot in the 2012 MLG vs Proleague Invitational. He placed fourth among the KeSPA players with an overall score of 40 - 8, therefore securing a spot for him in the playoff bracket. There, he faced EffOrt in the first round in a rematch of the 2010 Korean Air OSL finals. After narrowly beating EffOrt with a score of 4-3, he moved on to face soO in the following round. There, he lost with a score of 3-4, placing Flash in the top 8 of the tournament.

Due to his success in the MLG vs Proleague Invitational, Flash was given a group seed to the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit Fall Championship in Dallas. In the first round, Flash played Grubby, which generated a lot of hype due to the clashing between two of the most dominant players of the original StarCraft and of WarCraft III. Flash defeated Grubby and TheStC with scores of 2-0. He went on to face NaNiwa and was defeated and fell into the lower bracket, where he faced HwangSin, who he defeated 2-1. In the final of the Group Stages he once again played NaNiwa in an extended series, Flash managed to turn around the 2-1 deficit to take it all the way to game 7, then on Tal'darim Altar, Flash opted to go for a 11/11 proxy barracks attack against NaNiwa's one gate expansion build. Despite scouting the push coming, NaNiwa was unable to defend the marine-scv push and ultimately lose. Flash went on to play the GSL champion Life in the Winners Round 1. In the first game, Flash opted for a marine-tank composition against Life's ling-infestor-brood lord combo. Despite falling behind in the early game due to some heavy Infestor harass, Flash capitalized on Life's mistake of a-moving a large group of Infestors into tanks. After cleaning up unprotected Brood Lords and Corruptors, Flash destroyed Life's bases, causing the Zerg player to GG. In the second game, both players went for a similar composition, but with some good defense and incredible macro, Flash weathered Life's constant attacks. With a switch to Ultralisks, Life looked like he might have been in a dominant position, but Flash persevered and ended up taking down the 15 year old Zerg player, and moved on to the top four of the tournament. In the semifinals, Flash played Life in his second extended series of the tournament, after Life came through the losers bracket by beating Heart. Despite starting off in the lead due to the extending series, Flash ended up losing to the GSL champion with a score of 4-2 to take 3rd/4th in the tournament.

Flash played in Code A of the final season of 2012. In a repeat of last season, Flash made it to the second round of Code A once again only to miss out on another chance at Code S after losing a tiebreaker. Flash tied his Brood War rival Jaedong with a score of 3-2 in their Up and Down group, but due to his head to head loss against him, Flash would be denied entry into the Code S Wildcard tournament.

In the first match of 2012-2013 Proleague Round 1 (first all SC2 Proleague) he defeated Liquid`Zenio. In the second round, KT Rolster went up against EG-Liquid, Flash came out first for KT Rolster and performed an all-kill, the first of the tournament, taking out Revival, HerO, Taeja and JYP and giving KT Rolster a 4-0 victory, securing their place at the top of the league.

Flash managed to qualify for the first Heart of the Swarm Code S, by defeating Sola, Ryung and Rain in straight 2-0 sets.

[edit] Heart of the Swarm

Just 3 days after Heart of the Swarm launched, Flash competed in the the 2013 MLG Winter Championship. In this tournament, he continued using his economic openings displayed in Wings of Liberty, and helped popularize the usage of Widow Mines alongside regular bio play. He was defeated by Life in the finals, dropping multiple games to large Zergling and Baneling busts.

Flash continued to use this style throughout Proleague and Code S. In Code S, Flash was knocked down to Code A, after going 1-4 in a group with Parting, Life and Innovation. He went straight back into Code S, by beating Avenge 2-0.

[edit] Trivia

Flash holds the highest KESPA Point record ever, with 4,292.5 points in September 2010.
Flash is the most successful player in the history of progaming in terms of qualification (to BW tournaments).
Flash's widely accepted nicknames are "The Ultimate Weapon" and "God Young-Ho" or simply "God".
The "Unimpressed Flash Meme" refers to a series of humorous image macros depicting Flash being unimpressed with various topics.^[8]

[edit] Achievements

In Premier Tournaments
Date	Place	Event	Result		Winnings
2013-03-17	A22nd	2013 MLG Winter Championship	2 : 4	Life	$15,000
2012-11-04	A33 - 4th	2012 MLG Fall Championship	2 : 4	Life	$7,250

In Major Tournaments
Date	Place	Event	Result		Winnings
2012-12-13	A33 - 4th	MLG Tournament of Champions	1 : 3	Rain	-

In Premier Team Leagues
Date	Event	Result

2013-01-04	2012–2013 Proleague Round 2	A1 All Kill of team EG-Liquid
2013-01-04	2012–2013 Proleague Round 2	Flash vs. Revival on Ohana Flash vs. HerO on Antiga Shipyard Flash vs. TaeJa on Neo Planet S Flash vs. JYP on Neo Bifrost