Midas
Overview[edit]
Jun "Midas" Sang Wook is a StarCraft progamer from South Korea who played Terran for WeMade FOX.
Biography[edit]
Though never having reached the finals of a Starleague, Sang-Wook Jeon is considered one of the strongest Terrans in history. For a long time he was known for his fierce TvP match-up, which was accepted as the best in the world during his prime. He was also one of the only Terrans able to stand up against sAviOr in 2006, proving his TvZ was also top-class.
Before StarCraft[edit]
Midas began his gaming career as a player of the game Three Kingdoms II. He participated in a WCG Challenge event in 2000, and placed second in the tournament, earning a prize of 2 million Won. He continued playing throughout the RTS boom in Korea and continued playing Phantagram's RTS Kingdom Under Fire. After becoming an extremely famous gamer in that scene, he decided to change games. He considered both Warcraft 3 and StarCraft, but chose StarCraft because of its popularity. At this point, he quit school and became a full-time progamer.
Early Years[edit]
Midas's first StarCraft tournament experience was in the 2003 Stout MSL preliminaries, where he beat fOru, one of the best PvT players of the time. Although he lost his next match to LeadeR, Head Coach Gyu Nam Cho of GO took notice of Midas for his victory. After TheMarine changed teams from GO to KTF, Midas was offered membership in GO by Head Coach Cho.
Midas next garnered popularity in the 2003 neowiz pmang Cup, when he performed extremely well, especially on the map Another Day, where he had a 7:2 record. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to perform as well in individual leagues, and suddenly lost interest in gaming, so he left the team in April 2004 to take a law school exam. However, he quickly returned to gaming later that year by making it into both the Round of 32 in both the OSL and MSL. He also stormed through WCG Korea with an astonishing 10-0, beating players such as XellOs and fOru, thus earning his place in the grand finals in San Francisco. At the grand finals he proved himself again and fought his way to the gold match to face XellOs. The games were intense but Midas ended up being defeated 0-2. Meanwhile, his OSL and MSL run were both stopped at the Round of 8. After his performance in those individual leagues, Coach Cho transferred both him and GoRush to SKT, thus giving him an official contract as a progamer and yearly salaries.
Peak Year[edit]
The highlight year of Sang-Wook's career was 2006. He placed 4th in MSL and 3rd in OSL and also gained 3rd place in WCG. However, he was far more well known for his performance in Proleague, contributing heavily to SKT's Proleague victories. As the then-unknown player IPXZerg started to dominate the Brood War scene, Midas was considered to be one of his greatest rivals. By that year the TvP virtuoso had become very scary in every other match-up, and his TvZ was also considered one of the best in the world. Midas challenged sAviOr in the 2006 Shinhan Bank OSL Season 3, and by being seeded higher he picked him to his group. It was widely considered as a suicide move, but "Baby Bear" actually pulled it through and beat the Maestro. After the group stages Midas got to pick his next opponent and picked Ma Jae-Yoon again, but this time the prey fought back and sank Sang-Wook into oblivion.[1]
Decline and Brief Resurgence[edit]
In 2007, Midas's passion in StarCraft declined, and so he entered a slump. However, he was able to regain his passion briefly in 2008, and made it to the Round of 8 of the OSL before being beaten by Best. He considered retirement after this loss, but he decided to give progaming another shot.
During the 2009 Free Agency, Midas became a free agent, but did not receive any offers due to long slumps and the repayment policy. He ultimately returned to SK Telecom T1, but with an uncertain future since he was not able to make the roster.
As of September 2009, Midas joined WeMade FOX, bolstering their already impressive Terran lineup.[2]
When WeMade FOX disbanded their team in 2011, Midas decided to retire from progaming and enter military service. He decided to not coach or play StarCraft 2 as he would only have one year to pursue either path before he would have to enter military service due to age restrictions. In addition, he had been experiencing chest pains for quite some time and was diagnosed in 2011 with stress-induced angina pectoris. He thus wanted to lead a life as devoid of stress as possible.
Trivia[edit]
- Midas is renown for being terse, particularly the “nope” incident. The “nope” incident occurred during a Starleague group selection. The commentators, Jun Yong Joon, Um Jae Jyung, and Kim Do Hyung commented that they were apprehensive about interviewing Midas due to his trend of providing short answers. When he was asked “Did you have anyone you wanted to play in mind?” he replied “Nope.” He was also asked “Do you have confidence in yourself to win?” to which he replied “Yes when I do, no when I don’t.”
- Midas's popularity in the Korean community has given rise to many catchphrases, comics, and nicknames, including 'Midas Bear'
- Notorious for his bad or awkward ceremonies.
Accomplishments[edit]
Date | Place | Tier | Tournament | Team | Result | Prize | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009-08-08 | 1st | Premier | 2008-09 Shinhan Bank Proleague | TBD | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2008-10-10 | 5th - 8th | Premier | 2008 Incruit OSL | 0 : 2 | $2,415 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2007-03-31 | 2nd | Showm. (Maj.) | 2007 CJ SuperFight 5 | TBD | $8,581.34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2006-11-08 | 3rd | Premier | 2006 Shinhan Bank OSL Season 2 | 2 : 1 | $8,678 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2006-10-22 | 3rd | Premier | WCG 2006 | 2 : 0 | $8,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2006-08-06 | 2nd | Major | WCG Korea 2006 | 1 : 2 | $2,093.92 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004-10-10 | 2nd | Premier | WCG 2004 | 0 : 2 | $10,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004-08-15 | 1st | Major | WCG Korea 2004 | 2 : 0 | $3,039.47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004-02-29 | 1st | Premier | 2003 Neowiz Pmang Cup Proleague | 4 : 1 | (Toona) | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2004-02-28 | 3rd | Premier | LG IBM MBC Team League | 2 : 4 | (4U) | $5,117 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Extended list of results |
Place | Year | Event/League |
---|---|---|
2nd | 2003-2004 | iTV Team League All-Star & Special Matches |
WCG Korea Champion | ||
WCGC Korea 2003 Preceded By: H.O.T-Forever |
WCG Korea 2004 Midas |
WCG Korea 2005 Succeeded By: XellOs |
Rivalries[edit]
Kwanro[edit]
Notable Games[edit]
TvT[edit]
TvZ[edit]
- vs. sAviOr on Hitchhiker, 2006-2007 3rd Shinhan Bank OnGameNet StarLeague, 2007-02-02
TvP[edit]
Gallery[edit]
References[edit]
Links[edit]
- Jeon Sang Wook (Midas) Returns as ‘High-Class Engine’, Meets with Fans — Fomos interview translated by Jaester88. [2010.04.22]