Infiltration faces Street Fighter V uncertainty as he takes a break from Capcom Pro Tour

There was a time, not so long ago, when Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo looked immortal in Street Fighter V.

He played his signature run-and-gun style with Nash so sublimely, no one could catch up with him. His closest competition was Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, a Street Fighter god who Infiltration repeatedly outclassed in multiple high-profile tournaments.

On Tuesday, Infiltration announced via Twitter he had canceled his flight to NorCal Regionals 2017, admitting he wasn’t ready for the Capcom Pro Tour. Since winning Evo 2016, Infiltration has been a shadow of his former self. It appears his personal life has caught up to his career and he’s having difficulty adjusting right now.

“I’m not ready to attend CPT events. I’m very busy these days preparing for marriage. I need more time to train but I will be back as soon as possible,” Infiltration told Yahoo Esports.

Download incomplete?

From March through July 2016, Infiltration won two CPT Premier Events (Final Round, NCR), Red Bull Kumite, and Evo 2016. He also took second at CEO 2016, losing to Tokido (who he beat at Final Round, NCR, and Red Bull Kumite.) At Evo 2016, he gave us the fantastic catchphrase “download complete” after beating Ai “Fuudo” Keita, referring to Infiltration adapting to Fuudo’s play and beating him in grand finals after losing to him in winner’s finals.

After his Evo victory, Infiltration took some time off from competition. His first major post-Evo tournament was ESL One’s Brooklyn Beatdown nearly three months later, where he lost to a Brazilian upstart Thomas “Brolynho” Proenca 2-0.

A player can’t make every grand finals or win every major tournament but this was still a huge upset because no one thought Brolynho would beat the king of the Street Fighter V world. In the loser’s bracket, Infiltration lost to Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi 3-1. But this loss was significant because Infiltration had switched characters from Nash to Balrog, showing that maybe he didn’t have the confidence in Nash for the first time.

After that ESL One elimination, Infiltration said he wanted to experiment at the event and revealed he wasn’t concerned with the loss in an interview with Mark “Born Free” Sheridan. Infiltration’s results dipped dramatically in the latter half of 2016 compared to his white hot start. His sole victory after Evo came at a CPT Asia Last Chance Qualifier, wherehe used four different characters: Nash, Rashid, Vega, and Balrog.

Capcom Cup disaster and Season 2

Capcom Cup 2016 was not kind to Infiltration.

Capcom wanted to run best-of-three matches to start the first round. Players wanted best-of-five. Capcom relented, and while itmade for some exciting, competitive sets, it also gave players like Johnny “HumanBomb” Cheng the chance to come back from a 2-1 deficit to win the very first match of the day against Infiltration.

Infiltration followed that up with a 3-2 loss to Mago, his Capcom Cup 2016 run ending with a whimper. After his loss, Infiltration spent most of the event sleeping on a couch tucked away in a corner of the Esports Arena.

A month later, Core A Gaming posted a video in which Infiltration took Capcom to task, calling Capcom Cup 2016 “a total mess.” He shared many of the same complaints other players had with the event but hearing him speak so earnestly was a bit unusual. His tone was respectful, but it gave viewers a glimpse of some frustration Infiltration had with the finale.

That’s carried over into Season 2. Nash didn’t seem all that viable after Evo 2016, and he’s even worse in Season 2. Infiltration seemingly wanted to settle on Rashid and Juri (because he wants to excel with the only Street Fighter character with a Korean origin.) But even in his capable hands, Juri just doesn’t seem like she has enough tools to contend with the current top characters in Season 2 like Laura, Balrog, and Urien.

“I think Nash and Juri are the weakest characters in the game,” Infiltration said. “They look cool and I love their fighting style. However, I need more ‘strong’ characters to win tournaments. I don’t know which character will be my new main, but I will try to find a new character.”

What happens now?

Infiltration did a short stint at ELeague, which likely didn’t go as well as he had hoped as he lost to Bryant “Smug” Huggins and was eliminated by Brolynho (who appears to have Infiltration’s number.) Infiltration’s performance was very much in line with his post-Evo work: Good but not great. This might be the first time he’s had to endure a lengthy stretch of mediocrity.

Alas, sometimes real life takes precedence over competition for the pros. Infiltration may not have found his Street Fighter V soulmate, but the break allows him to get married to the one he has in real life.

“Preparing for marriage has been very stressful and I can’t get time to train right now. After the wedding, I can concentrate more on Street Fighter V,” Infiltration said.

Despite saying he’ll be back soon, it isn’t clear when that will be or in what game shape he’ll be in. Perhaps he’ll wait to see how effective Nash and Juri will be after the new Street Fighter V balance update rolls out. Maybe he’ll stick with Rashid, which many consider to be a higher tier character. He appears to be keeping his options open when it comes to settling on a main character.

“I’m looking forward to new DLC characters. I am very adaptable and I will be back stronger with a new power,” Infiltration said. “This season is very hard for me. It makes me want to try harder. Maybe I need to change my character and playstyle.

Unlike Tokido, Infiltration hasn’t made the transition to Akuma, the character he was most notable for in Street Fighter IV, and he doesn’t seem to have the inclination to move to Akuma. He flirted with Balrog in the past, and in the current meta, Balrog is very powerful character. Could he go the route many other players have gone by going top tier with Balrog?

Or maybe he hinted at the possibility of a radical change in playstyle for himself.

“Go home and be a family man,” Infiltration said.

Michael Martin went home to be a family man and it’s harder than competing. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.