Joona Sotala (born 22 March 1998),[1][2] better known as Serral, is a Finnish professional StarCraft II player using the race Zerg.

Serral won the European Qualifier for World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) by beating Clem, NightEnD, Starbuck, Majestic, uThermal, Elazer and Nerchio.

In the main event, he did not lose a map during group play, beating ShoWTimE, Minato, Has, Elazer, Bly and Lambo.

Serral would win this tournament beating sOs, Zest, Dark, Rogue and Stats to become the first non-Korean to do so in the history of the StarCraft franchise.

Not to mention, earlier that week he was eliminated in the Round of 8 of IEM Katowice to soO, the eventual winner of the tournament.

Later during the summer, he won the GSL vs. the World tournament on Korean soil by defeating another Zerg player, Elazer, in the finals 4–2.

[8] Despite being one of the main favorites to win The Blizzcon 2019 he lost the semifinal match against his season long rival Reynor 2–3, the eventual tournament runner-up, after tight series of best of 5.

[9] In the season's last premier tournament HomeStory Cup XX held at Tropical Islands Resort in Germany, Serral came back to the winning ways defeating Reynor twice (2–1 and 3–2) in the finals after winning the double-elimination loser bracket final against Innovation 0–3, to which he was first relegated from winners' round 2 by him with map score 3–1.

For recognition and honor of Serral's accomplishments and continued success in StarCraft II esports, the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö invited him to take part to the traditional Independence Day Reception in the Presidential Palace, Helsinki, 6 December 2019.

The Winter Regionals Champion for Europe receives an IEM invite, according to ESL's slots distribution rules.

[18] At the end of the year, Serral competed in the ESL SC2 Masters: Winter 2023 Finals, at Dreamhack Atlanta, where he stopped in the semifinals, losing to Clem 3-1.

[22] This was considered the most dominant championship performance ever, with Serral lifting his second title on the back of a 20-1 combined map score and a clean sweep of 8-0 in matches.

Thus, due to Serral winning two slots for Esports World Cup 2024, the player with the highest EPT Global Standings rank will gain the spot instead.