Infiltration (gamer)

Infiltration
Infiltration at Evo 2012
Current team
TeamUnsigned
GamesStreet Fighter series
Personal information
NameSeonwoo Lee
Born1984 or 1985 (age 39–40)[1]
NationalityKorean
Team history
2012–2013Western Wolves
2012–2013Mad Catz
2015–2017Team Razer
2017–2018Team Grapht
2017–2018Panda Global
2020–2021Afreeca Freecs
Korean name
Hangul이선우
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationI Seon-u
McCune–ReischauerYi Sŏn.u

Lee Seon-woo, known as Infiltration, is a professional esports player from Seoul, South Korea, specializing in fighting games. Lee is a six-time Evolution Championship Series (EVO) champion; winning Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition v2012 in 2012, Street Fighter X Tekken in 2012 and 2013,[2][3] Street Fighter V in 2016 and 2018 (EVO Japan) [4] and Samurai Shodown in 2019.[5]

Lee was fired from his team, Panda Global, in November 2018 after the organization learned of a domestic abuse case he was convicted for the year before.[6]

Gaming career

Infiltration first started playing fighting games seriously with the home release of Street Fighter IV, but he offered tips for players hoping to raise their skill level. The "Infiltration" name comes from the Metal Gear Solid series, of which he is a big fan. Lee uses a bat-top joystick due to the first FightStick he bought was coincidentally a bat-top joystick sold for 2,000 yen ($20 US). Lee chose Akuma in Street Fighter IV because he heard that Akuma was strong in the game at the time. Lee's main focus is physical training instead of in-game practice.[7]

Lee is the winner of the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals for both Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012 and Street Fighter X Tekken and won $25,000 for each game. The former event saw Lee win against Mad Catz's Daigo Umehara 6–0. Because he won the latter, Lee also received a one of a kind Street Fighter-based Scion FR-S Coupe.[8] Lee also won the Capcom Cup 2013 Street Fighter X Tekken tournament in which he was invited to by Capcom.[9] In March, Lee qualified for the Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals by winning Nine States Tournament 2015.[10] In late May, Lee qualified for Capcom Cup 2015 by placing Top 3 at Stunfest 2015. Lee's opponents in Top 3, Momochi and Umehara have already qualified thus giving Lee the qualifying spot by default.[11]

Lee is known for having a defensive playstyle as determined by Justin Wong's Step Up Your Game series.[12] On January 16, 2015, Eventhubs ranked Lee at #6 on their Top 50 Ultra Street Fighter IV players list.[13] Lee is also known for creating an outstanding comeback against Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez in the Losers Semis at EVO 2013 Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012, where he counterpicked Perez's Balrog with Hakan.[14] Lee qualified for the 2014 Capcom Cup by winning CEO 2014 in an exciting battle against Evil Geniuses' Yusuke Momochi.[15] Momochi would later defeat Lee at Capcom Cup 2014 resulting in the latter to get a 4th-place finish.[16]

Because of his performances in 2012, Lee has been called "Player of the Year" by many including Capcom. However, in late 2013, Lee saw a small decline where other players managed to catch up to his level. Overall, Lee still manages to perform well in tournaments he enters, usually making Top 4.[17][18]

A controversy regarding 2015's Capcom Pro Tour circuit came up regarding Lee, with some labeling him as a "gatekeeper" due to visiting multiple CPT events despite already qualifying for Capcom Cup (here 'gatekeeping' means to keep other players from qualifying). Lee stated in an interview that his intention was not to gatekeep, but instead to practice before the Capcom Cup begins in December. Lee also states that Street Fighter V is going in a good direction, as he thinks that making the game offense-oriented will make it faster and better.[19]

On November 15, 2015, Infiltration signed with Team Razer.[20][21]

On June 4, 2022, Capcom Fighters announced via a tweet that Infiltration (as well as Michael "Theo Lee Ronin" Parks) "will be banned from all Capcom-owned, operated and/or licensed events globally, including Capcom Pro Tour and Street Fighter League, until further notice."[22]

Personal life

In mid-2014, Lee had to sell the one-of-a-kind Scion FR-S Coupe he won because of high maintenance issues. This was also the same car Lee actually had to earn his drivers license for, just so he could drive it.[23]

On October 22, 2017, Lee got into an argument with his then-wife.[6] The police responded to a call and documented evidence of broken household objects.[24] Lee was arrested and charged with domestic violence. Paramedics took her to a hospital and documented a wrist injury and bruises.[24] A South Korean court ruled against Lee on November 30, 2017.[6] Lee and his wife divorced in December 2017.[24] Panda Global, Lee's sponsoring team, learned about the assault in September 2018 and withdrew Lee from all upcoming tournaments at the time.[25] He was fired from the team on November 22, 2018, after Panda Global obtained his court records.[6]

Notable tournament placings

Super Street Fighter IV results
Year Tournament Placement
2010 Electronic Sports World Cup 4th
2010 Evolution 2010 3rd
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition tournament results[26]
Year Tournament Placement
2011 ReveLAtions 5th
2011 Canada Cup 5th
2011 NorCal Regionals 2nd
2011 Capcom Korea Cup 2nd
2011 Evolution 2011 25th
2011 Season's Beatings Velocity 9th
2011 DreamHack Winter 2011 1st
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012 tournament results
Year Tournament Placement
2012 NorCal Regionals 10 2nd
2012 Season's Beatings: Summer Slam 1st
2012 DreamHack Summer 2012 1st
2012 Evolution 2012 1st
2012 Season's Beatings Ascension 2nd
2012 Canada Cup 2012 5th
2012 DreamHack Winter 2012 1st
2012 Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals 1st
2013 SoCal Regionals 2013 1st
2013 Final Round 16 1st
2013 NorCal Regionals 11 1st
2013 DreamHack Summer 2013 2nd
2013 Evolution 2013 3rd
2013 World Cyber Games 2013 Korea National Final 1st
2013 Capcom Cup Asia 2013 Korea Qualifier 1st
2013 ThaigerUppercut Championship 2013 3rd
2014 SoCal Regionals 2014 2nd
2014 Final Round XVII 3rd
2014 NorCal Regionals 2014 2nd
Street Fighter X Tekken tournament results
Year Tournament Placement
2012 NorCal Regionals 10 1st
2012 Canada Cup 2012 1st
2012 Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals 1st
2013 SoCal Regionals 2013 1st
2013 Final Round 16 2nd
2013 NorCal Regionals 11 1st
2013 Evolution 2013 1st
2013 Canada Cup 2013 2nd
2013 Capcom Cup 2013 1st
2014 SoCal Regionals 2014 1st
2014 Final Round XVII 3rd
Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament results
Year Tournament Placement
2014 SoCal Regionals 2014 3rd
2014 Capcom Pro Tour Invitation Tournament @ E3 1st
2014 DreamHack Summer 2014 1st
2014 CEO - Community Effort Orlando 2014 1st
2014 IeSF 6th e-Sports World Championships 1st
2014 Capcom Cup 2014 4th
2015 Sonic Boom 2015 1st
2015 Cannes Winter Clash 2015 3rd
2015 Nine States Tournament 2015 1st
2015 Final Round 18 17th
2015 Red Bull Kumite 4th
2015 NorCal Regionals 2015 7th
2015 Double Elimination 2015 1st
2015 Texas Showdown 2015 1st
2015 Toryuken 2015 1st
2015 Stunfest 2015 3rd
2015 Evolution 2015 3rd
2015 HK eSports Tournament 2015 1st
2015 First Attack 2015 1st
2015 Tokyo Game Show 2015 3rd
Street Fighter V results
Year Tournament Placement
2016 Final Round 1st
2016 NorCal Regionals 1st
2016 Red Bull Kumite 1st
2016 Community Effort Orlando 2nd
2016 Evolution 2016 1st
2017 Red Bull Kumite 5th
2017 Manila Cup 2017 1st
2018 EVO Japan 2018 1st
2018 Final Round 2018 1st
Samurai Shodown results
Year Tournament Placement
2019 EVO 2019 1st

References and notes

  1. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (17 November 2018). "Street Fighter 5 pro Infiltration kicked off esports team following domestic abuse investigation". Eurogamer. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  2. ^ Heart, Adam "Keits". "Infiltration wins EVO 2012 Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012". Shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  3. ^ Allen, Brian. "EVO 2013: Infiltration is the best at Street Fighter X Tekken". technologytell.com. Technology Tell. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  4. ^ Hood, Lance "Tarnot". "Our Evo 2016 Street Fighter V Winner is Infiltration". Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  5. ^ "Samurai Shodown Evo 2019 Grand Finals 2019". ign.com. 3 August 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d Wolf, Jacob (22 November 2018). "Panda Global cuts Infiltration after abuse claim". ESPN. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. ^ Grey, Jonathan "Catalyst" (12 October 2013). "Infiltration's main focus is physical training instead of in-game practice - people initially told him Akuma was a weak character". Eventhubs. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. ^ Gonzalez, Oscar. "Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Grand Finals Results". original-gamer.com. Original Gamer. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  9. ^ Moultrie, Tamika. "Capcom Cup 2013 Results – Sako, NYChris G, and Infiltration Take #1". GamerFitNation.com. GamerFitNation. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  10. ^ "Nine States Tournament 2015 Results". Shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  11. ^ "Stunfest 2015 Results: Infiltration Qualifies for Capcom Cup". Shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Archived from the original on September 4, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  12. ^ Wong, Justin. "Step Up Your Game Chapter 18: Changing Styles". Eventhubs.com. Eventhubs. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  13. ^ Chavez, Steven "Dreamking23" (16 January 2015). "Eventhubs lists Top 50 Ultra Street Fighter IV Players #10 - #01". Eventhubs.com. Eventhubs. Retrieved March 12, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "The Hakan Comeback". IGN.com. IGN. June 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  15. ^ Steiner, Dustin. "CAPCOM PRO TOUR: INFILTRATION BATTLES BACK THROUGH THE LOSER'S BRACKET, SLAYS EVIL GENIUSES TO TAKE CEO 2014". eSportsMax.com. eSportsMax. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  16. ^ Sim, Cheng Kai "KarbyP" (17 January 2015). "Momochi's snap-decisions against Infiltration and Snake Eyez". Eventhubs.com. Eventhubs. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  17. ^ "Capcom Cup Player Introduction". Capcom Pro Tour.com. Capcom Pro Tour. 7 November 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  18. ^ Walker, Ian "Iantothemax". "UltraChen Analyzes Infiltration's Road to Capcom Cup 2014". Shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Retrieved March 12, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Co, Franz. "Infiltration: "I think [Street Fighter V's] constantly going in the right direction."". shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  20. ^ "Infiltration Joins Team Razer". iplaywinner.com. iPlayWinner. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  21. ^ Jurek, Steven (November 15, 2015). "Infiltration signs with Team Razer". The Daily Dot. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  22. ^ @CapcomFighters (3 June 2022). (Tweet) https://x.com/CapcomFighters/status/1532873937377341441 – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ^ Sim, Cheng Kai "KarbyP" (24 August 2014). "Infiltration had to sell off the one-of-a-kind Scion FR-S sports coupe he won at the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary tournament". Eventhubs.com. Eventhubs. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  24. ^ a b c 백, 민재 (2019-10-20). "프로게이머 이선우 전처 "폭행 모두 사실…법적 대응할 것"" [Pro gamer Lee Sun-woo's ex-wife: "All the assaults are true…we will respond legally"]. The Korea Economic Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  25. ^ Lee, Alexander (24 September 2018). "Panda Global responds to Infiltration abuse allegations". ESPN. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  26. ^ Demian, Maxamilian. "FGC Battles - Infiltration (Seonwoo Lee)". FGC Battles. Retrieved 3 December 2018.