Smasher:KDJ

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KoreanDJ "KDJ"
KoreanDJ.jpg
Character info
Melee mains Marth, Fox
Other Melee characters Sheik, Captain Falcon, Pichu, Donkey Kong
Smash 4 mains Diddy Kong, Sheik
Project M main Zelda
Other Project M characters Mewtwo, Marth, Luigi, Meta Knight
Team info
Former sponsor(s) Team Liquid
Rankings and results info
Winnings Super Smash Bros. Melee ~$13,653.00
Personal info
Real name Daniel Jung
Birth date (age 36)
Location Newton, Massachusetts United States
Miscellaneous info
Skill Super Smash Bros. Melee Top professional

KDJ is a retired Korean-American smasher who was known to be one of the best Sheik and Fox players in the United States in the 2006-2007 era. He continued to enter and placed decently at Melee tournaments after becoming a Marth main. He rose to fame by consistently placing in the top-8 of events during the MLG 2006 Pro Circuit, becoming known for his Sheik play. He was also known for his notorious money matching, in which he would repeatedly challenge top-level players to improve his own gameplay. KDJ shocked the Smash community when he defeated Ken 3-1, solidifying his position as one of the best Melee players in the world. During the 2006-2007 era, he was the only player known to have a positive record over Ken.

He first got into competitive play when training with Jinx, and then becoming a part of the Ninja Turtlez crew. His skill quickly increased, and after he surpassed all of the members of the crew, he began traveling to compete against the nation's best players. KDJ would go on to place well in several Melee tournaments over much of the next decade before he announced his retirement from competitive play in September 2015.

KDJ was also one of the 16 players to be invited to participate in the E3 2014-held Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and was also one of the 7 players who had an episode dedicated to them in The Smash Brothers.

History

KDJ started his national career with a 9th place finish at MLG New York Opener 2006, only losing to Isai and Mew2King. He followed up by placing 4th at MLG Dallas 2006, 5th at MLG Anaheim 2006, and 7th at MLG Chicago 2006. He also placed 4th at Zero Challenge 2, notably defeating PC Chris in winners' bracket.

However, his breakout performance occurred at MLG Orlando 2006, where he made it to winners' finals by defeating both Mew2King and Ken. He lost to Azen and then to ChuDat in losers' finals, placing 3rd. At MLG New York Playoffs 2006, he defeated Mew2King before losing to Azen once again in winners' bracket, and then defeated Isai before losing to ChuDat in losers' bracket, placing 4th, and successfully qualifying for the MLG 2006 championship event.

KDJ eventually placed 2nd at MLG Las Vegas 2006. He defeated Mew2King and Ken in winners' bracket before losing to PC Chris in winners' finals, and then defeated Ken again in losers' finals. He won the first set of grand finals against PC Chris, but ended up losing the second set.

KDJ later attended Cataclysm 3, where he placed 2nd, defeating Forward, PC Chris, and ChuDat in losers' bracket after losing to ChuDat in winners' semis. He lost to Mew2King in grand finals. He also won MLG Long Island 2007 two months later, defeating ChuDat in winners' semis, and Mew2King in both winners' finals and grand finals. After not attending various nationals in the summer of 2007, he attended Viva La Smashtaclysm in November 2007, where he placed 3rd, losing to Azen in winners' quarters, and then sweeping through losers' bracket, defeating Chillin, Drephen, and Mew2King to make it to losers' finals, where he lost to ChuDat.

KDJ has won 3 out of 4 sets he has played against Ken, only dropping one set at Zero Challenge 2.

In early 2008, KDJ won the Worcester regional Nintendo sponsored Brawl tournament, playing as Sheik. His final match was against Compton of Deadly Alliance, who played Lucas. He then won the New York City Grand Championship of the Nintendo sponsored Brawl tournament, defeating DireVulcan of Deadly Alliance, who played Ike. However, he has not entered any Brawl tournaments or made an effort to develop his skill since.

In March 2009, KDJ placed 9th in both singles and doubles at Revival of Melee. It was his first time entering a Melee tournament for over a year, since Viva La Smashtaclysm. After that, KDJ continued to play Melee locally, although not nearly to the same level as before.

On March 18th, 2014, Team Liquid, a StarCraft 2 and Dota 2 eSports organization, signed KDJ and Ken up for their Super Smash Bros. Melee team. KDJ has since made a comeback in the Melee community, resuming his career with decent placings at nationals, such as 17th at Apex 2014, 13th at SKTAR 3, 29th at MLG Anaheim 2014, 17th at CEO 2014, and 65th at EVO 2014.

On November 21st, 2014, KDJ was revealed to be the true player behind the "Karissa the Destroyer" prank at GameStop, using Diddy Kong. He missed much of the 2015 season because of hand injuries, and he would go on to conduct research on those types of injuries in the Smash community.

On September 28th, 2015, KDJ resigned from Team Liquid because of persistent wrist and hand pain, marking his retirement from competitive Smash.[1] Apex 2015 ended up being his last tournament prior to his retirement, where he placed 33rd out of 1,037 entrants; KDJ had also planned on attending EVO 2015, but due to "several circumstances" that came up last minute, he did not attend.

On August 3rd, 2016, KDJ announced he would be entering singles at the nearby Shine 2016, making for his first appearance at a national in over a year.[2] He cited improved feeling in his hands allowing him to participate and reconnect with the scene, if only on a "cameo appearance" basis.[3][4][5]

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
MLG New York Opener 2006 April 21st-23rd, 2006 9th
MLG Dallas 2006 May 19th-21st, 2006 4th 6th JBlaze
MLG Anaheim 2006 June 23rd-25th, 2006 6th 9th Tope
MELEE-FC6 July 13th-15th, 2006 7th
MLG Chicago 2006 July 21st-23rd, 2006 7th 3rd Mew2King
Zero Challenge 2 August 15th-17th, 2006 4th 4th Mew2King
MLG Orlando 2006 August 25th-27th, 2006 3rd 6th JBlaze
MLG New York Playoffs 2006 October 13th-15th, 2006 4th 4th JBlaze
MLG Las Vegas 2006 November 17th-19th, 2006 2nd 7th JBlaze
IV.E.S.T.I.C.L.E January 6th, 2007 1st
Cataclysm 3 March 3rd-4th, 2007 2nd 2nd JBlaze
MLG Long Island 2007 May 5th-6th, 2007 1st 4th Cactuar
Viva La Smashtaclysm November 10th-11th, 2007 3rd 3rd ChuDat
Mass Madness 10 July 12th, 2008 1st
Mass Madness 13 December 7th, 2008 1st
Revival of Melee March 7th-8th, 2009 9th 9th Cort
Mass Madness 26 June 4th, 2011 1st
Apex 2012 January 6th-8th, 2012 17th 33rd SOLAR
GUTS September 28th-30th, 2012 1st 4th Hayato
Northeastern Smash Attack November 22nd, 2013 1st
Apex 2014 January 17th-19th, 2014 17th 9th th0rn
Game Over 5 March 4th, 2014 2nd
Smashing Grounds 3 March 6th, 2014 2nd
Game Over 6 March 11th, 2014 1st
Northeastern Smash Attack 2 March 29th, 2014 4th 2nd Dazwa
Game Over 10 April 15th, 2014 3rd
Mass Madness 12a May 10th, 2014 3rd
PCX May 25th, 2014 1st
SKTAR 3 May 31st-June 1st, 2014 13th 9th Ken
SSS Lock-In June 14th-15th, 2014 9th 5th Ken
MLG Anaheim 2014 June 20th-22nd, 2014 29th 9th Ken
CEO 2014 June 27th-29th, 2014 17th 7th Ken
EVO 2014 July 11th-13th, 2014 65th 5th ZeRo
Cold Hard Smash July 19th, 2014 1st
BUST November 22nd, 2014 2nd
Apex 2015 January 30th-February 1st, 2015 33rd 25th Ken
Shine 2016 August 26th-28th, 2016 33rd 17th Elen

Project M

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Apex 2014 January 17th-19th, 2014 33rd
Smashing Grounds 2 February 19th, 2014 1st
Smashing Grounds 3 March 5th, 2014 2nd
Smashing Grounds 4 March 12th, 2014 1st
CEO 2014 June 27th-29th, 2014 13th 7th Ken

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Super Smash Bros. Invitational June 10th, 2014 5th
Apex 2015 January 30th-February 1st, 2015 65th 25th Ken

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Game Over 36 October 14th, 2014 1st

External links

References