For the longest time, StarCraft esports has been dominated by South Koreans. In 2018, Joona ‘Serral’ Sotala started to take over as the strongest player in the scene. He won tournaments by defeating the top players from South Korea.



Serral is one of the most prolific players today. However, back in 2018, he was not as well-known as he is today. He managed to do the hardest thing in StarCraft and that was taking down the Korean monopoly. That is one of the biggest achievements in the history of StarCraft because Koreans are obsessed with the game.

The Finnish star became the only player to stop the Korean dominance when he won the StarCraft II championship in 2018. He was dubbed as the ‘Chosen One’ because he was the only one to legitimately win the entire tournament as a foreigner and without experience playing in the country. In addition to this, it is even more impressive if you take into consideration that he was not a top-ranked player before 2018. He was just a normal player with some middling results but something just clicked in his reign.

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There were some hopes for the foreign scene before Serral arrived and they were relatively successful. They helped close the gap between the Koreans and players from outside of the scene. This was the launching pad that many players needed which Serral took full advantage of. He dwarfed every single one of his predecessors, he took the game to the Koreans and he managed to bag the biggest title in the esports title.

In 2018 alone, Serral won six major championships which is unheard of from a foreign player. He looked comfortable when playing the game and he was keeping up and exceeding the level of play brought by the Koreans.

This was a far cry from his performances early on in his career when he was not a highly-ranked player. He was usually a player who was in the middle of the standings in tourneys. He experienced exponential growth in 2018. He implemented a strategy that took advantage of his style of play which was methodical and controlled aggression.

He continues to be one of the top players in the game and he is on the same level as the Koreans. Serral has even featured in his home country’s media as one of the biggest sports stars that they have. Finland does not have a star-powered athlete lineup but their esports lineup has done great work.

Serral alongside Dota 2 superstars Jesse ‘JerAx’ Vainikka and Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with in the esports scene. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also has its teams and players who have proven that they are top players.

With Serral at the top of the scene, you can expect that foreign players will have a better time with StarCraft.

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Words: Cholo Martin

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