Sasha Hostyn

Sasha Hostyn
Scarlett

Hostyn at the North American Star League Season 3 in 2012
Date of birth December 1993
Hometown Kingston, Ontario
Nationality Canada
Games Starcraft
Starcraft II
Dota 2

Sasha Hostyn (born December 1993),[1] also known by her username Scarlett, is a Canadian professional video game player. She earned her fame playing StarCraft II.

Biography

Hostyn grew up in Kingston, Ontario,[2] and played games as a hobby during school and began to enter tournaments in 2011, leading on to her career as a professional player. She is a trans woman, which has led to harassment. Speaking of her gender identity, Hostyn says it has "absolutely no relevance" to how she plays, and that she has "always tried to make it a complete non-issue".[3][4]

StarCraft

Hostyn became prominent in the StarCraft scene in 2012 when she beat a number of highly ranked professionals at an event in Las Vegas.[4] In 2013 Hostyn climbed the global StarCraft rankings to rank 21, and placed second at NorthCon.[3] By mid-2014, Hostyn had taken first place in seven tournaments, making her the second highest-paid professional female gamer.[5] Since she began competing in tournaments, Hostyn has won over $110,000.[2]

During her time playing StarCraft, Hostyn has been called "the queen of Starcraft II" and the "Korean Kryptonite".[4][6] The New Yorker called her "the most accomplished woman in e-sports".[7] She was the only Red Bull Battle Grounds 2014 finalist from a country other than South Korea.[8] In 2014 Polygon named her one of 2014's 50 admirable gaming people, describing her as "one of the few women succeeding at the top level of the StarCraft 2 pro scene".[9]

Dota 2

Having lost some of her "competitive drive" for StarCraft, Hostyn switched to playing Dota 2 in February 2015, saying "I’ve been playing a lot of Dota 2 so I’m going to practise and see if I can get good at that."[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Parkin, Simon (February 6, 2015). "StarCraft II’s high-flying ‘Scarlett’ is turning to Dota 2. Does success await?". The Guardian. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 McGrath, Ben (24 November 2014). "Good Game: The Rise of the Professional Cyber Athlete". The New Yorker. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Smith, Ryan (5 February 2014). "How a transgender "foreign hope" is challenging the pro StarCraft world". The AV Club. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 O'Neill, Patrick (21 December 2013). "Meet Scarlett, the 20-year-old woman who's blazing trails in 'StarCraft'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Levy, Karyne (10 June 2014). "15 Of The Highest-Paid Professional Female Video Gamers". Business Insider. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Robertson, Adi (5 February 2014). "Meet Scarlett, the queen of 'Starcraft II'". The Verge. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  7. ↑ McGrath, Ben (November 24, 2014). "The Rise of the Professional Cyber Athlete". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  8. ↑ Aidan, Julian (September 24, 2014). "Red Bull Battle Grounds 2014 Comes To Stunning Conclusion". Hardcore Gamer Magazine. Archived from the original on December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  9. ↑ Campbell, Colin (30 December 2014). "Polygon's 50 admirable gaming people of 2014". Polygon. Retrieved 27 January 2015.

External links