Although the Koreans helped build the world of Esports into what it is today, dominating many a game's upper rankings and showing what national support for a passion can do for a gaming culture, it has grown a little dull for international competitors when it comes to certain games, as the top spots of every contest are dominated by Korean faces.
Not so in the DreamHack Austin Starcraft tournament though, which had its first North American finalist in a very long time.
The American in question is 18 year old Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft, who went up against Korea's Shin "Hydra" Dong in the finals. Admittedly he did lose a close couple of games to ultimately be crowned as the second best player, but it was still a strong finish from someone that many didn't count as having such a chance.
He beat out both PtitDrogo and Snute in the quarter and semi-finals, two of the Europe and the World's best Starcraft II players, but just couldn't quite take the victory in the finals, despite giving it his all. Kotaku reports that he was able to win most of the militaristic exchanges against the Korean, but struggled to impact his opponent's economy enough to do lasting damage and ultimately was out played by the more experienced finalist.
At the very least though, this made the contest far more exciting for players outside of Korea, who traditionally find themselves without a home favorite to root for in the latter stages of Starcraft competition.
