The Kazakhstani player who was banned from last year’s tournament proved this weekend that he deserves to be among the best after all.

The professional career of Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov has been a roller-coaster. In 2015, Naiman was on his way to become the next big thing. A semi final finish at Gfinity Spring I was followed by an offer from Team Dignitas shortly after.

Naiman’s stint with Dignitas was a short one, however. At the end of April, Blizzard officially announced that the Kazakhstani is banned from the 2015 World Championship – the reason later revealed to be wintrading – and his aspirations for any major championships this year were cut off.

With his ban lifted for the new season, Naiman took to himself to redeem his name, which became one of the main storylines at this weekend’s HCT Europe Winter Championship. Among seven lesser known players, Naiman stood out as the competitor with the most experience, in prime position to be the new king of Europe. On Saturday, he emerged as the victor of his group and proceeded with confidence to championship Sunday. A dramatic semi final against BunnyHoppor qualified him for the grand finals where another five-game series later, he stood up victorious.

Naiman thus joins Americas champion Will “Amnesiac” Barton as the second player qualified for the BlizzCon world finals. The third seed for the tournament will be given out to the winner of the APAC finals this coming weekend and then by the first place finisher of China’s Gold Series Spring, scheduled to end April 10th.