The Gamer Who Fought History And Won

Serral has gone down in esports history as the first non-Korean player to win the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS).
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[@Xygif]

Serral's irl lastname is pretty badass. In finnish the suffix "-la" basically means "place of/for" and before this suffix there is "Sota" which means war, so his lastname basically is "a place for war"

[@007Hutchings]

Too bad he didn’t do real fighting or real war instead of a video game where you sacrifice nothing. That name for a real soldier would be so cool!

[@douglasgoodwon8227]

...So he's the actual Warfield.

[@rossinanterose829]

@@007Hutchings what an odd thing to say, kinda edgy/cringy

[@smalltowns374]

​@@douglasgoodwon8227battlefield

[@markvillamor7724]

@@007Hutchings he said on a youtube comment section.

[@Mexican00b]

Korea had a Tv channel for Starcraft... crazy

[@sakesaurus]

what's crazier is how illegal the broadcast for BW was, blizzard got no say in what they were doing with their game Man I love Korea

[@beauwoodcock7327]

They actually had 2 for a while during the height of Brood War. Oh and Flash flew in from a freaking airplane for an OSL Finals

[@ice_fox]

I remember spending an entire day downloading game-q vods in late 90s/early 2000 on my 56k modem. Crap quality too, but loved every second of it. ^_^

[@hellowill]

Not talking down Serral... but he won after Koreans pulled out their broadcasts and teams and switched over to LoL.

[@SuperMontsta]

I was in Korea in 2000. Went to an internet Cafe to send an email. EVERYONE else in the Cafe was playing Starcraft, it was crazy.

[@KoriAnime]

Honestly can't be understated how ridiculously impressive Serral's 2018 run was, after Katowice 2018 he didn't drop a single (!) Offline match until Katowice 2019, he didn't just look unbeatable, for that period he really was People taking maps off of him in the circuit was considered a genuine achievement It's also impressive in the way he did it. He does aggressive builds occasionally, but his general style was extremely defensive and heavy on finding out on what the opponent is doing, which is much harder to perfect. The fact that he perfected it to a point where he didn't lose a single series for almost a year is beyond impressive and why many consider him the GOAT nowadays

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

What he does is standard business… for the most part

[@WalknTalknStevnHawkn]

So standard that he’s made a name for himself… lmao

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

@@WalknTalknStevnHawkn I was quoting him. He said exactly those words some days ago on his stream.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@enriquegarciacota3914 He just played a Chinese cup last week. Lost 3 maps in the entire tournament. 2 to maru and 1 to herO. So yes, for Serral, if he is in good form, just standard business. But it is insane how high his standard is. His series didnt even look close against some of the best in the world.

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

@@TheSuperappelflap But he lost 3 maps. That's the "for the most part" part :)

[@chip_7677]

GOOD TO SEE MY BOY SERRAL GETTING SOME RECOGNITION OUTSIDE OF THE SC2 SCENE

[@jnssmnsn]

Outside of the sc2 scene? What game is he playing now?

[@loldoctor]

@@jnssmnsnI think he means it’s good to see coverage on a channel that’s not SC focused.

[@VictorF0326]

You forgot to mention his history pre-2017. He was on a grind for 5 years prior to 2017, and his performance was mediocre at best and watching him suddenly appear out of nowhere was really impressive.

[@mis8866]

he didn't "appear" out of nowhere, he literally played the ONE year where none of the top 8 KR players played, literally NONE of them played the entire year lol, Serral only won because he didn't vs anyone decent, otherwise he would have been 9th place, like he ALWAYS is, EVERY YEAR. See when he won worlds in 2018, then all the top KR boys came back to SC2 (they were playing R-SC / AOE4 EA then) and suddenly Serral went from 1st place to 19h place overall that year. the west just try to make clickbait storys.

[@RanEncounter]

​@@mis8866 You really should look up the stats and wins of Serral. How can you be so arrogant and yet so ignorant?

[@InuzutoraArlas]

@@mis8866 copium is strong in this one XD

[@136iti]

@@mis8866you are full of it. Dark, Stats, and Rouge are some of the best players in the world and he beat each of them in 2018. Dark and Rouge were basically tied for best Zerg players ever from Korea.

[@ExValeFor]

@@mis8866 take your pills and stop posting

[@morgantaylor84]

To be honest, I think the reason Korea isn't as dominant as it was in the Starcraft esports scene is simple. The mental block is broken. Koreans aren't an unbeatable, unstoppable, uncatchable menace to foreigners anymore. This is Serral's greatest legacy. After all they're still just as dominant in the other esports scene they dominated before, League of Legends.

[@katamattyon]

Rematch of the Finno-Korean Hyperwar

[@user-ue5cp4re3k]

So true

[@milesmcallister8542]

I was just about to comment this

[@sol-hunter2332]

I remember watching Serral during his 2018 run, and it was like watching a robot. Whenever an opponent won a map, it was like he evolved right there and adapted.

[@jonasgoon5620]

I met Serral with a very short interaction, he seems very humble, kind and all the good qualities. He even went up to me when he had a photoshoot with his teamm8 Reynor. He could probably see my eyes where about to pop out of their sockets 😅😅😅

[@miniwaern]

cringe alert

[@natomiltary4573]

That's very sweet :)

[@Peungwon]

Serral vs Korea = 2nd Finno-Korean Hyperwar amongst the stars

[@bae.realestate]

As a korean, i'm a huge serral fan! Used to love playing zerg on the bw days. Keep it going goat.

[@ProtyG]

"Dark the foreigner killer" is a crazy nickname. Back in the day we used to call them racist

[@FoodIsCrack]

out of context its the fucking funniest name. "dark the foreigner killer" and some average sized Korean guy steps out

[@crystallogic2543]

StarCraft-talk is all about foreigners and races, and how some of them are better than others.

[@SCDarkZide]

I think there is only any grounds for debate in one of these answers, the definitive superior race is clearly Protoss #PurityOfForm #EssenceMoreLikeNonsense #FlyOffHumansWeAreFull

[@SilentSin47]

No we did not

[@przemekbiaek2698]

I think that a more fitting nickname for Dark is "the final boss", just because of the way he plays the game. Dude has his own meta

[@BlackMethos]

And now he's won Katowice *again*, 4-0 vs. Maru and 20-1 in total. Man's a beast.

[@You-ul8qw]

I think someone needs to make a video on Olivera's world championship win. It was the biggest but most well played and deserved upset I've ever seen.

[@_fisheater1027]

Lol it’s as if he’s some kind of anime protagonist during that run!

[@pettrenko9770]

True. It felt like NOBODY expects him to win, yet he has beaten some of the strongest players and proved everyone wrong. My favourite championships overall.

[@discovermajid]

after beating prime Maru he says I'm a normal man LOL NO

[@Komatik_]

@@discovermajid After stomping an on-form Maru in TvT of all matchups.

[@136iti]

I think if Serral had gotten luckier with his opponents he probably would have beat Olivera. His worst match up is ZvZ and the match for the quarterfinals was a ZvZ which he barely lost 2-3. If he had won I think Olivera would have lost in the semi-finals. But that not the world we live in so… lol. Olivera really did an amazing job and obviously had trained his heart out. Id say he deserved the win.

[@Rudy-du2mt]

2018 Serral was goated. It was incredible so many first place finish

[@shiiiitstain]

had the pleasure to see him live at dreamhack 2018 it was ridiculous how good he was. his playstyle really forced everyone to up their games

[@mis8866]

literally vs'd none of the top 8 KRs in SC2 that year, but okay, clap clap for the guy who won because he didn't vs the guys who have made this game what it is.

[@deafshark9932]

​@@mis8866🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@popkhorne5372]

Didnt he clap Dark, Rogue and Stats that year ? ​@@mis8866

[@ZerglingLover]

@@mis8866cry harder lmao serral is considered by pretty much everyone, including pro gamers, to be the greatest of all time.

[@Aceius]

It was on a much smaller scale but Neeb's 2017 WCS run was pretty insane too.

[@VIIx22]

I’m Korean and as much as it hurts me to say this. This guy is the goat. Sc2 goat.

[@KuscheItier]

I am 46 years old and was a high end 2 on 2 player wich was needet to win a title i think it was 1999 in germany Stammkneipe wich was the german champion title back in the time. And since them i was suffering by the domination of Korean sc. Since them it endet always in Korea. Then came Serral . He is like the glowing crusader of sc2 the rest of the world vs Korea. And i was in flame after he won and kept his domination going. Its insane. I realy adore him and he is unarguable the greatest of all times the Muahamad Ali of Starcraft2. I told this rotterdam once and he just spit on me not understanding whats going on. Im glad someone understand. Serral! Back to back Champion. I adore you. You brought SC2 proud back to europe. Thank you for that. And i stil watch any game of you. YOU ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIMES ! WHOOOOOHAAAAA

[@Nooter_]

Always love the SC content. reliving these moments through your videos is so fun

[@kaelinvictus6039]

I remember staying up all night to watch this live. What a magical moment in eSports history.

[@evilgrin07]

I was so happy for Serral because he played the only race that was my favorite...Zerg....My fav match ups back then was ling bane mut vs terrain non mech....That was so fun to play.

[@bengosson9967]

My childhooed was waiting for a non korean to win, so hyped when serral won, gotta love the koreans tho and last year was such an epic underdog story

[@sevreal4]

Amazing amazing video, congratulations on great narration and content, had me hooked from the beginning.

[@otaviorossati]

Serral's run was insane and crazy to watch, it's great to see people appreciating it after all these years

[@chrisxd146]

I remember watching the 2018 world championship live while at work. The skill increase Serral went through during that year was insane since early on (sometime in January/February) he was thoroughly wrecked by Classic. Then we saw Serral increasingly lengthen the skill gap with each WCS victory as the top Europeans (including a young Reynor and Clem) were just wiped out by him. Both Serral and Maru have brought the overall skill of SC2 to incredible heights where they genuinely seem to play like robots. The combination of macro, micro, and decision making are on a level of their own.

[@nterbeastro-slayers9528]

I realised how good Serral is, When as soon as I looked at the zerg symbol, My first thought was serral before zerg.

[@jonelervorths4110]

god, i love strategy games. idc what the nationality is, i just love seeing someone mastering their craft - the same passion i am being committed to, with less skill but equal joy.

[@covak-tv9849]

I wish at some day I'll see the story about warcraft 3 Emperor Happy, who did the same thing as Serral did.

[@zeagias]

The Eminem of Starcraft

[@thecrazygamer2853]

Bro the way he says "IT IS DONE" gives me absolute chills

[@wind1309]

I remember sending an email to the afreecatv team about their music playlists in the opening for matches. Got a response like 1 month later and collected all the songs haha

[@mozisgrimm140]

Dude is a better man than me. I would have learned Korean and said "at least you tried foreigner" when I won.

[@cl8804]

"many players' mental would have shattered" pasha london school

[@Hazel564]

he is the true honored one

[@calvyoel1515]

I think what made it so was in large part because of the synergy that Koreans were able to have with each other and the language barrier for foreigners to discussions. Serral took on the combined intellect of them all. But probably just had to focus on each matchup, and lots of practicing thinking. Micro/macro. Being a genius on several fronts probably helps? Goat.

[@sailadun6603]

Truly the finisher

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@evescent7312]

I still remember watching Serral vs Dark in Worlds. Damn

[@katsu9738]

Will you also cover his victory in the recent IEM Katowice 2024?

[@tokisuno]

god i love serral

[@forsterjurgen]

Got to love serral, he's just so fun to watch. The SC2 GOAT

[@Eunski]

The shield of aiur is still a cool ass nickname for stats.

[@jackcphelps]

2011 Stephano and 2018 Serral are the only two foreigners who, if they stayed in Korea for a GSL or two, could have been favorites to win

[@bonusmeme4691]

Stephano only won tournaments in Europe and America and did not consistently beat Code S players. At his prime he never competed with the top players of Korea and would absolutely not have been a favorite to win a GSL. Any betting site putting their money on Stephano to place high in GSL would have gone bankrupt

[@jackcphelps]

@@bonusmeme4691 watch the games bro they didn't have anything for him

[@Radgerayden-ist]

Neeb was a contender for that for a short time as well.

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Serral, would have dominated GSL. The time for preparation they get would have given him an even bigger advantage, because he is at the top in that regard too.

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Wow, this video was amazing. I was following SC2 when it first came out for a couple of years, but then I dropped it. I started following the pro scene again after watching the finals Scarlet won vs SOS in 2018, and I've been hooked since. Watching Serral's ascent into Godhood all these years since 2018 has been amazing. At this point anyone that even thinks to debate the title of GOAT is just braindead. Serral has completely dominated StarCraft like no other player has done in the history of the games. ##SPOILERS for IEM 2024 BELOW## He also won his 3rd world title 10-12 days since this video came out in a completely dominating fashion once again by only dropping a single map in the entire tournament, finishing 20-1 (the 1 lost map was against Dark in the semifinals). He also annihilated Maru in the finals, it was not even close.

[@lelouchvibritannia7809]

I was there in 2018 when Serral won Blizzcon. I was so ecstatic! That was the best time to be a Starcraft fan

[@guyguisema]

serral was just '_' after winning both tournaments and against some of the greatest starcraft players

[@madumlao]

There was still pure joy in Artosis' voice.

[@fayman5717]

About time you made a video on the SC2 goat

[@AnnoLP]

Great video one thing I think it’s just take like in takeout, not Ta-Ke

[@badtiming2208]

Finally, an episode on the GOAT.

[@Sicknerp]

THATS WHY HES THE GOAT

[@Frank_144]

THE GOAT

[@Copyright_anonymous]

A GOAT

[@hefireymilhim6151]

I always like to build up my forces and be defensive I’m just not very aggressive in rts games.

[@uBreeze]

bro looks permanently locked in

[@windwalkerrangerdm]

Serral is a hero on the hearts of many zergs, all over the world.

[@dddhhj8709]

Serral s gameplay is fun to watch

[@바보Queen]

i still watch starcraft 2 matches even tho i'm not playing it, super entertaining compared to other esports

[@Nauda999]

Imagine Serral playing GSL code s, we'd get 20-30 top level offline series a year. Probably will not happen, but one can dream. I have been dreaming about Serral in GSL since 2018, flippin' 6 years already.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

Man i played so much sc2 when serral was an upstart and followed his whole career

[@do2xd679]

The good old finno-korean hyperwar

[@Michaelonyoutub]

Neeb winning KESPA cup was a big wake up call, to both non korean and koreans. There is a rumor that after it happened, many top players in Korea collaborated, sharing replays of their games against Neeb with each other, analyzing his style of play, and brainstorming counter strategies, all to ensure Neeb would never win again. While there is no solid evidence for that or how prevalent it might have been, in the months following Neeb's win, he went from a seemingly dominant player defeating top koreans in nearly every series, to winning much more rarely, basically no more than any other foreigner. Serral's dominance is so complete and total because he not only beat them, but then kept beating them even harder for years to come, and no matter what Koreans did, it never seemed enough. For non koreans, it really made the possibility of foreigners truly competing on the same level as the greatest koreans actually feel real. It also sort of expanded what "the best at Starcraft 2" could be in people's minds. Instead of it just being whatever the top Korean players were doing, the slightly different playstyles of top foreigner players were now potentially the "better" way to play at the top level, giving all foreigners a big confidence boost, vindicating their efforts a bit.

[@BondGamePlays]

Epci video! :)

[@nahruz.w3044]

Good Storytelling, Nice

[@vick7848]

HOLY 7:40 what a badass intro

[@blockboygames5956]

Great video. 😊🙏

[@minorumas98]

THE FINISH PHENOM

[@benjamineidam]

Serral!!!!

[@A-Clear_View]

im pretty sure casually explained beat him once acording to his video

[@samueltrusik3251]

Very nice. Love Starcraft still.

[@greghuffman3061]

we are we are the youth of a nation

[@Kassplaylist]

Serral is crazy good.

[@maikelperez1094]

Good Serral ❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉¡Gracias!

[@ZerefGaming11]

now do it with the league scene xD

[@anonimus370]

While the Koreans dominated there was a lot of support, which fed into the domination, once the chain was broken, they got Finnished

[@selkoto]

The GOAT

[@radiantblue1406]

Wait pro starcract production goes crazy

[@Grizabeebles]

Can someone please clarify a thing about the StarCraft economy for me? If building workers and taking expansions is the best way to maximize economy long-term, don't most matches just boil down into a Keynsian Beauty Contest?

[@GK-gc9cv]

I don't know about starcraft 2 but the first 5 minutes of brood war has been basically mapped out at this point and players know exactly what worker count and expansion pace is optimal. Even through 10 minutes players basically know when it's safe to expand

[@burnie_2041]

That is if you get to the late game. If you take resourced to expand (get more bases) and your opponents scouts it, he can use the resources and building time that would have went into an expansion and workers, into army units and just kill you. So you have to find a good balance between wether you can expand or attack. The timing is very important and scouting crucial

[@xandara75]

@@GK-gc9cv the same goes for SC2.

[@realphagamer6410]

Man, hearing this story reminds me of Kuroko's Basketball, about the Generation of Miracles vs Kuroko and his team... Well, we're not talking about basketball, okay... the Starcraft Korean players are dominant, which no one can beat them but they can beat themselves for champion after defeating Starcraft foreigner players. If Korean players defeats foreigner players, they have to fight themselves to win. Now, he finally beat the best Korean players and become best player of Starcraft, in late 2010s to early 2020s

[@willianlussin8981]

Dude broke history and yet couldnt even muster a smile Dont know if he is a absolute chad or a full robot

[@MyVanir]

Probably tired.

[@user-OqyoRMdVK8]

Standard Finnish

[@hydraliskin]

nah hes infested terran irl..he doesnt have emotions cause he doesnt have a soul 😁

[@daringdarius5686]

If I could try to imprint how impressive this moment was for myself (As somebody who joined the Starcraft community shortly before SC2's release) the best SC players of all time in my head is a list of the following: Koreans: Clem, Reynor, sOs, Bisu, Byun Hyun-woo, PartinG, Rogue, NesTea, Jaedong, etc. Non-Koreans: Serral (honorable mention for IdrA) That's the list. The list had always been Koreans... And then this guy I had been following here and there suddenly exploded and won not once, but twice on Korean turf, against an army of Koreans, and I was just speechless. It would be as historic today, as it would be if an American team won the League of Legends World Cup, a feat never achieved by America, and has been dominated for the past nearly 10 years by solely China and Korea.

[@mrmister5609]

but clem and reynor are not korean?

[@daringdarius5686]

@@mrmister5609 shhh it's part of the joke

[@vanthursday]

The fact that he plays as Zerg is kinda glorious 😅😂

[@philippefutureboy7348]

I wonder what would happen if the military pulled an Ender’s game by building a StarCraft-like military RTS 🤔

[@wernerviehhauser94]

well, if you have a player base orders of magnitudes larger, you are going to find a lot more world class players in that group. Look at Snooker. it was pretty much "british isles only" for a long time, since it wasn't played that much in the rest of the world. That might get someone to assume the rest of the world just CAN'T play snooker. Look at it now. Great Australian, Belgian, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Norwegian, Pakistani etcpp players.

[@clonebin0]

serral the goat

[@ChuckNorris100000]

The FINISHer

[@bigtruck1838]

Best rts game of all time

[@adamm2091]

AoE2 & C&C are better.

[@xandara75]

@@adamm2091aoe2 doesnt even come close to either starcraft game.

[@myonlyfriendtheend4958]

Oh shit the finno-korea hyperwar just restarted

[@zeeshanhussain5386]

He pulled an arsalan ash

[@danoone8139]

5:24 BRAAAAAAZILLL MENTIONED!!!!1🎉🎊

[@toptextbottomtext3062]

Serral 🐐💪🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮

[@snowdrop9810]

Its kinda funny how "foreigners" has come to refer to europeans now. North america and south america basically have no good players left, and the very few they got are either worse than most europeans, or very rarely are basically equal.

[@xedet]

a video like this on grubby?

[@notreal9579]

Does he ever smile

[@shadowgrinch]

Serral moved like Thanos on them Korean pros.

[@ryenis]

is there a difference between top ranked player in leaderboards vs world champion esports for this game, cause isn't it 1v1 anyways?

[@zenith5180]

Serral has the highest MMR on the European server, and I'm pretty sure he's been up the for years. In any case, playing 1v1 ranked is still different from playing in tournaments. In ranked, the winner is determined in a single game, making the result more volatile and favoring one-off strategies (like cheese). In tournaments, you often need to play multiple games in a row against the same player, and you're often given time to prepare (~1 day in weekend tournaments but weeks in leagues like GSL). This means you need to be good at studying other players and preparing different strategies.

[@magicall9596]

If you mean aligulac leaderboard, it's pretty good and is actually a good way to see how is in on top. The ladder mmr is trash tho

[@ohana_j4n]

ladder mmr only shows how good a player is in shape with his fundamentals

[@xandara75]

@@ohana_j4n To be fair I would argue that Serrals fundamentals are absolutely godlike.

[@ballom29]

There is one crucial difference between tournament and ranked, regardless of the game. - in tournament you know full well who your opponent is goign to be, so you can strategize and mentally prepare to beat him in particuliar. - in ranked it's random, and either you don't know who is this guy, or at top level you likely know him but you don't had much time to prepare to play specifically against him. And depending on the game there might be hidden information. For exempel in league of legend before the game start you don't even know who your opponents will be, so it's a completle gamble of who you might be facing. So you see your opponent will play X character but you don't know if it's top player A or top player B who'll play it. And just to give an idea abotu guessing in league of legends. There is a mechanism where you ban characters before the start of the game, so no player can pick them for that game. There was a moment inranked league where Taric was banned specifically because ONE player was brutal with it, and they banned it in case they were facing that guy.

[@FadeWrld]

the moment i saw starcraft i knew it was serral

[@demacry]

It still kills me that we'll never get to see Serral vs Life on a big stage

[@freddyfourfingerz9126]

Some say MaxPax is life! That's why he never competes in live tournaments.

[@ZapedToSpace]

I Never played StarCraft is it still. popular and is it good?

[@TheGreenRoundBirb]

I love serral, the goat of sc2

[@user-te7xb1lg7j]

I just downloaded the game I suck but love to play.

[@-o-1695]

Finno-Korean Hyperwar part II

[@_implying]

finland mentioned