2015 was an exciting year for StarCraft 2. As one expansion came to an end, the hype and tension surrounding the final iteration of StarCraft grew as Legacy of the Void came closer to release.

Before LotV launched, however, one last year of Heart of the Swarm remained. The year saw several key developments in the foreign scene, with our first non-Korean semifinalists and eventually a foreign champion in Lilbow. Lilbow was also the first non-Korean participating at BlizzCon since 2013.

In Korea, GSL and Proleague were joined by the SSL, and the parallel competitions provided constant action at the highest level. We saw the rise and fall of many dominant players, from Life to INnoVation, as they struggled to be the best in the world.

2015 is over, but it's worth remembering. Here are some of the best moments of StarCraft 2 from this year.

Author's Note: Lists of this sort are necessarily subjective, and this one is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. I've endeavoured to include both some of the best gameplay and greater eSports moments of the year.

The Dream Series: Dream vs Life (SSL Season 1)

This series will go down as one of the best for Heart of the Swarm, perhaps for StarCraft 2 as a whole. The dramatic best-of-seven pitted two of the game's most exciting young talents against one another.

In one corner was Life, undeniably StarCraft's best player at the time. Coming off wins at both BlizzCon and IEM Taipei, he looked unstoppable, tearing through the group stages of both the GSL (which he would win) and SSL. In the other corner was Dream, a newcomer who was making a name for himself. The series was tense and back and forth, some of the best classic TvZ we've ever seen. When the dust settled, Dream was victorious, finally putting an end to Life's reign of terror. Dream would go on to lose 1-4 to Maru in the final.

Form is Temporary: MMA's Widow Mine Bait

Part of MMA's surprising and exciting GSL run in Season 1, this play showed that MMA still had the deadly micro and on-the-fly decision making that made him one of the game's greats. Going up against INnoVation, his victory was an upset. MMA would reach the semifinals before being defeated by PartinG.

Class is Permanent: MMA wins HSC XII, retires

Leaping ahead in time for the sake of thematic consistency, MMA gave us one of the sweetest, most heartbreaking moments of the year when he announced his retirement just a few weeks ago. MMA would play in one more tournament (his only in LotV): HomeStory Cup XII. Showing that his skills were no worse for wear after eight years of progaming, MMA took the final tournament of his career with a dominant showing over FireCake.

Build Something! Maru vs herO base trade, GSL Season 1

Just a good old fashion base race between two of the world's best. After a crazy game that led to a base trade, herO found himself with only enough funds to build a few Assimilators or Pylons. With just a few buildings remaining himself, Maru danced around the map with his bio force and was eventually able to pick off the last Protoss structures to win the game.

Captain America: Polt's comeback in WCS Season 1

WCS Season 1 gave us an interesting storyline. While most Koreans returned to their homeland after region-locking, Hydra went the opposite way. Throughout the first season, he absolutely dominated. In the finals he looked similarly strong, going up 3-1 over Polt. Then Polt got down to business, winning three of the best TvZ's we've seen in the foreign scene to take the win, securing his third WCS title.

Soulkey's devastating Baneling landmine, SSL Season 2 Challenger

Probably one of the most effective Baneling landmine executions of all time, Soulkey killed 30 Marines with two Banelings to effectively end the game in his favor. The Zerg player immediately pounced on Cure's army and swept his way into the SSL bracket stage.

One Shot, One Opportunity: soO vs FanTaSy base race

This base race literally came down to the final second, as soO desperately attempted to save his only remaining building — an uprooted Spine Crawler — from FanTaSy's last cloaked Banshee. Without detection, soO could only watch on as the Banshee fired volley after volley. With its energy ticking down and the cloak about to run out, the Banshee was able to get off one last shot and kill the Spine Crawler, as soO's Corruptors looked on in vain.

The "Foreign" Hope: Rain wins GSL Season 2

Rain's run to the GSL title was more or less straightforward, yet it was still an important moment in StarCraft this year. Rain beat Maru, Curious and then ByuL in the final to become the first player to win a GSL playing on a foreign team: mYinsanity.

Long Live the Kong: ByuL joins the Kong Line

In StarCraft, a Kong is someone who repeatedly gets second place without winning a championship. In Brood War, players like YelloW were considered the first Kongs. In StarCraft 2, MarineKing carried on the tradition.

In 2013, Jaedong placed second in 5 different Premier tournaments before winning at ROG Northcon. In 2014, the best Zerg of the year reached four consecutive GSL finals — an unheard of feat of consistency — and lost each one. He also took second place at DreamHack: Stockholm.

Finally in 2015, ByuL assumed the mantle, reaching three consecutive finals (GSL Season 2, SSL Season 3 and GSL Season 3) before losing each one to Rain, herO and INnoVation respectively. ByuL has yet to win a premier title.

Breaking the Line: soO wins a championship

Rarely have we seen such a clear handover of the Kong title. Just a few weeks after ByuL lost his first GSL final to Rain, soO finally shed his Kong image by winning Season 2 of the KeSPA Cup, a Premier weekend tournament in Korea. soO beat San, herO, Flash and Dark to take the win, and finally stood as a champion, having taken second in five Premier tournaments prior.

Ironically, soO's next tournament showing would garner him another silver, as he lost to INnoVation at IEM gamescom.

Zealots vs Drones: TRUE vs Patience at DreamHack: Tours

This one is in here just because it's probably the wackiest ending to a game we've ever seen. A failed double proxy Gateway lead to the improbable scenario of TRUE defending his hatchery at Patience's third position, building Drones to counter Patience's final two Zealots. It came down to pure control, and TRUE got the very last hit in, a split second before losing his last Drone.

The Widower: Bunny's game-ending Widow Mine hits

Not to be confused with the Danish Terran, the Korean Bunny is a rarely seen player on the CJ Entus Proleague squad. In Round 3 this year, Bunny went up against sOs and absolutely destroyed him. Three almost simultaneous Widow Mine drops killed 34 of sOs' Probes within 15 seconds, almost instantly winning Bunny the game.

The Long Reign: SKT's Proleague dominance

SKT T1 was by far the best Proleague team of the year, winning two of four Round titles and the year-end playoffs. The depth of their squad was incredible, featuring players like INnoVation, Classic, Dream, soO and Dark. In one period from May 12 to Aug. 17, they went undefeated, beating their opponent's in 12 straight matches. Together, the victories make 2015's iteration of SKT one of if not the strongest Proleague squads in the history of the team league.

Tower Defense: Flash vs Curious, GSL Season 3

With the reemergence of mech as a viable, if not dominant strategy in both the Korean and foreign scene, many of its old adherents began to once again experiment with the style. Flash was one of these players, and in his match against Curious he showed us what a patient, dedicated mech player could do. On Iron Fortress, he turtled behind Planetary Fortresses and a Missile Turret wall that at times numbered over 60, building an ultimate army of Vikings and Battlecruisers and Ravens, all the while harassing Curious' economy with Siege Tank run-bys.

Flash didn't find success in StarCraft 2 that he had in Brood War, but he proved to be a reliable member of KT Rolster and found some individual achievements in 2015. Flash spoke to theScore eSports about his recent retirement, which you can check out here.

Mind your Mind: Life's anti-mech control, GSL Season 3

While unsuccessful, Life's experimentation in dealing with Bbyong's mech army was one of the most pretty displays of precise army control that we saw this year. What's more, it crystallized the fury of many Zerg players who saw mech as overpowered. If Life can't beat it, who can? Eventually, Zerg players developed various strategies including Queen/Ultralisk timings and Viper-heavy compositions that kept them even with most mech players. Here, Life attempts to Abduct and then Neural Parasite Bbyong's Battlecruisers, but fails to decisively win the fight, in part because he fights into choke points.

Acid Rain: Rogue vs herO, Proleague Playoffs

Rogue always delivers exciting games, and in the ace match of the CJ Entus vs. Jin Air match in the year-end playoffs he gave us one of his most interesting strategies yet. As herO pushed across the map with a standard composition, Rogue loaded up dozens of Banelings into drop-upgraded Overlords to rain terror down on the Protoss force.

Hold the Line: Lilbow's magical hold and reverse sweep

Back in the foreign scene, Lilbow had emerged as clearly the best player and the best hope for a non-Korean champion in WCS. After losing in the finals of Season 2 to Hydra, he was back with a vengeance in Season 3. But in the quarterfinals, he was in trouble, again playing against Hydra. Down 2-0 in the quarterfinal best-of-five, he looked down and out when a Roach rush caught him by surprise. But somehow, Lilbow held, and a four-gateway counterattack won him the set.

Two more victories completed the reverse sweep and sent Lilbow into the semifinals. Also of note was MaNa's mirroring reverse sweep against Petraeus in the lower bracket, setting up a tense final after both players advanced to the finals.

Right Click to Win: Lilbow's Nexus Snipe, WCS Season 3

The WCS Season 3 finals were, in general, awe-inspiring, and the storylines leading to the final between Lilbow and MaNa were no exception. The foreign hope versus the hometown hero. Tensions were high, and the series delivered. In Game 4 on Coda, Lilbow barely pulled through. After a tense base trade that reduced Lilbow to a handful of buildings and MaNa to a single Nexus, Lilbow committed himself to a desperate gambit. With a weaker army and no economy, he couldn't play out the game, so he simply right clicked on MaNa's constructing Nexus and prayed for the best. Just barely, he got the Probe and the Nexus, winning the game.

Game Changer: Life's clutch Warp Prism snipe, WCS Global Finals

There could be a dozen highlight plays from the WCS Global Finals this year, but I'll limit myself to the excellent finals between Life and sOs. Down 3-2 on Cactus Valley, Life looked like he was about to pack it in when sOs hit him with a deadly Immortal/Sentry all-in. Life barely held with the help of a crucial snipe on sOs' reinforcing Warp Prism, going on to tie the series, forcing an ace match.

Aiur's Revenge: sOs' Global Finals Victory

sOs won the next game at the WCS Global Finals with a strong three-base Blink Stalker/Sentry push on Iron Fortress, securing his second Global Finals title. With the win, sOs made himself perhaps the most successful player of Heart of the Swarm, winning the yearly title in two of its three years and taking three additional Premier titles on top of that. sOs' strategical diversity and unpredictability made him a consistently dangerous player and while he lapsed in some periods, his tendency to come up big in important tournaments is second to none. In the last tournament of Heart of the Swarm, sOs cemented his legacy as one of the game's very best.

After winning the BlizzCon title, sOs spoke to theScore eSports about his year and his hopes for 2016. You can check it out here.

A New Era: Into Legacy of the Void

The end of the WCS Global Finals also brought the last games of Heart of the Swarm to be played on the competitive stage. Legacy of the Void launched a few days later, and the transition began. 2016 will bring both a new game and a new format for eSports competition both in Korea and the foreign scene.

Over the next few weeks, several high-profile tournaments showed the intensity that LotV promised to bring to each game. With the meta thus far uncertain, the relative strengths of players are also unknown. So far though, Solar dominated the earliest tournaments and online cups, also winning DreamHack: Stockholm.

The new expansion has also produced a wave of retirements as many veterans exited competitive play. Some of the last Brood War legends, including Flash and FanTaSy, announced their retirements, as well as StarCraft 2 greats such as MMA, MC and Rain. One era has ended, and another begins.

Honorable Mentions:

herO wins a Korean tournament

MorroW beats Hydra

sOs reverse all-kills KT Rolster

Christian Paas-Lang is an eSports journalist from Toronto looking forward to more StarCraft in 2016. You can follow him on Twitter.