Thomas K

**Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz** also known as **Thomas K** is a YouTube personality. He uploads vlogs on his personal YouTube channel and has been featured in the videos of Singaporean channels, The Smart Local and Wah!Banana.

## Biography

Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz was born in Germany on 23 November 1995 to a Polish father and Chinese mother. He relocated to Singapore at 4 years old, accompanying his mother who had found a job as a cellist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Thomas is the younger of two siblings. He has an older brother, Jan Kopankiewicz. Thomas currently lives in Singapore with his mother and stepfather while his biological father and older brother are living in Berlin.

Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz attended Radin Mas Primary School and Gan Eng Seng School. In 2016, he obtained a Diploma in Communication and Media Studies at Singapore Polytechnic (SP). During his time at SP, Thomas was a part of the student emcees club, SP Comperes.

### StarCraft II (2010)

As a secondary school student, Thomas frequented LAN cafes to play Dota with his friends. Following the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in 2010, Thomas was hooked and captivated by the game’s diverse strategic options, the use of reaction time, mouse dexterity and complexity of the game play. Thomas then began watching tournament games which brought him closer to the eSports community.

Thomas was scouted by the team, Flash eSports when he defeated the top-ranking player at a local tournament that had been hosted at a LAN shop. Thomas adopted the username “Blysk” which is Polish for “Flash”.

In 2016, Blysk retired briefly leaving team MYinsanity to serve his mandatory National Service in Singapore. He later resumed his competitive career, playing for Downfall Gaming in 2017.

## YouTube

### Wah!Banana (2019 - 2023)

As of 2019, Thomas Kopankiewicz is a script writer and producer for the local YouTube channel, Wah!Banana. He has also starred in several videos including one titled “If We Worked for IKEA” which had garnered over 200,000 views within 3 days of its upload.

### Thomas K. (2016 - Present)

Since 2016, Thomas Kopankiewicz has regularly uploaded vlogs documenting aspects of his life. Inspired by the American YouTuber, Casey Neistat, his video uploads feature his friends, family members, StarCraft 2 competitions and life milestones. As of November 2019, Thomas’ YouTube channel has over 2.8 million video views and 15,700 subscribers.

### The Smart Local (2015 - 2016)

From October 2015 to October 2016, Thomas was an intern who was then converted to a full-timer at The Smart Local (TSL). He has made several appearances on TSL’s YouTube Channel, including the video series — “Singaporeans Try”. At TSL, Thomas was the main cast, videographer and editor of the “TSL Vlogs” video series (Season 1) that lasted a total of 20 episodes. On top of producing video content, Thomas had written several articles during his time at TSL.

## Career Highlights

### SEA Games (2019)

Held in the Philippines, the 2019 SEA games is the first multi-sports event to include 5 eSports medal events — Dota 2, StarCraft II, Tekken 7, Arena of Valour and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. In May 2019, Blysk battled it out with veteran StarCraft player nirvAna and Resurgence team member, Revenant before emerging as the winner for the Singapore Esports Association (SGEA) national qualifiers.

Thomas “Blysk” Kopankiewicz and Toh “Lobo” Wei Liang Alvin, who finished second, were nominated to represent Singapore in StarCraft II for the 30th SEA Games. On 10 December 2019, Thomas came in 2nd place at the SEA Games.