Top 10 esports stars we would love to see visit South Africa

For Valentine’s Day, we talked about the five esports stars we would totally take out on a date. Now, it’s time to take a look at the top 10 esports stars we would love to see visit SA. It would be an incredible experience to see one of these stars visit our country. This can be for anything, from a tournament to a vacation, or just to meet and chat to fans.

This list is sorted in no particular order. Keep in mind that these are our writer’s picks and that there are many other esports stars local fans would love to see in South Africa.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok

Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok (image above) is arguably the best League of Legends player of all time. He recently became the first player to hit the 2000 kill milestone in LCK matches. Faker has won three world championships under the SKT T1 banner. This South Korean superstar is someone that all League of Legends esports fans would probably want to meet. It would be awesome to see him visit South Africa, maybe for some signing sessions or matches against local players.

Johan “NotaiL” Sundstein

Johan “NotaiL” Sundstein also made it to our list of top five esports players we would totally take on a Valentine’s Day date. He is a beautiful flower, after all. Other qualities of NotaiL include that he is the captain of OG and a back-to-back The International winner. NotaiL is a piece of esports history and we want him to visit South Africa.

Image credit: OneEsports.gg

Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn

As the highest-earning female esports player out there, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn is someone not to be trifled with in Starcraft II. In 2018, she became the first-ever female player to win a major event, taking home the Intel Extreme Masters trophy leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden

Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden isn’t a top esports pro player, but she surely is a star. She is best known for her work at The International, Dreamleague and Majors. She has a wealth of knowledge and just shines on stage. It would be simply incredible to have her visit South Africa (she can even bring ODPixel along if she likes) and host a Dota 2 tournament for us. Sure, it’s just a dream right now, but maybe we will see her grace South African soil one day.

Image credit: Sheever Gaming

Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett

Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett is a very talented CS:GO caster from Canada that we would like to see cast a South African event sometime in the future. An esports star and amateur racing driver who started his career casting ESEA online matches. We interviewed Sam “Tech Girl” Wright in February this year and when asked which esports star she would love to see visit South Africa, Sam had this to say:

“Sadokist… and only because I really look up to his work and would want to meet him and pick his brain. Purely selfish reasons. The guy is one of my idols and I’d love to be able to watch him work and learn from him.”

Lee “Flash” Young-Ho

Since 2007, Lee “Flash” Young-Ho has been a household name in South Korea. He is considered one of the greatest Starcraft: Broodwar players of all time and joined in on competitive Starcraft II in 2011. The Flash versus Jaedong matches have, throughout the years, delivered one of the greatest rivalries in esports history, and RTS fans will likely never forget the name Flash.

Danil “Dendi” Ishutin

At the heart of early Dota 2 esports is Danil “Dendi” Ishutin, who is best known for winning the very first The International, then making it to the final two more times with Na’Vi. Dendi was actually supposed to visit South Africa in 2013 and was set to appear at rAge that year. Unfortunately, he became very ill with the flu just before travelling to Johannesburg and had to cancel his plans. After saying goodbye to Na’Vi in 2018, Dendi formed his own organization, B8, so keep an eye on the team in upcoming tournaments. We hope he one day fountain-hooks himself to SA.

Image credit: Na’Vi

Xiaomeng “Liooon” Li

Li Xiaomeng, also known as Liooon, is the first female gamer to win a Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals and a BlizzCon esports tournament. She defeated her opponent, Brian “bloodyface” Eaton 3-0 in the BO5 2019 Hearthstone Global Finals, taking home $200,000 in the process. If there’s one Hearthstone star we would love to see visit South Africa sometime in the future to share her vast knowledge, it’s Liooon.

John “ZeRo4” Hill

An absolute legend in the Quake scene, John “Zero4” Hill is easily one of our top picks. Best of all, he is the Esports Manager of id Software, which means a visit to South Africa could mean more than just signing autographs one day. I will never forget the Cooller versus ZeRo4 showdown at the ESWC 2003 Quake 3 Arena Grand Final.

Image credit: Quake Champions

Lim “SlayerS_`BoxeR`” Yo-hwan

The Starcraft: Broodwar legend, Lim “SlayerS_`BoxeR`” Yo-hwan should be well known to any old-school Starcraft esports fans. SlayerS_`BoxeR` is an esports icon and widely considered to be one of the greatest RTS players of all time. At the age of 39, he is retired and plays professional poker. It would, however, still be amazing to see “The Emperor” visit South Africa and talk about his esports career.

So there you have it, the top esports stars we would love to see visit South Africa. It all depends on which esports stars you fancy, so your personal list might differ wildly.

Header image credit: ESL