Li Xiaofeng

Li Xiaofeng (born March 27, 1985), who also goes by the pseudonym "Sky" or "WE.Sky" is a Chinese professional gamer of the popular Blizzard Entertainment real-time strategy game Warcraft III, the Frozen Throne. He is currently playing for the Chinese based World Elite team. Currently he is considered the best Human player by [http://www.worldcybergames.com/ World Cyber Games] ["WC3L Finals Preview - World Elite" - [http://www.gotfrag.com/war/story/36339/] ] ["WCG WarCraft 3 Tournament Grand Final" - [http://www.worldcybergames.com/5th/2006/GrandFinal/tm_matchsch_04_single_R32.asp?sort=G060418104] ] record. He is also ranked the number one player in the world by GosuGamers [http://www.gosugamers.net/warcraft/rankings] .

He is widely known for his aggressive playing style with the Human race, which many considered to be a “slow” defensive race. He is known for using a fast tech build with a lumber mill, which leads to a push using the Archmage, Beastmaster, militia, towers and numerous summoned creatures to overwhelm the opponent. In numerous Warcraft III forums this strategy has been coined “Sky Rush." He was also known for a "two farm tech" without a lumber mill which leads to the "Sky Push," involving riflemen, a few casters, a breaker, and Archmage/Naga against Night Elf, but as Night Elves learned to defeat this push, it lost popularity in favor of more tower-reliant strategies.

Li Xiaofeng started gaining recognition in international competitive gaming after taking third place at the first edition of the World e-Sports Games during a three month stay in Seoul, South-Korea in March, 2005. He would remain one of the most notable players throughout the remainder of the year, dominating his competitive home country and showing strong international results by winning ACON 5 and taking fourth place at the Electronic Sports World Cup.

He surprised the world by taking first place at the World Cyber Games by the end of the season, the tournament was considered the toughest to win of all tournaments and had a player field that included names as Manuel Schenkhuizen and Dae Hui Cho.

Going into 2006 as one of the most successful players of the previous season, he stood out by showing consistent performance with excellent micromanagement and maturity in strategy and thinking. He finished within the top 3 of many of the major tournaments of the year, but was widely expected to make his strongest appearance at the World Cyber Games again.

During the 2006 World Cyber Games he went undefeated through what was considered the toughest road to the grand finals for all attendees including an encounter with Manuel Schenkhuizen. Beating Yoan Merlo in the grand finals, Li Xiaofeng became the first back to back Warcraft III World Cyber Games champion. Earning him a spot in the World Cyber Games "Hall of Fame" ["World Cyber Games Hall of Fame" - [http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/history/Halloffame/Hall_main.asp] ]

He was recognized as the greatest WarCraft III player of 2006 by competitive gaming media around the world ["Sky, Lucifer, Toxic, av3k, archi, f0rest Players of 2006" - [http://www.ggl.com/news.php?NewsId=4476] ] .

Notable accomplishments

Individual

* 2008 San Jose, California - Electronic Sports World Cup, second place.
* 2008 Beijing, China - Neo Star League Season II, champion.
* 2007 Seattle, Washington - World Cyber Games, second place.
* 2007 Beijing, China - ProGamer League Season I, champion.
* 2006 Beijing, China - International Electronic Sports Tournament, second place.
* 2006 Monza, Italy - World Cyber Games, champion.
* 2006 Paris, France - Electronic Sports World Cup, third place.
* 2006 Beijing, China - International E-Sports Festival, champion.
* 2006 Beijing, China - ProGamer League, first place.
* 2006 Hangzhou, China - World e-Sports Games Masters, third place.
* 2005 Suntec City, Singapore - World Cyber Games, champion.
* 2005 Paris, France - Electronic Sports World Cup, fourth place.
* 2005 Xi’an, China - ACON 5, champion.
* 2005 Seoul, Korea - World E-Sports Games I, third place.

Team

* 2007 Shanghai, China - Stars War IV, third place.
* 2007 Hamburg, Germany - Warcraft 3 Champions League Season XI, champion.
* 2007 Hannover, Germany - NGL One season 2006-2007, champion.
* 2007 Cologne, Germany - Warcraft 3 Champions League Season X, third place.
* 2006 Oberhausen, Germany - Warcraft 3 Champions League Season IX, fourth place.
* 2006 Xi'an, China - Stars War III, champion.
* 2006 Xi'an, China - Stars War II, second place.

Awards

* 2008 ESports Award China Player of the Year
* 2006 GGL Player of the year
* Member of World Cyber Games Hall of Fame

External links

* [http://blog.sina.com.cn/m/lixiaofeng Li Xiaofeng's Blog (Chinese)]
* [http://www.ggl.com/index.php?controller=News&method=article&id=4537 World Elite team info]

References