imls

It’s an abbreviation of “I am (I'm) LastShadow (LS).”

imls was introduced to video games by his uncles when he was around two years old. As he grew up, he was able to play many of the big video game release on various consoles thank to them. One of his uncles participated in professional tournaments and started taking him along to watch when he was three years old. This ignited is own passion for competitive play.

Therefore, when he discovered StarCraft I when he was ten years old, the high level of strategy and competitiveness appealed to him and it became is main game. He then dedicated much of his free time to playing it. In 2006, he learned how much Korean players could make playing StarCraft at a professional level and was inspired to attempt a pro-career himself. He participated in LAN tournaments but wasn’t able to compete internationally due to his age.

Seeing that there wasn’t a future for him in StarCraft 1, he temporarily took a break from it until he was approached by GosuGamers to transition to StarCraft II in July 2010 during the beta. He agreed to do so largely due his own difficult personal circumstances at the time. For various reasons, he had to leave his parents’ home and was basically homeless, temporarily moving from place to place.

After signing with GosuGamers, they provided him with a small salary, but it wasn’t enough to get by on.

Things got worse for him, and he was at risk of being forced to live on the street. Therefore, when he passed the MVP tests and GosuGamers offered him the opportunity to move to their gaming house in Seoul South Korea in 2011 to train for their StarCraft II team, it was an opportunity that he couldn’t afford to pass up. Once there, he dedicated himself to learning the language and was able to converse sufficiently within five months.

Unfortunately, his career as a StarCraft II pro didn’t pan out and he found himself homeless for a while. He started gambling out of desperation and managed to win enough to allow him to get into streaming and out of that position.

In 2013, he started playing League of Legends and caught on quickly due to the similarities that he saw within the game’s mechanics relative to StarCraft II. Within six months he had even begun coaching for the LCS. He continues to offer private coaching, as well as maintaining his stream.

imls has ~ 1,000 subscribers, which should minimally earn him ~$2,500 USD per month, excluding additional revenue from coaching, casting work, tiered subscriptions, sponsorships, advertisements, tips, Twitch cheer bit donations and his team salary.

He doesn’t have a set schedule but tends to stream a few times per week for between 2 – 24 hours per session.