Power Rank 08/01/2010 - Page 66

This isn't about history, even though he made some. This isn't about records, even though he broke them. This isn't about achievements, like the triple-crown or the dual starleague victories. This isn't even about beating the only other person in the running for the greatest of all-time twice.
Winning the MSL using risky fast expansion builds and sharp timing attacks, and then winning the OSL without doing so once - he just does it all. He destroyed free with ease, his only loss due to cheese. Fantasy gave him a close call, but it wasn't nearly as close as the 3-2 suggests. Going 6-3 against the greatest Zerg of all-time, The Tyrant has been dethroned. Not since The Cheater has a player caused so many people to rage about his play being unfair. Not since The Maestro have people been stumped at how you're supposed to beat that level of player.

On the top of the food chain, there is only one Bonjwa.

Oh what a difference a month makes. Jaedong was the man to beat, just one starleague victory away from Nada's record. He seemed in peak condition, with mental poise unmatched by anyone else. He's better in every way than every other player not called Flash, in all history. In any other time, he'd be crowned Bonjwa. Against any other player, he'd rip him to shreds with his patented death-stare. But what a difference this last month made.

Stork gave him a run for his money, Light gave him a hard time in the MSL. Jaedong's strong mentality and ability to read his opponents just gave him too much an edge even against one of the greatest TvZ specialists and possibly the best Protoss ever. But the reason he's not #1 is Flash, the other players just don't match up to these guys. The past month and a half have been culminating towards their inevitable face-off, when it was obvious that no one could stop them from meeting in both finals.

And then the unimaginable happened. Jaedong lost.

Excluding his loses to Flash, his record since the last PR is very impressive. He's been in top form yet going under the radar because of the epic rivalry between the top two spots. There really shouldn't be much to question about his number three spot, he took Flash to five games. He schooled basically every other player he met during this time.

Fantasy has been veering away from cutesy builds and showing strong all around play, and has been showing some nice TvZ in addition to his justly famed vulture control which makes him so strong in the other match-ups. His 13-7 record since August is much better than it seems - he went 2-5 against Flash... making him 11-2 against meer mortals, and while the difference between the top two spots and him is massive, his number three spot is rightfully secure.

How I'd love to rank him higher, after demolishing Sea with ease and being one cannon away from taking Jaedong to his first ever game five loss. Stork in peak form is perhaps the strongest all-around Protoss player to play the game, and one of the rare players with PvT strong enough to make people wish for a series between him and Flash. But aside from those games where he showed why he's my favorite player, he showed rather shaky games against Pure, and ranking him higher would be a disservice to those above him.

Live by the sword, and die by the sword. Light played only TvZs since the last PR, and has done so VERY well, but he hit the brick wall known as Lee Jae Dong. he's 8-2 against other players, and even against the Legend Killer he showed very strong play. But seriously, he's a TvZ specialist, playing only that on a map pool that is by now his playground, and even in the most optimal conditions his record is 10-7. Sure it earns him a high spot, but the choice between him and Stork wasn't quite as hard as it seems as Stork showed strength in all his match-ups, and not just one.

free looked bad against Flash. But then again, so does everyone else. Other than that, free has been playing some very sexy starcraft, including some absolutely beautiful games against ZerO. He's shown a bit of that brilliance from the days of the dragons, but lack of stability keeps him from climbing higher in the rankings... And I suppose that at this time we can't hope for any better, because this isn't really a surprise with him anymore. Still, his record has been rather good since the last PR, and seriously, how much blame can you give him for losing to Flash?

ZerO's play is awesome. His style is creative, his management is fantastic, and the losses he suffered weren't all that bad. For a Zerg player to show this consistant a quality of play is rare, and the fact is that in his losses he showed more skill than any other Zerg player excluding JD. It's been a rough end of a season for the swarm, but despite this, ZerO has managed to show that he's still a force to be reckoned with.

I'll be the first to say, I don't really like EffOrt, and have always viewed him as a poor man's Jaedong. But he's been playing very well, and despite his shaky record these past few weeks, he's still the #2 Zerg on his good days and still one of the most dangerous and unpredictable opponents anyone can face. But since the last PR his record is a meager 8-11, and while you can't fault anyone for losing a ZvZ to Jaedong, his unpredictability acted more to his detriment than in his favor.

There has never been a player with as tough luck as him. It seems that his own personal kryptonite keeps meeting him in every tournament. Despite this, his play in the past few months has been enticing, especially his spectacular run culminating in qualifying to the WCG finals by delivering a thrashing to EffOrt. He'd probably deserve a much higher ranking if it were only based on the last month, but we all know that even when Kal was at his peak he couldn't be counted on to show consistant results, and he tends to have similar win rates against the good and bad players alike.

Crash and burn. Stork dismantled Sea as if he was made of lego. Jaedong demolished him with a vengeance. Why is he still in this ranking? Because BeSt didn't play and Bisu sucked... and by default we have to look further back in the season to see who out of the three deserves this spot.