Sasha Hostyn (born December 1993),[1] also known by her username Scarlett, is a Canadian professional video game player. She is most well known for playing StarCraft II, and is the first woman to win a major StarCraft II tournament. She has also played Dota 2.
Personal life
Hostyn grew up in Kingston, Ontario[2] and played games as a hobby during school and began to enter tournaments in 2011, leading to her career as a professional player. Hostyn is a transgender woman, and has said that her gender identity has "absolutely no relevance" to how she plays and that she has "always tried to make it a complete non-issue".[3][4]
Career
StarCraft II
Hostyn at the North American Star League Season 3 in 2012
Hostyn became prominent in the StarCraft II scene in 2012 when she beat a number of highly ranked professionals at an event in Las Vegas.[5] In 2013, she climbed the global StarCraft II 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 at the time.[6] By 2014, Hostyn had won over $110,000.[2]
During her time playing StarCraft II, Hostyn has been called "the queen of StarCraft II", "Korean Kryptonite", and "The Queen of Blades".[5][7]The New Yorker called her "the most accomplished woman in e-sports".[2] 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 II pro scene".[9]
Dota 2
Having lost some of her "competitive drive" for StarCraft II, Hostyn switched to playing Dota 2 in February 2015, explaining "If I can be good at both it’ll be something nobody has really done before."[1]
Return to StarCraft II
As of June 2015, Hostyn has returned to StarCraft II, joining the Dead Pixels team[10] and will compete in Korean leagues.
On August 17, 2016, Scarlett joined Team Expert.[11]
