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I was thinking about the past when I used to argue with Bisu fanboys over which player was greater between Bisu and Jaedong. I was enraged at the luxury Bisu had when he had a pristine record in the ProLeague, and argued that Jaedong was performing better across the board regardless of the leagues, maps, or situation. I decided to examine the Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague and Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague, to see how predictable the ACE matches were (for example, it was harder to snipe SK Telecom T1 due to their diverse ACE line-up), how many maps the players covered, and if there were any interesting trends.
This is mostly an examination of the extent of luxury Bisu had over his contemporaries when he set his insane records in the ProLeague. We will go over two of his most successful seasons, 2008/2009, and 2010/2011, as in the other seasons he was not that spectacular.
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague
12 teams
19 maps (if you count all the different versions)
Total number of ACE matches available if it happens every possible time: 44
1) Flash (54 wins 19 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 16
Number of times Flash played the ACE match: 11 (68.8% participation)
Number of times Flash won the ACE match: 6 (54.5% success rate)
Number of maps Flash covered throughout the season: 15 (78.9% coverage)
Flash was responsible for most of his team's ACE matches, and played in all three available match-ups, and had a reasonably good map coverage, although he was a little more shallow in terms of map pool than Jaedong this season.
Flash
2) Jaedong (54 wins 21 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 14
Number of times Jaedong played the ACE match: 12 (85.7% participation)
Number of times Jaedong won the ACE match: 8 (66.7% success rate)
Number of maps Jaedong covered throughout the season: 18 (94.7% coverage)
Jaedong played versus almost all oppositions, against all races, in a variety of maps he may have not fully mastered, and with the opposition always having the benefit of knowing it would be him representing his team in the ACE match whereas he often had to prepare for multiple opponents.
3) Bisu (53 wins 14 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 19
Number of times Bisu played the ACE match: 5 (26.3% participation)
Number of times Bisu won the ACE match: 4 (80% success rate)
Number of maps Bisu covered throughout the season: 13 (68.4% coverage)
Bisu played the only a quarter of the available ACE matches for his team, only against zergs (his most successful match-up) except once (against JangBi), over half on various versions of Medusa (his most favoured map).
In conclusion, in the 2008/2009 season, Bisu had the luxury of playing picking and choosing his opponents according to their race and the available map pool, and his team was still deep enough to finish 1st in the regular season despite 14 ACE matches being played without him. Both Flash and Jaedong did not have the luxury of only taking on the ACE matches when the situation favoured them, and their success rate dipped due to that factor.
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague
10 teams
20 maps (if you count all the different versions)
Total number of ACE matches available if it happens every possible time: 36
1) Bisu (66 wins 15 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 13
Number of times Bisu played the ACE match: 6 (46.2% participation)
Number of times Bisu won the ACE match: 4 (66.7% success rate)
Number of maps Bisu covered throughout the season: 15 (75% coverage)
2) Flash (60 wins 19 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 7
Number of times Flash played the ACE match: 4 (57.1% participation)
Number of times Flash won the ACE match: 3 (75% success rate)
Number of maps Flash covered throughout the season: 17 (85% coverage)
3) Jaedong (51 wins 23 losses)
Total number of ACE matches: 7
Number of times Jaedong played the ACE match: 6 (85.7% participation)
Number of times Jaedong won the ACE match: 3 (50% success rate)
Number of maps Jaedong covered throughout the season: 15 (75% coverage)
Bisu always had the element of surprise, as he participated in less than half of his team's ACE matches, despite having more overall opportunities than either Flash or Jaedong. His map pool was broadened, although it was limited compared to Flash. Flash had a trusty side-kick in the form of Stats, which enabled him to participate in roughly half of his team's ACE matches. Jaedong never had that luxury, and was prone to sniping, over-exposure of his tendencies and strategies, and just being spread too thin in general.
This is why I always said Bisu was only godlike under certain situations. He never thrived under heavy scrutiny, or heavy burden like some. He needed his space, he needed time to recover from his fluctuations in performance and swings of confidence, and while he was godlike under certain circumstances, it is undeniable that he played for a team that allowed him to be more selective with his map pools, selective in which match-ups he practiced for, and shared the burden of the ACE match with some of the greatest side-kicks seen in a team.
This is why I think Bisu was a little pampered compared to other greats. He never managed to bring greatness to a struggling team. He would have tremendous highs, but followed by equally great lows. For a player that was considered as a potential bonjwa, he was never a top ten performing player in the ProLeague until the 2008/2009 season, when SK Telecom T1 utilized him to his full potential. His 2010/2011 run was much less dependent on the strength of his team, and he was a ProLeague beast in his own right to an equal, or even greater degree than his rivals, but this was a period marked by the longest drought in Bisu's individual league performance. His last deep run into a tournament was in 2008, and he played his final BO5 in an individual league against Iris in the round of eight in 2009.
I think people often lament the fact that Bisu was a protoss player, and the weakness the race had compared to the other two races somehow makes his fallacies more forgivable than his contemporaries such as Flash. However, I think it's often over-looked how much he benefited from being on SK Telecom T1. For someone whose legacy is much dependent on his success alongside the SK Telecom T1 brand, I think certain context is in need, and I think the mystery of why he failed so much when outside of the bubble created by playing for the deepest squad in those times, is explained to a certain extent, although I believe Bisu was less than fortunate numerous times in the individual leagues.
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Interesting post, thanks for that!
I always wondered if JD would have been more successful if he was on a big team, we will never know for sure :D
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Career ACE match analysis of Taek-Beng-Lee-Ssang (regular season only)
Jaedong
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 6 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 0
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 3 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 1
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 6 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 2
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 5 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 1
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 8 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 14 ACE matches, took part in 12, won 8
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 17 ACE matches, took part in 9, won 8
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 7 ACE matches, took part in 6, won 3
SK Planet ProLeague: 10 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 1
Career total
76 available ACE matches
36 ACE matches (47.4% participation)
24 ACE match victories (66.7% success rate)
Flash
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 12 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 0
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 9 ACE matches, took part in 4, won 4
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 6 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 4
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 16 ACE matches, took part in 11, won 6
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 20 ACE matches, took part in 13, won 6
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 7 ACE matches, took part in 4, won 3
SK Planet ProLeague: 8 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
Career total
78 available ACE matches
39 ACE matches (50% participation)
23 ACE match victories (60% success rate)
Bisu
SKY 2005 ProLeague R2: 10 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 5 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 6 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 7 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 0
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 8 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 1
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 10 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 1
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 19 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 4
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 15 ACE matches, took part in 4, won 2
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 13 ACE matches, took part in 6, won 4
SK Planet ProLeague: 5 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 0
Career total
98 available ACE matches
22 ACE matches (22.2% participation)
12 ACE match victories (54.5% success rate)
Stork
SKY 2005 ProLeague R1: 5 ACE matches, took part in 4, won 1
SKY 2005 ProLeague R2: 6 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 1
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 7 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 1
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 4 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 0
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 9 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 5
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 6 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 2
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 7 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 0
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 20 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 3
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 18 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 2
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 12 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 2
SK Planet ProLeague: 6 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
Career total
100 available ACE matches
36 ACE matches (36% participation)
17 ACE match victories (47.2% success rate)
As you can see, Bisu never put the team on his back like Jaedong or Flash could claim throughout their careers. Jaedong and Flash had multiple seasons where they played the vast majority of the available ACE matches, whereas Bisu was always a hidden card amongst many in all of the seasons he played in, and always shared responsibility as the ACE card of the team. Of course, both Jaedong and Flash had superlative ProLeague careers, and anybody would look relatively poor if we compare the records, but I think as I do more of these kind of analysis, we can judge for ourselves who were on one-man teams, who were exploited as much as possible, and what kind of circumstances these players were put under.
Sea
SKY 2005 ProLeague R2: 10 ACE matches, took part in 0, won 0
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 5 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 0
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 6 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 1
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 7 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 1
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 8 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 1
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 6 ACE matches, took part in 2, won 0
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 16 ACE matches, took part in 3, won 1
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 17 ACE matches, took part in 5, won 4
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 13 ACE matches, took part in 6, won 2
SK Planet ProLeague: 10 ACE matches, took part in 1, won 0
Career total
98 available ACE matches
25 ACE matches (25.5% participation)
10 ACE match victories (40% success rate)
For comparison's sake. Sea was on a team with Bisu until 2007, and during this period he was responsible for 3 ACE match victories compared Bisu's one, and was chosen much more frequently for the ACE matches. His career participation rate for ACE matches is also slightly higher than Bisu's.
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
I kind of briefly mentioned Bisu in my long "Maps and Metagames" post, and I will say what I said there: yes, it's pretty clear that Bisu did worse than Jaedong or Flash overall. He had a great Proleague record but it is true that SKT had a lot to do with that. But what is also true is that unlike Jaedong and Flash, historically he is quite clearly the best player of his race. I suspect that means that the problems are associated with the race and Bisu, even being as good as he was, wasn't able to overcome them.
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On December 19 2016 00:50 LegalLord wrote:
I kind of briefly mentioned Bisu in my long "Maps and Metagames" post, and I will say what I said there: yes, it's pretty clear that Bisu did worse than Jaedong or Flash overall. He had a great Proleague record but it is true that SKT had a lot to do with that. But what is also true is that unlike Jaedong and Flash, historically he is quite clearly the best player of his race. I suspect that means that the problems are associated with the race and Bisu, even being as good as he was, wasn't able to overcome them.
I wouldn't say that was the case necessarily. I'll go through each comment point by point.
1) Bisu had a great ProLeague record
When he started to click within the SK Telecom T1 unit, sure. He was one of the best ProLeague performers alongside Flash and Jaedong, and fortunately for him, that was when the number of ProLeague games had inflated to levels unseen before, so his overall record is indeed quite stellar. However, if you break down his performance by the seasons, you'll see the overall picture. To keep the racial imbalance completely out of the picture, I'll keep the whole discussion within the protoss race.
SKY 2005 ProLeague R2: 11th best protoss in terms of records
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: No games
SKY 2006 ProLeague R2: 6th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 11th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 14th best protoss in terms of records
-> Bisu moves to SK Telecom T1
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 10th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: The best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 5th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: The best protoss in terms of records
SK Planet ProLeague: 3rd best protoss in terms of records
Bisu played for a multiple championship winner in MBC Game HERO, but still wasn't able to separate himself from the rest of the pack, and had lower win count than the likes of TheRocK, LuCifer, and SeaGuemChi in the earlier seasons. Even when he was winning multiple titles in the MSL, he was bringing down his former championship winning team by having negative records throughout the season. He was a changed man after he adjusted to the SK Telecom T1 roster, but like I said, he was pampered with luxuries that players he is considered on a similar level (Flash and Jaedong) never fully had.
Do the same season by season ranking for Flash and Jaedong, you'll find that Flash was the best player of his race for all the ProLeague seasons post 2008, whereas Jaedong was either the best, or second best, player of his race post 2006. That's a pedegree of excellence that Bisu's stellar performance cannot hold a candle to. In fact, in the case of Jaedong, there's never been a zerg player besides Jaedong himself, who was in the top four in terms of number of wins in the ProLeague, since 2007. That would suggest a struggle happening for the other members of the race.
Within the same time frame, free, Anytime, Pure, JangBi, and Stats would be able to accomplish high rankings in the ProLeague even if we take out both Bisu and Stork. The imbalance of protoss players struggling to reach the top was only a relevant statistic in terms of individual league performance. In the modern era of the ProLeague, terran and protoss players would tower over the zerg players if we count the number of players who were able to reach the top of the list in terms of number of victories, whether you cut it top 16, top 8, or top 4.
Even within his own race, you could argue that Stork was more relevant as a top ProLeague player for longer, even if his overall record isn't as astounding due to the inflation of the number of games when he wasn't the top dog.
SKY 2005 ProLeague R1: 4th best protoss in terms of records
SKY 2005 ProLeague R2: The best protoss in terms of records
SKY 2006 ProLeague R1: 6th best protoss in terms of records
SKY 2006 ProLeague R2: 8th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1: 2nd best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R2: 2nd best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2008 ProLeague: 4th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague: 6th best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague: 2nd best protoss in terms of records
Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague: 3rd best protoss in terms of records
SK Planet ProLeague: The best protoss in terms of records
Stork has been around for longer, yet his biggest dip in performance is as the 8th best protoss when he was playing more WoW than Starcraft. Yet this ranking amongst his protoss brethren is better than what Bisu managed in a lot of his attempts as the "main" protoss player of his team. Stork was relevant as a top protoss player in the ProLeague for seven years. Bisu have had stellar heights with his record breaking ProLeague performances, but it's actually debatable if he was even the best performing protoss player in the ProLeague. What if we had the massive number of games played in the ProLeague when Bisu was at MBC Game HERO?
2. Bisu is quite clearly the best player of his race
Clearly? Bisu, just like his ProLeague performances, was quite erratic in nature in individual leagues also. He was one of the greatest MSL players of all time, but if we look into his records into the more prestigious OGN StarLeague, his legacy there is one of numerous failures rather than epic triumphs. Even if we take out the players of other races out of the equation, was he really that much further ahead of everyone else?
Even if we only look at Stork's records in individual leagues (OGN StarLeague and MSL) after Bisu's debut, it's not quite as night and day as you might imagine.
Round of 16 or higher
Bisu: 16
Stork: 21
Round of 8 or higher
Bisu: 11
Stork: 12
Round of 4 or higher
Bisu: 7
Stork: 8
Finals or higher
Bisu: 4
Stork: 5
Champion
Bisu: 3
Stork: 1
Even if we take out Stork's records in early 2005 when Bisu had yet to make his break-out performance in any of the leagues, you can see that he was a more consistent name in all stages of the brackets. Bisu was the better player in individual leagues due to his multiple championships, but take into account Stork's longetivity in both the ProLeague, and the individual leagues, and his overall level of performance across the board, I don't think it's a stretch to say that Stork gives Bisu a good run for his money for the title of the best protoss player ever.
Stork was able to qualify, and go further into the brackets with more consistency than Bisu was able to throughout his career, although he wasn't nearly as clutch in the finals. Also, Bisu's relevance in the individual leagues began in 2007, when he won his first surpise title, and ended in 2009, when he played his last BO5 series against Iris in the round of eight. Stork also came into the spotlight in 2007 with his second place finish in the MSL, and remained a relevant name in the individual leagues, reaching the finals in 2007, 2008, and in 2010.
There's no way Bisu was the ultimate protoss player held back purely by the limitations of his race. He was a player of potentially incredible greatness that he never quite fully unlocked. When he was player who was a force in the individual leagues during his MBC Game HERO era, he managed to reach three consecutive finals in the MSL, as well as being reasonably successful in the OGN StarLeague. However, during this same period, he was a non-factor in the ProLeague.
After his transfer to SK Telecom T1, he was transformed into a ProLeague beast, rivaling the likes of Flash and Jaedong at times. However, this same period is marked by one of the longest droughts in his individual league career. After his initial success in 2008, he struggled to reach not only the upper stages of the brackets, but even failed to qualify for the lower stages multiple times.
Bisu had his incredible heights in different portions of the professional realm (individual leagues, team leagues) in different eras. The failures he had was at least in part due to his own defiencies, considering Stork remained a level that Bisu often failed to reach, across all platforms and eras.
I personally believe that Bisu thrived when the weight of the world was not on his shoulders. He did not perform at all as a potential hard carry of MBC Game HERO in the ProLeague. When he moved to SK Telecom T1, and Best could mark opponents such as Flash, and FanTaSy improved into a championship material player, he became a force to be reckoned with. However, he fell to the ploys of lesser players such as Shine or go.go when they heavily researched his style of play and tried to counter it. This was possible because in the individual leagues, he was under heavy scrutiny as a potential championship material player, due to his ProLeague success and past individual league success (back when he was a relative rookie). However, after years of exposure, being a great player was simply not enugh when others were guning for you, the bubble created by his team, ironically stifled his growth as a player in the individual leagues in my opinion.
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
Frankly, I would label Stork, quite jerkishly, as "consistent mediocrity." He ranks among the "greats" but frankly sometimes I question whether or not such a label is deserved. At his best, he is on par with any of the other TBLS members. At his worst, he is completely and utterly unimpressive. On average, he is sometimes pretty good, sometimes pretty bad. Sometimes I question whether Stork should have been considered one of the "top four players" instead of Fantasy or Effort.
To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't put Stork as the best challenge to Bisu in terms of "best Protoss" because he simply is not that impressive in comparison. Yes, part of the reason is that Khan failed to be as good as SKT overall, but Stork didn't exactly carry his team either. He was often a mediocre team ace player. Nal_rA would be the best challenger in that regard and it would be much, much harder to make a case for Nal_rA > Bisu than Savior > Jaedong or Nada > Flash. Yes, Bisu does have deeper slumps than Stork when he does slump, but Stork is no stranger to rather brutal declines in performance.
On "consistency in SL appearances" I will simply cite my previous aversion to using Top X (for X > 1) players in evaluating SL performance. I might write a post about that later in the M&M thread (when I have the time), but I take the position that "gold medals are the only proper measure of SL success."
On OSL > MSL... this. MSL gets fewer "prestige points" for whatever reasons, but it is absolutely the place where the best, most consistent performances come, whereas OSL is the home of many one-off champions. I do not see any reason to value an OSL title over an MSL one for evaluating the caliber of any given player.
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On December 19 2016 03:35 LegalLord wrote:Frankly, I would label Stork, quite jerkishly, as "consistent mediocrity." He ranks among the "greats" but frankly sometimes I question whether or not such a label is deserved. At his best, he is on par with any of the other TBLS members. At his worst, he is completely and utterly unimpressive. On average, he is sometimes pretty good, sometimes pretty bad. Sometimes I question whether Stork should have been considered one of the "top four players" instead of Fantasy or Effort. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't put Stork as the best challenge to Bisu in terms of "best Protoss" because he simply is not that impressive in comparison. Yes, part of the reason is that Khan failed to be as good as SKT overall, but Stork didn't exactly carry his team either. He was often a mediocre team ace player. Nal_rA would be the best challenger in that regard and it would be much, much harder to make a case for Nal_rA > Bisu than Savior > Jaedong or Nada > Flash. Yes, Bisu does have deeper slumps than Stork when he does slump, but Stork is no stranger to rather brutal declines in performance. On "consistency in SL appearances" I will simply cite my previous aversion to using Top X (for X > 1) players in evaluating SL performance. I might write a post about that later in the M&M thread (when I have the time), but I take the position that "gold medals are the only proper measure of SL success." On OSL > MSL... this. MSL gets fewer "prestige points" for whatever reasons, but it is absolutely the place where the best, most consistent performances come, whereas OSL is the home of many one-off champions. I do not see any reason to value an OSL title over an MSL one for evaluating the caliber of any given player.
EffOrt? The guy whose entire legacy is basically him beating Flash once in the finals? Are you aware of what the guy has achieved? No other finals. Not even a round of four once outside of his miracle run. Even his best ProLeague finish is as the eight best player in terms of number of victories. Exactly what are his credentials? Is his single triumph against Flash worth more than a half a decade's worth of excellence?
Stork did carry his team. It's why they won the ProLeague in 2007. He was a mediocre team ace in an era where Bisu was at his element. The reverse was true for a longer portion of their careers. Are you only going to count the seasons Bisu did well in? What about the time Stork got the most number of wins in R2 of 2005 as a rookie player? The time he got MVP of the regular season, and the Play-Offs MVP in 2007? While Bisu was losing to the likes of half-retired players like ChRh, and having worse ProLeague records than the likes of cHalRengE, Stork was the one carrying his team to their only victories in history.
Even after Bisu moved to SK Telecom T1, Stork managed to out perform him individually speaking on three separate seasons. If Stork was "mediocre" throughout his entire career in the ProLeague, I guess that means Bisu must have been less than mediocre except for 2008/2009, and 2010/2011 seasons. So that's 2005, first half of 2006, 2007, early part of 2008, 2009/2010, and the latter half of 2011. That's five years of "less than mediocre" ProLeague performance in contrast to two respectable ones.
If you think only first place finishes matter, I can't persuade you otherwise. Stork has a more extensive body of work, and I tend to value those, but if you think Bisu can just win his three titles, perform better than Stork for about two and a half years in the ProLeague (in contrast to the other five Stork outpeformed him in terms of number of wins), and that's all there is to it, I can't stop you. If you think a player should only be rated by their absolute peak, Bisu's the guy for you, because in terms of peaks, there's little doubt that Bisu had that highest peak of any protoss player.
I look at the lows and highs of the players throughout their careers, and whoever amassed more in terms of round of 16, or round of 4 still are valuable resources for me personally. Sure a round of four finish doesn't make the player a top four player of that era, but failure to reach the lower stages of the brackets, not just a couple, but time and time again, suggests a failure on that player's part. Bisu failed to reach the round of eight for 11 consecutive tournaments until the professional scene ended. Stork was managing to reach the finals, the round of four, and round of eight a couple of times during the same period. 11 consecutive tournaments, that's basically a third of Bisu's entire career. Stork never had a slump not only that low, but that long in length. 11 tournaments of either being eliminated in the offline qualifiers, or crashing out at the round of 32, or round of 16. Three years of being absolutely terrible in the ProLeague. You say Stork was no stranger to brutal declines of performance. But I dare you to find years worth of ProLeague mediocrity, or a individual league run that goes dry for over 10 tournaments. That is significant in my eyes.
As for the rating of the individual leagues, I get where you are coming from. I'm aware of the superior tournament formatting of MSL compared to OGN StarLeague. I do agree that MSL tends to have a better representation of the top players compared to OGN StarLeague, however, even the players hold OGN StarLeague to a higher prestige, due to its longer history, higher exposure to the general populus, and the treatment KeSPA rankings had towards the leagues (before MBC Game issued a formal complaint, OGN StarLeague were awarded more points towards the KeSPA rankings). However, you'll notice that I weighed the leagues equally when comparing the individual accomplishments of Bisu and Stork.
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United Kingdom13775 Posts
I think the basic disagreement comes down to two questions:
1. Should "greatness" be weighted more towards peak performance, or consistency?
2. Should achievements in individual leagues be evaluated by gold medalists, or by Top X finishes?
In both cases, it seems that I favor the former, while you favor the latter. I don't think there's anywhere to go until we consider the relative merits of each approach. I see where your side of the issue comes from. In truth, I'm a wee bit too busy at the moment to justify why I support the former interpretation, but I will be posting it as one of the addenda to my M&M post.
In any case, great food for thought. I think I will be using this blog discussion as a basis for that post.
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Furthermore I'm struggling to get the logic you present.
I mean, you say that Bisu was held back by his race, which is why Flash and Jaedong were superior to him in the ProLeague.
Then I mention that Stork was consistently better than him as a member of the same race, for all but two and half years in their careers that span all the way back to 2005. Then you go on to say that what Stork has done is thoroughly mediocre, and has little significance in the grand scope of things. Then what does that make of Bisu? Both Jaedong and Flash were leagues ahead of their comrades of the era for the vast majority of their careers both in individual leagues (whichever bracket stage you count), and ProLeagues. Bisu was struggling to break the top ten of his own race in the ProLeague until his breakout season in 2008/2009, where I identified that he has less ACE match participation, and map coverage than the uber-aces of the other races.
Sure Stork failed a lot as the ace of his team, but he actually took the burden of trying to carry the team whether he was on a hot streak or not. Bisu has a lower ACE match participation than Stork, Flash, Sea, and Jaedong. And this isn't even about Stork versus Bisu, I'm just pointing out the fact that Bisu wasn't so much better than every other protoss, like you could say for Flash or Jaedong compared to their contemporary colleagues. He was plagued by failures that made him less consistent than Stork, a player who rarely get compared with the likes of Jaedong or Flash. Bisu, due to his extra-ordinary highs that makes him under certain conditions, look on par with these two, was compared a lot more often, but he not only failed to get the overall accomplishments of Flash or Jaedong, he also struggled to overshadow Stork by a large margin like you suggest. Compare the second best terran (FanTaSy), or any one of Luxury/Calm/ZerO/EffOrt/hydra to the Flash or Jaedong, you'll see that the difference is immense.
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On December 19 2016 04:54 LegalLord wrote:
I think the basic disagreement comes down to two questions:
1. Should "greatness" be weighted more towards peak performance, or consistency?
2. Should achievements in individual leagues be evaluated by gold medalists, or by Top X finishes?
In both cases, it seems that I favor the former, while you favor the latter. I don't think there's anywhere to go until we consider the relative merits of each approach. I see where your side of the issue comes from. In truth, I'm a wee bit too busy at the moment to justify why I support the former interpretation, but I will be posting it as one of the addenda to my M&M post.
In any case, great food for thought. I think I will be using this blog discussion as a basis for that post.
I don't necessarily believe that Stork is greater player than Bisu, but I can dissect their achievements season by season, and tell you why he was better for longer. You can twist it anyway you want, but this notion that Bisu head and shoulders above other protosses throughout his career is a lie.
2005 Season
Individual Leagues
EVER 2005 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Round of 16
UZOO MSL
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Failed at the offline qualifiers
SO1 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Round of 16
CYON MSL
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Shinhan 2005 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Round of 16
ProLeague
R1
Bisu: Before his debut
Stork: Round of 16
R2
Bisu: 37th most wins (tied)
Stork: 3rd most wins
Verdict: Stork wins mostly by default because Bisu had just made his debut in 2005.
2006 Season
Individual Leagues
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S1
Bisu: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Stork: Round of 16
Pringles MSL S1
Bisu: Did not participate
Stork: Round of 16
Pringles MSL S2
Bisu: Failed at the 8th Survivor League (equivalent of round of 32)
Stork: Failed at the 8th Survivor League (equivalent to the round of 32)
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S2
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Failed at the I-Station Dual Tournament (equivalent to theround of 33)
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S3
Bisu: Failed at the Dual Tournament (equivalent to the round of 33)
Stork: Failed at the Dual Tournament (equivalent to theround of 33)
GomV MSL S1
Bisu: 1st
Stork: Failed at the offline qualifiers
ProLeague
R1
Bisu: Did not participate
Stork: 31st most wins (tied)
R2
Bisu: 12th most wins
Stork: 28th most wins
Verdict: Bisu wins due to his massive MSL championship in a season that was otherwise uneventful for the both of them.
2007 Season
Individual Leagues
GomTV MSL S2
Bisu: 1st
Stork: 2nd
Daum OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 8
Stork: 3rd
GomTV MSL S3
Bisu: 2nd
Stork: Round of 16
EVER 2007 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 3rd
Stork: 2nd
GomTV MSL S4
Bisu: Round of 32
Stork: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Bacchus 2008 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 4
Stork: 2nd
ProLeague
R1
Bisu: 29th most wins
Stork: 3rd most wins
R2
Bisu: 40th most wins (tied)
Stork: 2nd most wins
Verdict: Bisu and Stork take turns out performing one another in the individual leagues, but Bisu comes away with his second MSL championship. Stork blows Bisu out of the water in the ProLeague. I personally would rate Stork higher due to their massive disparity in the ProLeague performance, with a individual league performance that was less impressive overall, but still had some back and forth. Those who rate individual championships highly may rate Bisu for his overall excellent individual league performances coupled with a second place finish, and a couple of other high placements that make him the best performing player in the individual leagues this season. Stork is at least top three player in both individual leagues throughout the season (unless a single tournament win is worth more than three 2nd place finishes), as well as the best ProLeague performer this season.
2008 Season (Half of the period of the other seasons)
Individual Leagues
EVER 2008 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Round of 16
Arena MSL
Bisu: Round of 32
Stork: Failed at the offline qualifiers
ProLeague
Bisu: 30th most wins
Stork: 9th most wins
Verdict: Both have a forgettable season, with Bisu doing a bit better in the individual leagues, and Stork doing slightly better in the ProLeague. Stork could have an argument since he was a tie-breaker away from reaching the round of eight once, but his failure in the offline qualifiers kind of overshadows his contributions towards his ProLeague championship as the second best player behind JangBi kind of mute. I'll give a slight edge to Bisu here.
2008/2009
Individual Leagues
Incruit OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 8
Stork: 1st
Clubday MSL
Bisu: 1st
Stork: Round of 8
Lost Saga MSL
Bisu: Round of 4
Stork: Round of 32
Batoo OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 4
Stork: Round of 8
Bacchus 2009 StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Round of 16
Avalon MSL
Bisu: Round of 8
Stork: Round of 32
ProLeague
Bisu: 3rd most wins
Stork: 16th most wins
Verdict: Both have a resurgence in form, with Stork and Bisu matching each other exactly round for round. However, Bisu has his breakout performance in the ProLeague, and is the superior player to Stork this season.
2009/2010
Individual Leagues
EVER 2009 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 36
Stork: Round of 8
NATE MSL
Bisu: Round of 32
Stork: Round of 32
Hana Daetoo MSL
Bisu: Round of 32
Stork: Round of 32
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S1
Bisu: Round of 36
Stork: Round of 16
BigFile MSL
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Failed at the Survivor Tournament (equivalent to the round of 44)
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S2
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Round of 4
ProLeague
Bisu: 22nd most wins
Stork: 11th most wins
Verdict: Mediocre season for both. However, Stork outperforms Bisu both in the individual leagues, and the ProLeague by some margin.
2010/2011
Individual Leagues
Bacchus 2010 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Round of 36
Stork: 2nd
PDPop MSL
Bisu: Round of 16
Stork: Round of 8
ABCMart MSL
Bisu: Round of 32
Stork: Round of 16
Jin Air OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Stork: Round of 16
ProLeague
Bisu: Most wins
Stork: 6th most wins
Verdict: Bisu has the ProLeague season of his lifetime. However, this season is also marked by the worst ever performance from him in individual leagues, where his best effort is the round of 16, or at his worst, failing at the offline qualifiers. Stork manages to reach the finals, and at least reaching the round of 16 even at worst, as well as having a respectable showing in the ProLeague. Stork is the better player this season.
2011/2012 onwards (professional era only)
tving OGN StarLeague
Bisu: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Stork: Round of 16
ProLeague (Not going to count the stupid hybrid league, even you count it, it doesn't make any difference)
Bisu: 5th most wins
Stork: 2nd most wins
Verdict: Stork outperforms Bisu individually speaking both in the individual leagues, where Bisu slumps to oblivion, and out performs in the ProLeague also.
Fianl tally
Bisu: 2006 season, 2008 half-season, 2008/2009 season (Two and half seasons where he was better of the two)
Stork: 2005 season, 2007 season, 2009/2010 season, 2010/2011 season, 2011/2012 season (Five seasons where he was better of the two)
Even if you believe that Bisu was superior than Stork in 2007, which is debatable, that's three and a half seasons that he out performed Stork. Stork out performed Bisu for four full seasons, five if you count the 2007 season, which I think is reasonable.
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To dispel any notions that Bisu was somehow held back by such a significant degree, I'll do the same comparison Jaedong, but instead of choosing one player like for Bisu, I'll individually hand select whoever did the best out of the zerg race except for Jaedong. So it'll be Jaedong versus the entirety of the zerg race throughout his entire career.
2006 Season
Individual Leagues
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S1
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifiers
ZergMaN: 5th
Pringles MSL S1
Jaedong: Before his debut
sAviOr: 1st
Pringles MSL S2
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifers
sAviOr: 1st
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S2
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifiers
GoRush: 5th
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S3
Jaedong: Failed at the Dual Tournament (equivalent to the round of 33)
sAviOr: 1st
GomV MSL S1
Jaedong: Round of 16
sAviOr: 2nd
ProLeague
R1
Jaedong: 7th most wins
sAviOr: 3rd most wins
R2
Jaedong: Most wins
sAviOr: 2nd most wins
Verdict: Zerg blows Jaedong out of the water, with godly performances mostly from sAviOr at his prime.
2007 Season
Individual Leagues
GomTV MSL S2
Jaedong: Failed at the Survivor Tournamentt (equivalent to the round of 40)
GoRush: Round of 4
Daum OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Failed the Dual Tournament (equivalent to the round of 52)
GGPlay: 1st
GomTV MSL S3
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifiers
sAviOr: Round of 4
EVER 2007 OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: 1st
sAviOr: Round of 8
GomTV MSL S4
Jaedong: 1st
Luxury et al: Round of 16
Bacchus 2008 OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Round of 8
Luxury: Round of 4
ProLeague
R1
Jaedong: 4th most wins
Yellow[Arnc]: 18th most wins
R2
Jaedong: 4th most wins
Luxury: 6nd most wins
Verdict: Jaedong narrowly edges out the zerg race in both individual leagues and the ProLeague, with two individual league triumphs to make up for his lack of high placed finishes compared to the zerg race, who has a couple of round of four finishes to accompany a single championship.
2008 Season (Half of the period of the other seasons)
Individual Leagues
EVER 2008 OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Round of 36
July: 1st
Arena MSL
Jaedong: 2nd
Kwanro: Round of 16
ProLeague
Jaedong: 13th most wins
Luxury: 11th most wins (tied)
Verdict: Zerg does better than Jaedong across all platforms except for a single individual league.
2008/2009
Individual Leagues
Incruit OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifiers
GGPlay: Round of 4
Clubday MSL
Jaedong: Round of 16
Yellow[Arnc]: Round of 8
Lost Saga MSL
Jaedong: Round of 32
Luxury: 1st
Batoo OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: 1st
herO: Round of 4
Bacchus 2009 StarLeague
Jaedong: 1st
Yellow[Arnc]: 2nd
Avalon MSL
Jaedong: Round of 4
Calm: 1st
ProLeague
Jaedong: 2nd most wins
Calm: 5th most wins
Verdict: Both do well, but zerg does better in the individual league, while Jaedong does better in the ProLeague. I'll give a slight advantage to the zerg race.
2009/2010
Individual Leagues
EVER 2009 OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Round of 8
Calm et al: Round of 4
NATE MSL
Jaedong: 1st
Kwanro: Round of 4
Hana Daetoo MSL
Jaedong: 2nd
Calm: Round of 4
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S1
Jaedong: Round of 36
EffOrt: 1st
BigFile MSL
Jaedong: 2nd
Stork: Failed at the Survivor Tournament (equivalent to the round of 44)
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S2
Jaedong: 2nd
ZerO et al: Round of 8
ProLeague
Jaedong: 2nd most wins
ZerO: 6th most wins
Verdict: Jaedong outperforms the entire zerg race in both individual leagues, and the ProLeague.
2010/2011
Individual Leagues
Bacchus 2010 OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Round of 16
Calm et al: Round of 4
PDPop MSL
Jaedong: Round of 4
hydra: 1st
ABCMart MSL
Jaedong: Round of 4
ZerO: 2nd
Jin Air OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Round of 16
hydra et al: Round of 4
ProLeague
Jaedong: 3rd most wins
ZerO: 5th most wins
Verdict: Zerg race does better in the individual leagues, while Jaedong does slightly better in the ProLeague. Better performance for the zerg race overall.
2011/2012 onwards (professional era only)
tving OGN StarLeague
Jaedong: Failed at the offline qualifiers
ZerO: Round of 4
ProLeague (Not going to count the stupid hybrid league, even you count it, it doesn't make any difference)
Jaedong: 6th most wins (tied)
SoulKey: 6th most wins (tied)
Verdict: Zerg race does better in the individual leagues, while matching Jaedong in the ProLeague.
Final tally
Jaedong: 2007 season, 2009/2010 season (Two and seasons where he was better of the rest of the zerg)
Zerg: 2006 season, 2008 half-season, 2008/2009 season, 2010/2011 season, 2011/2012 season (Four and a half seasons where the zerg race was the better of the two)
Jaedong does an okay job against the rest of the zerg race that was the absolute best performances from all time zerg players such as sAviOr, GGPlay, Luxury, Calm, EffOrt, ZerO, and hydra.
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For the final examination I'll do the same for Flash, with the same methodology used for Jaedong.
2007 Season
Individual Leagues
GomTV MSL S2
Flash: Failed at the offline qualifiers
Firebathero: Round of 4
Daum OGN StarLeague
Flash: 4th
Iris: 2nd
GomTV MSL S3
Flash: Round of 32
Mind: 1st
EVER 2007 OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 8
UpMagic: 4th
GomTV MSL S4
Flash: Round of 8
Mind: Round of 4
Bacchus 2008 OGN StarLeague
Flash: 1st
FrOzen: Round of 8
ProLeague
R1
Flash: 23rd most wins
Sea: Most wins
R2
Flash: 15th most wins
Sea: 8th most wins
Verdict: The terran race does better in both the individual leagues, and in the ProLeague thanks to the individual feats of Mind, and ProLeague feats of Sea.
2008 Season (Half of the period of the other seasons)
Individual Leagues
EVER 2008 OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 8
Sea et al: Round of 16
Arena MSL
Flash: Round of 4
ForGG: 1st
ProLeague
Flash: Most wins
Leta: 4th most wins (tied)
Verdict: Terran does a bit better than Flash in the individual leagues, but worse in the ProLeague. I'll give a slight advantage to the terran race here.
2008/2009
Individual Leagues
Incruit OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 8
FanTaSy: 2nd
Clubday MSL
Flash: Round of 32
Firebathero et al: Round of 8
Lost Saga MSL
Flash: Round of 16
Leta et al: Round of 8
Batoo OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 16
FanTaSy: 2nd
Bacchus 2009 StarLeague
Flash: Round of 16
FanTaSy: Round of 4
Avalon MSL
Flash: Round of 16
Iris: Round of 4
ProLeague
Flash: Most wins
Leta: 4th most wins
Verdict: Terran race does better in individual leagues, and Flash does a bit better in the ProLeague. Due to the huge disparity in the individual league performance, Flash loses this one also.
2009/2010
Individual Leagues
EVER 2009 OGN StarLeague
Flash: 1st
FanTaSy et al: Round of 16
NATE MSL
Flash: 2nd
Light et al: Round of 8
Hana Daetoo MSL
Flash: 1st
HiyA et al: Round of 8
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S1
Flash: 2nd
ForGG et al: Round of 8
BigFile MSL
Flash: 1st
FanTaSy et al: Round of 4
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S2
Flash: 1st
Leta et al: Round of 8
ProLeague
Flash: Most wins
Light: 3rd most wins
Verdict: Flash blows the rest of the terran race out of the water with a perfect victory over across all available platforms.
2010/2011
Individual Leagues
Bacchus 2010 OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 16
FanTaSy: 1st
PDPop MSL
Flash: Round of 32
Midas et al: Round of 16
ABCMart MSL
Flash: 1st
Leta et al: Round of 8
Jin Air OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 16
FanTaSy: 2nd
ProLeague
Flash: 2nd most wins
Sea: 8th most wins
Verdict: While the terran race does better in the individual leagues, Flash does better in the ProLeague. This is a fairly narrow win for the terran race in my opinion.
2011/2012 onwards (professional era only)
tving OGN StarLeague
Flash: Round of 4
FanTaSy: 2nd
ProLeague
Flash: Most wins
FanTaSy: 3rd most wins
Verdict: Once again, Flash does slightly worse in the individual leagues, but performs better in the ProLeague. This is basically a tie in my eyes, but due to FanTaSy having a better Brood War record than Flash by the smallest of margins in the hybrid league, this era once again is a victory for the terran race by the skin of their teeth.
Final tally
Flash: 2009/2010 season (A seasons where he was better of the rest of the terran)
Terran: 2007 season, 2008 half-season, 2008/2009 season, 2010/2011 season, 2011/2012 season (Four and a half seasons where the terran race was the better of the two)
Flash does a respectable job also, but the vast majority of his achievements being crammed into that one season kind of hurts him in this particular metric. He would have come out on top even if he "spread around" some of those performances in the 2009/2010 season, but he still gives the rest of his race a good run for their money for most of his career.
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So in conclusion, while it's up to you to debate whether the lack of titles Bisu had was due to the limitations of his race, what it does not explain, is why he was such a non-factor in the ProLeague for over half of his career. As I showed above, there were plethora of protoss players doing just fine in the ProLeague. However, it wasn't for a lack of skill either. Bisu was having the best individual league performances of his entire career, when he was doing his absolute worst in the ProLeague, doing even worse than he was making his debut as a rookie player. He simply didn't do well as the ultimate solo carry of his team, and left much of the ProLeague duties to Sea, and struggled with increased burden of doing well for his team after exploding into the scene and winning two straight MSL championships as a relative newcomer to the scene. However, as soon as he became the centre of attention, he struggled heavily in early 2008. It was only after his new team SK Telecom T1 designing their entry to maximize Bisu's potential, rather than slaving him away like some of the other aces of the ProLeague, that Bisu found his groove. However, after finding a rejuvenated level of performance that lasted until 2009, he entered a three year slump in the individual league that lasted until his professional career ended. During this slump, there were other protoss champions, other protoss finalists, and other protoss semi-finalists. All this huge gaps of high level performance is not really something that is latent within the protoss race, otherwise Stork would have fell prey to it also.
What this blog attempts to explain, is why Bisu found such a huge leap of performance levels between his MBC Game HERO days, when he was having pitiful records in the ProLeague as a two time MSL champion, and his SK Telecom T1 days, when he suddenly became a force comparable to the likes of Flash or Jaedong. I believe that his team played a large role in why he was able to succeed to such a degree, and why he wasn't able to translate his ProLeague success into individual leagues with every player having an eye out for him. For example, I think it's no coincidence that Bisu's ProLeague record plummeted after his 2008/2009 season, like it often did after he found periods of great success. He simply did not do well under heavy scrutiny. However, after the match-fixing scandal broke out in 2009, all the entries were kept in secret until the last minute, which made specific preparation against Bisu less effective in the 2010/2011 season, because SK Telecom T1's relatively deep team line up could keep Bisu relatively free from being under the microscope. With the entry not being released before so players could prepare heavily in advance, and SK Telecom T1's deep line-up making guess work harder, Bisu again had the best ProLeague performance of his career. He always needed to be protected from burden, and scrutiny in order to thrive in my opinion.
This is different from Jaedong, or Flash, who had relatively steady performances throughout all platforms, all eras, despite having to prepare for more maps in the ProLeague, participating in more ACE matches with the opponents already knowing beforehand, and even though they may have struggled from time to time, they dealt with the added pressure and being under the microscope way better than Bisu ever did, in my opinion, and that's what separates those two from Bisu, not the races they play.
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For closure, I will end this debate about how Bisu was so much further ahead of his own race, and his limitations were often his own, not the extent of the extreme imbalance. I will go over all of Bisu, Jaedong, and Flash's career, and point how many other members of their race were able to go further in the brackets of the individual leagues, and how they often they had inferior records in the ProLeague comapred to the memebers of their own race.
2005 Season
ProLeague
R2
Bisu: 10 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: Before his debut
Flash: Before his debut
2006 Season
Individual Leagues
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S1
Bisu: 10 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 13 zergs above him (ChoJJa et al)
Flash: Before his debut
Pringles MSL S1
Bisu: 9 protosses above him (Nal_rA et al)
Jaedong: 16 zergs above him (sAviOr et al)
Flash: Before his debut
Pringles MSL S2
Bisu: 5 protosses above him (Nal_rA et al)
Jaedong: 16 zergs above him (sAviOr et al)
Flash: Before his debut
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S2
Bisu: 2 protosses above him (Anytime et al)
Jaedong: 15 zergs above him (GoRush et al)
Flash: Before his debut
Shinhan OGN StarLeague S3
Bisu: 2 protosses above him (Much et al)
Jaedong: 9 zergs above him (sAviOr et al)
Flash: Before his debut
GomV MSL S1
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 2 zergs above him (sAviOr et al)
Flash: Before his debut
ProLeague
R1
Bisu: 20 protosses above him (PuSan et al)
Jaedong: 1 zerg above him (sAviOr)
Flash: Before his debut
R2
Bisu: 5 protosses above him (free et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: Before his debut
2007 Season
Individual Leagues
GomTV MSL S2
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 7 zergs above him (GoRush et al)
Flash: 17 terrans above him (Firebathero et al)
Daum OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 1 protoss above him (Stork)
Jaedong: 5 zergs above him (GGPlay et al)
Flash: 1 terran above him (Iris)
GomTV MSL S3
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 13 zergs above him (sAviOr et al)
Flash: 9 terrans above him (Mind et al)
EVER 2007 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 1 protoss above him (Stork)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 1 terran above him (UpMagic)
GomTV MSL S4
Bisu: 3 protosses above him (Kal et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 1 terran above him (Mind)
Bacchus 2008 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 1 protoss above him (Stork)
Jaedong: 1 zerg above him (Luxury)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
ProLeague
R1
Bisu: 10 protosses above him (free et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 11 terrans above him (Sea et al)
R2
Bisu: 13 protosses above him (Stork)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 4 terrans above him (Sea et al)
2008 Season (Half of the period of the other seasons)
Individual Leagues
EVER 2008 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 5 protosses above him (Best et al)
Jaedong: 8 zergs above him (July et al)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Arena MSL
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (Best et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 1 terran above him (ForGG)
ProLeague
Bisu: 9 protosses above him (Pure et al)
Jaedong: 1 zerg above him (Luxury)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
2008/2009
Individual Leagues
Incruit OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 2 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 10 zergs above him (GGPlay et al)
Flash: 1 terran above him (FanTaSy et al)
Clubday MSL
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 1 zergs above him (Yellow[Arnc] et al)
Flash: 7 terrans above him (Firebathero et al)
Lost Saga MSL
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (JangBi et al)
Jaedong: 5 zergs above him (Luxury et al)
Flash: 3 terrans above him (Leta et al)
Batoo OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 2 terrans above him (FanTaSy et al)
Bacchus 2009 StarLeague
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 4 terrans above him (FanTaSy et al)
Avalon MSL
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 2 zergs above him (Calm et al)
Flash: 2 terrans above him (Iris et al)
ProLeague
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
2009/2010
Individual Leagues
EVER 2009 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (Movie et al)
Jaedong: 2 zergs above him (Calm et al)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
NATE MSL
Bisu: 5 protosses above him (Kal et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Hana Daetoo MSL
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (free et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S1
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (free et al)
Jaedong: 6 zergs above him (EffOrt et al)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
BigFile MSL
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Korean Air OGN StarLeague S2
Bisu: 2 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
ProLeague
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (Kal et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
2010/2011
Individual Leagues
Bacchus 2010 OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 4 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 3 zergs above him (Calm et al)
Flash: 3 terrans above him (FanTaSy et al)
PDPop MSL
Bisu: 3 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 2 zergs above him (hydra et al)
Flash: 3 terrans above him (Midas et al)
ABCMart MSL
Bisu: 3 protosses above him (Grape et al)
Jaedong: 1 zerg above him (ZerO et al)
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Jin Air OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 7 protosses above him (JangBi et al)
Jaedong: 5 zergs above him (hydra et al)
Flash: 1 terran above him (FanTaSy)
ProLeague
Bisu: 0 protosses above him
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
2011/2012 onwards (professional era only)
tving OGN StarLeague
Bisu: 5 protosses above him (JangBi et al)
Jaedong: 7 zergs above him (ZerO et al)
Flash: 1 terran above him (FanTaSy)
ProLeague (Not going to count the stupid hybrid league, even you count it, it doesn't make any difference)
Bisu: 2 protosses above him (Stork et al)
Jaedong: 0 zergs above him
Flash: 0 terrans above him
Overall individual league performance
Bisu
90 protosses had better individual league performance over 2006~2012
(Best performing protoss in 9 out of 31 individual leagues)
(Top five protoss in 24 out of 31 individual leagues)
Jaedong
149 zergs had better individual league performances over 2006~2012 (Best performing zerg in 10 out of 31 individual leagues)
(Top five zerg in 18 out of 31 individual leagues)
Flash
58 terrans had better individual league performances over 2007~2012 (Best performing terran in 22 out of 25 individual leagues)
Terran was the most overpowered race in the lower stages such as (round of 32~round of 8), whereas zerg was the most overpowered race in the higher stages (round of 4 and above) the modern era of the individual leagues. Protoss was generally weaker than the other two races regardless of the bracket stage.
It is interesting to note that despite being the best, or joint-best performing player of their race in approximately third of the individual leagues that went on during their careers, Bisu has less individual league success than the other two by some margin. Flash was almost the only high performing member of his race in the individual leagues throughout his career, although FanTaSy joined the ranks later on. Jaedong played in the most successful era of zerg in terms of individual leagues, and was out performed by 149 zergs throughout his entire career, 71 of which performed in the 2006 season, when sAviOr was de facto number zerg was the era, not Jaedong. Flash was imediately the top performing member of race in the individual leagues, and was only outperformed by 58 members of his race. Bisu, despite being a more erratic in nature than the other two players, was only outperformed by 90 protoss players,
This suggests that Bisu was indeed affected by racial imbalance more so than Jaedong, since the zerg race was able to enjoy much success even when Jaedong faltered (21 times he lagged behind other members of his race), whereas when Bisu faltered (22 times he lagged behind other members of his race), there were not many protoss players taking the mantle. Flash is exempt from discussion, since he was a top five player of his own race at a better rate than either Jaedong or Bisu.
While Jaedong has the highest rate as the best performing member of his race by the slightest of margins, he has by far the highest count of other members of the race outperforming him, and has a substantially lower rate for being the top five member of his race compared to the other two.
Overall ProLeague performance
Bisu
73 protosses had better ProLeague performances over 2005~2012 (Best performing protoss in 4 out of 13 half-seasons)
Jaedong
2 zergs had better ProLeague performances over 2006~2012 (Best performing zerg in 10 out of 12 half-seasons)
Flash
15 terrans had better ProLeague performances over 2007~2012 (Best performing terran in 8 out of 10 half-seasons)
Terran was the most overpowered race, whereas zerg was the weakest in the modern era of the ProLeague in terms of number of players managing to top the charts in the number of victories. Jaedong was only outperformed by sAviOr at his peak in his debut season, and had a slightly worse record than Luxury in the early half of Luxury. Bisu was not the best performing protoss in the ProLeague for about two-thirds of his career, and was a top five protoss in the ProLeague for the latter half of his career. Flash was a top five terran throughout his entire career except for his debut season. Jaedong was a top two zerg throughout his entire career.
Final conclusion
1) Bisu was the best performing member of his race at a rate that was similar to Flash or Jaedong (approximately third of the time), and was a top five member of his race in individual leagues at a rate that is only lagging behind Flash. Jaedong was out shone by zergs such as sAviOr, GGPlay, Luxury, Calm, and hydra multiple times in an era where zergs was the most dominant force in the latter stages of the individual leagues. Bisu’s lack of success in individual leagues, can be attributed partly to the racial disadvantage protoss had over the zerg race in the latter stages of the individual league. Flash is exempt from the discussion, and his success in individual leagues can be attributed to his own abilities.
2) Bisu was not the best performing member of his race in the ProLeague until the last couple of years of his career, and even then, was not as consistent as either Jaedong or Flash. This is not a fault of the race, as protoss players were more successful than zerg players in their ability to be in the top of the charts.
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EPT
