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Greatest HotS Players of All Time: Part 1 - Page 7

Forum Index > SC2 General
158 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 5 6 7 8 Next All
Apoteosis
Profile Joined June 2011
Chile820 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 16:11:56
February 25 2016 16:07 GMT
#121
Dear should be on that list.

Come on, his peak was the highest in all of SC2 history. Granted, it was short, but he had "that aura", related to the "b" word, at least for a little while.

Byul had nothing to do on that list. Jaedong had more second places than him lol
Never forget:




Life won like 200k and didn't hire a proper criminal lawyer.
TheDougler
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada8306 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 16:23:53
February 25 2016 16:18 GMT
#122
The more I think about the top 3 the more I can't decide between them.

I'm starting to finally lean towards 3. Innovation, 2. Life, 1. sOs

But I dunno... I had forgotten about Life's MLG win vs Flash to really kick off HoTS.
I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss)
TheDougler
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada8306 Posts
February 25 2016 16:26 GMT
#123
On February 25 2016 22:34 wjat wrote:
Innovation should be top 1

Why? hellbat nerf, window mine nerf, invented parade push style, made mech look imba in TvZ. He was also a beast in proleague.

The only other player I could see top 1 is sOs: He is the reason why "protoss is bullshit".

I think we all know why Life can't be ranked 1...


OH RIGHT!

Huh.

Yeah it'll be interesting to see if Life's part of this starts off if a "Lord of the Battlefield" style intro.
I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss)
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 16:47:04
February 25 2016 16:41 GMT
#124
I have a feeling Taeja is going to rank quite high, at least Top 5. And that's nonsense, IMHO.

Yes, he won a lot of weekender tournaments. Perhapss that's where his priorities lie. He beats KeSPA Starleague winners in such tourneys, therefore he is better than them? Not necessarily so . I am quite confident that KeSPA players' priorities lie in SPL and Starleagues first. Which makes them less prepared, motivated and fresh for weekenders.

This whole 'Taeja-beating-top-players-in-weekenders' tournament is also skewed because he doesn't even get far in Starleagues for top KeSPA players to beat him there. Point is, you can't just give him higher weightage in his weekender wins simply because he beat an S-class player head-to-head, and yet ignore him losing to B-class player in Starleague which S-class player then beats.

Which is why Starleagues are always a safe yardstick for objective excellence - the consistency is there every season, as the top KR players there. Whereas weekenders are dependent on not only invites and qualifiers, but also availability and interest. And then you have to examine how 'stacked' the tournament is, to determine its subjective excellence. Nothing wrong with that, but somehow in the making of such power rankings, this subjective analysis tends to inflate the value of weekenders over Starleagues (simply because Taeja beat Starleague champions there yada yada). It's a bit like Yellow beating the likes of Boxer in special tournaments back in BW - except that no one would argue that Yellow had better results than Boxer in the greater scheme of things.

To me, 'stacked' weekenders are more closely at par with KeSPA Cup, and sit below Starleagues. And to me, Starleague is like a Grand Slam for SC (it just so happens because KR have all the top players, and all KR-based players are eligible for Starleagues), and even Blizzcon is more like the year-end Masters. If you haven't won a Starleague, you certainly don't belong in Top 5, maybe not even Top 10 (not that winning a Starleague puts you in Top 10 instantly, because repeat winners and sole winners with other tourney wins will always be higher than the one-hit-wonders ie the Snipers and Hewitts of the world ). And Taeja hasn't even had top finishes in Starleagues, for crying out loud! Life, Zest, Inno, sOs, soO and herO should all be comfortably placed above him in the final list, I hope.

Sorry for the rambling. Probably Taeja doesn't figure that high anyway, and I'm jumping the gun here. But it's not just about Teaja. It's also about how undervalued Starleagues are in the making of such power rankings. Classic as #11 is a big surprise. The guy has won 2 Starleagues and a monster in SPL!
gg no re thx
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12129 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 16:54:31
February 25 2016 16:52 GMT
#125
On February 26 2016 00:36 ZertoN wrote:
Show nested quote +
the earth is objectively round


it objectively isnt. what now? hmmm ..

That's pure BS and you know it. There are at least some proofs about round Earth.
There's none proof about your "objective" statement.

Well if GSL is objectively harder, as you say so, then how it is possible that soO never won Blizzcon. He made 4 2nd places in a row and didn't win this easier tournament? Hmm, I wonder... Edit- soO also never made a 2nd place at Blizzcon

We are talking about 2 different types of tournament, you cannot compare which one is harder.

But whatever, you use such idiotic arguments, why should I try...
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
pure.Wasted
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada4701 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 17:03:36
February 25 2016 16:53 GMT
#126
On February 25 2016 22:46 Elentos wrote:
Take soO. soO is gonna end up higher on the list than Classic because he was the best Zerg in the world for 4 GSLs straight (~1 year). No other player will be able to match that consistency. But he'll still end up lower than players who weren't consistently as strong but won stuff when they were.


(Emphasis mine.)

This is a lot more debatable than you think. Right before Blizzcon, I did my own breakdown of who was the #1 player of HOTS. To do this I did a break down of all stats for INno, Life, Zest, soO, and Maru that I thought were relevant, with a keen eye to consistency.

(You might not want to look past the OP if you want to keep the identity of stuchiu's top 3 a secret.)

Maru participated in every single Korean premier event in HotS. soO and INno, the next highest, participated in 8/9.

If we then take their success at these premiers and divide it up by how many events they attended, to get their average placement, we arrive at:

Maru, on average, drops out in the Ro"10.3"
INno, on average, 14.2
soO, 19.1
Life, 26.1
Zest, 36.7 (Zest attended less than half of the Korean premiers in HOTS)

And keep in mind that Zerg representation at premiers was very stable throughout HOTS, while Terrans went nearly extinct for a time. So INno and Maru getting consistently better premier results (spread out over all of HOTS) than soO (whose best results all fall into the same meta), despite whatever balance issues, is actually quite remarkable consistency and in my opinion is excellent basis for giving INnoVation #1 and Maru somewhere between #3 and #6.

My personal list would look something like

1. INnoVation
2. Life
3. Maru
4. sOs
5. Zest - although he was a non-entity for a huge chunk of HOTS, his average result in the premiers he made it to is ludicrously high, 5.25 to Maru's 10.3.
6. soO
7. Classic
8. herO
9. Rain
10. Taeja
11. PartinG
12. Soulkey

INna Maru-da-FanTa, Bbaby, TY Dream that I'm Flashing you
Orr
Profile Joined February 2014
United States168 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 17:00:49
February 25 2016 16:55 GMT
#127
Surprised so few are giving any weight to their Proleague role/results. For me, it was an important component of the equation. Yes SC2 is an entirely individual game at its core, but to discount the importance of participating in the absolute highest level team league seems shortsighted. And not just participate, but live in and train around the clock with your fellow teammates.

The importance of performing well in PL typically seems to to rival individual GSL/SSL results, and you can't discount how much harder it is to simultaneously prepare for both (compared to someone like Taeja or Polt) who can research almost solely for specific tournaments while having little game material of their own for others to study on a regular basis. To excel at both grueling formats is the true indicator for me of greatness.

For my personal rankings; + Show Spoiler +

My final HOTS S class tier:
7) soO
6) herO
5) Zest
4) Maru
3) Life
2) sOs
1) Inno


the role/results each player had during the entirety of the HOTS era PL (specifically the 2014 and 2015 seasons when the game was much more fleshed out) was critical.

Maru: undisputed ace player for a constant playoff team,
dominated PL for long stretches w/ insane win rates (albeit in a bad slump to end last season)

herO: undisputed ace player for a constant playoff team (although Byul became the 1A option),
dominant at times, and visibly outclassed almost all opponents

Zest: undisputed ace player for a championship team (despite occasional losses to lesser opponents),
dominant at times and was repeatedly sent out against the very best opposition


*sOs: a critical lineup regular for a constant playoff team, while fluctuating between dominating
some rounds and having mediocre results in others. Went on one of the most dominant
stretches ever between 1st and 2nd rounds of the season ending playoffs last year, defeated
Zest on D1. Then reverse all-kill of Flash, TY, Zest, Stats to defeat KT on D2 to eliminate the
defending champions. Then against CJ in semis, defeated Byul on D1, and sent JAGW to the
grand finals after defeating herO and Byul on D2.

*Inno/soO: both were brought down to an extent by SKT being so dominant, but much of that
dominance stemmed from both these core starting members being so good. Both
received infrequent ace appearances (since SKT rarely challenged and fielded such a deep
team). After SKT let go Rain, PartinG, Soulkey (and Fantasy) after falling to KT in 2014,
many assumed a natural regression. Instead in came Inno who dominated right away,
which coupled w/ the continued rise of Classic, the general dominance of soO, and the
huge growth of Dark and Dream, created an unstoppable team that rolled to the
championship in remarkable fashion.

*Life: the weakest PL player of my S class tier. Obviously his improvisational/adaptable play-style
much better suited to the BO individual tournament format. Served as the ace player for Startale
and carried a weak team to the R1 playoffs last season on multiple ace match wins. But largely
disappointed upon joining KT mid round (when many assumed he would make them
unbeatable), and by season ending playoff time, wasn't even in their core starting four. While
having occasional PL success here and there, Life has never looked dominant/unbeatable on a
weekly basis in the most challenging team league (against absolute top tier competition who
study you and with coaching, craft a specific game-plan to snipe you on a single map), unlike
the other six names on my list frequently have.
Flash I Jaedong I herO I Best I Maru I Rogue
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
February 25 2016 17:01 GMT
#128
On February 26 2016 01:53 pure.Wasted wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 25 2016 22:46 Elentos wrote:
Take soO. soO is gonna end up higher on the list than Classic because he was the best Zerg in the world for 4 GSLs straight (~1 year). No other player will be able to match that consistency. But he'll still end up lower than players who weren't consistently as strong but won stuff when they were.


(Emphasis mine.)

This is a lot more debatable than you think. Right before Blizzcon, I did my own breakdown of who was the #1 player of HOTS. To do this I did a break down of all stats for INno, Life, Zest, soO, and Maru that I thought were relevant, with a keen eye to consistency.

(You might not want to look past the OP if you want to keep the identity of stuchiu's top 3 a secret.)

Maru participated in every single Korean premier event in HotS. soO and INno, the next highest, participated in 8/9.

If we then take their success at these premiers and divide it up by how many events they attended, to get their average placement, we arrive at:

Maru, on average, drops out in the Ro"10.3"
INno, on average, 14.2
soO, 19.1
Life, 26.1
Zest, 36.7 (Zest attended less than half of the Korean premiers in HOTS)

And keep in mind that Zerg representation at premiers was very stable throughout HOTS, while Terrans went nearly extinct for a time. So INno and Maru getting consistently better premier results (spread out over all of HOTS) than soO (whose best results all fall into the same meta), despite whatever balance issues, is actually quite remarkable and in my opinion is excellent basis for giving INnoVation #1 and Maru somewhere between #3 and #6.

My personal list would look something like

1. INnoVation
2. Life
3. Maru
4. sOs
5. Zest - although he was a non-entity for a huge chunk of HOTS, his average result in the premiers he made it to is ludicrously high, 5.25 to Maru's 10.3.
6. soO
7. Classic
8. herO
9. Rain
10. Taeja
11. PartinG
12. Soulkey



Interesting analysis. I'm fascinated particularly about Maru. He is consistently excellent, able to beat any player any given day, yet somehow always falls short at the R08 and RO4 stage. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, seeing how he's almost always beaten by the eventual champion. But still puts him at soO-level at most.

So as impressive his play is, I can't put myself to rank him Top 5 in HoTS. Pity we never saw him in weekenders. Maybe his raw skill would've thrived there. Still better than Taeja, though
gg no re thx
pure.Wasted
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada4701 Posts
February 25 2016 17:08 GMT
#129
On February 26 2016 02:01 RKC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 26 2016 01:53 pure.Wasted wrote:
On February 25 2016 22:46 Elentos wrote:
Take soO. soO is gonna end up higher on the list than Classic because he was the best Zerg in the world for 4 GSLs straight (~1 year). No other player will be able to match that consistency. But he'll still end up lower than players who weren't consistently as strong but won stuff when they were.


(Emphasis mine.)

This is a lot more debatable than you think. Right before Blizzcon, I did my own breakdown of who was the #1 player of HOTS. To do this I did a break down of all stats for INno, Life, Zest, soO, and Maru that I thought were relevant, with a keen eye to consistency.

(You might not want to look past the OP if you want to keep the identity of stuchiu's top 3 a secret.)

Maru participated in every single Korean premier event in HotS. soO and INno, the next highest, participated in 8/9.

If we then take their success at these premiers and divide it up by how many events they attended, to get their average placement, we arrive at:

Maru, on average, drops out in the Ro"10.3"
INno, on average, 14.2
soO, 19.1
Life, 26.1
Zest, 36.7 (Zest attended less than half of the Korean premiers in HOTS)

And keep in mind that Zerg representation at premiers was very stable throughout HOTS, while Terrans went nearly extinct for a time. So INno and Maru getting consistently better premier results (spread out over all of HOTS) than soO (whose best results all fall into the same meta), despite whatever balance issues, is actually quite remarkable and in my opinion is excellent basis for giving INnoVation #1 and Maru somewhere between #3 and #6.

My personal list would look something like

1. INnoVation
2. Life
3. Maru
4. sOs
5. Zest - although he was a non-entity for a huge chunk of HOTS, his average result in the premiers he made it to is ludicrously high, 5.25 to Maru's 10.3.
6. soO
7. Classic
8. herO
9. Rain
10. Taeja
11. PartinG
12. Soulkey



Interesting analysis. I'm fascinated particularly about Maru. He is consistently excellent, able to beat any player any given day, yet somehow always falls short at the R08 and RO4 stage. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, seeing how he's almost always beaten by the eventual champion. But still puts him at soO-level at most.

So as impressive his play is, I can't put myself to rank him Top 5 in HoTS. Pity we never saw him in weekenders. Maybe his raw skill would've thrived there. Still better than Taeja, though


Maru won a GSL and an SSL. That ain't nuthin.
INna Maru-da-FanTa, Bbaby, TY Dream that I'm Flashing you
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
February 25 2016 17:13 GMT
#130
On February 26 2016 02:08 pure.Wasted wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 26 2016 02:01 RKC wrote:
On February 26 2016 01:53 pure.Wasted wrote:
On February 25 2016 22:46 Elentos wrote:
Take soO. soO is gonna end up higher on the list than Classic because he was the best Zerg in the world for 4 GSLs straight (~1 year). No other player will be able to match that consistency. But he'll still end up lower than players who weren't consistently as strong but won stuff when they were.


(Emphasis mine.)

This is a lot more debatable than you think. Right before Blizzcon, I did my own breakdown of who was the #1 player of HOTS. To do this I did a break down of all stats for INno, Life, Zest, soO, and Maru that I thought were relevant, with a keen eye to consistency.

(You might not want to look past the OP if you want to keep the identity of stuchiu's top 3 a secret.)

Maru participated in every single Korean premier event in HotS. soO and INno, the next highest, participated in 8/9.

If we then take their success at these premiers and divide it up by how many events they attended, to get their average placement, we arrive at:

Maru, on average, drops out in the Ro"10.3"
INno, on average, 14.2
soO, 19.1
Life, 26.1
Zest, 36.7 (Zest attended less than half of the Korean premiers in HOTS)

And keep in mind that Zerg representation at premiers was very stable throughout HOTS, while Terrans went nearly extinct for a time. So INno and Maru getting consistently better premier results (spread out over all of HOTS) than soO (whose best results all fall into the same meta), despite whatever balance issues, is actually quite remarkable and in my opinion is excellent basis for giving INnoVation #1 and Maru somewhere between #3 and #6.

My personal list would look something like

1. INnoVation
2. Life
3. Maru
4. sOs
5. Zest - although he was a non-entity for a huge chunk of HOTS, his average result in the premiers he made it to is ludicrously high, 5.25 to Maru's 10.3.
6. soO
7. Classic
8. herO
9. Rain
10. Taeja
11. PartinG
12. Soulkey



Interesting analysis. I'm fascinated particularly about Maru. He is consistently excellent, able to beat any player any given day, yet somehow always falls short at the R08 and RO4 stage. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, seeing how he's almost always beaten by the eventual champion. But still puts him at soO-level at most.

So as impressive his play is, I can't put myself to rank him Top 5 in HoTS. Pity we never saw him in weekenders. Maybe his raw skill would've thrived there. Still better than Taeja, though


Maru won a GSL and an SSL. That ain't nuthin.


Oh yeah, I keep forgetting his OSL win against Rain. I stand corrected then. He's a PL monster too. So he makes a strong contender for Top 5!
gg no re thx
ZerOCoolSC2
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
9006 Posts
February 25 2016 18:07 GMT
#131
I wonder sometimes about the taste of Kespa balls. Seems like a lot of people swing quite freely from them, savoring the taste. I'm guessing the same taste as the TaeJa lovers (which, I am a proud swinger of). Are Kespa balls salty? Or do they remind you of a time before being kicked by TaeJa in a weekend tournament?
swissman777
Profile Joined September 2014
1106 Posts
February 25 2016 18:39 GMT
#132
On February 25 2016 23:00 ZertoN wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 25 2016 20:39 deacon.frost wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:32 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 09:06 wjat wrote:
The top 2 players for each race in hots were:

-Protoss: sOs, herO

-Zerg: Life, soO,

-Terran: Innovation, Maru.


1-Innovation 2-Life 3-sOs 4-soO 5-Maru 6-herO



byul should be really really close for zergs, but anyway you have done a good job, you just made a better list than this useless writer is gonna make


sOs has the biggest wins in his sleeve from HotS. His achievement list is bigger than Innovation's so if Innovation > Life, then the proper list would be sOs, Inno, Life. Though I think that with the number of tournaments Life visited he will get enough StuPoints to get over sOs.


not really. blizzcon has more prestige, but gsl/ssl is much more difficult to win. sos lacks such a championship for him to be even considered #1. innovation has 3 korean tournament victories and made another gsl final.


if you make a proper list that includes consistency, tournament difficulty, balance at the time and team league performance, the list should be as follows:

1. innovation
2. life
3. sos
4. zest
5. maru
6. hero
7. soo
8. taeja
9. classic
10. byul


Yet had bad blizzcon runs nevertheless. And he was absent from proleague in 2014and I am quite sure he would have been mediocre as he was not performing well as an acer player.
Orr
Profile Joined February 2014
United States168 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-26 00:12:59
February 25 2016 20:16 GMT
#133
On February 26 2016 03:39 swissman777 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 25 2016 23:00 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:39 deacon.frost wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:32 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 09:06 wjat wrote:
The top 2 players for each race in hots were:

-Protoss: sOs, herO

-Zerg: Life, soO,

-Terran: Innovation, Maru.


1-Innovation 2-Life 3-sOs 4-soO 5-Maru 6-herO



byul should be really really close for zergs, but anyway you have done a good job, you just made a better list than this useless writer is gonna make


sOs has the biggest wins in his sleeve from HotS. His achievement list is bigger than Innovation's so if Innovation > Life, then the proper list would be sOs, Inno, Life. Though I think that with the number of tournaments Life visited he will get enough StuPoints to get over sOs.


not really. blizzcon has more prestige, but gsl/ssl is much more difficult to win. sos lacks such a championship for him to be even considered #1. innovation has 3 korean tournament victories and made another gsl final.


if you make a proper list that includes consistency, tournament difficulty, balance at the time and team league performance, the list should be as follows:

1. innovation
2. life
3. sos
4. zest
5. maru
6. hero
7. soo
8. taeja
9. classic
10. byul


Yet had bad blizzcon runs nevertheless. And he was absent from proleague in 2014and I am quite sure he would have been mediocre as he was not performing well as an acer player.


Impossible to say how he would have done in PL 2014 since he wasn't there. But your reasoning appears fundamentally flawed when considering the following;

In 2013 for STX he went 43-20 winning 68% of his games.
(Only 1 win behind Flash for most overall, w/ <60% win rate in all match-ups)

In 2015 for SKT he went 18-7 winning 72% of his games.
(#9 in overall wins due largely to not always being in the stacked lineup, w/ at least a 60% win rate in all match-ups)


While he unperformed relative to his S class standards while abroad (beginning early September, 2013), Aligulac shows he was already on the rebound and moving back up come early the following year (~mid April, 2014). His 'underachieving' time on ACER would be considered extraordinarily successful for most others (5 all-kills of 5 in a row each).

SKT clearly viewed him as a transformative player, who would thrive back in the KESPA training environment. Which is why they prioritized him as the biggest offseason PL acquisition before the start of 2015. He went 6-0 in R1 upon his PL return. And looked absolutely dominant in the process. Slipped a bit in the middle rounds while struggling with mechanical/meta game issues. And once fixed, ended R4 w/ a perfect 4-0 record. Defeated a hotter than-the-sun sOs in a hard fought and decisive G4 in the GF. Widely viewed going in as the critical pivot one between the two best players on their respective teams.

If I had to guess based on his team league history, I'd say he would have excelled in PL 2014. There is only overwhelming evidence that supports (zero against) that he is a team league god.

*WCS Global Finals 2014 was a disgrace due to the constant lag outs and players being dropped from games (up until the GF). Would have been terrible if it was a minor tournament and that happened, let alone the biggest stage of all. Would hardly consider beating Hyun and then losing to Taeja (coming off his historical summer) in RO8 a 'bad run'. Some players, notably Inno were much more impacted than others by the repeated technical failures (he was visibly on the point of tears w/ frustration at the incessant glitches).

WCS Global Finals 2015. If crushing Zest 3-0 and then losing to eventual runner-up Life (current GOAT) in the RO8 in a close series where Life played out of his mind, is considered bad, then standards are unrealistic. Inno was the favorite going in, and if not for some bad decisions (should have stuck w/ his unbeatable mech) and unusual mistakes, could easily have won despite Life's incredible play.
Flash I Jaedong I herO I Best I Maru I Rogue
Ve5pa
Profile Joined December 2014
United Kingdom252 Posts
February 25 2016 22:00 GMT
#134
I really like TaeJa but for me SPL and GSL (now SSL too i suppose) are the bread and butter tournaments for top SC2 pro's. In order to be considered the 'best' these are the tournaments that you have to be producing great games in, on a regular basis.

I really enjoy some of the weekender tournaments though and perhaps maybe someone could create another list for top performers at those sort of events.
Ensiferum8
Profile Joined March 2014
Canada103 Posts
February 25 2016 22:03 GMT
#135
On February 26 2016 05:16 Orr wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 26 2016 03:39 swissman777 wrote:
On February 25 2016 23:00 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:39 deacon.frost wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:32 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 09:06 wjat wrote:
The top 2 players for each race in hots were:

-Protoss: sOs, herO

-Zerg: Life, soO,

-Terran: Innovation, Maru.


1-Innovation 2-Life 3-sOs 4-soO 5-Maru 6-herO



byul should be really really close for zergs, but anyway you have done a good job, you just made a better list than this useless writer is gonna make


sOs has the biggest wins in his sleeve from HotS. His achievement list is bigger than Innovation's so if Innovation > Life, then the proper list would be sOs, Inno, Life. Though I think that with the number of tournaments Life visited he will get enough StuPoints to get over sOs.


not really. blizzcon has more prestige, but gsl/ssl is much more difficult to win. sos lacks such a championship for him to be even considered #1. innovation has 3 korean tournament victories and made another gsl final.


if you make a proper list that includes consistency, tournament difficulty, balance at the time and team league performance, the list should be as follows:

1. innovation
2. life
3. sos
4. zest
5. maru
6. hero
7. soo
8. taeja
9. classic
10. byul


Yet had bad blizzcon runs nevertheless. And he was absent from proleague in 2014and I am quite sure he would have been mediocre as he was not performing well as an acer player.


Impossible to say how he would have done in PL 2014 since he wasn't there. But your reasoning appears fundamentally flawed when considering the following;

In 2013 for STX he went 43-20 winning 68% of his games.
(Only 1 win behind Flash for most overall, w/ <60% win rate in all match-ups)

In 2015 for SKT he went 18-7 winning 72% of his games.
(#9 in overall wins due largely to not always being in the stacked lineup, w/ at least a 60% win rate in all match-ups)


While he unperformed relative to his S class standards while abroad (beginning early September, 2013), Aligulac shows he was already on the rebound and moving back up come early the following year (~mid April, 2014). His 'underachieving' time on ACER would be considered extraordinarily successful for most others (5 all-kills of 5 in a row each).

SKT clearly viewed him as a transformative player, who would thrive back in the KESPA training environment. Which is why they prioritized him as the biggest offseason PL acquisition before the start of 2015. He went 6-0 in R1 upon his PL return. And looked absolutely dominant in the process. Slipped a bit in the middle rounds while struggling with mechanical/meta game issues. And once fixed, ended R4 w/ a perfect 4-0 record. Defeated a hotter than-the-sun sOs in a hard fought and decisive G4 in the GF. Widely viewed coming in as the critical pivot one between the two best players on their respective teams.

If I had to guess based on his team league history, I'd say he would have excelled in PL 2014. There is only overwhelming evidence that supports (zero against) that he is a team league god.

*WCS Global Finals 2014 was a disgrace due to the constant lag outs and players being dropped from games (up until the GF). Would have been terrible if it was a minor tournament and that happened, let alone the biggest stage of all. Would hardly consider beating Hyun and then losing to Taeja (coming off his historical summer) in RO8 a 'bad run'. Some players, notably Inno were much more impacted than others by the repeated technical failures (he was visibly on the point of tears w/ frustration at the incessant glitches).

WCS Global Finals 2015. If crushing Zest 3-0 and then losing to eventual runner-up Life (current GOAT) in the RO8 in a close series where Life played out of his mind, is considered bad, then standards are unrealistic. Inno was the favorite going in, and if not for some bad decisions (should have stuck w/ his unbeatable mech) and unusual mistakes, could easily have won despite Life's incredible play.
dont forget that terrans were clearly UP during blizzcon, as show the previous 6 months of premier tournaments results.

And he would have demolished life if he played safe, since life can only all in and is just awfull in a macro game
WCS is a shitty joke, with racist rules. Support players who deserves it instead of foreigner scrubs who dont work half as much as koreans. JUN TAEYANG IS THE BEST <3
ZertoN
Profile Joined February 2014
Germany214 Posts
February 25 2016 22:07 GMT
#136
pretty much. but im not even sure why we're argueing about this, since the actual list is gonna be stuchiu excusing his way to put taeja in the top 3.
"I don't like games that i need to think a lot, i am not interested in those games." - TaeJa, 2016
wjat
Profile Joined August 2015
385 Posts
February 25 2016 22:50 GMT
#137
I think it would be funny to do a top3 for each matchup in HotS!!!

I'll give mine.

ZvZ: soO, Life, Soulkey
ZvP: soO, Life, ByuL
ZvT: Life, Dark, soO

PvP: Zest, sOs, PartinG
PvZ: sOs, Zest, Classic
PvT: PartinG, herO, sOs

TvT: forGG, Taeja, Maru
TvP: Maru, Innovation, Polt
TvZ: Innovation, Taeja, Dream

I am curious. what would be yours?
ElPres1dente
Profile Joined February 2016
89 Posts
February 25 2016 23:00 GMT
#138
On February 26 2016 07:03 Ensiferum8 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 26 2016 05:16 Orr wrote:
On February 26 2016 03:39 swissman777 wrote:
On February 25 2016 23:00 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:39 deacon.frost wrote:
On February 25 2016 20:32 ZertoN wrote:
On February 25 2016 09:06 wjat wrote:
The top 2 players for each race in hots were:

-Protoss: sOs, herO

-Zerg: Life, soO,

-Terran: Innovation, Maru.


1-Innovation 2-Life 3-sOs 4-soO 5-Maru 6-herO



byul should be really really close for zergs, but anyway you have done a good job, you just made a better list than this useless writer is gonna make


sOs has the biggest wins in his sleeve from HotS. His achievement list is bigger than Innovation's so if Innovation > Life, then the proper list would be sOs, Inno, Life. Though I think that with the number of tournaments Life visited he will get enough StuPoints to get over sOs.


not really. blizzcon has more prestige, but gsl/ssl is much more difficult to win. sos lacks such a championship for him to be even considered #1. innovation has 3 korean tournament victories and made another gsl final.


if you make a proper list that includes consistency, tournament difficulty, balance at the time and team league performance, the list should be as follows:

1. innovation
2. life
3. sos
4. zest
5. maru
6. hero
7. soo
8. taeja
9. classic
10. byul


Yet had bad blizzcon runs nevertheless. And he was absent from proleague in 2014and I am quite sure he would have been mediocre as he was not performing well as an acer player.


Impossible to say how he would have done in PL 2014 since he wasn't there. But your reasoning appears fundamentally flawed when considering the following;

In 2013 for STX he went 43-20 winning 68% of his games.
(Only 1 win behind Flash for most overall, w/ <60% win rate in all match-ups)

In 2015 for SKT he went 18-7 winning 72% of his games.
(#9 in overall wins due largely to not always being in the stacked lineup, w/ at least a 60% win rate in all match-ups)


While he unperformed relative to his S class standards while abroad (beginning early September, 2013), Aligulac shows he was already on the rebound and moving back up come early the following year (~mid April, 2014). His 'underachieving' time on ACER would be considered extraordinarily successful for most others (5 all-kills of 5 in a row each).

SKT clearly viewed him as a transformative player, who would thrive back in the KESPA training environment. Which is why they prioritized him as the biggest offseason PL acquisition before the start of 2015. He went 6-0 in R1 upon his PL return. And looked absolutely dominant in the process. Slipped a bit in the middle rounds while struggling with mechanical/meta game issues. And once fixed, ended R4 w/ a perfect 4-0 record. Defeated a hotter than-the-sun sOs in a hard fought and decisive G4 in the GF. Widely viewed coming in as the critical pivot one between the two best players on their respective teams.

If I had to guess based on his team league history, I'd say he would have excelled in PL 2014. There is only overwhelming evidence that supports (zero against) that he is a team league god.

*WCS Global Finals 2014 was a disgrace due to the constant lag outs and players being dropped from games (up until the GF). Would have been terrible if it was a minor tournament and that happened, let alone the biggest stage of all. Would hardly consider beating Hyun and then losing to Taeja (coming off his historical summer) in RO8 a 'bad run'. Some players, notably Inno were much more impacted than others by the repeated technical failures (he was visibly on the point of tears w/ frustration at the incessant glitches).

WCS Global Finals 2015. If crushing Zest 3-0 and then losing to eventual runner-up Life (current GOAT) in the RO8 in a close series where Life played out of his mind, is considered bad, then standards are unrealistic. Inno was the favorite going in, and if not for some bad decisions (should have stuck w/ his unbeatable mech) and unusual mistakes, could easily have won despite Life's incredible play.
dont forget that terrans were clearly UP during blizzcon, as show the previous 6 months of premier tournaments results.

And he would have demolished life if he played safe, since life can only all in and is just awfull in a macro game

Innovation also once said in an interview that life lacks basic skills
and then got crushed in macro games. I agree with you though that inno could´ve played better at blizzcon
btw inno is the only player playing in the korean region who has been at every Blizzcon of hots
Lifu Maru Parting
FrostedMiniWheats
Profile Joined August 2010
United States30730 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-02-25 23:55:28
February 25 2016 23:50 GMT
#139
On February 26 2016 07:50 wjat wrote:
I think it would be funny to do a top3 for each matchup in HotS!!!

I'll give mine.

ZvZ: soO, Life, Soulkey
ZvP: soO, Life, ByuL
ZvT: Life, Dark, soO

PvP: Zest, sOs, PartinG
PvZ: sOs, Zest, Classic
PvT: PartinG, herO, sOs

TvT: forGG, Taeja, Maru
TvP: Maru, Innovation, Polt
TvZ: Innovation, Taeja, Dream

I am curious. what would be yours?


ZvZ: Life >= soO > Soulkey (Maybe Rogue or Dark over Soulkey)

ZvP: Life >= soO > Solar (Feel like ByuL is on the cusp)

ZvT: ByuL >= Dark > Life (ByuL had the best ling/bane ever in 2015 and heroically stood against mech TvZ)

==

PvP: Zest > Rain >= sOs (Zest's bread and butter of 2014 was his PvP)

PvZ: Rain >= Classic > Zest (least sure about this one)

PvT: PartinG > herO > Rain (PartinG is untouchable)

==

TvT: Bogus = Taeja = Flash (pretty much a triangle here; honorable mentions to TY and Bomber)

TvZ: Bogus>>>>>> Maru >= Taeja (Bogus is best TvZ player of all-time not just of HotS)

TvP: Maru > Polt > Bogus (Straightforward imo)
NesTea | Mvp | MC | Leenock | Losira | Gumiho | DRG | Taeja | Jinro | Stephano | Thorzain | Sen | Idra |Polt | Bomber | Symbol | Squirtle | Fantasy | Jaedong | Maru | sOs | Seed | ByuN | ByuL | Neeb| Scarlett | Rogue | IM forever
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany16009 Posts
February 26 2016 00:06 GMT
#140
On February 26 2016 08:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 26 2016 07:50 wjat wrote:
I think it would be funny to do a top3 for each matchup in HotS!!!

I'll give mine.

ZvZ: soO, Life, Soulkey
ZvP: soO, Life, ByuL
ZvT: Life, Dark, soO

PvP: Zest, sOs, PartinG
PvZ: sOs, Zest, Classic
PvT: PartinG, herO, sOs

TvT: forGG, Taeja, Maru
TvP: Maru, Innovation, Polt
TvZ: Innovation, Taeja, Dream

I am curious. what would be yours?


ZvZ: Life >= soO > Soulkey (Maybe Rogue or Dark over Soulkey)

ZvP: Life >= soO > Solar (Feel like ByuL is on the cusp)

ZvT: ByuL >= Dark > Life (ByuL had the best ling/bane ever in 2015 and heroically stood against mech TvZ)

==

PvP: Zest > Rain >= sOs (Zest's bread and butter of 2014 was his PvP)

PvZ: Rain >= Classic > Zest (least sure about this one)

PvT: PartinG > herO > Rain (PartinG is untouchable)

==

TvT: Bogus = Taeja = Flash (pretty much a triangle here; honorable mentions to TY and Bomber)

TvZ: Bogus>>>>>> Maru >= Taeja (Bogus is best TvZ player of all-time not just of HotS)

TvP: Maru > Polt > Bogus (Straightforward imo)


Life was always pretty bad at zvp most of his wins there came through cheese.
Same with Maru in tvz
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
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