• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 12:37
CEST 18:37
KST 01:37
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202528RSL Season 1 - Final Week8[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16
Community News
Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed19Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll8Team TLMC #5 - Submission re-extension4Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17
StarCraft 2
General
Power Rank - Esports World Cup 2025 RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster Why doesnt SC2 scene costream tournaments Heaven's Balance Suggestions (roast me)
Tourneys
Esports World Cup 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame
Brood War
General
Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Corsair Pursuit Micro? Pro gamer house photos
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL 2v2] ProLeague Season 3 - Friday 21:00 CET The Casual Games of the Week Thread BWCL Season 63 Announcement
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok) Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1070 users

What are/were SC2's best and worst years?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
Morbidius
Profile Joined November 2010
Brazil3449 Posts
May 12 2020 10:39 GMT
#1
Artosis loves them all, but i wanna know what you think?
High points for me would be 2013(excellent and unsurpassed WCS format,), 2015(The peak of Korean SC2, with multiple leagues and proleague). Low points for me are 2012 and 2019, due to unbearable metas where non ZvZ games seeming like a foregone conclusion.
Has foreign StarCraft hit rock bottom?
starkiller123
Profile Joined January 2016
United States4030 Posts
May 12 2020 10:49 GMT
#2
Yeah I largely agree, especially with 2015 being an awesome year. I think 2016 was actually a pretty bad year for sc2 and yeah 2019 was quite boring unfortunately
Harris1st
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Germany6920 Posts
May 12 2020 10:58 GMT
#3
Tankivac was horrible
BL/ Infestor was horrible
SH/ Nydus was horrible

Most memorable in recent times was 2018 and the rise of foreign Starcraft (aka Serral) and Maru 4 x GSL
I didn't really follow 2016 & 2017 and don't recall anything from before that.

Maybe some Memes like Idra GG, Lilbow practising the wrong game
Go Serral! GG EZ for Ence. Flashbang dance FTW
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
May 12 2020 11:00 GMT
#4
2015 was just the best. Maru, Life, and herO were the number 1 players of their races while also being the most entertaining to watch. The big name players from previous years like Zest, INno, and sOs were still up there and all winning championships as well, while the next set of elite players like Dark, Stats, and TY had starting going deep in tournaments and becoming contenders

That combined with having GSL+SSL+proleague, the year is untouchable as far as esports goes.

Worst years? 2012 and 2019. It's just impossible to enjoy ZvZCraft that much. 2016 was really bad for SC2 as well but people overlook it because they loved ByuN so much (even though part of his success should really be accredited to the korean scene completely collapsing for every player apart from him).
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
WaesumNinja
Profile Joined February 2012
210 Posts
May 12 2020 11:34 GMT
#5
I stand firm that the best glory days of Sc2 was the beta and the period right after release.

People gathered from all over to try it out. You could challenge anyone who'd call themselves a gamer for a match, because everyone had it even if they weren't really rts people.

There were lots of crazy ideas and strategies coming up all the time. There was almost infinite content around sc2 be it tryharders or people being cheeky. I think the WoL campaign was the strongest campaign for sure as well.


The game stagnated after that, and it's hard to find one single point that's "the worst". It's had its ups and downs, but none of the ups match the early days. The community was much much stronger back then. Just read through on teamliquid, there were almost infinite content with strategy, balance whine, funny QQs, etc. and the pros would participate in discussions too on a regular basis. Blizz didn't destroy the game, the community moved on.
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12129 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 11:49:11
May 12 2020 11:48 GMT
#6
Good years defined by the player I liked the most
Mvp(2011?), Stephano, Hero(2012), Jaedong vs 2nd places, sOs surprise(2013?), 2014/2015 for ALL OF THEM, Maru(2018)

Bad years:
2016, 2019(Blizzard again reacting way too slowly)

Meh years:
2017

Bad eras: the end of WoL with BL infestor & turtle swarmhosts.

Edit> thinking about it, i defined 3 bad eras based on a zerg dominance and I am not alone, I wonder why
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Aunvilgodess
Profile Joined May 2016
954 Posts
May 12 2020 12:11 GMT
#7
2011, LotV release onwards. 2011 because it was the new hotness, LotV release onwards because it finally killed P 2 base all-in overpoweredness.
runn3r5uk
Profile Joined April 2018
13 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 13:27:20
May 12 2020 13:24 GMT
#8
i dont think any of its bad, the game evolves. Some patches shift the play so much so it feels fresh and a brand new game. Theres no other game like it, so saying the best and the worst for me isnt right.

You could argue the SH era was bad, but really? It wasnt THAT many times we really saw it, most of the idea will be driven by a couple of people where everyone gets their conent. if artosis started going on a rant on how SH were bad, well thats it, 90% just talk how bad SH are, where that guy at the back who realises this is the eb and flow of the game, practices the style, sees why its that way and the game goes on. guess what, next patch this is changed and then the moaning starts else where.

For me at least sc went down hill when idra stopped playing. Why? He was my favourite player. I tuned in every mid week / friday to see if there was anything going on, team game, solo game, competition, was he in it . . .Yes, brilliant. loved it. When he retired something changed for me, i was no longer tuning in as much. then i found polt, and as a zerg player there was just something about the way he spoke about the game and played it, i got back into it. Then, military. My distancing started again. Hes back now but its not the same.

If you want a more definitifve answer - for me 2010 - 2012 were its best years, 2013 - 2016 were ok but some of the best games weve seen have been in the past 3 years. im excited again for Serral but hes not quite that hero/villain you are cheering for to win for me, but i do get a bit of enthusiasm when i see him on the roster.

Thanks for this though, one things for sure, ive had a bit of issues with tl over late just banning and suspending accounts for people just saying what they think, who cares if people want to say something idiotic, do real people actually care. well i guess they do clearly.

The worst era of sc will be the day i feel i have to take tl.net off has my startup homerpage becuase we cant just express and have a laugh any more and stupid inane comments which i miss.

Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4906 Posts
May 12 2020 13:27 GMT
#9
On May 12 2020 20:00 Fango wrote:
2015 was just the best. Maru, Life, and herO were the number 1 players of their races while also being the most entertaining to watch. The big name players from previous years like Zest, INno, and sOs were still up there and all winning championships as well, while the next set of elite players like Dark, Stats, and TY had starting going deep in tournaments and becoming contenders

That combined with having GSL+SSL+proleague, the year is untouchable as far as esports goes.

Worst years? 2012 and 2019. It's just impossible to enjoy ZvZCraft that much. 2016 was really bad for SC2 as well but people overlook it because they loved ByuN so much (even though part of his success should really be accredited to the korean scene completely collapsing for every player apart from him).



I suscribe every bit of this post with my whole heart. I just dont know what else to add.
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
digmouse
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
China6329 Posts
May 12 2020 13:29 GMT
#10
2011 (peak of the games popularity), 2015 (best Korean year), 2018 (hypest KR vs Serral storyline).

Worst is probably either 2012 (end of WoL meta is just terrible) or 2019 (Blizzard gave no fucks about the game and rapid decline in Korea).
TranslatorIf you want to ask anything about Chinese esports, send me a PM or follow me @nerddigmouse.
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1652 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 13:54:21
May 12 2020 13:40 GMT
#11
i really liked 2013 when we had kespa vs esf. 100s of koreans grinding 12 hours a day in teamhouses. when players lost they often broke down in tears. same with when they won. that is because the game meant everything to them. This was peak competitiveness for sc2. getting into GSL as a foreigner was almost unheard of, let alone winning any games in it. Nowadays there arent even enough koreans playing for a ro32 and foreigners make it in every season. The tournament loses its prestige a bit imo. Also SC1 is now more popular than SC2 in korea. sc2 cant even be found on pcbang rankings. That's not to say SC2 as a game is in a bad spot. SC2 requires more skill to play than it ever has. The game is at its fastest pace as well, but we simply don't have the most competitive region devoting their lives to the game anymore except for a hand full of top pros. instead, the next generation of players are all playing League of Legends. That is where you will find your next flash. actually, we already found him. this generations flash is faker, and soon we will see the next generation of god player. Unfortunately, it wont be in StarCraft.
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
Xain0n
Profile Joined November 2018
Italy3963 Posts
May 12 2020 14:19 GMT
#12
I agree with Digmouse on the best years. I also have to add that 2016 was a very good year for foreign sc2 and 2012 shouldn't be entirely disregarded due to BL Infestor, it was Sc2's biggest year.

I would say that 2014 and 2013 are the years I enjoyed the least(to the point I quit following) and 2019 was kind of disappointing, too.
Chris_Havoc
Profile Joined August 2016
United States600 Posts
May 12 2020 16:27 GMT
#13
I'm going to say 2013 was the worst on the basis of all the player retirements that year, especially in the Korean & EU regions.

As for the best, my favorite SC2 year was 2014 but the best year overall was probably IMHO 2011.
Owner of the SC2 Esports Anthology channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SC2EsportsAnthology
starkiller123
Profile Joined January 2016
United States4030 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 17:25:13
May 12 2020 17:18 GMT
#14
On May 12 2020 20:48 deacon.frost wrote:
Good years defined by the player I liked the most
Mvp(2011?), Stephano, Hero(2012), Jaedong vs 2nd places, sOs surprise(2013?), 2014/2015 for ALL OF THEM, Maru(2018)

Bad years:
2016, 2019(Blizzard again reacting way too slowly)

Meh years:
2017

Bad eras: the end of WoL with BL infestor & turtle swarmhosts.

Edit> thinking about it, i defined 3 bad eras based on a zerg dominance and I am not alone, I wonder why

2017 was nice cause INno and TY won but overall it was kinda meh I agree

And for sure the highlight of 2019 was soO winning Katowice, such a long time coming
LHK
Profile Joined May 2015
204 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 17:50:25
May 12 2020 17:28 GMT
#15
The early days were the best to me (Beta - 2011/2012 or so). The games were objectively worse than now but for the time, everyone was grinding so hard and trying to one up each other and EVERYONE talked about starcraft. While the best players in the world would be considered a scrub now, that was the ceiling at the time and everyone was trying to dethrone the other. That level of competitiveness, not knowing if someone was about to have a breakout day in GSL, was what made SC2 so exciting to me. Seeing a no-name walk the royal road, or even just seeing a player you'd never heard of take games off of a great player, was something special.

Now, the pro scene is so small and it's always the same names and for whatever reason (there are many reasons for this) new blood just doesn't break through. I love the quality of games we have now, but it's missing that competitive structure it once had with tons of people looking for blood in the water. (Still love the modern era of course)

Worst era to me would be the blink era of PvT in 2014. BL/INF sucked, Swarm hosts sucked, but the Blink Era was straight up broken and had to be patched. Second runner up is the extreme end of HOTS where Mech was unbeatable by zerg (Anyone remember Flash's Turrets-Per-Minute on Iron Fortress vs Curious? Or Innovations mech on Terraform?)

All that said, SC2 even at its lowest points is better than other games at their best to me.
-Laura
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33366 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-12 17:32:20
May 12 2020 17:30 GMT
#16
Regardless of the state of the gameplay, I'll always be fond of 2012 because of how big the esports scene was. 2011 might have been the peak year for popularity, but 2012 was when we had the flood of tournaments trying to cash in on that popularity. So many big tournaments, so many people coming to attend and cheer at those tournaments....

too bad that momentary high led to years of "daedgame" disease in the community that took years to get rid of
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
tehemperorer
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2183 Posts
May 12 2020 17:42 GMT
#17
I like them all, I'm getting back into it like I was in beta and at release. Best times I ever had were back then so I'd naturally propose those years as the best years. I was also younger then and humans tend to look back with fondness and forward with anxiety so my opinion is probably skewed.
Knowing is half the battle... the other half is lasers.
BabelFish1
Profile Joined September 2015
186 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-14 01:36:36
May 14 2020 01:36 GMT
#18
2011, 2012 was the best by far. End of WoL was criminally bad, HotS was generally bad due to turtle raven and swarm hosts and early LotV was bad. Then the new balance team (the one who wasn't cursed with David Kim, the herald of doom for sc2) took over and we had about a year of really good changes.

Finally 2019 was a disaster. It's like Blizzard doesn't care anymore and 2020 isn't looking much better.
argonautdice
Profile Joined January 2013
Canada2718 Posts
May 14 2020 02:28 GMT
#19
On May 12 2020 20:48 deacon.frost wrote:
Good years defined by the player I liked the most
Mvp(2011?), Stephano, Hero(2012), Jaedong vs 2nd places, sOs surprise(2013?), 2014/2015 for ALL OF THEM, Maru(2018)

Bad years:
2016, 2019(Blizzard again reacting way too slowly)

Meh years:
2017

Bad eras: the end of WoL with BL infestor & turtle swarmhosts.

Edit> thinking about it, i defined 3 bad eras based on a zerg dominance and I am not alone, I wonder why

It's because SC2 is one of the few games where the bad guys win all the time
very illegal and very uncool
a7xEnsiferum
Profile Joined March 2020
7 Posts
May 14 2020 03:49 GMT
#20
Im too lazy to look it up, but the year my favorite team KT won PL vs SKT, with 2 of my favorite players FlaSh and TY (with a marvelously positioned 2 rax) getting clutch wins for them was my favorite. Proleague was amazing.

I spent thousands of hours on sc2 and reached #1 master NA, but when PL died, and the racist WCS rules came in, my passion died and I quit the game. So I cant comment on the recent LotV years.

Maybe my personal worst was when nobodys (sniper, roro) won because winfestors BL era.
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Esports World Cup
10:00
2025 - Day 1
herO vs Lancer
Cure vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs RogueLIVE!
Serral vs HeRoMaRinELIVE!
EWC_Arena6958
EWC_Arena_22126
ComeBackTV 2101
TaKeTV 673
Hui .460
3DClanTV 363
Fuzer 292
Rex241
Berry_CruncH213
CranKy Ducklings208
EnkiAlexander 191
UpATreeSC190
mcanning178
Reynor174
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
EWC_Arena6958
EWC_Arena_22126
Hui .460
Fuzer 292
Rex 241
UpATreeSC 190
mcanning 178
Reynor 174
StarCraft: Brood War
Barracks 1531
Bisu 1317
EffOrt 1029
Mini 684
Stork 449
Larva 350
Trikslyr78
Movie 47
PianO 40
Sharp 39
[ Show more ]
Aegong 39
soO 37
Yoon 19
scan(afreeca) 13
Terrorterran 13
JulyZerg 10
ivOry 4
Counter-Strike
fl0m1422
byalli229
oskar199
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor218
XaKoH 110
Other Games
singsing2243
ceh9614
syndereN191
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 6
• FirePhoenix4
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis4579
• TFBlade853
Other Games
• Shiphtur318
Upcoming Events
Esports World Cup
17h 24m
Esports World Cup
1d 17h
Esports World Cup
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
CSO Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
FEL
4 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
5 days
Bonyth vs Zhanhun
Dewalt vs Mihu
Hawk vs Sziky
Sziky vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs Hawk
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs Bonyth
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Xiamen Invitational
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
CC Div. A S7
Underdog Cup #2
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25

Upcoming

CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
HCC Europe
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.