Kim Hyo-jong (), better known by Haksal, is a retired professional South Korean ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: ''Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fea ...

'' player. During his career, he was best known for his play on the damage hero Genji and support hero

Brigitte Brigitte is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Brigitte Amm, German rower * Brigitte Bardot (born 1934), a French actress and singer * Brigitte Becue (born 1972), a Belgian breaststroke swimmer * Brigitte Bierlein (bo ...

. He played in the Overwatch League (OWL) for the

Vancouver Titans The Vancouver Titans are a professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Titans compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2018, the Vancouver Titans beg ...

and

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017 ...

and in Overwatch Apex and Overwatch Contenders for team

RunAway Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to: Engineering * Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable * Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...

. Kim began his professional ''Overwatch'' career playing for RunAway in Overwatch Apex, a tournament series in South Korea. He played in all four seasons of the Apex and was named the most valuable player in its fourth season. After Apex dissolved, he competed with RunAway in Overwatch Contenders Korea, winning a championship in Season 2 of 2018. Park signed with the Titans for the 2019 season of the Overwatch League. In his first season, he reached the 2019 Grand Finals, won the OWL's first Rookie of the Year award, and was named both an OWL Role Star and All-Star. Four games into the 2020 season, he was released from the Titans, along with the rest of the roster. Shortly after, he signed with the

and was named an All-Star in the 2020 season. In October 2020, Kim retired from professional ''Overwatch''.

Professional career

RunAway

Kim began his professional ''Overwatch'' career as one of the founding players of Korean team

and played his first official match on October 26, 2016. He quickly made a name for himself as a talented Genji player in Overwatch Apex Season 1. 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 In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. 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. He picked up another tournament championship with Runaway at the Chinese NetEase Esports X Tournament the following month.

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 An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

for the

2019 Overwatch League season The 2019 Overwatch League season was the second season of the Overwatch League (OWL), an esport based on the video game ''Overwatch''. The league expanded from 12 teams from the inaugural season to 20 teams. Of the eight new teams, two were from t ...

. Through the first three quarters of the 2019 season, the composition that teams ran most frequently was three

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...

and three supports (known as the GOATS meta). Although he generally played damage heroes, Kim spent the majority of this time support hero

. During this time, he ranked first in both damage dealt and healing done among all Brigitte players, won the

Stage 1 Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * St ...

finals, and reached the

Stage 2 ''Stage 2'' was a UK television anthology series produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Thirteen episodes aired on BBC2 under ''Stage 2'' billing from 1971–73. They were all productions of classic plays shown previously o ...

finals. After the introduction of the 2-2-2 role lock in Stage 4, in which teams were required to play two damage, two tank, and two support heroes, Kim returned to playing damage heroes, such as Genji and

Mei Mei may refer to: Names * Mei (surname), a Chinese, Italian, Russian or Estonian family name * Mei (given name), a given name Places * Mei County, Guangdong, China, a county * Mei Pass, Guangdong, a strategic mountain pass * Mei River, Guangdong ...

. In Stage 4, he had the highest player impact rating, a rating system used by the Overwatch League, in the stage. Kim was selected for the 2019 All-Star Game, was named an OWL Role Star, and named the 2019 OWL Rookie of the Year. Kim played in the 2019 Grand Finals with the Titans on September 29, 2019; Vancouver lost to the San Francisco Shock, 0–4. After a 2–2 start to the 2020 season, on May 6, the Titans released their entire roster following ongoing disputes between the organization's management and players.

New York Excelsior

Kim signed with the

on June 5, 2020. His first match with the team was on June 13, in a 3–0 win over the

Seoul Dynasty Seoul Dynasty is a South Korean professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Seoul, South Korea. The Dynasty compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Seoul Dynasty is one of the league' ...

. At the end of the regular season, Kim was named a 2020 All-Star. The Excelsior were eliminated from playoff contention in the 2020 season after a 0–3 loss to the Dynasty in the Asia-Pacific playoff bracket. Following the losses, Kim announced plans to take an indefinite break from ''Overwatch'' but said that he still intended to play for the Excelsior for Season 4. However, on October 20, 2020, the Excelsior officially announced that Kim would be retiring from professional ''Overwatch''.

National team 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 The 2019 Overwatch World Cup was the fourth edition of the Overwatch World Cup, an ''Overwatch'' esports tournament, organized by the game's developer Blizzard Entertainment and took place at the Anaheim Convention Center during BlizzCon from Novem ...

(OWWC). 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.

References