HuK
| HuK | |
|---|---|
| Chris Loranger | |
 | |
| Status | Active |
| Born | 10 May 1989 |
| Nationality | American, Canadian |
| Current team | Evil Geniuses |
| Games |
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm |
| Nickname(s) | HuK |
| Professional career | |
| 2010 | VT Gaming |
| 2010 | Millenium |
| 2010–2011 | Team Liquid |
| 2011–present | Evil Geniuses |
Chris Loranger, (born May 10, 1989) better known by his in-game name HuK, is an American-Canadian professional Starcraft II player for Evil Geniuses.
Biography
Chris holds a dual citizenship from Canada and the US, although he usually identifies solely as Canadian for competitions.[1] He grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. He had a troubled childhood, with his family affected by poverty, "domestic-, drug- and alcohol-abuse".[2] After a run in with the law during "rebellious" teenage years which led to a stay in juvenile prison,[3] he moved to Cambridge, Ontario, Canada with his father. Later Chris praised his father's decision to move saying: "Had I not moved to Canada my family and I both agree that I would most likely be in the military, jail, or dead". Chris said during an interview, in May 2014, that he "played StarCraft II instead of joining military in order to eventually pay for school".[4]
After moving to Canada, he started playing Starcraft: Brood War, switching to Starcraft II when the beta was released in 2010.[3] HuK began playing for the team VT Gaming before moving to Millenium in 2011.[5]
After playing for French team Millennium, HuK was announced as the newest member of Team Liquid on September 25, 2010. On August 16, 2011 it was revealed that HuK would transfer from Team Liquid to Evil Geniuses as his contract with his current employer was about to expire.[6]
Career
Outside of Korea
HuK initially found relatively little success in competitive Starcraft, advancing through the group stages at DreamHack Summer 2010, but losing in the first playoff round. He performed well at MLG Raleigh 2010, winning the tournament and took 3rd place at MLG D.C. 2010. He also found modest success in notable tournaments including MLG Dallas 2011 and SteelSeries StarCraft II Challenge, finishing 10th and 8th respectively.
His breakthrough tournament success came at DreamHack Summer 2011, where he defeated experienced players including Jang "Moon" Jae Ho and Park "JulyZerg" Sung-Joon to win the competition.
Chris played two impromptu exhibition StarCraft: Brood War series against BoxeR, a professional player at the time, and TT1 at IPL3: Origins while the tournament had downtime due to Internet issues.[7] He won a game in each despite never having played Brood War professionally and despite BoxeR's now-wife, Jessica, playfully covering his eyes during one of the games.[8]
He won the HomeStory Cup III competition then placed second at MLG Anaheim and third at the 2011 North American Battle.net Invitational.
In 2012, HuK played in the MLG Winter Arena and 2012 MLG Winter Championship, placing 3rd and 4th respectively.
In Korea
HuK is one of the relatively few non-Korean players to compete in Korean Starcraft events. In January 2011 he was invited to play in the Code A event of the GOMTV Global Starcraft II League. After placing in the top 8 of Code A, he qualified for a place in Code S, becoming the third ever non-Korean to secure a place in Code S. He continued to play in Code S from May to November 2011, before being knocked out of the GSL.
On October 21, 2011, HuK moved from the oGs-Liquid house to the SlayerS house as the result of a training partnership between Evil Geniuses and SlayerS.[9]
On October 17, 2012, it was announced from Slayers co-owner Kim "Jessica" Ga Yeon that the Korean StarCraft II team SlayerS would dissolve on November 3, 2012.[10][11]
In January 2013 he was seeded to play in the qualification matches for GSL 2013 Season 1, qualifying for Code S, but lost in the first round and subsequently lost in the first round of Code A, thereby getting knocked out of the GSL.
He has also played in the GOMTV Global Starcraft II Team League, playing for oGsTL in 2011.
In September 2015 HuK and his teammate Jang "MC" Min-chul won the 2015 Red Bull Battle Grounds.[12]
External links
References
- ↑ Strisland, Jonas (12 July 2011). "HuK, The Champion". Esports Heaven/Cadred. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ↑ "Player Interviews: The Incredible HuK". SteelSeries.com.
- 1 2 "Chris 'HuK' Loranger Facebook".
- ↑ Partin, Will (21 May 2014). "Four Years in SC2: Chris "HuK" Loranger on Life & Latency". evilgeniuses.gg/. p. 1. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ "HuK to Strengthen Millenium".
- ↑ "Farewell to Liquid`HuK".
- ↑ "IPL 3 Origins: A First Look". wordpress.com. Winkler, Jacob “RAW-BERRY”. October 8, 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ↑ Primadog. "IPL3 Origin is now a BW league". teamliquid.net. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Kim, David 'Holy_KR' (Oct 21, 2011). "Team Evil Geniuses Partners with SlayerS". sk-gaming.com. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ "스타2 슬레이어즈 전격해체, 김가연 구단주 입장밝혀". inven.co.kr. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Breslau, Rod (17 October 2012). "Prominent StarCraft II team SlayerS to disband". gamespot.com. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Hannley, Steve (September 21, 2015). "Teammates Huk and MC Crowned 2015 Red Bull Battle Grounds Champions". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved January 6, 2016.