Serral

Joona Sotala
Age: 23
Location: Pornainen, FI

Serral’s road to become one of the most successful esports players in the world started at a very young age. He followed in his brother Protosser’s footsteps into the world of StarCraft II and won his first tournament, Insomnia XV in Pori when he was only 15-years-old. He joined ENCE in 2016, and has represented the team for the majority of his career. 

After graduating from high school, Serral was able to put his full focus into StarCraft II, and 2018 was a triumph for the young Finn. He won each of the World Championship Series Circuit stops, was the first ever foreigner to win GSL vs the World, and he crowned the year with a World Championship title at BlizzCon 2018. 

Serral is the only non-Korean player to have two “Triple Crowns” -  the title of a player who has won Premier Tournaments in each of the major SC2 hotbeds: Europe, North America, and Korea.

In Finland, Serral’s achievements have been widely recognized. The municipality of Pornainen rewarded him with a plot of land, the Finnish Esports Federation (SEUL) has selected him “The Player of the Year” twice, and in 2019 Serral was invited to The Independence Day Reception by the President of the Republic of Finland.

In his freetime, Serral enjoys playing golf with his family on the Kotajärvi Golf -course.

Joona is one of the greatest RTS players I’ve ever seen in my 15 years involvement with high level RTS. We always thought you had to live in South-Korea to be the best. You were supposed to live in a team house and practice 10+ hours a day with a coach.. and then came Joona, who reached unprecedented heights while playing from Finland all by himself. Joona didn’t just win, he dominated and never really stopped.

Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi, SC2 WCS Caster and full time streamer

Career Highlights

DH SC2 Masters 2021 Winter: Europe
1st
DH SC2 Masters 2021 Fall: Season Finals
1st
DH SC2 Masters 2021 Fall: Europe
2nd
DH SC2 Masters 2020: Last Chance 2021
2nd
TeamLiquid StarLeague 6
2nd
DH SC2 Masters 2020 Winter: Season Finals
1st
DH SC2 Masters 2020 Winter: Europe
3rd
DH SC2 Masters 2020 Fall: Europe
3rd
Douyu Cup 2020
2nd
DH SC2 Masters 2020 Summer: Season Finals
1st
DH SC2 Masters 2020 Summer: Europe
2nd
StayAtHomestory Cup #2
1st
StayAtHomestory Cup #1
1st
IEM Katowice 2020
3rd
HomeStory Cup XX
1st
WCS Global Finals 2019
3rd
WCS Fall 2019
1st
GSL vs the World 2019
1st
Assembly Summer 2019
3rd
WCS Summer 2019
2nd
WCS Spring 2019
1st
WCS Winter Europe 2019
2nd
World Electronic Sports Games 2018
2nd
HomeStory Cup XIX
1st
HomeStory Cup XVIII
1st
WCS Global Finals 2018
1st
WCS Circuit Montreal 2018
1st
GSL vs The World 2018
1st
WCS Circuit Valencia 2018
1st
WCS Circuit Austin 2018
1st
WCS Circuit Leipzig 2018
1st
IEM Season XII – World Championship
3rd

Personal career highlight: Winning the Global Championship at BlizzCon 2018

“WCS Global Finals 2018 held at BlizzCon has been my career highlight so far, whole 2018 was amazing for me but winning the biggest StarCraft II event made the year feel perfect and complete. After that, my goal has never been less than winning.”