WHITE_ra

Aleksey “White-Ra” Krupnyk grew up as a child in Ukraine who aspired to be an astronaut or a fireman. Like many young kids, he enjoyed sports such as football and swimming (to which he still enjoys) while going to school to study Ecology. He went to work shortly after graduating from university. It is during this time that Aleksey became interested in eSports.

Aleksey resides in a country which had no previous support for eSports. The elder generations imagined it to be a bad choice of an occupation, but Aleksey and the rest of the younger generation thought of it as brain exercising similar to other thought-intensive sports. It is for this reason that Aleksey is determined to bring a positive image to eSports, especially in Ukraine. His family was not very supportive of his career choice either; he met resistance from his parents during his practice regiments. It was not until the WCG 2003 Ukraine qualifiers where he hoisted the Ukrainian national flag on stage that his parents realized he could be a national icon, and thus supported his decision.

His decision to make a career out of eSports comes with the pressure of performance like many other occupations. In 2002 at the WCG Ukraine qualifiers, White-Ra was knocked out of the tournament in the first round. He was very relaxed before the tournament figuring his games to be quite easy. He was caught off guard however, and was very angry at himself for his attitude. He wanted to quit after that tournament, but decided to refocus his attention towards the next year. In 2003, Aleksey represented Ukraine in the WCG World Finals in Korea and took home 1st place. This led to his vision of “Special Tactics”, where he takes time to prepare and look for different solutions to win. While accepting the fact that no one can win all the time, he believes it is also important to learn from the losses and expect to be better the next time you play.

The partnership with Tt eSPORTS is something Aleksey has been interested in for quite a while; he has been to Asia several times visiting China and South Korea for gaming tournaments and shows over the past few years. Upon his visits he saw the Asian culture as very self-disciplined (especially in gaming culture) where people practice and live with passion and full dedication. He also saw the respect that people have for each other. Due to this appreciation, Aleksey decided it would a good decision to join the Tt eSPORTS family and he was intrigued to see how well the partnership would succeed.

The newest Tt eSPORTS mouse, the Saphira, features Aleksey’s picture on the box as it was a mouse he helped design in partnership with Tt eSPORTS. When asked on his thoughts about the product box, Aleksey said: “I am shy when I see my face on the box, but I am interested at the same time knowing that my image and my influence can bring more positive influences on the eSports community. That and my Special Tactics [smiles].”