Haksal

Kim Hyo-jong (Korean: 김효종), better known by his online alias Haksal, is a professional South Korean Overwatch player who plays for the New York Excelsior of the Overwatch League (OWL.) He previously competed for the Vancouver Titans before mutually parting ways with the organization. Kim began his professional Overwatch career playing for RunAway, where he was named OGN's APEX Season 4 most valuable player and won 2018 Season 2 of Overwatch Contenders Korea. In the Overwatch League, Park signed with the Titans in their first year of existence. With the Titans, he reached the 2019 Grand Finals, where they fell to the San Francisco Shock. Kim received the first-ever OWL "Rookie of the Year" award in the 2019 regular season.

This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.
Haksal
김효종
(Kim Hyo-jong)
Personal information
Born2000/2001 (age 18–19)[1]
HometownSeoul, South Korea[2]
NationalitySouth Korean
Career information
StatusActive
LeagueOverwatch League
Current teamNew York Excelsior
GamesOverwatch
RoleDamage
Career history
2016–2018RunAway
2019–2020Vancouver Titans
2020–presentNew York Excelsior
Career highlights and awards
  • OWL rookie of the year (2019)
  • OWL Stage champion (2019)
  • OWL All-Star (2019)
  • OWL Role Star (2019)
  • OGN APEX most valuable player (2017)
  • OWC Korea champion (2018)

Professional career

RunAway

Kim began his professional Overwatch career as one of the founding players of Korean team RunAway and played his first official match on October 26, 2016.[3] He quickly made a name for himself as a talented Genji player in OGN's APEX Season 1.[4][5][6] The team competed in all four seasons of the APEX tournament series and reached the finals twice – in Season 2 and Season 4. Although they failed to take the championship both times, Kim was named the APEX Season 4 Most Valuable Player.[7][8]

After the inception of the Overwatch League, the APEX series ended, and RunAway began to compete in the newly formed Overwatch Contenders (OWC) series. Kim won his first competitive Overwatch title in OWC Season 2.[9] Following, Kim helped his team win the NetEase Esports X Tournament over The One Winner after securing a five-kill on the final map Volskaya Industries to close out the series and claim their second major tournament title.[10]

Vancouver Titans

On December 1, 2018, the Aquilini Group announced that Kim, along with all of the other members of RunAway, had been signed to their new expansion team Vancouver Titans for the 2019 Overwatch League season.[11] Although he was best known for his talents playing the damage heroes like Genji, Kim spent the majority of his play time on the support hero Brigitte due to the prominent three support, three tank meta in the OWL throughout the first three stages of the season. Kim picked up a Stage 1 title and reached the Stage 2 finals with the team.[3] After the introduction of the 2-2-2 role lock in Stage 4, in which teams were locked-in to playing two damage, two tank, and two support heroes, Kim returned to playing damage heroes and had the highest player impact rating, an official rating is a system used by Overwatch League statisticians, in the stage.[12] In a 4–0 sweep over the Florida Mayhem, Kim amassed 27 Dragonblade kills on Genji to set an Overwatch League record for most Dragonblade kills per 10 minutes.[13] For his excellent play throughout the season, Kim was selected for the 2019 All-Star Game,[14] named an OWL Role Star for DPS,[15] and named the 2019 OWL Rookie of the Year.[1] The Titans reached the 2019 Grand Finals where they faced the San Francisco Shock; Kim went head-to-head against the OWL MVP Jay "sinatraa" Won throughout the match, but the Titans lost the match.[16] The entire roster of the Titans, including Haksal, left on May 6th, 2020, making him a free agent.[17]


New York Excelsior

Haksal joined the New York Excelsior on June 5th, 2020.[18]

International career

On July 26, 2019, it was announced that Kim was selected as a member of Team South Korea for the 2019 Overwatch World Cup (OWWC).[19] With the team, Kim picked up a bronze medal after falling to Team USA in the semifinals and defeating Team France in the third-place match.[20]

Further reading
  • Trautman, Ben; Blizzard Entertainment (November 11, 2019). "The Color of Champions: A Closer Look at Haksal and Sinatraa". Overwatch League.
  • Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong (September 27, 2019). "Now We Are Titans". The Players' Tribune.

References
  1. Howard, Brandon (September 6, 2019). "Haksal Wins The 2019 Overwatch League Rookie Of The Year". TheGamer. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  2. "Haksal Player Detail Page". Overwatch League. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  3. Erzberger, Tyler (September 25, 2019). "Titans, Haksal underdogs again entering OWL grand final". ESPN. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  4. Corsona, Sky (October 14, 2016). "The Massacre - Haksal strikes during the OGN APEX League". GosuGamers. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  5. Salomonsson, Fredrik (November 16, 2016). "Get to grips with Korea's world-conquering Overwatch scene". PCGamer. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  6. Qu, Bonnie (February 12, 2019). "The Vancouver Titans are the League's Contenders success story". Heroes Never Die. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  7. Young Gu, Rachel (November 16, 2017). "Meet Flowervin, the woman behind RunAway". ESPN. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  8. Venkatesh, Aarthi (September 6, 2019). "Overwatch League 2019: Haksal named Rookie of the Year". Sportseeda. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  9. Rand, Emily (February 14, 2019). "Titans hope to run away with Overwatch League Season 2". ESPN. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  10. O'Brien, Joe (September 27, 2019). "Haksal shows he's still an insane Genji player at NeXT Overwatch tournament". Dexerto. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  11. "Overwatch: Vancouver Titans reveal branding, roster". ESPN. Reuters. December 1, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  12. Richardson, Liz (September 5, 2019). "Haksal is Overwatch League's Rookie of the Year". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  13. Cooney, Bill (July 29, 2019). "Titans' Haskal dominates the Mayhem, setting a new Overwatch League record". Dexerto. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  14. Buchholtz, Matt (May 9, 2019). "Overwatch League All-Stars 2019 Reserve Rosters Revealed". Twin Galaxies. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  15. Richardson, Liz (August 31, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals Role Stars awards". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  16. Amenabar, Teddy (September 30, 2019). "Shock and Awe: San Francisco's versatility sweeps aside Vancouver Titans for Overwatch League title". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  17. "A letter to our fans". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  18. "Haksal joins the New York Excelsior". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  19. "South Korea unveils Overwatch World Cup roster". ESPN. Reuters. July 26, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  20. Garst, Aron (November 3, 2019). "South Korea fail to win Overwatch World Cup for first time". ESPN. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Incumbent		 OWL Rookie of the Year
2019		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.