More so than the other two races this is more a case of being amongst the greatest as there’s both not one outstanding candidate but rather a lot of good ones.
Rain maybe if he’d stayed and stayed in shape could have been the one, possibly. Legacy as a game really neutered sOs’ particular strengths so he dropped off a fair bit.
If not already then certainly if he continues in anything like his form of the last two years then Trap has earned his spot amongst the pantheon.
1. Zest 2. sOs 3. Stats 4. Rain 5. MC 6. Classic 7. Trap 8. Parting 9. herO 10. Dear
Rain would have been the best by quite a big margin if he played LOTV I am pretty sure about that. He was the one who defined the macro play of Protoss and his defense, strategy and control was second to none.
I think it all comes down to how you value golds/silvers, deep runs, performance in the biggest events, consistency, length of period at/near the top, contribution to teams and 'aura of formidability.'
Given the current status of players on this list, Trap seems the most likely to add to his legacy, especially with the number of wins he has racked up over the past half year.
Going by my eye test, I'd say Rain was the best Protoss that has ever played, in terms of raw skill and mechanics. He was always dangerous, and could play both aggressive and defensive styles very well. Problem is, his SC2 career was too short and he didnt play in LoTV which is in my opinion the best designed version of the game (well after the update that removed the MSC anyway) so it's hard to really give him the best of all time honor.
So going by results, eye test, and someone who's had success in LoTV. I'm going to have to go with Zest. He's been the most innovative Protoss player for years, always pushing the meta. He's also tied for having the most Code S titles of any Protoss player with MC who I don't count because he won all of his in early WoL, so Zest's titles are a lot more impressive.
I'd say there ain't a best protoss, but probably the best pair of protoss: stats and zest. Ever since kespa teams disbanded, zest invented so many openers and stats refined them to details so much. Almost 80% of the common protoss openers in past 5 years are crafts of their hand.
On June 22 2021 07:04 AzAlexZ wrote: It's hard to pick, the style of Protoss makes it so that they have a lot of great players, compared to the few candidates for Zerg and Terran (who admittedly have higher ceilings).
For me at least, I have to split them into 3 types: Definers, Jack of All Trades, and Polishers. Definers: defined a style of Protoss that went on for as long as the game has; Jack of All Trades: good at everything, but never the best at any point in time; Polishers: took the mantle or improved upon the groundwork laid by the Definers.
The Definers: MC: the one who defined the aggressive style of Protoss; Rain: the one who defined the defensive style of Protoss; sOs: the one who defined the strategical adaptability of Protoss.
The Jack of All Trades: herO: great mind games, superb offense, defense not so great. Classic: decent at mind games, good defense, and great offense. Trap: look no further than Tastosis commentary, they literally call him the Jack of All trades Protoss
The Polishers: PartinG: the guy who built upon MC's aggression with his 'soul' Zest: the guy who refined Rain's playstyle while adding his own risk factor. Stats: the guy that took up Rain's Mantle after Rain retired.
Honorable mention to Neeb as the one who changed LOTV PvP
Really? Zest is 100% a definer. Who do you think started the current pvz void opener meta, which is just the most recent time Zest pushed the meta.
On June 22 2021 07:04 AzAlexZ wrote: It's hard to pick, the style of Protoss makes it so that they have a lot of great players, compared to the few candidates for Zerg and Terran (who admittedly have higher ceilings).
For me at least, I have to split them into 3 types: Definers, Jack of All Trades, and Polishers. Definers: defined a style of Protoss that went on for as long as the game has; Jack of All Trades: good at everything, but never the best at any point in time; Polishers: took the mantle or improved upon the groundwork laid by the Definers.
The Definers: MC: the one who defined the aggressive style of Protoss; Rain: the one who defined the defensive style of Protoss; sOs: the one who defined the strategical adaptability of Protoss.
The Jack of All Trades: herO: great mind games, superb offense, defense not so great. Classic: decent at mind games, good defense, and great offense. Trap: look no further than Tastosis commentary, they literally call him the Jack of All trades Protoss
The Polishers: PartinG: the guy who built upon MC's aggression with his 'soul' Zest: the guy who refined Rain's playstyle while adding his own risk factor. Stats: the guy that took up Rain's Mantle after Rain retired.
Honorable mention to Neeb as the one who changed LOTV PvP
Really? Zest is 100% a definer. Who do you think started the current pvz void opener meta, which is just the most recent time Zest pushed the meta.
Yep seems like the consensus puts Zest as one of the pioneers.
If u look at the span of who's been at the top for the longest time then it has to be Stats or Zest. You can make a case for Rain or MC if they haven't retired
Rain towards the peak of his career (early hots) was probably one of the highest peaking P's we've seen in a while. We've seen people with good winrates, crazy strats, but nobody like Rain who could play every game the exact same for the first 5-10 minutes, take zero risks, end up behind, and still win just because he was that favored in a macro game. Blind cannons, late thirds, metronomic timings, everything that screamed to be sniped but still worked b/c he was just that good.
It was a different era, and it would be hard to be able to play like that today (2018 Serral comes to mind), but I think it's worth mentioning.
On June 22 2021 07:04 AzAlexZ wrote: It's hard to pick, the style of Protoss makes it so that they have a lot of great players, compared to the few candidates for Zerg and Terran (who admittedly have higher ceilings).
For me at least, I have to split them into 3 types: Definers, Jack of All Trades, and Polishers. Definers: defined a style of Protoss that went on for as long as the game has; Jack of All Trades: good at everything, but never the best at any point in time; Polishers: took the mantle or improved upon the groundwork laid by the Definers.
The Definers: MC: the one who defined the aggressive style of Protoss; Rain: the one who defined the defensive style of Protoss; sOs: the one who defined the strategical adaptability of Protoss.
The Jack of All Trades: herO: great mind games, superb offense, defense not so great. Classic: decent at mind games, good defense, and great offense. Trap: look no further than Tastosis commentary, they literally call him the Jack of All trades Protoss
The Polishers: PartinG: the guy who built upon MC's aggression with his 'soul' Zest: the guy who refined Rain's playstyle while adding his own risk factor. Stats: the guy that took up Rain's Mantle after Rain retired.
Honorable mention to Neeb as the one who changed LOTV PvP
Really? Zest is 100% a definer. Who do you think started the current pvz void opener meta, which is just the most recent time Zest pushed the meta.
You have completely misunderstood what I mean by a Definer. Sure Zest maybe someone who devised a new meta opener, but that will go away someday with patch changes. But Rain was the first person to start a completely new (defensive) playstyle that was unseen before he came along, that is still going on to this day, across 3 different SC2 game versions. Zest jump-started one 'slightly Innovative' meta opener in LOTV that existed in WoL well before Zest was playing SC2, whereas Rain defined an entire playstyle from head to toe by himself. so yeah you're kinda wrong
On June 23 2021 00:16 FuRong wrote: For what it's worth, these are the stats from the Premier finals/victories thread. I'm just posting to add to the discussion, not to prove any point.
I think it all comes down to how you value golds/silvers, deep runs, performance in the biggest events, consistency, length of period at/near the top, contribution to teams and 'aura of formidability.'
Given the current status of players on this list, Trap seems the most likely to add to his legacy, especially with the number of wins he has racked up over the past half year.
Neeb has 4 if you don't count NA only KeSPA and 3 WCS titles from 2017
On July 02 2021 11:56 yubo56 wrote: Rain towards the peak of his career (early hots) was probably one of the highest peaking P's we've seen in a while. We've seen people with good winrates, crazy strats, but nobody like Rain who could play every game the exact same for the first 5-10 minutes, take zero risks, end up behind, and still win just because he was that favored in a macro game. Blind cannons, late thirds, metronomic timings, everything that screamed to be sniped but still worked b/c he was just that good.
It was a different era, and it would be hard to be able to play like that today (2018 Serral comes to mind), but I think it's worth mentioning.
OTOH it's not like he's bad at BW either which makes you think he would a force to be reckon with. But he chose BW when he recovered.
Edit> For me he's the only player who doesn't need them results. Probably the strongest Protoss we've ever seen.
For me it's Zest. The dude did quite well in PL. And there aren't much protoss who won 2 gsl and got to 1 final in past wol time. None did 3 finals of katowice winning 1. At his best in 2014 and 2016, he looked really dominating, he was seen as a fucking juggernaud especially in pvp/z while recently he is amazing, overshadowed by Trap ofc but he is still performing really well. None has his longetivity at the top either despite high and low, he always remained a top 5 of his race able to defeat anybody. The large number of small tournaments he won shows he was a bit more regular than some could imagine.
Considering his influence of the meta who is imo greater than any other toss in the past 5 years, he is definetely an innovator and a big one. While Trap's runs are impressive and I consider his wins as Premier tournament, they still lack a bit of prestige imo (no kato, no regular season gsl win basically).
To sum up : for the caliber of his wins, his longevity and his strong influence on the meta, Zest is the protoss goat, by a large margin imo.