After a weekend of StarCraft II action at the WCS Global Finals, eight players are going to BlizzCon. Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
We all had our doubts—and memes—about sOs going into this tournament, how his terrible year and last minute qualification were the omen for another miraculous championship run on the one side, and how this all primed him for an early exit on the other side. The greatest doubts may not have come true—after all, sOs advanced to his third top 8 appearance at BlizzCon—but they are far from having been swept away. The Jin Air Protoss may have survived the group stage, but he came close to disaster multiple times: Serral dismantled him like some random amateur, and HeRoMaRinE had him on the ropes several times, failing to finish the job and letting sOs snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in some of the worst games the WCS Global Finals have ever witnessed. The pattern seemed to hold in his PvP series against Zest, whose lack of good judgement on the last map probably contributed more to sOs’ advancement than any kind of great performance on the Jin Air player’s part.
So far, sOs has been the weakest player left in the field, winning more through his reputation than his abilities. Can the playoffs finally bring out the miracle man, who's never lost at BlizzCon? Our doubts certainly remain.
Group D was perhaps considered the hardest for the two foreigners to survive in. Classic and Rogue were both considered tournament contenders prior to the event, and Rogue did win the group but SpeCial made him work for it. His hellions diving in secured a massive lead in their opening game that a simple tank push converted into a victory. The second game was over quickly due to a zergling runby, but SpeCial again put up a strong fight on the third map, constantly harassing Rogue with drops, but ultimately falling to Rogue's relentless swarm host pressure.
Coming into Day 3, SpeCial was considered the favorite against Nerchio, but a huge underdog against Classic's expert PvT. SpeCial exceeded expectations by overcoming Nerchio as expected, but also putting together a highly impressive win over Classic, featuring easily the best game of the tournament so far on Acid Plant. SpeCial won out through intelligent decision-making, coupled with intelligently timed and well executed harassment, but it was ultimately his ability to crack Classic's armies that took the wins for him.
It's hard to say whether SpeCial can keep up this level of play, but to get past Stats in the quarterfinals he will have to deliver the same level, perhaps even more.
So far, TY played the most games of any player in this tournament, which already speaks volumes: his series were scrappy, too close for comfort, and overall simply unimpressive. Neeb had his number in their first match, gaining clear victories to send TY to the loser’s match. There, TY again failed to build up momentum against an equally struggling Lambo, dropping another map quite clearly before regaining balance and finishing the series. His deciding rematch against Neeb featured the scrappiest games of the group, as TY opted for similar strategies Maru had used to secure his own victory over the American Protoss player. Proxies were set up on both maps, but as Neeb didn’t straight-up die to the aggression and comported himself valiantly in both defence and counter-attacks, the games dragged on before TY could claim victory.
While TY’s great control, tactical prowess and adaptability did show through during some of his games, this group stage wasn’t exactly a great inducer of confidence for the remainder of the tournament, even though the longer Best of 5s and Best of 7s should suit him better. Far more dangerous Zerg players than Lambo are waiting for him in the playoffs. What we’ve seen so far won’t be enough to overcome them, so TY will have to step up his game for the coming matches.
Dark cannot be satisfied with 2018, and his performance at the Global Finals so far has again left some questions unanswered. While most spectators expected Dark to meet Stats in the winners' match, the Protoss was allowed an arguably easier road to BlizzCon as Dark banged his head into the wall that was ShoWTimE on Day 1 and lost 0-2. The German brushed off all of Dark's aggression—a proxy hatchery on Fracture and committed hydra/baneling attack on Acid Plant.
It took a Day 3 rescue mission for Dark to secure his place in the quarterfinals, and even that began with a very wonky set against Has, the second game of which could and very much should have gone in favor of the Taiwanese Protoss. ShoWTimE then fell victim to the rematch curse, and we finally saw more inspired play by Dark.
At the end of the day, Dark will need to step up if he is to advance any further. Serral already eliminated him from GSL vs The World with a ZvZ masterclass and unless Dark can come up with more than he has so far, a similar fate is very likely.
Rogue may be the defending WCS World Champion, but after a fallow summer and fall, he entered this year’s edition of the WCS Global Finals as anything but the most ballyhooed player. Back to back Code S quarterfinal exits combined with first round losses in GSL vs. the World and the second Super Tournament, had turned even the most devout fans into doubters, but Rogue showed much improved form in the second day of opening weekend. While he looked a tad shaky against SpeCial, which in retrospect is far from damning given SpeCial’s performances from then on forward, he completely dominated Classic in the winner’s match. His tried and true nydus worm to open the series was a predictable gambit that paid off as Classic was unable to hold the precise timing for the umpteenth time. Classic shook things up in game two, though Rogue was completely unfazed. Classic’s peculiar disruptor into colossi build was met with a far more pedestrian roach/hydra force that booked Rogue a spot in the quarterfinals.
Rogue may have entered last year’s WCS Global Finals as the hottest player in the world, but it’s important to remember he reached the Round of 4 in 2015 despite playing the role of underdog. No matter the circumstances Rogue has always performed well at BlizzCon, but it appears he’ll have a difficult time of things in the Round of 8. Rogue is 1-4 against TY since defeating him at BlizzCon last year, but hope remains for Rogue and his supporters, for that lone victory took place at IEM Katowice, their only offline meeting during the last year. The moral of the story is that Rogue knows when to step up and there’s no reason to think he can’t keep this uptick of form going in the Round of 8.
With all eyes on Maru and Serral, it might have been easy to overlook Stats. After all, he came off a rather disappointing year considering the standard he set in 2017. But so far the ex-KT Protoss has not missed a beat, swathing Has and ShoWTimE aside with ease. Perhaps more important than the result itself was the manner in which Stats advanced from his group. He never looked like conceding a map as he warded off any and all of Has' attempts to hurt him in familiarly composed fashion before simply outdoing ShoWTimE in two macro games. Essentially, Stats showed what we have come to expect from him and that is a good sign from someone who, throughout the year, has sometimes failed to do just that.
With Classic down and sOs not looking the part yet, every Protoss fan will be looking at Stats to carry the torch for them at BlizzCon. And his performance so far certainly warrants optimism. Stats will not be unhappy with the bracket he was drawn into, either. SpeCial is a doable opponent, sOs certainly hasn't looked convincing, and Stats already defeated Maru in a Bo5 at GSL vs The World. He will need similar form to make his way through the bracket, but early signs look very positive.
There’s no doubt that Serral entered the WCS Global Finals as the most hyped foreigner in the tournament’s history, but after opening weekend it’s fair to say he’s delivered validating the clamor. All eyes were on Serral as he faced off against recent Super Tournament, and two time BlizzCon champion sOs, with half the community cheering him on and the other half praying for his demise. The series started off with a bang as Serral easily thwarted a cannon rush on Lost and Found. Game two was more of the same. The Finnish Zerg swatting away a strange allin that took ages to develop. Serral looked shakier in the early game against Zest, but crisp decision making allowed him to seize control of both games, and ultimately a spot in the quarterfinals.
And so Serral finds himself in the Round of 8 of the most prestigious tournament of the year. On paper Dark is a stern opponent, but Serral’s made a living off the mirror matchup this year. He’s posted a 26-3 record in the offline ZvZ’s since the beginning of 2018, including a 3-1 win over Dark in GSL vs. the World just a few months ago. If history is any indication Serral’s tournament won’t be coming to an end any time soon.
What’s perhaps most important is that thanks to some good ol’ RNG the Maru versus Serral dream final remains a possibility. We’ll have to wait a week to see if the dream becomes reality, but with the way Serral is playing it looks like he’ll have no problem holding up his end of the bargain.
Group A was considered the hardest group by most, but Maru made a mockery of it by advancing with two quick 2-0 wins over Lambo and Neeb that never looked particularly close.
He hit Lambo with two uncomfortable timing attacks, one a bio/tank push that destroyed the Zerg's fourth base, the other a similar attack on his third, this time supported by a raven. Neeb fell victim to Maru's trademark early aggression twice, the first game won with a cyclone/widow mine push, the other essentially decided by a marauder/cyclone proxy. The scariest aspect of Maru's victories was that he never had to resort to his excellent mid- or even lategame play. Every game he entered was decided simply by his razor sharp execution of timing attacks. So we have seen only glimpses of Maru's full spectrum of abilities, and that must certainly be a damning sign for anyone unlucky enough to face him. Their focus must be on surviving long enough to play to their own strengths, but Maru still has his own to fall back on.
Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks. He went into BlizzCon the favorite to win it and he will enter the quarterfinals just the same.
Looking only at the group stage I would place Special above TY, i just think TY´s play was very scrappy and he "only" played against foreigners. But aside from that I´m fine with the ranking. Go go Serral!
On October 30 2018 00:23 Rob-Zero wrote: Looking only at the group stage I would place Special above TY, i just think TY´s play was very scrappy and he "only" played against foreigners. But aside from that I´m fine with the ranking. Go go Serral!
For the record, I agree but my superior opinion was drowned out by the collective.
On October 30 2018 00:23 Rob-Zero wrote: Looking only at the group stage I would place Special above TY, i just think TY´s play was very scrappy and he "only" played against foreigners. But aside from that I´m fine with the ranking. Go go Serral!
100 times,
TY didn't look impressive at all while Special played like a madman
Given the criteria pretty impossible to argue, but I also agree with the above that if you're just looking at group stage Ty going 2-1 Lambo and 3-2 Neeb in scrappy games is way less impressive than Special 1-2 Rogue and 2-0 Classic.
I actually agree with this post completely. After the second day, Dark would have definitely been ranked lower than this judging by his performance against ShowTime and against Has even.
But the revenge bo3 against the ShowTime really showed that the first series was dedicated to more memes (don't get me wrong, ShowTime played amazing too) but he really swatted the German Protoss in 2 decisive macro games.
Whatever happens, it's another great run for Special. I really hope he at least survives one more round. His style is very entertaining and his work ethic almost unparalleled.
Maru vs. Serral in the finals would ofc be a dream come true. If it happens, I predict >150k viewers.
On October 30 2018 01:16 virpi wrote: Whatever happens, it's another great run for Special. I really hope he at least survives one more round. His style is very entertaining and his work ethic almost unparalleled.
Maru vs. Serral in the finals would ofc be a dream come true. If it happens, I predict >150k viewers.
Viewer count will mostly depend of is SC get a host from HOTS/HS/WOW/OW (We need to address the glaring lack of variety in Blizzard acronym choice), but yes Maru-Serral would probably be the best final viewership wise.
On October 30 2018 01:16 virpi wrote: Whatever happens, it's another great run for Special. I really hope he at least survives one more round. His style is very entertaining and his work ethic almost unparalleled.
Maru vs. Serral in the finals would ofc be a dream come true. If it happens, I predict >150k viewers.
Viewer count will mostly depend of is SC get a host from HOTS/HS/WOW/OW (We need to address the glaring lack of variety in Blizzard acronym choice), but yes Maru-Serral would probably be the best final viewership wise.
Don't most of those have events running at the same time as WCS? The HotS, WoW, and OW finals are on at the same time as the WCS final I think.
I'd put Special above TY and Dark if we're basing it off of group performance. He took a game from Rogue and legit 2-0'd Classic (who's pretty good in PvT) without any BS.
Also, sOs is playing everybody. He's going to ascend to god mode in the playoffs. It's coming...
On October 30 2018 01:16 virpi wrote: Whatever happens, it's another great run for Special. I really hope he at least survives one more round. His style is very entertaining and his work ethic almost unparalleled.
Maru vs. Serral in the finals would ofc be a dream come true. If it happens, I predict >150k viewers.
Viewer count will mostly depend of is SC get a host from HOTS/HS/WOW/OW (We need to address the glaring lack of variety in Blizzard acronym choice), but yes Maru-Serral would probably be the best final viewership wise.
Don't most of those have events running at the same time as WCS? The HotS, WoW, and OW finals are on at the same time as the WCS final I think.
Depend on how long they run, sometime one finish before the other so they host the other stream. I seem to remember last year the OW grand final was the last one to finish and they got a host from every one else.
On October 30 2018 01:16 virpi wrote: Whatever happens, it's another great run for Special. I really hope he at least survives one more round. His style is very entertaining and his work ethic almost unparalleled.
Maru vs. Serral in the finals would ofc be a dream come true. If it happens, I predict >150k viewers.
Viewer count will mostly depend of is SC get a host from HOTS/HS/WOW/OW (We need to address the glaring lack of variety in Blizzard acronym choice), but yes Maru-Serral would probably be the best final viewership wise.
Don't most of those have events running at the same time as WCS? The HotS, WoW, and OW finals are on at the same time as the WCS final I think.
Depend on how long they run, sometime one finish before the other so they host the other stream. I seem to remember last year the OW grand final was the last one to finish and they got a host from every one else.
The sceduling isn't that great either. OW final should end first, but OW matches usually take longer than blizzard think. And sc2 matches are (nowadays) over in half the time.
This ranking's fine, but it does a pretty poor job of adhering to the criterion of measuring "their performance in the group stage".
Maru, Serral and Stats all looked pretty flawless, but just due to their opponents Serral should be first for example. And Special should be higher if you were just judging by group stage performance.
On October 30 2018 04:12 ZigguratOfUr wrote: This ranking's fine, but it does a pretty poor job of adhering to the criterion of measuring "their performance in the group stage".
Maru, Serral and Stats all looked pretty flawless, but just due to their opponents Serral should be first for example. And Special should be higher if you were just judging by group stage performance.
Yeah, if that was the only criterion SpeCial should be 5th as the best 2nd place finisher.
On October 30 2018 04:12 ZigguratOfUr wrote: This ranking's fine, but it does a pretty poor job of adhering to the criterion of measuring "their performance in the group stage".
Maru, Serral and Stats all looked pretty flawless, but just due to their opponents Serral should be first for example. And Special should be higher if you were just judging by group stage performance.
I think that line doesn't belong. They even say in Maru's blurb:
Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks. He went into BlizzCon the favorite to win it and he will enter the quarterfinals just the same.
That indicates prior rankings were taken into account.
On October 30 2018 00:23 Rob-Zero wrote: Looking only at the group stage I would place Special above TY, i just think TY´s play was very scrappy and he "only" played against foreigners. But aside from that I´m fine with the ranking. Go go Serral!
For the record, I agree but my superior opinion was drowned out by the collective.
The collective are fools, your superior opinion is correct.
Special 100% deserves to be ranked higher than TY.
I offered my services to improve this Power Rank multiple times to the writing team but was regrettably turned down. I knew that didn't bode well for them, but even I couldn't have predicted the shambles that is this Power Rank.
The team appears to have spent too long on their preview articles to properly undertake the full 16-man Power Rank prior to the event. Although I know that the Power Ranks are now timed on a monthly basis, this specific one is clearly about BlizzCon as only BlizzCon attendees have been included.
So we arrive at an 8-man Power Rank situation. The article clearly states that the rank is based on group performance.
This is of course an awkward way to rank because the 'best players' may not have had the hardest route, and had I been consulted professionally I would have advised against this method.
Nevertheless, going solely by group performance does make the ranking a straightforward and easy process. The players most dominant over the best opponents should clearly be ranked the highest.
Unfortunately, without my guidance this also seems to have gone awry.
Regardless of whether you agree that Serral is no.1 overall anyway, his 4-0 of sHy and Zest has to be more impressive than Maru's wins over Lambo and Neeb. This is near irrefutable, and given the criteria, clearly Serral should be rank 1.
In a similar vein, Major's stellar play to overcome Classic and barely lose to Rogue has to be superior to TY (barely overcame Neeb after losing the first set and dropped a map to Lambo) as well as Dark.
The correct Power Rank based on the given criteria is thus:
8. sHy 7. TY 6. Dark 5. Major 4. Rogue 3. Stats 2. Maru 1. Serral
Were the Power Rank to have occurred with my professional input in the correct pre-BlizzCon manner, it would have appeared thus:
16. Has 15. HeroMarine 14. Nerchio 13. Lambo 12. ShowTime 11. Major 10. Zest 9. Neeb 8. Rogue 7. sHy 6. Dark 5. TY 4. Stats 3. Classic 1. Maru (joint) 1. Serral (joint)
In a similar vein, Major's stellar play to overcome Classic twice (4-0) and barely lose to Rogue has to be superior to TY (barely overcame Neeb after losing the first set and dropped a map to Lambo) as well as Dark.
There we have it, finally proof that are you are indeed living in another plane of reality. I won't judge your serral comments anymore from now on, maybe in your dimension he actually is the obvious best player. Anyway, in my own reality special only played classic once (which could still give him the edge over TY though tbf) We should check if there are any more differences in results though, if you are interested in that procedure just pm me.
In a similar vein, Major's stellar play to overcome Classic twice (4-0) and barely lose to Rogue has to be superior to TY (barely overcame Neeb after losing the first set and dropped a map to Lambo) as well as Dark.
There we have it, finally proof that I can insert random things into quotes as well.
Don't try to game me mate.
Wanna make a ban bet, if a moderator can look if you changed it you get the perma ban, if you didn't i get it?
In a similar vein, Major's stellar play to overcome Classic twice (4-0) and barely lose to Rogue has to be superior to TY (barely overcame Neeb after losing the first set and dropped a map to Lambo) as well as Dark.
There we have it, finally proof that I can insert random things into quotes as well.
Don't try to game me mate.
Wanna make a ban bet, if a moderator can look if you changed it you get the perma ban, if you didn't i get it?
edit: Apparently not, good
You need to bring that chilli sauce down a notch bro
You're one of my best friends here and I would miss you when you lost bro
then next year they can remove region locks so he can prove it at every single tournament, which naniwa and stephano did despite not being protected by region locks
I am surprised people still not realize group performance means nothing in Blizzcon play-off
Remember? when ByuN lost 0-2 to ShoWTimE in 2016 and Rogue lost 1-2 to Neeb in 2017 group stages? Guess what, they were the champions, and although ShoWTimE managed to win 4-0 against 2 Koreans in group stage, he still lost 1-3 to Elazer in ro8 right away. Dark in interview said he was sick in day 1, and a lot of pros had bad conditions too. So, I believe the performances would be totally different since Blizzcon is 1 week after the group stages.
On October 30 2018 05:50 fishjie wrote: dave4 is like a mirror image reverse rodya troll
serral can move to #1 after he wins blizzcon
Please don't associate me with that particular human.
i am almost certain you are a rodya alt, so you could spew the exact same hyperbole in the opposite direction, just so that you can then log in as rodya and rant against it.
until they remove region lock, special and neeb are the true badasses who have gone toe to toe in korea with the best day in and day out and advanced far in the gsl, with reynor getting special mention.
On October 30 2018 05:50 fishjie wrote: dave4 is like a mirror image reverse rodya troll
serral can move to #1 after he wins blizzcon
Please don't associate me with that particular human.
i am almost certain you are a rodya alt, so you could spew the exact same hyperbole in the opposite direction, just so that you can then log in as rodya and rant against it.
until they remove region lock, special and neeb are the true badasses who have gone toe to toe in korea with the best day in and day out and advanced far in the gsl, with reynor getting special mention.
Nonsense. The mods would not allow this as they can see IP addresses
This power rank may be talking mostly about the group stage performances but it is nowhere said that the power rank is based solely on them. This would be a dumb thing to do because you can't read very much out of 2 or 3 matches of a player. Thus it's perfectly fine that Maru is still considered first.
Special's performance surely was impressive but his wins aren't so much more prestigeous than TY's. Neeb and Rogue are on par at least but given Rogue's recent performances (including getting beaten by Neeb in GSL) I would give Neeb an edge. Classic also was quite volatile the entire year which he showed again vs Rogue. Nerchio and Lambo are of comparable calibre. So in the end I don't think that Special's run was more impressive. His games obviously looked cooler but I wouldn't take that into account too much.
On October 30 2018 08:54 tennisl wrote: Rogue should be higher than Stats. He is going to win Blizzcon again I believe
I'm sorry what? Rogue literally can't be placed over Stats due to the way this power ranking was structured. Stats went 4-0 against foreigners and Rogue went 4-1 against foreigners. Just because you "believe" he will win it again does not mean that he should be put above Stats.
I think Stats will knock out sOs in ro4. I feel like whenever someone looks like they will have a run of destiny, Stats often eliminates them before the finals.
I offered my services to improve this Power Rank multiple times to the writing team but was regrettably turned down. I knew that didn't bode well for them, but even I couldn't have predicted the shambles that is this Power Rank.
The team appears to have spent too long on their preview articles to properly undertake the full 16-man Power Rank prior to the event. Although I know that the Power Ranks are now timed on a monthly basis, this specific one is clearly about BlizzCon as only BlizzCon attendees have been included.
So we arrive at an 8-man Power Rank situation. The article clearly states that the rank is based on group performance.
This is of course an awkward way to rank because the 'best players' may not have had the hardest route, and had I been consulted professionally I would have advised against this method.
Nevertheless, going solely by group performance does make the ranking a straightforward and easy process. The players most dominant over the best opponents should clearly be ranked the highest.
Unfortunately, without my guidance this also seems to have gone awry.
Regardless of whether you agree that Serral is no.1 overall anyway, his 4-0 of sHy and Zest has to be more impressive than Maru's wins over Lambo and Neeb. This is near irrefutable, and given the criteria, clearly Serral should be rank 1.
In a similar vein, Major's stellar play to overcome Classic and barely lose to Rogue has to be superior to TY (barely overcame Neeb after losing the first set and dropped a map to Lambo) as well as Dark.
The correct Power Rank based on the given criteria is thus:
8. sHy 7. TY 6. Dark 5. Major 4. Rogue 3. Stats 2. Maru 1. Serral
Were the Power Rank to have occurred with my professional input in the correct pre-BlizzCon manner, it would have appeared thus:
16. Has 15. HeroMarine 14. Nerchio 13. Lambo 12. ShowTime 11. Major 10. Zest 9. Neeb 8. Rogue 7. sHy 6. Dark 5. TY 4. Stats 3. Classic 1. Maru (joint) 1. Serral (joint)
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
...and then still say that
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks.
I think everybody can see how the ranking is just a continuation of the previous ones with the the usual TL Staff favourites at the top
Otherwise, Stats would top it, as he was most impressive in the group stage. Or, at least more impressive than Maru.
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
On October 30 2018 18:59 sneakyfox wrote: Funny how you can write
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
...and then still say that
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks.
I think everybody can see how the ranking is just a continuation of the previous ones with the the usual TL Staff favourites at the top
Otherwise, Stats would top it, as he was most impressive in the group stage. Or, at least more impressive than Maru.
He beat Has and ShoWTimE, how is that more impressive than Lambo and Neeb?
I'd still say it's a bit better considering Showtime's form, but yeah okay.
But Serral's was definitely more impressive than Maru's.
On October 30 2018 18:59 sneakyfox wrote: Funny how you can write
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
...and then still say that
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks.
I think everybody can see how the ranking is just a continuation of the previous ones with the the usual TL Staff favourites at the top
Otherwise, Stats would top it, as he was most impressive in the group stage. Or, at least more impressive than Maru.
He beat Has and ShoWTimE, how is that more impressive than Lambo and Neeb?
I'd still say it's a bit better considering Showtime's form, but yeah okay.
But Serral's was definitely more impressive than Maru's.
sOs played really badly and Zest has bad PvZ so not really, arguable.
On October 30 2018 18:59 sneakyfox wrote: Funny how you can write
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
...and then still say that
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks.
I think everybody can see how the ranking is just a continuation of the previous ones with the the usual TL Staff favourites at the top
Otherwise, Stats would top it, as he was most impressive in the group stage. Or, at least more impressive than Maru.
He beat Has and ShoWTimE, how is that more impressive than Lambo and Neeb?
I'd still say it's a bit better considering Showtime's form, but yeah okay.
But Serral's was definitely more impressive than Maru's.
sOs played really badly and Zest has bad PvZ so not really, arguable.
I think Maru vs SoS is 51-49%.. and SoS defeated Maru last time they meet. Also special has a good shot agains Stats, even if stats is clearly the favorite. Serral vs Dark is so close to 50-50. Saying that Serral beat Dark 3-1 and that he has 23-3 in ZvZ this year means nothing (even if eu zergs are "best" zergs). The serries will be really close and I think Serral will win, but in a really close 3-2 series. Rogue vs Ty is also an awesome draw. TvZ of the best of the best is always a great thing for us viewer. I would still give an edge here to TY, even if he looked scrappy, Rogue is far from what he was 9-10 months ago. Really, he has no results in the last 6 month, Artosis is the only one hyping him, but he showed nothing impressive.
That said I`m really happy with the drawings and I thing that really.. everybody can advance. Heart Major-Serral finals. Head Maru(stats)-Serral(TY)
On October 30 2018 22:01 tilhorizon wrote: sorry but this powerrank is just bias but not objectiv
for example serral was clearly in the lead on every time in his games maru was not you cant deny that fact if you watched the games objectively
but if you watched the games objectively sOs and Zest played really disappointing. At least i'd expect a lot more from multiple GSL and Blizzcon winners.
On October 30 2018 21:59 jarodtou wrote: I think Maru vs SoS is 51-49%.. and SoS defeated Maru last time they meet. Also special has a good shot agains Stats, even if stats is clearly the favorite. Serral vs Dark is so close to 50-50. Saying that Serral beat Dark 3-1 and that he has 23-3 in ZvZ this year means nothing (even if eu zergs are "best" zergs). The serries will be really close and I think Serral will win, but in a really close 3-2 series. Rogue vs Ty is also an awesome draw. TvZ of the best of the best is always a great thing for us viewer. I would still give an edge here to TY, even if he looked scrappy, Rogue is far from what he was 9-10 months ago. Really, he has no results in the last 6 month, Artosis is the only one hyping him, but he showed nothing impressive.
That said I`m really happy with the drawings and I thing that really.. everybody can advance. Heart Major-Serral finals. Head Maru(stats)-Serral(TY)
The last time they met everyone prepared to kill everything that's not sOs so sOs is at Blizzcon
On October 30 2018 18:59 sneakyfox wrote: Funny how you can write
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:Our criteria this time are simple. We rank the eight players in the quarterfinals by their performance in the group stage.
...and then still say that
On October 29 2018 23:50 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: Overall, Maru has given us no reason at all to change his position from previous Power Ranks.
I think everybody can see how the ranking is just a continuation of the previous ones with the the usual TL Staff favourites at the top
Otherwise, Stats would top it, as he was most impressive in the group stage. Or, at least more impressive than Maru.
He beat Has and ShoWTimE, how is that more impressive than Lambo and Neeb?
I'd still say it's a bit better considering Showtime's form, but yeah okay.
But Serral's was definitely more impressive than Maru's.
sOs played really badly and Zest has bad PvZ so not really, arguable.
Not arguable...
User was temp banned for this post.
Perfect. Anyone with this kind of biased and rude thread should be punished for clean community.
Btw, I am really looking forward to see what result gonna be :D
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
Even though he didn't make blizzcon, I would include soo in the list of people that could be better than serral, and stats 100% could be better than maru.
The thing is (and this isn't necessarily a problem) we are so damn focused on Results/tournaments won and not straight skill at the game, which to be fair is hard to accurately measure. When Serral beat stats in GSL vs World, yes he came out on top, but it was a FANTASTICALLY close series, that could have gone either way. When Maru beat TY in GSL S3 championship, he was literally 2 units away from losing the last game, which would have crowned TY the victor in the decider match. We do our best to account for volatility by having games be larger sample size of Bo7, but the truth is the three (by most peoples standards) best players in the world with each race are Maru, Stats, and Serral respectively, and more likely than not, if each of them played a best of 99 with each other in each matchup, we would probably have maybe a 5-10 point difference in the end. They are just so close in skill to each other its hard to say one of them is definitively better than the other one just by a Bo7. Any of them could take multiple games in a row off of each other in a Bo X series, when in reality it would probably end up evened up towards the end of a larger sample size.
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
depends how you mean it. Head to head - I would rate soO higher than Serral even now in his slumpy year. Generally - soO has fallen way too low in his non ZvZ MU. But maybe I'm a fanboy
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
Stats beat Maru but could not arguably be better than Maru. Stats lost to Serral but could arguably be better than Serral. Explain your logic please.
sOs also beat Maru, I really don't understand why nobody but Serral is mentioned for players that could beat Maru.
Because h2h matches alone don't decide who's better. The guy was talking about who's better, not who could beat who. Maru has had better results than Stats by a big margin. He has better results than sOs by a massive margin.
The gap between Stats and Serral (in terms of results) isn't clear. They've both won a single tournament (with koreans) and made a couple top 4s in others.
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
Stats beat Maru but could not arguably be better than Maru. Stats lost to Serral but could arguably be better than Serral. Explain your logic please.
sOs also beat Maru, I really don't understand why nobody but Serral is mentioned for players that could beat Maru.
The logic behind is, that anyone could beat anyone at a given time under special circumstances. That is, why I wrote BETTER and not BEAT. I mean Neeb did beat TY and Showtime did beat Dark, but I highly doubt they are the better players, if you catch my drift
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
depends how you mean it. Head to head - I would rate soO higher than Serral even now in his slumpy year. Generally - soO has fallen way too low in his non ZvZ MU. But maybe I'm a fanboy
Could possibly add soO but his "recent" results are more than dissapointing. We all know how fast the SC2 world spins and how champions of yesterday don't even make the qualifiers of tomorrow. That's why I left him out and why I edited my original post with the clarification
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
Stats beat Maru but could not arguably be better than Maru. Stats lost to Serral but could arguably be better than Serral. Explain your logic please.
sOs also beat Maru, I really don't understand why nobody but Serral is mentioned for players that could beat Maru.
The logic behind is, that anyone could beat anyone at a given time under special circumstances. That is, why I wrote BETTER and not BEAT. I mean Neeb did beat TY and Showtime did beat Dark, but I highly doubt they are the better players, if you catch my drift
Edit: tl;dr: what Fango above me said
It is really surprising to me that this isn't just common sense honestly, people get so offended over these statements :D Actual haters on both sides ofc, but not everyone who doesn't just accept serral as the absolute best, unbeatable force takes a lot of flak as well.
What’s perhaps most important is that thanks to some good ol’ RNG the Maru versus Serral dream final remains a possibility.
I'm pretty sure they said that they were seeded at the opposite side of the bracket.
Other than that, while I agree that sOs looked the shakiest out of all of the top 8s, I don't think Special deserves rank 7. The way he was moving his units looked highly alert and precise. If he goes in confident I think he can dismantle Stats who looked like he was going through the motions.
On October 31 2018 18:54 Harris1st wrote: I would approach the whole "how good is Serral really" /power rank discussion another way:
People that COULD be better than Serral:
- Maru - TY - Stats (arguable) - Rogue (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Serral: - Every Non-Korean - Every Korean not at Blizzcon - SoS - Zest - Dark (arguable) - Classic
That would make Serral at least top 5, if not top 3 in the world
Now Maru's list is easier:
People that COULD be better than Maru:
- Serral (arguable)
People that are NOT better than Maru:
- Everyone else
Discuss!
EDIT: To clarify: This is meant now, not 5 years from now or 5 years ago
Stats beat Maru but could not arguably be better than Maru. Stats lost to Serral but could arguably be better than Serral. Explain your logic please.
sOs also beat Maru, I really don't understand why nobody but Serral is mentioned for players that could beat Maru.
The logic behind is, that anyone could beat anyone at a given time under special circumstances. That is, why I wrote BETTER and not BEAT. I mean Neeb did beat TY and Showtime did beat Dark, but I highly doubt they are the better players, if you catch my drift
Edit: tl;dr: what Fango above me said
Wait, are we talking about who is better right now at BlizzCon or who is better over the whole year.
So yeah, over the year I think Maru and Serral are in their own league. But if we look at now and the players who are left at BlizzCon I think Serral could fall to Maru, TY and Stats and Maru could fall to sOs, Stats and TY, Rogue and Serral.
Maru has shown to be comparatively weaker at weekend tournaments than in GSL.
Not necessarily Maru's fault. I feel like Zerg is the best race for weekend tournaments, Terran the best for drawn out leagues.
We'll know afterwards I guess, but I am still rooting for a pure Splyce TY vs Stats final anway .
TY beating Serral and Stats beating Maru is not that unrealistic imo and would be the dream!
On November 01 2018 05:44 Waxangel wrote: As a fan I'd really love for sOs to win, but I think ambling past Zest was the extent of his magic for this year.
On November 04 2018 11:52 swarminfestor wrote: Hmmm I guess next power rank will be Serral on the top while Rogue is above Maru for the first time.
Probably Serral Stats Maru Rogue, with stats and Maru interchangeable
I would put Rogue above Maru this time. Yes, Maru did beat Rogue few times before. But, Maru was not in good shape in this Blizzcon tournament after all.
On November 04 2018 18:44 Argonauta wrote: the big problem is that now we need to wait until next korean vs foreigners clash to see if serral keeps the pace,
On November 04 2018 18:44 Argonauta wrote: the big problem is that now we need to wait until next korean vs foreigners clash to see if serral keeps the pace,
REMOVE REGIONLOCK
Hey, don't forget about HSC in not even 3 weeks!
Do we know which Koreans (other than InNovation) are going ?
On November 04 2018 11:52 swarminfestor wrote: Hmmm I guess next power rank will be Serral on the top while Rogue is above Maru for the first time.
Probably Serral Stats Maru Rogue, with stats and Maru interchangeable
I would put Rogue above Maru this time. Yes, Maru did beat Rogue few times before. But, Maru was not in good shape in this Blizzcon tournament after all.
Why would Rogue be above Maru? He advanced 1 round further than him while having very poor results the months before? Serral - Stats - Maru - sOs. sOs made ro4 like Rogue and got to the finals in the super tournament.
On November 04 2018 11:52 swarminfestor wrote: Hmmm I guess next power rank will be Serral on the top while Rogue is above Maru for the first time.
Probably Serral Stats Maru Rogue, with stats and Maru interchangeable
I would put Rogue above Maru this time. Yes, Maru did beat Rogue few times before. But, Maru was not in good shape in this Blizzcon tournament after all.
Why would Rogue be above Maru? He advanced 1 round further than him while having very poor results the months before? Serral - Stats - Maru - sOs. sOs made ro4 like Rogue and got to the finals in the super tournament.
The neXt power ranking is for November's performances.
EPT![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/players/1101.jpg)
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