Stephano should be number 2. He is ridiculously consistent. He is phenomenally consistent; he has been ever since IPL 3 and ESWC. That's a almost full year without a slump. He rarely, if ever loses to obvious lesser players, and is in the top ten in terms of prize money.

He revolutionised both ZvP and ZvT multiple times. Ling/Infestor vs T, late game vs Protoss, Stephano build vs P. Ultralisks vs T (first to consistently use them I believe I maps like Antiga), and Ultra Ling Infestor vs Z. It's actually insane.

As I'm writing this, I'm considering his candidacy for number 1 - Taeja certainly hasn't been as consistent, and I think there's a small bit too mic hype behind him due to his recent all-kills.

yungSC2

20 Posts

August 24 2012 19:07 GMT

#122

wow, now hold your horses :p

Stephano comes from a decent but not flawless 5th place at MLG, and there is always a lot of foreigner hype suggesting to push him above proven Champions like MKP.

StaplerPhone

United States813 Posts

August 24 2012 19:17 GMT

#123

Great write-up

Looking forward to dominating performances from TaeJa MKP and HerO!

Gumbi

Ireland463 Posts

August 24 2012 19:19 GMT

#124

On August 25 2012 04:07 yungSC2 wrote:
wow, now hold your horses :p

Stephano comes from a decent but not flawless 5th place at MLG, and there is always a lot of foreigner hype suggesting to push him above proven Champions like MKP.

I agree. He hasn't win MLG. Having said that, he has proven time and time again that he can beat Code S level players. He is a proven champion himself.

xXFireandIceXx

Canada4296 Posts

August 24 2012 19:26 GMT

#125

On August 25 2012 04:17 StaplerPhone wrote:
Great write-up

Looking forward to dominating performances from TaeJa MKP and HerO!

Without too many tosses in Hero's goup, he should be able to advance. Hopefully Liquid players don't meet up.

SHOOG

United States1639 Posts

August 24 2012 20:02 GMT

#126

Alicia better win this one.
And if my dreams could become reality, Grubby will win.

emis

Estonia409 Posts

August 24 2012 20:08 GMT

#127

On August 25 2012 01:18 Aando wrote:

Show nested quote +

How come people always seems to forget Byun when it comes to the best terrans? Fuck, I'd say Byun > MKP.

so brave

Postremo

Korea (South)5 Posts

August 24 2012 20:48 GMT

#128

Stephano is underrated because just he is a foreigner I think. Many Koreans also agreed he is the top zerg now.

Gumbi

Ireland463 Posts

August 24 2012 21:28 GMT

#129

I think he is under-rated. Like I said above, he has never slumped, and he has revolutionised every MU multiple times (Ling Infestor Ultra may not be revolutionary in ZvZ, but whatever).

He places highly in literally every tournaments he attends. He is an absolutely phenomenal player. Watching other Zergs' unit control makes me cringe after watching this guy. His is simply amazing (see his game vs MC NASL 3, or MKP on CK MLG).

Skwid1g

United States953 Posts

August 25 2012 00:37 GMT

#130

On August 24 2012 20:48 Fizzy wrote:
First i read that IdrA was at #29, then i deiced to look at the players who are attending so that i could decide if the writer is a IdrA fanboy or if the turnout to this event really is bad enough for idra to be top 30.

...? He has been playing much better as of late, which you would know if you read the article. He looked good against Taeja, even despite the 1.5 glitches, beat marine king, and overall has done quite well in ZvZ and ZvT lately. Or at least good enough to secure a top 30 spot. His ZvP on the other hand... hasn't been so great lately.

Stephano isn't underrated, there's NO way he deserves to be above Taeja with how Taeja has been playing lately, and MKP vs. Stephano for spot number 2 is kind of "eh" as they both kind of deserve the spot at this point. Just think of spots 2 and 3 as inter-changeable. With that being said, he's no longer overrated. For a long time people were saying he was the best player/zerg in the world when he was nowhere near it, now he definitely one of, if not THE, best zergs at the moment.

Gumbi

Ireland463 Posts

August 25 2012 09:32 GMT

#131

I think he is the best. Symbol has fallen off, as has DRG (Stephano has a winning record vs DRG IIRC). Again though, you're prioritising Taeja's recent victories, whereas Stephano has been playing like he is now essentially for a year (and steadily improving).

mGGLearning

Australia26 Posts

August 25 2012 12:13 GMT

#132

MKP hwaiting! XD

Catatafish

75 Posts

August 25 2012 14:26 GMT

#133

On August 24 2012 18:39 Misacampo wrote:
lol not surprised to see the liquid writeup put liquidtaeja at #1... Even though in both of his tournament wins, he didn't beat any "big names" except for MC. Team leagues don't mean much. Look at where symbol, moon and life are. They're winning every GSL aren't they.

How about the six or so back-to-back victories in ESV?

6BiT

513 Posts

August 25 2012 14:43 GMT

#134

There is very little doubt that TaeJa currently holds a very strong claim to being the best player in the world.

Mvp would like a word with you....

Lol but nah seriously, if it were 'TaeJa holds a very strong claim to being the best player attending this MLG' or something along those lines. Personally I think that would've been a better way to word it.

I think the 'best player in the world' is thrown around a tad much. I mean say in another 2-3 months and TaeJa had continued putting up good/great results, then there would indeed be 'very little doubt'.

Good example being DongRaeGu being the best/most consistent player for the first half of 2012.

Beefpotpie

United States53 Posts

August 26 2012 02:17 GMT

#135

Where is Crank!?!

monk

United States8476 Posts

August 26 2012 05:07 GMT

#136

On August 26 2012 11:17 Beefpotpie wrote:
Where is Crank!?!

None of the five writers ranking found his name on the list. =P Just throw him in at 16 between Ganzi and Puma.

wfire

25 Posts

August 26 2012 18:20 GMT

#137

They r overhyping thier own players. Revival 2-0 Shephano. Hero narrowly beat Crank after being up two games. And tajea is in the loser bracket. still go IdrA,Sheth,Hero, and tajea