For the most part, StarCraft 2 winnings go to Koreans, there is no arguing that. However, there still has to be one that is best, doesn’t it?

Jung Hoon “MarineKing” Lee

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There is little argument that the start of the year belonged to MarineKing (and, partly, to DRG but more on that later). Coming from a long (long!) string of second places in 2011, MKP came to MLG to get his first gold. And then he returned to get another one as if he couldn’t get enough of those.

Though that was the last time MKP held a trophy in his hand this year, the rest of his run was no less than impressive with consistency being the main theme. Second at Spring Arena 1 and third at Spring Championship made him one of the most terrifying players to have attended MLG. In between he threw in a top six at IPL 4 and ended the year with back-to-back GSL top 8’s which, in the days of champions struggling to maintain their Code S status, is almost equal to winning a foreign tournament.

2012 achievements:
1st: MLG Winter Arena
1st: MLG Winter Championship
2nd: MLG Spring Arena 1
3rd: MLG Spring Championship

Soo Hoo “DongRaeGu” Park

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Rewind to the start of 2012 once again. Where there’s MKP, there’s also DongRaeGu, the two entangled in what seemed to be never-ending battle for MLG trophies. And as the year went by, DRG amplified his advantage.

In all honesty, it was at GSL where DRG’s run began. Gold at Arena of Kongs and Code S Season 1 fired off the year for the zerg. Once MLG Winter was behind, Spring Arena 1 and Spring Championship trophies followed; silver at IPL Hot Import Nights was also conquered. A GSL top four came next and after it a second place at the first ever SC2 OSL as if only to disperse the talks of a DRG slump that were making the headlines. A strong year for DRG, a strong one indeed.

2012 achievements:
1st: GSL Season 1
1st: MLG Spring Arena 1
1st: MLG Spring Championship
2nd: OSL Season 1
2nd: MLG Winter Championship
2nd: MLG Winter Arena

Jong Hyun “Mvp” Jung

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One cannot possibly talk about “best Korean player” and not mention Mvp. Though it was a difficult year for the record-breaking terran, he ultimately gave zero damns and broke even more records.

Ending a player of 2011 in pretty much every award ceremony, Mvp had a difficult first months of 2012 until he did what he does best: win a GSL title, and his fourth one to that. He had to beat several of the best TvPers in the business to make it that far (including PartinG and Squirtle) and gave us one of the best GSL finals the tournament has ever seen.

Struggling with wrist pain held Mvp back for some month before he attended IEM Cologne, his first premier ESL tournament. IM’s ace would go on to deliver another meaty batch of amazing games before taking the gold. Just two months later, he would go on to compete for yet another GSL title, becoming the first player to be at seven GSL grand finals. Despite ending up on second place, Mvp would once again show class before slowing down at the end of the year.

2012 achievements:
1st: GSL Season 2
1st: IEM Cologne
2nd: GSL Season 4

Dong Nyoung "Leenock" Lee

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There’s a pattern in Leenock’s behavior where he starts the year slow but absolutely destroys the second half of it. Thus, it was not until Summer Championship that the Leenocktopus arrived in full force, taking first and backing it up with a silver at Fall Championship immediately after.

The hot streak continued as FXO’s zerg took flight to Las Vegas to grab another championship (where he would drop just five games and all of them to Violet), while at the same time enjoying back to back GSL top 8’s.

A top four at the Blizzard Cup was the final run of Leenock for 2012.

2012 achievements:
1st: MLG Summer Championship
1st: IPL 5
1st: World E-Sports Masters
2nd: MLG Fall Championship

Hyeon Deok "HerO" Song

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Like Leenock, Hero started 2012 slow but gained more momentum as he moved forward. Top 3 at IPL Tournament of Champions and top four at GSL Season 2 gave start to his springtime, which generated enough momentum to carry him throughout the rest of the year.

The first gold came at IPL Hot Import Nights after a dramatic seven-set final against DRG. HerO continued on with a third place at WCS Asia before making showering himself in gold at DreamHack Winter and NASL 4 immediately after. Peppered with multiple top 8’s across a variety of premier tournaments, HerO’s performance in 2012 make him an excellent nominee for “Best Korean of 2012”.

2012 achievements:
1st: IPL Hot Import Nights
1st: DreamHack Winter
1st: NASL 4

Young Suh "Taeja" Yoon

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Putting on the colors of Team Liquid literally did magic with Taeja and the talented terran kicked off 2012 with back-to-back Code S top 8’s, just to warm up for what was following. Gold medals at Summer Arena, Assembly Summer and DH Valencia labeled Taeja with the elusive but well earned “best Terran in the world”. Amidst that were top fours at GSL Season 4 and MLG Summer, making Taeja the absolute king in the period of July-September.

Taeja would prove himself Liquid’s MVP in team leagues as well, all-killing IM and Prime at the IPTL 3 and bringing his team a silver medal. Taeja would see a silver finish to his 2012 after the competition with his teammate HerO about who’s the best at Team Liquid ended with a second place at DreamHack Winter.

2012 achievements:
1st: DreamHack Valencia
1st: Assembly Summer
1st: MLG Summer Arena
2nd: DreamHack Winter

Min Chul "MC" Jang

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Though nowhere his success in 2011, MC did win and did place high quite often. The trophies at HSC IV and IEM Worlds were the first of many big finishes to come.

In April, MC entered a slump and underperformed for long months with the exception of the Red Bull Battlegrounds championship that arrived just in time to remind the world that MC still exists. Come August, however, MC was in the top three of pretty much everything: HSC V, NASL 3, GSL Season 3, Assembly Summer and OSL Season didn’t give MC any gold but provided for big enough premier tournament platform to keep MC in the radar and maintain a consistent performance.

Unfortunately, MC saw a decline by the end of the year, but his numerous high placements were already enough to kick him into the list of nominees.

2012 achievements:
1st: HSC IV
1st: IEM Worlds
2nd: GSL Season 3
2nd: Assembly Summer

Seung Hyun "Life" Lee

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The 15 y/o SC2 prodigy Life is the biggest discovery of 2012 by far. Staying in the shadow of the team leagues, Life opened the year with all kills against Team Liquid and ReIGN but it was not until the fall of 2012 that he would shock the world.

Finishing second in TSL 4 was only a prelude to Life’s humongous success. In October, he would become the first GSL royal roader by winning Season 4 in a grand final worthy of the annals. A month later, he walked another royal road and destroyed MLG Fall Championship, taking the crown off Leenock’s head. To top it all came the Blizzard Cup championship which finished but days ago which put another yet another gold medal in Life’s hands. And if becoming the champions of champions does not qualify you for “Best Korean of the year”, we don’t know what does.

2012 achievements:
1st: GSL Season 4
1st: MLG Fall Championship
1st: Blizzard Cup
2nd: TSL 4

Dong Hwan "Violet" Kim

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Nine top four finishes, among which three first and two second places: this was the year for Violet, one of the brightest breakout players of the year. Between demolishing people in weekly cups, Violet took time to visit the premier and major events of the West to showcase that it’s not necessary to live and train in Korea to be an absolute monster.

Violet’s first places span across MLG Spring Arena 2, IEM Sao Paulo and MSI Battlegrounds and those were followed with more excellent performances later in the year, counting second at IPL 5 and NASL 4 within one week of each other.

The list of 2012 achievements for Violet is rich and there was literally no season during which the Korean was slacking.
1st: IEM Sao Paulo
1st: MLG Spring Arena 2
2nd: IPL 5
2nd: NASL 4

Lee Sak "Parting" Won

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Enter our final nominee, the hope of protoss in the dark zerg times PartinG.

Tutored by the coaches of StarTale, PartinG kept outdoing himself as we went deeper into 2012. While the first half of the year was not as eventful (resulting in “just” one Code S top four), PartinG quickly earned himself the title of “best PvT-er” in the world. But as it becomes every grand champion, the protoss was not satisfied with just that.

Gaining extreme prowess in the other two matches and especially PvZ, PartinG started to climb the ranks of WCS. The third place at WCS Korea and the second place at WCS Asia were, logically, followed with the greatest (or at least most expensive) trophy of them all: that of BWC. Two weeks later, PartinG would do it again and become world champion for the second time, this time on WCG grounds.

A run that deserves an appropriate end, you say? But of course and that is where the silver medal of the Blizzard Cup came in to make one very respectable application for “Best Korea”. The three team kills across three different team leagues only make it more spicy.

2012 achievements:
2nd: WCS Asia
1st: BWC
1st: WCG 2012
2nd: Blizzard Cup

VOTE: Best Korean