Park Se-jun (Korean: 박세준), also referred to as Sejun Park, is a South Korean Pokémon video gamer and Pokémon Trading Card Game player. He is best known for winning the Masters Division of the Video Game Championships (VGC) at the 2014 Pokémon World Championships.[2]
| Sejun Park | |
|---|---|
 Park at the 2014 World Championship | |
| Current team | |
| Team | None |
| Games | |
| League | Play! Pokémon |
| Personal information | |
| Name | 박세준 (Park Se-jun) |
| Born | December 2, 1996[1] |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 2011–present |
| Team history | |
| 2019–2022 | T1 |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
In November 2019, Park was picked up by esports team T1 as a player for the Pokémon Video Game, Pokémon Trading Card Game and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[3][4] He announced on Twitter that he left the team in March 2022.[5]
Pokémon career
editPark is highly regarded as one of the best players in the world and has consistently made Top 8 finishes as a video game player at the Pokémon World Championships. He made his debut on the international stage in 2011 by finishing 2nd in the Senior Division of the 2011 Pokémon World Championships losing to Kamran Jahadi (2011, 1st place),[6] and as a fresh Masters Division player in 2012, finished 5th at the 2012 Pokémon World Championships after losing to Wolfe Glick (2012, 2nd place) in the quarterfinals.[7]
In 2013, Park repeated history and placed 5th again at the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in Vancouver, losing to Ryosuke Kosuge (2013, 2nd place) in the quarterfinals.[8][9]
In the following year, Park won the 2014 South Korea Video Game National Championships.[citation needed] He then proceeded to win the 2014 Pokémon World Championships in Washington, D.C., defeating Jeudy Azzarelli in the Masters Division finals.[10][11] Park was notable for being the first South Korean to win the Pokémon World Championships and to win with a Pachirisu in his team, which was much adored by fans.[12] In honor of his achievements, Pokémon Korea hosted a celebratory event known as 'Champion's Day' in November 2014.[13][14]
In 2016, Park earned an invitation to the 2016 Pokémon World Championships as a Trading Card Game player.[15][16]
In December 2019, Park won the Pokémon World Champion Invitational 2020, a grassroots tournament for Pokémon Sword and Shield in which all video game World Champions from past years were invited to.[17][18][19] He executed a flawless run during the tournament, defeating Ray Rizzo (2010, 2011, 2012), Paul Ruiz (2018) and Naoto Mizobuchi (2019) in pools, and then Wolfe Glick (2016) and Shoma Honami (2015) in the semifinals and finals respectively.
He played in the 2022 Pokémon World Championships with Team Eternity, a South Korean Pokémon Unite team. Team Eternity finished the tournament in eighth place.
In 2023, Park returned to TCG and qualified for the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, ending his run in the group stage.
A year later, he returned to his roots, qualifying for VGC at the 2024 Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, his first Video Game Worlds in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet era. His 2024 Worlds team also included Pachirisu, ten years after he won the World Championship with the Pokémon. However, he failed to advance to the second day, finishing with a 5-3 Swiss record.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
editPark is currently ranked 6 in the season 3 Korean Power Ranking and his main character is King Dedede.
In April 2021, Park competed in the Smash World Tour 2021 and qualified in the East Asia Online Qualifier.
References
edit- ^ "Sejun Park's Twitter". 2 December 2021.
- ^ "2014 Masters League VGC World Championship Results and Team List". pokemon.com. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "T1, 'WCS 2014 챔피언' 박세준 영입 소식 전해 #포켓몬스터 #파치리스_마스터". www.xportsnews.com (in Korean). 14 November 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ "T1 signs 2014 Pokémon world champion Park Se-jun". Dot Esports. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ @pokemon_tcg (31 March 2022). "Register" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "2011 Video Game World Championship Results". pokemon.com. 2011.
- ^ "2012 Video Game World Championship Results". pokemon.com. 2012.
- ^ Nakamura, Toshi (23 April 2015). "How to Become Pokémon World Champion". Kotaku. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ "2013 Video Game World Championship Results". pokemon.com. 2013.
- ^ 유, 민호 (1 September 2014). "710개 포켓몬 성격·능력 파악해야 상대를 분석하는 힘 기를 수 있어". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
- ^ 이, 명규 (18 August 2014). "[취재] 포켓몬 마스터 등극! '포켓몬 월드챔피언십' 한국 대표 박세준 우승". inven.co.kr. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ^ Lingle, Samuel (17 August 2014). "The best Pokémon trainer on the planet wins his first world championship". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
- ^ "Champion's Day in Korea Celebrate Sejun Park's World Championship Win". Nugget Bridge. 24 November 2016. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016.
- ^ "Pokemon Champion's Day in Seoul: Pikachu Chaos". Seoul Searching (blog). 20 November 2014.
- ^ "Sejun Park's Twitter". 7 May 2016.
- ^ "[National]韓国・全国大会速報". e-Sports Runner (VGC). 8 May 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ "Sejun wins Pokémon World Champion Invitational 2020". Daily Esports. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ "Sejun Park wins stacked bracket at the Pokémon World Champion Invitational 2020". Dot Esports. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ Bartlett, Eric (28 December 2019). "Sejun Park Wins Pokemon Invitational Tournament Over Seven Other Former World Champions". The Game Haus. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
External links
edit- Official website (in Korean)
- Sejun's Twitter