EPT1. StarTale
This was close. A week ago I was ready to give Prime the number one spot, for reasons you can read under their description. However, a number of things happened since then. Squirtle had an amazing run at IPL4, Virus crushed a very hard Ro32 group, and Prime lost the opener of the new KSL, which, while a very minor league, shows they aren't invincible in team leagues.
As far as StarTale goes, they have 4 players in the Ro16, (plus Naniwa, who lives and practices with them) they had Bomber and especially Squirtle put in good performances at IPL, and they've only lost to Prime and NsH in team leagues, and Prime and NsH excel in team league formats.
This ranking is also NOT because I think Parting deserved the win over MKP in the finals, since Prime has beaten ST without MKP. It's because StarTale, at the moment, is a better overall team.
2. Prime
I did spend a lot of time talking about Prime already. A lot of people underrate Prime because they don't do too well in individual leagues apart from MKP. There are 2 things to note here though. One is that MKP's MLG performances definitely make up for the rest of Prime's recent individual league failures, and the second is that Prime has entered 3 team leagues so far this season, and won all of them. KSL, IPL TAC 2, and GSTL. They have looked shaky in the new, round-robin KSL, losing to FXO and IM, but that's the least prestigious team league anyway. With Maru's recent GSL run Prime would still be ranked about 4th in a rank that only considers individual leagues, but if you also look at team leagues Prime is just a hair away from first.
Combining Prime's KSL (1 and 2), GSTL, and IPL TAC records from 2012 gives them a 15-3 record in Bo11's and Bo9's. That's just disgustingly good.
3. MvP
GSL Season 1 finals was not that long ago. That's really all there is to say here, you can excuse MvP's team league losses, their disappointing Ro32 results, the fact that only DRG goes to foreign tournaments nowadays, by the fact that the only GSL finals so far this year was MvP vs MvP. Plus, DRG boosts MvP's ranking in much the same way MKP boosts Prime's, by being one of the best players in the world.
The two reasons MvP isn't higher are that both DRG and Genius lost to ST in GSTL, and only Genius, out of all the great MvP players, got to Ro16. It's a small slump really, but they are not ST or Prime right now.
4. FXO
Ah, the best foreign-owned team. They've had some amazing stories, such as Boss and Choya working together to merge FXO and fOu, and Leenock's loser's bracket run at Providence. In 2012 though, they've just been good, not great. They had a weird GSTL run, losing to SlayerS and MvP but getting to the semifinals anyway, to lose to MvP again. Gumiho took out IMMVP in GSL Season 1, while superstars Oz and Leenock faltered.
However, unlike MvP, FXO seems to be in a state of incline right now. Oz and Leenock both made Ro16 of this GSL, with the only "upset" being Gumiho's loss. Plus a lot of the lower ranked teams are having issues or doing rebuilding while FXO's roster seems to have stabilized.
5. NsHoseo
Finally a controversial pick after the relatively safe choices of MvP and FXO. NsH are actually team league beasts, getting to the finals of both KSL January and IPL TAC 2, and only losing to finalists Prime and Startale in GSTL. Although they've been struggling recently in the new KSL, they did just defeat MvP.
Ranking NsH over IM, Slayers, oGs, etc. is controversial, but NsH has not only had a GSL finalist more recently, they actually beat IM this GSTL. They've also been extremely unlucky with Code A/Code B fights, with 5 players lurking around the Code A level this year and the extremely talented Sage stuck in Code B.
As shown by NsH's incredible IPL TAC 2 Loser's Bracket run (beating ST, FXO, oGs, and taking a set off Prime) I'd rather have the deep lineup of Jjakji, San, Sage, and Seal over almost any other top 4, besides maybe ST's lineup of Bomber, Squirtle, Parting, and Curious. If they bomb in Code A, I'll look silly for not putting IM and oGs higher, but I don't think that will happen.
6. oGs
For a long time oGs was either "That team that was really good in beta" or "the team with MC." Now beta and MC are both long gone, and oGs hasn't been that noticeable, although they remain one of the most popular teams. The top players remaining seem to be TheStC, Supernova, and VINES, although VINES seems to have trouble breaking in to the GSL despite his great team league performances and ladder rank. In GSTL, oGs had to lean on Liquid'Hero in the later rounds, although oGs did do well without Liquid in IPL TAC 2.
Then there's fOrGG/Fin. He got a lot of hype compared to other players switching over from BW but hasn't really done anything yet, losing quite a bit in team leagues and falling out of Code S every season. You could say I'm being unfair for giving NsH credit for unrealized potential and not oGs, but NsH players like Sculp, Sage, Seal, Jjakji, etc. have all already proven themselves in one way or another, while fOrGG has yet to have his breakout moment. Also I have to bring up IPL TAC 2, where Fin, StC, and Vines all fell to Seal and Jjakji. Finally oGs may have more players in the GSL right now, but they have 0 GSL champions on their current roster.
7. Incredible Miracle
This might be the most controversial rank since MVP and NesTea were the top two players in the world very recently. However, there are two reasons IM sits so low. For one, IM has almost no depth. For another, MVP and NesTea are not what they were in 2011.
Apart from MVP, IM has absolutely no one in the GSL Ro16. Seed fell out of Code S about as quickly as he got in, and NesTea repeated his recent GSL group stage woes. Now, to be fair, NesTea's IPL4 run was impressive. However, MVP and NesTea both lost to foreigners at MLG's Winter Arena, and after a 4 GSL run of IM players in the finals we've had none since MVP lost to Leenock twice last November. Also, due to MVP's wrists, I can't see him going too much further than Ro16.
IM has no depth beyond the big two right now. Seed looked poor in Code S, Losira isn't even in Code A right now, Happy doesn't look long for Code A, and in team leagues IM straight up loses whenever someone knocks out MVP or NesTea, and a lot of teams have players on their level now.
8. Liquid
Before they got Taeja, I wouldn't even consider listing a team of mostly foreigners on the top 10, especially since the foreign lineup is not the best, although Sheth, Haypro, and Ret have all had their moments recently.
The Taeja, HerO, and Zenio lineup is just beastly though. It's not as deep as some of the other Korean lineups, but when you consider that other teams like EG had players with the potential to invade Code S like that (Puma, Huk, and JYP) it's very impressive that Zenio got Ro32 and Taeja and HerO got Ro16. Combine that with Liquid already being the best foreign team in IPL TAC and NASTL before they got Taeja, and oGs using HerO a lot in later GSTL rounds, and I'm comfortable ranking Liquid among the lower Korean teams.
9. SlayerS
Yeah. I know. SlayerS could have been number one in mid 2011. They have as many players in the GSL Ro16 as the #5 team, which is none. But SlayerS doesn't have any recent team league results or GSL finalists after MMA, one of the worst pro TvPers, won a GSL with one Protoss in the Ro16. The once invincible SlayerS terran lineup is basically just MMA and Ryung now, both of whom lost their GSL groups. They lost Ganzi and Taeja and gained Clide, Soccer, and Puzzle, and somehow Puzzle has become their ace player, but even he dropped out of Code S early.
I have confidence in BoxeR and Cella and I'm sure the new draft will get SlayerS to the top again, but there are too many glaring weaknesses in their current roster to be ranked any higher than 9th.
10. TSL
Or "team Polt". There are other candidates for 10th like mouz and Empire, but neither of them have a player like Polt. TSL might be far behind other teams in Korean tournaments, but they do perform fairly well in daily tournaments and overseas. ZeNex has been awful lately, and Millenium behind Stephano don't look as good as Revival, Hyun, and Symbol behind Polt. Fnatic is also a 10th place candidate, but they don't have too much behind aLive right now.
Thoughts? Was I too kind to NsH? Too hard on SlayerS? Anyone I left out? Let me know.
