Need prove that Mun ‚MMA‘ Seong Won is one of the best Starcraft 2 players of all time? Well, he won WCS Europe twice and GSL Code S once – and only two players have gathered more points in the World Ranking in their career than him. Today he turns 26 years old. Happy Birthday, MMA!

[playerbox_mma] Every good story needs a shining hero falling down just to overcome his obstacles and be a shining hero in the end once again. [mma]s career delivers such a story. The now 26-year-old began life as a programer more than six years ago in Broodwar. He played for SK Telecom in Broodwar and SlayerS in the whole first part of his career, which lasted long and was very succesful.

In 2011, [mma] was mostly set for Team Leagues. He was the third best player at the first GSL Team League, and the best in its second season. Surely he was sent over to America to compete in some MLG-tournaments. And how he did that: He instantly won MLG Pro Circuit: Columbus and was second to [mvp] a month later in Anaheim.

Back in Korea he joined the GSL Code S. While the back then dominating [mvp] won the August-season of 2011, [mma] was watching from the side. But one month later, he took the throne: 4-1 against [mvp] in the finals, a new star was born though [mma] had an advantage in this season: From the Ro16 on he only played against Terrans, his strongest matchup.

And then it all fell apart

By mid 2012, [mma] was on the top of the World Ranking for the first and only time in his career. On his way up he had won the GSL Blizzard Cup by beating [mvp] in the semifinals again, an IEM Global Challenge in Kiev and was third at the IEM World Championship in 2012.

But by fall 2012 came the fall of MMA. His team SlayerS fell apart and new Protoss players rose to world-class, leaving [mma] behind in his weakest matchup. He dropped out of Code S and then even Code A and was only the 41th best player in the GSL Team League.

New hope by a new team

New hope came with the signing by Team Acer. [mma] left the GSL and decided to participate in WCS Europe instead. Though it proved to be the right move, it took long before [mma] got back in shape. The first WCS season ended in the group stage. Once again it was a Team League that kickstarted his career: In the Acer TeamStory Cup, [mma] was the best player of the first season. Two months later he held the trophy of WCS Europe.

Why MMA is one of the favourites for WCS Global Finals now

He had fallen to rank 80 of the World Ranking but by January of this year he was back in the Top 10. In April he lost the WCS-finals to [mc] and just when it seemed he would go down again (his results got worse in summer), the Korean came back in a astonishing way. In September he won Dreamhack Moscow and WCS Europe in a timespan of two weeks – turning him into one of the favourites for the WCS Global Finals later this month just in time for his 26th birthday.

Overall, [mma] is still one of the best players in Starcraft 2 ever. In his career he gathered 52.000 ranking points in the World Ranking. This is only topped by his long time rivals [mvp] and [mc]. Happy Birthday, [mma]!