We bid the warmest farewell to Joona "Serral" Sotala as he moves on to represent a new organization.
The King, the GOAT, the Phenom, the Champion. Those are a few words that come to mind when describing Joona. ENCE has had the pleasure of sharing seven phenomenal years with one of the world's most skilled and successful esports players. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and continuing success in the ranks of his new team.
"After working together with ENCE for so many years, I wanted to see what I could do with a new team, so hence the change.
I’m thankful for all the ENCE fans and their support throughout these years; it has been amazing representing a Finnish organization.
I want to thank ENCE for almost seven years of continuous cooperation. It has been great to be a part of the organization and I’m happy how far I’ve got with their help. The collaboration has always been easy as ENCE has always supported me and helped me with projects such as the golf tournament, Serral Open, in my hometown", says Joona "Serral" Sotala.
Seven years of success
During his years at ENCE, Serral has been the embodiment of #EZ4ENCE, making it look easy to be among the world’s esports elite. Serral’s name is forever written in the history books for displaying sheer dominance in his craft. We want to look back and share some of the highlights of his incredible achievements collected during our time together.
"Joona has been a long-time member of ENCE and always super easy to work with. I'm very happy about the success he was able to achieve during his time with us. Becoming the 1st non-Korean World Champion is not a small feat – it was a dream come true for both parties. I wish Joona all the best for his future and hope he keeps on winning in his new home."
- Niklas "Willkey" Ojalainen, ENCE General Manager
WCS Circuit - Gotta catch them all
Joona showed already in 2017 that he was about to compete on a whole other caliber. But as we entered 2018, all expectations were exceeded by a massive margin. Serral became the only player to have won all of the WCS Circuit tournaments in a single year, and if not for his second place in the 2018 WCS Leipzig Challenger, he would have won all the WCS Challengers and Main Events of 2018. The Year of Serral displayed dominance rivaled only by few other players in esports.
BlizzCon 2018 - The Chosen One
Before the rise of Serral, StarCraft 2 had famously been ruled by South-Korean players. With the whole world rooting for Serral as he stepped on the stage at the 2018 BlizzCon Grand Finals versus Stats, he became the first and the only non-Korean player to have won the title of a WCS Global Finals Champion.
HomeStory Cup - The King of Krefeld
Krefeld might be an obscure name for others, but for StarCraft 2 fans, it has been the home in the heart of Europe since 2010. This event has been filled with fans from all over the world, a lot of fun, and quite a few Serral Championship victories. He is the only player to win four consecutive HomeStory Cups, which also makes him the player with the most HomeStory Cup wins.
Two Triple Crowns - Heavy is the head that wears the crown
Talking about amassing trophies and championships, things that happen once-in-a-lifetime for most players, Serral has been busy collecting multiple. He not only won one triple crown, an unofficial title reserved for those who have won Premier tournaments in each SC2 hotbed, Europe, North America, and Korea but completed it twice. He is in legendary company, with only ten players accomplishing this feat and only Mvp and Life doing it twice along with Serral.
IEM Katowice 2022 - You must construct additional trophy shelves
What would a player that has achieved almost everything in his game hunger for? For Serral, it was the IEM Katowice trophy that had eluded him even during his most successful years. But finally, in 2022, he lifted the long-awaited trophy at the iconic Spodek Arena in Katowice. Let’s make it a double this year, eh?
The whole ENCE staff thanks Joona from the bottom of our hearts for these incredible years and memories. Follow Serral on social media to find out more about his next steps.
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