For the First Time: A Foreigner Has Won a StarCraft Tournament in Korea
StarCraft 2 is almost exclusively dominated by Koreans. At least, that has been the case since the game’s inception.
The tradition extends all the way to StarCraft: Brood War, one of the Ur-examples of the modern eSport.
Alex “Neeb” Sunderhaft made history this weekend by winning the 2016 KeSPA Cup, making him the only foreigner to do so during the StarCraft 2 period of the event’s existence. There have been 46 major Korean StarCraft 2 event since 2010. Neeb has won the 47th.
Neeb went 2-0 in groups with wins over ByuN “ByuN” Hyun Woo and Joo “Zest” Sung Wook and “Pet” Nam Kyu in the quarterfinals.
Neeb proceeded to a cool 3-1 victory over Kim “Stats” Dae Yeob in the semifinals before meeting Cho “Trap” Sung Ho in the finals. His 4-0 victory earned him $18,100, 1,500 WCS points for the victory and a place in the annals of the game’s history.
The last time a foreigner won a StarCraft tournament in Korea was in 2000, when Guillaume “Grrr…” Patry won the 2000 Hanaro Tongshin OnGameNet Starleague on May 16, 2000.
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