When you spend years grinding out moretournamentpreviewsthanhumanelypossible, you have to learn how to keep things fresh so you don't go insane. Why, we've even gone so far as to have pro-gamers do the previews for us in the past. So, what kind of treatment have we prepared for MLG's first major live-spectator event of the year?
The ever-trusty Power Rank.
After all, what's all of this wonderfully entertaining competition worth if you can't argue about who's better than who? When a game about armchair generals spawns its own sub-set of spectator armchair generals, then you know it's really hit the big time.
The Criteria
"Who would beat whom in a best of 101 series with their lives on the line?" That crossed our minds. So did "Who had the best tournament results in the past X months?" Those, and many other questions factored in as we attempted to figure out an inherently arbitrary and contentious thing: who is better than whom. It was a complex process, which we're not even sure we completely understand ourselves. At least, we can tell you a couple of things that are NOT applicable to this ranking.
Higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head: Rankings are an overall package. For example, there are many Terran players ranked beneath JYP who we think could beat him in a 1v1, but we think JYP is just better on the whole.
Probability to win MLG Winter Championship: To include this, we'd actually have to take seeds and groups into consideration. Though we've loosely included these players' abilities to perform in a short, weekend long live tournament, details specific to this particular tournament have not been considered (seeding, jetlag, etc).
And that's it. Let's get on with the list already.
Honorable mentions / barely missed the cut
...after giving some shout-outs to guys who just barely didn't make it in. We ended up cutting the rank off at forty, because that was precisely where NA players started to creep in. To be quite honest, we didn't really want to spend too much time considering questions like "Who's better, iNcontrol or Destiny? or "Does Tyler switching his ID back to NoNy warrant a +2 rank bonus in itself?" and "Does the 100% inoffensive Flo joke exist, or is it just a fantasy?" Nonetheless, some players deserved some shout-outs.
iS.CrazymovING: CrazymovING made it into Code A once, had a good showing in a first round exit vs HerO, then proceeded to play zero TLPD recorded games after November. He probably deserves to be in the top forty, but we just have no damn idea where.
vileState: For a while, State has belonged firmly to the 'good' category of US players, which is a bit like calling someone a 'good' American soccer (apologies, Europeans) player. But recently, especially with some stellar results in the IPL Team Arena Challenge, State has earned a re-evaluation. And it's about time too, because while plucky up-and-comers are legion on the EU and KR servers, there have been few talents to celebrate in the New World. State, along with his teammates Illusion (#40), ChAnCe and Hawk represent an exciting new wave of talent. Let's hope they can keep the momentum going this week with some good performances. State is a solid, standard player who should mop the floor with all the regular dudes in attendance, and has sure upset potential against the back end of the foreigner field.
The sixteen year old got a lot of press earlier in the year as he traveled to IEM São Paulo on the heels of a good IPL TAC performance against FXO. While in Brazil, he didn't perform as well as some were hoping, but to expect so much so soon was to ignore much of the history that shows a steep learning curve in international events.
Illusion comes to this event after a weekend at the Red Bull LAN, a phenomenal opportunity to learn and play against the absolute cream of the crop, including ten other players who will be in Columbus. How much that helped him is yet to be determined, and while I would love to see an immediate payoff, I'm not expecting Illusion to finish in the money. His time will come, but not this weekend. However, a deep run, brackets willing, is surely in play. Illusion will definitely be one of the top players to watch at MLG.
+ He made it to the semifinals of the Code A qualifiers and almost made it to the finals.
- He had one of the best brackets he could have ever dreamed for in Code A qualifier history and let a series that he should have won against Cella slip through his fingers.
Still living in Korea and fighting tooth and nail to get back into the GSL, Jinro returns to MLG, where he won his first major Starcraft 2 championship. With the Code A qualifier debacle behind him, a good run at Columbus could instill some confidence back in the Liquid Terran who hasn't had a big result since early 2011, when he made his historic back to back semifinal runs in the GSL. The fans are all awaiting the return of the Chinroll to take over the scene once more. Can this be the tournament where he finally starts getting back on track?
I figure it was like Transformers II. Fnatic managed to locate Rain's mangled body (made entirely of bunkers welded together), lifted it from the Ocean floor, flew it to Korea and tossed it in a chair at the newly founded Fnatic team house in Korea. Upon which, Rain came back to life and started playing Starcraft II. That goes to show, kids, that you can never count out a GSL finalist. While I don't expect supernatural feats on the level of when FruitDealer's ghost came back from the dead and was a game away from defeating DongRaeGu in the IEM New York finals, Rain can still cause a few scares. It will take some time for him to regain his full, cheesy power, but he's capable of dealing some damage even now.
Rain was a prime example of how living in America could ruin any Korean, while Artist was an example of how no Korean could really improve in America. Of course, viOlet came along and proved both of those theories wrong. I don't know if that implies good or bad things for Artist.
Interesting fact: After getting knocked out of MLG Winter Arena early, HayprO went on to win the eight man consolation bracket against ThorZaIN, merz, and SaSe to secure a 17th place finish at the tournament. With higher seeded players like Leenock and Nestea dropping out of MLG Winter Championship, this secured HayprO a spot in the ridiculously advantageous group stages of the tournament. He might be #36th here, but he's pretty much guaranteed a higher finish with that kind of starting advantage. The moral of the story? Play your damn consolation matches (you're welcome MLG).
At some point during the tournament, you will overhear someone say "Hey, so that German Protoss managed to defend really well, get together a big colossi-templar ball, and took a game off aLive/GanZi/MKP" or "Wow, that German Protoss really played that PvP smartly, I didn't think that he could beat JYP/PartinG/HuK/Oz." In either case, you won't be able tell whether they meant HasuObs or Socke.
What the heck is going on? With BlinG and DeMusliM's rapid improvement, it seems entirely possible that the UK has gone from being completely undistinguished to being better than the USA in the span of four months.
Congratulations SeleCT, you've re-earned your US flag! Returning to the States from Korea immediately translated into a drop in SC II tournament results, as if the air somehow paralyzed the nerves in his hands. Or maybe it was the water? I don't know, maybe viOLet really is just the sole exception to the America rule.
Whether it was his Zerg switch, or because he finally recovered from injury, things have finally started to work out for TLO. Though his tournament results had previously lagged behind his popularity, his online performances as of late have been very impressive. Creator, Annyeong, MarineKing, and Gumiho have all fallen to TLO in team leagues, and we're seeing glimpses of the TLO from over a year ago, who was holding his own in Korea.
However, his most recent live tournament was a disappointment, where he was taken out 0 – 3 at ASUS ROG Assembly Winter by BlinG, Phoenix, and Polt. Over the years, we've learned that online and offline skill have a huge gulf between them. TLO might look better than ever, but we're still waiting for him to show it at a live event.
--------------------- The Grubby (#29) Line ---------------------
As we went through the list of players and placed them according to rank, we stumbled upon a fascinating phenomenon. Time and time again, we found ourselves asking ourselves the same question "is this player better or worse than Grubby?" After investigating the reasoning behind this question, we were able to discover the significance of Grubby. He is the cut-off line between players who are true long-shots to upset Koreans, and those who have actually have a realistic chance.
For instance, HayprO beat Nestea in one, glorious series, but otherwise has a few dozen unanswered losses to Koreans, putting him solidly below the Grubby Line. On the other hand, HuK's several romps through Code S put him way above the Grubby Line. Some players have recently crossed the line, in both directions. SeleCT used to be one of the best foreigners, but his recent poor performances have made us pessimistic. Meanwhile, DeMulisM's win over Nestea, and good game content as he went toe to toe with Oz and viOLet saw jump across the line.
The beauty of this principle is that Grubby comes right in the middle. His tournament performances have improved rapidly over the last few months, and he's one of the better foreigners around. However, he was just a little too happy when he beat viOLet at Lone Star Clash. If you surprise yourself that much by beating a Korean, what are we, the viewers supposed to think then?
It's an organizing principle that has many uses, and we think it should be adopted for wider use in the Starcraft II scene. Imagine scenarios such as "To motivate you in the upcoming months, we are giving bonuses to all Evil Geniuses players who cross the Grubby Line by June,""Players applying for Code A seeds must have passed the Grubby Line for at least four months" or ""Tassadar, we think you're veering dangerously close to the Grubby Line. Pick up the pace, or we're going to have to give your seat to San." The possibilities are truly endless.
Where does one put a player whose single, major merit is "qualified for Code A?"
Of the 26 players ranked above Golden, only eight have actually made it through the Code A qualifiers. Admittedly, some of them have never had to, and some have never had the opportunity. Yet, names like DongRaeGu, Parting, and Oz have tried and failed in the past, while in the most recent qualifier, players like SaSe and Losira have failed where Golden has succeeded.
I don't think there's been a foreign tournament with so many non-Code A/barely Code A Koreans, who we've almost never seen play, who are nonetheless Koreans on Korean teams. Right now, that's still enough for us to go ahead and say they're probably pretty damn good. Inori was a prime example of that at IPL3, where he came with just "On FXO" in his resume and went on to finish in the top eight (his teammate, Lucky, had the same resume and reached the finals). Let's see if anything has changed.
Alright, so he lost to Incontrol at Lone Star Clash.
But hear us out! Incontrol played pretty damn well in that series, and he's playing at his best level in over a year. Sleep rebounded after that loss, and beat every other Protoss at the tournament before losing to Polt to finish third.
It's hard to say how well he will fare in this tournament. His ZvPs against Bling and Grubby looked absolutely dominating, but you can't forget how taken aback he was against Incontrol who played very differently than the normal Protoss. The unique play styles of the foreigners are something Koreans have had a hard time dealing with in the past, so Sleep will have to be wary as he goes through the Open Bracket. It might not be the best situation for Sleep, but if he can bring more of his play against Grubby, and less of his play from his Incontrol games, look for him to make it deep into the Open Bracket and maybe make an upset or two.
DeMusliM is a player who is capable of beating GSL champions, and also capable of choking on a grain of rice. We found a reasonable middle ground between those two poles at 24th place, because we really had to put him above the Grubby Line after his great showing at MLG Winter Arena. This has the unfortunate side affect of putting him above BlinG, which doesn't make much sense considering that BlinG is the unofficial king of British Starcraft. Sorry, BlinG's mom!
Funny story, our individual rankings all had MorroW at #23 or #22. Since we all actually agreed for once, we decided to not talk about exactly why we ranked him that way, lest we found reason to argue or change our minds.
With IdrA's recent collapse, Sheth has come up and taken the position of best North American Zerg. We could almost call him the best North American player if we accounted for the fact that HuK is in Korea, but then viOLet's US residence would have forced us into a double standard. We'll let it suffice to say that Sheth has come up as one of the best foreigners in the world, being particularly impressive in various online cups for Liquid. Not only has he beat most of the big names in the international scene, but he has wins over players like PuMa, JYP and Choya. Sheth has failed to score these kind of upsets in major live tournaments, however, and he's been eliminated by tough opponents like HerO, NaNiwa, and PuMa in the recent past. Though he definitely has the ability to hang with players of that caliber, he'll need to show he can beat them when it counts to make a deep run at MLG.
If you should face a coL.Heart, beware! For if you are caught napping, then you shall suffer the same, sad fate as as ST_Bomber in Code A, where Heart performed proxy 1/1/1 all-in builds to knock out the former MLG Raleigh champion.
Mechanically, he might not be in the same class as the other Korean Terrans participating in this tournament, but he has some of the best cheeses we've seen in the GSL. So, "pillowmaster," "TubbyTheFat," and "WetGoat" etc., if you get Heart in the first round of the bracket, scout wisely and prepare for anything. Oh yeah, you're in masters on NA [editor's note: we didn't actually check.), and he's GM in Korea, so good luck with that part, too.
As a player, Killer exists to screw up your predictions (the Chilean KiLLeR does that, too). The key to this deception is a lack of finesse, which is a carry-over from his Brood War days. Yet, he makes up for this with his ability to out-think and out-muscle opponents, possessing both annoyingly cheesy tactics and an aptitude for using the Protoss deathball. I was going to mention that he never actually wins entire tournaments, but I'm afraid I might jinx something, which I just might have done anyway.
This writer had ThorZaIN placed even higher in the rankings, but in compensation for this position, I at least got to do his write-up.
From here and onwards, we're dealing with players who are not only good, but whom we can realistically conceive of taking the championship. ThorZaIN is a tremendous player in a number of ways. In the foreign scene, there are few players who are as smart. ThorZaIN abuses Terran, not in the brutish way that MC abuses Protoss, but in an artistic way that isn't always appreciated to the degree that it should be. Some things to think about: ThorZaIN was an early user of the 1/1/1 (as a semi-all in opening, not the full all-in of later Terrans), he single-handedly got the thor nerfed, recognized the potential of ghosts and upgrades sooner than most, and pioneered sky-terran TvT in the GSTL. But he has contributed incrementally to the game in a number of other ways. Every build order ThorZaIN uses is well chosen and refined (SlayerS players still copy his builds), and every series planned thoroughly.
He'll be coming to Columbus right after the Red Bull LAN, and in the odd position of having looked much stronger in TvZ than in TvP, his traditional best MU. Recent losses to HerO and NaNiwa, good as those two are, have take a bit of the lustre off of the match-up that once made ThorZaIN famous. In TvZ, however, ThorZaIN has logged wins against Zenio, TLO, and ChAnCe, and focused on the MU at Red Bull. That'll be the key match-up to watch in Columbus.
Funny enough, we don't get to see ThorZaIN too often, but in almost every one of his performances, (save DH Winter) he has put together a quietly brilliant performance. Sure he hasn't won, but when you dredge up the final table, he's always high up and he's always beaten some really good people. We might have ThorZaIN at #19, and everyone ahead of him may have a better chance of winning, but I personally feel fairly confident in suggesting that ThorZaIN will overperform this ranking.
Another Swede who's been off the radar somewhat, SaSe comes to MLG after training for months in the Startale house. He recently missed the Code A, losing to FXOwhale, who is a solid but unremarkable player. However, in last weekend's Red Bull LAN, SaSe looked to be in superb form, making the finals of the Day 3 tournament and managing to look impressive throughout, even in a finals were he was outplayed badly by Ret (when a 0-3 loss makes you look better, you know you played well). He took down PuMa in two unaired games, and then demonstrated superb PvP in a series against JYP. His control was top-level, and his builds, while somewhat weird, turned out to be precisely calibrated and deadly.
SaSe seems to be playing in top form, and this weekend, he could make a deep run. Although he's often overshadowed by his teammate and countryman, NaNiwa, the two in fact have very different styles, of which SaSe's is probably the more stylish and fun to watch. Seeing SaSe in the final rounds would be a treat to watch, as his change-of-pace protoss could score some spectacular wins.
I looked into my crystal ball, and saw two possible futures for Symbol.
Future A: Symbol will have a lackluster tournament, get knocked out in the mid-late open bracket rounds and then hang on for a little while before being taken down by a notable Korean or foreigner. No one will really remember him and he'll go back to Korea with a disappointing first voyage to the States, and have absolutely nothing to do except wait for GSTL Season 2.
Future B: Out of nowhere, this Korean practically no one has heard of before will kick some serious ass in the Open Bracket, get into pool play and continue his amazing run. By the end of the weekend, he will have gained a ton of new fanboys who will proclaim that he is the new greatest Zerg in the world and that he'll win the GSL by the end of 2012.
Symbol has looked excellent in online competition, winning the Iron Squid qualifier over teammates Polt and Shine, and was really the only person to do well for TSL in the recent GSTL and IPL Team Arena. Not a lot of people are talking about Symbol when throwing around names who can make a big splash this weekend, but don't be too surprised if you look on Liquipedia on Monday and see this guy in the top eight of Columbus. He's very skilled, and this will be his first chance to prove it to a bigger audience.
It's hard to place Huk on this list since his success this year has been built mostly on PvP, a match-up that has been less than consistent for him. From Winter Arena, and his recent Up/Down matches, we learned that his PvP at present is is more than likely top three in the world, and that we could really afford to see him play a few more PvZ and PvTs.
There are a lot of question marks for our favorite half-American, half-Canadian, and half-Korean Protoss (he's more than a man), and this weekend will be a prime opportunity to dispel any doubts.
Though he's still unable to actually win many PvTs, JYP's in game content has improved greatly in the last few weeks. He took PuMa to a fifth game at the IEM World Championship, and his PvT looked rather decent in his up-down group, despite a 1 - 2 PvT record there. The fact that going a combined 3 - 5 improved his overall winrate does say a lot about the depths he's rising up from. It seems like he's really working on his weakness, and there's been week to week improvement. I would really love to say it could be at a level where he can actually start challenging some of the Korean Terrans at MLG Columbus, but his history is just too long and dark for that. Lest this become too negative: he's still really damn good at the other two match-ups.
Conveniently for GanZi, he gets to put in a gigantic open job interview only a few weeks after leaving SlayerS to seek opportunities abroad. The downside? It's likely that his interview won't live up to his resume.
Code S Semi-finalist? Though that occurred in Code S October, it already seems like ancient history. 1 – 3 in Up and Downs is his most recent GSL legacy, and he did not look particularly good there. During his prime, GanZi was able to rely on his excellent TvZ, solid TvT, and the general absence of Protoss players from the GSL to hide his weak TvP. However, his TvZ just isn't what it used to be, and recent losses to July and Sniper show how far it's fallen since it used to give players like Leenock fits. His TvT has gone down slightly as well, and he's looked horrifically vulnerable to the wildly proliferating Protoss all-ins. We haven't given up hope on him yet, but Columbus has the potential to be a dangerous "last nail in the coffin" tournament for GanZi after a disappointing GSL Season One.
On the plus side, without Jessica around, he'll actually get to hang out at the after parties.
When the backlash from Probegate was at its highest, a Korean journalist tweeted something to the effect of "I knew NaNiwa was no pro, just some punk who's good at using force-fields."
While I understood the negative feelings in the Korean community (and so did NaNiwa, as he later apologized), I couldn't help but think that wasn't really the best criticism of a player. It was akin to saying "Mayweather is no pro, just some punk who's good at punching people." or "Zlatan is no pro, just some punk who's good at kicking a ball with his feet." Because A) Force fielding is as important to Protoss as punching is to boxing and kicking is to football, and B) I'm pretty sure Floyd, Zlatan, and NaNiwa are pretty good at their jobs, so good that we'll call them professionals regardless of their attitudes.
Anyway, awkward transition: We had some doubts about NaNiwa (inconsistent showings at Kiev and Dreamhack, lack of impressive PvT results compared to PvZ), but NaNiwa has beat too many big Korean names on too big stages for any of them to really pierce the veil. Perhaps we're a bit drunk on the optimism and excitement from his receiving a Code S seed, but we think he can show at Columbus that he really deserves it.
TheStC was finally able to make it into Code S, crotch thrusting his way (don't ask) into the main tournament by taking down noteworthy competitors in sC and Alicia. Before that, he was even able to win bragging rights in the oGs house by defeating the elephant, oGsFin, in a tightly contested 2-1 series in Code A. Though he hasn't had the best results overseas, the fact that he's a legit, current Code S player allows us to throw him way up the rankings.
Heading into Columbus, the determining factor for TheStC will be his ability to go against Zerg. His TvT has looked absolutely stellar the past couple of weeks, while his TvP has been fearsome since the beta. However, his play against Zerg has been less than reassuring, as he was smashed by Curious (not the hottest ZvT player) in the third round of Code A, and then lost to Violet in a recent IPL Fight Club series by the score of 5-3. While there are few Korean Zergs at this tournament, the best foreign Zergs are sure to give him trouble.
No player at the Red Bull LAN last weekend stole the show like Ret did on the third day. A lot of attention has recently been focused on the ZvP match-up, as all of the swarm, save Stephano and DongRaeGu, seem to be struggling with it. On Sunday, Ret added his name to the list of ZvP savants. Diligent scouting, razor thin timings, and flawless decision making were the tools that allowed Ret to defeat PartinG after falling down a game, and then thrash NaNiwa and SaSe, making ZvP look hilariously imbalanced. We all know Ret's ZvT is stellar, and his ZvZ is statistically his best match-up. But his ZvP has been quietly his strongest suit for a while now, and barring some dramatic deterioration of focus in just one week, it should continue to be a strength.
Violet could be the surprise player of Columbus. While everyone is talking about DRG, MarineKing, MC and the rest, the Korean turned Texan could shock the world with another impressive showing at an offline event. People seem to forget that he was able to take down MarineKing at Homestory; win IEM Sao Paolo by knocking down the heavy favorite oGs.Supernova in the finals; and get as far 5th place at the Winter Arena against one of the scariest Korean pools in history. At Lone Star Clash, he very well could have made it to the finals if it wasn't for a major mistake against Polt in the winners semifinals.
Everywhere Violet has gone recently, he's been over-achieving and taking down some of the best Korean Terrans. By this point, it's probably an insult to call it over-achieving: this adopted American seems to have genuine Code S level ZvT skill. Some rough losses against MC indicate that he might need to shore up some weaknesses in ZvP, but if he can stay clear of Parting, MC or Oz, the Korean Cowboy has a chance to make another deep run at a big event.
It would be wrong to put one of the Kings of Foreign Tournaments outside the top ten, especially with so much money to be won. At some point, the governments of various nations should allow PuMa to levy a tax unto their populations directly, to save him the trouble of having to fly so much (once a year, each nation is allowed to put forth a champion to face PuMa in a best of nine for exemption from the tax).
Impressive as his results might be, there's a not-so-dirty caveat to PuMa's success. When top, Code S level Koreans are involved, PuMa falls to the wayside. The only GSL finalist class player PuMa has beaten for a championship is MC, and one of those times was during MC's horrendous slump. At his last three MLG events, where there were a number of tough Korean opponents present, PuMa placed 5th, 7th, and 11th, being eliminated by Nada, MC, and IdrA respectively. It's no big shame, since the guys who win those events tend to be GSL championship caliber, and it's not exactly an insult to PuMa to say he's not at that level yet.
Additionally, while PuMa's TvP and TvT are excellent, his TvZ continues to be a liability. He's had trouble with high level foreigner Zergs, and they've beaten him in the past, making this a particularly dangerous tournament for PuMa. Undoubtedly, he will place high enough to win some money, because that's what PuMa always does, but the actual championship might be too lofty a goal.
PartinG's Ro8 GSL Code S performance was phenomenal (over Jjakji twice, Puzzle, NaDa, and then out to DRG), and so was his fifth place finish at MLG Winter Arena (over DRG and MC, out to MKP and zombie-DRG) but for whatever reason, PartinG hasn't quite 'made it' yet. At least in the way we talk about the best Protoss players in the world, there's MC, then Oz, and then... well, it's obviously PartinG. This kid is a brilliant player, one who – along with Oz, and HerO – represents a rapidly rising class of Code S Protosses that play more elegantly than their predecessors. With these players, no longer is the deathball simply an end in itself, but rather one of the means to winning that can be used in more creative and dynamic ways. They are giving most Terran and Zergs fits at the moment, and it's damn fun to watch. With PartinG, we have a great example of this new breed of Protoss that can attack multiple locations at once, execute strong timing attacks and then transition out, and make good economic decisions for the early, mid, and late game.
That said, perhaps the reason PartinG isn't quite as celebrated is that there's not one thing that he's famous for, good or bad. He's overall a superb player, with a mildly adorable Liquipedia picture and he's going to go far. But he needs to be exceptional at something, he needs to really win something to get the credit he deserves. It could clearly happen, he's not far from the top. One thing seems sure, he'll be sticking around late on the final day.
It's funny how Polt went from being derided by fans as a fluke champion, a one hit wonder we would never be seen again, to being one of the most beloved Korean players in the international scene. It's particularly funny because Polt hasn't actually changed much as a player. His clicks are still slow but efficient, his marauder micro allows him to be awesome at TvP, and his marine micro makes him excellent at bio TvT but somehow not that great at TvZ.
Maybe that's the power of streaming. Fans were able to watch him on a regular basis, to see that his wins were not flukes, but the result of actions taken by an intelligent, deliberate player. They got to see his awesome TvP during a time when there weren't any Protoss players alive in the GSL. Oh, and I guess they got to see that he was a pretty nice, friendly guy.
Now that he's popular and getting invites to foreign tournaments, it's getting a bit harder to rate him properly. He was absolutely fantastic at ASUS ROG Assembly Winter and he's consistently mugging the MSI Pro Cup organizers for their money, but ranking him amidst elite Code S players seems... risky. He did legitimately fall out of Code S, which must count against him to some degree. However, since we lent oGs.MC some credit when he was unceremoniously dumped out of GSL October, we're willing to give the former Super Tournament champion the benefit of the doubt for now.
At Assembly Winter, Stephano actually seemed intimidated by Polt, which was a little alarming given that Stephano never seems intimidated by anyone. Surprise, it was just a temporary moment of fragilité for the Frenchman, because in the Lone Star Clash last weekend, Stephano struck back with a 3-1 stomping in the finals.
As a tangent, watching Stephano and Ret in simultaneous finals last week was a cathartic experience. The mechanical differences Zerg has from the other races makes it borderline offensive to watch when it's played poorly, but a sheer joy when it's played at the highest level, whether it's in Brood War or Starcraft II. With Ret cleaning house in Orlando, and Stephano exacting revenge in Austin, it hit home just how powerful Zerg can be when played well. It may seem silly in hindsight to say that SaSe and Polt stood no chance, but watching live and even in the VODs, the swarm seemed overwhelming. With the quality of Code S Zerg ranks largely decimated, you can truly say that Ret and Stephano are among the global leaders, and may very well finish with medals at Columbus.
Hats off to Fnatic. While EG was throwing money at JYP and Complexity were courting their own Korean trio, Fnatic pulled off a coup with what might be the best Korean acquisition in foreigner history. Since moving on from a dysfunctional situation at TSL, aLive has been on fire, getting to his first semifinals appearance in the GSL by beating former champion MMA in an impressive quarterfinal showing. While his offline performances have been improving, his online performances, as usual, have been extraordinary. He beat new Code S player Seed in the RaidCall Invitational 2 finals, placed first in the stacked IPL4 Qualifiers, and won the NASL3 qualifer where he bested former teammate and Columbus competitor Polt in a close 3-2 victory.
All that is missing to for aLive to move on from a Top 5 Terran to a Top 5 player in the world is a big live event victory. It's been noted that his nerves have gotten the best of him in the past, and he didn't do so hot at his other American excursions at IPL3 and MLG Orlando. However, he's been reborn in Korea as a fantastic player, and this is his chance to show it's a lasting change.
After disappointing terribly with finishes in the 20's and 30's at MLG Anaheim and Providence, Oz is coming back to America's convention halls as massively improved player. At times, he was his own worst enemy and put in flustered performances, but he's developed an interesting swagger as someone who considers himself an absolute boss in PvP.
Like any player without a single championship to his name, his skills have gone a bit unnoticed. Whether you knew it or not, he's been the most consistently good Protoss player in the recent past. He's played well in all three match-ups against top level players, placed respectably in the GSL and MLG Winter Arena, and he plays a key role for FXO in various team leagues.
His major weakness seems to be PvT against players who play the build order mind-games well, such as MMA (not considered a good 'orthodox' TvP player) and Jjakji (good at every facet of TvP). However, when he doesn't let people get away with triple orbital builds and other such nonsense, he's as dangerous as anyone out there.
Just a few months ago, people were criticizing MC's style of play, and trying to devalue his past success. They claimed he was good because he used timing attacks and all-ins that people just couldn't deal with in early 2011, and he was fated to decline once people figured out his style and timings. For some time, this seemed true, as he dropped out of the GSL entirely after playing some really terrible games in GSL October.
What did MC do? Did he revamp his game in the model of then-rising stars Oz and HerO, who people thought played a fundamentally more successful style? Did he abandon his timing attacks to try and play longer, management games? No, he came back with even better timing attacks and all-ins and started crushing people again.
There will always be fans and players, who at some level, just don't believe MC is playing the game the "right" way. Clearly, MC thinks the right way to play the game is to make the most money as possible. In that respect, I think he has a better understanding of right and wrong than all of us.
Who else did you think was going to be second on this list? Yes, Redditors, MarineKing was able to take down DongRaeGu at his first "major" during the MLG Winter Arena finals, but if you asked if he would rather have the (non-existent) trophy of MLG Winter Arena or of a GSL champion, I'm pretty sure he would take the latter. There is no question that MarineKing has upped his game lately, drastically improving his all around game to shut up the critics that thought he would trail off as other players caught up to him in micro. Even so, he still needs that one big victory to put him over the top, and Winter Arena wasn't the one.
There has been a lot of talk about if he is still a Kong or not after his MLG Winter Arena performance, and I would have to say he is still right there along Yellow in the Kong Line. His victory over DRG in front of literally no crowd at the Winter Arena was pretty impressive, but if he wants to shed the title of the Silver Surfer, he'll need to be lifting the MLG trophy high after this weekend's affairs.
A Code S championship does not automatically bestow one with the title of best player in the world. DongRaeGu is the best player in the world because the Code S championship was the crowning achievement in a career that was built painstakingly slowly, one that forced him climb every single rung of the ladder and tested him at every step of his glacial, upwards progress. After fighting his way to 99%, the championship was the small, yet immense, final increment to 100. Every victory is 'earned' by the definition of the word, but no one else has given that word such powerful sense of meaning.
In Asia, Europe, and North America, at IEM, DreamHack, MLG, and GSL, alone or with his teammates, online and offline, Code B, A, and S, DongRaeGu had to succeed – and fail – in every single competition and at everything single level, before he was allowed to make the final challenge. Even at the GSL Blizzard Cup finals, he was made to learn the bitter taste of silver first, before finally being allowed to sweet ecstasy of gold in 2012.
What's left then, for the man who has – and truly appreciates – it all? Build new steps to climb.
Writers: Fionn, tree.hugger and Waxangel. Graphics: Meko Editors: Antoine & Waxangel.
Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
This is appreciated, but I'm not sure taking the "who is better than who?" approach is the best idea. A true list of that nature is missing a lot of Koreans. "Who are impressing us the most right now?" might be a better criterion, as then you could perhaps justify the exclusion of players like MMA, MVP, NesTea, Leenock, etc. I don't think anyone sane thinks that those players don't belong on a list of the top 40 players in the world.
edit: also, no Genius?
double edit: hahah this only includes people who are at MLG, I'm a stupid moron
Amazing writeup. It's these kind of stats or even just random statistics that really make any competition interesting. I personally love the "Grubby Line" and the reasoning for Morrow's placement.
Just wondering, how long did it take to determine the ranking of the players as opposed to the actual writeup?
Fantastic write up, my brain just grew a couple inches. I'm cheering for Parting in this MLG. But another random Haypro surge would definitely make my weekend.
On March 23 2012 08:51 tsuxiit wrote: Disagree with the inclusion of Illusion over someone like Taeja or genius. Hardly an exhaustive list, I guess that's not the point of it.
But that's because this is the MLG power ranking for the upcoming LAN, and neither of those players you listed are actually going....
Getting pretty tired of all these "MKP still a kong, needs just another bigger, better victory to relinquish himself of the title" shit that keeps going on. Oh, he only beat a GSL champion, but there was no crowd! CPL? IPL4 qualifiers? There were crowds there. I mean, where is the line going to be drawn? Winning a GSL is probably the only thing that will stop this, even if he wins this event I can still see "Well he's taken 2nd soooo many times and he won 2 events in such a short time span, let's see if he can break the Kong line with a 1st place in GSL now that it's 2 months later and his hotstreak has faded."
On March 23 2012 08:51 tsuxiit wrote: Disagree with the inclusion of Illusion over someone like Taeja or genius. Hardly an exhaustive list, I guess that's not the point of it.
Its an MLG power ranking for the MLG tournament starting tmr.....
On March 23 2012 08:48 NrGmonk wrote: Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
When you put it like that I agree with you, but Stephano has also never been code S. That doesn't mean he certainly isn't capable of it though.
Awesome read to get hyped about MLG and a good summary of all the players.
However, [Grubby] was just a little too happy when he beat viOLet at Lone Star Clash.
I'm sorry, but this was awesome. What it may speak about his talent level may be true, but this is the exact kind of emotion and reaction that SC2 needs right now. That made a lot of people happy to see him so happy.
This is a ranking for MLG Columbus. If players are missing from the list is because 1) they are not going to MLG or 2) they are not good enough to qualify for this list.
On March 23 2012 09:11 Seeker wrote: Where the heck is SlayerS_MMA?
C'mon Seeker, you even read the post? It was for the people who are actually attending the LAN. MMA isn't. Just like Leenock Nestea MVP Gumiho etc isn't on it as well :/
On March 23 2012 09:19 KimJongChill wrote: Wow, loved this write-up, and I never really appreciated DRG until now. Aren't Nestea and MVP in the open brackets or something for this too?
Thanks for the write up guys! Read through all the ranks and largely agree (though could dispute some players a rank or two either way here or there).
The tournament looks great, but I'll be pleasantly shocked if anyone not in the top3 takes this tournament. Rooting for DRG, but would be very happy to see Oz, Polt and Violet do well. Plus any foreigners of course.
Ret ZvZ is overated and statistics are inflated from the early days of sc2. ZvZ IS rets weakness and he is pretty bad at it considering his level of ZvT and now ZvP. So if he doesnt meet too many zergs, i believe he can do well. Oz maybe a little too high, Naniwa should be infornt of ret if you ask me, otherwise a good list i would say And dont forget Huk always shines at MLGs !
It would be wrong to put one of the Kings of Foreign Tournaments outside the top ten, especially with so much money to be won. At some point, the governments of various nations should allow PuMa to levy a tax unto their populations directly, to save him the trouble of having to fly so much (once a year, each nation is allowed to put forth a champion to face PuMa in a best of nine for exemption from the tax).
Impressive as his results might be, there's a not-so-dirty caveat to PuMa's success. When top, Code S level Koreans are involved, PuMa falls to the wayside. The only GSL finalist class player PuMa has beaten for a championship is MC, and one of those times was during MC's horrendous slump. At his last three MLG events, where there were a number of tough Korean opponents present, PuMa placed 5th, 7th, and 11th, being eliminated by Nada, MC, and IdrA respectively. It's no big shame, since the guys who win those events tend to be GSL championship caliber, and it's not exactly an insult to PuMa to say he's not at that level yet.
Additionally, while PuMa's TvP and TvT are excellent, his TvZ continues to be a liability. He's had trouble with high level foreigner Zergs, and they've beaten him in the past, making this a particularly dangerous tournament for PuMa. Undoubtedly, he will place high enough to win some money, because that's what PuMa always does, but the actual championship might be too lofty a goal.
So yea I guess beating MMA 3-1 doesn't mean anything, and losing 3-2 to MC is "bad" lol. Also beating players like Dimaga, Zenio, at IEM and 3-0'ing Lucky at assembly is pretty bad TvZ I guess yep.
On March 23 2012 09:11 Seeker wrote: Where the heck is SlayerS_MMA?
C'mon Seeker, you even read the post? It was for the people who are actually attending the LAN. MMA isn't. Just like Leenock Nestea MVP Gumiho etc isn't on it as well :/
Ohhhhhhhhh well that makes much much much more sense thank you.
Another reason why I think Grubby is great. He just has the best outlook on things -
Manuel Schenkhuizen @followgrubby TIL there's a "Grubby Line" LOL. Interesting contemplation: Can I move above the Grubby Line, or do I make people go under?
Yes stephano recently beat him, but in the 3 other times they have met in the past 4 months, stephano was crushed...1 win doesn't make up for 3 losses imo (for tournaments, other 3 losses are in Assembly & MSI pro cups)
If i missed any other times they have played, my apologies, but I believe these are the only 4 times they have played one another recently (within past 4 months).
On March 23 2012 09:11 Seeker wrote: Where the heck is SlayerS_MMA?
C'mon Seeker, you even read the post? It was for the people who are actually attending the LAN. MMA isn't. Just like Leenock Nestea MVP Gumiho etc isn't on it as well :/
Ohhhhhhhhh well that makes much much much more sense thank you.
Last time I saw a power ranking article, I clicked to it, discovered it was BW rankings, commented about how the article title should indicate BW or SCII, and the peanut gallery went ape, declaring, "power rankings are always BW, have been for years byaaah." Thanks for the MLG Winter tag.
On March 23 2012 09:32 Prplppleatr wrote: Why is stephano above polt?
Yes stephano recently beat him, but in the 3 other times they have met in the past 4 months, stephano was crushed...1 win doesn't make up for 3 losses imo (for tournaments, other 3 losses are in Assembly & MSI pro cups)
If i missed any other times they have played, my apologies, but I believe these are the only 4 times they have played one another recently (within past 4 months).
Well, the ranking represents more than their results against each other. Between the Supertournament and Assembly Polt did not show as many results as Stephano.
Edit: You can also read the JYP example under criteria.
Cuts off at 40 because of "NA players creeping in"
Doesn't cut off at 30 or 25 because it would exclude 3 TL players
at least they had the decency to put them below the "grubby line"!
MKP definitely needs to win in front of a crowd to shake the kong status. I mean, it's often said in the comfort of his own home on ladder he's unbeatable but in tournaments he falls to pieces. MLG winter PPV thingy was a happy medium between the two, but he still needs to show the kind of personal strength that DRG can show.
I think this is fairly accurate, especially the top 15. Although I think Ret is a little bit high to be honest, Red Bull LAN was just practice and I shouldn't count to much on the mini-tourmanent but w/e.
What people don't know is PuMa lives in a starcraft terran lair speeding his days and night perfecting the most amazing strategies ever, only to be unleashed at his chosen time. This is it.
On March 23 2012 09:32 Prplppleatr wrote: Why is stephano above polt?
Yes stephano recently beat him, but in the 3 other times they have met in the past 4 months, stephano was crushed...1 win doesn't make up for 3 losses imo (for tournaments, other 3 losses are in Assembly & MSI pro cups)
If i missed any other times they have played, my apologies, but I believe these are the only 4 times they have played one another recently (within past 4 months).
Well, the ranking represents more than their results against each other. Between the Supertournament and Assembly Polt did not show as many results as Stephano.
Edit: You can also read the JYP example under criteria.
True, but i stil disagree that Polt < Stephano, using the JYP example, because Polt is an overall better player. And, as stated, has beat stephano several times more. But ya, im sure that is their reasoning...i just disagree. I would even put him below parting, who i believe is a better overall player, but that is just my opinion
On March 23 2012 08:57 dekarp wrote: Getting pretty tired of all these "MKP still a kong, needs just another bigger, better victory to relinquish himself of the title" shit that keeps going on. Oh, he only beat a GSL champion, but there was no crowd! CPL? IPL4 qualifiers? There were crowds there. I mean, where is the line going to be drawn? Winning a GSL is probably the only thing that will stop this, even if he wins this event I can still see "Well he's taken 2nd soooo many times and he won 2 events in such a short time span, let's see if he can break the Kong line with a 1st place in GSL now that it's 2 months later and his hotstreak has faded."
Sorry, I'm just getting tired of it is all.
Winning qualifiers and foreign events don't mean anything.
"Higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head...For example, there are many Terran players ranked beneath JYP who we think could beat him in a 1v1, but we think JYP is just better on the whole."
On March 23 2012 09:41 eYeball wrote: I think this is fairly accurate, especially the top 15. Although I think Ret is a little bit high to be honest, Red Bull LAN was just practice and I shouldn't count to much on the mini-tourmanent but w/e.
I agree about the Red Bull LAN
However, Ret has the easiest pool so far and that may help him get a decent placing
On March 23 2012 09:47 whoopingchow wrote: Wait, what?
"Higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head...For example, there are many Terran players ranked beneath JYP who we think could beat him in a 1v1, but we think JYP is just better on the whole."
Am I the only confused by the contradiction?
Read what's right above that.
"we can tell you a couple of things that are NOT applicable to this ranking."
Nice write-up, and I somewhat agree with most of the higher ranks, but anything below the top 15 gets a little strange and arbitrary, but I suppose it is pretty reasonable comparing results and skill. Oh, and to anyone wondering why their favorite Korean player isn't on the list, it's probably due to Code S groupings, or some other scheduling conflicts. Can't wait for this weekend for some top-line Starcraft!
On March 23 2012 09:40 darkscream wrote: bad guy TEAMLIQUID ESPORTS
Cuts off at 40 because of "NA players creeping in"
Doesn't cut off at 30 or 25 because it would exclude 3 TL players
at least they had the decency to put them below the "grubby line"!
MKP definitely needs to win in front of a crowd to shake the kong status. I mean, it's often said in the comfort of his own home on ladder he's unbeatable but in tournaments he falls to pieces. MLG winter PPV thingy was a happy medium between the two, but he still needs to show the kind of personal strength that DRG can show.
I like how they talk about Ret for the entire Stephano blurb.
Hoping for an epic TvT finals of MKP vs Polt! I know people complain about too much TvT but I think with those two players it would get pretty exciting.
It's particularly funny because Polt hasn't actually changed much as a player. His clicks are still slow but efficient, his marauder micro allows him to be awesome at TvP, and his marine micro makes him excellent at bio TvT but somehow not that great at TvZ.
Hm, Polt has changed IMMENSELY as a player. All the things you mentioned are true, but he used to be someone who never went above 2 bases to someone who expands non-stop, to the point that his supply and base count often keeps up with Zerg opponents. He's gone totally late-game macro.
On March 23 2012 09:51 marcesr wrote: Lol you put Hasu and Socke below TLO, Bling, Grubby, Demuslim and Morrow?! Do you guys watch European Starcraft at all?
I would only put them above TLO honestly. And TLO has been playing pretty well as of late.
Gonna side with the others here and say that beyond the top ten things started to make a lot less sense......but in general I disagree with the concept of a "power ranking" so I don't know maybe i'm just biased.
On March 23 2012 09:51 marcesr wrote: Lol you put Hasu and Socke below TLO, Bling, Grubby, Demuslim and Morrow?! Do you guys watch European Starcraft at all?
Yeah, but see, here's the issue. We watch more than just EU starcraft too. While I watch the EU scene religiously, most of the people above your German Protosses have had wins against Koreans, or impressive international tournament runs recently. Not so for Hasu and Socke, although, of course, they've been training hard.
Probability to win MLG Winter Championship: To include this, we'd actually have to take seeds and groups into consideration. Though we've loosely included these players' abilities to perform in a short, weekend long live tournament, details specific to this particular tournament have not been considered (seeding, jetlag, etc).
I'd love to see anyone who starts in round 1 of the Open Bracket go far. Just an amazing feat. Does anyone know if Stephano's position means he starts in round 1?
Remember White-Ra's epic MLG: falling to the loser's bracket in the first round but eventually making it all the way back to the championship bracket in a massive endurance run of something like ~30 matches over the weekend.
i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
On March 23 2012 09:51 marcesr wrote: Lol you put Hasu and Socke below TLO, Bling, Grubby, Demuslim and Morrow?! Do you guys watch European Starcraft at all?
Yeah, but see, here's the issue. We watch more than just EU starcraft too. While I watch the EU scene religiously, most of the people above your German Protosses have had wins against Koreans, or impressive international tournament runs recently. Not so for Hasu and Socke, although, of course, they've been training hard.
Hasu beat Jookto and Luvsic in IPL Team Arena and FXOTree and QuanticApocalypse in NASTL. Just saying, TLO's wins might've been against a bit more prestigious opponents, but it's not like Hasu hasn't beaten any Koreans like you said.
Great read B} I cannot wait to see how foreign zergs do at this tournament: IdrA, Ret, Stephano, Sheth in particular. I feel like this will be the most competitive MLG yet for some reason. As a TON of heavy-hitting Euros are coming that do not normally attend MLGS, i.e. MorroW/ThorZaIN/SaSe/HasuObs/Grubby/etc... Powerful story lines and a sick player line up is a recipe to success imoimoimoimo gogo TL writers!
On March 23 2012 10:03 jeremysaint wrote: i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
Is there nothing to be said for respect for a phenomenal player? Players go through bad spells, mate. If we were talking about a player with no track record of winning foreign tournaments and playing toe-to-toe with Koreans then I would agree with you, but IdrA has far too much history to be bumped off this list. He also starts in R5 of the Open Bracket so he has a sizeable advantage over his fellow OB players.
On March 23 2012 10:03 Viperbird wrote: I think HuK and NaNiWa should have definitely been a lot higher, as they have both won before and almost always place top 4.
NaNi vs Stephano finals ~ heard it here first! Ret and HuK 3rd and 4th Hope the Koreans lose! =)
there is not a snowballs chance in hell koreans don't make at the very least 1 top 4.
On March 23 2012 10:03 jeremysaint wrote: i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
I think Thorzain is rated too highly. I also expect Idra to perform at this event.
Grubby line seems completely reasonable. I've been using him too for some reason (I don't see Thorzain above the Grubby line). I don't hate Thorzain either I just... don't see it.
Anyone else excited about MC vs Stephano if it were to go down? MC claims he won't ever lose to Zerg and Stephano thinks Toss is underpowered. I see MC taking it but it would be cool to see it happen again. (I think they last played at.... Blizzard cup?... maybe....)
DRG will win unless he runs in to MC. DRG is better but MC is too strong against Zerg.
On March 23 2012 10:03 jeremysaint wrote: i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
On March 23 2012 10:22 MattBleez wrote: I think Thorzain is rated too highly. I also expect Idra to perform at this event.
Grubby line seems completely reasonable. I've been using him too for some reason (I don't see Thorzain above the Grubby line). I don't hate Thorzain either I just... don't see it.
Anyone else excited about MC vs Stephano if it were to go down? MC claims he won't ever lose to Zerg and Stephano thinks Toss is underpowered. I see MC taking it but it would be cool to see it happen again. (I think they last played at.... Blizzard cup?... maybe....)
DRG will win unless he runs in to MC. DRG is better but MC is too strong against Zerg.
On March 23 2012 10:22 MattBleez wrote: I think Thorzain is rated too highly. I also expect Idra to perform at this event.
Grubby line seems completely reasonable. I've been using him too for some reason (I don't see Thorzain above the Grubby line). I don't hate Thorzain either I just... don't see it.
On March 23 2012 10:03 jeremysaint wrote: i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
well he did beat SuperNova at IEM
Anyone can beat Supernova if he's not in the GSL.
SuperNova is still a great player and beat Kas, Real, and Darkforce at that same tournament. and the guy said he can't remember the last time Idra won a series so I listed the last time he did. Although it appears I am wrong as Idra beat + Show Spoiler +
IdrA is just too inconsistent, Im a fan of his but he just lacks the ability to win games he should consistently... Beating Thorzain and Supernova and then losing to underwhelming competition, he could be gone very quickly but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised at all if he beat Stephano or a strong Korean player
Manuel Schenkhuizen @followgrubby TIL there's a "Grubby Line" LOL. Interesting contemplation: Can I move above the Grubby Line, or do I make people go under?
-
Haha, that's great. I can't help but pull for Grubby, hopefully 2012 is a good year for him. And he should make as many people go under his eponymous line as possible.
On March 23 2012 10:03 jeremysaint wrote: i really don't think idra has a place on this list. i actually can't remember the last time i saw him win a series, but i can certainly remember all the times i have watched him throw away matches.
well he did beat SuperNova at IEM
Anyone can beat Supernova if he's not in the GSL.
SuperNova is still a great player and beat Kas, Real, and Darkforce at that same tournament. and the guy said he can't remember the last time Idra won a series so I listed the last time he did. Although it appears I am wrong as Idra beat + Show Spoiler +
Thorzain in the IronSquid groups
Still a great player, still far weaker than other Korean competition when playing in a foreign tournament.
I have to say there's nothing wrong in my book about being excited about beating violet lol. I love players to show their excitement no matter who their opponent is. I'm really rooting for Grubby this year, he's one of my favorite Protoss players out there. Love the article by the way, and I agree with most of your rankings. Great read!
On March 23 2012 08:56 Champloo wrote: The top 10 is okay, everything after that is just... strange.
I completely agree. I don't know if they left out people just because they haven't played in MLG lately or not but where's MMA? MVP? What's Idra doing on this list? I dunno about this...
I agree with most... except select being below the Grubby line... Calling him a longshot against top koreans is absurd. He was in the top 10 of Korean GM a month ago. I dont think you get into top 10 Korean GM by being a longshot against them.
He struggles from nerves in major tournaments, but realistically hes is in the top 3 foreign terrans (Thorzain, Select, Kas/Demuslim)
On March 23 2012 08:56 Champloo wrote: The top 10 is okay, everything after that is just... strange.
I completely agree. I don't know if they left out people just because they haven't played in MLG lately or not but where's MMA? MVP? What's Idra doing on this list? I dunno about this...
On March 23 2012 08:56 Champloo wrote: The top 10 is okay, everything after that is just... strange.
I completely agree. I don't know if they left out people just because they haven't played in MLG lately or not but where's MMA? MVP? What's Idra doing on this list? I dunno about this...
It's the power ranking for the people ATTENDING columbus.
Why on earth would they bother ranking people who aren't even going to be there?
I can't believe so many people are having difficulty understanding that this is ranking players at MLG Columbus when the title is Power Rank - MLG Winter Edition.
I honestly see results from Bling yet I am never impressed with his play. Am I the only one? Like I feel he beats players who beat themselves. His play seems really sloppy. (Though he is taking advantage of currently strong Toss builds).
Hmmm. I dont know why but spotlighting in article underachievers like incontrol and destiny gets into my head real hard. Its like wtf.. they are nothing but average players in foreign starcraft scene.... and i dont want to brag about EU superiority... but stilll... Im really dissapointed by NA players like idra,qxc catz(yea i now that catz is peruvian), minigun,axslav,attero... they have a lot of potential in them and for various reasons they dont show it.
EU is fucking powerhouse right now for foreign scene, but why is that.... why players like Nony dont shine?I ... Im a little butthurt cause i loved Nony a while back in his BW days and now he cant get back to his old self
But i will give a credit to incontrol. He was a joke invite to a lot of tourneys for some time but he showed by hard work that he can be a decent player and that he cant be only measuerd by his celeb status.
Ilusion is the only hope for NA scene right now...i hope he will do well.... but w/e im still butthurt BW fan (((... and im drunk.
On March 23 2012 11:28 Roachu wrote: I fail to see how Stephano can end up sub-top 5.
Open Bracket is rough. No matter how could you are, you can screw up a few games. And there are great players in the Open Bracket already, including Polt.
On March 23 2012 08:50 Severian wrote: This is appreciated, but I'm not sure taking the "who is better than who?" approach is the best idea. A true list of that nature is missing a lot of Koreans. "Who are impressing us the most right now?" might be a better criterion, as then you could perhaps justify the exclusion of players like MMA, MVP, NesTea, Leenock, etc. I don't think anyone sane thinks that those players don't belong on a list of the top 40 players in the world.
edit: also, no Genius?
double edit: hahah this only includes people who are at MLG, I'm a stupid moron
I looked at the list twice and was confused by no genius (among others) as well, then noticed that it only includes people from MLG, so you are not the only one
All in all though, outside of the top 10, it gets really hard to say who is better, but I think the list isn't to bad.
This list is very inaccurate and leaves out many top players who should replace most of the foreigners in the list such as Leenock, MVP etc. EDIT: just noticed its for MLG nvm
I agree that only Demuslim is missplaced here. Besides beating Nestea, he hasnt done much. Should place right behind the Grubby line. Ret could be 2-3 places down as well.
vileIllusion only made it into the list because hes 16 and because he got invited to red bull lan, don't think his tournament results or past mlg results justify him making it into the top 40 over other people, such as minigun.
On March 23 2012 11:28 Roachu wrote: I fail to see how Stephano can end up sub-top 5.
Well he's not top 5 in the world so logically if some of the players above him attend he's not gonna be top 5.
How can you apply logic to a players like stephano.... he doesnt even watch the replays fors gods sake.
Not watching replays =/= auto top 5
He's really good, a top player in the world. But there's a lot of talent in SC2. While Stephano is the top foreigner without question, I don't know if he's top 10 in the world. But he's up there. Definitely.
On March 23 2012 11:47 goswser wrote: vileIllusion only made it into the list because hes 16 and because he got invited to red bull lan, don't think his tournament results or past mlg results justify him making it into the top 40 over other people, such as minigun.
What has minigun done to be above illusion? Illusion has shown some great games at previous mlgs and in team leagues.
good writeup, some grammatical errors that i see throughout the post, but its okay! (only criticizing because im an aspiring journalist and id actually enjoy doing this!) :D
On March 23 2012 11:28 Roachu wrote: I fail to see how Stephano can end up sub-top 5.
Well he's not top 5 in the world so logically if some of the players above him attend he's not gonna be top 5.
How can you apply logic to a players like stephano.... he doesnt even watch the replays fors gods sake.
Not watching replays =/= auto top 5
He's really good, a top player in the world. But there's a lot of talent in SC2. While Stephano is the top foreigner without question, I don't know if he's top 10 in the world. But he's up there. Definitely.
Yea but take into account that players like DRG, MMMA etc. are not only talented but they train much more than any other foreign player, thats why i emphasize stephano... he is kinda wonderkid of the foreign scene.
On March 23 2012 11:47 goswser wrote: vileIllusion only made it into the list because hes 16 and because he got invited to red bull lan, don't think his tournament results or past mlg results justify him making it into the top 40 over other people, such as minigun.
What has minigun done to be above illusion? Illusion has shown some great games at previous mlgs and in team leagues.
I agree with you. Minigun sure is talented but he doesnt deserve the praise he is recieving right now. Ilusion has shown the results and a lot o people still blindly follow players like idra instead of supporting rising NA talents like him.
On March 23 2012 09:11 Seeker wrote: Where the heck is SlayerS_MMA?
C'mon Seeker, you even read the post? It was for the people who are actually attending the LAN. MMA isn't. Just like Leenock Nestea MVP Gumiho etc isn't on it as well :/
Ohhhhhhhhh well that makes much much much more sense thank you.
Evn tho I have met, talked and shared some beers with most these guys, I have to say I wish Nani his trophy. Some deep emotional cell in me just wants him to win. And who am I to disagree?
! A great read, I am so excited for MLG, didn't really have time to watch a lot of either IEM WC or Lone Star Clash so I'm starving for live tournament watching tiemz!
I like what i have read.( i have read untill symbol) But! i have to say something about symbol... We have been talking about symbol for months saying hes not well known but has alot of potential and this was when he had a few good tournament wins. He is still atm playing really really solid and has suprised us alot so stop calling him unknown! he really is a top zerg and really soon will break out...
Bahahaha, I knew Idra was playing poorly lately, but jesus...
However, Polt being lower than Stephano is kind of laughable. Almost every time they meet Polt stomps him in his so-called weakest match-up. I know Stephano is a foreigner and all, but still...
wow this power rank is actually quite terrible imo
some examples are idra being 28th ahead of fore example grubby .... if you look at them in 2012 you would put idra way below that....
and also demuslim is too high to imo i mean ok he beat nestea some time ago but if you look how he actually played in tournanments recently (not even results just his play in general) i dont think he deserves to be that high up
and also TLO above socke hasu bling is a bit ridiculous don't you think TL writers
The list makes alot of sense to me, would personally rank Ret, Oz, TLO and SaSe a bit lower, but I can't say its ridiculous to see them where they are. Was surprised to see Grubby ranked so low, but looking at the names ahead of him it actually makes alot of sense. Also, I have no idea who coL.Heart is.
Btw. I want to give thanks for putting MKP 2nd in the power rank That just never gets old.
Hoping MKP wins tho. ALWAYS an entertaining player to watch. a nice personality. And did i mention entertaining? I remember his games against Gosuser in the open bracket the first mlg he attended? - 20+ rax pure marine. How can you not love that guy .
On March 23 2012 20:09 Greenei wrote: meeeeeh MC too high, he isnt better then OZ and Parting. and where is THE MAN Mvp? I thought he's going too.
Are you kidding? There isn't a single player in the world going into a bo3 or bo5 vs MC that I would think "nope, MC is screwed. no chance". When MC gets it wrong he looks terrible, but when he gets it right, he looks terrifying!
As a big Stephano fan I actually think Polt and Stephano shoudl be placed at the same rank. They are so close its not fair that one is above another. Just look at there games they play vs eachother it dont get closer then that.
The bias is strong in this article . Still think IdrA should be a bit higher despite his poor start to the year, it's not like he is losing to random players
Edit: Also think Ret and Stephano should be slighty lower
Nice job trying to make fun of american players in every paragraph. I'm not offended but it just seemed dumb and wasn't very funny. Try harder/ be more creative next time.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
There will always be fans and players, who at some level, just don't believe MC is playing the game the "right" way. Clearly, MC thinks the right way to play the game is to make the most money as possible. In that respect, I think he has a better understanding of right and wrong than all of us.
Sase ahead of Thorzain seams wierd in my eyes. Also ret above Naniwa seams wierd. Well the most overrated player here must be Stephano. Should have put him closer to Naniwa. Oz ahead of Polt and aLive seams wierd also.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
On March 23 2012 22:20 Robson13 wrote: The bias is strong in this article . Still think IdrA should be a bit higher despite his poor start to the year, it's not like he is losing to random players
Edit: Also think Ret and Stephano should be slighty lower
i completely disagree
stephano kicked everyone he faced this years,and ret did it as well. but ret as shown during past tournament that he always failed versus korean even when he seems to be the better player
idra in the same time looked so weak in every tournament.
getting crush again and again and still leaving games he could win.
except a major mind training AND skill training he won't do anything against equally prepared opponent(not someone who played 15 more BO3 in the open bracket before)
Nice write up, sad people cannot enjoy something done for fun, someone always seems to have a problem with something and shit up the thread with ignorant or butthurt comments.
Looking forward to this weekend. I hope the TL crew goes deep and keeps up the trend that 2012 is the year of Liquid!
On March 23 2012 22:53 emis wrote: How is Grubby below IdrA and MorroW..?
Why shouldn't he be? I'd bet on Idra if they faced off and even if we don't have much reference between Morrow and Grubby it's certainly not unreasonable to take Morrow over him.
People who are like: "Why isn't MVP/MMA/Nestea/Genius/Puzzle/Leenock/Jjakji/whoever on the list?!" Need to learn to read. These are the players going to the MLG Winter Championship. Many Korean players have their GSL matches around the same time, so can't be in two places at once.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Play against them. Yes, Stephano can win against Koreans no doubt but when he wins a tournament with at least 10 top calibre Koreans we can start to talk. Bring up ELO is laughable and if it's only about winning tournament you could rank Goody higher than most Koreans last year... At least have a sound argument.
I'd say this is a very well thought out and written Power rank. I mostly agree with it, my only concerns would be Oz being 4th, I'm not entirely sure whether he deserves it, but I might be wrong too.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Play against them. Yes, Stephano can win against Koreans no doubt but when he wins a tournament with at least 10 top calibre Koreans we can start to talk. Bring up ELO is laughable and if it's only about winning tournament you could rank Goody higher than most Koreans last year... At least have a sound argument.
This is where you point me to those amazing results nestea/curious has had this year. Curious is in great form right now but I don't see how you can have "no basis" for ranking stephano above him. It doesn't matter though, stephano hasn't played in the gsl so he's obviously not to ever be considered a good player, no no. Only koreans can be considered good, sorry for arguing. I didn't realise there was a set number of koreans you had to beat in one tournament before you get to be ranked high.
On March 24 2012 00:31 Panthae wrote: Polt should be over Stephano imo.
They are sorta equal really, theres a reason why they are just besides each other. Stephano is higher since he won their last encounter, and its up to polt to see how it goes next time they meet
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Win a Premier tournament in 2012 at least(no lone star clash doesn't count.), or do better than them in the GSL. Currently there's no way Stephano deserves to be ranked above Leenock.
On March 23 2012 08:57 dekarp wrote: Getting pretty tired of all these "MKP still a kong, needs just another bigger, better victory to relinquish himself of the title" shit that keeps going on. Oh, he only beat a GSL champion, but there was no crowd! CPL? IPL4 qualifiers? There were crowds there. I mean, where is the line going to be drawn? Winning a GSL is probably the only thing that will stop this, even if he wins this event I can still see "Well he's taken 2nd soooo many times and he won 2 events in such a short time span, let's see if he can break the Kong line with a 1st place in GSL now that it's 2 months later and his hotstreak has faded."
Sorry, I'm just getting tired of it is all.
Seems only GSL and MLG count towards ending his run as Kong. Makes sense to me.
On March 23 2012 08:57 dekarp wrote: Getting pretty tired of all these "MKP still a kong, needs just another bigger, better victory to relinquish himself of the title" shit that keeps going on. Oh, he only beat a GSL champion, but there was no crowd! CPL? IPL4 qualifiers? There were crowds there. I mean, where is the line going to be drawn? Winning a GSL is probably the only thing that will stop this, even if he wins this event I can still see "Well he's taken 2nd soooo many times and he won 2 events in such a short time span, let's see if he can break the Kong line with a 1st place in GSL now that it's 2 months later and his hotstreak has faded."
Sorry, I'm just getting tired of it is all.
The line is here:
Code S Champion
---- Everything below this counts as a 'special event' ----
MLG (debatable, but I don't think it counts) CPL IPL4 quals etc.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Win a Premier tournament in 2012 at least(no lone star clash doesn't count.), or do better than them in the GSL. Currently there's no way Stephano deserves to be ranked above Leenock.
I'm not going to argue with putting Leenock above him, Leenock has played really well and proved himself against the toughest opponents.
GanZi top 8 for sure. You guys forgetting that he has a 65% winrate in international tournaments, and is kicking ass in TvP recently (6-1 in maps at MLG Winter).
I'm a power ranking hater because GanZi is my fav.
I think Oz does deserve 4th place. He's been a consistent protoss at a time where others where doing horribly and he's continuing to kick ass no matter where he goes. If you look closely you'll see that he doesn't get beaten by people other than the very best... or HuK, in one PvP series. And even if he gets beaten, the games are close. ALive is similar but if I compare them, the way aLive was demolished by Genius makes me give a slight edge to Oz.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Win a Premier tournament in 2012 at least(no lone star clash doesn't count.), or do better than them in the GSL. Currently there's no way Stephano deserves to be ranked above Leenock.
Which tournament has Leenock won in 2012? Or Nestea? Or Curious? I personally think, that Leenock is maybe a bit stronger than Stephano, but in his last international apperiances Nestea lost to a lot of players, who are not as good as Stephano. And putting Curios above him has nothing to back it up at all. I think my personal zerg-ranking would look like this: 1. DRG 2. gap 3. Leenock 4. Stephano 5. Nestea 6. Curios/Lucky/July
Bling and Thorzain below Demuslim and Sase respectively? Ret over Naniwa? Questionable ranking in my opinion but I guess it is basically impossible to rank players anyway. I too think that Symbol might just crush many a nerd this weekend.
Don't care much about the actual positions of the rankings, as they are debatable. However, very much enjoyed the reasoning and comments for each player. Well done!
On March 24 2012 03:47 Resilient wrote: Don't care much about the actual positions of the rankings, as they are debatable. However, very much enjoyed the reasoning and comments for each player. Well done!
I'm of the same exact opinion. With different matchups and their respective specialists, there's no way we can clearly define an absolute winner. Rankings are a way to reflect on these players strenghts and results, or eventually an occasion to have a discussion and nothing more.
This said, the obligatory whining: Ret higher than TheStc or Naniwa is highly debatable (despite the obvious skill of the Droneking, ofc), and I don't really see why HasuObs or Socke should be 'less favorite' than TLO or Idra. Also, Demuslim seems quite overrated to me.
I definitively agree about Sheth since lately he's beasting it up, with Stephano having good chances and all the ranking in general.
On March 23 2012 08:48 NrGmonk wrote: Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
You don't watch any online cup's do you? He's good enaugh for that spot.
On March 24 2012 05:01 Kilos wrote: Miss spelling on FnaticRCaLive. It says "Fnatric". But DRG #1 I agree. :p
Misspelling on Miss spelling...
Am I the only one who's got a feeling that Symbol is gonna be a force to be reckoned with to the very end this weekend? The guy's been looking really, really scary in online tournaments the last couple of weeks. (Not that I think he'll take it all, but he'll probably be pretty close.)
I find it very hard to belive that players like sase, idra or incontrol are stronger than Rain! Every time fnatic plays in teamleagues, Rain comes to save the day, smashing foreigners and koreans alike.
Impressive as his results might be, there's a not-so-dirty caveat to PuMa's success. When top, Code S level Koreans are involved, PuMa falls to the wayside.
Puma never gets the respect he deserves. At the last IEM he topped his group of Zenio, Killer, Mana, Select and Dimaga. Then he beat JYP and MMA before losing 2-3 to MC in the Finals. Just so you know, MMA, JYP and MC were Code S Koreans in GSL Season 1 2012. How does he fall by the wayside beating 2 of 3? And he has gotten the better of MC in their history, and was up 2-1 vs him in said series.
Finally, in the past at MLG's he has defeated Nada (pool play), Polt, Losira, and Bomber, more Code S Koreans. He has always been right up there.
He at least deserves the #6 spot, above Polt, Parting and Stephano.
On March 23 2012 08:48 NrGmonk wrote: Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
You don't watch any online cup's do you? He's good enaugh for that spot.
On March 23 2012 08:48 NrGmonk wrote: Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
You don't watch any online cup's do you? He's good enaugh for that spot.
What online cups has Oz done well in?
Reasonably well in all the ESVs and other small Korean tourneys.
On March 23 2012 08:48 NrGmonk wrote: Oz is really overrated here imo. I would put instead of, Oz 4th, Alive 5th, Stephano 6th, Polt 7th, Stephano 4th, Polt 5th, Alive 6th, Oz 7th. Oz's achievements/level of play seem too close to Parting's at 8th to justify a 4th place ranking.
You don't watch any online cup's do you? He's good enaugh for that spot.
What online cups has Oz done well in?
Reasonably well in all the ESVs and other small Korean tourneys.
Yea, but Stephano and Polt have both placed 1st and 2nd in recent LAN tournies and won many online tournies. Polt has won 3 MSI cups. Stephano has won 2 MSI cups and several other invitationals, such as shoutcraft. Alive won the Fnatic invitational that Oz competed in(and did reasonably well in). And tbh I haven't seen Oz compete in any ESV tournies. Link?
DRG should be at the top. However, I think MKP is a little over ranked, since he struggles in (most) championship series events [by struggle, I mean he doesn't get 1st].
On March 24 2012 05:34 KookyMonster wrote: DRG should be at the top. However, I think MKP is a little over ranked, since he struggles in (most) championship series events [by struggle, I mean he doesn't get 1st].
Too bad this even is no longer free to watch, as it stands, if I can't watch it for free, I don't care much. Just send me the results Sunday nite when it's over. It's just like any sporting event that you can't see, I'm sure it's good, but only the results matter if you can't witness it.
On March 24 2012 05:46 striderxxx wrote: Too bad this even is no longer free to watch, as it stands, if I can't watch it for free, I don't care much. Just send me the results Sunday nite when it's over. It's just like any sporting event that you can't see, I'm sure it's good, but only the results matter if you can't witness it.
On March 24 2012 05:46 striderxxx wrote: Too bad this even is no longer free to watch, as it stands, if I can't watch it for free, I don't care much. Just send me the results Sunday nite when it's over. It's just like any sporting event that you can't see, I'm sure it's good, but only the results matter if you can't witness it.
You can watch it for free...............
i really am disappointed in how dumb people are in this thread. Thinking its not free, wondering where MMA is in the rankings. Seriously, this is a really sad thread.
Was about to call bogus, but I guess there aren't that many high profile korean zergs atm. Still, you have no basis for rating Stephano over those guys. And I'd argue Leenock is showing way better form than NesTea for some time now.
Being 2nd elo and winning lots of tournaments isn't enough basis to consider ranking him higher than those guys? I don't get what he's supposed to do to be ranked above them then. Win the GSL?
Win a Premier tournament in 2012 at least(no lone star clash doesn't count.), or do better than them in the GSL. Currently there's no way Stephano deserves to be ranked above Leenock.
Which tournament has Leenock won in 2012? Or Nestea? Or Curious? I personally think, that Leenock is maybe a bit stronger than Stephano, but in his last international apperiances Nestea lost to a lot of players, who are not as good as Stephano. And putting Curios above him has nothing to back it up at all. I think my personal zerg-ranking would look like this: 1. DRG 2. gap 3. Leenock 4. Stephano 5. Nestea 6. Curios/Lucky/July
I am not arguing that stephano has accomplished as much as NesTea (though it could be argued he has accomplished as much as Leenock and more than Curious for sure) for example, but I am also basing it off the "eye test," just like people do in power rankings and regular rankings in other sports (Team A looks better than Team B when they play, thus they are ranked higher is one simple example). He looks to be able to beat (and has) most if not all mid-top tier koreans (he had a very good showing in korea despite tieing and not making it out of a very hard group). I think you could flip the middle 3, and before watching his recent streaming and the lone star clash I had him in 4th with NesTea in 2nd and Leenock in 3rd. Like I said those middle 3 are close but there is a gap between DRG, those 3, and then the rest of the field, even curious to some degree.
Edit: btw "gap" is an overrated Z who should not be ranked higher than Leenock ;P
I would not judge Naniwa as Korean before I see his GSL performance. Naniwa is too high placed. Same is true for Ret.
The only foreigners who are korean are Stephano and HuK. We know where Huk is, his position is roughly okay, but how can you possibly judge Stephano. We know he is as good as Polt, but how good is Polt? Polt just fell out of the GSL...
But I guess you have to write something in a power ranking.
That Liquid bias for Ret. He's above Huk for doing well at an offline training event? Huk got third at winter arena.... Huk is consistetly placing well, Ret has done it once or twice. Rest of list isn't bad, but Ret shouldn't be anywhere near where he is. "Is hailed as a god in ZVP for one event" "loses 2 straight games to protoss to start MLG."
On March 23 2012 20:09 Greenei wrote: meeeeeh MC too high, he isnt better then OZ and Parting. and where is THE MAN Mvp? I thought he's going too.
Are you kidding? There isn't a single player in the world going into a bo3 or bo5 vs MC that I would think "nope, MC is screwed. no chance". When MC gets it wrong he looks terrible, but when he gets it right, he looks terrifying!
On March 24 2012 10:00 InSSerenity wrote: That Liquid bias for Ret. He's above Huk for doing well at an offline training event? Huk got third at winter arena.... Huk is consistetly placing well, Ret has done it once or twice. Rest of list isn't bad, but Ret shouldn't be anywhere near where he is. "Is hailed as a god in ZVP for one event" "loses 2 straight games to protoss to start MLG."
Little less blatent Liquid, just a little.
This is the most obvious troll that never got banned.
I find it so hilarious that the people who didn't properly read the post aren't outraged by the rankings if they thought it was a comprehensive Korean + NA + EU power rank. They just seem mildly annoyed, but any logical person would be questioning how there could be more foreigners than Koreans in a power rank.
Don't read, and don't respond 'properly' for what they interpreted incorrectly as.
On March 24 2012 01:58 Sway.746 wrote: GanZi top 8 for sure. You guys forgetting that he has a 65% winrate in international tournaments, and is kicking ass in TvP recently (6-1 in maps at MLG Winter).
I'm a power ranking hater because GanZi is my fav.
EPT
iS.CrazymovING: CrazymovING made it into Code A once, had a good showing in a first round exit vs HerO, then proceeded to play zero TLPD recorded games after November. He probably deserves to be in the top forty, but we just have no damn idea where.
vileState: For a while, State has belonged firmly to the 'good' category of US players, which is a bit like calling someone a 'good' American soccer (apologies, Europeans) player. But recently, especially with some stellar results in the IPL Team Arena Challenge, State has earned a re-evaluation. And it's about time too, because while plucky up-and-comers are legion on the EU and KR servers, there have been few talents to celebrate in the New World. State, along with his teammates Illusion (#40), ChAnCe and Hawk represent an exciting new wave of talent. Let's hope they can keep the momentum going this week with some good performances. State is a solid, standard player who should mop the floor with all the regular dudes in attendance, and has sure upset potential against the back end of the foreigner field.
vileIllusion
it showed mvp being seeded to round 5! go mkp!!
there must have been some smiles in the TL office when they did this
