Let's be honest. The top nine players of this month's ranking were not particularly hard to pick. Had we picked any avid follower of SC2 to compose a power rank, he would probably have gone with the same nine players and placed them in a fairly similar order as we did. But while the first nine players were a breeze this month, there was no clear candidates for this last spot until very recently.

In the end, it all came down to HerO versus Mvp, the winners of their respective WCS regions. HerO's path to becoming the king of America included going through aLive, Killer, Scarlett, Suppy, Alicia, Ryung, and Revival. Meanwhile, Mvp's ascent to European royalty included wins against Siw, Socke, Sase, TLO, DIMAGA, and Stephano, with losses to both DIMAGA and Lucifron in the group stage. While it's slightly debatable, we give the edge to HerO.

What about outside of WCS? Mvp didn't have much else to do and in fact only played one game out of WCS EU in April and May combined, losing that game to Scarlett in the GSTL. Meanwhile, HerO had his hands full and was competing in both ATC and SPL. Speaking of SPL, HerO has been doing quite respectably there, ending the round with a 6 - 4 record including wins against herO[join], Jangbi, RorO, and Flash (ok, so he cheesed Flash out). All the while, he's been demonstrating his trademark Hero-esque play in games such as this one. Overall, HerO edges out his European counterpart for this #10 spot.

Parting gets #9 almost solely for making it out of the group of death (including winning a game on a slower game speed!). But since then, he failed to qualify for the WCS season finals by losing to the two KeSPa Zergs, Soulkey and RorO. His Proleague results have also just been above average, only 9-8 since his transfer to SK Telecom. (The most recent of these loses is to Jaedong's notoriously bad ZvP.) That being said, Parting is 3-0 against Flash in the last month. That's gotta count for something, right?

sOs started April strong, showing both solid and creative play at the same time, defeating opponents like MKP, soO, TaeJa, and Bomber. He even won the Indoor Martial Arts Championship Qualifer, beating RorO, Innovation, and Life along the way. Had power ranks returned early in April, we might have even ranked sOs as high as third or fourth. So what happened for sOs in May? His Proleague record actually improved, and he advanced all the way to the semifinals of the GSL, barely missing the finals in a close 3 - 4 loss against Soulkey. Yet this month he resides in eighth place. So what really happened to sOs?

First was the series against Kangho in the quarterfinals of the GSL. It was a bizarre series, a sloppy affair that left us wondering what we had just watched. sOs' image went from a that of a masterful tactician to that of a sloppy, bumbling player with some good ideas, drunkenly ambling to his destination. Then came the semifinals against Soulkey. Oh those semis.

• Games 1-3: Horrible, horrible fails from sOs
  
• Game 4: Sloppy play from both sides
  
• Game 5-6: Cannon rushes!
  
• Game 7: Failed two base all-in

From these GSL games, we saw clear faults in sOs: his control, his micro, his execution. As of now, sOs is an incomplete player, one who wishes he could somehow merge with the mechanically gifted Parting to create a perfect being. But for now, eighth place suits him well.

The month, Life secures the seventh place spot mostly based on his past triumphs. After all, he did win the first HotS MLG, and was considered the best player in the world for quite a while. In addition, he was one of only two players to qualify for the aforementioned Indoor Martial Arts tournament, defeating Flash along the way. Besides the group of death, Life's only results this month were losing to NAKSEO in the GSTL and 2 - 0ing MarineKing in GSL. (But at this point, is 2 - 0ing MarineKing in ZvT really an accomplishment?)

Perhaps what gave him the edge over some of his peers on this list is that Life never really played poorly, losing his matches because his opponents played very well, and not because he abruptly dipped in form. This contrasts with sOs and PartinG, who were somewhat inconsistent in their quality of play. Life is still one of the most respected and feared players in the scene and there aren't enough results yet that suggest otherwise.

RorO, above all else, is known for his solid play. Some recent examples are found in his careful demolishing of mech against Skyhigh or his meticulous dismantling of a Protoss deathball against Flying.

But the one result that really defined RorO this month was his 0 - 3 loss to Innovation. Especially in the first game where both players played the most standard openings you could ask for, Innovation showed that he was clearly and definitively better at RorO's supposed greatest strength: solid macro play. This sudden realization alone must have been a blow to RorO's pride.

RorO's Proleague record has been slipping as well, dropping from 5 - 0 in Round 4 to 4 - 5 in Round 5, all a reflection of his slightly slumping form. RorO's greatest accomplishments in the last month include defeating Parting to qualify for the WCS season finals and providing us with two highly bizarre, though at the same time, highly entertaining games.

Poor RorO never got much time in the spotlight. Even though he had won the GSL championship just a few months ago, RorO was still consistently outshone and out-hyped by Innovation, Flash, Life, and even the guy he beat in the finals, Symbol.

We hope Symbol is proud of himself for ranking above his arch-nemesis, RorO. In terms of results, you can't really fault Symbol for losing to Innovation in the GSL. After all, did anyone really expect Symbol to win? But at the same time, you can't really be too impressed at Symbol's semi-final path: Shine, Keen, soO, Gumiho, and Bomber. Though all respectable players in their own right, none really scream out "championship contender". These are all players he should have beaten, and since he did beat them handily, we give him due credit. Symbol achieved the difficult task of transitioning gracefully into a new game, making it all the way to the semifinals of the GSL even though he was one of the last players to switch to HotS.

But one thing he did not carry over with him to HotS was his clutch factor in GSTL matches. Instead of routinely all-killing teams as he did in WoL, Symbol routinely failed in crucial ace matches for Azubu. Symbol was almost always sent out as the final boss and each time he disappointed his team, whether it was against Byun, Squirtle, or Crank. Of these, perhaps the most grievous loss was to Crank in a match he should have, by all means, easily taken. But in a stubborn fit, Symbol refused to consolidate his lead by teching up, and instead decided to throw waves and waves of corruptors into charged void rays.

Next month, we'll be looking for two specific things from Symbol: taking on more difficult challenges and winning a few matches for his team in the GSTL.

Rain was knocked out quite early in this season of GSL and did not have any other opportunities to show his skills in individual leagues. Despite these setbacks, Rain took what he had to work with and ran with it. In the two HotS rounds of Proleague, Rain went 7-2 and 10-3 in what is by far the most consistent performance of the Proleague. Moreover, all five of his losses came from the PvP match-up, one that is notorious for being more than a little luck-based.

But perhaps even more impressive than his raw numbers is his quality of play. When you watch his games, you can't help but be in awe of how perfectly he's executing every facet of his completely standard builds. In this aspect, he knows no peers within the Protoss race and very few from the other races. When Rain loses, it is almost never due to his incompetence but rather because his opponent outplayed him (or PvP). The best example of Rain's stellar execution came during an ace match against Soulkey where both players attempted to out-execute each other with standard play. The result was a victory for Rain in game where you'd be hard pressed to find any mistakes from the Protoss player.

Hopefully, Rain will be able to translate his skill from Proleague into individual leagues, something he has not yet been able to accomplish in HotS. After all, the most vulnerable we've seen Rain in the last month has been during the Challenger League where he looked a bit shaky against Byun. Even though he eventually eked out a 2-1 win, we can't help but feel he doesn't nearly have as much experience or practice on the individual league maps. No doubt Rain will continue his success in Proleague, but it's his individual league success that will determine his ranking in the next month.

From the looks of Flash's position on this power rank, you might have thought that we were still in Brood War. Flash started out the month with a 0-2 dropout from the group of death and a pitiful 3-5 record in round 4 of Proleague. But so what? Flash redoubled his practice efforts and ended up 15-2 in the latest round of Proleague. You heard it right, 15-2 against some of the best players KeSPa has to offer. For his efforts, Flash has now almost certainly secured the very coveted most wins award in Proleague. In his games, Flash has demonstrated an unrelenting style of Terran play, one that could only be matched by that of Innovation. Throughout his run, he showed us a variety of inspiring games, including a ruthless TvZ against hyvaa, a careful TvT against TaeJa, and another action-packed TvT against TY.

Flash shows no sign of slowing down and should be a force to be reckoned with in the next season of WCS KR OSL. He has been improving every month since his switch to StarCraft II and is looking to prove dominance in this game as well.

Wait, Soulkey? GSL champion Soulkey? Yes, weighing in at only number two is the most recent WCS KR GSL champion, Soulkey. After every GSL, we ask ourselves "in which category does this champion belong to?" Will he continue his success and be remembered as one of the greats?(MVP, Nestea, MC, MMA, DRG, Life). Or will he only be a temporary fixture in the ever changing StarCraft scene?(Jjakji, Seed, Sniper) Had Innovation taken the title, the answer would have been near unanimous among fans: Innovation would continue his success to win championship after championship for a long time coming.

But for Soulkey, this is a more difficult question. No one doubts that he is a great player, but so were Jjakji, Seed, and Sniper in their respective primes. The truth is that from the round of eight onward, Soulkey fumbled his way to the championship with 3-2, 4-3, and 4-3 map scores in all three series. His series against Parting was impressive though hardly domineering. The series against sOs was just a complete mess, didn't properly showcase Soulkey's skill, and had the unintended effect of making both Woongjin players look really, really bad. And especially in the finals, it seemed as if Innovation had lost the championship rather than that Soulkey had won it. Perhaps this image summed it up best.

The aforementioned shortcomings are part of the reason Soulkey is not #1 in this month's Power Rankings. Soulkey may be the reigning GSL champion, but his play has not convinced us that he's the best player in the world. Soulkey will have a lot to prove in the upcoming WCS Season finals where he will very likely face his GSL finals opponent once again.

If only Innovation had won that fourth game. Oh, how easy and uncontroversial these rankings would have been. We could have gone with the GSL champion angle and plastered a picture of him kissing his trophy. Or we could have rambled on about how in the last few months, he has seemed like the most indomitable force in HotS yet. Or perhaps we would have taken a look at his record over the last two months and marveled over the fact that he has a positive or even record against every other player on this list, all among the best in the world, and top ten in this power ranking:

• INnoVation 1:0 PartinG
  
• INnoVation 2:2 sOs
  
• INnoVation 2:0 Life
  
• INnoVation 6:2 Symbol
  
• INnoVation 3:0 RorO
  
• INnoVation 3:2 Rain
  
• INnoVation 2:2 Flash
  
• INnoVation 4:5 Soulkey

Oh, wait. Let's back up a bit. The thing is, that fourth game didn't go as Innovation wanted it to. And neither did the fifth, sixth, or seventh. Innovation dropped four games in a row, blowing a three game lead in possibly the biggest choke in StarCraft II history.

Which means we'll actually have to do some work to justify this #1 ranking. So here goes:

Let's start with the beginning of this month, the group of death. Innovation was not a GSL/MLG champion, a multiple OSL/MSL champion, nor a WCS/WCG champion, and in terms of achievements, it seemed as if he was hopelessly outclassed. But Innovation took this all in stride and proceeded to win the group, producing two of the most high-level and impressive games we'd see this month. He then went on to face both the winner and runner-up of the last GSL, dispatching both rather effortlessly. In Proleague, Innovation also ended round 5 with a 11-3 record including two all-kills, a record only surpassed by Flash. Yes, "The best RTS players of all time" might be an exaggeration, but no one can doubt that Innovation has provided us with some of the most extraordinary and arresting game-play we'd yet to witness in StarCraft II.

It seems quite harsh that all of this would be negated by the difference of just one game, even if that's the biggest one game there can ever be (that same one game that once separated Mvp and Squirtle; look at where they are now). Taking the whole month into perspective, Innovation was just the more impressive player over Soulkey, both in terms of results and the vigor of their play. Innovation had spent all month climbing the ranks to a championship. But in the end, it was not his skill that failed him, but his composure, composure that slowly corroded over the course of those final four games and finally gave out when his three medivacs flew into the welcoming arms of Soulkey's idle mutalisks.

When it comes down to it, Soulkey may be the GSL champion, but Innovation was just the more impressive player in May. Think of it this way: you have to bet your life on either Soulkey or Innovation in a bo1 against an arbitrary player. Who would you choose?