Lifting the trophy high in the air, spraying sparks, the audience cheering - Finnish Starcraft 2 professional Joona "Serral" Sotala has won the IEM Katowice. It is his second World Championship triumph after Blizzcon 2018.

In the first all-European World Championship final in Starcraft 2 history, Serral delivered an action-packed thriller against last year's champion Riccardo "Reynor" Romiti. First, the Finn took the lead in the best-of-seven series with two maps. Reynor turned the tables with three wins in a row. Serral fought off both match balls of the Italian and won the trophy (4:3).

Unprecedented tournament run for Serral

It was the culmination of an unprecedented tournament run. Until the final, Serral gave only one map out of hand. After a perfect group stage, the Zerg player eliminated the tournament favorites Lee "Rogue" Byeong-yeol (3:0) and Cho "Maru" Seong-ju (3:1) from South Korea in the playoffs, among others.

"The many screaming and cheering people give the tournament a completely different feeling and make it something special," he said in his famously cool Finnish manner in the winner's interview. For the first time in two years, the World Cup winner was able to celebrate in Starcraft 2 in front of a live audience again.

IEM Katowice: German SC2 player in top four

Gabriel "HeroMarine" Segat narrowly missed the final. In the semifinals, the Canadian took the lead against Reynor with two maps. However, the Italian managed to make a comeback, thereby ending the spectacular tournament run of the Mouz player.

"I couldn't play it out in the end because I ran out of strategies," HeroMarine wrote on Twitter after the tournament. "Nevertheless, I played a damn good tournament and am happy about my best result in my over ten-year e-sports career.»