Life (cyber sportsman)

In March 2011, at the age of 14, he joined the ZeNEX team. A year later, he took part in the Global StarCraft II League and won it, becoming the youngest cybersportsman to ever win this cup. A week later, he won the MLG 2012 Fall Championship, and in December - the GSL Blizzard Cup ^[1] .

In 2012, the general manager left ZeNEX, which led to problems with funding and the loss of training camp, which is why players had to train from home. The head coach of the StarTale team, who did not want the ZeNEX team to collapse due to management problems, suggested that the teams unite by August 1, 2012. As a result of this association, Life joined the StarTale ^[2] team. The transition had a positive impact on the game of Life, since StarTale was a much more seriously organized team ^[1] .

In 2013, he won MLG Winter, his first StarCraft II championship : Heart of the Swarm , beating Young Ho Ho in the finals. At the DreamHack Summer held in the same year, he was the favorite to win, but quickly left the tournament, because by that time he had practically stopped training. By the end of the year, he returned to training and showed a good result in the DreamHack Bucharest, IEM NY, DreamHack Winter and ASUS NorthCon competitions ^[1] .

In 2014, after defeating SoO Yoon Soo in the first GSL season, Life’s interest in great sport and training faded away again. However, by the end of the year, realizing that he had scored enough tournament points to qualify for the WCS final, he returned to training and was able to return to form in a few weeks, becoming the 2014 world champion. By the second half of 2015, he again lost interest in the sport, but again scored enough points to qualify for the WCS, where he reached the final and lost to Kim "sOs" Yu Jin ^[1] .

Lee Sung Hyun was addicted to gambling . In the ZeNEX and StarTale teams, they tried to fight this addiction, but in February 2015, Life switched to the KT Rolster team and began to spend huge amounts on gambling ^[1] .

In January 2016, Life joined the Afreeca Freecs team formed by former StarTale members ^[3] . Shortly thereafter, he was arrested ^[1] for match-fixing matches held in 2015. He was sentenced to imprisonment and a fine of 70,000,000 Korean won (approximately 58,000 US dollars). In addition, he was banned from participating in e-sports competitions, and his name was removed from the list of WCS winners. ESPN magazine called this event the main e-sports disappointment of 2016 ^[4] .

Life had an innovative style of play based on a high level of aggression, counterattacks and timing. In the game, Life often relied on psychology: he guessed where his opponent was looking at at the moment of the game, attacking from uncomfortable directions, or vice versa, he specifically distracted the opponent’s attention to conduct a successful attack in another part of the map ^[1] .

• TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 (2nd place)
• 2012 Global StarCraft II League Season 4: Code S (1st place)
• 2012 MLG Fall Championship (1st place)
• 2012 GSL Blizzard Cup (1 place)
• Iron Squid - Chapter II (1st place)
• 2013 MLG Winter Championship (1st place)
• 2013 DreamHack Open: Bucharest (3-4 places)
• IEM Season VIII - New York (1 seat)
• 2013 DreamHack Open: Winter (2 place)
• ASUS ROG NorthCon 2013 (3-4 place)
• 2014 Global StarCraft II League Season 1: Code S (3-4 place)
• 2014 DreamHack Open: Bucharest (1st place)
• IEM Season IX - Toronto (3-4 place)
• 2014 WCS Global Finals (1st place)
• 2014 DreamHack Open: Winter (2 place)
• IEM Season IX - Taipei (1 seat)
• 2015 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 1: Main Event (3-4 place)
• 2015 Global StarCraft II League Season 1: Code S (1st place)
• GiGA internet 2015 KeSPA Cup Season 1 (3-4 place)
• 2015 WCS Global Finals (2 place)