Quick Facts
Biography
Ronald "Ron" "Rambo" Kim is a former professional electronic sports player who competed in Counter-Strike for Team 3D and Los Angeles Complexity. Rambo represents a small minority of professional gamers that play with an inverted mouse setting. He is currently the coach of Korean team MVP Project.
Playing career
Kim started playing computer games in the early days of Quake and Quake II. His first team, [rs], riot squad, was composed of a tight knit group of high school friends. Kim quickly became one of the best FPS gamers in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and consistently placed well in many FPS game events.
Kim began competing in Counter-Strike (CS) from the age of 15 onwards when he would attend various LAN parties with his friends that included [rs], PAG (Plano Asian Gang), TRU, and various other Texas gaming teams. Kim quickly became the star of [rs] and was a popular figure in the early days of competitive cs. Kim and [rs] competed in, and won, most of the early and unofficial [cs] competitions put on by Frank Nuccio during QuakeCon events and Quake based CPL events, usually competing against other Texas-based CS teams such as CK3, DoP, and TRU. In the year 2000, [rs] merged with rival team TRU to form syn. (Syndicate) to attend the Babbage's event organized by the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) in 2000. Syn disbanded shortly after the 2000 CPL event and both [rs] and TRU reformed.
Kim's next team would be Clan Killers 3, [CK3], an Austin, Texas based gaming team that was known for dominating the 6v6 era of competitive Counter-Strike. [CK3] was led by older, middle aged gamers Big_V, Valeyard, Hardryv, and Dorn. During his tenure with [CK3], Kim met a number of players who became long-time teammates of his, including Kyle "Ksharp" Miller, Sean "Bullseye" Morgan, and Dave "Moto" Geffon. When [CK3] retired from CS, the tag was retired and those who wished to continue playing renamed themselves Xtreme3 "X3" who established themselves as North America's best team for almost the entirety of their existence.
After X3's disbandment Kim briefly played with a restarted riot squad [rs] team, this time led by Bobby "Sickness" Moyini, before forming Team3D (3D) in 2002 with Kyle "Ksharp" Miller. He would remain with 3D until January 2007 when he joined rivals Complexity who would be renamed Los Angeles Complexity after becoming a franchise of the Championship Gaming Series. After the CGS' first season Kim was selected as a protected player by the franchise.
In summer 2010 his team got 5-8th place at Arbalet Cup Dallas. Soon afterwards Rambo retired from professional gaming.
On October 14, 2016 MVP announced that Rambo would become the coach of MVP Project.
Accomplishments
World championships
| Placing | Event | Year | Team | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  Speakeasy CPL | 2001 | X3 | $10,000 |
| 1st | CPL Winter | 2002 | 3D | $30,000 |
| 1st |  WCG | 2004 | 3D | $50,000 + Gold medal |
| 1st |  WCG | 2005 | 3D | $50,000 + Gold medal |
| 1st | CGS CS:S World finals | 2007 | coL | $5,000 |
Other
| Placing | Event | Year | Team | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th | Babbage's CPL | 2000 | syn | $700 |
| 1st | CAL Invite | 2001 | X3 | Prototype Intel processors |
| 1st | CPL 4-year anniversary | 2001 | X3 | $1,200 |
| 2nd | CPL Winter | 2001 | X3 | $25,000 |
| 7th | WCG | 2002 | 3D | - |
| 3rd | WCG Continent vs. Continent | 2002 | America | Bronze medal |
| 2nd | KillerLAN | 2003 | 3D | $1,500 |
| 3rd | CPL Summer | 2003 | 3D | $28,000 |
| 2nd | WCG | 2003 | 3D | $20,000 + Silver medal |
| 13th | CPL Winter | 2003 | 3D | $1,000 |
| 13th | CPL Summer | 2004 | 3D | $1,000 |
| 8th | CPL Winter | 2004 | 3D | $2,000 |
| 1st | WCG qualifier | 2005 | 3D | $5,000 |
| 2nd | Acon5 qualifier | 2005 | 3D | - |
| 1st | GGL Americup | 2005 | 3D | $4,000 |
| 1st | Digital Life | 2005 | 3D | $10,000 |
| 9th | CPL Winter | 2005 | 3D | $900 |
| 3rd | Transatlantic showdown | 2006 | 3D | $5,250 |
| 1st | EverLAN | 2006 | 3D | $10,000 |
| 1st | WSVG LANwar | 2006 | 3D | $12,500 |
| 4th |  ESWC | 2006 | 3D | $16,000 |
| 2nd | CGI | 2006 | 3D | $15,000 |
| 9th | WSVG ISC | 2006 | 3D | $2,250 |
| 2nd | WSVG Finals | 2006 | 3D | $25,000 |
| 1st | WCG qualifier | 2006 | 3D | $17,500 |
| 5th |  WCG | 2006 | 3D | - |
| 2nd | WCG Pan-Am | 2006 | 3D | $2,300 + Silver medal |
| 1st | PNY Finals | 2007 | coL | $2,000 |
| 1st | Digital Life | 2007 | coL | $10,000 |
| 1st | Newegg LANfest | 2007 | coL | $5,000 |
Total
- Over $385,000 in prize winnings
- 5 time WCG medalist (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
- Named MVP of CPL Winter 2002
- #1 pick in the 2002 CAL season 1 draft
Personal life
Kim grew up in Dallas, Texas. He is of Korean American descent. He was born on December 3, 1983.
Business ventures
ESEA
While a member of Team 3D Kim expressed an interest in having an organized system for providing Counter-Strike lessons for the public. 3D's manager Craig Levine formed the ESEA League where Kim has been an instructor since the website's inception.
The Art Of Counter-Strike
Kim is co-author of a competitive guide titled The Art Of Counter-Strike (TAO-CS) along with ex-teammate Ognian "steel" Gueorguiev and journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields. The guide, which is sold digitally as an ebook, contains over 200 pages and 50 minutes of video footage.