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As the year comes to a close, we should take a moment to reflect on our love for this amazing game. For me personally, the BW community just seems a tad smaller than it was last year. Some great players returned and left. Some great player never returned. The best players at the moment are mostly over 30 years old. It is a sad reality that I've long accepted and even embraced.
With that in mind, I'd like to ask a Christmas question, who was the best player in the entire 2023?
Was it Soulkey (김민철) the reigning ASL champion, the World Cup winner of the Broodwar world?
Or was it Mini (변현제), the ASL finalist and consistent performer in Daily Proleagues and other minor tournaments, especially in the first 3 quarters of the year?
Was it Snow (장윤철), who has been on fire in the last 1-2 months, consistently beating top players of all races with an astounding win rate in Proleagues?
Or was it Light (이재호), who has always been "there". The evil Terran lord, always cutting your corners and spoiling the fun of your greedy builds?
Let me know what you think.
You can also cast your vote in this picture poll.
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2023 best player... well it would have to be one of the ASL winners - so it's really just a choice between JYJ and Soulkey.
I'd give it to Soulkey, personally. That guy has been wonderfully stable his whole career and he did what champions do and got the WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
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The overall performance of Light, Soulkey, Snow and Soma this year was impressive. Since Soulkey won an ASL I'd give the title to him.
I'd also want to nominate Sacsri for most overlooked player. He's improved a lot.
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SK for me.
Snow has been catching all the eyeballs first half of 2023 with great plays and an exceptional record.. He hasn't found too much success in ASL though and his momentum has tapered off in the 2nd half of the year.
SK and Soma have been the only Zerg players that have been able to keep up in the first half of 2023. SK then went on to take down ASL16, beating ASL15 champ Jyj, Rush & Mini along the way. He's been delivering great results in Proleague as well. Doing this in a time where all Zergs have been struggling a lot makes his performance really stand out.
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Snow making protoss look strong got my heart.
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snow and soma went on tears in UBE this year IIRC, but i feel overall soulkey and mini are top contenders judging from overall performance, proleague performance, and ASL performance... maybe someone can look at the overall winrate data of this year to find a clearer answer.
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In offline play:
Soulkey > JyJ > HerO > Mini.
In online play:
SnOw for the first half of 2023, Soma for the second half of 2023. Light has been amazing for all of 2023 but usually right behind either SnOw or Soma. Soulkey peaked once in 2023 and that was during his ASL winning season. Outside of that ASL winning season he's been a top a consistent 8 performer. Mini has beasted in proleagues but had some low points this year too.
Most overlooked:
Sacsri over the past few months has been performing like a top zerg. Highly impressive.
Everything combined:
Soma=Snow > Light > Soulkey > others.
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It seems like the power of ASL matters less. It just depends on who had the better build, better form, and luck. I consider online plays (1000+ games) to be the most accurate form of a player's skill. So in that regard, top players would be as follows
1) Snow 2) Light 3) Soma. BIG GAP 4) Soulkey 5) Mini
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Netherlands5154 Posts
Best online: Snow
Best recently: SK, won ASL (with impressive games) and does well in PL.
Honorable mention: Mini, can all-kill like mad in PL and does well offline
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Rain, if he actually tried
I am still on the "Rain is the 2nd best player other than Flash" train when he actually gives a shit
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I will do a year end summary of Proleague some time next month. But it's likely we already know what the top 3 looks like.
I like the approach of dividing between online and offline. There's a clear difference between overall skill/level of a player and his achievement.
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IMO, Soulkey! He just looked so good througout this year, especially near the end of course with that ASL title under his belt!
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EPT
