The title of “best in the world” is not easily obtained, and its permanence is as fickle as those who utter it. For a select elite, it rings true through the ages. The phrase denotes class, and it gains gravitas and prestige accordingly. Players like Mvp, Taeja, and Rain defied the whims of circumstance and as a result, ascended into the realm of legend. For most who dare to be great, it marks a fleeting moment of brilliance so undeniably bright that fans cannot help but praise its splendor. These players are lauded for a while...until their peak passes. The descent back to mediocrity leads to obsolescence.
Greatness comes naturally to some. For a journeyman like Rogue, the building blocks had to be carefully assembled over years. Dating back to his Brood War days, Rogue had been a mere footnote in the tales of far greater players. Prior to 2017 he had failed to place higher than 3rd in any premier tournament. Few players or commentators would’ve guessed Rogue’s victory at IEM Shanghai would ignite one of the most memorable runs in StarCraft II history.
Rogue’s own spectacular flash was ignited by the spark he kindled with his victory at IEM Shanghai in July of 2017. Rogue’s flames intensified as he began melting down even more trophies for fuel. He put together an unparalleled run, claiming victory at over half of the premier tournaments he was eligible to participate in over the span of the next eight months. His championships included the GSL Super Tournament 2, immediately followed by the WCS Global Finals. The StarCraft II world finally combusted in the ravenous blaze of Rogue’s greatness as his success culminated in a defining, climatic victory at IEM Katowice.
IEM Katowice defined the peak of Rogue’s powers. He overwhelmed his rivals with an unstoppable blend of clever aggression and immaculate macro play, taking down any who dared to challenge him. He snatched victory from the jaws of inevitable defeat as he reverse-swept Maru in the semifinals. Even Classic was unable to get a read on Rogue in the finals. From the beginning, he bewildered his Protoss foe with unpredictable, lethal strikes. Opening with a well timed nydus all-in, Rogue spanned the entire spectrum of strategies. Whether it was off-meta mutalisk play, a macro slugfest, or crawling back from a midgame deficit, he showcased the tenacity and cunning of a champion. It was the capstone of a series of triumphs that have put him right on the brink of everlasting greatness.
The finals were a true display of Zerg mastery. In case you forgot, Rogue put Classic off balance right from the beginning with a well timed nydus all-in at Classic’s natural which he then followed up with some off-meta mutalisk play in game 2. Game 3 was unquestionably the most impressive of the tournament for Rogue as he showcased his raw mechanics in a 27 minute slugfest before once again coming back from a deficit in game 4 to close out the series with ease.
After two back-to-back victories in the most prestigious tournaments in the world, expectations for Rogue were sky high. Despite finishing outside the Ro16 in GSL prior to Katowice, casters and fans across the world confidently anointed him as the favorite for every event until the end of the year. He looked that dominant. Protoss and Terrans itched to beat him; Zergs wanted to be him. Only the absence of a Korean premier tournament left an irritating hole in his trophy collection. Rogue had never made it past the quarterfinals of the GSL or SSL before. Now with a bevy of confidence and a mighty gust blowing behind him, the Jin Air Zerg seemed all but destined to finish 2018 with a Code S title under his belt.
Unfortunately, three major obstacles rose to prominence just as Rogue sought to complete his trophy case. At home Maru shook off the cobwebs and went into overdrive, converting his dormant potential into an unparalleled 3 consecutive GSL victories. Rogue was one of his many notable victims. He had the sorry pleasure of facing Maru in the quarterfinals of Season 2. The series was closely contested and overall regarded as an regrettable draw. Many gave Rogue the benefit of the doubt as Maru had been playing out of his mind. If Maru hadn’t been playing out of his mind for the entire event, Rogue surely would have won that GSL. Regardless, everyone expected him to be a primary competitor in Season 3.
Meanwhile, another power rose to prominence in the west. Through sheer reputation alone, Serral began to supplant Rogue as the preeminent Zerg in the world. The Finn, previously regarded as a peer alongside Nerchio and Snute , gained significant traction through his WCS Leipzig victory and two impressive showings at WESG and Katowice. Like Rogue in his prime, Serral was intimidating in how effortlessly he dispatched great players; the foreign scene crumbled under his gaze, and only the Korean cream of the crop could stop him. By fall Serral’s run through the WCS Circuit along with his victory at GSL vs. the World have solidified him, not Rogue, as the best Zerg in the world going into BlizzCon.
Finally, as GSL vs. the World and GSL Season 3 rolled around, the third stumbling block materialized with damning consequences. The tag team of Maru and Serral hindered Rogue’s gameplay and diluted his reputation, but the killing blow was self-inflicted. Success after success had insidiously bred every great player’s bane: arrogance.
Blinded by his own lingering radiance, Rogue felt confident enough to issue some bold boasts. Such braggadocio is a common form of puffery among Korean players. How much of it was showmanship versus sincerity can be debated, and INnoVationwas only recovering from an intense slump. The outcome was indisputable though: INnoVation opened up a can of whoopass to knock Rogue out of GSL vs. the World. Thinking he could breeze right through the tournament for an inevitable finals rematch with Maru, Rogue insisted on teching straight to hive in multiple games of this series. He won the first game but, unable to back up his statement, found himself unprepared in the subsequent, embarrassing sweep.
Rank
Korea Standings #6
WCS Points
6150
2018 Season Stats*
164-108 (60.29%) vs. Terran 133-64 (67.51%) vs. Protoss 107-52 (67.30%) vs. Zerg
*Via Aligulac.com. Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12.
The dwindling flame was finally snuffed out altogether in Code S. Rogue bounced out of yet another quarterfinals, this time without the cold comfort of losing to an elite Korean like Maru. Instead the “mere” foreigner Neeb was the engine of his demise. Rogue’s decision making in general was suspect throughout the series—in the first game, he stayed on 2 base Roach/Hydra for eight minutes without attempting a full-scale attack—and he was easily dispatched by Neeb’s more refined play.
Professional StarCraft II is a world of “What have you done lately?”, a scene where a lack of results can serve as an impromptu declaration of mediocrity. Failure to perform in GSL events aside, Rogue would normally still be counted amongst the top five players in the world. That is, if the scene progressed at a slower pace. The rise of Maru and Serral together as the true elite of StarCraft II in 2018 has banished Rogue, once again, to the void of relative mediocrity. The answer for Rogue is nothing, outside of the odd online tournament win here and there. It's no surprise that Rogue has faded from thought as the limelight shifted back to the likes of Maru, Serral, Classic, and Stats .
All hope is not lost. All of Rogue’s prior sins and shortcomings can be absolved with another BlizzCon victory, which remains a decent bet considering he is still the defending champion. As Rogue proved earlier at Katowice, at BlizzCon, at Shanghai, his star burns brightest on the grand stage. Whether the world will get to witness his revitalization depends on his ability to reorient his focus and energy. Another BlizzCon championship will certainly involve him taking down Maru or Serral, if not both, which would be impossible if he remains in his depreciated form. If the opportunity to vanquish usurpers is galvanizing enough, Rogue must remember to take them with grave seriousness. Another INnoVation clown show can’t be allowed to occur.
To be considered the best for any period of time is no small feat. Rogue isn’t pursuing an instance of fleeting glory though. Like most aspirants, he wants to be the exception to the rule. With his talent Rogue has a realistic shot at achieving legendary status. The embers of Rogue’s past success still glow red, and consecutive WCS World Championship victories would serve to set Rogue’s career ablaze once more. Another spark of brilliance, one more instant of pure genius, and the StarCraft II universe will echo with the long forgotten chants of his name.
Great summary, really puts into perspective what a crazy year 2018 has been, post-Katowice wise. Eager to see Rogue advance far into BlizzCon, possibly taking it all! He might be inconsistent, but his peak play is just so crisp; makes for great macro StarCraft to watch as well.
Rogue is the most dangerous Korean Zerg in my opinion. He poses the possibility of a ZvZ finals. It would be very poetic to see Serral defeat Rogue in the finals with yet another ZvZ.
Rogue was a build centric player in the Proleague Days. He got into the mechanical bit as KeSPA left, if I recall correctly. I wonder if this year of lesser quality play (that is my opinion) has changed his style comming into the Global Finals. I do hope that Rogue is training meta play with a few neat tricks up his sleeve instead of the Rogue bag of haphazard tricks and foolery. The win over herO in Proleague, a few years back, where Rogue researched flying locusts and sniped an expansion across a chasm, was fun to watch. The comment from Rogue afterwards: the strat never worked in practice, was worrying. Rogue bet a match on a strategy that had never worked before.
Please, Rogue, be the mechanical beast that won the autumn and winter of 2017/2018 and not the trickster that entertained in 2014!
I'm suprised there's no mention of the Emporer article. Despite the hate it got, had it been released after Katowice instead of before it would have been completely accurate.
Edited the article because the first draft got posted initially instead of the finished version. My mistake. Worth reading again if you've already done so.
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
On October 12 2018 23:44 Olli wrote: Edited the article because the first draft got posted initially instead of the finished version. My mistake. Worth reading again if you've already done so.
That explains why it was so much shorter than the previous two.
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
There is no hype until we have a blizzcon lr thread
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
Ohhhhhh, nice find! The best result of Rogue came on March the 4th in Katowice and the number 4 is highlighted in the calendar behind him!
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
Given their were no tournaments between Leipzig (where Showtime made the final) and Katowice that would make sense.
This also means the release order would look something like:
1. Nerchio (not really any notable acheivements) 2. ShoWTimE - January 28th (WCS Leipzig ro4) 3. Rogue - March 4th (IEM Katowice win) 4. Dark - either March 24th (GSL ro4) or April 8th (Super tournament 2nd) 5. Stats - April 8th (Super tournament win) 6. SpeCial - June 3rd (WCS Austin ro4) 7. Zest - June 28th (GSL 2nd) 8. HeRoMaRinE - July 14th (WCS Valencia ro4) 9. Has - July 14th (WCS Valencia 2nd) 10. Serral - August 5th (GSL vs the World win) 11. Neeb - September 5th (GSL ro4) 12. Lambo - September 9th (WCS Montreal ro4) 13. Maru - September 15th (3rd GSL win) 14. TY - September 15th (GSL 2nd) 15. sOs - September 30th (Super tournament 2nd) 16. Classic - September 30th (Super tournament win)
Though I expect Serral and Maru to be the last released for hype reasons.
Decided to check what's going on TL after months upon months, read an article and see that TL writers still list Taeja among the three all-time greats of Starcraft 2. *closes article*
Yes, he's on to something, but it's hard to confirm the entire pattern across korea and world yet. I think the next Korea should be Stats by this logic, either based on his second place at GSL in S1 end of March of winning Super Tournament on April 8th. World is harder to tell, Nerchio never did better than his first QF so it's his first peak, and he lost to Serral. Showtime also lost to Serral in the Finals the next day. However, in WCS, similar things happened to Special in Leipzig too (lost to Serral in semis on the same day, maybe Serral is a factor in World) and only matched it later, unless their counting his Copa America win in August. Neeb also peaked in Global at Leipzig, matched it later on, but may be helped by his GSL performance. It might be Koreans for a while since Austin wasn't until June and Lambo hit his first peak (losing to Serral).
On October 13 2018 00:43 Ghanburighan wrote: Decided to check what's going on TL after months upon months, read an article and see that TL writers still list Taeja among the three all-time greats of Starcraft 2. *closes article*
I did miss your inability to read comprehensively. The players named at the start of the article are not the three greatest of all time, and I have no idea how you're getting that from what's written. Welcome back!
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
Same dates for Nerchio originally too. Any bets on if the next article will also have it?
Find it really surprising that "Mvp, Taeja and Rain" are considered the "best in the world" in the article, both Taeja and Rain are probably unpopular choices for that post. I personally kinda agree, as a complete fan of both Rain's play and Taeja's (slighty less so), though I imagine the likes of INno, Zest, Maru are probably more popular candidates for that title
Edit: I see this already raised some contention. "Players <...>" seems to suggest it's an exclusive echelon, by not saying "Players like <...> among others", especially when <...> doesn't contain the least controversial/indisputable choices
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
Same dates for Nerchio originally too. Any bets on if the next article will also have it?
Should be: Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12. Same for the Showtime article, btw.
Otherwise good job, I haven't read everything just yet but everything that hypes Blizzcon is a plus! :D
Maybe the release order of the articles has to do with the time, like the date when the players had their peak achievement of the year? There's the month January in both Nerchio's and Showtime's picture, both had their best result in January and Nerchio had it first. I didn't check all players if Rogue would be the next one though.
Same dates for Nerchio originally too. Any bets on if the next article will also have it?
And good catch on the order.
Let's bet!
A bet with the editor, I can sense match fixing right around the corner
Awesome write up! These are so much fun to read as a fan who doesn't have time to watch the matches or know how each player performed throughout the year. Thank you.
Don't know why you had to claim that Serral has solidified himself as the best zerg in the world when that is a highly controversial opinion in the community. I don't understand how you can say things like that if its highly controversial.
Also why do you say that Classic is in the limelight now? He won a supertournament after losing in ro32 of GSL Season 3. Weekender tournaments don't give you the spotlight unless you're a foreigner (since the foreigners seem to care so much about them). The person that should be listed along Stats and Maru is TY.
On October 13 2018 11:13 Rodya wrote: Don't know why you had to claim that Serral has solidified himself as the best zerg in the world when that is a highly controversial opinion in the community. I don't understand how you can say things like that if its highly controversial.
On October 13 2018 11:13 Rodya wrote: Don't know why you had to claim that Serral has solidified himself as the best zerg in the world when that is a highly controversial opinion in the community. I don't understand how you can say things like that if its highly controversial.
Well if it's not Serral then who else? He's the last zerg who reach a final of a tournament in Korea, on top of his wcs dominance. Rogue had a pretty off year after the few first months, so the only other candidate would be Dark (Leenock, SoO and Solar have all been to inconsistent to earn the title of the best in the world). And yes Dark had a good year overall with a strong finish but he fail to win anything and while he did well in weekender (ST1 and 2 and GSL vs the World) he bomb out early of the last 2 GSL.
So overall I wouldn't say it's "highly controversial" to say that Serral is the best zerg in the world above Dark, it's not like there's 10 zerg player in contention for the title it's just those two. And Serral seems to have been better all year on the account that he actually won tournament, including a win in Korea where he has betten Dark.
On October 13 2018 11:13 Rodya wrote: Don't know why you had to claim that Serral has solidified himself as the best zerg in the world when that is a highly controversial opinion in the community. I don't understand how you can say things like that if its highly controversial.
And yes Dark had a good year overall with a strong finish but he fail to win anything and while he did well in weekender (ST1 and 2 and GSL vs the World) he bomb out early of the last 2 GSL.
Judging Dark on his ability to lose in GSL ro16 is unfair. Even when he's #1 player in the world that still happens.
On October 13 2018 11:13 Rodya wrote: Don't know why you had to claim that Serral has solidified himself as the best zerg in the world when that is a highly controversial opinion in the community. I don't understand how you can say things like that if its highly controversial.
Also why do you say that Classic is in the limelight now? He won a supertournament after losing in ro32 of GSL Season 3. Weekender tournaments don't give you the spotlight unless you're a foreigner (since the foreigners seem to care so much about them). The person that should be listed along Stats and Maru is TY.
Rodya you're the only one with this opinion as far as I can tell, i don't know that it's controversial. It's like global warming... Just because one guy in 100 has a view different to everyone else doesn't mean it is a controversial theory.
Serral is obviously number 1 zerg, having won 5 premier tournaments this year, against the collective 2 won by all other zergs in the world this year (Rogue and Scarlett).
On October 12 2018 23:23 BisuDagger wrote: Rogue is the most dangerous Korean Zerg in my opinion. He poses the possibility of a ZvZ finals. It would be very poetic to see Serral defeat Rogue in the finals with yet another ZvZ.