Bisu

Drafted into Pirates of Space (now MBCGame HERO) during the 2005 KeSPA rookie draft due to a lack of Protoss players on the team at the time, Bisu predominantly played in Proleague matches and Starleague qualifying matches during his first year and a half as a professional. Notably, he defeated Nal_rA, ChoJJa and Goodfriend during the early part of his career. By the end of 2006 he managed to obtain a career average of approximately 60% and was considered a solid player at the time.

Bisu burst into stardom after his stunning 3-0 defeat of sAviOr during the 2007 GOMTV MSL finals. During this time, he earned the nickname of "Revolutionist," forever changing the Protoss vs Zerg (PvZ) match-up. This was the most significant turning point of his career and the following months solidified his status as one of the greatest players of all time. During this period he managed to collect another MSL title by defeating Stork 3-2 in the finals, as well as a Starleague top 3 finish. His MSL streak was ended up a disappointing 3-1 loss to Mind in the Season 3 GOMTV MSL finals. Nonetheless, Bisu was also credited with reviving Protoss after years of Zerg and Terran dominance.

After leaving MBCGame HERO and signing with SK Telecom Team 1 in February 2008, Bisu entered into a slump; during this approximately half-year period, Bisu's win rate dropped to 50%. Bisu was knocked out of the individual leagues during their early stages and displayed disappointing Proleague results. In October 2008, Bisu broke out of this slump by going on a personal-best 12 game winstreak. As his performance continued to improve, he captured first place in the 2008 ClubDay MSL and first place for GOMTV Season 2 by defeating JangBi 3-1 in both finals.

After his two new titles, Bisu was disappointingly knocked out early from the following two MSLs (LostSaga and Avalon). His OSL "curse" culminated in the Batoo OSL, where his 11 game win streak was ended with a 3-0 upset loss to his teammate Fantasy. The overall strength of Bisu's play did not decline, however, and his win rate for the rest of the 2008-2009 Proleague season shot up to 80% (the best win/loss ratio of anyone), which contributed to SKT T1's first place finish for the regular season. SKT T1 went on to win in the playoff finals against Hwaseung Oz, with Bisu winning his only game against Perfectman in day 1 of the finals. His achievements in the 08-09 Proleague regular season led him to win the title of MVP, sharing the award with Jaedong.

While Bisu was seeded into the 2009 Nate MSL and the 2009 EVER OSL, he was knocked out of the two leagues in the round of 32 and the round of 36, respectively. These results were seen as highly surprising due to his caliber of opponent. He was eliminated from his MSL group 1-2 with losses to Guemchi and Bogus and was knocked out of the OSL 1-2 by Shine. Bisu played up to his usual standard in the opening round of the 09-10 proleague, finishing with very strong stats of 7 wins and 2 losses. His two defeats came at the hands of Luxury and a relatively unknown Protoss, Haksoo. His sound play continued in round 2, finishing with an 8-3 record and ace stats of 1-1, the second best Protoss stats for the round alongside Jangbi. This leaves him at 15-5, some of the best stats going into Winner's league.

2010

Going into and during the 2010 SPL Winners League Bisu experienced somewhat of a slump. Although he kept a 50% winrate during the time, he dropped several games, including the OSL qualifiers in which he lost to go.go 1-2, with go.go exploiting Bisu's tendency to play very safe standard against supposedly weaker players.

While analyzing VODs [I found out], when Bisu meets a player of my skill level, he always plays safely. As a result, I completely excluded the possibilities of Dark Templars and proxy plays from my thoughts. I think it worked out well because Bisu did what I wanted him to do. - go.go [1]

Bisu's performance along with the SKT T1 team, unable to qualify into the Winner's League playoffs, seemed to increase the pressure Bisu underwent leading to a paid vacation. SKT T1 claimed Bisu's mental and physical health had declined to worrisome levels and thus he might need some time to recover.

In the Bigfile MSL, Bisu was paired with Stats, Movie and Shuttle in group H of the MSL. Despite the group all being PvP, Bisu's strongest match-up, he lost 1-2 in his group, getting knocked out of both individual leagues in the first round for the second consecutive season. For the Hana Datoo MSL and the Korean Air OSL, Bisu showed a resurgence, sweeping through the preliminaries and cruising through the Ro32 and Ro16 respectively. However his MSL run was stopped by some tense games against Sea, and his OSL run ended when he lost 1-2 in his OSL group.

His return to form in 2010 Proleague began during the post-season playoff series. Although his PvP lost some of his luster, he was able to win some games, including a tense victory over Jaedong on Judgement Day. Throughout the playoff series against CJ Entus, WeMade Fox and STX Soul, he went 6-2 in the postseason, including a crucial Ace Match win against rising Protoss rookie Snow in game 3 on Polaris Rhapsody. He fell to Stats in the second set of the 2010 SPL finals, and SK Telecom T1 was forced to take second place with a 2-4 loss to KT Rolster. Ultimately his combined record for Winners League 2010 and Proleague Season 2009-2010 was 30-23, a relatively disappointing statistic for Bisu, especially in comparison to other players of his caliber.

2010 - 2011

As the 2010-2011 season of Proleague started, Bisu had begun the climb out of the slump he had experienced the previous season. SKT started the season very strongly with the help of Bisu's vastly improved play. Bisu started the season with a 12 game win streak, going undefeated for all of October and November 2010.

On November 26 Bisu played against Shine in order to advance to the round of 16 of the 2010 Bacchus OSL. With an 0-2 loss, Bisu was once again handed a relatively early exit from the tournament.

Back in Proleague, however, at the end of round 2 and the end of the calendar year, Bisu held an unmatched 17-2 record, or 89.5% winrate, with his only two losses coming to Kal and Action.

At this time, Bisu played in the 21st iteration of MBC Survivor, and managed to qualify for the round of 32 of the 2010-2011 PDPop MSL with a 5-2 record, losing twice to Kal in the process. He moved on to the round of 16 by moving out of Group H with a 2-0 record. He defeated Shine and finally managed to defeat Kal as well in order to advance. However, Bisu's run was cut short immediately afterward in the round of 16 at the start of 2011. Playing his weakest match-up, Bisu dropped out of the PDPop MSL at the round of 16 with an 0-2 loss to Stork. If Bisu had bested Stork and advanced, he would have been the likely favorite to win the championship because of his dominant PvZ and the large proportion of Zergs in the round of 8.

Bisu's dominant performance in Proleague persisted, however. Round 3 began the first of two rounds of the winners league format. Following a closely-contested Ace match loss to Flash to begin his winners league performance, Bisu scored three consecutive all kills over the span of 11 days against STX, Wemade Fox, and Ace. Bisu's dominating streak ended at 15 wins in the SKT vs Samsung Khan match, in which he scored 2 wins against Brave and Jangbi before finally falling to Khan's Stork. Bisu ultimately led SKT to win its first Winners League championship with a final record of 30 wins to 10 losses, including the Ace match in the semifinal against Hwaseung Oz's Jaedong and the championship-clinching game win against KT's Flash.

Around the end of winners league season were the spring MSL qualifiers, in which Bisu advanced to the round of 32 of the ABC Mart MSL with a perfect 2-0 record. Bisu was placed in the "Group of Death" for the round of 32, however, with Sea, Jaedong, and Flash. The games were played in late April 2011. After opening with a loss against Flash, Bisu eliminated Sea in his second game to force a rematch with Flash to determine the advancing player. Bisu lost after a tense PvT and once again was knocked out early in an individual league.

Two days following his loss in the ABC Mart MSL, Proleague resumed with round 5. Bisu once again defeated the majority of his opponents, helping SKT clinch the #1 berth for playoffs with a final combined record of 63 wins and 15 losses. SKT ultimately lost in the final 3-4 to KT, however, but Bisu easily clinched the MVP award with his record-shattering win tally.

2011 - 2012

The 2011-2012 SK Planet Proleague season was less than stellar for Bisu. After years of Proleague dominance, his performance fell somewhat and he ended the season with a 11-7 record (61.1%). Furthermore, he was knocked out of the preliminaries for the 2012 Tving OSL by RorO, continuing his long streak of Starleague failures.

However, he redeemed himself in the Proleague Grand Final against KT Rolster by winning both the first set of the series against Wooki and the ace match against Flash, securing another Proleague championship for SK Telecom T1. Coach Park later stated that he had considered both Fantasy (who had also defeated Flash earlier in the 2nd set) and Bisu for the ace match, but chose the latter after seeing the fire in his eyes.[2]

Due to the best of 5 format adopted in the final Proleague season and the lack of ace matches or Winner's League, Bisu's 63-win record remained untouched and continues to be the highest in Proleague history.

In the SK Planet Proleague Season 2, the final Proleague season with StarCraft: Brood War, Bisu maintained a respectable record, even while focusing on StarCraft 2, going 7-2 (77.8%). His last televised Brood War match was a victory against Sea. He finished his Brood War career with an Elo rating at 2308, below only Fantasy.[3]

2013 - 2014

Bisu announced his retirement from Starcraft II in September 2013, with reports noting the decision was prompted by Bisu's struggles during the 2012-2013 Starcraft II season and Bisu being demotivated by the significant decrease in the number of fans.[4]

A few weeks after the retirement announcement, Bisu would return to playing Brood War publicly on the Fish server while streaming on Afreeca.[5] Fortunately for his fans, Bisu's form did not cool off as he went 14-3 in his SOSPA Proleague debut and defeated Hero to win the 9th SonicTV Starleague in his SSL debut.[6]

Play Style

His PvZ games against sAviOr in the MSL finals, and his games thereafter, revolutionized how the match-up was played (hence gaining him the nickname of "The Revolutionist"). Relying on mass Corsairs to gain air superiority, he would strike the Zerg with timing attacks and harassment. From this style of play Bisu was able to show off his incredible multitasking abilities; many people believe Bisu's success lay not only in his strategic sense but also in his mechanics. This 'Bisu Build' brought the PvZ match-up into a new era, as Protoss started turning the tables against Zerg.

His signature harassment unit is the Dark Templar, and as such Bisu has been nicknamed "Ninja Toss" for employing their stealth and ability to sneak up on unsuspecting opponents. Bisu used to pair the Dark Templar with Corsairs to deliver a one-two punch to Zergs by eliminating the detection of Overlords and then dealing heavy damage to workers and structures with the DTs. Zergs have since developed a countermeasure, and now Corsair-DT combination attacks are rarely seen. Currently he favors aggressive approach to PvZ relying heavily or Corsairs for intel and Overlord hunting as well as Speedzeals to counter 5-Hatch Hydra based play.

Early in his career, Bisu would often use Dark Templar against his Terran opponents as well; he once stated that the easiest way to defeat a Terran opponent was to DT rush him. In more recent times however, Bisu has become more of a standard macro player against Terrans. He tends to prefer using Arbiters when the game reaches the middle/late stages. He has often been criticized for his Carrier play, but he has used them to great effect in conjunction to excellent reaver harass.