Alkura (Zak)

Zak (aka Alkura or AlkuranZak, ZakXD, and formerly Zakattack) is a Jordanian American YouTuber who mainly showcases Minecraft related videos with friends. He is the founder and organizer of the Valor UHC and SMP group, as well as the successor group, Icarus.

## Personal Life

Zakariyah was born February 23rd, 2003, (17 years) in a family of five. Zak was born in Portland Oregon, and was supposed to be born in New York but his parents were said to have moved due to 9/11. At the age of 8, his parents split, which was one of the hardest things (but even more impactful later on in his life) than anything else.

He also lived in Winter Park, Florida for the majority of 2020 before moving back to Oregon.

Zak opened his first YouTube account in 2014.

## YouTube History

Zak, even though he's owned a YouTube account since 2012, he made his first video on a new channel in 2014, called, "Introduction." He ended up making the video unlisted and this channel to date only has 36 subscribers and is currently unused.

In late 2014, he started a new channel called, "Zakattack" and later renamed to, "Zakattack\_Plays." He first posted his Team MC intro, which was a team trying to mimic Team Crafted, starting with a group of about 7 people. This group was later disbanded that year. By the start of 2015, he had reached 50 subscribers, and made an extra channel called, "Zakattack Productions," or now, "Zak" for more personal content or short films.

By late 2015 he started making videos using Bandicam, such as Skywars videos, pvp montages, and later on even MCSG and UHC. By early 2016 he stopped making videos. He then returned to the channel, "Zakattack\_Productions," to make lists, top 100s, and top 10s. By the first month of 2016, his main channel had nearly 80 subscribers and his second had just over 20. These small numbers rapidly grew later in the year. In just a few months he reached 930 subscribers on his main account! His second account wasn't far behind in growth, with just about 160 accumulated in this time. When the sub purge of 2016 happened, he lost over 200 subscribers, taking him down to 690. He eventually stopped posting videos once again due to harassment and other personal conflicts. At this point he continuously lost about 1-3 subscribers a day until it drained to 570.

In early 2017, he created yet another channel, called Alkura, which is traditionally Arabic rooted. With very few videos, it was also disbanded. It mainly consisted of Zak doing challenges and quizzes, mainly on the topic basketball. By this point Zak was putting YouTube aside all together, trying to focus on his real life projects, such as school and sports.

By this point in time, he seemed to of put YouTube dead last. This wasn't 100% true, as by June 2017, he started back up his main account. Just in a months time he already earned back 60 subscribers. His second account still had top 100s lists which ended up doing fairly well.

On June 27th, 2017, he created the group "Valor." with the sole intent to make content which friends and just overall have a fun time. He believes that Valor is the missing key to his YouTube channel. This is what his channel has been looking for for all these years of trading channels and going inactive. He doesnt expect to do that ever again, now that he knows where his channel is leading him.

By August 2nd, 2017, he posted his first Valor UHC video, along with many other players. He is continuing to post these UHC episodes.

As of October 2019 his channel has been inactive, and Valor was given up to Deni (TheRatterees) and TBT. The group ended up not going anywhere, with many of the members leaving and was disbanded in late 2020.

As of May 2021, there is plans to revive the Valor group through a private invite-only collaborating/content-creating group. There is also talk about reviving the Valor SMP for a 3rd season and having a reunion Ultra Hardcore Season 11.

### Ended Series(s)

* Icarus SMP Season 1
* Icarus UHC Season 1
* Icarus UHC Season 2
* Mianite mimic SMP
* MagmaCraft SMP
* Valor SMP Season 1
* Valor SMP Season 2
* Valor SMP Season 1.5
* Valor Factions
* Valor UHC Failed Season
* Valor UHC Season 10
* Valor UHC Season 9
* Valor UHC Season 8
* Valor UHC Season 7
* Valor UHC Season 6
* Valor UHC Season 5
* Valor UHC Season 3
* Valor UHC Season 1
* Dark Sapphire Season 1
* Trampled Season 1
* Europa Universalis (Ottoman)
* Europa Universalis (Jordan)
* PVP Montages
* Survival Games (MCSG)
* Minecraft Skywars
* Road to 1700 Elo on Badlion

## Quotes

1. "Epic"
2. Im not the type to plan things and say “ya know 14 seasons sounds like a great time to stop,” because in reality I do it until everyone gets bored and stops. Then we can move to other things. Until Valor breaks apart, never - After Valor Season 7

## Trivia

* Zak left and gave up ownership of Valor in October 2019.
	+ As of May 2021, there is plans for a reunion.
* Zak is the only valor member to participate in every UHC season.
	+ Pottery has the 2nd highest attendance.
	+ Kitkat was 2nd, but he took a hiatus in Season 9-10.
* Zak has known Gary the longest of any Valor or Icarus member in history.
	+ He also knew TBT and GreenMatius shortly after from the Cube wiki group.
* Zak is 17 years of age, actually below the average age of Valor members.
* Zak is rumored to be the tallest person in Valor.
	+ His twitter states that he is 6 feet and 2 inches.
		- Burger (former member) is said to be 6 feet tall. Chase (Kitkat) is 6 foot 1.
	+ Zak is a Valor SMP Season 2 member.
* Zak has ranked 9th place in UHC 3 times.
	+ Zak also ranked 2nd 3 times.
	+ Zak has yet to win a UHC season.
* Zak had the third most Valor SMP Season 2 episodes with 28. Just behind Fyre (aka Aizakku) with 38 and TBThardyfan with 35.