Knee (gamer)

Bae Jae-Min (Korean: 배재민 ; born 24 June 1985) , better known by his in-game name Knee (Korean: 무릎), is a South Korean professional Tekken player . Also known as Ravenda85 in the online Tekken community, he signed for team Rox Gaming in 2017, representing their fighting game division of "Rox Dragons" .

Knee, widely considered as 'the greatest Tekken player of all time', is renowned for his mastery with almost all of the character roster. He is best known for playing Bryan, Paul, Devil Jin, Steve and Negan(often stylized as Kneegan). He is the first player to have reached Tekken God Prime (the highest possible rank achievable in Tekken 7) with every character in the game.^[1]

Knee is a two-time EVO champion, having won Tekken Tag Tournament 2 in 2013 and Tekken 7 at EVO Japan in 2018.

Early life[edit]

Knee grew up in Gyeongbuk Province and was born on June 24, 1985. Taking a liking to fighting games at an early age, he played King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown and Tekken.

However as he reached his 20's, only Tekken was popular in the Korean arcades as other games' arcade cabinet shipping to Korea was hit by the Asian Financial Crisis.

Career[edit]

Knee has played all Tekken games since the series started, but started competing in tournaments since 2004 in Tekken 5.

Tekken 5[edit]

It was during Tekken 5 days, that Knee invented the famous setup in Tekken, called "Taunt Jet Upper"^[2] by using two of Bryan's moves in quick succession, which if successful would deal big damage to the opponent with them having no way of blocking it (as the Taunt was unblockable, and the Jet Upper was done before the opponent could guard against it) . It is widely considered as one of the most difficult execution-having move/setup situations in the entire franchise. This gave credibility to his extensive game knowledge-based playstyle.

Tekken 6[edit]

Knee's popularity grew after winning the World Cyber Games in 2010, the first time Tekken was included, which gave him international fame. He also played strongly in domestic competitions, winning the Korean 3v3 Tournaments "Tekken Crash" multiple times being part of Team Resurrection and continued training amongst the best Tekken players in the world at the legendary Green Arcade in Seoul, in what was considered as the golden age of Korean Tekken.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2[edit]

He famously chose his in-game name of Knee during this time, due to the signature moves of both his main characters (Bruce and Bryan) being attacks made by their knees. He won his first ever EVO Title in 2013, for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , defeating American veteran Bronson Tran in the finals. He was part of "Team Korea" which won the Mastercup 7 Team Tournament, becoming the first Korean team to win the prestigious 5v5 team tournament held in Japan.

Tekken 7 (King of Iron Fist Tournament era)[edit]

Knee participated in the first international finals event for the Tekken 7 arcade version in Tokyo, Japan at The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015^[3], finishing in second place, losing to Japan's Nobi in the final . Knee finished second again in the EVO 2016 Finals to fellow Korean player Saint, before ending the year-end finals event of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016 outside of the top 8.^[4]

Tekken 7 FR (Tekken World Tour era)[edit]

2017[edit]

During the first year of TWT in 2017, Knee made it to the inaugural Tekken World Tour finals but lost out in the group stage, losing all his group matches to much surprise, to end the year that was dominated by the likes of Qudans, JDCR and Saint to a disappointing finish.^[5]

2018[edit]

However things changed, starting with Knee winning the first EVO Japan in early 2018. Furthermore, TWT 2018 was dominated by Knee, defeating players from all over the world and having a positive net result against all top players, except to fellow South Korean legend Qudans, with whom he shared the rivalry that was the headline story of 2018 Tekken Esports. Knee finished the competitive season ranked number 1 on the leaderboards as the clear favourite to win the TWT Finals later that year in Amsterdam. Knee and Qudans faced off in the Winners Final in the top 8 of the final event, with Knee picking "Lili", a strategic counter-pick to Qudans' Devil Jin, something which had worked exceptionally well and earned him multiple tournament victories and praise for his multi-character expertise throughout the year^[6]. However despite switching to Devil Jin himself later, he lost to Qudans' improved play with the character he had stayed loyal to for more than a decade. Knee later lost to eventual champion Rangchu's Panda in the losers final^[7], whom Knee had defeated earlier in the top 8 with ease. At the end of 2018, Knee had achieved a minimum 3rd position in 11 major tournaments that year.^[8]

2019[edit]

Knee found himself again in the rivalry of the year in 2019, when the young ace from Pakistan, Arslan Ash defeated Knee in the group stage and went on to win EVO Japan 2019, signalling the rise of the Pakistani Tekken Community. Knee still dominated, winning almost every tournament in the early season with a great run of getting 9 successive 1st/2nd results over a period of 3 months, losing only to Ash and his compatriot Awais Honey. With a strong desire to learn about their style of playing Tekken, Knee traveled to Pakistan just about a week before the TWT Finals of 2019 ^[9]. He won almost all the matches in Pakistan, and headed to the TWT Finals in Bangkok, again at the top of the leaderboard. By virtue of his position, Knee was able to chose his pool in the finals, and he set up a showdown with Ash in the final match of the pool which turned out to be a "winner qualifies to top 8 and loser goes home situation". Knee managed to overcome his opponent and finally beat Ash in tournament format, maintaining his legacy. He fell to the eventual champion again in Japan's Chikurin and later to the young Korean prodigy Ulsan in losers final , finishing 3rd consecutively in two Tekken World Tour Finals.^[10]

Achievements[edit]

• World Cyber Games 2010 Gold Medal for Tekken 6
• Ottogi Pusher Pusher Cup "TEKKEN CRASH" Season2 Champion with Team Resurrection for Tekken 6
• Daum "TEKKEN CRASH" Season2 Champion with Team Resurrection for Tekken 6
• EVO 2013 Champion for Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• "Mastercup 7" 5on5 Team Battle Grand Prix 2014 Champion with Team Korea for Tekken Tag 2 Unlimited (Arcade)
• Twitch "TEKKEN CRASH" Champion with Team "조프레시 Resurrection" for Tekken 7
• EVO Japan 2018 Champion for Tekken 7
• Combo Breaker 2019 Champion for Tekken 7
• WSOE Invitational 2019 Champion for Tekken 7
• 'Mastercup 11' 5on5 Team Battle Grand Prix 2019 Champion with Team "Tekken 8" for Tekken 7 FR : Round 2 (Arcade)
• IeSF 2019 Gold Medal for Tekken 7

Results[edit]

For further viewing[edit]

• ROX Dragons Interview: KNEE's Tekken Life Story
• The Man Who Perfected The World’s Hardest Fighting Game: The Story of Knee by theScore esports

In the media[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Knee on Twitter
• Knee's AfreecaTV Streaming Channel
• Knee - Liquipedia Fighting Games Wiki
• Pakistani gamer taking the Tekken world by storm
• Knee - Bae, Jae Min - Fighting Game Player Profile :: Esports
• Pakistani Gamer Overcomes Visa Hurdles And Becomes Tekken 7 Champion at EVO 2019
• Knee of Korea is ‘the greatest Tekken player of all-time’

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