Like a young piano virtuoso, Yeon-oh "Fl0w3R" Hwang quickly dashes his fingers across his keyboard to a roaring Polish crowd, in a sea of unfamiliar faces from all across the world, gathered to watch him and his team. The Overwatch World Cup: a beautiful symphony of different countries from across the globe to compete on behalf of their countries.

Fl0w3r represents the international esports powerhouse; South Korea.

With overwhelming success in games like League of Legends and the Starcraft series, Fl0w3R is a part of the newest esports generation in South Korea. To demonstrate their prowess, they refused to drop a map during their qualification stage in Katowice, Poland. Fl0w3r is one of their star DPS players and is widely considered to be one of the most frighteningly talented players in Overwatch. To understand his story more clearly and to find out just what makes him so good, we have to start from his genesis in gaming and his young adulthood.

Call him Alice, nanohana, or Hwang, Yeon-oh; meet the young maestro we call "Fl0w3R".

“I used to be a normal kid enjoying [his] school life [and] played a lot of games.” Yeon-oh "Fl0w3R" Hwang’s story was one of grit and determination. He spoke with a quiet strength. “I quit school during my first year in high school, which is pretty uncommon. When I got back home, a lot of people recognized me. A lot of my relatives are my fans as well, but I'm still not used to a lot of people recognizing me. Now, I'm staying in a gaming house and practice.”

His words were what many aspiring professional gamers’ dreams are made of. “[... but,]” he continued, “I miss school sometimes.”

“I want to continue studying other players and become the best player in the world.”

— Yeon-oh "Fl0w3R" Hwang

Fl0w3r started his gaming career with humble beginnings in the FPS genre in Team Fortress 2 and the Quake series, but he made very clear—his start in gaming was a family affair. “When I was little, before I entered elementary school, I used to play casual games with my mom and my sister. As I grew up I got into FPS games. I played a lot of games since then, and from middle school, I started playing more competitively—mostly Team Fortress 2 and Quake. I tried playing League of Legends but I wasn't very interested.”

The earliest known record of Fl0w3r playing Team Fortress 2 is circa 2013 in a team called ‘Electro Boyz’ in the UGC League for 6v6 Team Fortress 2. He was also accompanied by recurring teammate Song “janus” Jun Hwa and Kim "pine" Do Hyeon. As time progressed, Fl0w3R (also known as Alice, Flower, and nanohana) joined team Emi Dizziness in some of the later Asia Fortress Cups in 2014-2015. I asked Fl0w3r about his friendship with his longtime teammates and if they’ve become closer over the years. “Yes,” he attempted to draw back in his memory “[but] I can't quite remember how I became friends with them. As time went by I [just] became very close to both of them.”

Having trust on a team is a key ingredient to a successful team, but having competitive drive is the catalyst for everything. As it differs from professional to professional, I asked Fl0w3r where his competitive fire came from. “I was always very competitive. In middle school,” he reminisced fondly of his schoolyard days, “ I played a lot of soccer as the goalkeeper. When I was playing Team Fortress 2, I used to play 1:1 matches and the first one to reach 20 kills wins. If I gave up even a single kill to my opponent I would get mad at myself, and giving 2 kills in a row was unacceptable to me.” This speaks magnitudes for a player, but did he have that same motivation in Overwatch? Fl0w3r elaborated, “Even nowadays, I get a little angry when I lose 1:1 mirror matches in Overwatch.” It was very clear that Fl0w3r cherishes his friends and practice partners quite a lot as he continued, “I still keep in contact with the players I met in Quake.”

“Overwatch was very similar to the games I've played before so I got used to it pretty quickly, but it required [much] more teamwork than other games.” As we continued on to Overwatch, he spoke fondly of some of his memories, “ [The] closed beta days were the most fun days of my gaming life.” I then asked him about anyone who had a lasting impact on his playstyle or if there was anyone whom he looked up to as a player, “I respect most of the Western players. I especially love watching montage videos of Necros and Taimou.”

Once he fully transitioned to Overwatch, Fl0w3r’s name was quickly recognized from his time on team LuxuryWatch (LW) Red, previous to OGN’s APEX League under the name “nanohana.” With rumors and quiet comments from analysts and casters alike, LW Red had lofty expectations coming from their win over rivals Lunatic-Hai at the Overwatch Power League - Preseason. After, team LW Red coasted to the qualification into OGN’s APEX SuperWeek going 11-0 (33-3) with LW Red but failed to meet expectations in the offline stages. Fl0w3r changed his name from “nanohana” to “Fl0w3r” and joined his sister team, LW Blue, at Intel Extreme Masters Season XI Gyeonggi.

There, LW Blue confidently marched towards the final only dropping 2 maps. In the finals, they would meet Lunatic-Hai again and convincingly beat them 3-1.

A picture speaks a thousand words, and the magnitude of emotion captured speaks millions. Curious, I inquired about how much IEM Gyeonggi meant to Fl0w3r not only as a player but as a person. “LW as a team was pretty desperate for a championship during IEM Gyeonggi. I was in APEX Challengers back then, and I was very disappointed in myself that I was not in APEX. So, after winning IEM Gyeonggi, I was very happy that people were recognizing for my skills.” Having a career in esports is entirely fragile. In this world, a few too many missteps and you fall into obscurity. This victory not only meant the world to Fl0w3r, but it was a sigh of relief. After LW Blue’s victory at IEM Gyeonggi, he would join the starting roster in OGN’s APEX League.

With his success in team LW Blue in the OGN APEX League, his name was quite literally the talk of the town, in a sense. This awarded him a spot on the 2017 South Korean Overwatch World Cup team where he revealed his prowess on numerous heroes including Junkrat, Hanzo, and even a bit of Torbjorn. Fl0w3r did deviate from the standard picks a bit during the World Cup, but rest assured—his staples picks of Genji, Soldier 76 and Pharah are without a doubt top tier. Fl0w3r talked with me and explained in detail what his experience was like in Poland. “I had a lot of fun in Overwatch World Cup. I also enjoyed my time in Poland. I remember breaking a lot of my hotel card key(s) while I was there.” More importantly, he explained how the roar of the crowd in Katowice impacted him. “However, I was very surprised at how much they cheered for [us in] Poland; I couldn't even concentrate on the game because they were so loud!”

Fl0w3r is not only flexible on many different heroes, but he is cerebral. It is almost as if it comes down to pure intuition. When you watch his performance in the game, you immediately see what the thought process was behind the moves and decisions he makes. Fl0w3r’s hands are worth their weight in gold and he creates highlight-reel moments in his sleep. Even with consistent tendon inflammation in his fingers (tenosynovitis), he manages to craft stunning displays of skill. Moments after a clutch play in LW Blue’s match against KongDoo Panthera, former OGN caster, Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, sang the praises of Fl0w3r,

“That is actually the second game-winning Reflect that Fl0w3r has had in this series! Absolutely crazy. Fl0w3r is just playing out of his damn mind tonight.”

— Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles

As we settled into the conclusion of the interview, I asked him how he was doing personally. “I've been resting and practicing a lot. Everything is going very well,” he reassured me. While on the note of training, I began to pick his brain on if he specifically trained to be a more flexible threat on many different heroes. “I practice at most about 3 heroes, depending on the metagame. I had a pretty wide-character pool in TF2 and that translated to Overwatch [very] well. Of course, I feel being flexible is important.” He spoke so matter of factly but held a certain air of maturity. “In the long-term, I believe that you can't be the best player by only playing a few heroes, so I always try to master many different heroes.”

As the Seoul Cup - SuperMatch finally reached its dramatic climax, I questioned Fl0w3r on what he thought of the level of play overall at the Seoul Cup. His answer was equal parts humble and inspiring, “I don't think the Korean teams—including the Seoul Cup participants—are not so much ahead of teams from other countries. Other countries have their own strengths, and we have a lot to learn from them. Because of that, I want to continue studying other players and become the best player in the world.”

For someone so young to have that much emotional depth is rare. If you pair Fl0w3r’s maturity with his competitive “killer instinct” and add a dash of Korean work ethic, it should be no surprise that he is as good as he is.

It should be no surprise that he is a maestro.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment, Helena-Kristiansson (IEM) and OGN.