Post your Proleague Power Ranks here! - Page 3

Prime
P - MyuNgSiK (their strongest protoss [probably]. may have a winning record this round, but I rather suspect slightly below)
P - Creator (has put up a couple impressive wins recently [including one over PartinG], but failed to qualify for either individual league. I suspect he'll probably get wins over unexpectedly good players though)
P - Zoun (has had a few notable wins over good players online, but may or may not be able to replicate that here)
T - YoDa (perhaps their strongest player overall, will likely go out every time. probably won't do great to my estimation)
T - TANGTANG (like Zoun, has put up wins over progamers online, and could potentially do so in proleague as well)
T - Nette (complete unknown [to me])
Z - BBoongBBoong (will most likely be played regularly, although I doubt he'll perform too well [except perhaps in ZvZ, which he seems to still be pretty good at])
Z - TerrOr (his only, and admittedly sparse, results have been online, so I doubt he'll do good right away. but maybe oneday)

I'm sure most people are going to be pretty surprised if Prime doesn't finish dead last this round, and frankly, I will be too. The only two of Prime's players that have really proven themselves recently have been MyuNgSiK and YoDa, but I think Creator may actually impress this round and beat some good players. Will the combined efforts of these three and the supporting cast of BBoongBBoong, TANGTANG, Zoun, and TerrOr be enough to prevent the team from ending up eighth in the rankings? Sadly, probably not. Prognosis of making the playoffs? ABSOLUTELY ZERO.

YoeFW-StarTale
YoeFW:
P - San (one of seven protosses to qualify for both individual leagues and a threat in all three matchups, I suspect he'll be a regular, and a frequent winner to boot)
Z - Leenock (inconsistent, but often great. will find himself played quite often I'd reckon, but may not be able to put up higher than a winning record)
P - Has, Z - Ian, Z - Slam, T - Vanilla (I'm unsure if these guys are actually staying in korea or not, but if they are I'd say Has and Ian are the only ones liable to play, and those two likely rarely at that)
StarTale:
T - Hack (beat Check, TRUE(!), and Cure(!) to qualify for GSL, losing to former teammate Panic. will probably play regularly and pretty damn well)
T - aLive (despite being decidedly unimpressive in 2014, he's been putting in work in the daily Leifeng Cups recently so I wouldn't be too surprised if he proves he can hold his own with proleague-level competition)
Z - Life (despite his arguably being the best zerg player in the world, he's never been all that consistent, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he had some losses to questionable players)
Z - Curious (fresh off his code s qualification, and having beaten sOs 2-1 a total of three times in the past couple weeks, Curious seems to be on the comeback trail, and I'm pretty convinced he'll win his fair share of games this round)
Z - Pet (...I don't really know lol. to the extent he's ever fielded, I honestly doubt he'll do that well)
Z - Ssemi (their new female zerg player probably won't be seeing much action, but might be played against Aphrodite[?})
Player-Coach:
T - Bomber (given his new status and the fact he's stated he wants to focus on GSL, I doubt he'll come out more than a couple times a round, but there's no doubt he can score wins)

At face value, YoeST actually doesn't seem too bad, but given they're as new to the proleague format as their player-coach is to his new role, I doubt they'll be terribly successful in the early rounds. Life, Curious, and San will probably be their big three in my opinion, but Leenock, Hack, aLive, and Bomber all have the capacity to put in some work. They'll definitely win some matches and I wouldn't be all that surprised if they even placed as highly as fifth or sixth, but they just won't have the consistency of a team like SKT or JinAir.
Side note: I'll be curious to see if their relatively new protoss acquisition, StuN, or any of the Taiwanese players are ever fielded.

CJ Entus
P - herO (arguably the best protoss in the world at the moment and historically one of proleague's best and most consistent players, herO will almost certainly function as CJ's rock for the first part of the season and is undeniably an invaluable asset)
P - Hush (a very solid sniper/support player, Hush will probably be played now and again and will likely win a fair bit)
P - Sora (hasn't really been played much in proleague, but has put up impressive games offline before. still mid-tier at best)
P - Trust (not a bad backup option, but considering CJ's protoss lineup is actually pretty deep, I doubt we'll see much of him)
T - Bbyong (one of the better terran players out there right now [despite only qualifying for one individual league], and certainly has a unique style. will help form the backbone of CJ's lineup along with herO, ByuL, and sKyHigh)
T - sKyHigh (while his recent top four finish at Hot6ix cup may have been somewhat of a fluke, I expect he'll perform fairly well this round)
T - Bunny (probably won't be played much tbh, but could easily nab a few wins over the course of the season nonetheless)
Z - ByuL (inescapably solid, will probably be one of CJ's bigger assets. actually one of the scariest zergs out there, provided he doesn't have to play ZvZ)

CJ is the one team I think may actually punish me for how low I ranked it. herO, Bbyong, and ByuL are all REALLY good, and sKyHigh certainly seems to be on the comeup. Additionally, their supporting cast (Hush, Trust, Sora, and Bunny) have continually proved themselves capable of putting up wins. That said, I think there are simply deeper and stronger teams out there this season, and while I'd love to be proven wrong, I don't expect them to make the playoffs this first round.

Samsung
P - Dear (with how he's been performing [very] recently – qualifying for both individual leagues – I bet he'll do very well, at least in the first round[s]. solid in all three matchups too, which is very valuable)
P - Hurricane (will probably be one of their protoss mainstays. will probably get wins regularly, but I'd be mildly surprised if he put up better than a 50/50 record)
P - Stork (player-coach. probably will only come out a couple times a round now, if that, especially considering how deep Samsung's lineup is now. doubt he'll perform very well either, I'm sad to say)
P - eMotion (can't imagine him being played much, but may come out as a sniper[?])
T - Journey (great online player, has yet to really prove himself offline, but I suspect he'll actually perform very, very well)
T - BrAvO (he'll get played some, probably put up half-decent results too)
T - Guilty (doubt he'll be played at all, at least for the early going. I guess we'll see)
Z - Solar (top-class zerg, top five in the world probably [not least of which because he's one of the only five zergs to have qualified for both individual leagues], will get played almost every match I'll wager, will come out regularly as the ace, will probably do outstandingly)
Z - Armani (good online player, once he gets used to getting played regularly he'll probably be good)
Z - Shine (ehh... he'll be played. will he be that good? no. will he get wins here and there? probably)

All in all, there's no denying Samsung is at least a moderately strong team, with the beasts Solar and Dear at the heart of their lineup and various supporting entities like Journey(!), Armani, Hurricane, BrAvO and Shine to back them up. Stork will function well in his role as Player-Coach, and I could easily imagine the team's finishing as high as third or fourth this round.

KT Rolster
P - Zest (former[?] best protoss player in the world, a proleague beast... he's going to be a monster this season, especially for the lack of his having qualified for either individual league)
P - Stats (really one of the more underrated protosses out there I think, and someone I highly expect to not only be played almost every match but to hold a strong winning record at the season's close)
P - Believe (unknown entity. would be surprised if he was even played this round)
T - TY (I actually think the BaByterran might be KT's best terran player at the moment and would be quite surprised if he didn't nab a pretty fearsome record over the season)
T - Flash (despite the fact he hasn't really be able to put it together in offline korean tournaments, he has never failed to perform quite, quite well in proleague. I see no reason why that should be any different this season)
T - Miso (beat a couple people in the qualifiers for GSL/SSL if I recall correctly, but I doubt he'll be played much if at all)
Z - Action (will likely be played in some matches, will likely not do all that well imo)
Z - Sleep (actually a pretty sick sniper, I predict he'll rack up a decent number of wins over the rounds)

There's no doubt that, like last season, KT's core four will most likely be Flash, TY, Zest, and Stats. These four actually all seem to of a pretty similar level of play recently, but if I had to pick the one I think will do best, it might actually have to be TY. Despite his tendency to lose to every protoss he fucking meets in individual leagues, in proleague he's actually not bad in the matchup, and in 2014 he had one of the higher win-counts of the season (admittedly still the third highest within KT, behind Flash and Zest). KT's real weakness is its lack of consistent supporting players (Action[meh], Sleep[meh], Miso[?], Believe[?]), so its big four will have to shoulder the lion's share of the burden.

MVP
P - YongHwa (YongHwa will do REALLY well this round. he's been playing like an absolute monster recently, with convincing wins over MMA, DongRaeGu, NesTea, and soO(!). I fully expect him to be one of MVP's most consistent players)
P - Panic (he's pretty good. he did just qualify for code s. I suppose there's no real reason not to expect he'll get wins...)
P - (dignitas)Seed (Seed, like Dear, is another instance of a former protoss champion returned to form and, having just qualified for both SSL and GSL, I fully expect impressive play from him this round)
P - (liquid)HerO (over the past eighteen months or so, HerO's results have grown profoundly inconsistent, with his occasionally destroying everyone with his classically beastly play but more often falling short. I don't expect he'll be too good in the early rounds but maybe being back in korea will help his play)
T - MarineKing (MarineKing is back. that said, despite having gotten second in Hot6ix cup and made it through BOTH individual league qualifiers, the proleague format is not one that particularly suits him. I expect he'll hover somewhere around 50%, but would be pleasantly surprised for this to have proved an underestimation)
T - Center (while impressive online, Center has yet to prove himself in offline competition or matches that revolve around heavy preparation and, as such, I suspect it will take a couple rounds for him to start performing well in proleague)
T - SalvatioN (like fellow A/B level terrans BrAvO, Bunny, and others, he may well be played now and again, perhaps even to moderate success, but probably won't exactly be a leader in wins...)
T - Aphrodite (will likely play a token match against StarTale's new female player in Round 1, but isn't really a factor...)
T - (liquid)TaeJa (TaeJa... is TaeJa. what more can one say?)
Z - Losira (has been hot on the comeback trail recently, with a Ro4 in HSC and solid performance in online tourneys. I suspect he might not perform that well early on, being relatively unused to the format, but with the help of Coach Choya I predict he'll fast transform into a force to be reckoned with)
Z - DeParture (actually a pretty decent player [beat Zest 2-1 in the recent qualifiers], but probably still won't be played much)

Some might scoff at MVP's being ranked so high, above KT no less, but with MarineKing, YongHwa, Losira, and Seed (all of whom have been performing better than they have in years), not to mention the unstoppable winning machine that is TaeJa, I don't actually think such a ranking is unreasonable. One factor I think will be instrumental in MVP's success this season is its wily and talented new coach – Choya. It will also be interesting to see how much HerO is played and whether or not he is able to put forward any results.

SK Telecom T1
P - Classic (GSL champion. one of the cleanest protosses in the world. he'll be good)
P - Billowy (with Billowy's random all-kill of KT last season, its not hard to see why SKT picked him up. still though, I don't expect he'll be fielded every time, or even necessarily end the round with a positive record)
P - ParalyzE (while he did make a GSL Ro8 last year, I don't expect the afro toss will come out that frequently. when he does, expect something crazy)
T - INnoVation (one of the best players in the world for the past two years and absolutely among the top three terrans on the planet, INnoVation should be a monster in proleague. he's been away from the format for over a year though, so it may take some getting used to)
T - Dream (one of the hottest rising players, I expect great things from Dream. he's a threat in all three matchups too)
T - Sorry (one of those smaller-name, lower-tier terrans who everyone knows is very good but who probably won't see much playtime. might be a decent pick for FPL though, being on a team that's likely to do so well...)
Z - soO (what to say about soO... we all know he's one of the best zerg players in the world, but there's no way around the fact that he's been in a massive slump recently. the fact that he's not in either starleague will probably mean he'll step it the fuck up in proleague though)
Z - Dark (one of just five zergs to have made it into both starleagues, Dark is becoming a serious badass. I definitely think he will surprise some people with how well he does this season and possibly even finish with a winning record)
Z - PenguiN (qualifying for the first individual league of his career is a big deal. performing well in proleague is something else... he'll probably get some playtime, but I have no idea how he'll do)

With a total of three players qualified for both starleagues (INno, Dream, and Dark), a feet only equaled by JinAir (which, if you've read this far, I am sure you've already figured out is my no.1 ranked team this round), there's no denying that SKT is a powerhouse. That's even more impressive when one considers that they ALSO have Classic and soO, both of whom have shown that they can kill nerds in proleague, not just in GSL. Billowy, ParalyzE, Sorry, and PenguiN (who recently qualified for Code S, beating HerO, Stats(!), and TOP) are all going to be good options to throw into the rotation now and again too. Honestly, its SKT... is there any chance they won't wind up near the top?

JinAir Green Wings
P - sOs (like his fellow gosus Zest and soO, sOs actually failed to qualify for either GSL or SSL. as a result however, I expect he'll be putting even more effort into proleague. a build order master and exceptionally clever player, sOs will almost certainly be a leader in proleague this season)
P - Terminator (this guy basically just up and decided to start playing really, really well recently... now qualified for BOTH starleagues, Terminator is on what might actually be the hottest streak of his SC2 career so far, and I see no reason why that shouldn't extend to proleague)
P - Trap (an MLG winner. a very dangerous protoss. well versed in proleague. this guy will get wins, and lots of them)
P - Pigbaby (it testifies to the strength of JinAir's protoss lineup that this WCS America champion might well be its weakest protoss player. I don't expect him to be played THAT much, but his capacity as a sniper should not be undervalued)
T - Maru (Maru was pretty quiet for most of 2014, but now that he's qualified for both GSL and SSL, he certainly seems to be back in top form. one of the top two winners of last season's proleague, expect Maru to crush nerds' hopes and dreams)
T - Cure (GSL semifinalst. very good online. decent in last season's proleague. he'll probably do pretty well)
Z - Rogue (another of the five zergs to have made it into both starleagues, its hard to deny that Rogue is fast becoming one of the best zergs in the world. what's more, he's strong in every matchup, a very valuable quality in a proleague competitor)
Z - Symbol (very inconsistent, but an undeniably high-tier zerg nonetheless. I actually have no idea how he'll do in proleague, but with the gosus he has to practice with, I'd be surprised if we didn't see notable improvement in his play)
Z - Adios (mostly an online player to date, I expect he'll be played now and again, but with the depth of JinAir's lineup probably not all that frequently...)

With Maru, Rogue, and Terminator's each having qualified for both individual leagues, JinAir is still very much at the fore. What's more, they probably have the single strongest protoss lineup in the world (the competition being YoeFW, with PartinG, San, and Has). sOs, Maru, Rogue, and Cure all seem likely candidates for positive overall winrates this season, and with the aid of Terminator, Symbol, Pigbaby, and Trap, I predict that JinAir will more or less make minced meat of most of its competition. Finally, I would argue that JinAir might be the only team with two REALLY strong players of each race, which puts them just ahead of the rest of the pack.

If you only look at the roster, Prime's definately gonna have some problems. The wildcard is Yoda tho, who can compete with anyone on a good day.

There is alot of potential here, but there is no raw firepower yet. As the season progresses they might have developed into a really scary team tho.

Zest may be one of the best players right now, but if his comrades won't show up... it's gonna be difficult.

CJ have some really good players in herO, Bbyong and ByuL, and will probably float around in the middle. And if all of these players show up consistently, they might go to the upper-middle, or even the top.

INnoVation and soO, which team wouldn't want these two on their roster? Although, if we're gonna give this an honest analysis, we also have to say that INnovation is quite inconsistent, and who really knows where soO is mentally right now? And if these two won't show up, Classic is gonna have a difficult time carrying.

sOs, Maru, Symbol, Trap. That is a contender line-up right there. The way things are looking right now, sOs is probably gonna rack up wins with his quirky builds and recently boosted confidence. Behind him are Maru, the Marine Prince, Symbol, the King of Roaches, and Trap, the clutcher who showed us the ultimate late game PvZ at MLG. And with really decent substitutes like Rougue and Cure, this is is a team to watch out for.

Some of you might wonder how this team is at top 2, while it is really east to see why. This is a team of unending potential. Yongwha, Seed, Losira, names that just scream potential. And backing them up, manifesting their potential into results, is Choya. Marineking has already showed what this is about, not to mention that he also will gave Teaja and Hero by his side, helping to carry.

Life, the best player in the world, accompanied by Leenock, Curious, Pet... heck, they could even field an all-zerg line-up and still be contenders! Anyway, as for terran and protoss, Bomber, Hack, aLive, San and Has. Not only they have alot of raw firepower, but they also have endless sniping opportunities. Not to mention what kind of quirky builds some of these players can bring. Facing a team like this will be a nightmare for anyone, and I very confident about their ability to deliver.