Adjusting for ProLeague Schedule Inflation

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

June 20 2018 06:25 GMT

One of the things that is a major pet peeve of mine, is when when people try to use ProLeague records to compare players from different eras.

Not only did the ProLeague begin later than some of the more established leagues such as the OGN StarLeague, the differences in format, length of the season, and number of teams participating were far too great to simply take the ProLeague records at face value.

For simplicity's sake I will take the following seasons that implemented the ACE match system (which opened up opportunities for players to play two ProLeague matches within a single match day if the circumstances allowed for it) during the regular season, and try to adjust the regular season records of the best performing players to the best of my abilities:

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1 (Shinhan 2008 ProLeague)
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2 (first portion of Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague)
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1 (second portion of Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague)
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2 (first portion of Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague)
11 Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1 (second portion of Shinhan 2009/2010 ProLeague)
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2 (first portion of Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague)
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1 (second portion of Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague)

The post-season format varied way too much to compare any of the seasons from different time-frames, so I will only try to compare regular season performance in seasons that had the ACE match system (ProLeague seasons from 2005 to 2011).

I will not take into consideration ProLeague before 2005, since on top of not having the ACE match system, some of the seasons had teams divided into separate conferences which really complicates matters. I will also not consider any of the Winner's League since that had its own unique winner-stays-on format that only existed for three years or so. Finally, I will not consider the last two ProLeague seasons since the ACE match system was dropped for the regular portion of the season, and the whole ecosystem had changed drastically with the introduction of Starcraft 2.

With the parameters being set up as mentioned above, I will try to adjust the regular season performance by two factors:

1) Overall number of teams participating (it varied from 10 to 12)
2) Overall number of round-robin rotations (it varied from 1 to 2, if you chop up the seasons into half-year chunks like I did above)

As an example, a player competing in SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1 could represent his team on 10 separate ProLeague match days (because 11 teams competed against one another for a single round-robin rotation) if he appeared every single time during the regular season. A player competing in Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1 could represent his team on 22 separate ProLeague match days (because 12 teams competed against one another for double round-robin rotation) if he appeared every single time during the regular season.

Naturally, since the player competing in Shinhan 2007 ProLeague has over twice the number of available ProLeague scheduling over a similar time frame, a player who performs well in early 2007 is bound to have roughly twice the number of ProLeague victories as a player who performed well in early 2005.

This blog will attempt to equalize that discrepancy in ProLeague schedule by correcting the regular season ProLeague records as if every single ProLeague season had 22 ProLeague match days during the regular season.

Despite my attempts, players who had the majority of their career success before 2005 such as BoxeR, YellOw, Reach, and NaDa will not benefit much from this correction. This is the list of multiple championship finalists players who reached their first finals before 2005:

H.O.T-Forever, GARIMTO, BoxeR, YellOw, NaDa, Reach, ChoJJa, Nal_rA, Kingdom, iloveoov, and July

This ProLeague comparison will benefit players who won their first ever major championships after 2005 such as sAviOr, GGPlay, Stork, and Jaedong who suffer somewhat from having their earlier ProLeague work ignored due to its relative lack of schedule.

This ProLeague comparison will not benefit players who hit their peak after early 2011 such as FanTaSy, who was probably the best overall player (when taking into consideration both individual league and ProLeague performance) during the hybrid-season.

However, this schedule adjusted ProLeague regular season record will be a fairer assessment of great ProLeague players from 2005 to early 2011, than the actual overall ProLeague record, which is more of a weighted score biased towards top players circa 2009 to 2011, when the Winner's League and extensive post-season scheduling allowed fo top ProLeague players to hit numbers mathematically unreachable for top performing ProLeague players from other eras.

So without further ado, this is the top regular season ProLeague players of all-time (time-frame taken from 2005 to early 2011) after adjusting for the ProLeague scheduling inflation:

1. Jaedong

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 6-5
10 available ProLeague match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available ProLeague match days: 13-11
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 10-1
10 available ProLeague match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available ProLeague match days: 22-2
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 15-7
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 13-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 11-7
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 20-10
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 19-7
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 8-5
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 21-6
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 17-6
18 available ProLeague match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available ProLeague: 21-7
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 12-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-10

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 178-78 (69.53%)

Comments: Jaedong's best regular season performance relative to the scheduling constraints of the era was late 2006, where he ended up with a regular season record of 10-1, despite getting to play only ten ProLeague regular season matches.

2. Stork

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 6-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 13-11
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 7-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-7
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 3-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-11
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 3-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-9
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 15-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 15-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 11-8
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 13-8
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 12-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 5-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 10-6
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 12-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-9
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 9-12
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-15

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 143-103 (58.13%)

Comments: Stork's best ProLeague years were from 2007, but his 2005 rookie performance is vastly underrated due to the lack of schedule there was back then. Once we re-adjust the numbers to equalize the scheduling constraints, Stork was already hitting double digits per season in his rookie season.

3. Sea

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 5-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 6-5
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 7-3
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-7
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 3-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-4
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 16-5
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 11-4
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 11-5
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 11-7
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 8-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 10-1
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 7-8
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 12-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-10
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 12-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-10

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 132-72 (64.71%)

Comments: Sea's ProLeague performance from 2006 often get lost in a sea of inflated ProLeague numbers, but Sea was already a ProLeague beast back then. Once we adjust the record to account for the lack of ProLeague scheduling, we can see that Sea probably would have hit double digits if we was given the opportunity to play more games.

4. Flash

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 7-3
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 10-8
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 17-8
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 19-7
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 17-8
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 11-1
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 16-10
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 18-2
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 22-2
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 8-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 10-10

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 129-57 (69.35%)

Comments: Flash was late to join the party, making his debut in 2007, but has been the best overall performing ProLeague player if we limit the time-frame to after he made his debut. However, his absolute number of regular season victories, once adjusted for scheduling inflation, falls below the likes of Stork and Sea, due to his relative lack of longetivity.

5. Bisu

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 2-1
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-1
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 4-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-4
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 6-5
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 3-3
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 6-7
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 15-3
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 18-5
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 7-2
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 5-9
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 17-2
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 21-2
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 18-3
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 22-4

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 114-45 (71.70%)

Comments: Bisu doesn't have many double digit seasons, but what we lacks in number, he makes up with sheer quality in the seasons he was in form. In particular, his performance during Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague was astounding, with Bisu hitting great numbers despite the number of teams participating being reduced (leading to less number of regular ProLeague matches), and once we adjust for the scheduling restraints, we can see that he actually got over twenty ProLeague victories for two consecutive seasons.

6. free

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 1-0
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 1-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 1-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-11
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 6-3
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 13-7
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 17-7
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 15-12
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 10-12
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 15-8
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 8-11
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 7-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 9-5
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 9-9
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-11
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 5-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 6-9

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 114-96 (54.29%)

Comments: free was a long-time ProLeague ace for Woongjin Stars, making his presence known since late 2006. Once we adjust his pre-2007 records for the inflation that followed afterwards, he rises up in the rankings, mainly thanks to his longetivity, and fantastic form in 2007.

7. Anytime

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 6-7
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 13-15
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 6-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-10
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 4-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-9
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 7-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-9
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 14-7
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 17-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 5-4
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 4-9
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 6-13
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 4-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 6-9
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 3-3
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 4-4
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 4-3
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 5-4

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 109-102 (51.66%)

Comments: Unlike the players ranked above him, Anytime is somewhat unique in this list that he makes it into the top ten solely based on the re-adjustment algorithm (others above him are all top ten ProLeague players of all-time, albeit with a different order). Anytime rose to prominence in 2005, and was the ProLeague ace for Lecaf Oz until around 2008, when the new generation of talent such as Jaedong and HiyA developed enough to carry their team. His extreme longetivity, and relevance in the ProLeague despite being one of the few professionals to be around before 2005, allows him to rise above some of the newer generation of ProLeague aces once we equalize the setting in terms of ProLeague scheduling and format.

8. Light

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 3-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-9
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 5-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-9
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 5-2
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 6-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 2-8
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 10-5
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 13-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 4-5
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 11-11
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 10-10
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 12-12
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 13-5
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 16-6

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 97-79 (55.11%)

Comments: While Light was more of Winner's League phenomenon, his regular season ProLeague performance was nothing to be scoffed at either. While Light never had a season where he had over 17 regular season victories (even after re-adjusting for scheduling constraints) over the course of the season, he makes it up with longevity.

9. Kal

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 1-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-11
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 9-7
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 13-7
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 12-8
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 14-11
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 13-7
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 5-4
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 12-15
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 9-9
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-11
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 5-10
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 6-12

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 97-93 (51.05%)

Comments: Kal boasts the lowest peak out of any player in the top ten for this list, since he never hit 15 ProLeague regular season victories over the course of a half-year season. This speaks of the incredible consistency he had as a player, and probably why he is quite underrated as a player despite accumulating so much results (in both the individual league and the ProLeague) over the course of his durable career.

10. Leta

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 1-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 2-3
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 11-6
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 21-6
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 20-8
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 5-5
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 13-12
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 13-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-7
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 6-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-7

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 95-58 (62.09%)

Comments: Leta is another player distinguished by his extreme highs. Leta is the only player to have over twenty regular season ProLeague victories (after re-adjusting for scheduling constraints) over a half-year period alongside Jaedong, Bisu, Flash, NaDa, and BeSt. However, he lacks longetivity compared to some of the other ProLeague aces, and is one of the players who benefitted the most from the extreme ProLeague scheduling circa 2009 to 2011.

11. BeSt

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 3-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 10-5
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 12-3
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 20-6
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 8-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 5-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 10-4
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 9-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-9
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 10-3
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 12-4

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 91-44 (67.41%)

Comments: BeSt was a stand-out player during the regular portion of the ProLeague for SK Telecom T1, and carried the team during its darkest days when the old guard players such as iloveoov and Midas started to falter, and newer generation of players such as Bisu and FanTaSy had yet to develop fully as ProLeague monsters. His Winner's League results aren't impressive, but it doesn't matter here since records from that portion of the ProLeague aren't being considered because it was only available for a narrow pool of players who were active circa 2009 to 2011 (meaning it is a useless statistic for contrasting players from various eras).

12. firebathero

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 0-4
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 4-3
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-7
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 10-2
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 8-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 11-4
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 15-7
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 9-8
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 3-7
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 0-4
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 7-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-7
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 11-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 13-9

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 87-65 (57.24%)

Comments: firebathero has been one of the longest serving terran aces in the ProLeague, and the accumulation of his sturdy regular season records between 2005 and early 2011 puts him above many other excellent ProLeague aces.

13. Calm

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-2
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 0-2
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 3-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-11
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 1-0
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 4-1
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 7-8
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 5-7
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 15-9
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 16-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 7-4
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 7-13
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 8-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 10-7
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 6-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-10

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 87-78 (52.73%)

Comments: Calm has been the second best ProLeague player after Jaedong since 2005, and shared ProLeague ace duties with Kal for the longest time.

14. Midas

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 5-1
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-2
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 8-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 10-5
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 4-0
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 3-3
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-7
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 12-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 5-7
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 12-7
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 0-4
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 3-2
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 7-4
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 6-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-5
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 2-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-7

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 85-54 (61.15%)

Comments: Midas was a ProLeague monster even before 2005, but even his ProLeague records after 2005 are very respectable. He was the ProLeague ace for SK Telecom T1 before the likes of BeSt and Bisu took that responsibility away from him, and was still around in the ProLeague years after his contemporary peers had retired from the game.

15. Luxury

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 4-0
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 5-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 6-5
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 4-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-4
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 4-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-4
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 8-6
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 12-5
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 10-4
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 9-11
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 5-10
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 7-2
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 85-54 (61.15%)

Comments: Luxury was always regarded as one of the top zerg players due to his great ProLeague performances, and even though he made an early exit from professional play due to his match-fixing issues, he still makes it into the top twenty list.

16. NaDa

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 3-3
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-7
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 13-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 16-7
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 9-4
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 20-11
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 5-5
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 11-11
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 12-12
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 6-5
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 7-6
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 4-2
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 0-4
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 83-65 (56.08%)

Comments: NaDa was somebody who had his peak in 2002, when the ProLeague didn't even exist, but still somehow makes it into this list despite winning only one out of his six major individual league triumphs during this time-frame. NaDa benefits greatly from the record re-adjustment that I did for ProLeague seasons that had major scheduling restraints, and his stellar ProLeague form from late 2005 to early 2006 alone allows him to climb into the top twenty, whereas if taken without the context of the ProLeague scheduling inflation, this would not have been possible.

17. ZerO

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 0-1
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 0-3
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 7-11
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 14-10
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 8-12
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 11-4
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 12-11
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 12-11
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-13
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 12-6
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-7

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 82-72 (53.25%)

Comments: ZerO was somebody who was one of the best zergs even towards the very end of Brood War, and is somewhat hard done by the fact that ProLeague Brood War records from late 2011 onwards were not taken in consideration due to the drastically different formats and circumstances. Even still, he makes it into the top twenty list due to his consistent performances from 2008 onwards.

18. Iris

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 3-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-4
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 4-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 5-5
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 4-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-4
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 3-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-4
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 9-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 10-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 7-6
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 7-5
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 2-5
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 0-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 7-2
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 2-1
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-1
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 8-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 10-9

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 82-58 (58.57%)

Comments: While Iris isn't old-school as players such as NaDa, or Midas, he was a seasoned veteran in his own right, and formed a bitter in-house rivalry with the Brood War legend sAviOr, a contemporary peer who butted heads constantly with Iris due to their clashes of personalities. In the end, while sAviOr had a vastly superior record in the individual leagues, Iris had a much better time in the ProLeague, making it into the top twenty list after some tweaks are made for the older seasons with more scheduling constraints.

19. Much

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 3-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-4
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 4-4
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 5-5
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 4-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-4
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 3-2
10 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 7-4
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 9-4
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 10-6
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 7-6
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 7-5
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 2-5
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 0-3
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 7-2
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 2-1
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 2-1
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 8-7
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 10-9

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 82-58 (58.57%)

Comments: Much was another old-school CJ Entus player who lacked the impact and star-power of the Six Dragons, but whose body of work within the ProLeague was comparable to some of the members from the Six Dragons. While he never had a season where he lit the world on fire, his consistency and longetivity within the ProLeague is something that almost no other protoss players can boast.

20. FanTaSy

1) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
2) SKY 2005 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
3) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 1: 0-0
4) SKY 2006 ProLeague Round 2: 0-0
5) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 1: 1-1
6) Shinhan 2007 ProLeague Round 2: 1-0
7) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 1: 1-4
8) Shinhan 2008 ProLeague Round 2: 11-9
9) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 1: 14-6
10) Shinhan 2009 ProLeague Round 2: 6-4
11) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 1: 15-6
12) Shinhan 2010 ProLeague Round 2: 12-8
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 15-10
13) Shinhan 2011 ProLeague Round 1: 7-11
18 available match days -> Record re-adjusted for 22 available match days: 9-13

Schedule adjusted regular season ProLeague record: 73-53 (57.94%)

Comments: FanTaSy came online in 2008 as a legitmate ProLeague ace, and flourished as a player during after late 2011, when he was reaching consecutive finals and beasting it in the ProLeague also. However, that period of the ProLeague didn't have the ACE match system implemented during the regular season, as well as having very low number of professional teams participating, which makes coming up with a re-adjustment algorithm very difficult, which is why I left it out. With his best ProLeague season (late 2011 to early 2012) being left out for consideration for this blog, and his relatively late debut as a ProLeague beast, he barely makes it into the top twenty on this list.

I will edit the list as I go through over more players.

Glueburn

United States496 Posts

June 21 2018 03:03 GMT

How do you not work for TL in some official capacity? You have some of the most interesting and well researched articles and posts on this entire website, and your encyclopedic knowledge of brood war is almost entirely unrivaled.

Essbee

Canada2371 Posts

June 21 2018 11:44 GMT

On June 21 2018 12:03 Galtath wrote:
How do you not work for TL in some official capacity? You have some of the most interesting and well researched articles and posts on this entire website, and your encyclopedic knowledge of brood war is almost entirely unrivaled.

100% this. I haven't finished reading everything yet but his posts are always super good.

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19224 Posts

June 26 2018 13:52 GMT

Bisu back to back double digit seasons was completely overshadowed by his inability to advance in individual leagues. It's a shame because to me that was an era where he was virtually unbeatable but still invisible to those who ignored proleague regular season matches.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

June 27 2018 02:13 GMT

On June 26 2018 22:52 BisuDagger wrote:
Bisu back to back double digit seasons was completely overshadowed by his inability to advance in individual leagues. It's a shame because to me that was an era where he was virtually unbeatable but still invisible to those who ignored proleague regular season matches.

It is something that can both be immortalized, and be mocked in the same space.

Bisu was a player of undeniable greatness, but it was never all-encompassing at any point of his career. It is why his actual body of work as a professional isn't as astounding as his peaks suggest.

He was somebody who had mesmerizing highs if the circumstances lined up just right for him. Depending on which angle you view it from, he is overly idolized for his incredible highs, and simultaneously under-valued for his far too frequent lows. It is in sharp contrast with somebody like Stork, who can claim to have a superior body of work depending on how you weigh their competitive results.

Stork has never had over 20 regular season ProLeague victories over the course of a half-year long season, whether you account for the scheduling restraints or not. Bisu has had two of those seasons (the back-to-back seasons you've mentioned), which makes his tally of 20 victories or above seasons higher than any player apart from Jaedong.

However, his low number of double digit victory seasons (4) is in sharp contrast with Stork (9), who has more of those than any player apart from Jaedong (who can boast both longetivity and soaring peaks within the ProLeague regular season realm).

It somewhat coincides with how their individual league careers went, with Stork reaching more quarter-finals, more semi-finals, and more finals than Bisu, but failing to reach immortality by losing all but one of those finals.

Bisu cemented himself himself as the greatest protoss of all-time with his streaming career, but specifically for their professional careers, Stork actually can be argued to have a more extensive body of work due to his longetivity, and consistency unfound in Bisu.

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19224 Posts

June 27 2018 11:23 GMT

Stork's greater consistency could be the result of working under Coach January who seemed to be the right fit for Stork. She created an environment that was very beneficial for Stork and her odd/brilliant/terrible lineup and ace picks either gave Stork advantageous matchups or kept him from the stress of being the only ACE for Khan.

Meanwhile, Bisu wasn't the primary star for MBC Game during his tournament runs and wasn't relied upon as heavy in proleague. I think the coaching changes from MBC to SKT drastically. Not only was the team mentality different, but the young cocky Bisu who won all those tournaments was no longer a thing. I think Bisu lost a huge amount of individual ego and personality when he went to SKT.

I still agree with your post above entirely, but I remember there was such a change in watching Bisu after he switched teams. It leaves me with that "what if" feeling had he chosen to stay with MBC. I think he could have been a individual league bonjwa instead of a proleague bonjwa..

JieXian

Malaysia4677 Posts

June 27 2018 16:27 GMT

I'm not sure if it's there and I can't find it but I'd include the pre-adjusted numbers as a comparison

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

June 28 2018 01:54 GMT

On June 28 2018 01:27 JieXian wrote:
I'm not sure if it's there and I can't find it but I'd include the pre-adjusted numbers as a comparison

I'm not sure exactly what you are wanting to compare to exactly, I specifically limited the confines to the following specifications for ease of adjustment based on the total number of ProLeague match days during the half-year regular season:

1) No post-season records
2) No Winner's League records
3) No records before the implementation of the ACE match system (2003 ~ 2004), and after the abolishment of the ACE match system for the regular season (late 2011 onwards)

If we keep true to the following specifications, and do not adjust for the total number of ProLeague match days during the half-year regular season (that varied from 10 to 22), we end up with the following ranking, which is different from the all-time ProLeague ranking.

ProLeague ranking with the exact same specifications as the blog, but without any adjustments according to the number of ProLeague match days:

1. Jaedong: 152-68 (69.1%)
2. Flash: 123-55 (69.1%)
3. Stork: 121-80 (60.2%)
4. Sea: 113-61 (64.9%)
5. free: 103-82 (55.7%)
6. Bisu: 101-42 (70.6%)
7. Kal: 93-83 (52.8%)
8. Leta: 92-57 (61.7%)
9. Anytime: 86-80 (51.8%)
10. Light: 82-66 (55.4%)

The top ten members remain the same, but without any adjustments, Anytime falls in the rankings, while players who did not play during the earlier seasons that had quite limited scheduling (2005 to 2006) such as Flash, and Leta all go up in the rankings.

All-time ProLeague ranking (all seasons, all stages, all the post-season matches, as well as all the Winner's League matches):

1. Jaedong: 240-107 (69.2%)
2. Flash: 233- 82 (74.0%)
3. Bisu: 192-86 (69.1%)
4. Stork: 191-121 (61.2%)
5. Sea: 172-110 (61.0%)
6. Light: 154-120 (56.2%)
7. Leta: 150-95 (61.2%)
8. free: 147-120 (55.1%)
9. Kal: 145-129 (52.9%)
10. FanTaSy: 144-89 (61.8%)

Anytime drops out of the top ten due to his prime years as a player being from 2005 to 2007, when there was no Winner's League scheduling, as well as most of the seasons from that era having a less extensive regular and post-season scheduling.

The entire purpose of this blog was to find a way to weigh all the ProLeague seasons equally in order to compare and contrast players from various eras, and I think for the time-frame specified (2005 to early 2011), and with the specifications I have described previously, it was somewhat possible to do that. Otherwise it is a severely weighted ranking of whoever hit the finest form during the time Winner's League was actively running.

For example, the post-season scheduling for Shinhan 2008/2009 ProLeague allowed a player to have a theoretical maximum of 20 games played, while the maximum number for any of the post-seasons in 2005 was 6.

Or another problem was the Winner's League, for example, Shinhan 2010/2011 ProLeague had 18 regular rounds of Winner's League matches for every single team, and an additional 3 rounds for the post-season. That means if a player all-killed the enemy team for every possible round from start to finish, he could theoretically end up with 84 extra ProLeague victories after about three months of play-time.

As a point of comparison, a player that won every single match possible during the regular season, and playing and winning all the available post-season schedule for the second round in 2004 (that also lasted around three months) would have ended up with 11 ProLeague victories.

That shit skews the balance towards the the more modern generation of players by so much that I wanted to find a way to equalize the setting somewhat, at least for the players who made their debut from 2005 onwards, even if I couldn't salvage the old school players such as BoxeR, YellOw, Reach, and NaDa.

The seasons I selected had somewhat comparable set of circumstances, which meant that I could only factor in the total number of ProLeague matchd days to equalize for differences in overall scheduling, but ranking players by totally unfiltered ProLeague records leads to very unfair rankings that is reminiscent of Champions League top scorer rankings, where modern day players get to play way more matches than past European Cup players, meaning any world class striker playing for a big team can get similar numbers to some of the all-time greatest strikers of the past.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

June 28 2018 02:46 GMT

On June 27 2018 20:23 BisuDagger wrote:
Stork's greater consistency could be the result of working under Coach January who seemed to be the right fit for Stork. She created an environment that was very beneficial for Stork and her odd/brilliant/terrible lineup and ace picks either gave Stork advantageous matchups or kept him from the stress of being the only ACE for Khan.

Meanwhile, Bisu wasn't the primary star for MBC Game during his tournament runs and wasn't relied upon as heavy in proleague. I think the coaching changes from MBC to SKT drastically. Not only was the team mentality different, but the young cocky Bisu who won all those tournaments was no longer a thing. I think Bisu lost a huge amount of individual ego and personality when he went to SKT.

I still agree with your post above entirely, but I remember there was such a change in watching Bisu after he switched teams. It leaves me with that "what if" feeling had he chosen to stay with MBC. I think he could have been a individual league bonjwa instead of a proleague bonjwa..

I think Bisu's game mastery got improved drastically after his move to SK Telecom T1 (as mentioned by his previous teammates from MBC Game HERO, and Bisu himself), but I think his mentality shifted towards being a servant of SK Telecom T1, which is somewhat understable due to how well SK Telecom T1 rewarded their players financially speaking for their ProLeague results. I don't think Bisu ever had that burning desire to push himself above and beyond for all-encompassing greatness, perhaps because his legacy was forever secured after his iconic stomping of sAviOr.

I recall a story involving FanTaSy always having a picture Flash as his desktop background to ceaselessly motivate himself, and having that desperation to succeed despite being on the same environment as Bisu. I don't think competitive Brood War is entirely about skill. If that was the case, I don't get how JangBi failed to get the competitive results (as a whole, not just the peaks) that Stork had, despite being better than him during practice ever since he set foot on the Samsung Khan gaming house. Bisu benefitted so much from moving to SK Telecom T1 in terms of sheer gaming ability, but I think he lost that initial drive he had at MBC Game HERO.

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