12 Taeja would play in his Iron Squid – Chapter II Group, which had Brown, Canadian Zerg Scarlett, and MarineKing. He first faced the Protoss player and was upset losing 1-2. He then faced MarineKing and once again lost 1-2, thus ending Taeja's run in Iron Squid 2.

Optimistic ending for the age of Wings of Liberty (January 2013 - March 2013) [ edit ]

At the start of the new year TaeJa played in 2013 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 Code S group G which had Soulkey, Noblesse, and NesTea. TaeJa won against Nestea 2-0 in his first match, got 2-0'ed by the strong Woongjin Zerg Soulkey, and then edged out the final series against Noblesse, putting him into the round of 16. There, he was put inthe tournament.

In the first official 2013 WCS Season 1 Korea GSL: Code S, TaeJa placed in Group D with ex-Brood War player FanTaSy, a veteran StarCraft II player KangHo (aka LosirA), and TRUE. He defeated FanTaSy 2-1 in the first match, then KangHo 2-1 to get out of his group and into the round of 16. There, TaeJa was placed in Group C with Bomber, Shine, and sOs. In the first match, TaeJa won 2-1 against Shine, lost to sOs 1-2 and in the final match of the group he lost 0-2 against Bomber which ended his run in the first WCS Season.

After the first Korean WCS Season, TaeJa forfeited his spot in Challenger League to play in 2013 WCS Season 1 America. On May 4, the qualifier