I would say, generally speaking, foreigners have not caught up to Koreans. They may have closed the gap a little, but Koreans are still clearly (to me at least) better at the game. Yeah, you do have the occasional foreigner like Stephano or arguably NaNiwa who can hang in there, and then there's HuK, who doesn't really count because he has lived and trained in Korea for so long. But outside of that, you get these isolated incidents of players like DeMusliM beating NesTea, etc. That's an achievement that certainly shouldn't be overlooked, certainly, but I have yet to see a significant number of foreigners who can consistently compete on the level of top Koreans.

yomi

United States773 Posts

April 06 2012 14:07 GMT

#143

foreigners will never be able to play against koreans and never have been able to.

Naphal

Germany2099 Posts

April 06 2012 14:09 GMT

#144

the gap is narrow enough to jump over, most matches are entertaining, ofc steamrolls do happen but if the very best players of the GSL dominate, well, they also dominate the other koreans... treat every gamer as an individual please!

mrRoflpwn

United States2618 Posts

April 06 2012 14:11 GMT

#145

I think the top 15 foreigners can hang with the top 30 koreans but after that- koreans dominate.
Overall I honestly do not care, all my favorite players are koreans now because I mainly just watch the GSL and the average level of play there is just miles above the average foreign tournament simply because the players not only are faster (can multitask wayyy better), but the koreans in GSL also have better decision making, macro, and know how to make good engagements.
MC fighting!!!

Funguuuuu

United States198 Posts

April 06 2012 14:13 GMT

#146

Not yet.

Blackrobe

United States806 Posts

April 06 2012 14:14 GMT

#147

I honestly think the gap is widening again.

onPHYRE

Bulgaria925 Posts

April 06 2012 14:15 GMT

#148

I disagree. There are some outliers such as stephano.. But the only others like HuK and Naniwa all practice in Korea, with Koreans and like Koreans.

raf3776

United States1904 Posts

April 06 2012 14:16 GMT

#149

I expect some can show potential to compete with the top but their skill isnt even because they cant consistently do it. Huk and stephano are probably the most consistent but even then there are people they cant compete with all the time. I also think the way people are playing sc2 is also making it capable of people of less skill to compete with those of higher

mordk

Chile8385 Posts

April 06 2012 14:19 GMT

#150

No. I'd say the average korean pro is at least twice as skilled as the average foreigner pro, and while the top foreigner pros can compete with top koreans, there's no foreigner right now who I'd obejctively believe has any chance at winning a GSL.

Angry.Zerg

Mexico305 Posts

April 06 2012 14:19 GMT

#151

No, not at all, not even close.

soulist

United States932 Posts

April 06 2012 14:21 GMT

#152

At this point I think there are only 3 foreigners who can compete with the Koreans and those are Stephano, HuK, and Naniwa. But thats pretty much how it has always been, only the top foreigners can compete with the Koreans and everyone else just falls and dies.

Heraklitus

United States553 Posts

April 06 2012 14:27 GMT

#153

On April 06 2012 23:07 yomi wrote:
foreigners will never be able to play against koreans and never have been able to.

Wow, what a profoundly well thought out argument.

Valikyr

Sweden2653 Posts

April 06 2012 14:28 GMT

#154

Koreans are so far ahead still, and will get even further ahead now when BW stars are practicing SC2.

kheldorin

Singapore539 Posts

April 06 2012 14:29 GMT

#155

Not even close. Korean has young and upcoming players like Maru and Creator who are Code S or close to Code S level while we have foreigners struggling to qualify even for Code A. For the foreigners, they have Stephano who isn't going to continue to play SC2. There's no incentive for foreigners to be good at SC2. It seems that the talent pool is mostly from those who played BW or WC3. Where are the new blood? Most of them rather be casters, maybe because that's where the money is and it requires less amount of training.

VoirDire

Sweden1923 Posts

April 06 2012 14:29 GMT

#156

I think top 5-10 foreigners can at least compete with the top 50 koreans, and some others can beat top 50 koreans in certain match-ups.

Less than 20 foreigners could even make it into korean GM league.

delHospital

Poland261 Posts

April 06 2012 14:29 GMT

#157

Great thread. Goes to show how many people don't even read past the title...

Wrathsc2

United States2025 Posts

April 06 2012 14:30 GMT

#158

not really it feels the same, koreans are still way better

Tyree

1508 Posts

April 06 2012 14:30 GMT

#159

Not at all, they are even more ahead than when SC2 first burst out, back in GSL 1 and 2 days.

Without Stephano, Naniwa and to a lesser extent Thorzain, i wonder where the foreign scene would be? We would just rely on "old" BW talent like WhiteRa and Idra to get us anywhere.

I feel that the koreans in SC2 today have improved dramatically, the level is just insane right now and its just going higher and higher over there, whereas our game seems stagnant bar a few truly excellent players.