Fnatic saw one largely successful era end after it bade goodbye to not only a Fnatic team legend but also one of the Summoner’s Rift’s best players – Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim.
The French star has enjoyed a victory-laden campaign since entering the League of Legends scene as a teenager six years ago, and now he is ready to call it a day and retire from active play.
“Entire years of sweat and late nights, from Mondays to Sundays for months finally were worth. It is all professional and personal, all at the very same time. The world you brought me in is a very unique way of life, and only you, esports, could have offered that,” said Kim in a letter addressed to esports in his official Facebook account.
“Today the situation is different. I’m now 24, and to be completely honest with you, I am feeling more and more exhausted after hours of playing. Everything has become more difficult to do for the last few months even though my inner motivation is still as strong as on the first day – that I can promise you.”
But as he said in his letter, the pull of esports is really hard to deny, especially now that all things are turning up for the video game world.
So even though YellOwStaR has decided to retire as a player, he will stay in the industry, this time as the head of the esports division of Paris St. Germain, the French football giants who want to dip its fingers in the growing business of gaming.
Now that Kim has decided to close the door on one journey and open up another for the next chapter of his life, let us see what made YellOwStaR one of the brightest personalities in all of LoL.
SHINE ON
If it seems like we are overstating Kim’s legacy, we are not.
He is a five-time LCS champion, and is one of only two players who reached all five of LoL’s annual World Championship, along with US’ Marcus ‘Dyrus” Hill.
Over his six-year career he has played as an AD carry and as a support, generating applause because of his versatile play style, leadership and sick Ashe Arrows.
Starting from his debut with Against All Authority in September 2010 up to his last playing season with Fnatic, YellOwStaR has been a competitor, a true grind-it-out player who can almost always find ways to lead his team into wins.
Kim helped AAA reach the first World Championship in 2011, but lost in the final against a team called MyRevenge, who will eventually become today’s Fnatic.
He transferred to Millenium after the Worlds, but came back to AAA for a short stint before going back to Millenium for the Season 2 World Championship.
BURN BRIGHTER
YellOwStaR then appeared for SK Gaming for the rest of 2012, before signing with Fnatic on January 2013 and there he enjoyed the longest success of his career.
The Kim-Fnatic relationship worked so well that the team won five of six European LCS from 2013 to 2015. The only time they lost was in the 2014 EU LCS Summer Playoffs when they bowed down to Alliance in the finals.
His marriage with Fnatic temporarily ended when he left Europe and moved to North America and joined Team SoloMid.
TSM had an All-Star lineup with YellOwStaR, Doublelift, Bjergsen, Svenskeren and Hauntzer, but Kim and the group failed to realize the team’s potential and did not win any major competition, with a second place finish at the 2016 NA LCS Spring Playoffs as their best performance together.
GROWTH
Kim rejoined Fnatic in May of 2016 but like stated earlier, he has grown older, and the grueling hours that helped him produce his special career has taken its toll and made him decide to retire from competitive playing and take up the role as a manager.
As the head of PSG’s esports division, YellOwStaR is now asked to scout for players and build a team that can reproduce what he and Fnatic achieved during his prime.
PSG’s team Huma, is set up in Berlin and has no members sign as of press time, giving Kim the chance to create the squad he envisions from scratch.
“The main objective of 2017 will be to go to the LCS, the first League of Legends division,” said Kim.
Sources:
http://www.fnatic.com/content/96745
http://www.thescoreesports.com/lol/news/11078-yellowstar-to-manage-paris-saint-germain-esports
http://lol.esportspedia.com/wiki/YellOwStaR
http://www.thescoreesports.com/lol/news/11073-yellowstar-retires-from-professional-league-of-legends
