EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/n08l7O2.jpg)
On September 01 2014 22:56 Zealously wrote:
The Power Rank is one of TeamLiquid's most popular and storied features, stretching back almost eight years to when MBC and OGN co-ran the Korean Brood War tournament circuit.
The Power Rank is one of TeamLiquid's most popular and storied features, stretching back almost eight years to when MBC and OGN co-ran the Korean Brood War tournament circuit.
Yes, Zealously. Thank you for reminding us all of that irrefutable fact.
$50,000 first place prize for LoveTV Starleague 3 and $25,000-$30,000 first place prize for Sonic Starleague 10, the upcoming LSL and SSL Brood War Starleagues are starting to mirror the MBC and OGN of the past. The month of October 2014 has been rounds of appetizers to the main course with LoveTV hosting sponsored matches to test potential news maps for LSL3 and Sonic giving us the most epic Super Fight in the form of Sea vs Killer and Movie vs hero. With the Foreign SC2 scene flourishing at the expense of the Korean SC2 scene with the new WCS 2015 changes, the timeless legend of Korea will seize the opportunity and Brood War will rise to new heights in 2015. While By.Sun and Soulkey, players who abandoned Brood War long ago, seek refuge in foreign lands, 16 soon-to-be-revealed former progamers will return to Brood War to compete in the upcoming LSL3 with over $86,000 in prize money. Finally, after two long years since the last OSL, Brood War in Korea has been restored. It is only fitting that the Power Rank and Brood War be restored to TeamLiquid as StarCraft history is being made.
*Big thanks to vhvvx777 for providing the YouTube VODs.
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#1![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/11.png){kind=icon}
HiyAIf you watched HiyA beat Bisu 2-1 in the HEL Special Match #4 Finals last month, you will notice that the Magikarp Terran looks a little pudgier around the cheeks as of late. Maybe it’s because he has evolved into his more threatening Mega Evolution form, which looks like an oversized shrimp. Or maybe it’s just that HiyA has absorbed Mong’s source of power. Whatever the case is, after defeating the legendary over-leveled Bisu and gaining a metric-fuck-ton of experience points in classic Pokemon fashion, HiyA has been going on a rampage ever since, both on Fish Ladder and in LoveTV Sponsored Matches. I’m not saying we should ban HiyA to Ubers/Bisu tier, but judging by his recent results, I don’t see the people who have to face HiyA in LSL3 group stages feeling very confident of making out. Currently, HiyA has no apparent weaknesses in any of his match-ups and can beat anyone else on this list. Before addressing HiyA’s TvP, the match-up he is best known for, I would like to talk about his TvT and TvZ.
Judging by HiyA’s 3-0 against Sea in the GOMTV Classic Season 4 back in March earlier this year and another 2-0 against Sea in the HEL Special Match #4 Semifinals back in September, I think it’s safe to say that HiyA’s TvT has always been exceptional. His TvT style is characterized by heavy Goliath and Dropship based play, slowly gaining small advantages and solid positional play with Tanks, in sharp contrast to PianO’s mass Vulture TvT micro-fests with early game aggression. That’s not to say HiyA can’t micro: if you watched his TvP games you will know that HiyA’s vultures are some of the most cost efficient Vultures out of all the top current Terrans, but HiyA prefers a more consistent and solid style of play as opposed to PianO’s hyper aggressive and yolo entertaining approach. It will be interesting to see if the different TvT styles of HiyA and PianO will clash in the near future since that result will certainly shift the TvT metagame again. Some may call HiyA’s TvZ on the other hand the least excellent, but I would argue that it’s because HiyA’s TvT and TvP are so remarkable and noteworthy. And quite frankly, judging by the performance of the top Zergs this month, you don’t really need the greatest TvZ in the world to beat the non-Killer Zergs. What’s more important: focusing on TvP or TvZ where you have players like ZerO who don’t know how to build Sunken Colonies against 2 Rax aggression? As long as you’re not Sharp, who gets lazy and doesn’t micro his marines against a dead natural Hatchery and an already won game, TvZ is not an issue for HiyA, nor has it ever been. HiyA has shown on his stream that he is capable of going both SK Terran and Late Mech against Zerg, sometimes even pulling out the 2 Port Wraith. Flexibility, adaptability, whether in fresh water or salt water, that is the Fishiking’s way.
Now for the match-up you’ve all been waiting for, TvP and two words should pop into your head: “Shuttle” and “Katrina”. After their final encounter in game 5 of the LoveTV Sponsored Match on October 23rd and Shuttle rage-quitting without typing “gg”, I think we have a potential great rivalry in the makings here, folks. Both HiyA and Shuttle are very popular streamers on Afreeca and HiyA is known for his accurate and solid TvP while Shuttle is known for his Carrier favored PvT. Now let’s add the map Katrina “the Terran Graveyard” to the mix. Long story short: HiyA and Shuttle played on October 14th in LoveTV Sponsored Match week 1, Shuttle counter-picked Katrina in both games 2 and 5 and won over HiyA 3-2. But remember what I said about fresh water and salt water earlier? HiyA and Shuttle met again on October 23rd and after an epic game 1 on Fighting Spirit where Shuttle got away with an early sneaky proxy Nexus against a dangerous siege contain from HiyA, HiyA with the counter-pick option picked Katrina! Not only did HiyA pick Katrina in game 2, but when he had the counter-pick option again in game 4, he picked Katrina for a second time! So apparently, when you Mega Evolve Gyarados, it gains the ability to grow its balls twice in size. In fact, HiyA won both those games dominantly and when Shuttle chose Katrina for the third time in the deciding game 5, he was so afraid of HiyA’s anti-Carrier play that Shuttle opted for DTs into Arbiters instead. HiyA crushed Shuttle in game 5 on Katrina again and advanced to win the first LoveTV Sponsored Match Finals, defeating Tyson 2-1 in a TvP semifinals and Movie 2-0 in a TvP grand finals. This is what I love about HiyA’s mindset as a player: you might beat him once or even in a series, but HiyA will study the games, figure out why he lost and when he faces you again, he’ll be prepared and play his games with absolute confidence.
Part of HiyA’s success in TvP is his precise Spider Mine placement and smart Siege Mode focus fire that allows HiyA to take early skirmishes and timings whereas most other Terrans opts to turtle to about at least 150 supplies before pushing out. People preaches about how godly Bisu’s probe micro is, but HiyA’s SCV micro is some of the best as well, showing superb SCV hugs of death against Dragoons when Bunker Rushing or SCV pulling against Reaver harassment. PianO may have better multitasking, but HiyA’s Vulture micro is arguably more impressive and entertaining to watch. HiyA used both Vulture drops and excellent tank positioning around Katrina’s uneven center high ground terrain, making Shuttle very reluctant to approach and sandwich his army. His series against Shuttle, who has arguably the most potential in PvT, where HiyA defied expectations 3 times on Katrina was certainly masterful and I highly recommend those games if you are still one of those Terrans uncertain about the possibility of Katrina making it into the LSL3 map pool:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/players/558.jpg)
#2 
KillerFormer teammate of while also being the heir to Jaedong, Killer is no doubt the #1 Zerg judging by his recent results and ladder games. Ever since Killer returned to the Brood War scene after the 2012 Tving OSL, he has always been compared to his mentor: unrivaled ZvZ, dominant ZvP, and somewhat questionable ZvT, although I will question whether or not that last part is truly reflective of Killer’s form now. No other Zerg even comes close in terms of Killer’s ZvZ skills. Remember when Killer won the LSL2 back when he was just getting out of his slump back in June this year: 3-0 against ZerO, 3-1 against hero and a 4-1 against Modesty in the finals? With hero’s status of the “God of ZvP” being called into question as of late, it is safe to say that Killer has the #1 ZvP currently as well, judging by his numerous wins against Bisu on Fish ladder in the month of October. Killer may even be the favorite now against the mighty once unstoppable Bisu. Whereas hero is more solid and a reactive Zerg player, Minidong is characterized by his ling and muta aggression as while as excellent army control when it comes to micro and large battle tactics. Hydra busts, ling runbys, counter attacks and multi-counter attacks are all part of Killer’s repertoire, which is why Killer is often considered one of the most aggressive players at the current top Korean level.
Now onto his ZvT, which many would call Killer’s weakest match-up, but how true is that statement and where is Killer’s ZvT now? Killer lost to Mind narrowly 2-3 in a LoveTV Sponsored Match, but Killer won against Sea recently in Sonic’s Super Fight #5 3-2. So what’s going on here? I think the key to understanding Killer’s ZvT is this: you can’t look at it from a strictly winrate point of view and you have to judge it on a Terran player by Terran player basis as well as what style of play the Terran is using against Killer. If you watch the best of 5 between Killer and Mind in the LoveTV series, both players played very sloppily and neither player was feeling very confident about each other judging by their actions despite a fairly familiar map pool. Whereas if you compare that to Killer’s best of 5 against Sea, Minidong had much more aggressive plays and counter attacks while Sea had to resort to passivity and early cheeses to net victories. Killer and Sea have been playing each other for a long time. That much is certain. Their rivalry is probably the most infamous with Sea having the advantage throughout mid to late 2013, although fun fact, Killer did beat Sea 3-2 one time in Zergman’s Starleague Finals back in October 2013. My point is that Killer knows exactly what to expect from Sea for the most part. Fighting Spirit in both game 1 and 5 against the Late Mech Veteran, take a wild guess what to expect. Killer crushed Sea easily in Super Fight #5 with a well timed backstab in game 5 and Defiler Dark Swarm drops and multi-pronged Crackling attacks while safely teching to Ultras in game 1.
So how did Killer narrowly lose to Mind then? Simple: Mind is a new up and comer in recent months who’s slowly gaining recognition and his playstyle is very unpredictable, which forces Killer to tone down his aggression and react to Mind instead. It’s the same reason why PianO can 4-0 Modesty in the BCSL1 Ro32 and still lose to hero 1-3 in the semifinals. hero is instant pulling Overlords against DTs and Hydra intercepting Shuttle drops with godlike game sense in ZvP, so do you think hero is going to fall for PianO’s yolo aggressive plays in ZvT? Killer knows how to play against Sea and the Neo Tyrant may have even surpassed the Late Mech Veteran at this point, but Killer still has a hard time against Mind’s mind games, even if Killer is the better player. Zerg aggression can be effective in ZvZ and ZvP, but if you don’t get crucial scouting intel to know exactly what the Terran is up to, the line between smart attack and over-extension starts to become blurred. So in conclusion, I don’t think it’s a matter of Killer having a problem against Terran as so much as Killer having a problem against Mind and Terran mind games. Still, Killer’s ZvT understanding is very impressive as of late: for example, unlike ZerO, Killer knows how to build Sunken Colonies, which is very useful skill to have against 2 rax. If you’re one of those Zergs who is still having trouble against Late Mech, Killer provides a textbook example on how to beat it against no other than Sea who popularized it:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/players/564.jpg)
#3![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/9.png){kind=icon}
MovieThe Movie Star is fortunate to have received a new role to play in the upcoming LoveTV Starleague 3 film and he must have been paid a hefty sum since he’ll be playing the lead role of the legendary PvZ Revolutionist Bisu. It always comes back to Bisu when we talk about the top players of the Power Rank, doesn’t it? It’s a shame Bisu and sSak did not play any official games in the month of October so they are exempted from this Power Rank, but even if I could theoretically watch all of Bisu’s stream games and give an objective assessment, I must say Bisu’s performance as of late has been rather poor without a shadow of a doubt, showing his age old PvT flaws and starting to develop a weakness to Zergs such as Killer and Larva. However, have no fear Protoss fans. Unlike all the other non-Bisu Bisu-wannabes, Movie Star is actually pulling off an Oscar winning performance as of late. If you watched Movie’s games vs Larva in the LoveTV Sponsored Match on October 21st, Movie pulled off some of best PvZ I have ever seen all month. Using storm drops, multi-pronged attacks with speedlots and of course Bisu’s signature effective DT play, Movie is definitely starting to look like Bisu 2.0 when it comes to PvZ. If Movie wins LSL3, he’ll have enough money to finally afford a Korean plastic surgery that will grant him his dream of having Bisu’s face as well. Okay, so maybe he defeated Larva. No big deal right? I mean it’s not like Movie defeated the Zerg player who played against Bisu in the SSL9 Grand Finals, right? Well, if you think that, you obviously didn’t watch Sonic’s Super Fight #5. Holy shit! If you didn’t know Movie was playing against hero in that best of 5 and the names of the players were covered, you might have actually believed you were watching a Bisu vs hero rematch best of five that day. Movie had perfect storms at the right chunks of the Zerg army, had sharp deadly timing attacks and his harassment just seems to get through no matter what even after hero shuts down the previous one. Besides a failed Corsair/Reaver in game 2 and another failed proxy 2 gate against pool first in game 4, Movie played textbook Bisu style PvZ with the exception of an army control mistake in game 3. Did anyone who was watching the Fighting Spirit games 1 and 5 honestly think Movie could’ve broke through and win those games? Movie quite frankly deserves an Oscar for his PvZ performance that day against the supposed “God of ZvP” hero.
However, Movie Star may be trying too hard to earn his Oscar, even going so far as imitating some of Bisu’s inconsistencies in PvT. It’s great that Movie looks up to Bisu so much, but it might be better, from a director’s standpoint, that Movie try and improve on some of the Revolutionist’s minor flaws. Movie had shown a very close PvT 2-1 win against Mind in the LoveTV Sponsored Match Semifinals and a 0-2 PvT loss against HiyA. Even though there were early game cheeses between those two series, ever since Movie lost to Sea 1-2 in the HEL Special Match #2 back in August, my suspicions of Movie’s skill decay in PvT were reinforced. But, Movie did have some moments of brilliance in recent games, such as on Blitz X against Mind where Movie came back after trapping two Dragoons inside his own sim city. With Shuttle’s inconsistency, it’s safe to say the CJ Entus Protosses, Movie and Snow, are the most consistent Protosses going into LSL3 and SSL10. I was debating whether to put Movie above or below Killer, but despite them both having trouble against Terran at times, I feel Killer’s versus Zerg and Protoss talents are a step above Movie’s. Nonetheless, Movie’s performance as of late is looking very impressive to watch and with Bisu going into the army soon, if Movie keeps his PvZ domination up while refining his PvT, BisuDagger may have to swap his SKT1 signature icon for a CJ Entus one in the coming months with Movie’s Bisu 2.0 style of play:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/players/664.jpg)
#4![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/5.png){kind=icon}
LastIronically despite his name, after the most recent Fish Ladder reset, Last has been ranked first on Fish Ladder for a very long time and his stream games have been quite amazing to watch. Beating Protoss players such as Bisu, Movie, Shuttle and many others in long macro games no less, Last is definitely a Terran you should be on the lookout for in the coming months. It’s bogus to think how well Last is doing in TvP. It’s almost as if he’s an anti-PianO who excels in late game rather than early game and his decision making against Arbiters and Carriers rivals that of HiyA as well. Absolutely bogus, some might say. Now, I understand that stream games are very questionable in determining a player’s caliber, so what Last’s official games in LoveTV Sponsored Matches?
Most recently, Last defeated both GuemChi and Shuttle on Othello and Circuit Breaker after Mind lost to GuemChi on Bifrost 3 in the LoveTV teamplay TvP Sponsored Match. Basically, after Mind lost game 1, it was up to Last to defeat both GuemChi and Shuttle to win the entire best of three. Last did more than that, Last crushed GuemChi and Shuttle with convincing play. HiyA may be ranked #1, but in terms of TvP, as of now I’m certain HiyA and Last are on similar levels when it comes to the versus Protoss match-up. Both HiyA and Last focuses on Vulture aggression mixed with Vulture drops, but Last has better defense when it comes to marine micro against early zealots, Reaver harass and even Arbiter Recalls. Every time Shuttle landed a successful recall, Last just seems to never allow him to kill a Command Center or deal enough economic damage to justify the sacrificed Gateway units. Last’s mine defense and Sim City against Recalls were just too strong, and even when Shuttle was able to Stasis Last’s entire tank army, Shuttle still couldn’t trade cost efficiently and ran out of resources. However, Last does have weaknesses, one of which is unpredictable cheesy play in TvT. Although the Last vs Mind LoveTV Sponsored Match series was a narrow 2-3 loss for Last, you have to watch the games and realize all 3 games that Last lost were around 10 minutes whereas the games he won were macro games. It seems like Mind had taken plays out of PianO’s playbook: if I can’t win in macro games, I’ll just yolo my opponent to death. It’s a real shame because judging by Last’s crushing wins against Mind in macro games, even going Battlecruisers on Blitz X, Last played better than the Mastermind without a doubt. But, because Mind is king of mindgames, Last’s powerful late game never got to be put on display for the majority of that series. Still if Last can find a way to patch up his weakness to early cheesy play, a lot more people will be screaming “Bogus!” at his dominant macro style games from this up and coming Brood War returnee:
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#5 SnowIf you know nothing about Jon Snow, know this: his legendary Reaver of the Night’s Watch once killed 72 Zerg White Walkers before falling on the battlefields on Match Point in July 17th, 2010. Although his Watch has ended, all Reavers under Snow’s command rally to his name and Snow’s Reaver control is probably the best out of all the other Protosses now. It’s a really good thing Snow’s signature unit is the Reaver, a unit that is instrumental in all match ups. Can you imagine if his unit happened to be the Scout, for crying out of loud? Both Snow and Movie were former CJ Entus players and they both performed well in the month of October. While Movie is often credited with his incredible PvZ, Snow is often considered the better PvT player. However, if you watched his best of five series against GuemChi, it was a spectacle to behold and it is very safe to say that Snow may in fact have to best PvP. And if you didn't know, Reavers are very crucial in PvP. Coincidence? I could talk about how PvT is statistically Snow’s best match-up and his PvZ low winrate isn’t reflective of the fact that he almost beat Killer and hero months ago, but Snow’s recent PvP against GuemChi should be watched by anyone wanting to find out how dominant Snow is in PvP.
This PvP series was not your cheesy short PvP games, they were macro PvP games, and in the long term, Snow proved his understanding of PvP (and Reavers) in these long hard fought battles. Using DTs to assassinate GuemChi’s HTs, Snow gained the upper hand, even when GuemChi’s attacks against Snow’s rapid expanding style seemed to pose a decent threat. Being the King of Reavers, Snow’s Shuttle control superiority was also demonstrated in this series. After all, you can’t be the King of Reavers without having some exceptional Shuttle control as well. Game two GuemChi won with some solid damage with an early 2 gate, but in game 3, their best game, Snow brought out the Arbiter in PvP. Oh yes, the game on Bifrost 3 was quite the treat if you want to watch an epic macro PvP game. On an already drop favored map like Bifrost 3, Snow demonstrated some of the best Shuttle Reaver/DTs/Storm drops while also displaying the best anti-Shuttle defense against GuemChi’s attacks. While GuemChi’s mass Archon army seemed unstoppable, Snow with the clutch Stasis on GuemChi’s observer made his army near invulnerable. GuemChi seemed so shook up by game 3 that game 4 he was already doubting his chances, but if Snow can play PvP on this high of a level, can you really blame him?
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/players/146.jpg)
#6 ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/2.png){kind=icon}
MindThe mastermind of strategy, build orders and mind games, Mind’s reputation as the encyclopedia of Terran builds continues to grow as the month of October ends. The Scholar Terran demonstrated amazing builds against Killer in the 41SL2 finals, but recently against Killer, Mind’s strategy has been rather standard and timing oriented with somewhat poor execution. However, Mind’s strategy has always been superior to his execution, as shown in his games recently against Last where he attempted to go Battlecruisers in TvT, a rare unit in the current TvT metagame, as well as a Deep Six marine/medic/tank push against Lazy on Katrina. A smart choice given the close spawns and Mind actually won with his unorthodox Barracks based TvP with some great tank positioning on Katrina’s center high ground and pulling the targeted marine by Reavers forward to avoid area of effect damage. In best of 5 or best of 7 series, Mind’s preparation is what sets him apart from other Terrans, relying on his understanding of the match-up and being unpredictable. Mind sets the pace of the game, forcing his opponents to react to him, which is one of the reasons why some of the aggressive Zergs like Killer have so much trouble with Mind’s very seemingly random play style. Zergs want to be aggressive, but without knowing what plan Mind is hatching, they are very reluctant to extend or overextend because Mind’s TvZ timings are so sharp. If you are a Terran player and find yourself in a bo7 tournament finals, picking a few builds out of Mind’s games will help keep your opponents guessing over the course of a series. When it comes to Mind, it’s not a question of what decisions he makes, but whether or not he can execute them cleanly and effectively.
However, this is where I must discuss the dark side of the mind. You might be thinking that new maps must be a blessing for Mind as he gets to think of new unique builds to surprise his opponents with, but I believe the new maps can also be a double edged sword for the KT Rolster Terran. Although every build Mind chooses almost always makes sense in theory if you think about the map and the context on the series, at times, Mind seems to rely too much on his builds to get instant build order wins in situation where he thinks he’s at a disadvantage. Notice the “he thinks” part, and this is where I think it’s more of a psychological issue from Mind's self-confidence rather than a skill issue. Mind, as many people know, is not the most socially capable player at the top level. He even once complained on his stream regarding how much more viewers Bisu gets compared to himself. This type of defeatist attitude is probably what’s holding a very talented player like Mind back from his full potential. You can see it when Mind plays in a tournament: if he does his builds correctly and has momentum, he plays marvelously. However, when the match gets very close and down to the wire, Mind’s play just isn’t as clean. Look at his approach on the new maps such as Katrina: Mind probably thinks the map is not Terran favored so he opts for very early aggression whenever he has to play on Katrina. This style of play may suit someone like PianO, but it really doesn’t suit Mind who is considered more of a macro player. Keep in mind that this is the guy who crushed Shuttle 4-2 in 6 Carrier games in the 41SL2 semifinals. Do you think he needs to play fancy against someone like Movie who has been showing questionable PvT as of late? If Mind just stops second guessing himself all the time and play his game instead of relying on risky coin-flip builds, we could’ve had one epic HiyA vs Mind Friday Finals for LoveTV instead of the one-sided HiyA vs Movie finals. Still, when Mind channels his inner confidence and understands that he can beat his opponent on any map, he shows amazing creative ideas as well as textbook educational games of how to play on certain maps, such as his game vs Movie on Bifrost 3:
![[image loading]](http://i1.bebo.com/043/14/medium/2008/02/07/21/4023096880a6822486028m.jpg)
#7![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/6.png){kind=icon}
PianOThe guy who listens to that piano theme from Death Note all the time on his stream and would probably make a really convincing Light Yagami cosplay, can I just say that PianO’s TLPD picture does not do his current good looks any justice? I can’t even count the times I made a Live Report thread, posted PianO’s picture, went down to edit something, hit preview, and then said to myself “Who’s that?” Seriously Epoxide, I understand PianO worn a ninja mask to the SSL9 Group Stages, but you’re telling me there is no other recent pictures of him that is more fitting to his current non-military good looks? For Christ’s sake, Soulkey even mentioned in an interview that he found PianO to be the most attractive progamer even as a male! Now I’ve just unleashed a mountain of horrifying Woongjin Stars fanfics involving PianO’s Siege Tank and Soulkey’s Sunken Colony. The beauty of the internet never ceases to amaze me.
Anyways, unlike his Woongjin Anime Villain Counterpart ZerO, who probably can’t win a ZvT against the top Terrans even if he could mind control them with a glance of an eye, PianO is no doubt the most successful Woongjin Stars player to return to Brood War. He even practiced 14 hours a day when he got back, but now, PianO favors mixing in team game with his fans on stream with his 1v1 practicing. Sayle even once mentioned how PianO plays Terran as if he’s a Protoss and judging by his excellent multitasking and average 420 apm, if he practiced Protoss for 14 hours a day when he returned, PianO could’ve probably made top 3 Protoss no problem. But you see, when Protoss cheeses, it's pure evil and that’s no fun. However, when PianO, a Terran player, cheeses (and PianO loves his risky aggressive plays), we all laugh and it’s fun for the whole family. Double standards are coo, aren't they?. Goliaths and Dropships in TvT? That’s anti-fun. Screw that, mass Vultures all the way and if Sea tries to match his Vulture count, PianO just mass more Vultures! He doesn’t need a fancy magic notebook to destroy his opponents. His aggressive Dropships and Vultures are literally flying notebooks of death and hovering notebooks of death with Ion Boosters. “You only live once” is PianO’s motto and keeping his fans entertained is crucial. However, you must admit, winning $50,000 is pretty fun too. So maybe PianO might have cooled off a bit in October? I mean his hyper-aggressive yolo play style might do wonders for him in TvZ and TvT, but in TvP, maybe he’ll be a little more… consistent?
WRONG! PianO vs Pure, all 8 of their games, in the LoveTV Sponsored Matches were hilarious. I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry after seeing that debacle. What is most ridiculous? That PianO 3-0 Pure in their first encounter with pure all-in aggression, the fact the Pure of all people almost beat PianO when he went up 2-0 in their second series, or the fact that PianO pumped his yolo level up to eleven and came back 3-2 with no macro games whatsoever with a Bunker Rush cherry on top in match-deciding game 5? That second best of five between them is basically PianO in a nutshell, folks: fast paced, entertaining and blackjack. At this point, I don’t even care anymore. I’m just enjoying the show PianO is putting on for us. All PianO needs to do in LSL3 is avoid Protoss like they're the playguuu. Seriously, I think PianO has a better chance winning in TvZ dying on 1 health than playing against Protoss. Some might say PianO needs to take a chill pill and just play solid TvP: maneuvering his 200 supply army with his right hand and macroing his production with his left. But you know he’ll eventually clump his tanks up for a Stasis… AND EAT IT!
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#8 heroWhat do you call the God of ZvP when his ZvP isn’t looking as godlike as it used to be before? It really has been a sad month for hero. Once the undisputed master of the ZvP match-up who almost beat Bisu in the SSL9 Grand Finals, known for his solid defense against any Protoss aggression and tactics such as Lurker Drops, Hydra Intercepts and Muta Snipes, hero’s October results have made many call his reputation into account. I know people still haven’t got over the fact that hero lost to Jaehoon 1-3 in a LoveTV Sponsored Match. Yes, let me repeat that: hero lost to Jaehoon in a best of five ZvP. Sayle must have thrown up his grape salad dinner from the night before when he heard that news. Some people blame the maps for hero’s loss, but I would like to call bullshit on that statement. The three maps hero lost on were Fighting Spirit, Katrina, and Bifrost 3. Those aren’t the worse maps in the world you know. Hell, did hero not watch Larva vs Bisu on stream? Playing Fighting Spirit ZvP is not the hardest thing in the world. Neither is Katrina and Bifrost 3 for that matter.This isn’t Longinus II and Reverse Temple ZvT back in 2006. Speaking of those two maps, even if we lived in some alternate universe where the current maps all favor Protoss and Jaehoon is secretly Bisu’s dark apprentice, part of being a “God” in a certain match-up is overcoming theoretical map imbalance and show the world that you are better than the typical inferior Zergs.
Now you could chalk that up to be a bad day for hero. If losing to Jaehoon doesn’t wake you up to step up your game, I don’t know what does. Of course, hero is going to step up his game the next time he plays a ZvP after that humiliating loss, right? Well, then Sonic’s Super Fight #5 happened at the last week of October. Everyone was looking forward to this SSL9 semifinals rematch between Movie and hero. The commentators even mentioned how they think hero’s reputation should put him as the favorite going into this. Maybe they cursed it when those words came out of their mouths? Whether the case is, it’s simple as this: Movie crushed hero, plain and simple. I know it was a 3-2 Movie victory, but those two losses are deceptive. Game 4 was a proxy 2 gate against pool first, a build order loss. Game 2 was a failed Corsair/Reaver on Circuit Breaker. However, if you watched games 1, 3 and 5, Movie played phenomenally and hero did not look his usual self, walking into storms and letting shuttles get into drone lines more often than not. Even though Larva lost 1-3 against Movie as well, his performance, especially that Katrina game, was far more impressive in the LoveTV Sponsored Match, but it’s hard to justify Larva on this Power Rank considering he only won one single official game in the month of October. Although Larva did have on occasion impressive games against Bisu and Mong on ladder, his ladder ranking and win ratio are not reflective of his skill in terms of accuracy. One thing is for certain though, the #2 ranked Zerg spot is open for contention as of now and if you thought Killer was the undisputed #1 Zerg last month, the Neo Tyrant’s rule is even more undisputed now. Perhaps the Zergs will not be so dominant in LSL3 judging by the recent games and the fears of a ZvZ grand finals for $50,000 were misplaced. hero still shown flashes of brilliance in his games against Movie, but I really did expect more from him in the Sonic Super Fight #5:
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SeaThe Late Mech Veteran who dominated the post-KeSPA Brood War scene from June 2013 to December 2013. His TvZ mech transition late game against Zergs gave even Killer problems back then, creating a period of Terran dominance all the way up to the LSL1 shortly before SSL9 began. It’s very unfortunate that Bisu and Sea both are planning to enter the army soon, as both their plays have been lackluster in the month of October. Perhaps, it’s a lack of motivation from knowing that their time is almost up. Bisu and Sea were two of most greatest players who shaped the post-KeSPA Brood War scene from late 2013 to early 2014. However, Killer seems to be the Old Guard, along with HiyA, that will lead the next chapters of StarCraft history. If HiyA has beaten both Sea and Bisu, then Killer has been crushing both Sea and Bisu. I think it is pretty obvious that HiyA has to superior TvT in comparison to Sea judging by the most recent historical records. Killer also seems to have figured out Sea’s Late Mech strategy against Zerg considering the textbook demonstration by Killer against Sea in the Sonic’s Super Fight #5 game 1 on Fighting Spirit, a very strong map for mech switch. The much anticipated rivalry match-up was kind of a disappointment considering after Killer’s win in game 1, Sea thought that he could not win against Killer anymore in a macro game and tried to Bunker Rush his way into victory. That approach did score Sea 2 wins, surprisingly, but Sea’s TvZ was downright pathetic against Killer. It’s surprising considering that TvZ is often said to be Sea’s best match-up, but from weak passivity to poor timings, from bad move outs to unsuccessful mech pushes, Sea is simply not what he used to be. Killer, here from the very start since SSL7, is back and Sea is just another Terran, facing a sea of other talented Terrans, who just does not stand out anymore.
However, we can’t jump to conclusions just yet. Sea has been taking a break from streaming for the majority of October and we still have not seen him play an official TvT or TvP yet. Although I question his TvT against the likes of HiyA and PianO, his TvP is no joke and let’s all wish Sea that he still has it in him to beat the likes of Movie, Snow and Shuttle. And quite frankly, what other Terrans comes close to the top 5 at this point? Sharp lost to ZerO 0-3 as well as GuemChi 1-3 and sSak has been looking terrible every time I watch him play on stream. Mong is looking decent against his games against Larva, but Larva has not shown his best against Movie in LoveTV Sponsored Matches and is not as strong as he was back in September. There is a power vaccum when it comes to the #3 Zerg spot and the #5 Terran spot, but if Sea can show some more solid TvZ like in game 2 against Killer and impress people with his TvP in the month of November, he’ll be back in next month’s Power Rank more convincingly and get his revenge against Killer:
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#10 ShuttleDespite all the times he’s shown sloppy plays and amateur mistakes on his stream, the popular Afreeca streamer Shuttle still somehow manages to rake in over $20,000 in donations on a monthly basis from streaming alone. So essentially, Shuttle is the WinterStarcraft of AfreecaTV. All joking aside, judging by his games against HiyA, Shuttle indeed has a lot of potential as a player while also being a very magnetic person you want to throw ample of Afreeca balloons at. Notice the word “potential”. If I were to compare Shuttle to one other player, it would have to be PianO. Two extremely enthusiastic streamers, both with a great amount of talent, but just do the stupidest mistakes at times that should be below their level. People praise Shuttle’s PvP, but judging from Snow’s PvP in his series against GuemChi, I might have to withhold my judgment until Shuttle and Snow meet to test their skills. With PvZ in limbo with the demise of hero in the hands of Jaehoon and Movie, I would like to dissect Shuttle’s PvT, which probably is his best match up historically speaking ever since Shuttle joined the post-KeSPA Brood War scene. Shuttle loves his Carriers. That is no understatement, and you would think with Katrina being in LoveTV Sponsored Matches’ map pool that Shuttle would do very well. However, I bet you also thought that Mega Gyarados’ balls couldn’t grow twice in size, didn’t you? HiyA just seemed crazy prepared on Katrina the second time they met and I would have to give that second best of five series they played more weight considering it was the most recent games. Shuttle getting crushed by Last just recently on Circuit Breaker doesn’t help his case either. However, if you ignore the results and watch those PvT games by Shuttle closely, there is no doubt that Shuttle has shown flashes of brilliance in PvT that sets him apart from the other lower tier Protosses. At least Shuttle switched it up in game 5 and went for DTs into Arbiters against HiyA instead going Carriers again on Katrina unlike that time Shuttle went Carriers 6 times in a row against Mind in the 41SL2 Semifinals (Mind won 4-2 by the way).
A note on Shuttle’s best game of the month, which is most certainly that Fighting Spirit game against HiyA in the second LoveTV Sponsored Match best of five they played together, Shuttle played probably the most epic PvT I’ve seen in a long time that day against HiyA. When HiyA managed to contain Shuttle in that game and destroy his natural Nexus, I thought the game was over, but Shuttle invented a creative response: to use his scouting probe to build a proxy Nexus at another corner of the map. When HiyA finally did scout the proxy base, it was too late, as every time HiyA attempted to push into it, Shuttle repelled HiyA’s forces excellently. Throughout the game, Shuttle demonstrated remarkable defense against HiyA’s Vulture harassment. Despite often preferring Carriers in PvT and questionable engagements on Katrina in game 5, Shuttle also proved that his abilities with Arbiters are just as deadly in this long low-econ ending macro PvT game against the TvP Leviathan HiyA:
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