[IEM] Season IX - Shenzhen Final Day - Page 61

On July 20 2014 15:41 pure.Wasted wrote:


I think Taeja's a top 3 Terran for sure. Anyone who puts him below top 5 is delusional. But simplifying tournament wins in SC2 will get us nowhere. Blizzcon does NOTHING for most of the best SC2 players. Check the predictor right now, soO is on the cut-off for getting in after three consecutive GSL second places, while MC is sitting happy at #1. Is MC really the #1 Protoss in the world? I wouldn't even put him in top 5.

On July 20 2014 15:43 Thrillz wrote:
So the question is, can you be the best player in the world without going through the toughest tournament or even WCS America (or even making the finals). If you think yes, than I guess you would label him as "the best player in the world" but if you think no, then clearly he's not the best player in the world.

On July 20 2014 15:50 genai wrote:


but, can you label someone the best player in the world after he wins in "the toughest tournament" and then losing easily and looking like 2nd grade player in tournaments without preparation? or losing to foreigners(that dont even have to cheese them to beat them... just because kespa player didnt have 2 weeks to prepare for exactly that player and those maps he encounters??)

I dont know... depends on what you value more... preparation or skill... i favor skill, so i think Taeja is by far the best... i mean, who the hell plays straight up terran against top protoss and zergs in like 95% of his games and wins more than 70% of them?

Hell, even in preparation tournaments... he didnt really win them, but he went far in many of them... yet when those same top players come to play on his turf, they get wrecked all the time...

To me its clear

On July 20 2014 16:03 pure.Wasted wrote:


How can you possibly call WCS America the toughest tournament Taeja enters, when right here during this IEM he had to go through Zest (two time Code S champion of 2014), Jaedong (Blizzcon runnerup 2013), and Solar (Ro8 Code S, demolished Innovation)?

It's one thing to say that this was a weekend tournament, it's another to imply that Taeja's victories over Zest, Jaedong, and Solar aren't impressive, especially as he did it with nerfed WMs. Imagine how he looks when WM is back to its balanced state next week (or whenever).

On July 20 2014 15:54 pure.Wasted wrote:


So the best player in the world isn't allowed to lose any events?

I'm not ready to declare Taeja #1, but I think you're gonna have a lot of trouble coming up with any best players if your criteria are that strict. Even BW, that elitist paradise, was infamous for Code S finalists dropping out in RO32 of next season.

On July 20 2014 16:09 genai wrote:


Where the hell did i say that(i see you edited, so guess this doesnt count anymore)? I just said that those same kespa players that might win gsl or something end up getting wrecked even by foreigners on regular basis in foreign style tournaments... let alone by taeja who wins most of those tournaments

yet when the roles are reversed... taeja still beats many of them even tho he never won the tournament, he did really well in them... i mean, everyone can lose to everyone in kespa style tournaments because of preparation and one time builds for specific maps that take better player by surprise... but why the hell doesnt taeja lose in those weekend tournaments even to top kespa players?

So there are 2 sides of the medal... one, without preparation, is dominated by one player who beats pretty much everyone all the time, including top kespa players... and the other that is dominated by noone and all the time new faces come out and have 1 time success due to preparation... aaand yet the same player dominating the first side is on par with everyone on the other side constantly... even without winning everything... he gets far, beats many of them and is never outclassed

If one guy was dominating kespa and then went to foreign tournaments and did well... then sure... but everyone goes up and down in korea and then in foreign they dont do much... so clear dominator in one side while being very good on the other... against mix of many top players on one side that dont really do too good in "weaker" scene

I like Taeja, but still, i think im pretty objective with this...

On July 20 2014 16:16 SSVnormandy wrote:


pretty much agree with all of this . you can just look at tournaments from late 2013 to see that taeja rarely get stomped by kespa players . the two example that are on my mind are dear and pigbb

On July 20 2014 16:43 levelping wrote:
I think anyone expecting Roger Federer style domination to validate a "best player" title is somewhat oblivious to the volatility in Starcraft.

I think it's definitely a reasonable argument to make it for teaja being the best, when one considers the nature of the matches and tournaments.

It isn't just the fact he wins, but the way he does it against tough opponents. He looked downright clinical in his matches against zest. Even the one with the scv all in showed good mental fortitude and decision making. And in the last match with solar, he didn't just win he broke poor solar (who just fell apart - he looked so sad at then end).

On July 20 2014 16:50 Thrillz wrote:


It not dominating Federer style, a more apt comparison that Taeja is in would be being devoid of having a Grand Slam (or even making the finals of one) if you want to go the tennis route.

On July 20 2014 15:37 mongmong wrote:




They will shut up for now, but wait for a couple of months before they crawl out of their caves to chant "Taaeeeja can't compete with top level Code S Koreans!! " I remember nobody even daring to question Taeja's level of play after he 2-1'd innovation and 3-0'd Rain last year at the season finals, but they ALWAYS come back lol