by Waxangel

5. MVP.Swagger

I could write about Swagger/Killer/Sangho's gameplay, but I'll just go with the line Monk gave me that summarizes him pretty well: He plays like it's still 2011. Now we have that out of the way, here's a little Killer anecdote.

After joining on Team MVP as a player, Killer seemed become a de facto coach of the team. While he explicitly denied that he was moving into coaching and emphasized that he was a competitor first and foremost, it didn't stop a constant stream of compliments from fellow MVP players who credited his leadership and advice for their success. On the whole, you could say Killer is one of the best coaches who isn't really a coach.

Unfortunately, no leader is perfect, and at some point you're inevitably going to disappoint your team. As MVP went up against team Karont3 in the Acer TeamStory Cup with their perfect record on the line, the Duran-Duran duo of Lucifron and Vortix was on the verge of handing the Korean juggernauts their first loss. Bang, Finale (x2 via revival), Monster had all gone down, putting team MVP down to their last runner. So, who came running to the rescue? Keen? Sniper? Vampire? No, it was Killer who came out as the team's final ace for a showdown against Vortix. And of course, Vortix held off Killer's all-in, scoring the 5 - 4 victory for Karont3, and giving MVP what would be their only loss of the tournament.


4. ROOT.YugiOh

As a Korean on a foreign team who would have had a pretty good shot at making the WCS America Premier division, YuGiOh valiantly decided to stick it out in Korea. So he has been rewarded for such bravery, breaking through the Code B qualifiers, getting past the first round of Code A, and now has a chance to qualify for the OSL. Unfortunately, from what we've seen from YuGiOh in the Acer TeamStory Cup and at DreamHack suggest the Starleague is beyond his grasp. Sorry YuGiOh, if you're regularly dropping games to foreigners, online AND offline, it's really hard for us to say you can crack the top 32 in Korea. On the other hand, we sincerely congratulate your return to Code A, even if it's called the Challenger League now. In our hearts, you are and always will be the true King of Code A.


3. CreatorPrime

After we wrote Creator a check for $16,000 for winning TSL4, we had big hopes for the youngster from Prime. And for a time, he really delivered on the hype. By taking #1 at WCS Korea and second place at the WCS World Finals, he seemed to lock himself in as one of the stars who would lead the Protoss race in 2013. Yet, somehow, HotS seems to have ruined him completely. He's 16 - 18 in the new expansion with three of those wins coming against Minigun, who happens to be North American. He dropped out of Code S in the Ro32, is on a four game losing streak in the GSTL, and dropped a Code A series to SuperNoVa to come into the Up/Downs. He really needs to stop the bleeding now, but he just hasn't shown us any reason to be hopeful about his chances. Unless he had some incredible epiphany about pro-gaming, StarCraft, and life in general over the last two weeks, then he's only going to continue to fall.


2. Samsung_JangBi

Perhaps the best Brood War player in the world when the game ceased to be played professionally in Korea, Jangbi has been one of the players who has been slow to adjust to SC2. However, the point is that he HAS been adjusting, and he's come a long way from the times when he mistakenly pressed guardian shield instead of force field in tight situations. He's become a reliable #2 man behind RorO for Samsung KHAN, and has quietly racked up the tenth most wins overall this season. All of that means we think it's time. JangBi is now ready to step back into the OSL arena, back into the tournament where he has won two championship in Brood War.


1. FXO.GuMiho

I have to admit that it hasn't been a good season for the most entertaining Terran in the world. He dropped out of the Code S Ro16, lost his Code A match to Ragnarok, and is now in danger of having to spend the next season down in the Challenger League. Even outside Code S, he hasn't been doing all that hot. He was disappointingly eliminated from DreamHack: Stockholm by Jaedong, and he's been doing poorly in his usual stomping grounds of the GSTL.

But hey, isn't that business as usual for Gumiho? Besides that one season where he reached the Code S semis, Gumiho has never been a particularly good Code S player – but he always manages to smash his Up/Down group to make it back for another go the next season. When Curious called him the new Code S gatekeeper, he really did have a point. Unless we see more evidence that there's been real shift in Gumiho's level, we have to pick the Code S regular to make it to next season's Starleague.