In an exit fitting for an excellent year in eSports, GOMTV hosted its annual Blizzard cup, where 10 of the best GSL players chosen for their recent achievements competed to take the final victory of the year. In the end, it was the rookie of the year  Lee “Life” Seung Hyun who took home the oversized trophy and a check for 40,000,000 ($37,200, €28,225).

Though Life was officially included in the tournament for winning the MLG Fall Circuit, his accomplishments this year are numerous despite his young age of 15 years. Life can add the GSL Blizzard Cup to his already burgeoning collection of StarCraft II trophies, at his parents’ house where most boys his age keep little league baseball and football trophies.

Eyes first turned toward Life when he all-killed team ReIGN in the GSTL for team ZeNEX. Later down the line he all-killed the renowned foreign Team Liquid, his victims including  Song “HerO” Hyeon Deok,  Jonathan “Jinro” Walsh and  Dario “TLO” Wünsch.

But as if that wasn’t enough, Life grabbed the spotlight all for himself when at his first GSL Code S, he made it to the semifinals to face  Jung “Mvp” Jong Hyun at the Grand Finals in Gangnam. Against the GSL’s most accomplished player with a record four GSL Championship trophies, Life was living the nightmare we all had when we were young, where we’re in a football stadium against Pelé or a basketball court against Michael Jordan. But despite fans packing the auditorium and tuning in from around the world, saying he was outclassed and in over his head, Life beat Mvp 4 to 3. He became StarCraft II’s first “Royal Roader,” that is, someone who wins the championship on his very first try.

Since tasting such a sweet victory, Life hasn’t stopped raking in the wins. He got first place at MLG Fall 2012 in November, and at the GSL World Championships, he scored four kills out of five against a team of the world’s best non-Korean players, losing only to (FR) Ilyes “Stephano” Satouri.

Below is a list of all the competitors, in order of rank and the qualification that brought them to the tournament:

1^st:  Lee “Life” Seung Hyun – 2012 MLG Fall Championship, Winner

2^nd:  Won “PartinG” Lee Sak – 2012 Battle.net World Championship, Winner*

3^rd:  Lee “Leenock” Dong Nyoung – IGN Proleague Season 5, Winner

4^th:  Kwon “Sniper” Tae Hoon – 2^nd Place, GSL Point Ranking

5^th/6^th:  Park “DongRaeGu” Soo Ho – 3^rd Place, GSL Point Ranking

5^th/6^th:  Kim “viOLet” Dong Hwan – IGN Proleague Season 5, Runner Up

7^th-10^th:  Jung “Rain” Yoon Jong – 2012 OSL Season 1, Winner

7^th-10^th:  Song “HerO” Hyeon Deok – DreamHack Winter 2012, Winner

7^th-10^th:  Jung “Mvp” Jong Hyun – 1^st Place, GSL Point Ranking

7^th-10^th:  Ahn “Seed” Sahng Won – 4^th Place, GSL Point Ranking

*: PartinG also qualified by winning the World Cyber Games 2012, but since he already qualified Seed was admitted in his stead.