In an age where drama and discord are being scorned by the masses, the writers at TeamLiquid have fearlessly come out with yet another edition of the Power Rank. Yes, that bi-monthly feature that can only guarantee disagreement and outrage. This time around, our cutoff line was thirty.
What is the Power Rank?
"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 the contentious question: "who's better?" It was a complex process, which we're not even sure we completely understand ourselves. A few notes:
The PR is not a ranking of everyone's chances to win the tournament, though we will mention that purely as a point of interest for some players. There's a lot of bracket luck involved, as well as a considerable advantage given to players who start in the group stage. Again, the Power Rank is just our all-around answer to the question "who's better?"
Finally, the Power Rank does not suggest that a higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head. Rankings are based the overall appraisal of a player.
Notes:
The Power Rank only takes players competing at MLG Fall Championship into account.
The official pre-tournament MLG player list was used as a reference - some players may cancel or be absent from the tournament.
KeSPA players were excluded from the power rank due to lack of information. Except one.
The power rank is a compromise between the opinions of several writers, ensuring that not even the writers are happy with the end result.
TeamLiquid is not responsible for rage or rage related injuries suffered as a result of reading the Power Rank.
The Power Rank
Forgive the schizophrenia, each section was written by a different writer.
It was tough deciding who would make the final cut into the power rank, with players like IdrA, Suppy, Ret, Illusion, qxc, mOOnGlade, etc. all on the bubble. In the end, we decided to go with Sson because he is Korean. Come on, it's not like that reasoning is ever wrong.
The USA's reigning champion is still a highly underrated player. Vibe sports excellent ZvZ and is good enough all-around to have an easy time against most foreign opponents. His ZvT looked a little incomplete against Major in the recent MvP playoffs, but his dominating play in the US and NA WCS qualifiers must be kept in mind as well.
Food for thought: Alongside Summer Arena and Summer Championship, MLG Fall will be the third consecutive MLG where Daisy has earned a seed. Over that period, Daisy has defeated all the foreigners he has faced, but has lost to every single Korean opponent save one (Golden).
HuK is a player who has been all over the board, looking rather American at times, and very much Korean at others. While he's a far ways off from retaking a high spot in the Power Rank among the Koreans, he's at the very least one of the better foreigners competing in Dallas.
Major is one of the few foreign Terrans who has remained competitive in 2012. He placed 3rd at the MvP tournament and made it further than any other foreigner. While KeSPA players are a big story at Dallas, keep in mind that Major played well against them in MvP, winning an impressive 2 - 0 victory against Jaedong, and had an epic comeback against Soo on Daybreak.
BabyKnight's been on a roll lately, winning a spot to the WCS World Finals with a sixth place finish at WCS Europe, as well as taking down ThorZaIN, Nerchio, and SortOf in the MLG qualifiers to earn a seed at the Fall Championship. However, this will be his first time competing in a live tournament that's dominated by Koreans, and we'll have to wait and see how he handles this kind of test.
Version 2.0 of the infamous Sleep-Golden "Take every North American online qualifier spot" duo. Expect one of these guys to make it through the open bracket.
------------------- The Grubby (#22) Line -------------------
The Grubby Line was always kind of a vague concept, so here's a way to make it easier to grasp. Given a certain player, ask yourself "do you feel okay about this player being one of the world representatives against the Koreans at the WCS World Finals?" If the answer is "yes," then the player is above the Grubby line. If the answer is "no," then he is below it. Conveniently enough, the answer to that question when asked about Grubby is an emphatic "maybe," thus making him the measuring stick once more.
Grubby always seems to be getting a little bit better, and he had his most impressive SC2 result a month back by placing top six at WCS Europe to earn a spot at the WCS World Finals. Combined with good performances against Koreans at IEM Cologne, and his rather impressive 19 - 29 record in the MvP tournament (the best foreigner was NaNiwa at 26 - 22), it's not a real shock to see Grubby beat Koreans anymore. Still, we'd like to see just a little bit more before we think about renaming the line.
How typical. After months of being fairly anonymous, ThorZaIN popped up at the ASUS ROG GD Invitational to take the first place prize of $4,000, seemingly his way of reminding everyone "by the way, I did happen to beat a GSL champion in the finals of a major tournament, just in case you forgot." While ThorZaIN's never been that good at MLG tournaments, it's that kind of potential that forces you to keep him in mind as a darkhorse player.
Now that some time has passed, we can attempt to put NaNiwa's incredible rise and fall in the GSL into perspective. Perhaps he did get lucky during his two Ro8 runs to draw mostly Terran and Protoss opponents, but he definitely showed Code S level play in those two match-ups. And while his play during the five game losing streak to send him down to Code B was extremely disappointing, you could say that was in turn, an unlucky stretch. After all, NaNiwa was the only non-Korean player to have a win rate over 50% in the recent MvP tournament. For a player of that caliber, it's hard to think Code B is a natural state - it's probably more of a natural fluctuation.
After managing to dodge out of every live event where she would have possibly played a Code S class Korean player, Scarlett will finally step into the ring at Dallas and show us the games we've all been anxious to see. From IPL4 and various online tournaments, we know that she can beat Korean players. But so can other foreigners like Vortix, Nerchio, or NaNiwa when they're on their game - what we really want to know is how she compares to the others. By the end of this tournament, we'll know whether Scarlett was overhyped, or perhaps deserving of even more praise. For now, #19 it is.
Ganzi joined Complexity as a top five Terran, but his skill level steadily declined ever since (as with many others pros, health problems with his wrists didn't help). He fell into Code B in Korea, and more recently he was knocked out by Eifer and Binski at MLG Summer. After that, we were ready to write him off as a relevant player entirely.
And then all of the sudden, Ganzi totally changed our opinions by winning the open qualifier into Iron Squid II. After chewing up some foreigners in the earlier rounds, Ganzi went on to defeat HyuN, Polt, and Luvsic to take first place. Honestly, we have no idea what to make of it, and it could be a little too early to declare for sure that Ganzi is back. However, since he's historically been one of the more consistent players on the tournament circuit, we're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
The One Who Cheesed. The Destroyer of Greed. Oft maligned. Sometimes loathed. But also admired for his straight up dedication to winning by exploiting any lapses in early defense. Heart has built up an excellent MLG resume on the back of his very stylistic way of playing and even made it to a round of sixteen in Code S.
In the last two seasons of GSL, there's been a new trend in Heart's play: a tendency to exchange his all-in strategies for outright greedy openers. Fascinatingly, this has also coincided with a fall back to Code A. One must wonder if a return to MLG will mark a return to his more familiar style of play.
It was a very heartwarming tale when Crank, a player down on his luck after leaving SlayerS, was rescued by the lovely Genna Bain, her husband Total Biscuit, and their pal Husky. They helped Crank go to Summer Championship, where he seized the opportunity by making a splash out of the open bracket. Things got even better for Crank, with his good performance in Raleigh leading to him becoming the first player of Team Axiom.
However, that was just the beginning of the fairy tale. With old SlayerS teammate Ryung reportedly joining the team in a week, and Axiom wanting to one day have a strong enough Korean roster to take on the GSTL, this Cinderella needs to keep on producing results. As we all know, you can become old news in the blink of an eye in the world of StarCraft II. Crank might have been the story of Raleigh, but he needs a good performance at Dallas to stay relevant.
One of the more curious subplots of MLG Raleigh was how Revival, TSL's fourth or maybe even fifth string Zerg, quietly earned himself an eight place finish, picking up victories over MarineKing and Stephano along the way. Is it a testament to how much luck factors in at tournaments? The shallowness of the MLG Raleigh player pool? Or the depth of the TSL Zerg line?
Whatever the case may be, we give all due credit to Revival for the best tournament finish in career. At the same time, we'd like to see him prove himself again before we increase our appraisal of him any further. After all, there must be a reason he's never broken out of Code A.
It might not be obvious at first glance, but TheStC and Oz are fairly similar types of players. Both have visited the top four of major tournaments on multiple occasions, shown championship caliber play at their best, and both are marred by terrible inconsistency. Oh, they've also both fallen to Code B from Code S, which further serves to reinforce that last point.
Right now, their upward and downward trajectories seem to be intersecting. After finishing top four at MLG Summer and DH Valencia, TheStC bombed at DreamHack Bucharest, a tournament with a soft player pool that was ripe for the taking. On the other hand, Oz recently escaped from a months-long funk to tear through the MvP invitational tournament, making it all the way to the finals (yet to be played at the time of writing). Maybe MLG Dallas will be another turning point for these two, but for now, Oz seems to be the one with the hot hand.
As always, JYPvZ should be something fans look forward to this upcoming weekend. JYP's PvZ has always been very strong, and he's also one of the more creative and entertaining players out there (in his most recent game against HyuN, he showed phoenix/dt composition that was reminiscent of Brood War). While he lost the game, it breathed some new life into an otherwise stale matchup. As for JYPvT, JYP has slowly increased his winrate from 15% to a slightly less abysmal 33% in the last 2 seasons of GSL. While the big Terran names at MLG - Bomber, TaeJa and Polt - are probably still beyond his reach, we still think that on the whole, this is the best JYP has looked coming into a foreign tournament.
Currently holding the award for best teamless player in the world until MMA's contract expires on the 6th of November (and even then, it would be debatable), AND manliest player in the world, ManZenith is making his MLG Championship debut in Dallas. Coming into this tournament under the radar, San qualified through the invite-only qualifiers for Korea, not dropping a single series the entire way. We all know everyone loves Parting's exploits with the 'wonwonwon' immortal-sentry all-in, but if you want a slightly poor man's version of Parting, look no further than San. Parting and San are close friends who share builds between each other, and don't forget that San is the player who knocked Life out of the OSL qualifiers. While he might not have as much 'soul' as PartinG, San's manliness should make his immortals and sentry all-in just as deadly.
At MLG Summer Championship at Raleigh, First looked mighty fine as he blazed a path to the grand finals, taking down players like HerO, TaeJa, and Losira on the way. However, once he reached the grand finals, he was gutted by Leenock in one of the most brutal, one-sided series we've seen at an MLG.
What did we learn about First? On the plus side, his PvT and PvP were indeed, the real deal, on par with the best Code S players. On the flip side, his PvZ left something to be desired, and he didn't look all so composed when he had to play in high pressure games. Whether or not First can make another deep run into the championship bracket will depend on whether he has shored up those weaknesses.
Inconsistency is a word we throw around fairly liberally, but Bomber is definitely the poster boy. At his best, he won an MLG championship. At his worst? He got sent all the way down to Code B.
Here's how it will go for Bomber this tournament. A) He will look extremely poor as he drops out of his group bracket early on, then make a ridiculously good run through the championship bracket to make everyone exclaim "WHY CAN'T HE ALWAYS PLAY THAT WAY?" before being finally eliminated around 12~10th place. Or B) Bomber will do extremely well and place top four or above, then return to Korea and get knocked out of the first round of Code A.
With SeleCT retiring from StarCraft II, Violet will be the honorary Korean claimed by America this MLG. Violet has been relatively quiet since MLG Summer, having not attended any major LANs or tournaments so it’s hard to know his exact skill level right now. However, Violet has always shown his best play in America, and there's no reason to believe he somehow became significantly worse while we weren't looking. He's always within striking distance of the championship at any tournament he goes to, so even with the addition of KeSPA players, we expect viOLet to do well as usual.
The Liquid Protoss has undergone some interesting transformations since his debut on the foreign tournament scene. He has gone from being a fringe GSL player to a household name in Code S. He has gone from a vZ specialist to finding real strength and consistency in his play versus Terran. His PvP has fluctuated over time, but recently, it has become much more reliable after being a fatal weakness. Overall, HerO has reached a strange equilibrium of skill.
But while he looks to be much better off in terms of Korean competitions, the same doubts still linger concerning his chances for success internationally. Of all the Code S staples traversing the globe in pursuit of foreign success, he still looks like the most vulnerable to lose to cheese. He still is the kind of player one suspects will be PvP'd out of a tournament. The kind of player you expect to draw another team-kill against TaeJa. While perhaps he does not deserve the 'inconsistent' tag as much as some of the other competitors on this list, there is still a feeling that something will go wrong for HerO.
The Protoss republic has been in chaos ever since the once-dictator MC was ousted from his presidential palace by Seed. As a bitter power struggle rages, Rain is the presently reigning Protoss with double crowns in the OSL and WCS Asia. MC mounted a strong offensive to return to power, but was thwarted in the semi-finals of the OSL, and failed to qualify for Code S. Forced to continue his exile, MC has decided to go abroad to the United States in search for support.
MC’s overall form is hard to pinpoint lately, as he's swung between looking overbearingly strong or underwhelmingly weak, often within the same series. Still, you can't count out MC’s biggest strength in his intangibles. Similar to MVP, MC knows how to win no matter what condition he is in, especially at foreign events. Unfortunately for MC, Rain also has an eye on expanding his international influence, and has come to Dallas as well. With both players starting in the open bracket, it’ll be a race to the top for MC to prove that outside of Korea, he is still the #1 protoss.
TaeJa's 0 - 4 elimination from Code S might come as a surprise to some, but if we use 20/20 hindsight, it was something we could have seen coming. Starting from his Ro8 match against Leenock, and going onto his Ro4 match against Life, TaeJa definitely didn't look like the near-perfect player who won three foreign tournaments in three months. While he was good enough to get by Leenock in a sloppy series, Life had no patience for weakness as he stomped TaeJa down 3 - 0. If you look at his Code S Ro32 group as a continuation, it makes sense.
So, the question at MLG will obviously be, what kind of TaeJa will show up? If it was just a temporary dip in form, then of course TaeJa is right up there with the rest of the title contenders. But if he plays like he did in Code S, then he has absolutely no chance in Dallas.
At the start of 2012, Polt single-handedly kept TSL on the map by traveling to foreign tournaments and bringing money home from just about every one of them. Winning at Assembly, getting second at Lone Star Clash and Dreamhack Stockholm, and placing in the money for every MLG tournament he was flown to, Polt was able to bring much needed positive attention to a team that seemed to be losing another core member every week. The downside to all his foreign glory was that his Korean results suffered. Dropping down to Code A for a few seasons and even dangling dangerous near the edge of Code B, Polt made the bold move to cease his international activities and streaming until his Korean results improved.
It's paid off. Polt is now at a league topping 7-0 in NASL, qualified for IPL5, and most importantly, is in his second straight Ro16 of Code S, something that he hadn't done since the middle of 2011. At the top of his game, beating the likes of DongRaeGu, Taeja, and Gumiho in the past month, Polt looks better than he's been in a long time. He's more than ready to venture back forth into the international tournament scene, and even coming out of the open bracket, he is one of the favorites to win it all in Dallas.
After having a disappointing first six months in 2012, Leenock came on fire in the second half of the year, placing top eight in the GSL, anchoring a GSTL winning team, defeating Nestea, MMA, and JYP for a $12,000 prize in China, and of course, winning MLG Raleigh from the bottom of the open bracket.
He did all of that while adding a new dimension to his game, demonstrating some of the most frustrating hive-turtle play we've seen. Leenock was already a championship class player with just his trademark aggressive style of play, but now he has become an even scarier, truly complete player.
For sure, Leenock is under-hyped going into Dallas, and he could use some more of the spotlight. Alas, we can't say that this state of affairs is unfair. Because as red-hot as Leenock has been, there are two players who have been even hotter. And they're both going to Dallas.
Just the idea of Rain winning the OSL, MLG, GSL and WCS in a span of a month and what it would mean for StarCraft II history was enough to blow anyone's mind. However, we will just have to settle for a juicy storyline that begs for wild speculation.
Whether it was KeSPA, SK Telecom, or Rain's decision, it came to be that out of nowhere, GomTV was informed that Rain would be participating at MLG Dallas just days before his Code S match. With no way to reconcile the schedules on such extreme short notice, Rain was forced to forfeit his games in Code S.
Rain is KeSPA's new golden boy. He has been the only KeSPA player who has shown that he can go toe to toe with the top talent on a regular basis in Code S. Even Flash, the best player of the last few years in Brood War, was not able to get past the Up/Down matches and fell all the way down back to Code A. Rain has been able to distance himself from the rest of KeSPA, won WCS Asia against a mixed pool of eSF and KeSPA elites, and then won the OSL with a dominating victory over a former GSL champion in DongRaeGu.
After winning WCS Asia and OSL, what if Rain continues to go on to win MLG, and then the WCS World Finals... Where would that leave the fifth season of GSL? Would there always be a mental footnote in everyone's mind due to Rain forfeiting? With how Rain is playing lately, you can't rule out that possibility. Luckily for ESF and GOM, they have a champion of their own who is ready to represent them in the wild, wild west...
Sitting atop of the world is Life. In all honesty, Life and Rain are coming into this tournament as almost joint #1's, but if you had to force us to pick one to place at the top of the ranking, we would have to give the slight edge to Life (the decision was not unanimous). Both Life and Rain had recent online losses that very slightly tarnished the shine of their OSL/GSL championships, with Life losing 5-4 to Hyun in Fight Club and Rain losing 4-1 to hyvaa in the MvP Invitational, but neither mean much when you look at how dominating the two players were on their roads to their respective championships.
Life, at fifteen years of age, lived up to his title of prodigy and won his first major Korean title before his sixteenth birthday. The only player to win a major Korean title at a younger age than Life will also be at MLG Dallas, that being Flash, arguably the greatest player in Brood War's decade long history. Life is still years away from being able to hold a candle to Flash's dominance in Brood War, but another major title in Dallas will reaffirm his place as the best player in the world, and one with possibly infinite potential in the future.
Dallas will have many juicy story lines like Flash's debut in an actual MLG championship, whether or not a foreigner can finally win a MLG tournament in 2012, and how well the other KeSPA pros will do in the group play, but the main story that everyone will be following all weekend long is the prospect of seeing a showdown between the GSL champion, and by proxy the ESF champion, Life, and the OSL champion, KeSPA's savior, Rain.
Two men will be walking into Dallas with supreme confidence, determined to show the world that they are the best in the world, but only one can win it all in the end. Brace yourselves. We might see the two most dangerous gunslingers in the east have one explosive showdown in the west.
Writers: Fionn, Porcelina, stuchiu, Ver and Waxangel. Graphics: Meko and shiroiusagi Editor: Waxangel
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
hmmm.... interesting writeup i do wish stephano was in it, but i'll be rooting for hwangsin, apocalypse, and SCARLETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT this tournament :D make papa kane proud
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
The hyvaa series was a bo7 he lost 1-4
I mostly agree with the power ranking besides some small things. IMO Scarlett should not be above Thorzain and Naniwa. I would put Major a bit higher. Towards the top of the list I agree with pretty much everything. Besides maybe putting polt above Taeja. Yeah he won head to head a few days ago but Taeja has been performing better than polt for a very long time.
Also this is going to be the most Korean favored MLG yet. Top 20 could easily end up being all Korean. I'd consider it an upset but not a very big one.
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
The one against Hyvaa was a Bo7. Rain lost 1-4.
Really though, saying Life will lose because he went 4-5 to HyuN, or even that Rain will lose because he went 1-4 to Hyvaa is a bit silly. Both of them are doing very well overall recently.
On November 02 2012 10:41 VoirDire wrote: For once, I think you guys underestimate the foreigners. I think we'll see a foreigner in the top 8, most likely Naniwa.
Don't forget that in addition to this list there are the 4 Kespa players coming from MvP. I would be very surprised to see Naniwa take top 8.
This is probably the best and most accurate MLG power ranking written so far.
Only qualms I have with it is including Huk on the list. He is simply a poor player and has accomplished nothing at live events in quite awhile. When he goes to MLGs, I now just clump him with machine and incontrol as players that will be eliminated by no names. Hwangsin is better than Huk now and he's not even on the list.
Also having Scarlett as the best foreigner, when Scarlett's only beaten NA gutter and a few people in online tournaments is pretty insulting.
gogogog Life, all the EG boys, First, and I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Liquid`HerO thanks for the writeup, it was good, and to me at least not particularly contentious.
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
Rain lost to the guy who lost a proxy 2 rax against a triple hatch opening. Think about that.
another great power rank..Scarlett will do even better than the rankings indicate I think, based on what I've seen so far from her play.. but it's tough to say for sure since there's quite the lack of her playing code S level players.
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
lmao fanboys gonna fanboy
He lost 4-1 to hyvaa fyi
On November 02 2012 11:03 LuckyCharms45 wrote: Flash doesn't make top 30?
Kespa players aren't on this because of lack of information, but M18 is? Flash has played in GSL and OSL. M18 has played in practically nothing. This makes no sense.
Major should be a bit higher, probably higher than Grubby imo. Scarlett is a bit too high, I think Naniwa should be ahead of her. Him going positibe in MvP is actually really impressive and a bit underrated. Bomber is also too high imo, he's just not that great of a player anymore. When was the last time he accomplished something significant?
On November 02 2012 10:14 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Rain is the presently reigning Protoss with double crowns in the OSL and WCS Asia.
Seriously? WCS Asia?
I'm not denying that Rain is the current reigning Protoss, but I think that OSL Champion and GSL semifinalist has a lot more weight than WCS Asia. WCS Asia was basically PvP with Curious, Roro and foreigners (Miya got taken out of the upper bracket by Sen, so he doesn't get a mention ). I'd figure WCS Korea to be a more difficult competition than WCS Asia.
With the term double (or triple) crown referring to major tournaments like OSL, MSL and Proleague, I'm actually fairly annoyed that WCS Asia qualifies for the title. I mean, WCS Finals at least has the prestige to it, being a year-long tournament. But WCS Asia?
EDIT: That came out way more hostile than I intended, actually. This is a great Power Rank and a great write-up, and most of my post was just nitpicking. But seriously, WCS Asia?
Naniwa and Major had the best results at MLG Pro League Invitational if I recall (out of the foreign scene). Naniwa actually took games off most of the legendary players. I swear if he can get ahold of his nerves and just play his game he's 100% S Class. I also think he should worry less about doing innovative builds and just play his solid style. So many stories at this MLG...
Well Leenock has dominated MLG more than anyone else (2 championships out of open bracket, insane), has had more consistent results in GSL, and is just generally been the more consistent player. Polt has been looking good lately whereas Taeja has not.... I say all of this as a Taeja fanboy too. He's not looking to be in the best shape. Hope he shows good games.
On November 02 2012 11:37 Kluey wrote: Leenock and Polt before Taeja...? Really weird imo. /
Well TaeJa did lose to Polt and finale 2-0 each, and Leenock has strong MUs all around recently. TaeJa's wrist problems might mess him up as well, so it is a reasonable ranking imo.
On November 02 2012 11:44 Fischbacher wrote: Err, Scarlett won WCS NA, not Vibe...
They are talking about how ViBE won the WCS NA that only featured Americans, no Canadians.
Scarlett won WCS North America. Vibe won the USA Nationals. That would make Scarlett the reigning North American champion. I think it is actually a mistake in the power rank.
This is probably the most exciting MLG (at least for me) since Leenock's insane run in 2011 when I was still a SC2 casual viewer. I've been losing interest in MLGs since then, but this combination of Kespa players, two of the most (rightfully) hyped players in the world + a slew of other top Koreans, and several top foreigners makes me really optimistic.
Not going to lie, when I looked at that front page TL graphic for the article and saw the little dotted line, I thought of Kunkka. Oh and I guess wooh MLG.
I feel like Idra should be in the top 25, simply because his play has been really good lately (except vs imba toss) OH well hopefully he shows good results.
On November 02 2012 11:54 Desiire wrote: I have a weird feeling Foreigner's will do well this tournament, or is that just Scarlett?
Just Scarlett. :D
I agree with her ranking. No matter how well she has looked you cannot rank her over Koreans before she has played in her first international LAN since becoming a pro.
As an aside on the writeup though I mean how many LANs has she actually "dodged"? 1? 2 at most? I think people have just been waiting for this since IPL4 and think she has passed up more LANs than is actually the case.
I think Grubby is far too highly ranked considering his first opponent is Flash - I've seen Grubby lose to standard 2 medivac timings far too many times for my liking so if history repeats I hope he bought a return ticket for the same day.
I think you can make the case for Leenock being ranked #1. His experience from winning 2 MLGs from the open bracket should count for something. The World e-Sports Masters last week in China was against a strong field and he didn't lose a match. He's shown his game holds up while traveling between countries and time zones, something which is more of an unknown area for Life and Rain.
I'm not that sure Rain will get out of the open bracket.
Nice ranking. I think with recent form Polt might be just above Leenock, but they're about even tbh. Most of the other rankings I agree with. I'd usually complain MC is too low given it's a foreign tournament and MC hasn't won anything, but a high place once a month is all MC is after and he did get 3rd in OSL so we'll see.
And Grubby is one of the best foreigners. His position does reflect that but the text sounds so doubtful. Grubby is easily on the top 10 foreigners. Top 1 for handsomeness.
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
Shhh. People aren't allowed to remember happy, remember?
Been pretty bored with sc2 tournaments lately, but actually excited to see scarlet play. She looked to be on a much higher level than the other players in NA WCS; looking forward to seeing her vs better competition.
hmmm an epic showdown that i dont have to wait a month to see in the gsl. Kinda cool. Rain vs Life could be epic. but my heart goes to grubby!!! Also Grubby vs Flash could be pretty boss right? top wc3 vs top bw in sc2 lol
I would be so happy if MC won, if he goes out i will be rooting for rain. I was expecting flash to be #1 just because it is almost a sin not to put him there. Cant wait for grubby vs flash..cant wait for MLG!
So I guess San just snuck up on me, haven't been paying any mind to him, thanks for the heads up I'll be sure to follow him this tournament.
If Leenock wins this one, he's king of MLG easily with three titles. The 'murcian in me wants to see a deep foreigner run though, so Scarlett's my lady on this one. Scarlett and Leenock, 1st and 2nd? Dinner date afterwards? Candlelit? Al Green? Let's make dreams come true this MLG.
Absolutely beautiful write up. As for Life over Rain, my heart wants Rain but he starts all the way from the open bracket compared to Life being seeded straight into group play. And Life is Zerg >.> so the ranks look about right.
Also as for Life losing to Hyun 5-4 in fight club, he was the only player to take Hyun to the 9th final game. The closest anyone else got was 5-3. Fight club is just Hyuns turf.
As for rains 4-1 loss to Hyvaa, this one was a bit strange, because he then proceeded to 4-1 DRG in Osl finals. I think it would be safe to assume he was purposely holding back and hiding strategies for the finals not long after that game against Hyvaa.
Hoping to see Scarlett give a Great performance. Also would Love to see a random open bracket HerO come through, but it'S going to be tough with all PrO talent in Dallas.
Scarlett's shape is looking fantastic resently, she might go far, Also hoping Grubby brings his typical MLG showing and a bit more, would be nice for him to not be the line anymore
Also Life should be a huge favorite, for he above any one seems to play very free and preperation is only a second thing, while a player like Rain would practice and study oponents like no other. To win a MLG you need to be able to play anything against any one. A Life or Leenock has that. (and a Taeja in form)
I would place Scarlett at around #10, just behind Bomber. I don't know if she's really superior to Crank, Ganzi, Heart etc. but zerg is really strong these days, so she should have the advantage.
Even a player like IdrA could probably do really well against someone like Heart. I mean, he recently took games off of Flash, MarineKing, so I'm not sure why he isn't even in the Power Ranking. And as always, these Power Rankings put Thorzain way too high also.
On November 02 2012 10:29 RobberFrog wrote: Finally, a little hype for Life. His hype train seems to keep getting... rained on.
(•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH
...This will be one of the top events so far, thats for sure. The lineup is so stacked that even a Top30 Powerrank cant put a light on every interesting competitor. Really looking forward to it, like the hyping of Rain and Life but I also think ppl will be (again) a little disappointed afterwards...but lets see ...
Rain is high on the Power Rank but making it through those open brackets might be tough. He's always had the KeSPA advantage and he was awarded a Code S seed, so we will see how he does in that environment.
reaaaally sad that Stephano is grabbing the izi ESWC moniez this weekend, Korean-wise it looks pretty awesome =) Not sure which foreigner could make a T8 here though :/
I go all wet when thinking about how manly ManZenith is.
Him and First are my two players to look out for this tournament. As implied in the ranking, they are the two guys to be ranked just below the strongest Koreans, but with the ability to make it really deep if their condition is good. Especially First, I expect him to have strengthened his PvZ to reduce his random failures in the matchup, and with literally godly PvT, and above average PvP... Looks good. But - I am very biased, naturally.
On November 02 2012 14:06 arvinds94 wrote: Violet is literally about to fuck shit up. He wins the whole thing. Calling it now
Agreed. Violet's ZvZ is fucking insane, and Zerg are holding most of the power in this thing (No MVP, No MKP). Taeja has appeared to have run out of energy after his crazy super saiyan transformation this summer, but he's always on my list. I'd like to see a KeSPA terran do well just because TvZ is the best matchup.
@Creamyturtle - Stephano has said time and again that he's playing for money. Much easier money at ESWC than MLG vs so many good Zergs (ZvZ is Steph's weakness)
Yeah, I would say, that the advantage is definately on Leenock's and Life's side, with both of them starting in the pools. It's a nice lineup of players. I'm looking forward to Polt's play, as for me he seems to be the last hope of terran. ^^
You guys must be watching different games than I am ranking Scarlett that high. She recently got rolled by goswer, Titan, TLO, and Gumiho. If the hype just hold-over from WCS? Do people not watch IPTL and EGMC?
On November 02 2012 10:22 Inzan1ty wrote: Dunno Life losing to Hyun leaves some kind of bitter taste, questioning if he will share the same fate as Jjakji and Seed.
As for now Iam going with Rain in this one BIG time, he seems to be the most consistent player overall, only losing to the King of GSL himself.
And hyvaa.
And Happy.
still a Bo 7 holds more meaning than those few games Rain might have lost (Bo1 / Bo3 ?)
The hyvaa series was a bo7 he lost 1-4
I mostly agree with the power ranking besides some small things. IMO Scarlett should not be above Thorzain and Naniwa. I would put Major a bit higher. Towards the top of the list I agree with pretty much everything. Besides maybe putting polt above Taeja. Yeah he won head to head a few days ago but Taeja has been performing better than polt for a very long time.
Also this is going to be the most Korean favored MLG yet. Top 20 could easily end up being all Korean. I'd consider it an upset but not a very big one.
Hey, if Huk gets a pvp for every round, he could win the whole thing.
Wait... Scarlett is #19? For what exactly? This list is pretty bad, no point in writing something like this, just like the way Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize.
A few disagreements, I think Bomber and Taeja are too high placed and Vibe could propobly notch it up a bit(considering the Grubby line at least I think Vibe got just as good a chance as Grubby or most of the foreigners do(excluding Thorzain, Naniwa(if these 2 swedes play as well we all know they can do) and Scarlett.
Taeja dip down maybe 2 ranks considering his recent performance, bomber I just can never agree with myself where to place but he's not top10 material for MLG Dallas imo. Would like Naniwa swap places with Scarlett and Crank+Oz move up a few spots(i rank both of them higher then Bomber here.)
I haven't followed the SC2 scene for a couple of months now, but I don't remember Scarlet ever being close to Thorzains level. Did she just explode into a powerhouse recently?
On November 06 2012 02:46 kalteras wrote: I haven't followed the SC2 scene for a couple of months now, but I don't remember Scarlet ever being close to Thorzains level. Did she just explode into a powerhouse recently?
It's hard to know how good she really is. She's very good, taking down koreans and ripping up NA, and thorzain has sorta been slumping.
On November 06 2012 02:46 kalteras wrote: I haven't followed the SC2 scene for a couple of months now, but I don't remember Scarlet ever being close to Thorzains level. Did she just explode into a powerhouse recently?
It's hard to know how good she really is. She's very good, taking down koreans and ripping up NA, and thorzain has sorta been slumping.
thorzain is terran and scarlett is zerg, unfortunately :p
EPT
SsonLight
ROOTViBE
ROOTMajOr
