December wasn't as eventful as the record-November. We had proleague, Code A, GSL Blizzard Cup, MLG Tournament of Champions, NASL finals and HSC.
Regarding Proleague I want to state, that I value the games very highly, but you have to consider that they are all only Bo1 and the level of play is generally below GSL. (as the up&downs showed a bit)
I am using the results from http://aligulac.com that seems to be the most complete database right now.
KalWarkovs Foreigner Top30 End December: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=390426
Introduction
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There is always a lot of discussion who the best SC2 players are. Some automated ELO rankings like TLPD (or sc2charts.net) provide an idea but are not satisfying. Based on KalWarkov`s Top30 Foreigner Ranking, I present you my Top30 Koreans.
The players should be ranked by their current overall skill.
To judge this, obviously recent results count more, but a GSL win doesnt put you on #1 automically and an established player who is slumping a bit won't fall too far.
I hope we can get a nice discussion going like in the other thread. I will regard your opinions for the next ranking. Please consider that the skill-gaps are pretty small and there is no real difference between 3-4 places (especially in the lower part).
I could give explanations why I placed the players in this order but I guess I wait for your critics.
The players should be ranked by their current overall skill.
To judge this, obviously recent results count more, but a GSL win doesnt put you on #1 automically and an established player who is slumping a bit won't fall too far.
I hope we can get a nice discussion going like in the other thread. I will regard your opinions for the next ranking. Please consider that the skill-gaps are pretty small and there is no real difference between 3-4 places (especially in the lower part).
I could give explanations why I placed the players in this order but I guess I wait for your critics.
Ranking
1. (0) Life (Startale)
2. (+1) PartinG (-)
3. (-1) Leenock (FXO)
4. (0) By.Rain (SKT)
5. (0) Sniper (MVP)
6. (0) HyuN (-)
7. (+3) DongRaeGu (MVP)
8. (+1) TaeJa (Liquid)
9. (-2) Creator (Prime)
10. (+6) Bomber (Startale)
11. (0) Symbol (-)
12. (+2) Polt (-)
13. (-5) MVP (IM)
14. (-2) MarineKing (Prime)
15. (0) HerO (Liquid)
16. (+6) Flash (KT)
17. (+6) viOLet (Azubu)
18. (+2) Squirtle (Startale)
19. (-6) Bogus (STX)
20. (-2) Ryung (Axiom)
21. (-2) Curious (Startale)
22. (-1) Neo.G_Soulkey (Stars)
23. (*) GuMiho (FXO)
24. (0) Byun (Prime)
25. (0) MC (SK)
26. (*) BaBy (Team 8)
27. (0) NesTea (IM)
28. (-11) YongHwa (IM)
29. (0) Hack (Startale)
30. (*) YoDa (IM)
Dropped Out: Seed (IM), RorO (Khan), sHy (Stars)
Close but no cigar: Keen (MvP), Vampire (MvP), Alicia (-), Supernova (mtw), Last (STX), First(IM), Happy (IM), hero[jOin] (CJ), Jjakji (NS HoSeo), n.Die_soO (SKT), TheSTC (-), Bboong (MJ), Jaedong (EG), Seed (IM), RorO (Khan), sHy (Stars), Fantasy (SKT), Wooki (KT), Effort (CJ), Tear (FXO)
Teams: Startale 5, IM 5, Prime 3, Liquid 2, MVP 2, FXO 2, Stars 1, SKT 1, SK 1, KT 1, STX 1, Axiom 1, Azubu 1, Team8 1
Explanations on changes:
- Life already was #1 and winning Blizzard Cup only cemented his spot. No questions here.
- Parting got #2 at Blizzard Cup and also won the MLG Tournament of Champions over Life, soo and Rain (going 10-2 overall). He also recently qualified for IEM Katowice losing 1 single map. He is really hot right now and clearly deserves #2 imo.
- Leenock was 3-1 in his Blizzard Cup group and beat Hyun in FC (later lost to Sting). He holds his spot over Rain who had a bad Blizzard Cup, but got to the final of the MLG ToC (beating Leenock) and played well in proleague.
- Sniper also was 3-1 in his Blizzard Cup group and besides losing in the GSTL finals, he didnt play anything else. I feel the current Top5 really stand out.
- Hyun barely holds his spot. He lost to Sortof in NASL and Leenock in FightClub, then dominated a bunch of online tournaments.
- DRG is back! After losing to Noblesse in Code A, he was 3-1 in his Blizzard Cup group and qualified in Up&Downs with a 4-1 record.
- Taeja lost in his IronSquid group, then performed well in proleague and 4-0ed his U&D group.
- Creator was rather unimpressive in some teamleagues and the Asia Starcraft league. He could beat Sting 5-1 in Fight Club.
- He was a new entry last month, now Bomber climbs farther after 4-0ing his U&D group. (he did lose to Gumiho in Code A before)
- Symbol won the Korean qualifier for HSC and got #2 there. He also could qualify for Code S through Wildcards. His ZvZ seems to be his bane right now.
- Polt got #3 at NASL and could beat Bbyong to clinch his Code S spot which he later forfeited.
- MVP could qualify for Code S, but looked really bad at Blizzard Cup. The injury seems to strike again.
- MKP lost to soo in MLG ToC. HSC wasnt too special for him (eliminated by Stephano).
- Hero won NASL, but was so-so in proleague, Blizzard Cup and the U&D.
- Flash was decent in MLG ToC and could allkill EGTL in proleague. He was eliminated in U&D despite a 3-2 record.
- viOlet got #2 NASL and was ok in Blizzard Cup.
- Squirtle lost to Yonghwa in Code A, than allkilled FXO in IPTL and 4-1ed his U&D group.
- Bogus only played PL and didnt look too convincing so far.
- Ryung won the Shoutcraft Invitational ,Curious his Code A match. They didnt play relevant elsewhere.
- Soulkey is looking good in proleague.
- Gumiho makes a reentry deciding the GSTL finals again and beating Bomber and First in Code A.
- MC and Byun could qualify for Code S again. MC at HSC was pretty disappointing.
- Baby makes an entry by beating Flash and Symbol in Code A and looking decent in proleague.
- Nestea lost to Bbyong then qualified through U&Ds.
- Yonghwa could beat Squirtle, then lost to Life and went 0-5 in his U&D group.
- Hacks only game was beating Jaedong in Code A.
- YoDa 4-1ed his U&D group and also qualified for IEM Katowice.