Hong Jin-ho

YellOw
Hong Jin-ho
Hangul	홍진호
Hanja	洪榛浩
Revised Romanization	Hong Jin-ho
McCune–Reischauer	Hong Chin-ho
Hong Jin-ho in the Shinhan Bank Starleague
Date of birth	(1982-10-31) 31 October 1982
Hometown	Daejeon
Nationality	South Korean
Current team	Xenics Storm
Games	Starcraft
Nickname(s)	[NC]...YellOw, YellOw, Kong, Kong Jin-ho

Hong Jin-ho (born 31 October 1982) is a South Korean television personality and former professional StarCraft player who plays under the alias [NC]...YellOw or simply YellOw. In 2012, he became the coach of the Xenics Storm League of Legends pro gaming team. As a television personality, he is most known for his appearances in reality survival show The Genius and variety show Crime Scene.

StarCraft career

Hong, nicknamed the "Storm Zerg"^[1] and "Kong(means bean in Korean) Jin-ho", is known for his aggressive and harass-style play, and for his rivalry with BoxeR.

Hong is famous for never having won first place in major StarCraft tournaments despite his strong performance. Hong managed to finish second place six times in the events, never once attaining a major championship, which earned him the title "King of Silver." While there are some tournaments in which he finished first, these records was invalidated when the KeSPA announced to accept only OSL and MSL records. His notable victories include first place in the 2003 ITV 5th Starleague, the Snickers All-Star league in 2005^[1] and the first BlizzCon invitational tournament.

Hong suffered his last major defeat against Han "Casy" Dong-wook in the semi-finals of the Shinhan Bank Season 1 OSL in 2006, and claimed 3rd place. Due to poor performance in the following OSL, Hong has fallen into a slump from which he has not recovered. Hong reached the round of 32 in the GOMTV Averatech Classic, but was eliminated by oDin(Joo Young-Dal). He enlisted in the Korean Air Force since November 2008 in the StarCraft team Air Force ACE.^[1]

After being a member of ROKAF ACE, Hong recovered his form slowly but steadily. The trigger was an old-fashioned 'storm-like' victory against Bisu[Shield] on 20 June 2009 in Shinhan Bank ProLeague 08-09, after 735 days of silence. He could not qualify for either OSL nor MSL since Shinhan Bank OSL season 2 in 2006, but in the end of Shinhan Bank ProLeague 09-10 season, Hong ended the season securing a 3-game winning streak, including a dramatic victory against Jaedong.

Hong officially announced his retirement from professional gaming on his website on 16 June 2011. At his retirement ceremony, BoxeR jokingly handed him an empty StarCraft 2 box. BoxeR said that the box was empty, but the account was at the Slayers clan house and if Hong ever considered transitioning into StarCraft 2, he knew where to go.

In August 2011 he appeared in a reality series entitled "Project A" on GOMtv. The series follows Hong as he attempts to qualify for the GOMTV Global StarCraft II League and relaunch his progaming career in StarCraft 2. The series premiered on 12 August 2011.^[2]

Post Retirement

On 16 June 2011, Hong announced his retirement from his StarCraft career. He is now currently a coach for League of Legends.

In 2013, he was cast among thirteen contestants for the first season of Korean reality television game show, "The Genius: Rules of the Game". This series debuted on tvN starting 26 April 2013. It featured weekly game challenges involving team politics and individual tactical play. Hong quickly became a fan favourite as he demonstrated his mental fortitude in strategic game play. He finished the series as the final champion, beating out other participants including celebrities, Harvard graduate and politician Lee Jun Seok, Mensa member Choi Jung Moon and legendary pro-gambler Jimmy Cha. The prize money was KRW 79,000,000 (approx.USD 70,000). Through this achievement, he received positive reviews that he enhanced the image of pro-gamer, and not to speak of his own recognition as a genius.

In November 2013, the second season of the programme, which was named "The Genius: Rule Breaker", began broadcasting. Hong was recast as a returning contestant, alongside Lim Yo-Hwan (SlayerS_`BoxeR`), his longtime StarCraft rival. He was eliminated in Episode 7. He was eventually invited as a guest to appear on a new spin-off programme "Genius Behind". This programme focuses on analyzing the episode that transpired in the previous week, and is meant as a lead-up to the airing of each new episode.

In 2014, Hong appeared on popular TV programmes such as "Radio Star" and "I Live Alone" on MBC; "Happy Together 3" on KBS; and was recruited as a cast member of "Crime Scene" on JTBC.

He also collaborated with other veteran Starcraft players to organise tournaments featuring former pro-gamers, with the eventual goal of setting up a league for veteran Starcraft players and reviving the fortunes of Starcraft. The first activity was the inaugural "Star Final Four" event match held on 5 February 2014. Hong competed with Kang Min (Nal_rA), Park Jun-Suk (Reach) and Lee Byung-Min (GoodFriend). He eventually won the event.

YellOw came out of retirement after he was one of eight players invited to the GOMtv classic in February 2014, one of the first televised Brood War tournaments in years.^[3][4] His final placement is unknown.^[5]

In 2015, Hong returned for the fourth season of The Genius entitled "The Genius : Grand Final" and the second season of "Crime Scene", getting 4th on the The Genius : Grand Final" and 1st on Crime Scene 2

Major achievements

Television appearances

See also

• StarCraft professional competition

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hong Jin-ho.

• Hong Jin-ho on Twitter
• Hong Jin-ho on Facebook