The Spaniard redeemed himself twice against Upper Bracket finalist Astrogation, scooping up $4000 and 15 HCT points.
It had been a while since Esteban "AKAWonder" reached the late stages of a big tournament, but last weekend he proved himself yet again by winning the ONOG Major, held at SXSW in Austin, Texas. After fighting his way past heavy hitters such as reigning world champion Pavel and Canadian powerhouse Cydonia, he fell to the lower bracket after Ray "Astrogation" Zhou defeated him in the upper bracket finals. In the lower bracket finals yet another mountain of an obstacle awaited, this time in the shape of Xixo. Keeping his head cool AKAWonder defeated him too, only to face Astrogation yet again - this time in the Grand Finals. Coming from the lower bracket meant that AKAWonder had to win two Bo5's in order to win the title, whereas Astrogation would've been crowned victorious after winning one of the Bo5's. It became a nailbiter of a match, as after winning the first Bo5 in 3-1 fashion the score was tied 2-2 in the second series.
It was not only AKAWonder who made supporters of the European region proud at SXSW, however. With only nine of the one hundred and twenty-six competitors hailing from the region, four made it to the semi-finals of the upper bracket, with eventually three players in the top eight. This in stark contrast to the Major at PAX East a week earlier, where only one European - Orange - was to be found in the later stages.