This is the second Brood War Power Rank of the 2011-2012 season. Round 2 of Proleague has just concluded, so the focus of this Power Rank will be upon the six weeks' worth of games played with one day's worth of Round 3 added in.
I'm not going to say Flash looks unbeatable--his game against Stork is evidence that he can be stopped... should an opponent exert an unfathomable amount of effort.
11 matches played, and 11 wins attained in dominating fashion. No discernible weaknesses against any race. Jaedong fell in minutes. EffOrt defended valiantly, but his efforts were not enough to stop the slowly advancing tank line. Dear learned that "one does not simply 12nexus God." And Light's proxy-into-wraith tactics proved fruitless against maphacksstarsense. Clutch play won't save you from Flash. Cheese won't save you from Flash. Impeccable standard play won't save you from Flash. So then, what will?
Answer: John Connor
Let's play a game. I say Flash won't lose in Proleague till Round 4. What say you?
As I've always stated, Fantasy is an enigma. Will he go on a ten-game winning streak? Or will he inexplicably lose to B-team rookies? You never know what's going to happen next, so sometimes it's best to just guess. After watching Fantasy's game against Skyhigh, I knew that the Crown Prince was in for a good round. I don't know how Fantasy did it, but somehow after saving that crucial Command Center at 11 o'clock he managed to claw his way back into the game, ultimately attaining his first ever victory against TvT menace Skyhigh. And after that, Fantasy continued the killing spree by going undefeated throughout Round 2 with good decision-making and excellent unit control. Despite the fact that SKT lost (again ahahaha) to STX, Fantasy helped SKT keep some of its pride by first destroying Classic's economy with vulturesterrorists on bikes and then meticulously grinding down the STX Terran in the endgame. Furthermore, just like in the first round when he played against ZerO, Fantasy was able to demonstrate some impressive bionic control.
In hindsight, I can assuredly say that (ignoring his most recent game against Leta) Fantasy's in pretty good form. But still, was that apparent at the start of the round? And how long will this form last?
Neo.G_Soulkey deserves this third slot in this month's Power Rank for two reasons: he's been Woongjin's most consistent player this season thus far and is by far, the best-performing Zerg of the season.
Though Stars at 7-7 sits in a middling fifth position, Soulkey at an impressive 9-3 personally is (record-wise) the third best-performing player in Proleague, a position he shares with KT Rolster's Stats. Guess who's been doing better than him? Oh right, Flash and Fantasy.
Though I believe Soulkey's strength lies in his macromanagement, lately his unit control and decision-making has impressed me. I'll put forth two prime examples. First, consider the game against Movie--despite being down, Soulkey kept his calm and essentially won the game with one carefully calculated observer snipe. Second, in his game against Sea, Soulkey's burrowed zergling tactics wiped Sea's bionic force out in a matter of seconds, forcing the GG. And as Soulkey demonstrated to us in his game against Piano, there's still nothing lacking in his monstrous macro.
I wrote last time that Soulkey's ZvZ was, for the most part, practical and uninspiring--it gets the job done. And seeing as he is 4-1 vZ this season (with one really boring loss to Hydra this round) I still stand by that statement. Game against Calm? Meh. Game against Killer? Ling massacre into economic destruction into GG. Game against RorO? Three bases! ...And then Soulkey wins with his massive economic advantage.
Still, Soulkey is winning. I have no qualms with that--I just want to see cleaner, more "awe-inspiring" play. But then again, that's the difference between "solid" and "excellent". And as Kim Min Chul claimed after his victory against Calm, he's going to let his results do the talking.
I don't have much to say about Stats that I didn't say last time. He's still doing quite well--9-3 is nothing to sneeze at, and he's still one of the main reasons that KT is first place. Decision-making is still solid--greedy RorO taking extremely fast fourth? Roll him with archon/zealot. Feeling pressured by sHy's assault? Defend expertly with shield battery and then roll with better storms. Engaging Kal's shuttle/reaver with only reaver? Roll him anyway (okay this was actually Kal being extremely sloppy).
Stats is still prone to game-losing sloppiness, which is somewhat disappointing. Lesson to be learned: despite being up more than 25 supply on Snow, if you choose to suicide all your reavers bad stuff is going to happen. Other than this, I can't really find anything reprehensible about Stats' play.
And once again, Bogus vs Stats (even though Stats lost this one) was my favorite game of the round. That rivalry is quickly manifesting itself as one of the best modern rivalries as well.
After falling into a three-game losing streak by being defeated by Movie, Stork looked like he was losing steam after his 5-0 start. But, like the stock markets, Stork is quite the hard fellow to predict--you cannot simply extrapolate based on such a small set of data. Over the past month, Stork has issued forth a medley of "meh" and "sexy" games: standard (and by that I mean Light sucks at TvP) wins over Light and Piano, "interesting" but slightly sloppy win against Jaehoon, awesome storm against Mini to seal the deal, and two close losses against Flash and Fantasy. Despite having an overall positive mix of games played, Stork is sort of in a quandary: he beats his lesser opponents like drums and comes close to beating some awesome opponents (à la Flash and Fantasy), but the crux of the matter is he doesn't beat them.
Against both Flash and Fantasy Stork had chances to win. Brood War is a game of "what ifs"--what if Stork hadn't decided to be silly and move his army around randomly against Flash? What if he hadn't rallied so many templar into Fantasy's vultures? We don't know the answer to that, but with rivalries as deep as Flash-Stork (14-13) and Fantasy-Stork (8-10), I feel confident in saying that next time, Stork will get themFantasy back.
I'm not going to lie, I'm highly uninspired by ranks 6-10. But since we have to fill ten a month, let's do this.
If I only had one phrase to use to describe Bisu's play for this past round, it would be "thoroughly uninspiring". What has Bisu done in Round 2?
Cannon rushed Wooki
Died to hOn_sin's fail 2fact -> 5fact push
Beaten Canata
SC2'd4gated Grape
Outmicroed Trap
Crushed Snow
My responses:
Meh
Blah
Canata
Zzz
Whatever
Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
There are two main things to glimpse from these two lists. First, Bisu's opponents (with the exception of Snow) have been mediocre. Second, Bisu's play has been somewhat mediocre (with the exception of games against Snow and Trap, though Trap's control was just awful). With no strong opponents and no exceptional play against these lesser opponents, I can't justify ranking Bisu any higher than 6.
TurN hasn't played many games this season, but the ones he has played have been quite entertaining. And he's won all four of his games. And they were all against quite good competition.
What's not to love? Well, for one thing TurN is very sloppy. Seeing as he's a rookie, I don't fault him too much for that, but it's something he can improve upon. The scary thing is cleaner play would win him games much faster. TurN's style favors aggressive play, and these games have delivered. Despite throwing away tons of units, TurN utilized +1 marines effectively in mowing down Hydra. Similarly, against BeSt TurN went for triple CC into some insane aggression (though he threw away most of his initial army due to poor positioning) that ended up winning him the game. TurN even makes TvT fast-paced and interesting. After characteristically throwing away vultures (to blow an early lead), TurN overruns Bogus by moving him out of his element and catching him out of position multiple times.
TurN may not play a clean game of StarCraft, but he definitely plays an entertaining one.
Jaehoon of Team 8 makes his Power Rank debut as rank 8. While I've always liked Jaehoon, it's still weird to have him on the Power Rank--as I said, I think 6-10 are all kind of meh this month. The scene in general just seems... sloppy right now. But nonetheless, Jaehoon is playing some nice games.
Despite Clam playing for Calm, Jaehoon's crisis management and storm usage were quite nice. Against Stork, had he built earlier cannons at his third he would have easily won (and the dark archon was pretty awesome). Jaehoon's game against hyvaa featured clutch shuttle micro, massive storm drops, and lots of invisible imbalanced units slicing up stuff.
I don't really have much more to say about this. Jaehoon's definitely been playing well, but I think this is more a commentary of "normal" Power Rank frequenters (Jaedong, Hydra, ZerO, etc.) playing poorly.
Leta gets this ninth spot because he's been one of CJ's only positively-performing players this round and because I can't really justify it for anybody else. He's only played four games this round, but I can't say I see anything wrong with his play. In fact, his unit control is still as phenomenal as always. His 2port wraith execution against ZerO pretty much sealed the game (13 kills on one wraith wow) and his vulture harass -> wraith play managed to outmicro Fantasy (handing Fantasy one of two losses this season). And against Tyson, Leta didn't micro poorly--it's more like Tyson decided to take a level in badass for that game.
I literally don't think there were ten good players in this round. One way or another, there was some deficiency that cost a player this tenth spot on the PR. So to choose "the best of the bad" is tough... Really, I'd just give it to nobody. But we'll give it to Brave since the slot must be filled. Despite being a one-map, one-matchup sniper, Brave has posted results. Others have not.
Close But No Cigar Bogus Excellent non-TvT play, terrible TvT. Has had the misfortune to go against so many ridiculous opponents. Amazing games, but oftentimes can't win when needed.
Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
Last He's shown somewhat that he can play TvP, but his last two TvT games have been bad. It seems that Last is only good when controlling the tempo, and doesn't respond well to pressure. And his TvZ is terrible.
Light Light's plight is kind of like Bogus': lots of tough opponents, one bad matchup, one phenomenal matchup, and because of these factors he's slightly negative.
Shoutouts hOn_sin Quoting mustaju: "He made Bisu cry. Always a good thing to do."
Also, I think it's an exaggeration that JD isn't in the top 10 because of that game. He still managed to win, right? I'm all of the underdogs but JD below Brave, I think, is just wrong.
Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Big mistake with Last, that kid should be way more on the top of that list. I mean those 2 last tvt he was so unlucky, and plus in last one he almost come back from dead and his opponent was Baby..yea
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Bisu is 5-2, losses to Tyson and hOn_sin. Jaedong is 4-3, losses to Canata, Flash and Effort. Somehow I'm not convinced that while Bisu is #6, Jaedong doesn't get to appear on the list at all.
JD out? I dunno even though nobody can disagree that he hasn't been impressive, he still has the second best record among zergs this season. I wish you had given him one more month with the benefit of the doubt. At any rate, yay Flash for #1, not that it was unexpected.
Pretty sure the jaw dropping game is Jaedong vs Modesty
such strange times we have right now. Stats #1 Protoss, Soulkey #1 Zerg, Jaedong off the power rank and playing worse than Jaehoon, Leta, Turn and Brave.
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Bisu is 5-2, losses to Tyson and hOn_sin. Jaedong is 4-3, losses to Canata, Flash and Effort. Somehow I'm not convinced that while Bisu is #6, Jaedong doesn't get to appear on the list at all.
To be fair, JD did have a lot more to prove, and some of his wins were cheese related or ... well, humiliating. Bisu had less to prove, and he's only moving up on account of others dropping off.
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Bisu is 5-2, losses to Tyson and hOn_sin. Jaedong is 4-3, losses to Canata, Flash and Effort. Somehow I'm not convinced that while Bisu is #6, Jaedong doesn't get to appear on the list at all.
To be fair, JD did have a lot more to prove, and some of his wins were cheese related or ... well, humiliating. Bisu had less to prove, and he's only moving up on account of others dropping off.
At least swap Bisu for Jaehoon. Jaehoon has a pretty good record and beat some bigpro names this month.
Yes but we have a degree of confidence in Bisu. I don't know about you but lately when i find out Jaedong of Jaehoon have won my reaction isn't any like YES! but rather few...thank fuck....
a good power rank is a power rank that changes slightly from month to month it would be kind of stupid when u'll see jaedong in #2 in next month ..... just saying
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Bisu is 5-2, losses to Tyson and hOn_sin. Jaedong is 4-3, losses to Canata, Flash and Effort. Somehow I'm not convinced that while Bisu is #6, Jaedong doesn't get to appear on the list at all.
To be fair, JD did have a lot more to prove, and some of his wins were cheese related or ... well, humiliating. Bisu had less to prove, and he's only moving up on account of others dropping off.
To be fair towards Bisu is the last thing I would expect from you. >.<
On February 13 2012 19:17 Nikon wrote: Jaedong not on the power rank because he has only 1 jaw-dropping game, but when I look at what you have written for Bisu? According to you he has only 1 jaw-dropping game as well. OK.
The difference? Bisu has won his games.
This is a bit of a vapid statement. It's more like Bisu hasn't shown any reason to drop him. Jaedong has just been playing poorly.
Bisu is 5-2, losses to Tyson and hOn_sin. Jaedong is 4-3, losses to Canata, Flash and Effort. Somehow I'm not convinced that while Bisu is #6, Jaedong doesn't get to appear on the list at all.
To be fair, JD did have a lot more to prove, and some of his wins were cheese related or ... well, humiliating. Bisu had less to prove, and he's only moving up on account of others dropping off.
To be fair towards Bisu is the last thing I would expect from you. >.<
I hate, but I'm fair and honest about it. But mostly I just hate the guy.
Against both Flash and Fantasy Stork had chances to win. ... he beats his lesser opponents like drums and comes close to beating some awesome opponents (à la Flash and Fantasy), but the crux of the matter is he doesn't beat them.
Don't exactly agree with this. Flash was ahead pretty much all game (from the opening, to the drop, to the push and after). While Stork did stop the push with the shuttles, it didn't really put him ahead. At best he broke even on that engagement (saved his nat, but not before losing most of his army), but Flash still led in supply the entire time. Had Flash let stork keep that 5th and just sat around on 3 bases turtling for whatever reason (while having an army advantage), then yes Stork would have had a chance to win.
On February 13 2012 19:33 ShadeR wrote: Yes but we have a degree of confidence in Bisu. I don't know about you but lately when i find out Jaedong of Jaehoon have won my reaction isn't any like YES! but rather few...thank fuck....
I was under the impression that the power rank isn't about confidence, but about results. This month's power rank is whack when you look at places 4-10+.
you are very good at writing these. i cant help but agree with them all since you give good reasons. but bisu just makes me laugh. he seems so mediocre against T or P. i guess he can be 6 since he fking rapes zergs.
On February 13 2012 20:02 Golgotha wrote: you are very good at writing these. i cant help but agree with them all since you give good reasons. but bisu just makes me laugh. he seems so mediocre against T or P. i guess he can be 6 since he fking rapes zergs.
> Go 4-1 against Protoss. > Get called mediocre against P anyway.
Hooray for the power ranks. Good to see some bw stuff featured. By the way, we really need someone to beat Flash soon, it is kind of boring when there is no competition over the top spot.
On February 13 2012 20:02 Golgotha wrote: you are very good at writing these. i cant help but agree with them all since you give good reasons. but bisu just makes me laugh. he seems so mediocre against T or P. i guess he can be 6 since he fking rapes zergs.
> Go 4-1 against Protoss. > Get called mediocre against P anyway.
lol
haha sorry sorry but he cannon rushed one and 4 gated another, nothing really dominant. but bisu is still smoking, i will give you that
I somewhat agree with this PR. Maybe drop Bisu rank to 7-9 instead ..... 6th is too generous for the games he has shown and the oponents he has played.
And KHAN the only team that got 3 players in top 10
Flash looking as unbeatable as ever, can't see how he would ever leave the #1 spot right now. Interesting to see JD not make the cut for the first time in almost 5 years, that's quite the streak yo o.O
It's a bitter taste not seeing JD on that power rank ... Though i can't really disagree he's not playing well, but Brave on power rank instead, i don't know it's just not right
On February 13 2012 21:37 rotinegg wrote: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO T_T JD...
Sums up my thoughts pretty accurately.
Also wish CJ would turn it around, only Leta on the PR now. ;_;
On February 13 2012 18:54 flamewheel wrote: Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
Dude, you MIGHT be right, but after all these years you're the guy with enough balls to trash out Jaedong from the Power Rank, by writing two lines like it was some foreigner being eliminated of some gosugamer cup.
If you phone rings in the next few minutes, i won't be able to help you, because it will already be too late.
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Oh man, the wind of change is brewing, will it be for good or bad? Jaedong down officially heralds the age of Flash bonjwa domination. Who knows how long will it take for The God to topple?
On February 13 2012 21:37 rotinegg wrote: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO T_T JD...
Sad Sheep Panda is sad..... JD will be back. He may have been usurped for now, but the Tyrant will reclaim it all!
Bogus has great TvP, Light has great TvZ. Maybe they should meet each other? Talk a little, exchange ideas?
but Bogus good at TvZ too, some problems with TvT start and Light have some problems with TvP yeah hmm, Bogus, Light, Sea, Baby, Leta should meet each other it will be nice
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
I heard JD might be switching to SC2 and that might be what is killing most of his time at the moment. I hope not, and that he starts crushing soon again to reach PR.
[QUOTE]Flamewheel: Let's play a game. I say Flash won't lose in Proleague till Round 4. What say you?[QUOTE]
Flash will lose 3 games by next power rank. Jaedong will go undefeated. CJ will resurge. Killer will go undefeated. Zero will make a comeback. Zerg will have 4 in the power ranks next month. Bisu will be Bisu.
On February 13 2012 19:00 yankjenets wrote: Calling it now: Jaedong will never make it back into the power rank. + Show Spoiler +
just kidding
Your jokes are horrible and you should think about what you've done.
And your jokes about Bisu crying are not? xD
Why do people hate Bisu so much? Is it only because of Bisu fans? I don't see anything he has done to be hate-worthy otherwise.
Same question can be applied in flash situation . Why do people hate Flash so much ? What's wrong being a dominant player in the field . Insert Flash criticism here, Flash is boring,standard,turtle terran and yet he win's game . I believe oov also was hated by many because he was pretty boring too and plays to win his game.
On February 13 2012 19:00 yankjenets wrote: Calling it now: Jaedong will never make it back into the power rank. + Show Spoiler +
just kidding
Your jokes are horrible and you should think about what you've done.
And your jokes about Bisu crying are not? xD
Why do people hate Bisu so much? Is it only because of Bisu fans? I don't see anything he has done to be hate-worthy otherwise.
Same question can be applied in flash situation . Why do people hate Flash so much ? What's wrong being a dominant player in the field . Insert Flash criticism here, Flash is boring,standard,turtle terran and yet he win's game . I believe oov also was hated by many because he was pretty boring too and plays to win his game.
Flash is hated for the same reason as Oov, because of a seemingly insurmountable dominance, and the fear that it might kill esports because a player has reached an untouchable level and will win everything ever.
So no, it's not the same, why do people hate Bisu as a person outside of his fanbase?
Mustaju still hasn't answered --;
On February 14 2012 01:37 mr.reee wrote: BW in the title would be good
Even the Tyrant bows to the master of the power rank TT Completely deserved however, he's been plain bad these last couple of weeks. And the only reason I'm admitting this that I had a revelation in the vod thread: JvZ is back ^^
Soulkey is 3rd (where he belongs atm), so I'm pretty happy. Very good writeups, top 6 were pretty obvious (though Stork and Bisu were interchangeable as 5 and 6 imo), was surprised to see TurN actually get put into the top 10! Sayle's favorite player Braze made it as well!
Wish someone else on Woongjin would do well so Soulkey wouldn't be so lonely. And we wouldn't be in 5th...
Nice ranking. I really find myself agreeing with most of your reasoning. I like that you gave Leta a spot, perhaps it was good that you waited until after CJ vs SKT or else he might have slipped through the cracks. Skill-wise he is very good this season, he just doesn't get to show it often thanks to the terrible disease that is known as Entus.
Turn #7 is the biggest surprise to me, but with wins in all three matchups and over 3 historically very good opponents, it makes sense. I do love his aggression.
I was also quite happy to see Stork #5. That's a good sign that you evaluated the games based on more than results, so Stork's 4-3 with losses to God and the Crown Prince slightly edges out Bisu's 5-2.
Well, Stork had his shot at the Ultimate Weapon. So I hope to see JangBi vs Flash later today and this could be the chance for God to be slain. After all, JangBi was the last guy to give Flash a loss (or 2). So I'll take your bet! Go Khan!
Why no love for Leta guys? (well considering the cries of JD not on PR...) Until I reached the end of the PR, I thought that Leta was going to be missing despite doing pretty well. Also, even though Bisu is good I don't agree with him being so high after reading on what he did. Though 6-10 really do seem weird and random so meh. Still, liking that Leta got onto PR. I'm willing to say that if Leta v Flash occurs, Leta would win. Nobody hold me to this. Simply an opinion.
On February 14 2012 01:42 nepeta wrote: Even the Tyrant bows to the master of the power rank TT Completely deserved however, he's been plain bad these last couple of weeks. And the only reason I'm admitting this that I had a revelation in the vod thread: JvZ is back ^^
Sorry, this is just a minor nitpick, but the use of Maginot Line in the first paragraph is incorrect. The Maginot Line was France's "impenetrable" line of defense against Germany before WW2, but Germany basically sidestepped it and pretty much rendered the whole thing useless.
Not only did it not advance, like how you used it in the text, but it was also a failure.
don't worry fellow netizens of teamliquid, The dong has just needed time to rise from his slumber. Dawn will come soon, and the mighty Tyrant shall rise again.
Jaedong belongs in the top 10 even playing below his usual top-notch standards. He's still favored against everyone below bisu on that list. If he had worse than a 50% winrate, I'd understand, but he's 8-5 (62%) this season and 4-3 since the previous power rank, including a loss to flash. When his ELO is below 10th, his kespa rank is below 10th, and his winrate is ~50%, then you could remove him and I wouldn't be complaining. But Turn? Brave? Jaehoon? ... over Jaedong? You're letting your disappointment influence your perception of his strength.
On February 14 2012 07:35 Elroi wrote: JD should have been on the rank but what ever.
He gets so insanly much shit when ever he loses. Yeah mega slump, he's still 4th in ELO.
Elo goes up when you 5 pool. Elo also goes up when you win terrible, terrible games against flying. But I assure you, neither of those worked in Jaedong's favor for the PR.
Blargh where is Jaedong >: Ever since I got into broodwar this is the first time not seeing Jaedong's face on the Power Rank. I still believe in you Jaedong, bring out the Tyrant once more and make fangirls out of us again.
Man, it's been a long road as a Flash fan, and such a fulfilling one. Anyone want to blog things nobody will read and share here? I'll start.
I started following professional BW with the start of Bacchus OSL and GOM Star Invitational, just before Flash had won any medals (insert hipster picture here saying I followed Flash before he was cool), and what really grabbed me was the storyline about how he was a young prodigy. That combined with him being Terran (my favorite race), and I was cheering for him in those two tournaments and thought it was awesome when he won them both, basically sealing my entrance into BW fandom.
Then 2009 happened, and it was dark times to be a Flash fan compared to a JD/Bisu fan. Arguments raged over whether it was Jaedong or Bisu who was the 5th bonjwa, with many hurt-feelings and locked threads to be had, while Flash carried KT on his back and kept dropping out of individual leagues, having trouble dealing with rapidly-expanding Protoss while he turtled too hard, being too stingy with turrets against Zerg and getting torn apart by mutalisks, it was rough to watch.
Then, after the darkness, something changed. Flash decided to start being more aggressive in TvP and not let them superexpand anymore, often snapping their necks in the first 10 minutes of the game. He started playing TvZ with razor's-edge early bio 3rd-denials other Ts couldn't emulate because his bio control is so godly. Ps and Zs began shitting their pants wondering what Flash was going to do to them earlygame while still having a strong economy, and he used that fear to play some wicked mindgames. The final piece snapped together when Flash got his hand fixed, and now he's the true, complete ultimate weapon, acknowledged by all as the 5th bonjwa, God, the player to bring Starcraft: Brood War to its highest level of play ever.
As for the rest of TBLS, I've always liked Stork because I felt bad for him losing twice to Flash like that, plus he's just such a likable guy, and his play is fun. The reason I'm an SKT anti-fan is probably because of my butthurt over what Bisu and Fantasy did to my boy Flash back in the days (Bisu knocking him out of some things, Fantasy threatening his #1 Terran spot for a bit). Jaedong, even though he knocked Flash around a lot and it was painful to watch, somehow I've never been a Jaedong anti-fan, and I hope he gets back into form. Flash needs a good rival like that.
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
You have TLPD available right there on the sidebar, why spread misinformation? JD is 8-5, Bisu is 9-5 and "over the past year" he didn't make a single starleague.
People hate on JD because he plays greedy and that looks like shit when loses, just like Flash was called stupid everytime he was caught 14cc'ing, even though that's part of why he wins so much. Then EffOrt turtles 20min, banging his head against a siege wall while Flash triple expands, and the same people call it "a good game".
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
You have TLPD available right there on the sidebar, why spread misinformation? JD is 8-5, Bisu is 9-5 and "over the past year" he didn't make a single starleague.
People hate on JD because he plays greedy and that looks like shit when loses, just like Flash was called stupid everytime he was caught 14cc'ing, even though that's part of why he wins so much. Then EffOrt turtles 20min, banging his head against a siege wall while Flash triple expands, and the same people call it "a good game".
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
You have TLPD available right there on the sidebar, why spread misinformation? JD is 8-5, Bisu is 9-5 and "over the past year" he didn't make a single starleague.
People hate on JD because he plays greedy and that looks like shit when loses, just like Flash was called stupid everytime he was caught 14cc'ing, even though that's part of why he wins so much. Then EffOrt turtles 20min, banging his head against a siege wall while Flash triple expands, and the same people call it "a good game".
flamewheel doesn't look at "power" or actual games when he writes the power rank, he looks at results. "JD 5pooled and got drone blocked for 10 minutes, he's so bad." He still beat the shit out of flying and made ssak almost cry (on coach's orders, btw). That's a fucking tyrant. Then he topped it off by molesting Modesty.
He has plenty of power at the moment, way more than almost everybody on that list. But whatever, flamewheel is just a hater.
Why is Bisu on this PR? I know, everyone was crummy this round, but... well, Bisu's games have been either bad or against bad players. I mean, he lost to hOn_sin. And I'm having a hard time with Bisu still making the list when Light was dropped for having a bad matchup in favor of a one-map wonder who doesn't actually have a third matchup, at least in this round.
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
You have TLPD available right there on the sidebar, why spread misinformation? JD is 8-5, Bisu is 9-5 and "over the past year" he didn't make a single starleague.
People hate on JD because he plays greedy and that looks like shit when loses, just like Flash was called stupid everytime he was caught 14cc'ing, even though that's part of why he wins so much. Then EffOrt turtles 20min, banging his head against a siege wall while Flash triple expands, and the same people call it "a good game".
flamewheel doesn't look at "power" or actual games when he writes the power rank, he looks at results. "JD 5pooled and got drone blocked for 10 minutes, he's so bad." He still beat the shit out of flying and made ssak almost cry (on coach's orders, btw). That's a fucking tyrant. Then he topped it off by molesting Modesty.
He has plenty of power at the moment, way more than almost everybody on that list. But whatever, flamewheel is just a hater.
We are all disapointed but don't be ridicules: Flameweel a hater? He is a big Jaedong fan...
But I have to agree often people rather see Jaedong's wins as almost losses than his losses as almost wins. They count his game against Ssak as a loss and his game against flying as a loss... Shouldn't we count his (bo) loss against Effort as a win then?
On February 14 2012 08:20 Hinanawi wrote: Man, it's been a long road as a Flash fan, and such a fulfilling one. Anyone want to blog things nobody will read and share here? I'll start.
I started following professional BW with the start of Bacchus OSL and GOM Star Invitational, just before Flash had won any medals (insert hipster picture here saying I followed Flash before he was cool), and what really grabbed me was the storyline about how he was a young prodigy. That combined with him being Terran (my favorite race), and I was cheering for him in those two tournaments and thought it was awesome when he won them both, basically sealing my entrance into BW fandom.
Then 2009 happened, and it was dark times to be a Flash fan compared to a JD/Bisu fan. Arguments raged over whether it was Jaedong or Bisu who was the 5th bonjwa, with many hurt-feelings and locked threads to be had, while Flash carried KT on his back and kept dropping out of individual leagues, having trouble dealing with rapidly-expanding Protoss while he turtled too hard, being too stingy with turrets against Zerg and getting torn apart by mutalisks, it was rough to watch.
Then, after the darkness, something changed. Flash decided to start being more aggressive in TvP and not let them superexpand anymore, often snapping their necks in the first 10 minutes of the game. He started playing TvZ with razor's-edge early bio 3rd-denials other Ts couldn't emulate because his bio control is so godly. Ps and Zs began shitting their pants wondering what Flash was going to do to them earlygame while still having a strong economy, and he used that fear to play some wicked mindgames. The final piece snapped together when Flash got his hand fixed, and now he's the true, complete ultimate weapon, acknowledged by all as the 5th bonjwa, God, the player to bring Starcraft: Brood War to its highest level of play ever.
As for the rest of TBLS, I've always liked Stork because I felt bad for him losing twice to Flash like that, plus he's just such a likable guy, and his play is fun. The reason I'm an SKT anti-fan is probably because of my butthurt over what Bisu and Fantasy did to my boy Flash back in the days (Bisu knocking him out of some things, Fantasy threatening his #1 Terran spot for a bit). Jaedong, even though he knocked Flash around a lot and it was painful to watch, somehow I've never been a Jaedong anti-fan, and I hope he gets back into form. Flash needs a good rival like that.
(Z)Jaedong This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
My responses:
Meh Blah Canata Zzz Whatever Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
Seriously?
It's pretty difficult to argue that Jaedong's record has been better than Bisu's. Jaedong have 1 good game, and the others were mostly losses. Bisu is pretty much the same, but his remaining games are mostly wins. Not the best games, even I (rabid fan) will agree, but generally Bisu's been performing better over the past year or so. On average :p
Jaedong has the most intense moment in all of SC:BW this year though. I had lots of fun watching the Consipated game :3
You have TLPD available right there on the sidebar, why spread misinformation? JD is 8-5, Bisu is 9-5 and "over the past year" he didn't make a single starleague.
People hate on JD because he plays greedy and that looks like shit when loses, just like Flash was called stupid everytime he was caught 14cc'ing, even though that's part of why he wins so much. Then EffOrt turtles 20min, banging his head against a siege wall while Flash triple expands, and the same people call it "a good game".
flamewheel doesn't look at "power" or actual games when he writes the power rank, he looks at results. "JD 5pooled and got drone blocked for 10 minutes, he's so bad." He still beat the shit out of flying and made ssak almost cry (on coach's orders, btw). That's a fucking tyrant. Then he topped it off by molesting Modesty.
He has plenty of power at the moment, way more than almost everybody on that list. But whatever, flamewheel is just a hater.
We are all disapointed but don't be ridicules: Flameweel a hater? He is a big Jaedong fan...
But I have to agree often people rather see Jaedong's wins as almost losses than his losses as almost wins. They count his game against Ssak as a loss and his game against flying as a loss... Shouldn't we count his (bo) loss against Effort as a win then?
Uhm, not really. But just because you have a win on paper, is that everything? Is it not right to analyze the quality of the games?
Jaedong has had 1 spectacular, 2 meh and 3 bad games. The game against Effort, Jaedong played well that game and fought valiantly against a BO disadvantage that ultimately caused his loss. You might be able to stretch things a bit and say he played well, although truthfully his play didn't stand out in any way, so "meh." The win over Ssak is not "judged as a loss" but rather a game that does not show much of anything. Once the builds were chosen and the positions apparent it was over. The bad... well, even if Flash is Flash, getting steam rolled that hard has to say something, and the loss to Canata was pretty ugly. The game against Flying... anyone who tries to spin that into a plus with words like "Jaedong managed to win even with the drone block" is a delusional idiot who does not understand Starcraft at all. That game was awful in so many ways, the continual losses of sairs to lone scourges, massing pure zeal/arch against a lurker based defense, JD's defense of his 5th which we saw in FPview no less... just awful. There's really no excuse. Props to JD for being able to admit this and laugh about it, but it's probably the worst game I've ever seen (relative to respective era, of course) in 12 years of following progaming, even without considering that one of the players is supposed to be S-class.
Up until that game against Modesty, there was no real redeeming quality to Jaedong's play. If that was not Jaedong, but some unknown Zerg playing, would there actually be any defense for him?
Thankfully there is some hope that JD isn't going to pull a Savior and totally self-destruct (referring to how Savior plummeted from an elite Zerg able to make semifinals to a complete failure after his 1-2 loss to Bisu in Ever 07 OSL). That game against Modesty as close to perfect as humanly possible. But, just as Flamewheel said, one jaw dropping game does not put you on the PR.
On February 15 2012 01:14 moochu wrote: I thought power rank was supposed to be more than results, according to this Jaehoon is the scariest player on Team 8? Really??? Jaehoon?!?!
Q: You play STX next. Jaehoon: STX has really strong momentum right now. Last and mini are pretty good but if Jaedong takes out their ace Bogus I can see them falling.
On February 15 2012 01:14 moochu wrote: I thought power rank was supposed to be more than results, according to this Jaehoon is the scariest player on Team 8? Really??? Jaehoon?!?!
He's at least been the most consistent player and hasn't had any major facepalm worthy moments, the cloest being his game against Stork where he didn't make a cannon. At the very least when Hoon wins, he wins convincinly without any real errors in his play
On February 15 2012 01:14 moochu wrote: I thought power rank was supposed to be more than results, according to this Jaehoon is the scariest player on Team 8? Really??? Jaehoon?!?!
He's at least been the most consistent player and hasn't had any major facepalm worthy moments, the cloest being his game against Stork where he didn't make a cannon. At the very least when Hoon wins, he wins convincinly without any real errors in his play
Consistency doesn't really imply power though. If you look at JD's race match ups he showed a JvZ, won a vP after a massively, albeit self induced, handicap and vT he pulled off a successful 5 pool how often does that happen? He dropped games against Effort, Flash and Canata but would you say he's not favoured against basically everyone except top 3 in each match up? But either way i'm just playing devil's advocate.
With so few games to base power ranks i can see how difficult it is to come up with one while balancing records and that "it" factor.
This is the thread from where I learn about Jaedong - Canata game! Oo Whats up with this ninja ACE vs 8 match not even on the liquid bet (or am I blind??)
A nice PR, a bit of change here and there, although pretty weak positions for last places, but hell with it. JD not being included is an ggressive move. I would down Bisu, just because I am not inspired by his game.
Wow I never realized the significance of JD underperforming. It seems like every other week for as far back as I remember he plays with his hands crossed. ZerO is more consistent.
On February 16 2012 11:48 oldgregg wrote: I admire your courage for not putting JD in the ranks. He's definiely past his prime
Pardon my ignorance, but he is on Team 8 right? Could that new environment be messing with his performances. Maybe it just doesn't jive with him.
He wasn't doing as great last year on Oz either (compared to previous years), and then people said it was probably because Cho left. He's clearly still a great player, but it does feel like he's not quite in his prime anymore.
Yeah I have no idea what's wrong with Jaedong but you see him step up and you CAN NOT PREDICT THE RESULT no matter how bad his opponent is. It's been like that for months now.
EPT
Flash 
Fantasy 
Neo.G_Soulkey 
Stats ![[image loading]](http://i.minus.com/iYMcvD9k8TZ39.gif)
Stork 
Bisu 
TurN 
Jaehoon 
Leta 
Brave 
Bogus
Jaedong![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/flamewheel/sadsheep.gif)
JD we need you, you are the chosen one ...
