Domination

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

February 09 2009 12:36 GMT

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG AND PERHAPS TEDIOUS PIECE OF WRITING BELOW

With all the talk about domination, and the concept of bonjwa, I’ve decided to take time to take a look at the periods of domination by legends of the game, and perhaps compare them, if such a thing is even possible.

Here are some descriptions of the periods of domination of some players of note. I started off with the first match of the earliest league in the period of relevance, and capped it off with the finals of the most recent league in the same period. I decided not to “string” periods of domination together, because I wanted to distinguish between the career of the player and the actual period in which they were collecting trophy after trophy.

I used FOMOS for the statistics, because it has a more complete list of games than TLPD and YGOSU. FOMOS has managed to record almost all the games played by progamers against a fellow progamer on every level with astounding accuracy. So the statistics it includes all-stars, invitationals, WCG matches between progamers as well as the qualification stages for the televised leagues. This may present a problem for some, but this was the only way to include the numerous competitions Boxer participated in; because progamers then, were essentially trophy hunters and these competitions kept Boxer’s career alive, which means that they were every bit as important as the proleague matches we see today even if they are not regarded as “official matches” nowadays. I then tried to keep the level of games as “official” as possible by counting matches that the players played with their own race (I realize this also presents a problem).

1. Boxer

2001.02.16~2002.04.14 (The first match of Hanbit OSL~The finals of 1st KPGA league)

All games with his main race: 150 wins 76 losses 66.4%

Main achievements:
Hanbit OSL 1st place (2001.05.05)
3rd GameQ league 1st place (2001.05.09)
Coca Cola OSL 1st place (2001.09.08)
WCG 2001 Korea 1st place (2001.11.11)
WCG 2001 1st place (2001.12.07)
SKY OSL 2nd place (2001.12.28)
3rd iTV league 2nd place (2001.03.10)
1st KPGA league 1st place (2002.04.14)

Boxer swept one competition after another during this period. Boxer won six tournaments in the year 2001 alone, and of course had the highest number of wins as well as the largest prize money gathered for the year also by some distance. I’ve decided to include his earlier performances in the year 2002 also, even though it wasn’t as spectacular as his performance in 2001 because his WCG 2001 triumph and 1st KPGA league victory was only a couple of months apart. His winning rate does improve if I cut the period short to when he won WCG 2001 (116 wins 49 losses 70.3%), but since people put so much emphasis on the two major leagues, I’ve decided to stretch his period of domination to involve all three of his “major league” victories.

2. Nada

2002.04.25~2003.04.06 (The first match of the 2nd KPGA league~The finals of 3rd GhemTV league)

All games with his main race: 140 wins 62 losses 69.3%

Main achievements:
1st GhemTV league 3rd place (2002.05.22)
2nd KPGA league 1st place (2002.06.22)
4th iTV league 1st place (2002.09.15)
3rd KPGA league 1st place (2002.10.05)
4th KPGA league 1st place (2003.01.18)
Panasonic OSL 1st place (2003.02.14)
KTEC KPGA Winner’s league 3rd place (2003.03.13)
3rd GhemTV league 1st place (2003.04.06)

Nada did the unthinkable, and became the champion of the three of the biggest competitions at the time simultaneously within a three month period. Nada really was irresistible during this period, doing well in GhemTV leagues, doing well in iTV leagues, dominating MBC Game leagues, and when he finally managed to qualify for the OSL (he couldn’t participate in the previous leagues because OGN and MBC Game had overlapping schedules) he conquered all there too. Nada may have better statistics in different time frames (his inhumane rampage of the 1st Premier league later on in the year 2003 comes to mind), but this was the period when Nada was stomping his opponents left and right on his path to glory. No one even came close to matching him during this period.

3. Oov

2003.09.11~2004.11.20 (The first match of Trigem MSL~The finals of Ever OSL)

All games with his main race: 127 wins 52 losses 70.9%

Main achievements:
Trigem MSL 1st place (2003.11.30)
LG IBM MBC Team league 1st place (2004.02.28)
CEN Game MSL 1st place (2004.04.18)
Gillette OSL 3rd place (2004.07.16)
SKY Proleague 2004 R1 2nd place (2004.07.17)
7th iTV league 2nd place (2004.08.19)
Tuscan MBC Team league 1st place (2004.08.28)
SPRIS MSL 1st place (2004.08.29)
Ever OSL 1st place (2004.11.20)

Oov’s era saw the introduction of team-based leagues, and the gradual extinction of non-OGN/non-MBC Game leagues. Oov not only dominated the major individual leagues, but played a pivotal role in the success of his team (his team league performance is a thing of history). Out of the six “major” individual leagues (the concept really became concrete since this era) that were completed within the period, Oov reached 1st place in all but two of them.

4. Savior

2006.04.13~2007.02.24 (The first match of Pringles MSL S1~The finals of Shinhan OSL S3)

All games with his main race: 92 wins 31 losses 74.8%

Main achievements:
Pringles MSL S1 1st place (2006.07.16)
WEF 2006 1st place (2006.08.06)
IEF 2006 3rd place (2006.09.29)
Pringles MSL S2 1st place (2006.11.11)
SKY Proleague 2006 R2 2nd place (2007.01.07)
Shinhan OSL S3 1st place (2007.02.24)

I wondered if I should stretch the period to include all five of his MSL runs, but decided that his period of domination wasn’t that long since his MSL streak was “broken” by Chojja, and his performances elsewhere during the period weren’t all that dominating. So I decided that a year long gap between one MSL victory and another and only a 2nd place finish to show up for things in between does not qualify as “dominating”. He certainly does dominate here with a very strong performance in the proleague (2nd most wins behind Jaedong, and carried his team to the finals) as well as winning three out of the four individual leagues that were completed within this period.

His final battle against all odds is so well known to all; it has almost become a starcraft folklore. Here was Savior, the best player in the scene, the best player statistically, the most accomplished in the season, an absolute god in MSL, being scorned by the fans for his failure in OGN leagues. When he qualified for the leagues, he found out that the map pool were screaming death to the zergs. Despite the mind boggling schedule demands, the intense pressure for him to succeed as the number one player in the scene, and fellow zergs crashing out of the tournament left and right, Savior kept his cool and got to the finals of both leagues simultaneously, and led his team to the finals of the proleague to boot. He only had his glory in the OSL of course, but the whole story was such an unforgettable experience that words simply don’t do it justice.

Now, from this point onwards, I gave up trying to start the time frame with a league triumph and ending it with one too. There weren’t enough league victories in close proximity to make a nice time line out of things, so I did the best I could do make do with what I have.

5. Bisu

2006.12.14~2007.12.19 (The first match of Pringles MSL S1~The 3rd/4th place decider Ever OSL)

All games with his main race: 82 wins 48 losses 63.1%

Main achievements:
Gom MSL S1 1st place (2007.03.03)
2nd Kespa Cup 1st place (2007.03.11)
Gom MSL S2 1st place (2007.07.14)
IEF 2007 1st place (2007.08.12)
Gom MSL S3 2nd place (2007.11.17)
Ever OSL 3rd place (2007.12.19)

I couldn’t “link” the three MSL victories knowing that Bisu had a very mediocre period (early 2008) in between his two strong shows of performance. He dropped out of both leagues early and had a dismal proleague record. The very opposite to domination if there ever was one. His first period of domination shows his class in individual leagues: he finished within the top 3 in four competitions, and won two of them. He only lacks an OSL title, the one individual league victory which would equal Savior’s trophy count within roughly the same space of time. Despite his average proleague performance, this performance doesn’t compare too badly with Savior’s.

So why wasn’t he called bonjwa in this period?

Two reasons: Savior and Stork.

Savior, being the last player to be throned bonjwa, set the standards too high for Bisu. Bisu more or less equaled Savior’s domination in the individual leagues (because Bisu finished in the top 8 in all leagues within this period, I value that consistency), but unlike Savior, Bisu looked extremely vulnerable in the proleague, and this was highlighted even more in light of the fact that the proleague was becoming more important to the progaming scene than ever.

The bigger reason, I assume, was because, within the same period, Stork was one fire. In the very same section of time, Stork had a record of 102 wins 39 losses 72.3% (scary considering the fact that this time frame wasn’t even designed for him), won the proleague, was named the MVP for the season, won WCG 2007, got 3rd place in Daum OSL, got 2nd place in Gom MSL S2 and then beat Bisu convincingly in the semi-finals of the OSL Bisu placed best in. It wasn’t that Bisu didn’t perform well enough; it was more of Stork giving second fans second thoughts before calling Bisu the top dog. Savior had Midas to compete with, but Midas was more of a worthy opponent than a strong candidate for the throne. Bisu may have been dominating more, but Stork’s presence was just too great for anyone to call Bisu a bonjwa.

2008.10.11~2009.02.18 (The first match of Clubday MSL~The finals of Gom Classic S2)

All games with his main race: 60 wins 16 losses 78.9%

Main achievements:
Clubday MSL 1st place (2008.11.22)
IEF 2008 1st place (2008.12.07)
Gom Classic S2 1st place (2009.02.18)

Bisu rejuvenated in style from his slump with style. He dropped out of both leagues early, but lady luck was on his side and now he has a chance to prove is worth in the OSL. With winner’s league providing more wins for the strong, Gom Classic looking to join as the third “big league” (though it’s not Kespa officiated yet), Bisu has more of a chance to strut his stuff while he is hot.

6. Jaedong

2007.08.10~2008.08.17 (The first match of eStars 256 Man tournament~The finals of WCG Korea 2008)

All games with his main race: 116 wins 47 losses 71.2%

Main achievements:
eStars 256 Man tournament 1st place (2007.08.12)
Shinhan Proleague 2007 R1 2nd place (2007.08.04)
Ever OSL 1st place (2007.12.22)
Shinhan Proleague 2007 R2 1st place (2008.01.27)
Gom MSL S4 1st place (2008.03.08)
Arena MSL 2nd place (2008.07.26)
Gom Classic S1 1st place (2008.08.10)
WCG Korea 2008 1st place (2008.08.17)
Jaedong made a name for himself as the best “unprepared gamer” by being the last man standing in the 256 man tournament. He then went from being a proleague-only zerg to crazy ass zerg that managed to win the OSL, MSL and the proleague in a 3 month period. He failed to add any more individual league trophies home, showed everyone he was still alive and kicking by dominating various competitions throughout the early half of the 2008 season. Not bad considering all the factors that were played in.

7. Flash

2008.01.16~2008.08.10

All games with his main race: 79 wins 35 losses 69.3%

Main achievements:
Gom Invitational 1st place (2008.03.01)
Bacchus OSL 1st place (2008.03.15)
Arena MSL semi-finalist (2008.07.17)
Gom Classic S1 2nd place (2008.08.10)

Flash looked like taking everyone down after his Bacchus OSL victory, but his strong start to the 2008 season started to lose gas at the most vital stages of the leagues and he remains fruitless in all competitions despite the general census that he is the best overall performer for the past year or so.

8. July

2004.05.07~2005.07.02 (The first match of Gillette OSL~The finals of Ever OSL)

All games with his main race: 106 wins 62 losses 63.1%

Main achievements:
Gillette OSL 1st place (2004.07.31)
7th iTV league 1st place (2004.08.19)
2nd Premier league 1st place (2005.01.23)
IOPS OSL 2nd place (2005.03.05)
Ever OSL 1st place (2005.07.02)

July performed fantastically in the OSL, did well in other prestigious competitions, and carried his team on his back. The excessive proleague demands took its toll on the win ratio, and his continued difficulty with overcoming Nada prevented him from being acknowledged as a bonjwa.

9. Nal Ra

2003.04.24~2004.03.21 (The first match of Stout MSL~The finals of NHN OSL)

All games with his main race: 66 wins 37 losses 64.1%

Main achievements:
Stout MSL 1st place (2003.07.19)
Lifezone KPGA Team League 1st place (2003.10.11)
Mycube OSL 2nd place (2003.11.09)
Neowiz Pmang Cup OGN Proleague 1st place (2004.02.29)
NHN OSL 1st place (2004.03.21)

Nal Ra has a surprising short number of games considering the duration of this time frame and the accomplishments he has made. I’ll look into this later, but right now I can’t even look at a list of matches, statistics and whatnot without throwing up.

Scaramanga

Australia8090 Posts

February 09 2009 12:50 GMT

2. Nada

All games with his main race: 140 wins 62 losses 69.3%

uhh.....
and nada has won 3 osl's and only one is there
am i missing something here?

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

February 09 2009 12:58 GMT

On February 09 2009 21:50 Scaramanga wrote:

Show nested quote +

uhh.....
and nada has won 3 osl's and only one is there
am i missing something here?

I only counted the competitions he won during his period of domination.

This is not a compilation of a player's career achievements, but a compilation of achievements and statistics during the period in which they won numerous tournaments within close proximity of each other. If there is a significant "gap" between tournament wins, I decided not to string them together.

Scaramanga

Australia8090 Posts

February 09 2009 13:06 GMT

On February 09 2009 21:58 Letmelose wrote:

Show nested quote +

Thats pretty poor just shunning 2 osls because thery werent "close" to the rest of his major achivements
1/5

NarutO

Germany18839 Posts

February 09 2009 13:12 GMT

What you wrote about NaDa doesn't do justice to him. He is by far the most accomplished player to ever play the game. He even won against sAviOr in his prime in ShinHan Masters Tournament!

You did a really cool and nice line up, but statistic just won't do I guess. NaDa fighting~ He will win this MSL - GOGO!

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

February 09 2009 13:21 GMT

On February 09 2009 22:06 Scaramanga wrote:

Show nested quote +

Thats pretty poor just shunning 2 osls because thery werent "close" to the rest of his major achivements
1/5

He placed first place in IOPS OSL in early 2005, and won Shinhan OSL S2 in late 2006. These tournament victories speak more of Nada's caliber as a player rather than add any worth to his actual phase of domination. His fluctuations in between these tournament victories prevented me from saying he remained dominant throughout all these years.

Nada had his fluctuations like any other gamer, but showed his class by being able to win competitions throughout his long career. But I'm not really discussing in his overall career record, or class as a player, truth be told.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

February 09 2009 13:46 GMT

On February 09 2009 22:12 G.s)NarutO wrote:
What you wrote about NaDa doesn't do justice to him. He is by far the most accomplished player to ever play the game. He even won against sAviOr in his prime in ShinHan Masters Tournament!

You did a really cool and nice line up, but statistic just won't do I guess. NaDa fighting~ He will win this MSL - GOGO!

Nada is the greatest player to have played this game professionally. This is a fact that every informed follower of the professional scene ackowledges. If we were to compare the overall statisitcs, achievements and records, the comparison between players becomes much less interesting: Nada basically pisses over everyone.

Nada showed that he was a title contender, a force to be reckoned with, even if he was not the very best, from the early stages of his career all the way to the very end of the 2006 season. But do you truly believe that his YATGK MSL/IOPS run, or his battle against Savior was his most dominant period? Nada has multiple periods of domination, but I had to keep them separate because he didn't remain dominant all the way through (that's impossible), and I chose what I believed to be his most dominant period.

Nada was awesome later on in season 2003 too, but was no longer his tournament sweeping self with heavy competition from Nal Ra and Oov. His statistics (winning percentage-wise) remains soaring high of course, but I don't think his awesome performance in the 1st Premier league, and multiple high placed finishes in the individual leagues without a victory is enough to trump his "grand-slamming" days. He was awesome in late 2004/early 2005 too (the triumvirate of Nada/July/Go Rush), and also had managed to get the OSL finals twice in a row later in the 2006 season, but none of these periods seem more impressive than the period I've decided for my piece.

Monokeros

United States2493 Posts

February 09 2009 15:09 GMT

Nada has a history of walking all over Savior, from Shinhan Masters his 2rax rush while savior goes 2hatch tech has beaten him time and time again, on Beakdu, Neo Requiem and even Destination with the bridges of death. If you included his 'non-prime' section he still was dominating even if he wasnt winning leagues. (this is why Im looking forward to the clash of 2009 Savior and the Genius Terran Nada tonight) Which WILL happen, hopefully WeMADE can win enough games so that it gets down to an ace match, because aside from Mind.. I don't see anyone on Fox who can stand up to Saviors domination right now. (foot in mouth if he gets knocked out by HerO lol)

Piste

6174 Posts

February 09 2009 15:11 GMT

On February 09 2009 21:36 Letmelose wrote:
Bisu:
.
.
.

So why wasn’t he called bonjwa in this period?

Becouse he doesn't want to be called a bonjwa^^
Bonjwas tend to start sucking vs everyone after their prime is over.

Phrujbaz

Netherlands512 Posts

February 09 2009 15:53 GMT

#10

When two players share a hole card, the player with the lower other card is said to be dominated.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

February 09 2009 16:51 GMT

#11

On February 10 2009 00:09 Monokeros wrote:
Nada has a history of walking all over Savior, from Shinhan Masters his 2rax rush while savior goes 2hatch tech has beaten him time and time again, on Beakdu, Neo Requiem and even Destination with the bridges of death. If you included his 'non-prime' section he still was dominating even if he wasnt winning leagues. (this is why Im looking forward to the clash of 2009 Savior and the Genius Terran Nada tonight) Which WILL happen, hopefully WeMADE can win enough games so that it gets down to an ace match, because aside from Mind.. I don't see anyone on Fox who can stand up to Saviors domination right now. (foot in mouth if he gets knocked out by HerO lol)

That's not true. Savior has a record of 15-9 against Nada in all matches. They are an even 5-5 against each other in Kespa officiated matches.

Nada beat Savior in their first encounter, but Savior then dominated against Nada at all stages including MSL All Star Busan Tour finals, WEF finals, 2nd Superfight exhibition match and Shinhan OSL S3 finals, giving Savior a lopsided record of 11-3 against Nada.

In fact, Shinhan Masters finals is the only BO3 or BO5 Nada managed to overcome Savior. Nada's recent 3 win streak against Savior in Kespa offciated matches is more of Savior being walked all over by terrans in general, rather than Nada walking all over him.

Again, there is no disputing the fact that Nada was a great player even if he wasn't the best player in that particular space of time. But Nada never dominated like he did since he grand slammed the three most prestigious leagues at the time. He was clearly the top dog in those days, but the rise and fall Nal Ra, Oov, July, Go Rush and Savior during the next couple of years made sure that Nada didn't sweep the floor with everyone like he used to do.

It is amazing how Nada stayed at the top of the ladder throughout all those years even if he didn't "dominate", but this discussion isn't about that. I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear, but I really want to differentiate the overall picture that defines a player's "greatness", and those rare moments we see in progaming where a gamer just go nuts and owns everyone left and right. Nada is the greatest player overall, and happens to be one of the four players that have absolutely dominated the scene for a certain duration. This piece is about the latter, and how some "non-bonjwa" player's moments of domination matches up to the periods of utter domination of the four "bonjwas". I actually found it very difficult to make a comparison of any worth because of the "non-bonjwa" players' lack of trophies within a close proximity of each other and the general lack of trophies full stop.

I'm not suggesting much with this piece, and it really doesn't matter if Nada's winning percentages during his prime seem too low for a player of his greatness, because he simply dominated in all competitions to a level unmatched

Nada won all but one of the five MBC leagues that took place within that period (the All-Star type league won by Yellow), won two iTV leagues in a row (I didn't include it because it happened before his first KPGA win), won the 3rd GhemTV and he is only lacking multiple OSL trophies because he couldn't participate due to overlapping schedules. The only competition of worth Nada failed to dominate within that period in was WCG 2002. He lost to ArtOfHan in WCG Korea 2002, which isn't much considering how ArtOfHan was one of the best terrans back then (especially in TvT).

I hope people don't get mislead by the fact that Jaedong has a higher winning percentage over a similar duration of time, for example. The difference between the two are vast. Nada only failed to win the first two GhemTV leagues (3rd, RO8), the 5th iTV league (not sure where he finished), WCG Korea 2002 (RO8), KTEC KPGA Winner's league (3rd) out of ALL the important competitions that he participated in at the time. Considering the multitude of individual leagues at the time, this is simply mind boggling. Nada won 7 out of 12 competitions (3xKPGA, 1xOSL, 2xiTV, 1xGhemTV) he participated in. This is domination. The ~70% winning ratio is just the icing on the cake.

Boxer won five of the nine competitions (not entirely sure) that had the highest winning cash prizes which took place in 2001. I think this speaks more for his domination than the 2 OSL, 1 KPGA "career" people get reminded of whenever we discuss Boxer's domination.

I was attempting to portray the full picture of some players' period of domination, and hope no one gets carried away with winning ratios or career achievements, because this isn't what this discussion is about.

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