Greatest HotS Players of All Time: Part 1 - Page 8

On February 26 2016 05:16 Orr wrote:


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.

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?

On February 26 2016 10:17 stuchiu wrote:
I did think about writing an article about best player by matchup all time, but got stuck at PvP. Rain vs Zest.