StarCraft II: Puma leaves TSL for EG

Time: 13:14:41 CET 04:14:41 PST 07:14:41 EST 20:14:41 Seoul 19:14:41 Beijing

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By Justin 'Phaymous' Behn

Jul 21, 2011 19:41

Puma was approached by Evil Geniuses after he made it to Ro4 in the NASL Finals and announced officially earlier today that he was leaving TSL to join EG.

Team SCV Life announced earlier today that they will be releasing

Ho Joon 'PuMa' Lee from their team. TSL also revealed that after Puma won NASL, Puma directly received interest from team Evil Geniuses.

TSL Team Manager Lee said,

"It is disappointing that we have to make a decision like this, but it's extremely objectionable that Evil Geniuses would ignore the coaches completely and directly go talk to the player"

EG made an offer to Puma after he made it to the round of 4, and after that, Puma had decided that he would accept EG's offer. Puma revealed his intentions to the TSL manager after coming back to Korea. Manager Lee decided to respect the player's wishes in the end.

Lee also noted that,

"It's really disturbing. It feels like the player I raised was just stolen away from me. There needs to be a system to stop foreign teams from stealing Korean players like this"

Later on in an interview with TeamLiquid Lee added,

"It's not just TSL, but most Starcraft II teams right now run on trust and faith instead of contracts. Because of many similar occurances, we plan to make contracts mandatory.

Puma was with us for ten months, and where we provided him and his teammates with a good practice environment, food, etc, and developed him as a player. Unfortunately, Puma wished to join EG so we released him.

To acquire a player, contacting the original team regarding a transfer is a natural courtesy and the way things should be done. That is why I am very angry, and why it is huge topic in Korea right now. The Korean SC II association is preparing some measures, and I believe something similar won't happen again.

EG claims that Puma approached them first regarding joining their team, but this is not true. As I know it, EG's owner contacted Puma first. Not only Puma, but other Korean players."

Puma mentioned today on Twitter,

"It's a decision I made after I have debating over this with many people including my teammates, and yet things still happen like this........"

Puma had left the TSL house as of the 20th.

Team EG will apparently be sending Puma to foreign tournaments, as well as pay him a Salary, but it has yet to be officially confirmed.

Ho Joon 'PuMa' Lee was the last person anyone expected to win the NASL, with his surprising victory over many top players that were favored to win, including an extremely tense finals against

Min Chul 'MC' Jang that went as far as it could go in a best of 7, where Puma just barely won in what was one of the most epic series to date in Starcraft 2 history. Following the 4-3 victory over MC, MC came out of his booth to lift Puma's hands in the air, proud of his practice partner. Puma seemed to crush every talented player he was confronted with, as he sent LiquidRet home in an extremely quick series, as well as beating Squirtle 2-1, July 3-1.

Source: playxp and thisisgame translated via: teamliquid
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