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The StarCraft 2 Beta came in February 2010, and ended a few weeks ago, in late July. StarCraft 2 was announced as the next esport title that carries the legacy of SC:BW, lots and lots of players started playing really hard. And where lots of players turn up, tournaments arise also. Only of few players really took their game to the next level an proved that they would be the best in Beta, and proved that by winning tournaments and earning prizes.
So this short article is about those players and their achievements, split in two groups, the old players and the rising stars.
The old stars
Idra
4200+ USD
Greg Fields, aka IdrA, the absolute StarCraft 2 Beta winner. Our favorite bad mannered CJ Entus nerd is the only foreign StarCraft programer that plays in Korea.
Idra is mostly known by being a macro oriented zerg and using his SC:BW mechanics to crush his enemy with massive armies. His biggest victory (and 2000 USD) comes from Razer's KOTB tournament where he won over Tester in epic series. The second biggest achievement was second place in HDH Invitational tournament where he got second place (and 1000 USD), only losing to White-Ra in the finals 4-2.
Also worth mentioning is his win in the Hello,Goodbye tournament and second place in Team Liquid's very own invitational, Altitude. In the current sum of money, his win with Team Media in Smurfs tournament is not included (Idra won the entire thing by him self).
Currently topping the NA server ladder, he is one of the top contenders for future StarCraft 2 events.
* 1st place, MLG SC2 KotBH #4
* 1st place, Hello, Goodbye Tournament
* 1st place, GosuCoaching Weekly #3
* 2nd place, HDH Invitational
* 2nd place, Altitude TL Invitational
* Winner, Joseki vs Idra showmatch
* 1st place, Razer King of the Beta
White-Ra
3700+ USD
Aleksey "White-Ra" Krupnyk, 29 year old Ukranian Protoss star is the player that crushed his opponents in phase one of the beta and proved that Protoss is also worthy of winning tournaments (after the warp gate nerf).
His style varies very much and has a lot of builds ready, which is a result of his massive number of ladder games. His biggest achievement in StarCraft 2 beta is winning HDH Invitational tournament over IdrA and grabbing 2000 USD.
Besides that, he is very proud of his win in TeamLiquid StarCraft 2 Invitational tournament and win in the ESL Go4SC April finals (500 euro). He is also know for having (and winning) lots of showmatches (notably vs Machine and TheLittleOne).
* 3rd place, Altitude TL Invitational
* 1st place, HDH Invitational
* 1st place, TeamLiquid SC2 Invitational 1
* 2nd place, ESL StarCraft 2 Beta Invitational
* 1st place, Go4SC2 April Finals
* 1st place, GL&HF.it Tournament
* Winner, White-Ra vs Assem Showmatch
* Winner, White-Ra vs Machine Showmatch
Dimaga
2800+ USD
Dmytro "Dimaga" Filipchuk is an another gosu Ukranian player known for his macro oriented zerg play SC:BW style, that has been changed in SC2 where he mostly does his baneling busts.
Most of his tournament wins comes from the first part of the beta, while he is not as successful in the second part(IdrA said in his interview that the reason might be in nerfing Zerg a bit too much).
His biggest achievments is surely 173173.com World Cup, where he took second place, only losing to Cool 4-3 in finals (and beating a lot of Korean and Chinese progamers on the way).
Other notable results are - huge win in Razer Domination Tournament, high Zotac Cup placements and sc2tv.ru invitational tourney results.
* 1st place, SC2 Beta Zotac Cup #1
* 1st place, SC2 Beta Zotac Cup #3
* 1st place, SC2TV.ru Invitational 1
* 1st place, SC2TV.ru Invitational 2
* 1st place, Go4SC2_ESL
* 1st place, Razer StarCraft II Beta Domination
* 2nd place, SC2 Beta Zotac Cup #4
* 2nd place, SC2 Beta Zotac Cup #10
* 1st place, US.CraftCup #5
* 2nd place, 17173 Starcraft 2 World Cup
The new stars
TheLittleOne
1600+ USD
(He deserves a big photo, a large fanbase asks for it)
Dario "TheLittleOne" Wunsch, former Supreme Commander player made a big hit on the StarCraft 2 scene. With his creative play and usage of all races, he shook the entire scene and joined up with the best, the infamous Teamliquid squad.
Even tho he became mostly known after his 2nd place in TeamLiquids SC2 Invitational, his biggest success is winning 2nd place in PLU.cn's Kaspersky Cup, where he crushed chinese progamers with ease only to get stopped at finals by Sen, his new arch rival.
Crowd favorite, TLO will never fail to deliver great games and if he keeps up with practicing, he has a great future in StarCraft 2.
* 2nd place, TeamLiquid SC2 Invitational 1
* 1st place, Go4SC2 ESL Cup #7
* 1st place, Go4SC2 ESL Cup #11
* 1st place, Zotac Cup #12
* 2nd place, PLU.cn Kaspersky Cup
* 4th place, Altitude TL Invitational
HuK
1150+ USD
Chris "HuK" Loranger, a new face in town, is a canadian Protoss player, mostly known for arguing with Idra and agressive one base play (4-6 warpgate rushes). His biggest achievment is the ESL Go4SC2 May win (500 euro) and 10-0 score in triple strike.
HuK Norris is also known for his probe harrasement and an interview where he says his dream is to become the next Boxer (good luck with that man).
This guy has a lot of potential, and i hope he manages to forfill it (currently is second in NA server ladder, behind IdrA).
* 1st place, TDS Tournament
* 1st place, Go4SC2 Grand Finals
* 1st place, Go4SC2 May #6
* 1st place, Inflow #1
* 1st place, US.CraftCup #2
* 1st place, US.CraftCup #3
* 2nd place, GosuCoaching Weekly #3
* 2nd place, CraftCup #6
* 3rd place, TeamLiquid SC2 Invitational #2
* 2nd place, Open Wolf Cup #2
MorroW
1600+ USD
Stefan "MorroW" Andersson is a swedish terran player, a very active player and TL member . I remember when he was still a C- player writing in GosuGamers forums, then switching to Teamliquid and competing in TSL2 ladder (topping it for a short time) and later on losing to Kolll.
His skill is incresing dramaticaly which made MouseSports recognize it and then making him its member. MorroW won a lot of money beating HayprO in Inferno Online's Super Sunday Tournament (800 euro), but is mostly recognized for map making skills and getting in top 8 in every Zotac Cup.
With his new practice partners he is destined to provide great results in upcoming years.
* 2nd place, SC2 Beta ZOTAC Cup #2
* 1st place, SC2 Beta CraftCup #1
* 2nd place, SC2 Beta CraftCup #4
* 1st place, SC2 Beta CraftCup #8
* 1st place, SC2 Beta ZOTAC Cup #15
* 1st place, Inferno Online's Super Sunday
* 1st place, Open Wolf Cup #2
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