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2019 in Review - TL.net Awards - Page 2

Forum Index > SC2 General
102 CommentsPost a Reply
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Shuffleblade
Profile Joined February 2012
Sweden1903 Posts
January 27 2020 08:19 GMT
#21
Great article, really like Dark being the player of the year it was deserved. I guess it has to be Trap even though my heart screams Classic!
Maru, Bomber, TY, Dear, Classic, DeParture and Rogue!
tagliatelle
Profile Joined August 2018
Canada69 Posts
January 27 2020 08:47 GMT
#22
No Meme of the Year award?
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7435 Posts
January 27 2020 09:31 GMT
#23
Congratz Dark!
Well deserved I think
Reynor and Serral stealing points from each other helped I guess.

Breakout player for me is Clem. I expect great things from him this year

Best tournament of the year is hands down HSC 20
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
TheOneAboveU
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany3367 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 10:41:42
January 27 2020 10:41 GMT
#24
On January 27 2020 11:14 BisuDagger wrote:
Time is a fine choice, but Reynor felt like a break out player this year too because at the start of the year lots of people still thought he was all hype and still hadn't played in a blizzcon.

Yeah we talked about this internally, because some people felt the way you do and there is definitely an argument for it. Personally I was on TIME's side from the beginning, since it would feel REALLY weird to me to award the Break Out award to the same player two times.

Oh, and also: BIG DARK ENERGY!
Moderatoralias TripleM | @TL_TripleM | Big Dark Energy!
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8218 Posts
January 27 2020 12:12 GMT
#25
Dark the clear winner of PotY by any objective metric, well deserved! It was pretty crazy how good he was for the last couple of months of the season (after being just really good for the first half), he not only won everything, he crushed his opponents, who themselves belong to the very top.

Also, the fact that a type of building can win the Best Strategy award speaks volumes to how bad game design Nydus was. And it's hard to disagree. Hopefully Blizzard are going to be more on top of the balance (and design) game from now on, they actually were doing quite well from the end of 2016 up until late 2018.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
stilt
Profile Joined October 2012
France2755 Posts
January 27 2020 13:03 GMT
#26
Overall a nice article, there can be some debates ofc but everything is pretty reasonnable.
Gemini_19
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1265 Posts
January 27 2020 14:10 GMT
#27
I was so sure you would meme me and take the big brain play to put Classic over Trap for protoss of the year but you have restored my faith once more, Mr. Waxangel. I applaud you.
@GGemini19 GM Protoss | http://www.twitch.tv/geminisc2 | I <333 HerO & Trap | Check out my Build of the Week series on /r/allthingsprotoss, TL, or Spawning Tool
ZugzwangSC
Profile Joined October 2019
87 Posts
January 27 2020 14:46 GMT
#28
Fantastic awards once again!

[Insert applause for all the winners]


www.youtube.com/c/zugzwangstarcraft
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8991 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 15:13:33
January 27 2020 15:00 GMT
#29
On January 27 2020 21:12 sneakyfox wrote:
Dark the clear winner of PotY by any objective metric, well deserved! It was pretty crazy how good he was for the last couple of months of the season (after being just really good for the first half), he not only won everything, he crushed his opponents, who themselves belong to the very top.

Also, the fact that a type of building can win the Best Strategy award speaks volumes to how bad game design Nydus was. And it's hard to disagree. Hopefully Blizzard are going to be more on top of the balance (and design) game from now on, they actually were doing quite well from the end of 2016 up until late 2018.


Hydra bane wasn't exactly considered "balanced"
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 15:16:49
January 27 2020 15:16 GMT
#30
Dark is player of the year by any sensible metric you throw at him. Champion of Code S, Super Tournament, Blizzcon. ro4 of Code S twice and Katowice.

It's a way better resume than what ByuN had in 2016 when he beat him out for POTY (even if I think Dark should have probably won that time as well).

Classic should have probably gotten protoss of the year though, sure Trap made two Code S finals but Classic actually won something (on top of making ro4 and finals of Code S, and ro4 at blizzcon).
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
January 27 2020 15:17 GMT
#31
On another note, game of the year should be Maru vs Stats from supertournament, although I would 100% expect it to go to Serral vs soO for storyline purposes.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8218 Posts
January 27 2020 15:19 GMT
#32
On January 28 2020 00:00 Nakajin wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 27 2020 21:12 sneakyfox wrote:
Dark the clear winner of PotY by any objective metric, well deserved! It was pretty crazy how good he was for the last couple of months of the season (after being just really good for the first half), he not only won everything, he crushed his opponents, who themselves belong to the very top.

Also, the fact that a type of building can win the Best Strategy award speaks volumes to how bad game design Nydus was. And it's hard to disagree. Hopefully Blizzard are going to be more on top of the balance (and design) game from now on, they actually were doing quite well from the end of 2016 up until late 2018.


Hydra bane wasn't exactly considered "balanced"


I'm not saying that there weren't any balance issues for those years, just that blizz was generally improving the game with their patches and that they were attending to issues when they arose.

For the 2019 season, they not only brought us broken nyduses and BL-infestor again, they didn't respond to the issues when they arose.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12134 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 15:26:03
January 27 2020 15:25 GMT
#33
On January 27 2020 11:42 tigon_ridge wrote:
Yea, just look at the GSL player's wins, but ignore his terrible performances, like his absolutely getting trashed by Elazer, and ignore Serral's masterful consistent 3-1's steamrolling through every Korean terran and protoss; and ignore Serral's 3-1 v Dark and 2-0 v Rogue in the same year. This article has pro-gsl players bias written from beginning to end. Imagine an article exclaiming "player of the year" opinion that doesn't even remark upon everything salient that happened in that year to the candidates—Oh, it's Wax, I don't have to imagine.

How many Code S titles in 2k19 go to Serral? 0
How many World Champion titles in 2k19 go to Serral? 0

Well, the two most important titles of the year were won by soO and Dark(IEM, Blizzcon), Dark added a Code S title, a ST title, 2 top4 finishers in Code S and 1 top4 finisher at IEM. I don't know what kind of metric you want to use to put Serral above all these titles. Especially when Blizzcon was one of the most cited victories which resulted not giving this to Maru at 2k18...

I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Dave4
Profile Joined August 2018
494 Posts
January 27 2020 15:29 GMT
#34
On January 27 2020 15:10 Waxangel wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 27 2020 13:34 JJH777 wrote:
On January 27 2020 11:42 tigon_ridge wrote:
Yea, just look at the GSL player's wins, but ignore his terrible performances, like his absolutely getting trashed by Elazer, and ignore Serral's masterful consistent 3-1's steamrolling through every Korean terran and protoss; and ignore Serral's 3-1 v Dark and 2-0 v Rogue in the same year. This article has pro-gsl players bias written from beginning to end. Imagine an article exclaiming "player of the year" opinion that doesn't even remark upon everything salient that happened in that year to the candidates—Oh, it's Wax, I don't have to imagine.


You are pointing out Dark's faults without doing the same to Serral. Yeah Dark lost to Elazer and guess what Serral lost to HeroMarine this year. Both of those results are equally out of left field and cancel each other out imo. Besides that Serral lost to Neeb, Reynor x 4, soO, Innovation x 3, Stats x 2. Meanwhile Dark lost to Classic, Maru, Gumiho, Serral, Stats, Rogue. And that's it I believe? At least in major offline events. If you ask me that second list is a lot more impressive. Especially when you take into account that Innovation was not very consistent this year. Serral was also sliver away from losing to freaking Zhugeliang this year. Serral won the head to head yeah but it was in the beginning of the year before Dark won his GSL and went to another level.


I don't know if it's productive/interesting to look for this kind of 1:1 equivalence when counting bad/unexpected losses.

Personally, I think the strong cases for Serral are that we as fans tend to vastly overblow the difference between 1st and 2nd, and even 1st and top 4.

You are correct and based on Silver's and ro4s as well Serral would be the poty again.

Normally I am a very big advocate of Serral and he has clearly been in Greatest of All Time territory for a while. The only reason im really okay with Dark is :

1) Dark did have a great year and I highly weight BlizzCon, but

2) Serral really shouldn't have lost that many to Reynor, even though Reynor is very very good. Serral is clearly on another level but he just has this hang up with Reynor, I think it is a stylistic thing to be honest. Serral likes to be composed and always making calculated decisions but Reynor plays at a frenetic pace and with rsomewhat eckless abandon. It reminds me of old-school gumiho who would just create a shitstorm and then because he had more experience in shitstorms he tended to do relatively well in them compared to the other player. Basically Reynor does that to Serral and takes away his ability to read the flow of the game like he normally does so he makes more mistakes.

Dark's 2019 gold medals #1, Serral a very close #2 and if we were ranking who seems higher skill alone Serral definitely wins by a long mile.
Xain0n
Profile Joined November 2018
Italy3963 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 15:35:44
January 27 2020 15:33 GMT
#35
On January 28 2020 00:16 Fango wrote:
Dark is player of the year by any sensible metric you throw at him. Champion of Code S, Super Tournament, Blizzcon. ro4 of Code S twice and Katowice.

It's a way better resume than what ByuN had in 2016 when he beat him out for POTY (even if I think Dark should have probably won that time as well).

Classic should have probably gotten protoss of the year though, sure Trap made two Code S finals but Classic actually won something (on top of making ro4 and finals of Code S, and ro4 at blizzcon).


Dark is player of the year by your standards but not "by any sensible metric" or "clearly"; Serral won more titles, placed higher on average and had a better win ratio.
Just want to point this out but I have no intention to discuss it further since I think giving Dark the award was an acceptable decision after all.

Comparing results obtained in different years is kind of pointless, Maru's year in 2018 was better than Dark's in 2019 for example.
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12134 Posts
January 27 2020 15:40 GMT
#36
On January 27 2020 15:10 Waxangel wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 27 2020 13:34 JJH777 wrote:
On January 27 2020 11:42 tigon_ridge wrote:
Yea, just look at the GSL player's wins, but ignore his terrible performances, like his absolutely getting trashed by Elazer, and ignore Serral's masterful consistent 3-1's steamrolling through every Korean terran and protoss; and ignore Serral's 3-1 v Dark and 2-0 v Rogue in the same year. This article has pro-gsl players bias written from beginning to end. Imagine an article exclaiming "player of the year" opinion that doesn't even remark upon everything salient that happened in that year to the candidates—Oh, it's Wax, I don't have to imagine.


You are pointing out Dark's faults without doing the same to Serral. Yeah Dark lost to Elazer and guess what Serral lost to HeroMarine this year. Both of those results are equally out of left field and cancel each other out imo. Besides that Serral lost to Neeb, Reynor x 4, soO, Innovation x 3, Stats x 2. Meanwhile Dark lost to Classic, Maru, Gumiho, Serral, Stats, Rogue. And that's it I believe? At least in major offline events. If you ask me that second list is a lot more impressive. Especially when you take into account that Innovation was not very consistent this year. Serral was also sliver away from losing to freaking Zhugeliang this year. Serral won the head to head yeah but it was in the beginning of the year before Dark won his GSL and went to another level.


I don't know if it's productive/interesting to look for this kind of 1:1 equivalence when counting bad/unexpected losses.

Personally, I think the strong cases for Serral are that we as fans tend to vastly overblow the difference between 1st and 2nd, and even 1st and top 4.

If we consider IEM, Code S and Blizzcon the most prestigious titles, Dark has 2 out of 5 and 3 top 4 finishers. It's not like he won 2 random tournaments and he received an award, he had a great year in tournaments where it matters. The only one who was better is JAGW
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8991 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 16:12:53
January 27 2020 16:03 GMT
#37
On January 28 2020 00:33 Xain0n wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 28 2020 00:16 Fango wrote:
Dark is player of the year by any sensible metric you throw at him. Champion of Code S, Super Tournament, Blizzcon. ro4 of Code S twice and Katowice.

It's a way better resume than what ByuN had in 2016 when he beat him out for POTY (even if I think Dark should have probably won that time as well).

Classic should have probably gotten protoss of the year though, sure Trap made two Code S finals but Classic actually won something (on top of making ro4 and finals of Code S, and ro4 at blizzcon).


Dark is player of the year by your standards but not "by any sensible metric" or "clearly"; Serral won more titles, placed higher on average and had a better win ratio.
Just want to point this out but I have no intention to discuss it further since I think giving Dark the award was an acceptable decision after all.

Comparing results obtained in different years is kind of pointless, Maru's year in 2018 was better than Dark's in 2019 for example.


Serral placed higher in WESG and in GSLvsTW while Dark placed higher in IEM Katowice and Blizzcon. Serral played in 11 tournaments (12 if you count HSC 19) while Dark only played in 9 tournaments. In those Serral has 5 title (1WCS, 1WCS Winter, 1HSC, 1 GSLvsTW and 1 NW) while Dark has 3 title (GSL, ST and Blizzcon). After that it's pretty much up to how you rank the level of these wins.

I will say Dark was overall more dominant in his tournament run 19-4 in GSL, 13-2 in ST and 10-1 in the last day of Blizzcon although the group stage was a bit shaky, while Serral only really was untouchable at WCS fall (17-1), but Dark had a couple of bad loss (Elazer and Rogue)
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27467 Posts
January 27 2020 16:08 GMT
#38
Damnit a list I can’t really argue with at all, curses!

Dark shaded it over Serral for me, I’d still argue Serral might shade him as being the better player of Starcraft but Dark’s year was a little better for me. There’s a pretty cavernous gap going to number 3 though, whoever one would put in there.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
TL+ Member
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany7435 Posts
January 27 2020 16:34 GMT
#39
On January 28 2020 01:08 Wombat_NI wrote:
Damnit a list I can’t really argue with at all, curses!

Dark shaded it over Serral for me, I’d still argue Serral might shade him as being the better player of Starcraft but Dark’s year was a little better for me. There’s a pretty cavernous gap going to number 3 though, whoever one would put in there.


Reynor, Classic, Trap, Maru, Rogue, soO in no particular order


I'm hoping for 2021 it will become easier to determine who had the best year since we might not have region lock anymore
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Kitai
Profile Joined June 2012
United States886 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-01-27 16:38:01
January 27 2020 16:37 GMT
#40
We're 2 pages in and so far only one person had a meltdown about one award. Could this be the least controversial yearly awards yet?!

Good work!
"You know, I don't care if soO got 100 second places in a row. Anyone who doesn't think that he's going to win blizzcon watching this series is a fool" - Artosis, Blizzcon 2014 soO vs TaeJa
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