Alarm Rookie of the Year Proper Set His Sights High
This was an interesting year to be a rookie in the Overwatch League. So much had changed about the game itself that there was newness everywhere—the world was ready to be awe-struck by fresh possibilities: 5v5, push, new heroes, new highs.
It was into this environment that Dong-Hyun “Proper” Kim delivered himself: at 18 years old, he was already a monster carry, and more than any other new face, he pushed the limits week after week, setting performance benchmarks no one had ever seen before. Proper consistently transcended even his own hype, and in the end he left no doubts in earning the 2022 Alarm Rookie of the Year award.
If there was a certain feeling of inevitability surrounding Proper’s ascension, that’s because he made it his mission right from the start, after two years of dominating Korean Contenders with O2 Blast, a powerhouse organization that also housed 2021 Rookie of the Year Se-Hyun “Pelican” Oh and produced six other Overwatch League rookies this season.
O2 Blast was a frequent scrim partner for the Shock and other league teams, and that experience gave Proper early confidence in his game.
“Even though we won a lot in those scrims, I wasn’t able to join the league because of my age,” he recalled. “But I had a feeling that I could show more of myself once I did get to join, and I think I’ve been able to do that.”
Shock head coach Dae-Hee” Crusty” Park remembers his earliest impressions of Proper. “When he was playing in Contenders, I thought, this guy has amazing talent, he can do whatever he wants and he makes it happen,” he said. “As a coach, I really wanted to play the game with this guy.”
The Shock’s acquisition of Proper and O2 teammates Jin-Woo “Kilo” Jung and Se-Jin “Finn” Oh signaled a rebuild after a 2021 season that did not yield any tournament appearances—a somewhat troubling result for an organization that on paper had been gunning for a threepeat. And although Proper says he didn’t feel any additional pressure to help the Shock return to the top of the league, there were plenty of other challenges he’d face as a rookie.
For starters, the language barrier of a mixed roster was tough. “At first, during scrims, I couldn’t understand a thing they were saying, but after taking English lessons and trying to communicate more with my teammates, I can understand a lot more now,” Proper said.
In case you missed this cute @Ow_Proper and @CucumberColuge moment yesterday… pic.twitter.com/RbhhAwmRGl
— San Francisco Shock (@SFShock) September 9, 2022
In-game, too, he found he couldn’t do the same things that made him such a threat in Contenders. “I was able to hard-carry a lot of matches on Tracer, but in 5v5, Tracer damage was lower so there was a skill cap, and that made it difficult in the first half of the season.”
Look at Proper’s Tracer performances from the Kickoff Clash, though, and you’ll find a player who still put up numbers and managed to bend teamfights to his will. The most pertinent testament to a player’s greatness is the fear of an opposing team, and Proper earned it in droves at the tournament in Dallas. Even the eventual champion Los Angeles Gladiators conceded that Proper’s ability to deadlift the Shock in trying times was “the scariest thing in this tournament.”
He proved them right in the match against the Houston Outlaws with an unbelievable bot stall on Colosseo, staying alive for more than 40 seconds in overtime and buying the Shock enough time to stabilize and win out the map. That sequence didn’t just whip the crowd into a frenzy, it also astounded his own teammates and coach.
The Shock ultimately fell short, succumbing to rookie nerves at their first LAN tournament and lagging behind in coordination compared to teams like the Gladiators and Dallas Fuel. But Proper had arrived, had cemented his reputation and shown the extraordinary qualities that set him apart from his peers.
THIS IS PROPER UNLEASHED.
WE’RE 2-2 AGAINST THE JUSTICE #WINNABLE FOR THE REVERSE SWEEP ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/WCKaACAL4d
— San Francisco Shock (@SFShock) June 2, 2022
For Crusty, it’s not just Proper’s PC that needs to be checked, but his brain. “He has great mechanics, but he’s also really clever. He’s tricky. I really don’t want an enemy like Proper because he really knows how to win the game. Every time he seems to make a perfect choice, so that really is what makes him special,” he said.
Not only does Proper have the talent, he also has an ambitious vision of what he wants to achieve in every match (read: dominate), so part of the learning curve as a rookie was about managing expectations.
“Game-wise, he always fills in any holes so he’s doing a lot already. In daily life, I talk to him and give him some advice on how he should think, because he gets stressed out when he thinks he should do this or that better,” Crusty said. “I tell him to just try to do his role, he can’t cover for everyone. If he just focuses on himself, I’ll take care of the other things.”
“At first, I felt pressure to meet people’s expectations and perform like I had in Contenders, so I tried to do too much,” Proper added. “After Dallas, I realized I should just play how I can and it’ll work out. If I focused on doing my job, I was able to carry, and I didn’t feel as much pressure as before.”
Settling in helped Proper get into a groove, and he also found a new carry vessel in Sojourn, showing just how much scarier he could be despite not becoming the team’s everyday Sojourn player until late in the regular season. Suddenly, he could wipe out the entire enemy team by himself again, and he did just that in the Midseason Madness global tournament, first against the Shanghai Dragons, then against the Los Angeles Gladiators in the winner’s final.
As always, just @Ow_Proper things 💀#WINNABLE | #OWL2022 pic.twitter.com/EnB1BtzlKP
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) July 23, 2022
The ace on Circuit Royal was part of a deadlift—one of three on the year for Proper—and an indelible highlight of a match that represented the Shock’s best result of the season, as they handed the Gladiators their first tournament defeat all year. Proper considers it his proudest moment as a rookie, and it also became a critical juncture in the awards discourse.
“After the Midseason Madness I felt like I could probably win Rookie of the Year, but I also started hearing some chatter about the MVP as well,” he said. “By the end of the Summer Showdown, I was thinking, ‘Could I also win this award?’ and that became another goal of mine.”
Although there have been first-year finalists before, no player has ever doubled up on collecting both Rookie of the Year and MVP. The biggest award of the season won’t be announced until Grand Finals, but even in a packed field that boasts the likes of tournament winners in Kevin “Kevster” Persson and Han-Been “Hanbin” Choi, Proper has made his case, mainly by doing a lot of things that many thought impossible, all in his first year as a pro.
His 9.9 final blows per 10 minutes over the course of the season are the highest in league history, and the closest anyone’s ever gotten to double digits, which is often seen as the event horizon of damage output. Not only that, his final blow to death ratio of 2.3 is the best ever recorded by an everyday player. He’s reached 78 final blows in a match twice this season, good for third- and fourth-best overall. Boasting an undisputed top-five Genji, Tracer, and Sojourn, Proper is unquestionably the bedrock for all the Shock hope to accomplish in 2022.
We’re just going to START the map with a @Ow_Proper 5K, nbd 😐#WINNABLE | #OWL2022 pic.twitter.com/IidOfx0kub
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) August 19, 2022
For someone who entered the league with years of success bolstering his reputation, Proper now only acknowledges what’s in front of him—what he can do with his own two hands and that clever brain. His confidence, he says, comes from his achievements—by winning matches, beating other top teams like the Gladiators and Fuel, and measuring himself against his own expectations. And although winning the Alarm Rookie of the Year award is a phenomenal milestone, Proper is setting his sights even higher.
“It’s something I can be proud of, like I’ve proven myself to everyone.” And if he were to win both awards, he added, “I’d work really hard to win it again next year.”
It would be just one more item on Proper’s checklist of impossible things to do.
Click here to view the final Alarm Rookie of the Year tally.