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Top30 Koreans December

Blogs > 00Visor
Post a Reply
00Visor
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
4337 Posts
December 05 2012 04:14 GMT
#1
The probably most exciting month in SC2 history concluded. We had ESWC (winner: Mana), MLG Fall Championship (Life), BWC (Parting), IEM Singapore (Sting), Dreamhack Winter (Hero), IGN 5 (Leenock), GSL 5 (Sniper) and WCG (Parting). I like how these results somehow confirm my rankings since I had Parting on #4 before November and ranked Sniper pretty high (at least higher than others ) the last months. (You were more spot on with Leenock though)

KalWarkovs Foreigner Top30 December: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=385855

Introduction
+ Show Spoiler +
There is always a lot of discussion who the best SC2 players are. Some automated ELO rankings like TLPD (or sc2charts.net) provide an idea but are not satisfying. Based on KalWarkov`s Top30 Foreigner Ranking, I present you my Top30 Koreans.

The players should be ranked by their current overall skill.
To judge this, obviously recent results count more, but a GSL win doesnt put you on #1 automically and an established player who is slumping a bit won't fall too far.

I hope we can get a nice discussion going like in the other thread. I will regard your opinions for the next ranking. Please consider that the skill-gaps are pretty small and there is no real difference between 3-4 places (especially in the lower part).

I could give explanations why I placed the players in this order but I guess I wait for your critics.


Ranking
1. (+1) (Z)Life (Startale)
2. (+7) (Z)Leenock (FXO)
3. (+1) (P)PartinG (Startale)
4. (-3) (P)By.Rain (SKT)
5. (+13) (Z)Sniper (MVP)
6. (+10) (Z)HyuN (TSL)
7. (+4) (P)Creator (Prime)
8. (-5) (T)MVP (IM)
9. (-3) (T)TaeJa (Liquid)
10. (-3) (Z)DongRaeGu (MVP)
11. (-3) (Z)Symbol (TSL)
12. (-2) (T)MarineKing (Prime)
13. (+12) (T)Bogus (STX)
14. (+3) (T)Polt (TSL)
15. (+6) (P)HerO (Liquid)
16. (*) (T)Bomber (Startale)
17. (-2) (P)YongHwa (IM)
18. (*) (T)Ryung (Axiom)
19. (-6) (Z)Curious (Startale)
20. (-6) (P)Squirtle (Startale)
21. (+1) (Z)Neo.G_Soulkey (Stars)
22. (+4) (T)Flash (KT)
23. (*) (Z)viOLet (Azubu)
24. (-5) (T)Byun (Prime)
25. (-13) (P)MC (SK)
26. (-21) (P)Seed (IM)
27. (*) (Z)NesTea (IM)
28. (-8) (Z)RorO (Khan)
29. (-5) (T)Hack (Startale)
30. (-7) (P)sHy (Stars)

Dropped Out: hero[jOin] (CJ), YoDa (IM), Jjakji (NS HoSeo), n.Die_soO (SKT)

Close but no cigar: Keen (MvP), Vampire (MvP), Oz (Fnatic), Alicia (-), Supernova (mtw), Last (STX), finale (MVP), BaBy (Team 8), hyvaa (STX), Bbyong (CJ), MMA (Acer), First(IM), Happy (IM), Gumiho (FXO), hero[jOin] (CJ), YoDa (IM), Jjakji (NS HoSeo), n.Die_soO (SKT), TheSTC (-), Bboong (MJ), Jaedong (Team 8)

Teams: Startale 6, IM 4, Prime 3, TSL 3, Liquid 2, MVP 2, Stars 2, SKT 1, FXO 1, SK 1, Khan 1, KT 1, STX 1, Axiom 1, Azubu 1

Explanations on changes:
- Coming off his GSL title, Life added another major trophy at MLG. Life doesnt really lose anything but some ZvZ (GSL vs Soulkey, IPL vs Leenock and Snute)
- Close 2nd is the real shooting star of November: Leenock. At MLG he lost the final to Life, at IPL he could win the whole thing in another ZvZ final vs violet (losing the first series). Notable is also his 4-kill against Prime in GSTL.
- Partings achievements can easily be a bit overvalued. He only had to beat 1 korean (Creator) at BWC and no korean (and not really any good player) at WCG. It does give him rank #3 but not more.
- Rain gained a lot of flack for his loss in Code A vs Dream. But thats only one series and actually Rain isnt really far of his game. At MLG he only lost Leenock and Bomber, at BWC to Creator.
- Sniper moves up to #5 with his GSL win. He doesnt have a lot of personality or a creative playstyle, he is just all around a very good player. And this isn't some kind of luck strike, Sniper is eventually the best GSTL player this year and I ranked him high before. He also had a decent IPL run, fighting from Losers Round 2 with 7 consecutive wins (MC, Taeja, Hero amongst others), showing some ZvT weakness in losing to TheSTC and Polt.
- The other finalist (Hyun) comes after and for all what we saw he could have very well taken the title as well. He is proved again to be the online king with a 5-1 against Parting. IPL 5 was pretty disappointing though.
- In such an eventful month you can easily forget about the GSL groupstages which mostly happened there. Creator advanced into the Ro8, but couldnt make it further (vs Hyun). At BWC he beat Rain, but lost to Parting, to claim the second price. He could take revenge vs Hyun at IPL, but then lost to Bomber and Polt.
- Its difficult to currently rank MVP, so I just put him there. He lost in GSL groupstage and then pulled out from other events. His wrist issues are concerning, but nobody would be surprised if he comes back for the GSL Grand Tour finals and just wins.
- The next group (Taeja, DRG, Symbol, MKP) is pretty close. They were all ranked 6-10 last time and didnt really disappoint this month. They all won their first groupstage in GSL, MKP also the second groupstage. DRG and Symbol had decent IPL, sharing 7th/8th places. Taeja proved he can beat foreigners at Dreamhack, then lost 0-4 to Hero. He went 0-2 at IPL, but both matches were 1-2s against strong opponents in Sniper and Creator.
- Bogus man! I don't know if he was too uncomfortable in Vegas since he lost his GSL semifinal and had a pretty bad IPL performance, but his GSL run before in Korea was simply amazing.
- Polt played a lot of events this month. MLG was so-so, LoneStar was bad, but at IPL he really could impress people with some strong wins over Yoda, Creator, Sniper and Bomber!
- Heros month started bad after losing in the first GSL group stage also came a weak MLG. BWC was decent, the Dreamhack win with 4-0ing Taeja really nice. IPL was ok-ish.
- Bomber made an impressive re-entry into the ranking. Top4 MLG, Runner-Up LoneStar, Top4 IPL. What is more to say? Very nice to see and if he continues like this, he will move up further.
- I feel like after Bomber, there is a cut. The top16 seems pretty clear to me though some places are interchangable.
- The next terran re-entry goes to Ryung. A very strong GSL performance where only narrowly lost 2-3 to Sniper in the semis. In IPL he was eliminated by Canadians Scarlett and Huk.
- The Startale players Squirtle and Curious both lost in their GSL groups (second round for Curious). In international events they performed (below) average. Curious could get 3 wins vs FXO in GSTL.
- Soulkey had an ok-ish MLG and could 4-0 Life in GSL, then got smashed by Bogus.
- Flashs MLG might a bit overvalued (mostly due to hype and his status). The only strong opponent was Life which he beat 2-0 and then lost 4 straight games in the extended series. He won his Code A match, but I remember it wasnt too souvereign.
- viOlet makes the next re-entry coming off a very strong IPL where he beat Bogus, Symbol, Hero, Polt and Leenock (the first series). MLG and Lonestar were not comparable.
- Byun could win his Code A match and book some GSTL wins. IPL seemed totally off for him.
- MC was totally off this month. Lost to moonglade and TheSTC at MLG, to Grubby at IEM, to Symbol and Sniper at IPL, to Stephano in the GSL WC. On the other side weren't many impressive wins.
- But he wasnt the worst. Seed dropped 21 places due to his performance. Too much? I just really don't know who he deserves to be put in front. He lost in Code S, then in Code A and is out of GSL. IPL was weak and he recently he even lost to Kas in IronSquid.
- Nestea re-qualified for GSL and won his first match? Have him on the radar.
- Roro lost vs Idra and Hero at BWC. Not more. I leave him on the list since he seemed promising in other tournies.
- Hack only had GSL where he beat Yoda and lost 1-2 to MKP and Hyun.

*****
Emzeeshady
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Canada4203 Posts
December 05 2012 04:50 GMT
#2
--- Nuked ---
monk
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States8476 Posts
December 05 2012 08:25 GMT
#3
I would say Leenock #1. Parting should be lower based on skill. Bogus bit lower. Hero bit higher. Yonghwa much lower; he isn't doing well in GSTL lately and didn't make it past groups in WCG. Violet much higher around 18 for his IPL performance. Flash a bit higher. Gumiho on the list over Shy.
Moderator
KalWarkov
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
Germany4126 Posts
December 05 2012 09:09 GMT
#4
MKP over violet, Polt and Bomber, im not too sure about that honestly.
Also, Flash 3-1 DRG (ofc, it was online, but still^^)

still a nice ranking, as always <3


Again, a link to my foreign ranking!
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=385855
DiaBoLuS ** Sc2 - Protoss: 16x GM | Dota2 - Offlane Immortal | Wc3 - Undead decent level | Diablo nerd | Chess / Magnus fanboy | BVB | Agnostic***
virpi
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany3599 Posts
December 05 2012 09:55 GMT
#5
pretty solid ranking overall, I'd also put hyun and sniper over rain.
first we make expand, then we defense it.
-NeBu-
Profile Joined September 2012
Poland107 Posts
December 05 2012 14:32 GMT
#6
1. zerg
2. zerg
3. zerg
4.zerg
5.zerg
6.zerg
7.zerg
8.zerg
9. zerg
10. zerg
11. zerg
12. zerg
13. zerg
14.zerg
15.zerg
16.zerg
17.zerg
18. zerg
19. zerg
20. zerg
21.zerg
22. zerg
23.zerg
24.zerg
25.zerg
26.zerg
27.zerg
28.zerg
29.protoss
30. terran

GG

User was warned for this post
00Visor
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
4337 Posts
December 05 2012 15:23 GMT
#7
Thanks for your responses!
I expected that you want to rank Ryung, viOlet and HerO higher. Please consider that they all play multiple events (especially viOlet and HerO) and also did disappoint at some of these events. Its easier to have good results if you play a lot. This list is not ranking of achievements, but of skill.

On December 05 2012 13:50 Emzeeshady wrote:
Rain should be a few sports lower imo and definitely below Sniper and Hyun.
Ryung should be muuuuuch higher
I don't feel like RoRo or Shy earned their spot on the list this month at all. Yoda and Gumiho would be good replacements.


Rain has been the most consistent player (OSL, WCS, GSL) in the last 2 months. I'm not gonna drop him too far just because he lost that series in Code A and couldnt win MLG or BWC.
I expected people to rank Ryung und viOlet higher. But I am not gonna rank people high based on basically 1 tournament perfomance. We had a lot of GSL Ro4 player who disappeared shortly after. Ryung hasnt had any really good performance in the past months besides this GSL. IPL 5 was also disappointing.
Roro and Shy simply didnt play a lot this month, but were impressive in the past months. They still dropped some ranks.

On December 05 2012 17:25 monk. wrote:
I would say Leenock #1. Parting should be lower based on skill. Bogus bit lower. Hero bit higher. Yonghwa much lower; he isn't doing well in GSTL lately and didn't make it past groups in WCG. Violet much higher around 18 for his IPL performance. Flash a bit higher. Gumiho on the list over Shy.


Leenock #1 is ok. As I said they are very close for me.
Bogus has been the shit expect this IPL weekend (including the GSL semis).
For Hero I don't want to overvalue Dreamhack where the players were not on the same level as IPL or GSL. Hero also plays tons of events, so think of the others where he did average or below-average. At MLG he went 1-3 (losing to Polt, hyvaa and Scarlett).
Yonghwa isn't doing well in GSTL lately? Thats way too harsh for him being 1-2 in the last 3 games (and winning 10 straight before that). He also qualified for GSL and won his first match, couldnt advance in WCG, and I still dropped him 2 spots.
For viOlet stands the same as for Ryung. viOlet was not on the list before and IPL was the first event since some time where he could compete with other top Koreans. At Lonestar he was 1-2 vs Koreans, at MLG 1-3. Btw rank 18 is not "much higher" than 23, the players are rather close there.
Flash a bit higher and Gumiho instead of Shy could be done I think.

On December 05 2012 18:09 KalWarkov wrote:
MKP over violet, Polt and Bomber, im not too sure about that honestly.


Please remember that the month began with MKP winning both his GSL groups. He lost in GSL quarterfinals, a GSTL match to Leenock and somehow to Lowely in WCG. He didnt play other events and overall these results are not really disappointing. He was 4-2 in BoX and I still dropped him 2 spots!
docvoc
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States5491 Posts
December 05 2012 16:00 GMT
#8
+ Show Spoiler +
On December 05 2012 23:32 -NeBu- wrote:
1. zerg
2. zerg
3. zerg
4.zerg
5.zerg
6.zerg
7.zerg
8.zerg
9. zerg
10. zerg
11. zerg
12. zerg
13. zerg
14.zerg
15.zerg
16.zerg
17.zerg
18. zerg
19. zerg
20. zerg
21.zerg
22. zerg
23.zerg
24.zerg
25.zerg
26.zerg
27.zerg
28.zerg
29.protoss
30. terran

GG

Did you even read the post? Really? That is definitely not what I got from this with taeja in the top 10.
User was warned for too many mimes.
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