• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:23
CEST 23:23
KST 06:23
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2910Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!0Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back3BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles0
StarCraft 2
General
Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format Serral wins HomeStory Cup 29 Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back Is the larve respawn broken? Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2
Tourneys
GSL CK #5 Race War WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map) screpdb: new Starcraft reporting tool BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend! [ASL22] Wildcard Qualifier IPSL Spring 2026 Top 4!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Summer Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5186 users

Why masters league does not make you a baller.

Blogs > darmousseh
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 Next All
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-13 17:34:31
January 11 2011 22:46 GMT
#1
Statistically speaking master's league represents 1% of all players.

Let me give everyone a little perspective.

Let's assume that the mean mmr for everyone is 1500 with a 400 point standard deviation (standard for chess). Using a normal distribution, this represents the diamond league.

Diamond
[image loading]
As you can see, diamond league is freaking huge. It has people rated as low as 1800 MMR. In chess this would be someone ranked Class A. This is easily achievable by practice alone by most people.


Ok, now let's look at masters league

Masters
[image loading]
This looks a little more promising. The lowest rating is around 2320. In chess this would be a senior master. These people can be great teachers, but most likely you have never heard of them. They cannot be considered a source of knowledge in the chess world at all.

So how does grandmaster league compare?

Grandmaster
[image loading]

For grandmaster league it is the top 200 in the server. Since there are almost 1 million players in NA, this represents 0.02% of all players. The lowest rating is about 2912. These would be considered grandmasters in chess and are a good source of information. The different between a master and a grandmaster is about 600 points. At that difference, if these two were to play a game, the grandmaster would be likely to win 97% of games using ELO.

If you are losing 97% of games against someone in the top 200, I can assure you that you sir are not a baller.

The difference between the lowest diamond and the lowest master is about 500 points, so I would say as bad as people in masters are, diamond is significantly worse.

It is possible given the volatility of the game that these numbers are closer, however, it is possible that the range is even greater.


So before saying stuff like "I'm a 2500 master" consider the possibility that statistically speaking, you are still really bad compared to the pros.


Credit to http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/z_table.html for the awesome graphs.



Edit; This isn't an insult. I am a diamond player, but I wanted to give everyone a little perspective on the differences between players and to hopefully ward off any new "hi i'm a 2500 master protoss and my opinion in godlike" threads.

updated to reflect 2% instead of 1% as they said initially.

***
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
Elegy
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States1629 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-11 22:52:09
January 11 2011 22:51 GMT
#2
While the numbers are nice and everything, people can still say "I'm a Master of Zerg" which, in my eyes, is still resoundingly baller (sounds that way, at least).
arb
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Noobville17922 Posts
January 11 2011 22:51 GMT
#3
It doesnt make them a baller because it doesnt mean shit, you have a retarded bonus pool, lose hardly any points for a loss, good job ou go into masters, youre still horrible!

Whereas on iccup you could say "yeah i got to C rank" and it would be something along the lines of "Congrats youre better than 90+% of all starcraft players"

tldr; lol @ sc2 rankings meaning something
Artillery spawned from the forges of Hell
GreatFall
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States1061 Posts
January 11 2011 22:55 GMT
#4
Wow well done, haha. You were one of those kids who didn't ask 'what am I possibly going to use this for in the real world' when you took your statistics course!
Inventor of the 'Burning Tide' technique to quickly getting Outmatched Crusher achivement :D
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
January 11 2011 22:58 GMT
#5
On January 12 2011 07:55 GreatFall wrote:
Wow well done, haha. You were one of those kids who didn't ask 'what am I possibly going to use this for in the real world' when you took your statistics course!



haha i got a degree in math and I've yet to use it. I also got a degree in computer science which i use every day.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
emperorchampion
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada9496 Posts
January 11 2011 23:01 GMT
#6
On January 12 2011 07:51 arb wrote:
It doesnt make them a baller because it doesnt mean shit, you have a retarded bonus pool, lose hardly any points for a loss, good job ou go into masters, youre still horrible!

Whereas on iccup you could say "yeah i got to C rank" and it would be something along the lines of "Congrats youre better than 90+% of all starcraft players"

tldr; lol @ sc2 rankings meaning something


C+ would be better than 99.99% of all starcraft players :p

Really, nothing has changed with the creation of Masters. People who mass game and make Masters are still gonna think they are hot-shit, just as they did before when they were #1 Diamond.
TRUEESPORTS || your days as a respected member of team liquid are over
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
January 11 2011 23:03 GMT
#7
On January 12 2011 08:01 emperorchampion wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 12 2011 07:51 arb wrote:
It doesnt make them a baller because it doesnt mean shit, you have a retarded bonus pool, lose hardly any points for a loss, good job ou go into masters, youre still horrible!

Whereas on iccup you could say "yeah i got to C rank" and it would be something along the lines of "Congrats youre better than 90+% of all starcraft players"

tldr; lol @ sc2 rankings meaning something


C+ would be better than 99.99% of all starcraft players :p

Really, nothing has changed with the creation of Masters. People who mass game and make Masters are still gonna think they are hot-shit, just as they did before when they were #1 Diamond.


At least it will be significantly harder to be #1 in your division in master compared to diamond. There will probably be like 25 master leagues total.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-11 23:08:46
January 11 2011 23:07 GMT
#8
I found some information on iccup

master league is equivilent to B+ and higer on iccup

diamond is equvilient to C-

http://www.iccup.com/content/news/Rank_Distribution_on_iCCup..html

However, iccup is more of a pyramid. There wasn't a good matchmaking system so the system is really flawed.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
Ack1027
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
United States7873 Posts
January 11 2011 23:24 GMT
#9
I don't know why people care about numbers so much. It's not a personal attack on you but its incredibly ignorant to say something like master league in sc2 is equivalent to B+ and higher on iccup.

All the people I know in masters, including myself, could not hope to ever make B+ on iccup. Not to mention its broodwar and its a much harder and more refined game. Let's ignore all other practical aspects and just somehow come to the conclusion that master league = B+ iccup.


Then there's people who are artificially B+ [ or whatever ] based off motw or playing one matchup etc.... The fact is, if you are in masters in sc2 you probably know what you're doing, just like if you were in the top of diamond. Its much better than have no discrimination at all. Of course we all hope there was 1 unified ladder with an elo system or something but I think your efforts should be put towards other things [ NOT NUMBER RELATED ] that show how being masters or diamond actually means very little if that's all you say.
Impervious
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Canada4222 Posts
January 11 2011 23:27 GMT
#10
On January 12 2011 08:07 darmousseh wrote:
I found some information on iccup

master league is equivilent to B+ and higer on iccup

diamond is equvilient to C-

http://www.iccup.com/content/news/Rank_Distribution_on_iCCup..html

However, iccup is more of a pyramid. There wasn't a good matchmaking system so the system is really flawed.

Also, the majority of ICCUP users were more competitive..... Far less than 20% of all Starcraft players ever played on ICCUP..... However, ALL SC2 players have to use Battle.net 2.0 when they play. It's not even close to a good representation, unfortunately.....
~ \(ˌ)im-ˈpər-vē-əs\ : not capable of being damaged or harmed.
arb
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Noobville17922 Posts
January 11 2011 23:29 GMT
#11
On January 12 2011 08:07 darmousseh wrote:
I found some information on iccup

master league is equivilent to B+ and higer on iccup

diamond is equvilient to C-

http://www.iccup.com/content/news/Rank_Distribution_on_iCCup..html

However, iccup is more of a pyramid. There wasn't a good matchmaking system so the system is really flawed.

I somehow doubt some of the garbage ive played on SC2 could ever make B+
im sorry but ic ant believe that for a minute
Artillery spawned from the forges of Hell
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-11 23:36:00
January 11 2011 23:34 GMT
#12
On January 12 2011 08:24 Ack1027 wrote:
I don't know why people care about numbers so much. It's not a personal attack on you but its incredibly ignorant to say something like master league in sc2 is equivalent to B+ and higher on iccup.

All the people I know in masters, including myself, could not hope to ever make B+ on iccup. Not to mention its broodwar and its a much harder and more refined game. Let's ignore all other practical aspects and just somehow come to the conclusion that master league = B+ iccup.


Then there's people who are artificially B+ [ or whatever ] based off motw or playing one matchup etc.... The fact is, if you are in masters in sc2 you probably know what you're doing, just like if you were in the top of diamond. Its much better than have no discrimination at all. Of course we all hope there was 1 unified ladder with an elo system or something but I think your efforts should be put towards other things [ NOT NUMBER RELATED ] that show how being masters or diamond actually means very little if that's all you say.



You have to consider that iccup had 80,000 active competitive players and that sc2 has 1,000,00 players just in the US. There are almost as many people in diamond alone in the US as that played on iccup in total, but remember that distribution works at all levels. I'm not saying that master league is the same achievement as B+, but that based on the # of active players, the distribution is equal to B+. Obviously getting B+ in starcraft was harder, but the distribution % is equivilent because of the high competitive nature of iccup.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
Raeleigh
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Canada902 Posts
January 11 2011 23:40 GMT
#13
I don't really see a point to this blog. You're just saying what everyone already knows.

Still, it's fun having a Masters League.

Also, please note,

They're still baller as fuck.
Sorry!
you are perfect porcelain.
Ack1027
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
United States7873 Posts
January 11 2011 23:42 GMT
#14
So basically you're telling people no new information?
If someone didn't play bw/iccup, then it doesn't matter to them what B+ or whatever arbitrary ranking you decide to make a distribution % equivalent of.

If you don't play sc2, then you already know that B+ is hard as fuck.

Master league may not make you a ' baller ' but its still hard to get into [ relatively ]. If your original point was to actually show what is a baller [ not just what isn't ] then you could do that without redundant graphs and numbers.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13410 Posts
January 12 2011 00:57 GMT
#15
The only problem with this is that the sc2 population is not distributed as a normal distribution. Not only that but you assume that points are necessarily equated with MMR and make assumptions based upon that. IMO while yes people shouldn't get on a high horse, the statistics you are using aren't entirely valid.

Should MMR be point related then yes you can say that the 2900 point people have a 2900 point mmr as you assume in your write up. Though we know this isn't true.
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
kainzero
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States5211 Posts
January 12 2011 01:07 GMT
#16
I always thought being good at basketball made you a baller.
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
January 12 2011 02:09 GMT
#17
On January 12 2011 09:57 ZeromuS wrote:
The only problem with this is that the sc2 population is not distributed as a normal distribution. Not only that but you assume that points are necessarily equated with MMR and make assumptions based upon that. IMO while yes people shouldn't get on a high horse, the statistics you are using aren't entirely valid.

Should MMR be point related then yes you can say that the 2900 point people have a 2900 point mmr as you assume in your write up. Though we know this isn't true.


The entire rating system relies on the ratings being normally distributed. Points are not equated to MMR, however, divisions are. The statistics I am using are approximations. I'm using numbers from chess in order to give everyone an approximation, but the fundamentals are still the same and the difference in skill, if you based it on deviation, are exactly the same. As we cannot see MMR we can only rely on points - bonus pool used as a moderate way of guessing what MMR is, but the mmr distribution is the same regardless.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
January 12 2011 02:09 GMT
#18
On January 12 2011 10:07 kainzero wrote:
I always thought being good at basketball made you a baller.


That's very true.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
blabber
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4448 Posts
January 12 2011 02:10 GMT
#19
On January 12 2011 08:29 arb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 12 2011 08:07 darmousseh wrote:
I found some information on iccup

master league is equivilent to B+ and higer on iccup

diamond is equvilient to C-

http://www.iccup.com/content/news/Rank_Distribution_on_iCCup..html

However, iccup is more of a pyramid. There wasn't a good matchmaking system so the system is really flawed.

I somehow doubt some of the garbage ive played on SC2 could ever make B+
im sorry but ic ant believe that for a minute

D iccup = diamond
D+ iccup = master's

sounds about right
blabberrrrr
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
January 12 2011 02:15 GMT
#20
On January 12 2011 11:10 blabber wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 12 2011 08:29 arb wrote:
On January 12 2011 08:07 darmousseh wrote:
I found some information on iccup

master league is equivilent to B+ and higer on iccup

diamond is equvilient to C-

http://www.iccup.com/content/news/Rank_Distribution_on_iCCup..html

However, iccup is more of a pyramid. There wasn't a good matchmaking system so the system is really flawed.

I somehow doubt some of the garbage ive played on SC2 could ever make B+
im sorry but ic ant believe that for a minute

D iccup = diamond
D+ iccup = master's

sounds about right



Yes, in terms of rts skill perhaps, in terms of distribution of players who play on iccup and those who play sc2, no.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 37m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 740
ViBE99
Railgan 92
SpeCial 11
StarCraft: Brood War
Dewaltoss 118
ZZZero.O 57
Counter-Strike
summit1g2341
fl0m2159
Other Games
tarik_tv5294
Grubby4050
shahzam315
Liquid`Hasu223
C9.Mang0195
XaKoH 177
UpATreeSC175
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2732
BasetradeTV286
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 78
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21030
• Noizen38
Other Games
• Shiphtur442
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
2h 37m
The PondCast
12h 37m
Kung Fu Cup
13h 37m
Replay Cast
1d 11h
CrankTV Team League
1d 13h
Replay Cast
2 days
CrankTV Team League
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
[ Show More ]
IPSL
3 days
Dragon vs Hawk
RSL Revival
4 days
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
IPSL
4 days
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

YSL S3
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W3
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 1
Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.