Trap almost landed in the #9 spot on the Power Rank once more, but he'll have to settle for #10 this month before he inevitably reclaims his regular position.

We joke a lot about how consistent Trap is at finishing in the top 12, but the gags are based on a real phenomenon. Trap advanced to the round of 16 in GSL Code S for the umpteenth time in LotV with wins over TRUE and Losira, and then went on a respectable run IEM Katowice which saw him finish in the top 12. Trap’s IEM journey began in the open bracket, where he posted three consecutive 2-1 victories to move on to the round of 24. Having reached the main event, he finished second in one of the tournament’s more challenging groups, with wins over Maru, Neeb, and Leenock painting him as a real contender.

However, Trap was crushed 3-0 by herO in the round of 12, a series loss which further confirmed Trap’s near-permanent status as a 9th-12th place finisher, be it in Korea or abroad. Until he goes 0-2 in his Code S RO16 group or actually advances to the RO8 (Gasp!), we’ll keep Trap right around here. We really wish he'd place just a little higher, so we could avoid accusations that we're manipulating the ranking for the sole purpose of keeping him at #9.

GuMiho’s willingness to experiment and pull out innovative strategies has paid off in the past, most notably yielding a GSL championship in 2017. Though it was the only premier championship of his career, no one can say the achievement just fell into his lap. Competing since the very first year of pro StarCraft II, GuMiho's seen it all in his progaming career—whether it was all-killing teams in the GSTL or having Proleague booths collapse on his head mid-match.

It's a testament to the Towel Terran's tenacity that he made the top ten this month. It felt fitting that the only Terran to make it out of the IEM Katowice open bracket was one of the most constant fixtures of the Korean scene. He's basically part of the fiber of the GSL now, as much as Treat's "Roar" or Tasteless yelling "GG!" Though he missed out on the playoffs of IEM Katowice, he left us with one of the most impressive performances of the tournament by taking out by taking Global Champion Serral in a prolonged macro game, something which doesn't happen all too often.

It's too soon to say Dear is having a late-career renaissance, but the newly signed team Newbee player is posting some noteworthy results after staying rather inconspicuous for much of 2018.

Dear advanced out of his Code S RO32 group in second place, only narrowly losing to the fearsome Dark in the battle for first. More impressive (so far) was his showing at IEM Katowice. After surviving the RO76, he secured first place in his RO24 group, even beating eventual champion soO along the way. Unfortunately for him, he fell to herO’s mind-boggling PvP strategies in the quarterfinals, but a respectable prize purse of $10,800 USD and 900 WCS Points are nothing to scoff at. He’ll even have the opportunity to take revenge on both Dark and herO in the RO16 of Code S.

Yet, we should temper expectations about Dear. Around this time last year, he basically was in the same spot—top 8 at Katowice, and in the second group stage in GSL. But that was it—he couldn’t go further and fell back into obscurity. Still, credit is due when credit is due. For now, Dear looks to be firmly on the upswing, putting him solidly in eighth place in the power rank.

One by one, TY watched his Terran brothers fall victim to both Zerg and Protoss players at IEM Katowice, with a slow trickle of eliminations eventually turning into a massacre. TY could do nothing to help them—all he could do was try and dodge the same fate.

Though TY did make it out of his Ro24 group, it wasn’t as flawless a showing as in his GSL Code S RO32 performance where he didn’t even drop a single map. In Katowice, TY lost to both Dear and Bunny, while both soO and uThermal brought him to match point. Still, he made it through to the RO12 playoffs as the only Terran survivor, bearing the hopes of all Terran players and fans on his shoulders. All the ingredients for a miracle run were present, but unfortunately TY was not the man to cook it up. Solar had TY's number in their RO12 meeting and swept the last Terran convincingly (admittedly, in an entertaining series that was closer than the 0-3 scoreline might suggest).

As disappointing as TY’s exit from the tournament was for many fans, he still managed to be the last survivor of his race, ahead of other names such as Maru and INnoVation, who only briefly sparkled after already being eliminated. His flawless GSL run is still intact, and solid showings in OlimoLeague, which are always rare for TY, paint the picture of a very dangerous Terran, who has the intelligence to work around the problems befalling his race of choice in these dark times.

herO soars up the rankings from out of nowhere, landing in the sixth place spot after grabbing a surprise top four finish in his old stomping grounds of Intel Extreme Masters. The Protoss just barely survived the RO76 bracket and RO24 group stage portions of the tournament before going on a PvP rampage in the playoffs. Casters and audiences alike were bewildered at herO's unusual 3-0 sweeps against Trap and Dear before he was finally felled by then soon-to-be champion soO.

As impressive as herO's results were, we need to attach a few caveats. Though herO won these PvP series with convincing 3-0 scores on paper, the games were riddled with mistakes, tactically unsound decisions, and all-around scrappiness on both sides (the expression “clown fiesta” was used on stream to describe them quite aptly). Likewise, his advancement into the RO16 of GSL Code S didn’t exactly look flawless, with herO struggling heavily against Scarlett.

While there are still question marks regarding herO’s real strength, one cannot deny that he has that intangible quality of "knowing how to win." His victory in the OlimoLeague February Finals—where he was able to defeat the freshly crowned IEM World Champion soO as well as the Terran duo of INnoVation and TY—suggests that the steam he's building up could be for real.

After an unprecedented show of dominance on the Korean circuit in 2018, Maru was expected by many to carry on performing in similar fashion throughout 2019. A steady start to the season with a strong showing in the Round of 32 of the GSL only seemed to reinforce that very notion. However, having made it into the main event of IEM Katowice through the American server qualifier (and only losing to INnoVation in the process), the Jin Air Green Wings Terran quickly found himself in hot water during the group stage. With two losses against clear underdogs in Trap and Leenock, Maru faced elimination with Neeb standing in his way. The three-time GSL champ crumbled under pressure, falling to the American who he had beaten so easily in the past.

Despite a damp squib of a performance at IEM Katowice, Maru’s achievements in 2018 are so momentous that we can't justify dropping him too far down the rankings. A #5 spot in the Power Rank still seems quite fitting, all things considered. Given Maru’s competitive pedigree, one rough tourney isn’t cause for concern (let's not forget he ended up 4th place in his group with consolation wins against Lambo and Dark). Still in contention for yet another GSL title, and with the WESG finals coming up soon enough, the Marine Prince will have ample opportunities to redeem himself.

Were there a power rank for sheer entertainment value, the ever confident Dark and his antics surely would top the list in an instant. But for now, Korea’s bad boy will have to be content with a top four appearance. Dark crushed his adversaries both in his Code S Ro32 group and his IEM Katowice Ro24 group, only losing in an inconsequential series against an already eliminated Maru (who suddenly appeared to have found his 2018 form again). Dark went on to dispose of Solar in the quarterfinals in an action-packed ZvZ series—one of the sparse in-game highlights of the Katowice playoffs. He vowed afterwards to not only beat Stats in the semi-finals, but to absolutely destroy him—a reaction to Stats’ challenge during a post-game interview.

As is sometimes the case, Dark’s bold words couldn’t be exactly matched by his deeds, and Stats managed to eliminate his blustering foe. Dark lost his nerve during a base trade in game three, gifting his Protoss opponent the match point by foolishly attacking a superior force. Had he kept a cooler head at that point, who knows what might have happened? We'll never know, as Dark ended up with yet another top four finish.

With soO’s triumph in Poland, Dark is currently the chief heir to the Kong line. May his own quest for another gold not be as arduous as his former teammate’s—then again, not even the Kong curse might be able to shake Dark’s unwavering confidence. Dark looks like a favorite in any upcoming tournament, be it Code S or WESG, and strongly confirmed his membership in the club of the world’s top three Zerg players.

Despite being lauded with the accolade of most consistent Protoss, Stats stumbled out the gate in 2019. His quick elimination in GSL Code S left us scratching our heads and wondering what had happened, especially considering his losses came against MC and Cure—opponents we would consider far below Stats' caliber.

Despite this setback, however, Stats was extremely fast on recovery. Starting in the RO76 of IEM Katowice, he carved a path of destruction all the way to the finals. When Stats drew soO as his grand finals opponent, it seemed like he would win the championship with a spectacular 11-0 series record. Alas, Stats was the victim of an immense cosmic re-calibration as soO escaped the kong-line to win his first premiere championship. Though Stats started the series up 2-0 after brushing off soO's attacks, he lost the next four games in a row to concede the $150,000 1st place prize to soO.

Like many of the players on this list, Stats still commands a lot of respect, even if he had a high-profile mishap. While his elimination from the GSL was very unexpected, one bad GSL run doesn't magically strip him of his stature as the best Protoss of 2018 and BlizzCon runner-up. At the moment, Stats still has a strong case to be called the best Protoss player in the world.

With nothing much to do in the upcoming weeks, Stats will probably slide down this particular ranking in the following month. However, we can safely assume that he will be back to showcasing his impressive skills once the next GSL tournament comes around.

Serral's performance in 2018 will definitely go down in history as one of the most dominant and convincing performance of any foreigner in StarCraft II. He not only dominated the foreign scene, winning nearly all the WCS events, but he successfully defeated the Koreans time and again whenever they met, even on the grandest stage of all at BlizzCon.

Serral's performance left us with just one question: "Can he do it again?"

Initially it looked like the answer would be "yes." Serral started 2019 in dominating fashion, cruising through his WCS Winter groups to the RO8. But while Namshar, Rail and Harstem are credible opponents on the WCS Circuit, fans had long-since grown accustomed Serral dominating fellow foreigners. So, everyone waited with bated breath for IEM Katowice 2019: the first 'true' test for Serral with many Korean pros in attendance.

Serral's group looked promising for fans of top-tier StarCraft play, with a foundation of INnoVation and Rogue stacked even further by the addition of Solar, GuMiho and RagnaroK from the RO76. Serral emerged from the group victorious but bloodied. He dropped a map to almost all the players and was even defeated by INnoVation (who, up till that point, was having a pretty poor tournament). Still, he clinched the #1 spot in his group, earning him a comfortable quarterfinal seed.

soO emerged from the RO12 to challenge Serral, setting up a match between players who had near-opposite records in finals. What ensued was a battle for the ages, a clash between young and old ZvZ masters, a fight for the pride of the two great factions in StarCraft II. It was a fight that went down to the wire, and in the end, soO asserted his ZvZ authority by slaying Serral and handing him his most significant loss since last year's IEM Katowice.

By all regards Serral is still a brilliant player. He dominated his foreigner counterparts in WCS and defeated some of the strongest Koreans in the world at IEM. Serral's aura of dominance might have been diminished slightly in Katowice, but he's still an incredible player. Only now, he looks to be a lot more mortal.

It’s been a long time coming for one of StarCraft II’s greatest players, but come on down soO, you’re finally number one in the Team Liquid writers power rankings. soO claimed the first big championship of his career last week, winning IEM Katowice in what has to be one of the emotional highs in our beloved game’s history. He started off the group stage shaky, going 0-3 (2-6 in games) to open the main event, but from there he went 17-5, with wins over Zest (part of the Eo-kage—the Korean meme for soO's finals vanquishers—revenge tour), Serral, herO and Stats (Eo-kage revenge tour part two) on his way to finally lifting a major trophy (sorry, KeSPA Cup).

And, while it’s a historic victory, soO still has more to prove. A tough GSL group this coming weekend will give soO a chance to flex his muscle in ZvT, an arena in which he has traditionally struggled. Should he show improved form in that matchup, and elevate his play to the level of his ZvZ and ZvP, there’s no reason to believe soO can’t duplicate his success at Katowice and turn a once in a lifetime type victory into habit. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but for now soO should bask in the glory of his victory. He may not be the Unofficial World Champion, but he is the IEM Katowice champion, and, in our opinion, the best player in the world.