Lim Yo-hwan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids BoxeR |
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Lim Yo-hwan in 2021
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| Personal information | |
| Name | 임요환 (Lim Yo-hwan) |
| Nickname(s) | The Terran Emperor |
| Born | September 4, 1980 |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Career information | |
| Games | StarCraft StarCraft II |
| Playing career | 1999–2013 |
| Role | Terran |
| Coaching career | 2012–2013 |
| Team history | |
| As player: | |
| 2000–2002 | IS |
| 2002–2003 | Orion |
| 2003–2004 | 4U |
| 2004–2006 | SK Telecom T1 |
| 2006–2008 | Air Force ACE |
| 2008–2010 | SK Telecom T1 |
| 2010–2012 | SlayerS |
| As coach: | |
| 2012–2013 | SK Telecom T1 |
Lim Yo-hwan (Hangul: 임요환; Hanja: 林遙煥, born September 4, 1980), known online as SlayerS_'BoxeR' (or just BoxeR), is a famous former professional player of the computer game StarCraft. He is often called "The Terran Emperor" because he was so good at playing the Terran race in the game. Many people think he is one of the best StarCraft players ever and a big pop culture icon.
Lim won his first StarCraft: Brood War tournament in 1999. From 2001 to 2002, he won many big championships. These included two OnGameNet Starleague titles and two World Cyber Games gold medals. In 2002, he also started his own team called Team Orion. This team later became SK Telecom T1 (SKT T1) in 2004.
He joined the military in 2006, which is required in South Korea. There, he played on the new Air Force esports team. In late 2010, he stopped playing StarCraft: Brood War and started a StarCraft II team called SlayerS. He then returned to SKT T1 as a coach in 2012. He retired completely in 2013 due to health problems. Lim ended his playing career with 603 wins and 430 losses.
After retiring from esports, Lim became a professional poker player. He won his first Asian Poker Tour (APT) title in September 2018. He won his second APT title in January 2019.
Contents
Gaming Career
Early Days (1998–2000)
In 1998, when Lim was in high school in Seoul, South Korea, he fell in love with the video game StarCraft. He first played as the Protoss race. But after a game update, he switched to playing as the Terran race.
After the StarCraft expansion, StarCraft: Brood War, came out, Lim tried to create a gaming group called Slayer. When that was hard, he used the name SlayerS_'BoxeR' on Battle.net. He became very good and his name became well-known. In August 1999, a company president saw him playing at a PC Bang (a gaming cafe). He offered Lim the chance to become a professional gamer. Lim had to convince his parents, as gaming was not a common job then. After much effort, his parents agreed. In December 1999, Lim won his first tournament, the SBS Multi-Game Championship. In October 2000, he joined team IS, which later became Hwaseung OZ.
Becoming a Champion (2001–2003)
Winning an OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) title in your first season is called a "Royal Road." Even though the Terran race was thought to be weak, Lim achieved this in the 2001 Hanbitsoft OSL. He won 11 games and lost only one. His success showed that the Terran race could be strong, earning him the nickname "The Hope of Terran." Lim kept winning, taking the 2001 Coca-Cola OSL title too. He also won a gold medal at the World Cyber Games 2001. He finished second in the 2001 SKY OSL.
In April 2002, Lim won another championship, the 2002 KPGA 1st Tour. He reached the finals of the 2002 SKY OSL but finished second. At the end of 2002, Lim won his second gold medal at the World Cyber Games 2002. Because he won so many games between 2000 and 2002, Lim became known as StarCraft's first "bonjwa." A bonjwa is a player who is much better than everyone else for a long time. This is when he also got the nickname "The Terran Emperor."
In January 2003, Lim won the 2003 KTF Bigi Four Kings Battle. He beat Lee "NaDa" Yoon-yeol in the finals.
After his old team, IS, broke up, Lim started a new team called Orion in November 2002. This was for the new professional StarCraft Proleague. Orion was not expected to do well at first. But they got more players and finished second in the regular season. On September 30, 2003, Orion became the Proleague champions. They beat Hanbit Stars in the finals.
After this, the Orion Group offered to sponsor Lim alone. But Lim said no, believing a team sponsorship was better. So, he renamed the team to 4U. The 4U team kept winning, taking another Proleague title. In April 2004, a big company called SK Telecom bought the team. This created the famous team known as SK Telecom T1.
Later Years and Military Service (2004–2010)
Over time, Lim's win rate slowly went down. In 2001, he won 73% of his games. By 2004, it was 54%. During this time, newer and younger players started to appear. Even so, Lim still did well in some big tournaments. In 2004, he reached the finals of the EVER OSL but lost to his teammate Choi "Cheater Terran" Yeon-sung. In 2005, Lim was second in the So1 OSL. He was the oldest person to reach an individual league final. In 2005, his contract with SK Telecom T1 was worth $200,000, which was the biggest esports contract at that time.
In October 2006, Lim began his mandatory military service in South Korea. He joined the Republic of Korea Air Force for 27 months. On April 1, 2007, the Air Force started its own esports team, Airforce Challenge E-sports (ACE). Lim joined this team with other former pro gamers. He played 24 games and lost 38 while on the ACE team.
After finishing his military service on December 21, 2008, Lim returned to SK Telecom T1. His contract was still active until 2010. His first game back was on January 17, 2009. He lost that game, but SK Telecom T1 still won the 2008-09 Shinhan Bank Proleague. Lim got his first win after returning on October 25, 2009. This win was special because it made him the first former Air Force player and the first player in his 30s to win a Proleague match.
StarCraft II (2010–2012)
Lim's contract with SK Telecom T1 ended on August 31, 2010. On October 9, 2010, he announced he would switch to playing StarCraft II professionally. He planned to start by playing in the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) open tournament. In this tournament, Lim reached the quarterfinals. He faced Lee "NaDa" Yoon-yeol, a player he had never beaten in a major event. Their match was watched by millions and even caused the internet in Korea to slow down! Lim won this match. He then lost in the semifinals, finishing in the top four. On November 9, 2010, Lim announced he would form a new StarCraft II team called SlayerS.
In March 2011, Lim moved down from Code S, the top division in the GSL. He then focused on the Global StarCraft II Team League (GSTL). Lim and his SlayerS teammates won both the March and May 2011 GSTL championships.
Lim was invited to play at a big event in Columbus, Ohio, called Major League Gaming (MLG). But he had tendonitis in his shoulder, which is an injury usually seen in much older people. Because of his injury, Lim gave his invitation to his teammate Moon "MMA" Sung-won, who then won the event. In July 2011, Lim played in the MLG Pro Circuit in Anaheim. He did very well, staying undefeated in the group stage. He reached the upper bracket final but lost to Jeong "Mvp" Jong-hyeon. Lim then faced his teammate MMA in the lower bracket final. He lost to MMA and finished the event in third place.
Coaching (2012–2013)
In April 2012, it was reported that Lim would take a break from playing to get physical therapy. He had shoulder pain for over a year, which made it hard to play more than five games a day. He also had other injuries, including back pain and pain in his wrists and neck. From May 1, 2012, his shoulder injury stopped him from playing in matches. He had to drop out of his GSL games.
On August 16, 2012, SK Telecom T1 announced that Lim had joined the team as a coach. He signed a one-year contract. After coaching for eight months, Lim became the head coach on April 3, 2013. However, Lim decided to retire from professional esports completely on September 26, 2013, because of his health problems.
Player Style
Early in his career, Lim was very creative. He invented many new strategies that other players later used. He was especially good at using the Terran Dropship unit. He was also known for winning games even when things looked bad for him. He had amazing micromanagement skills, which means he was great at controlling his individual units. He would often keep playing even when he was far behind and still manage to win. However, some people thought his macromanagement (managing his economy and building units) was not as strong as other top players.
BoxeR is most famous for his creativity. He often built "proxy barracks" (barracks built close to the enemy). In many games, he would do quick attacks ("rushes") or use special units like "ghosts." These strategies made his games very exciting to watch. He is highly respected in StarCraft both in Korea and around the world.
Legacy
Lim was very important in making StarCraft and esports popular around the world in the 2000s. He became a pop culture icon. In 2003, the Korean government called Lim a "cultural celebrity." A writer named Seiji said that Lim was like Michael Jordan for basketball. He said Lim helped change esports from something only a few people liked into a mainstream culture that was shown on TV.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also said that Lim was "the most prominent gamer on the planet for any computer game that's ever existed."
Throughout his playing career, Lim won 603 games and lost 430, with a win rate of 58.4% in 1033 matches.
Awards and Honors
- Individual Titles
- 1999 SBS Multi-Game Championship
- 2000 Samsung Digital Cup KIGL King of Kings
- 2000 M.police Game League
- 2000 Korea.cnet Game Tournament
- 2001 World Cyber Games
- 2001 Coca-Cola Ongamenet Starleague
- 2001 Hanbitsoft Ongamenet Starleague
- 2001 3rd Game-Q Starleague
- 2001 Zzgame.com Progamer 32 Invitational
- 2002 World Cyber Games
- 2002 KPGA 1st Tour
- 2003 KTF Bigi 4 Kings
- 2003 Toona BIG 4 SPECIAL
- 2004 KT Megapass Nespot Premierleauge
- Team Titles
- 2003 KTF EVER Cup (Orion)
- 2003–04 LG IBM MBC Team League (Orion)
- 2004 Tucsan MBCGame Team League (SK Telecom T1)
- 2005 SKY Proleague Season One (SK Telecom T1)
- 2005 SKY Proleague Season Two (SK Telecom T1)
- 2005 SKY Proleague Grand Final (SK Telecom T1)
- 2006 SKY Proleague Season One (SK Telecom T1)
- 2008–09 Shinhan Bank Proleague (SK Telecom T1)
- 2011 GSTL March (SlayerS)
- 2011 GSTL May (SlayerS)
- Records
- Most wins on televised matches (500)
- First player to win more than one OSL (Hanbitsoft 2001, Coca-Cola 2001)
- First player to win two OSLs in a row
- First player to reach the OSL finals three times in a row
- First player to get 100 wins in Ongamenet Starleagues (OSL)
- Held first place in KeSPA rankings for the longest time – 17 months
- Halls of Fame
- Korea Esports Hall of Fame – Class of 2018
- Esports Hall of Fame StarCraft: Brood War – Class of 2012
- ESL Hall of Fame – Class of 2019
- Media Recognition
- Named ESReality's "Greatest Gamer of All Time"
- Named one of MTV's "Top 10 Most Influential Gamers of All Time"
- Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Award – 2020
After Esports
Poker Career
In December 2013, Lim started a new career as a professional poker player. His first big tournament was the Macau Poker Cup in January 2014. He reached the final table and finished eighth. Lim kept playing in different poker tournaments. In 2016, he won his first tournament title at the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Kickoff Manila. Later that year, he won another title at the APT Macau.
In September 2018, Lim won the APT Philippines Championships II event. This was his first APT championship win. He won a large prize of about $28,199. The next year, he won his second APT Championship title at the 2019 APT Vietnam Kickoff series in January. This victory earned him $87,946, his biggest prize from a live game. It also put him in 10th place on South Korea's all-time money list for poker.
At the 2020 APT Kick-Off Vietnam, Lim won his first APT Super High Rollers title. He won about $32,200. By January 2023, Lim had earned over $714,265 from poker tournaments.
Show Matches
On November 6, 2015, Lim played in a two-versus-two StarCraft show match at BlizzCon 2015. On February 20, 2016, Lim played in the KT GiGA Legends Match. This match included three other famous StarCraft players. Lim finished third in that event. Another show match with Lim happened on February 22, 2022, called "Again Lim Jin-rok." It was a series of games against YellOw. Lim won with a score of three to two. Over 210,000 people watched this event.
Personal Life
Lim was born on September 4, 1980. When he was young, he loved soccer and played it a lot. He went to Wonkwang University in 2002 and finished in 2006 with a degree in game science. He then went to graduate school at Sangmyung University.
During the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Lim met South Korean actress Kim Ga-yeon. They started dating, and their relationship became public in April 2010. In 2011, Lim and Kim got married without a ceremony. Their first child, a daughter, was born on August 1, 2015. They had a wedding ceremony on May 6, 2016, five years after they first married.
Media Appearances
Endorsements
Lim has had sponsorship deals with companies like LG and Intel. In 2011, he became an Intel spokesman. He appeared in a commercial with the K-pop group Girls' Generation (SNSD). The commercial showed him playing a StarCraft game against Girls' Generation member Im Yoona. The commercial was meant to promote Intel computers for gaming. During the filming, Lim and Im exchanged autographs. However, the commercial was later removed from Korean TV. This happened when Intel found out the gameplay footage was a replay of one of Lim's old televised matches.
Film and Television
Lim has been on many TV shows and in movies. In 2001, he was on an episode of KBS's Morning Yard. In 2006, he was on KBS Power Interview. He also appeared on entertainment shows like Let's Go! Dream Team Season 2 and Brain Survivor. He has also presented awards at shows like the Seoul Music Awards in 2004. Lim acted in the 2002 film Can't Live Without Robbery and the KBS TV show This is Love. He was a special guest on Saturday Night Live Korea in November 2013. In 2014, Lim was a cast member on The Genius: Rule Breaker. In 2022, he was a contestant on the web show Accomplices.
Books
Lim has written books about his life and StarCraft.
- Lim Yo-hwan's Dropship (Minu Communications, 2001).
- (Try and Be) As Crazy As Me (2004).
See also
In Spanish: BoxeR para niños
- StarCraft professional competition
