Many of you might be extremely excited about Iris being back, and about the level of competition he brings to the field as a veteran. Some, however, might say that he does not stand a chance. I'm here to tell those people that they are wrong.


Iris has a rich history that dates all the way to 2004. He started his career on the team Greatest Ones, and stayed with that team until his military service. In his first offline MST qualifier, he managed to get first place out of his bracket, having only lost two games. Unfortunately for him, he was knocked out by the big boys in both the MBC Survivor and at WCG Korea 2004 without winning so much as a single game. The rest of the year continued rather poorly: he failed to qualify at the Fall MST offline qualifiers (only beating one opponent in the process) and he dropped out of the OCL as well as the ODT. A small glimmer of hope for him did arrive when he won in his first Proleague appearance against Zeus, who was an OSL runner-up from earlier in the year.

First steps
2005 was a relatively good year for Iris, as he managed to qualify for both the 2005 EVER OSL and the 2005 Shinhan Bank OSL. He dropped out of both OSLs in the round of 24. He also ended up in 4th place in the CYON OCL. Additionally, he ended the 2005 Proleague season with a record of 8-7 with wins against players like July and NaDa. He had proven himself to be a promising player.

During the 2006-2007 period Iris did well. He managed to qualify for all three OSLs during 2006. He started the year by dropping out in the group stages out of a group that consisted of Midas, Stork, YellOw, and himself. He ended up in third place within that group with an overall score of two wins to three losses. His performance in group stages is most notable for his two victories over Midas, who was considered to be the greatest Terran at that time. In the second season of the 2006 Shinhan Bank OSL, Iris dropped out in the group stages once again. However, he was still able to advance because of a wildcard spot. He was knocked out by Midas in the quarterfinals in a close series.

First success
In the following season, Iris advanced all the way to the semifinals with only two losses against him. His opponent was sAviOr, who had finally managed to qualify for the OSL after having dominated the MSL for more than a year with appearances at four consecutive MSL finals, and victories at three of them. Iris surprised everyone by taking his match against sAviOr to game five. His performance was enough to place him in third place on the power rank, which noted that Iris had brought his very best, unlike Midas. Iris ended up stomping Casy 3-0 in the third place match.

In the 2007 Daum OSL, Iris faced sAviOr once again in the quarterfinals. Before meeting sAviOr, Iris first defeated Stork. After Iris eliminated sAviOr as well from the OSL, he completed the defeat of two opponents who had the best versus Terran records in the world at the time. Iris managed to get all the way to the finals of that season, where he faced GGPlay. Even though he got reverse-swept by GGPlay after being up 2-0, he still ended being ranked higher than GGPlay in the following power rank. Why? Because Iris had shown the he was one of the very best players in all three match-ups, something that no Terran other than iloveoov and NaDa had done previously.

Just standard again
After the loss to GGPlay, Iris looked like he used to. He had games where he won when he was supposed to and games where he lost when he was supposed to. He was knocked out in the early rounds of 2007 EVER OSL, 2008 Incruit OSL, 2008 Club Day MSL, and the 2009 Lost Saga MSL. He failed to qualify for the rest. He ended the 2008 season of Proleague with a record of 7-6.

Second success
In the spring of 2009, something had awakened the berserker. He was fielded multiple times in Proleague and he built up a solid record.

In individual leagues, Iris had two magic runs that stopped just shy of the last door. In the 2009 Avalon MSL, Iris had just came out of an impressive win against Bisu in the quarterfinals. Iris looked destined to face Jaedong, who was on the other side of the bracket, in the finals. Everything looked good until Iris was 2-0 against Kwanro, when he was once again reverse-swept three games in a row. The final between Calm and Kwanro ended up being the worst MSL final ever. His other run was in the last season of the GOMTV Classic. On the road to the final, Iris knocked out EffOrt 3-0 in the semifinal before losing to the wonderboy, Flash.

Fallen into slumber
After 2009, nothing really happened for Iris' career. He fell into mediocrity after joining ACE (like everyone except for firebathero). With the transition to StarCraft II, Iris decided to become a coach. Realising his true powers, Iris is now participating in SOSPA-hosted tournaments and events.



Reborn
Iris did not participate in the seeding matches or the group selection. This is seen by many as an indication he is not taking it seriously.

I beg to differ. Remember what happened to sAviOr in the quarterfinals? Iris is in the AZUBU dorm practicing every waking hour. Why? Last month he played Killer. He ended up being 3-2'd. Déjà vu. Two days later, Iris plays Larva. Larva rolls over and dies, 0-3. The berserker has emerged from his den.




      

Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
Perfectman	Mong	Movie	Shinee
ZeLoT	beast	Perry	Spire
hero	uNiOn`Feat	Tyson	Lazy
Jeak.donggle	Sexy	Iris	Shuttle

Perfectman hasn’t exactly been pulling up trees since his Ro8 exit to Larva in SSL7, with Movie’s impressive performances slightly overshadowing the former Hwaseung progamer. Perfectman’s co-favourite hero has also faded slightly after a series of good showings in the latter part of 2012. Rounding out the group we have SOSPA regular and president of the hydralisk fanclub, ZeLoT and the slightly less well known amateur, Jeak.donggle.

While Perfectman probably deserves to be considered favourite to progress from group E in first place, his PvZ history, especially when considering his record as a progamer, is hardly impressive. Hero and ZeLoT have both taken some impressive PvZ scalps in the past and while neither player did that well in their seeding group, both pose a real threat to Perfectman, especially ZeLoT in the Bo1 opening game.


Regardless of how Perfectman’s PvZ holds up, hero and ZeloT should meet in at least one Bo3. These two met quite recently in their SSL seeding group, with ZeLot taking a quick win over hero with what is becoming his trademark “cheese the progamer” style. Jeak.donggle isn’t particularly well known as a competitor in SOSPA leagues but is a reasonably high Fish ladder player and could give either of the Zergs a tough time.

This group is a slightly awkward one to call, with its outcome likely reliant on the result of the ZvZ series between hero and ZeLoT. Perfectman hasn’t been brilliant in 2013 but taking into consideration his performance in that 2-3 loss against LArva and the considerable motivation boost that comes with a tournament like SSL, he should pull through in first here.

PerfectMan and ZeLoT to advance.


Group F features three of the best “B team” progamers from the SOSPA scene, with all three players have done extremely well for themselves on Afreeca when competing against more high profile ex-pro opposition. Amongst those three, probably the most successful is Mong, who stands out as probably the most consistent streamer and competitor on Afreeca over the last year. Beast doesn’t really have consistency on his side, but has put up results almost on a par with Mong and has been reaping the rewards of a huge upswing in form over the last three months.

The third king of the B teamers is Sexy, who seemed to disappear completely after a disappointing showing in SSL7.uNiOn`Feat is a newcomer to the SOSPA individual leagues and as such, we know little about him other than he’s a strong ladder player. While in another group he may have had a chance to make an impact, against this trio he’s basically just along for the ride.


While beast has been excellent in 2013 and Sexy’s TvT was once very good, this group is Mong’s to lose. Against beast he will be playing in his best match-up, one in which he is equal to any other Terran on Afreeca, while versus Sexy he’ll be facing off against a player who has 3 months’ worth of rust to shake off and whom he has always had the upper hand over.

Sexy’s likely match-up with beast is a slightly more interesting proposition, with the former OZ Terran’s historical strength in TvZ counterbalanced by his own inactivity and beast’s good form so far in 2013. When the two met in seeding group A, Sexy took a win which harked back to his glory days of mid-2012 when he narrowly lost to Killer 3-4 in the final of SRT9. While that game probably wasn’t entirely representative of the two players’ relative skill, it’s worth noting that beast’s recent good results have almost exclusively come in ZvZ and ZvP, with his only really notable ZvT win coming in a quick and dirty game against the desperately out of form Sea.

It feels slightly risky to bet against beast, given how many times he has confounded expectations already this year. However Sexy’s consistent success throughout 2012, along with his excellent return performance in his seeding group, make it a risk worth taking.

Mong and Sexy to advance.

Having quickly risen to the top of the SOSPA scene in SRTs 11 and 12, Movie’s progress through the early stages of his debut SSL ought to have been fairly straightforward. However the late inclusion of his former CJ teammate and fellow OSL finalist, Iris, has complicated things somewhat. Completing group G are former MBC and Team8 progamer Tyson and one of the more promising B team ex-pros, Perry.

With Tyson’s Afreeca career so far having roughly followed the trajectory of his professional career, that is, average but with enough surprise results to keep things interesting, he should only become a factor in this group if Iris’ current level proves to be much lower than expected. Perry also is likely condemned to irrelevancy but has an outside chance of emerging from a three way scrap for the second spot in the Ro16.


Obviously, the most interesting storyline in this group is the return of Iris to Brood War competition. While we know what Iris can and has done when at the peak of his powers (for a reminder, see Epoxide’s piece), we have only a handful of games to work with when trying to estimate his current level. His showmatch games in TvZ, versus Killer and Larva, indicate that if he is to make it through to the Ro16 he could make a real impact given the right match-ups. However, his 0-2 record against Shuttle suggests that he may struggle against the whirlwind aggression of SOSPA’s alpha Protoss, Movie.

Everyone wants Iris to go through, if for no other reason than to see him play in an offline setting one more time. Unfortunately for us, Iris’ TvP could be his undoing, as it has been for so many other top Afreeca Terran in the past. While a win over Movie seems like a long shot, Iris at least deserves the benefit of the doubt against the much weaker Tyson and Perry.

Movie and Iris to advance.

Shuttle’s quest to continue funding his patronage of Gangnam’s famous “baseball parks” continues with what should probably be a fairly straightforward group for the former STX progamer. Joining him in the final group of the Ro32 is undisupted king of Fighting Spirit, Shinee, former MBC B teamer Lazy and SSL debutant, Spire.

While Shinee is a formidable opponent for basically anyone when the game is being played on Fish ladder, he always appears to fall short of his potential in tournament games. Up against Shuttle in what seems the most likely winners’ final, Shinee looks likely to struggle. Shuttle appears to have reached a reasonably comfortable level within the SOSPA scene, where he is not quite able to challenge the absolute top competitors but still easily dispatches the less well established ex-pros and amateur players.

Spire was around for a little while early in 2012, while purportedly active as a Team 8 practice partner and participated with mixed success in a handful of Afreeca tournaments. Since then he’s dropped off the radar slightly and looks like a fairly safe bet for last place in the group. Lazy has been similarly peripheral to the SOSPA scene in the last six months but is a slightly more well established player, having been an eSTRO and MBC progamer.


It’s difficult to know what more to say, Shinee has a habit of losing to some surprising people in tournament series so it is possible for either Spire or Lazy to make it through at his expense. Shuttle’s playstyle can be a little erratic but he’s much too good to not make it out of this group. Unless Shinee can, for the first time in history, translate his 2000+ Fish ladder play on a non-Fighting Spirit map, Shuttle should take first place easily.

Shuttle and Shinee to advance.

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WRITERS: Hyde, Epoxide, kjwcj, BisuDagger
TRANSLATORS: David Kim
EDITORS: itsjustatank
GRAPHICS: Hyde
PHOTOS: kimbilly, dailyesports