At the first ever Brooklyn Beatdown Street Fighter V tournament at ESL One, reigning Evolution 2016 champion Lee "Infiltration" Seon Woo was eliminated by Japan's Hayashi "Mago" Kenryo, the best Karin player in the world.
After being sent to the losers bracket by the unknown Thomas "Brolynho" Proença from Brazil, Infiltration pulled out Balrog against Mago's Karin, leaving fans confused.
ESPN.com caught up with Infiltration to see what he has planned after ESL One. While he wasn't thrilled to be eliminated from the top 16, his intention wasn't necessarily to win.
"I don't care about money," Infiltration said, when asked about missing out on a large chunk of a $75,000 prize pool. "I just want to test before Capcom Cup."
For Infiltration, the only tournament that matters is Capcom Cup. Every other tournament is a second priority, even those with massive prizes. "I have no good experience against Karin, so Mago, he's [the] No. 1 Karin player in the world, I just want to test against him," he said.
While losing to one of Japan's best wasn't terrible, being sent to the losers by Brolynho was.
"I just got nervous," Infiltration said. "He's always attacking me, right things, good jumping, timing and good mix-up, throws, strike attacks."
Unfortunately for Infiltration, there was only so much game play to absorb Brolynho's play style as it was a best-of-three format in top 32.
"I really, really want first-to-three," Infiltration said.
It gives him more matches to study and understand players. Because for Infiltration, tournaments are the "best training station ever."
Due to Infiltration's intense travel schedule, he likes to make the most out of tournament play. This month, he has already attended four-to-five tournaments and has been traveling constantly. On Tuesday he will fly back to South Korea, get a day of rest and fly out to the South East Asia Major in Singapore. Then it's on to Dubai and possibly to the Canada Cup after that. His only practice time is at tournaments, so he's OK with experimenting characters in high-stakes, high-pressure situations.
Naysayers may claim his Evolution 2016 win was a fluke. He reaffirmed that the only tournament that matters is Capcom Cup. Everything until then is practice.
Asked whether he learned a lot from ESL One: "so-so."