Lim Yo-hwan

LIM Yo-hwan (, born September 4, 1980), known online as SlayerS_'BoxeR' (usually shortened to BoxeR), is a former professional player of the real-time strategy computer game StarCraft.

He is often referred to as The Terran Emperor, or simply The Emperor, and is widely considered to be one of the most successful players of the genre as well as a pop culture icon.

In 1998, during his third year at Seongbo High School in Seoul, South Korea, LIM developed a passion for the video game StarCraft.

Initially playing as the Protoss race, he later switched to the Terran race following a game patch implementation.

After the release of the StarCraft expansion, StarCraft: Brood War, LIM attempted to create a guild called Slayer.

However, facing difficulties in establishing it, he adopted the Battle.net ID SlayerS_'BoxeR' instead.

As he achieved high rankings on Battle.net, his ID gained widespread recognition.

LIM won his first StarCraft: Brood War tournament in 1999.

It was during this time, in August 1999, that Kim Yang-joong, the president of management company Sinabro, approached LIM while he was playing at a PC Bang.

Kim offered him the opportunity to become a professional gamer.

After accepting the offer, LIM had to seek his parents' approval, as pursuing a career in video gaming was an unconventional choice at the time.

After considerable effort, LIM convinced his parents, allowing him to sign with Sinabro.

In December 1999, LIM secured his first tournament victory at the SBS Multi-Game Championship.

Almost a year later, in October 2000, he joined team IS, which later became known as Hwaseung OZ.

The term "Royal Road" is used to describe a player's achievement of winning an OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) title in their rookie season.

Due to his performances and consistent victories between 2000 and 2002, LIM became recognized as StarCraft first "bonjwa", a player who dominates all others for an extended period.

It was around this time that he also earned the nickname "The Terran Emperor."

From 2001 to 2002, he won multiple major championships, including two OnGameNet Starleague titles and two World Cyber Games gold medals.

Despite the perceived weakness of the Terran race, LIM defied expectations and walked the Royal Road in the 2001 Hanbitsoft OSL.

He advanced to the semifinals, where he faced and defeated Park "Kingdom" Yong-wook with a score of 2–1.

In the grand finals, he went on to defeat Jang "JinNam" Jin-nam with a score of 3–0, becoming only the third player to walk the Royal Road.

Throughout the tournament, LIM won 11 games and lost only one.

His success proved that the Terran race was a viable option in StarCraft, earning him the nickname "The Hope of Terran".

LIM continued his winning streak by securing the championship in the subsequent OSL, the 2001 Coca-Cola OSL.

In the finals, he faced Hong "Storm" Jin-Ho, defeating him with a score of 3–2.

LIM's achievements extended beyond OSL titles.

He also won a gold medal at the World Cyber Games 2001, where he emerged victorious against Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.

Additionally, he finished as the runner-up in the 2001 SKY OSL, losing to Kim "Garimto" Dong-soo in the finals.

In 2002, he also created the team Team Orion, which later became SK Telecom T1 (SKT T1) in 2004.

In April 2002, LIM secured another championship title at the 2002 KPGA 1st Tour.2002 KPGA 1st Tour.

However, his performance in the first OSL event of the year, the 2002 NATE OSL, was not as successful as he was eliminated in the round of 16.

In the subsequent OSL, the 2002 SKY OSL, he reached the finals but suffered a loss to Park "Reach" Jeong-seok, ultimately finishing in second place.

At the end of the year, LIM added another achievement to his list by winning his second consecutive gold medal at the World Cyber Games 2002.

In January 2003, LIM secured another championship victory at the 2003 KTF Bigi Four Kings Battle.

He began his compulsory military service in 2006, where he played on South Korea's newly formed Air Force esports team Airforce Challenge E-sports.

In late 2010, he retired from StarCraft: Brood War and founded the StarCraft II team SlayerS.

He then briefly returned to SKT T1 as a coach in 2012 before retiring due to health related issues.

LIM finished his playing career with a record of 603 wins and 430 losses (58.4%).

Following his retirement from esports, LIM became a professional poker player.

He won his first Asian Poker Tour (APT) title in September 2018 and his second in January 2019.