Text by digmouse Advisors: nayuki@s.163.com, ms_joy@Neotv, Bellababy@TeSL, Spider.Chowoo
Disclaimer (shamelessly stealing from TL writers): The Power Rank only takes players competing at WCS Asia into account. Qualifiers are rough, and some players just didn't make it. The power rank is a compromise between the opinions of several writers, ensuring that not even we are happy with the end result. I (digmouse) am not responsible for rage or rage related injuries suffered from reading 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 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 on a player's overall package.
Also, 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, in terms of specific opponents and match-ups someone could end up with. Again, the Power Rank is just our all-around answer to the question "who's better?"
Also, I'm not a native English speaker and I haven't tried to write this large chunk of texts solely in English for a long time, so if you see ugly grammar errors/wording inappropriates, please do point me out as there will be many.
32. Mineski.EnDerr 31. inFinity.RedArchon Frankly, I don't know too much about these SEA players, nor do the whole world outside of the Oceania. EnDerr and RedArchon qualified by winning the 4-player SEA qualifier, over 2 other relatively (if not completely) unknown players. RedArchon's recent Asia e-Sports Cup at Tokyo Game Show results showed he might stand a chance taking games off more established player like Mafia, but the sheer amount of experience of the Koreans and Chinese pros should prove to be too much a challenge for him.
30. Tt Apollos.SKTB SKTB replaces wiNs, who decided it's time to hang up the mouse and pursue a more stable career as a banker. He is a semi-pro as well, known as an unpredictable player who can play a wide variety of styles. But still, his lack of experience at live events and against better players, make him very unlikely to hit the upset button.
29. inFinity.Revenant It's more complicated when it comes to Revenant, a familiar name among the long-time lived Warcraft 3 scene of China, who spent one precious month at the Fnatic house in Korea, might play a better, if not his best in career tournament than his brothers from the islands.
28. GamaniaBearsSlam The sidekick and student of Sen, he grew up a lot after Sen returned from his abroad trip, boasting a 50% win-rate in Taiwan eSports League, second best among his team behind his mentor. But again, as any other lesser Taiwanese players, a much bigger stage like WCS Asia against way bigger caliber of players, may trigger his already fragile nerve problems.
27. Tt Apollos.AK The youngest Aiur brethren from Taiwan, AK actually spent some time practicing in the Prime house, after returning, his style shifts a lot from an defensive player, to a more aggressive one. Still, up against a big name like HerO will be too big a burden for him to take, expect an early exit, he still has too much to prove for himself.
26. YoeIronmen.Nilon Known for his amazing ability of marine splitting, even called "Taiwan MarineKing". But just look at the Terran line up of this tournament and the sheer firepower of the other two races, his already slumping recent result (only 2 appearences in TeSL this season) doesn't show a big future in Shanghai either. Oh, did I mention he is going to play By.Sun in the first round?
25. YoeIronmen.Ian A rapidly rising star of Yoe Ironman, teammate of the best Taiwanese Protoss Hui. Other than that, he is largely unknown out there, though he is one of the most rapidly growing players in Taiwan, it won't help him a lot dealing with the absolute veterans
24. GamaniaBearsApro The uncle (despite the fact he is younger!) of Sen, Apro is another great backup for Gama Bears if things happen to their Zerg ace. Apro can play both Protoss and Zerg at a high level, and he doesn't hesitate when his team needs him to switch faction. He was put into the "weaker" part of the bracket, coming up against another lesser Protoss in Top, it would be the best situation the rangers from across the channel could expect.
23. Spider.Fly The runner-up of Taiwan Nationals, the definite No.2 Zerg of Taiwan, Fly is a relentless killer known for no emotions. Despite having a hopping 75% win rate in the TeSL, second overall behind the absolute ace Sen, the lack of overall game and player quality of this environment doesn't make this shiny result mean a lot of thing once the stage has moved to continental level. Hasn't achieved any big wins against any big name players, his chance of doing something significant won't be bigger than his brothers.
22. YoeIronmen.Hui Nicknamed "Ghosthand", the Protoss ace of Team Taiwan is arguably also the second best player from Taiwan. His unpredictable style might give him a lead against unprepared lesser players, but unless terrible things happened or his tricky play works every time, he isn't very likely to leave a mark on the Korean and Chinese veterans.
21. Spider.Ash Having a id perfectly fitting his name (张烬月 in which 烬 means ash), Ash is one of the biggest surprise came out of China Nationals. Living in the stable Wayi Spider team house and having a veteran teammate Comm, he is growing fast. Being in his second major offline tournament, the realistic goal for him is still getting more combat experience, but anyone can dream, right?
20. Phoenix.Top "I feel it was one Korean Protoss playing against fifteen Chinese players." -- Artosis on Top after China Nationals. Among his fellow Protoss brothers, Top is different, he isn't afraid of doing early game tricks nor lategame clashes. He cheesed the Terran powerhouse Loner twice, and then destroyed XY with his lategame deathball. Though his play definitely need more work to match him up against the Korean legion, everyone is eager to see what he has become in the past 3 months.
19. Tyloo.Infi Infi is a true legend of the Warcraft 3 times, but his impact into the SC2 scene doesn't really cause a big splash as a lot of people expect him to. Still practicing two games at the same time, still weighing Warcraft 3 events of upcoming WCG China Nationals and Grand Finals above everything else, he very likely won't be practicing a lot of SC2. The things he could well rely on are his huge amount of big stage experience and the homeland advantage, plus his unmatched RTS talent will still give him considerable wins against top Chinese players. However, upon these kind of Protoss/Zerg line-up, he very likely won't be the sole Terran hero. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong.
18. Phoenix.F91 The oldest among the 32, F91 is the only one that comes from the oldest Brood War times. Turning 30 next February and becoming a father soon after that, the passion for eSports never fade from this true veteran of Starcraft. Fans make fun of him, people call him a "comedian"(谐星). But deep inside us we all know F91 is that respectable Starcraft old boy we love. That being said, F91 still keeps his game on, constantly standing as one of the best Chinese Zergs. It won't be the last time we see F91 on the big stage, the chances are slim, but he will fight till the end, and will always be one of the most entertaining player Chinese Starcraft has ever to offer. By the way, anyone wanna see a F91 vs IdrA rematch in the World Championship? I do.
17. iGXluoS This guy is a myth. He took out 3 absolute veterans in LoveTT, LoveCD and F91, all fan-favorites to get here. His win against LoveCD leaves the dream of another Li blood on the world stage a bit further (LoveCD is the younger brother of Warcraft 3 legend Li "Sky" Xiaofeng), he made F91 look exactly like a old man who can't hold on to his feet. In the training match just happened today among Team China, XluoS swept all other Chinese Protosses over, displaying great shape just before the day. But having moved back to school to focus on his studies, this talented yet untrained young Protoss still has a long way ahead of him.
16. iGXy Arguably the best Terran in China right now, XY just took the crown of the MSI Laptop Masters Invitational defeating XiGua in the finals, shows he is in the right shape coming into this tournament. The all-around solid Terran has been known since the beta time under the alias "Half a Rookie", and grew rapidly ever since he went full pro. In such a small Terran line-up with no one significantly better, he is the one Terran fans should take an eye on.
15. SlayerS_Miya Someone would ask "How did he come to Shanghai?". Looking back at his WCS Korea results, all the 3 wins share the same fact that is ZvT. Taking out Hack, aLive and the last Terran hope Polt marks him a distinctive ZvT specialist, while his TLPD statistics confirms that. But coming to Shanghai with a extremely thin Terran line-up, his style of efficient 3-base ling-bane heavy play won't help him a lot here, while his not-so-specialized ZvZ and ZvP doesn't give him great edges against the stacked Protoss and Zerg line-up.
14. Tyloo.Jim Creator told an interviewer that he wanna play Jim and thinks he is the best Chinese player. Oddly, Jim is at similiar age as Creator, and has been compared against Creator for a long time. Jim doesn't talk much and smiles a lot, but when things go into play, he instantly transforms into killing machine. His main strength is his exceptional PvZ which could prove to be useful in this Zerg heavy tournament, but his hate and inconfidence in PvP might hurt him on the other hand.
13. iGMacSed The Protoss ace to go if Team China ever needs one in a team league, MacSed is talented, experienced and deadly. He took MVP a while to knock him out in WCG 2011 Grand Finals, he knocked down Grubby and Sen to claim the StarWars 7 title, also Moon and Lyn were his other casualties on his road to a lesser NGF champion. Before that he wasn't so helpless against Keen in the GSL. Matchin up against a PartinG who is heavily slumping in PvP, a already versatile matchup, he is the biggest chance for a non-Korean to hit an upset against the top caliber Koreans, and he won't be afraid to take on any other ones too. His nickname "Turtle Protoss" could very possibly help him this time, again.
12. CJ Entus_herO[jOin] The CJ Protoss is on low profile into WCS Asia, but many may not realize he is the essential backbone of CJ's Proleague champion run. Having an astonishing 73% winrate in SC2, and singlehandedly took care of By.Sun and knock out reigning champion SKT1 in the playoffs, don't you dare ignore him. herO's PvP and PvZ are impressive, but the reason I put him out of RO8 is simply that he is largely untested by bigger fields. His run out of WCS Korea is impressive, taking out TAiLS and Effort, with a reverse kill on puzzle to secure his spot, other than that, his success are mostly seen in the Proleague. Being on foreign soil and playing against Code S caliber players both for the first time, he will be doubted, let's see what he is made of.
11. Toodming The only teamless Zerg back in China Nationals made a huge splash by coming out of the Loser's Bracket hell, if it wasn't the stacked matches that exhausted him so much, he would made Comm so much harder in the run for the money. Toodming is the Last Emperor of Chinese Brood War, and his career into SC2 is also a successful one. Back to 2011 when the XiGua who was at his prime could not go to BlizzCon, he stood out and defeat Ret, only losing to eventual champion MVP and Dimaga who is a ZvZ master to drop out. Before Comm humiliated TAiLS 4-0 in the Kung Fu Cup Showmatch Series (a showmatch dedicated on Chinese players against Korean and foreign players), Toodming was the only to defeat Koreans, and not one, but two. And who he defeats? Noblesse, and MARINEKING. Yes, he is that good. Reported to have secured a foreign team, Toodming is training hard to make sure his run in China Nationals will continue.
10. Spider.Comm The China Nationals champion hold his head high on his home ground. Having a exceptional ZvP arsenal in his possession, he will make any Korean Protoss think twice playing on his ground. His major weakeness is his ZvZ and it's very likely he will meet the KeSPA ZvZ elephant RorO in Winner's Round 2. The generally lack of exposure is his weapon to exploit, but yet still skill and luck are what he needs to be successful. Luckily, with no concern of BWC spot on the line, he will go into the game without much burden on his back. But as his nickname "Balotelli" suggests, he could one way blasts a hole on the Korean warship, or silently bails out unnoticed.
9. GamaniaBearsSen Probably the biggest fan-favorite out of the Koreans, Sen is no small treat. He is one of the most successful foreign players of all time dated back to Brood War, making 2 back to back NASL RO4 is no small feat. He is the full pack of a modern Zerg, with solid results on every matchup. His major strength is ZvT which unfortunately won't help him a lot here, but his ZvZ and ZvP is capable of taking on anyone in the world as well. The only concern is, having played almost solely in the TeSL and not a lot foreign tournament appearances this year might actually hinder his skill, but by how much extent? WCS Asia is the first big tournament we see Sen coming on a big international stage in 2012, and I solely believe he is ready.
8. Samsung KHAN_RorO RorO is probably the best KeSPA Zerg right now, made a legendary run in WCS Korea defeating Hack, Leenock, Miya, herO and I-Just-Won-GSL aka Seed to secure his spot, being the last man standing in the Winner's Bracket for KeSPA proves it. This time his ZvP skills will yet again be tested by not only the same Korean Protoss line-up, but the new contenders in Chinese dragons and other ones like Sen. RorO just advanced to Code A RO24 in dominating fashion, knocking down veteran AcE and Ryung in the process, he definitely will be one of the favorites among the World Championship spot contenders.
7. Liquid`HerO Our own fan-favorite Liquid`HerO stands tall as the world's best Zerg killer, yet also known for simply bad PvP. Just got dominated by By.Sun in the GSL, keeping a 38% winrate against Koreans and 3/7 in the past 10, HerO needs to fix his PvP in a short amount of time, otherwise not mentioning Creator, Squirtle or PartinG, the Chinese Protosses are going to be a pain in the back for him.
6. Startale_Curious Out of the Code S powerhouses, Curious is the most iconic mid-tier player who wanders around RO32 and RO16 and never made to the bigger stages. But on this stage the all around solid and deadly Zerg is distinctively a tier above most other Zerg broods (only exceptions are RorO and maybe Sen). His real threat is still the Aiur enemies above him. With a highly likely Startale teamkill against PartinG around the corner and an unpleasant WCS Korea ZvP experience (2 losses vs Protoss, only advanced by defeating Puzzle), he must put up his A-game. Every Power Rank needs a "Grubby Line", since Grubby is not available this time (you'll see him in the casting seats though), I decided to put him as a BWC qualifying line, thus "The Curious Line".
5. SK Telecom T1_By.Sun The King of Elephants is here. Though he can no longer add 3 more titles into the already crowded SKT1 trophy room in a mere month now, By.Sun still stands as one of the best players in the world at the moment. In PvT and PvZ By.Sun has proved he could compete with the very best. Though his innovative harassment-heavy PvT probably won't shine here, his PvZ will still be too much for almost all the Zergs in this tournament. The thing he needs to work on is his largely untested and statistically (don't be fooled by TLPD this time!) weak PvP, or his ideal target would still be the BWC spot, not the title.
4. Startale_PartinG PartinG is famous for being a PvT specialist and struggling against Zerg. The former, as said several times before, won't do much this time around, the later weakness is somewhat fixed recently as his vZ became significantly more reliable but yet not on par with players like Creator or HerO. On the other hand, PvP will be the key to success in WCS Asia. While PartinG is stable against lesser Protosses, he in fact has problem dealing top Korean ones. What his PvP will be like, is the biggest question mark floating on PartinG's head.
3. Startale_Squirtle The Blastoise is simply too good, I don't even need to tell you how good it is as I can't use more words on him. The only thing makes me put him in here, is his recent results are really not on his line: 1-3 to Curious in TSL4, got reverse killed by Creator in WCS Korea, dropping out of GSL RO16 losing to Leenock and HerO, Squirtle is probably the coldest among the top contenders. But yet again, he is so f**king good in all matchups, he could easily take out everyone on his best day, it's only up to when and what day he will be on when he landed in Shanghai.
2. LG-IMSeed Similiar to PartinG, Seed's problems lies in PvP. Defeating MC in a GSL Finals has greatly boosted his confidence on this field, and he did show steady improvements on his PvP, as shown in his recent GSL and IPTL results. His PvT and PvZ is undoubtedly championship caliber, and his steel nerves will continue to be his great weapon. If his patches to his PvP are as effective as it is, Seed is not only one of the favorites to win a spot to BWC, but also the biggest bet to win it all as well.
1. CreatorPrime The wonderkid is ready to take it away again. Despite the fact that he is in Code A (caused by a very very unlucky U&D group), his superb recent result and constantly reliable performances marks him the best player here in Shanghai. Unlike his name may suggest, Creator plays a defensive, orthodox game against all odds. And the biggest weapon he has possession is undoubtedly his invincible PvP for already obvious reasons. His Korean PvP winrate for the past three months is jaw-dropping 71% and he won 8 of his last 10 PvPs. Combined with his momentum in the GSL and being WCS Korea champion, Creator is the definite favorite to crown the Asia Finals.
Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
On October 12 2012 05:44 Broodlings wrote: Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
Yes I hesitated on that, but still decide to place them there simply because PvP is so versatile, I would rather trust a veteran.
On October 12 2012 05:44 Broodlings wrote: Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
Yes I hesitated on that, but still decide to place them there simply because PvP is so versatile, I would rather trust a veteran.
Rain did just beat Parting handily. She should be the overall favourite imo.
If this PR was based on actual skill all top 10 would be Koreans. Yes, even as a huge Sen fan, if my life depended on a game of SC2 I'd send Miya over Sen.
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
Out of the Code S powerhouses, Curious is the most iconic mid-tier player who wanders around RO32 and RO16 and never made to the bigger stages. But on this stage the all around solid and deadly Zerg is distinctively a tier above most other Zerg broods (only exceptions are RorO and maybe Sen).
Sen? You put Sen in the same tier as Curious? I like Sen but come on... he's barely Code A level, if that.
i don't think creator is quite the favourite, although with low numbers of terrans, we could well see another win! the by.rain hype train is strong on TL, though, haha, and any of the other protoss can coinflip creator out too
Really good read, thanks! It's always interesting to see what happens when you put chinese talents or someone like WC3 legend Infi against KeSPA pros or just KeSPA pros against ESF players.
On October 12 2012 06:09 TheDougler wrote: Great work on this!
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
I agree with you on the Seed thing, but I would like to point out that HerO is fresh off of a Code S ro8 run which included great zergs like Leenock and Symbol, so I will (respectfully) disagree with you on that. Then again I am somewhat of a HerO fanboy . [Edit]: And I just looked at the bracket, and realized that out of Hero, Creator, and Seed, only one will advance past round 3 in the winners bracket. Very sad .
On October 12 2012 06:09 TheDougler wrote: Great work on this!
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
I agree with you on the Seed thing, but I would like to point out that HerO is fresh off of a Code S ro8 run which included great zergs like Leenock and Symbol, so I will (respectfully) disagree with you on that. Then again I am somewhat of a HerO fanboy . [Edit]: And I just looked at the bracket, and realized that out of Hero, Creator, and Seed, only one will advance past round 3 in the winners bracket. Very sad .
he did lose to leenock ;p
On October 12 2012 07:46 tuho12345 wrote: Seed #1 and Rain is #2 plz lol. How could Rain is #5 lower than Parting and Creator man >"<
lol, creator just won WCS korea and TSL4 dude, he was one unlucky map away from being in code S (and think about this - he beat both rain and life - who were code s semifinalists). he also avoids his worst matchup in this wcs, haha
Great writeup and pretty interesting too for, especially for the lesser known players from SEA and your view on the chinese scene! I have to add, i too feel Rain should be placed higher. He`s a contender in my eyes to win it.
On October 12 2012 06:09 TheDougler wrote: Great work on this!
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
I agree with you on the Seed thing, but I would like to point out that HerO is fresh off of a Code S ro8 run which included great zergs like Leenock and Symbol, so I will (respectfully) disagree with you on that. Then again I am somewhat of a HerO fanboy . [Edit]: And I just looked at the bracket, and realized that out of Hero, Creator, and Seed, only one will advance past round 3 in the winners bracket. Very sad .
On October 12 2012 07:46 tuho12345 wrote: Seed #1 and Rain is #2 plz lol. How could Rain is #5 lower than Parting and Creator man >"<
lol, creator just won WCS korea and TSL4 dude, he was one unlucky map away from being in code S (and think about this - he beat both rain and life - who were code s semifinalists). he also avoids his worst matchup in this wcs, haha
I still think winning GSL and semi final of GSL is harder than WCS or TSL No offense to Creator tho. Also Parting isn't good at PvZ or PvP at all so he doesn't deserve that spot tbh.
On October 12 2012 06:09 TheDougler wrote: Great work on this!
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
I agree with you on the Seed thing, but I would like to point out that HerO is fresh off of a Code S ro8 run which included great zergs like Leenock and Symbol, so I will (respectfully) disagree with you on that. Then again I am somewhat of a HerO fanboy . [Edit]: And I just looked at the bracket, and realized that out of Hero, Creator, and Seed, only one will advance past round 3 in the winners bracket. Very sad .
On October 12 2012 07:46 tuho12345 wrote: Seed #1 and Rain is #2 plz lol. How could Rain is #5 lower than Parting and Creator man >"<
lol, creator just won WCS korea and TSL4 dude, he was one unlucky map away from being in code S (and think about this - he beat both rain and life - who were code s semifinalists). he also avoids his worst matchup in this wcs, haha
He did lose to Leenock, but in a final game where he drastically outplayed Leenock and caused MC to have a meltdown from watching the games. Also I didn't say he won against the great zergs I just said his run included them .
On October 12 2012 06:09 TheDougler wrote: Great work on this!
I definitely like Roro's chances better than Liquid'Hero's however and think Seed is waay too highly rated here, and Rain slightly too low, but that's just my personal opinion and we'll just have to wait and see.
I agree with you on the Seed thing, but I would like to point out that HerO is fresh off of a Code S ro8 run which included great zergs like Leenock and Symbol, so I will (respectfully) disagree with you on that. Then again I am somewhat of a HerO fanboy . [Edit]: And I just looked at the bracket, and realized that out of Hero, Creator, and Seed, only one will advance past round 3 in the winners bracket. Very sad .
he did lose to leenock ;p
On October 12 2012 07:46 tuho12345 wrote: Seed #1 and Rain is #2 plz lol. How could Rain is #5 lower than Parting and Creator man >"<
lol, creator just won WCS korea and TSL4 dude, he was one unlucky map away from being in code S (and think about this - he beat both rain and life - who were code s semifinalists). he also avoids his worst matchup in this wcs, haha
I still think winning GSL and semi final of GSL is harder than WCS or TSL No offense to Creator tho. Also Parting isn't good at PvZ or PvP at all so he doesn't deserve that spot tbh.
Parting is sick good at sentry immortal all ins yo
Creator: There are so many talented players here in Korea, and it’s such a great honor to take home the trophy. I plan on making a strong statement through the Asia Finals and the BWC. Luck has no place in my victory.
My power rank with explanations - 32nd-28th - All the Terrans: RedArchon starts off against Curious, if he wins it'll already be the biggest shock of the tournament, then if you look at the brackets they're already up against the heavy hitters so early on if they somehow progress
27th-24th - All of the GamaniaBears roster including Sen - Sen was hugely popular and had a fear-factor about him, people were scared to play against him but lately he's completely disappeared from the spotlight and that fear-factor will have dissipated alot
I don't have any knowledge at all on the other Non-Koreans to have an opinion at all. Out of the Koreans I'd have Rain as the major Dark Horse for the tournament, not just because of his GSL run but as TT1 pointed out he has an extremely easy bracket, it's almost up til the Championship bracket where he actually faces someone known.
Judging by the bracket the first Korean drop out I predict will be Slayers_Miya then herO[join] followed by Liquid's Hero putting Seed and Creator as #1 and #2 respectively when they will most likely face each other in Round 2 is basically saying the loser of the match will destroy the Loser's bracket without a sweat and I'm gonna disagree on that.
Very nice Write-Up. Yes, you can argue about every position here and there, so I will not go into that and say: The PR here is reasonabe, BUT with PvP being the most upsetting matchup in the whole SC2 history, everything can happen at the top and everyone should keep that in mind while evalutating those preview articles. With the lack of terrans here, we'll see a hell lot of PvPs. And while this matchup is definately more than coinflipping it seems to become as random as this at times. I hope for Creator to win, but if luck is totally against him this weekend he could go out very early without making major mistakes.
On October 12 2012 08:51 snively wrote: 1 to 5 is all protoss
And they're by far the most skilled players in the tournament, too.
As far as SEA players go, all of them have been competitive in the scene for ages, and all three will pull out what TL calls 'cheesy bullshit' if necessary. Definitely the underdogs, but they're not newbies to competitions.
On October 12 2012 09:13 Ricemagical wrote: For your description of creator, I think you might mean orthodox rather than unorthodox since his builds are usually pretty predictable and solid
Oh right, typing in mid-night apparently messed up my reasoning, thx for pointing out!
Can't believe you'd put rain fifth after making semi's of GSL (Narrowly losing to the overall most successful player to have ever touched the game) and the finals of OSL (which has yet to be played and he could win)... If there was an overall power rank for the world right now not putting him in top 3 would be a disgrace, let alone not putting him top 3 on this list :\.
edit; and using lifetime PvP statistics over the fact that he just crushed 2 of the top protoss players in the world in PvP in Ro8 of both tournaments is a bit of a weak reason to put him behind the other four protosses... One of whom was one of the protosses he destroyed in the Ro8.
Creator: There are so many talented players here in Korea, and it’s such a great honor to take home the trophy. I plan on making a strong statement through the Asia Finals and the BWC. Luck has no place in my victory.
NOOOOOOO T_T pvp curse inc
he didn't talk about PvP specifically, so I think he's safe
On October 12 2012 09:48 Ftrunkz wrote: Can't believe you'd put rain fifth after making semi's of GSL (Narrowly losing to the overall most successful player to have ever touched the game) and the finals of OSL (which has yet to be played and he could win)... If there was an overall power rank for the world right now not putting him in top 3 would be a disgrace, let alone not putting him top 3 on this list :\.
edit; and using lifetime PvP statistics over the fact that he just crushed 2 of the top protoss players in the world in PvP in Ro8 of both tournaments is a bit of a weak reason to put him behind the other four protosses... One of whom was one of the protosses he destroyed in the Ro8.
i agree rain is probably top2 or 3 in the WCS power rank, but parting and hero aren't the best PvPers around (hero is historically weak) and i would favour creator, hero[join] and squirtle (if he can keep up his pvp - he's been a bit sloppy in it lately) over rain in a pvp right now i think. i'm not quite sure if he's cemented in top3 worldwide now either, let's wait until he sustains this a bit longer. not denying he's excellent, but don't hypetrain too much (look at what happened to bomber last year, etc - too many players have peaked really high but settled in a bit of a lower spot)
Creator: There are so many talented players here in Korea, and it’s such a great honor to take home the trophy. I plan on making a strong statement through the Asia Finals and the BWC. Luck has no place in my victory.
NOOOOOOO T_T pvp curse inc
he didn't talk about PvP specifically, so I think he's safe
I don't think Rain has proved himself yet in a weekend tournament. Let's not forget that he had a lot of time to prepare single match-ups during his recent runs. I think all things considered he still should be stronger than Parting though, so I don't agree with the ranking.
I'd put Rain a bit higher up (possibly even at #1 because of the brackets), and did you seriously not put all the Koreans in all the highest spots? Come on now.
On October 12 2012 10:31 Grumbels wrote: I don't think Rain has proved himself yet in a weekend tournament. Let's not forget that he had a lot of time to prepare single match-ups during his recent runs. I think all things considered he still should be stronger than Parting though, so I don't agree with the ranking.
rain's style should actually be stronger in a weekend gauntlet because he plays standard, standard, and more standard
I play Protoss. I love Protoss. But this has way too many Protosses. I hope Squirtle and Parting have got some new PvP skills with them, because they seem to really be suffering in that matchup lately.
On October 12 2012 10:43 SHOOG wrote: I think Rain needs to be on top. He only lost to the best of the best. I would put Creator 3rd.
I would agree if it was a tournament with even race distribution. But since it will likely come down to PvPs, I would give Creator, Squirtle, Hero[join] the edge.
What interests me more than the player lineup about this tournament is the viewer count this tournament will get
The major selling point is it is the Asia finals
But on the flip side you have the lack of Terrans and the time zone differences, the GSL Code A Premium Matches don't start until 5am UK time which is 6am EU time so the first few rounds of the Asia finals could potentially have extremely low viewers for something which is supposed to be a massive event and all the Terrans could already be out by the time the Europeans wake up
On October 12 2012 10:31 Grumbels wrote: I don't think Rain has proved himself yet in a weekend tournament. Let's not forget that he had a lot of time to prepare single match-ups during his recent runs. I think all things considered he still should be stronger than Parting though, so I don't agree with the ranking.
rain's style should actually be stronger in a weekend gauntlet because he plays standard, standard, and more standard
This works for PvT and PvZ. But I feel PvP is a different ball game. There doesn't seem like a standard build in PvP in the early game which is when most games get decided. In the late game, Rain does really well with his Colossi control and army positioning.
imho seed /squirtle/ creator are about the same skill level, with parting slightly below them and rain slightly above them hero is a wildcard, im starting to give a more neutral look towards him nowadays, since he did impress me abit by getting to ro8, but i still feel that hes slightly above parting only
On October 12 2012 10:36 DarkPlasmaBall wrote: I'd put Rain a bit higher up (possibly even at #1 because of the brackets), and did you seriously not put all the Koreans in all the highest spots? Come on now.
If it's more like WCS EU or an MLG, I definitely will put all Koreans in the Top 10, but this is so special and unpredictable, with a lot of untested wildcards, even you can say they are invisible before, I would rather be called "underestimate", than "overrate" someone.
I'm really sad that this tournament will probably be PvPvPvPvPvPvP...
Funny how Korean Terrans have been dominating the Korean scene, yet not a single Korean Terran is represented... I feel like the WCS KR tournament took place during the worst time possible: A time when Terran could not win against Zerg and Zerg could not win against Protoss, leading to Protoss domination and a handful of Zergs.
The talent pool of Korea is so deep that any idea of a World Championship that doesn't give more seeds to Korea is a flawed idea in my opinion. Sure, this can be considered a World Championship... but if you want a World Championship level of skill, all you have to do is look at GSL and OSL every month.
RedArchon has really good TvP, Revenant is a jack of all trades, he's good at everything. EnDerr is much the same. They'll definitely take out some Taiwanese and Chinese players.
I reckon Sen will definitely take out some Koreans. People have been underestimating him as well simply because he hasn't been to an international tournament in quite some time. Sen beat ByuN 4-2 recently, and that's Sen's weakest match-up.
On October 12 2012 05:44 Broodlings wrote: Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
Yes I hesitated on that, but still decide to place them there simply because PvP is so versatile, I would rather trust a veteran.
Rain did just beat Parting handily. She should be the overall favourite imo.
At weekend style tournaments Creator is obviously the safest bet.
On October 12 2012 05:44 Broodlings wrote: Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
Yes I hesitated on that, but still decide to place them there simply because PvP is so versatile, I would rather trust a veteran.
Rain did just beat Parting handily. She should be the overall favourite imo.
At weekend style tournaments Creator is obviously the safest bet.
You sure you're thinking of the right protoss? Creator's 2 biggest tournament wins were long drawn out tournaments.
On October 12 2012 05:44 Broodlings wrote: Wow nice job here. I'm suprised you put Rain so low, considering his PvP seemed strong both versus hero and Parting. And parting dropped to the Up and down and he's still above rain..
Yes I hesitated on that, but still decide to place them there simply because PvP is so versatile, I would rather trust a veteran.
Rain did just beat Parting handily. She should be the overall favourite imo.
At weekend style tournaments Creator is obviously the safest bet.
You sure you're thinking of the right protoss? Creator's 2 biggest tournament wins were long drawn out tournaments.
wcs wasn't that drawn out, and ladder beasts are better at weekend tourneys. although i wonder if the skt team is so good that they prep rain for everyone :o
Great write-up. I found myself agreeing on those players I know, and it was nice to learn about players I have not seen yet. But, that said. I probably won't watch the tournament.
There are a number of points about time zones, etc. but the biggest issue is the lack of terrans.
On October 12 2012 17:44 FataLe wrote: Was thinking more of a
1. Creator 2. By.Sun 3. Squirtle 4. Seed
But it's close enough.
Yea I was thinking something about the same but they're all pretty good at PvP so they can all definitely beat each other. Should be interesting. So much dice rolling for the prize money among the top 4 xD!
Redarchon is unknown??? I've heard about him, he played BW and qualified for WCG quite a lot of times. No surprise he quialifed for this event, and he should be ranked higher imo.
On October 12 2012 19:19 Fenrax wrote: lol so much elephant hate in OP
Sun only 5th lol. But putting CJ Hero behind random toodming and spider.comm bahaha. That takes the cake.
sun do not have a strong pvp. that will be his downfall in this turnement.. CJ Hero have been good and deserves a higher placement that i agree on, but stop with the "elephant hate" comment, just unessesary and you seem like a bw elitist
On October 12 2012 19:19 Fenrax wrote: lol so much elephant hate in OP
Sun only 5th lol. But putting CJ Hero behind random toodming and spider.comm bahaha. That takes the cake.
sun do not have a strong pvp. that will be his downfall in this turnement.. CJ Hero have been good and deserves a higher placement that i agree on, but stop with the "elephant hate" comment, just unessesary and you seem like a bw elitist
Did you turn off your brain while watching him destroy hero? If anyone on this planet actually understands pvp, it's by.rain. Can we please turn off the black/white cam? Not everyone who likes kespa players is an elitest, and not everyone who doesn't praise them is a hater...
Squirtle isn't in my top 10 after his very disastrous IeSF tournament lately, lol. Yes, he lost in a PvP, but isn't this tournament mostly PvP and PvZ anyway? :D
On October 12 2012 19:19 Fenrax wrote: lol so much elephant hate in OP
Sun only 5th lol. But putting CJ Hero behind random toodming and spider.comm bahaha. That takes the cake.
sun do not have a strong pvp. that will be his downfall in this turnement.. CJ Hero have been good and deserves a higher placement that i agree on, but stop with the "elephant hate" comment, just unessesary and you seem like a bw elitist
Did you turn off your brain while watching him destroy hero? If anyone on this planet actually understands pvp, it's by.rain. Can we please turn off the black/white cam? Not everyone who likes kespa players is an elitest, and not everyone who doesn't praise them is a hater...
rain is about 50% in the matchup; hero is not that good a pvp player either
Squirtle isn't in my top 10 after his very disastrous IeSF tournament lately, lol. Yes, he lost in a PvP, but isn't this tournament mostly PvP and PvZ anyway? :D
look at how squirtle made it to the tourny in the first place. He beat 3 tosses including liquid hero and genius in them. Also made it to ro16 of gsl to barely lose to liquid hero there. if anything even not putting squirtle in the top 5 is questionable, but not even top 10 is a joke
On October 12 2012 19:19 Fenrax wrote: lol so much elephant hate in OP
Sun only 5th lol. But putting CJ Hero behind random toodming and spider.comm bahaha. That takes the cake.
sun do not have a strong pvp. that will be his downfall in this turnement.. CJ Hero have been good and deserves a higher placement that i agree on, but stop with the "elephant hate" comment, just unessesary and you seem like a bw elitist
Did you turn off your brain while watching him destroy hero? If anyone on this planet actually understands pvp, it's by.rain. Can we please turn off the black/white cam? Not everyone who likes kespa players is an elitest, and not everyone who doesn't praise them is a hater...
rain is about 50% in the matchup; hero is not that good a pvp player either
Similiar to how k/a/d don't tell the hole story in team fps, I don't feel like winrates tell much about how good one actually is in a matchup. I know that hero's pvp is pretty meh in general and that his winrate is only so high because he goes to a lot of foreign events, but what Rain showed in terms of deep understanding of the matchup during the ro8 is just beyond anything else, have his winrate be 30%, I honestly don't care, he gets it more than anyone else, and I think that is something that can be judged even if you see him play vs a bad pvper.
On October 12 2012 19:19 Fenrax wrote: lol so much elephant hate in OP
Sun only 5th lol. But putting CJ Hero behind random toodming and spider.comm bahaha. That takes the cake.
sun do not have a strong pvp. that will be his downfall in this turnement.. CJ Hero have been good and deserves a higher placement that i agree on, but stop with the "elephant hate" comment, just unessesary and you seem like a bw elitist
Did you turn off your brain while watching him destroy hero? If anyone on this planet actually understands pvp, it's by.rain. Can we please turn off the black/white cam? Not everyone who likes kespa players is an elitest, and not everyone who doesn't praise them is a hater...
rain is about 50% in the matchup; hero is not that good a pvp player either
Similiar to how k/a/d don't tell the hole story in team fps, I don't feel like winrates tell much about how good one actually is in a matchup. I know that hero's pvp is pretty meh in general and that his winrate is only so high because he goes to a lot of foreign events, but what Rain showed in terms of deep understanding of the matchup during the ro8 is just beyond anything else, have his winrate be 30%, I honestly don't care, he gets it more than anyone else, and I think that is something that can be judged even if you see him play vs a bad pvper.
Exactly what he showed vs HerO was some of the best pvp play we have ever seen. HerO's pvp has also improved quite a bit.
"Also, I'm not a native English speaker and I haven't tried to write this large chunk of texts solely in English for a long time, so if you see ugly grammar errors/wording inappropriates, please do point me out as there will be many."
On October 13 2012 05:24 kochanfe wrote: sen is no small treat? do you mean threat?
It was clearly supposed to be written as "small threat," but the 'h' is missing. You can continue to focus on a missing letter in the write-up, although most of us are more concerned about the tournament itself or discussing his power rankings.
I wanted to ask you this afternoon but I forgot. It seemed that PartinG had a lot of fans in the audience, probably more than anyone else, and until Sun surprised (and converted) everyone with his godly micro, I felt like everyone was cheering for PartinG. Am I right ? Do you have any idea why PartinG is that popular in China ?
just saw this and it's absurd you put cj_hero at 12 or something. no kespa player should be ranked below any chinese players, although comm is pretty strong. cj hero is not an unknown quantity either
On October 23 2012 07:15 Shymr wrote: I would really like to see HerO in the final but I just can't see him making it since his PvP is very weak and there are some amazingly good protoss in the line-up. (Especially CreatorPrime, squirtle and Seed)
EPT
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Mineski.EnDerr![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/0/06/Th.png)
inFinity.RedArchon![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/8/8b/Tw.png)
Tt Apollos.SKTB![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/c/ce/Sp.png)
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YoeIronmen.Nilon![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/c/cd/Cn.png)
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Spider.Ash![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/3/36/Kr.png)
2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series/Asia/Finals
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