Search reveals someone has done this before, but it was over 12 years ago, so I think we're okay to refresh the idea. I deliberately want to explain this as little as possible, but I will say my mountains are subjective -- what's the fun of just going by the money list or assigning each tournament a point value?
Terran:
Maru:
A no-brainer. I'll try to say something that hasn't been said about him before and call him the LeBron James of SC2. He's gone from being famous for his youth to being famous for his longevity, and he's shown the ability to excel in just about every facet of the game. Micro god, king of proxy rushes, late-game master, taking a straight-up build and winning with multitasking, throwing creative stuff at his opponents, he's done it all -- except win a world championship, of course.
Innovation:
The machine, the reflection of perfection. My favorite player ever to watch -- if his early widow mine or hellion got enough to put his opponent down even the slightest bit, the follow-up timing push to win the game was as beautiful as it was inevitable.
TY:
Another guy with insane longevity after starting as a child, and probably the top thought leader among all terrans historically. Winning a GSL while doing double-duty as a broadcaster was remarkable.
MVP:
There are a lot of directions to go with this last slot, and no one pick is all that more legitimate than another. Clem's a great pick -- he's already only to Maru among Terran for money won, and he's probably playing the race as well as anyone's ever played it. If SC2 keeps going, he'll almost certainly be, at the very least, somewhere on here. But MVP was SC2's first consensus best player, and his dominance relative to his peers and his elevation of the game in its early stages shouldn't be forgotten.
He's really good at the game. Defensive mastery and total understanding of the race, watching him dismantle a top pro without feeling the need to bring his main army off creep is just gorgeous to watch.
Rogue:
The most cerebral zerg of all time, able to take games with clever all-ins or in the lategame, his ability to plan out a Bo5/Bo7 was stuff of legend. Playing him really was akin to playing a "Roguelike" -- even if you vaguely knew what was going to happen, there was no way to prepare for how things would change from game to game. Oh, and there was an extremely high chance you would die.
Dark:
From the SKT version that would macro opponents into submission while turning the map purple to the version that could hang on and come back from positions no other zerg could, to the version pummeling opponents with off-kilter timings and hoards of roaches, Dark has always been at or near the top, and he's still doing it to this day.
soO:
Brutal last choice between Reynor, soO, and NesTea. soO played in the toughest era and his run of GSL Finals might be the most impressive thing ever accomplished in SC2 until Maru and Serral started doing ridiculous things well after the end of Kespa. Picking NesTea would have kept things consistent with the early MVP pick, but that era was just so much weaker than the one SC2's tragic hero played in. Reynor has been fantastic, and his hyper-fast style of play fills a lot of the void that [REDACTED] left behind with his untimely exit with the game, but I'll give the nod to the guy who made his heartbreaking mark on the game when it was at its peak.
For better or for worse, Protoss in SC2 has been about setting a new meta and making opponents play a game they don't want to instead of taking an established playstyle and mastering it. Nobody was better at doing that than Zest. He'd come up with a new playstyle that exposed his opponent's weakness in the current meta, master it, then do it all over again when his previous exploit had been figured out.
sOs:
Your favorite player's favorite player to watch, and their least favorite one to play against. No player of any race has expressed creativity as well as sOs did. Sometimes it felt like he wasn't even being exploitative with his creative plays -- he just found something cool you could do in the game, and he wanted to show it to everybody. And it's not like all he was doing was having cool games -- only Zest has won more money among Protoss. Zest was the best at using the increased possibilities of Protoss to punish opponents in the most efficient way possible, but sOs used the race to push the boundaries of Starcraft in a way they'll probably never be pushed again at the highest level.
Rain:
He's only 14th among Protoss on the money list, but when Rain was in his prime he reached heights nobody else ever has with Protoss. He showed that a defensive, macro protoss could compete and even dominate. Everyone has their hot takes, and mine is that the history of top-level Protoss in SC2 would be fundamentally different if Rain hadn't gone back to Brood War. He was that good.
MC:
SCREW YOU ALL I'M PICKING THE BOSS TOSS. Have herO, Stats, and Classic all won more money than him, while competing over a much longer period? Yes. Have they shown more all-around ability with the race, showing the ability to win in drawn-out macro games? Yes. Heck, did PartinG play MC's MOBA-Toss style a bit better than he did? Probably. But were any of those players the Boss Toss? No. MC was the dominant Protoss force in the early years of SC2, was a key thought leader for things like force field usage, and his flawless micro and brutal timings defined the race for years and years to come.
On January 05 2025 23:21 ejozl wrote: dude, Rain was not even the best Protoss during HotS, which lasted only 3 years in a game that's been out for almost 15 years at this point.
He was tied with Classic and Maru for the most Code S/SSL/OSL wins during Heart of the Swarm (two) and was the only player to reach three KIL finals, while having the second highest game win rate in KIL (he won 61.3% of games, INnoVation won 62.4%) and the highest match win rate by a super large margin (71.8% match win rate with the closest competitor being Maru all the way down at 66.8%) in Code S/SSL/OSL. He was also a monster in Proleague, especially against Terran (15-3) and was the first KeSPA player to post consistently excellent results (this is backed by statistics, it is not hyperbolic). It's perfectly reasonable to say he has a very legitimate case for best Hots Protoss.
I tend to favor players who really innovated during their time. When you look back at the history of the game, it seems like Terrans didn't know how to macro until Innovation came along. It seems like Byun taught terrans how to micro. Life was the first zerg to really understand setting up ling run bys which became the bread and butter of zerg ever since. As far as winning goes, there are better picks than some of mine, but I feel like players like life and byun changed the way the game was played more than the more successful players. But then a player like serral, who I don't know if he has ever been called "innovative," who are just so overwhelmingly successful that you can't deny him from the list.
On January 06 2025 04:14 zelevin wrote: Terran: Maru, Innovation, Mvp, Byun Zerg: Rogue, Serral, Life, Dark Protoss: Zest, Parting, sos, herO
I tend to favor players who really innovated during their time. When you look back at the history of the game, it seems like Terrans didn't know how to macro until Innovation came along. It seems like Byun taught terrans how to micro. Life was the first zerg to really understand setting up ling run bys which became the bread and butter of zerg ever since. As far as winning goes, there are better picks than some of mine, but I feel like players like life and byun changed the way the game was played more than the more successful players. But then a player like serral, who I don't know if he has ever been called "innovative," who are just so overwhelmingly successful that you can't deny him from the list.
It's crazy that you fit two patchterrans among your best three players.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
Mvp got all his achievements before the best players started playing (kespa). I don't know how anyone has him on there :/
He was good! But he was good in the way MC was good. The way Sniper was good. Good for wings but ehhhhhh. Most people overstate the level of his accomplishments. If u look back at the original GSL seasons it looks like many players had never played an RTS at a high level before and just had the few month(s) experience with SC2. Beating those guys and a handful of C/B teamers who retired from kespa teams and played SC2 early is not as much of an accomplishment as innovations kespa era domination for example.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Stats made the finals of a KIL or WC eight times and won twice. Parting made one such final and lost.
Stats also had a higher peak, a higher win rate in KIL and he was better in a Proleague.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
Polt. Not convinced? Check his liquipedia again. Or you can also put Taeja.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
Polt. Not convinced? Check his liquipedia again. Or you can also put Taeja.
Taeja was who first came to mind, but Polt is another good pick.
TY is a good pick also, I can make an argument for him as well. So that's why I said I wasn't sure about it.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Easy to forget since Trap won exactly 1 MLG before 2020 and nothing else. Before 2020 he was totally irrelevant as a player, barely managing to qualify for Code S and when he did hardly ever doing anything in it.
Parting was a Top tier Protoss player from like 2011 all the way to when he left to the military. He actually won a WCS World Championship in 2012 which is a bigger title than anything Trap ever won.
That's why he's more remembered as a more iconic pro. The fact you have to go digging up Trap's proleague record which hardly anyone cares about for SC2 to try and make Trap's case isn't helping him.
Trap's success is very recent and it's consistent with the narrative that he's only been good when all of the other top tier Korean Protoss talent retired or left to the military. He might have some good career stats, but he has very little in terms of legacy and legacy is what you want to have to be on Mt. Rushmore. The other 3 Protoss on Wax's list have LOADS of legacy in SC2.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Easy to forget since Trap won exactly 1 MLG before 2020 and nothing else. Before 2020 he was totally irrelevant as a player, barely managing to qualify for Code S and when he did hardly ever doing anything in it.
Parting was a Top tier Protoss player from like 2011 all the way to when he left to the military. He actually won a WCS World Championship in 2012 which is a bigger title than anything Trap ever won.
That's why he's more remembered as a more iconic pro. The fact you have to go digging up Trap's proleague record which hardly anyone cares about for SC2 to try and make Trap's case isn't helping him.
Trap's success is very recent and it's consistent with the narrative that he's only been good when all of the other top tier Korean Protoss talent retired or left to the military. He might have some good career stats, but he has very little in terms of legacy and legacy is what you want to have to be on Mt. Rushmore. The other 3 Protoss on Wax's list have LOADS of legacy in SC2.
Are you okay? You said Stats in your original post and you were responding to a post about stats. No one mentioned Trap. Did you even read what you wrote?
Also you seem to forget that trap got second at the 2014 iem WC and was actually a better proleague player than parting as well.
I would recommend either seeing a doctor, reading your posts before posting or using liquipedia as a reference before posting.
T: TaeJa, Maru, INno, TY Z: Serral, Rogue, Life... hard to pick a 4th, but thinking Dark or Stephano P: Zest, Classic, Stats, Rain (honorable mention to MC for all the excitement he brought to WoL)
I've heard "mount Rushmore" debates in the prowrestling scene, and the question is often interpreted in terms of influence or how someone pushed the envelope in 1 particular way. It's not necessarily about who won the most titles or who drew the most money. (For example, here is how the undertaker answers the question )
Looking at it from that perspective, it's easier to understand someone putting Parting over a player like stats. Parting brought stylistic flair and personality to the game and pushed the envelope with micro.
Also, understanding the question that way makes an argument for early players like nestea, MVP, mkp, MMA, etc... because they had a huge effect and influence on the scene. Like how I said Terran micro has a definite "before 2016 byun and after 2016 byun."
Putting this out there so that it's understood that "mount Rushmore" doesn't have to be another GOAT debate.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Easy to forget since Trap won exactly 1 MLG before 2020 and nothing else. Before 2020 he was totally irrelevant as a player, barely managing to qualify for Code S and when he did hardly ever doing anything in it.
Parting was a Top tier Protoss player from like 2011 all the way to when he left to the military. He actually won a WCS World Championship in 2012 which is a bigger title than anything Trap ever won.
That's why he's more remembered as a more iconic pro. The fact you have to go digging up Trap's proleague record which hardly anyone cares about for SC2 to try and make Trap's case isn't helping him.
Trap's success is very recent and it's consistent with the narrative that he's only been good when all of the other top tier Korean Protoss talent retired or left to the military. He might have some good career stats, but he has very little in terms of legacy and legacy is what you want to have to be on Mt. Rushmore. The other 3 Protoss on Wax's list have LOADS of legacy in SC2.
Are you okay? You said Stats in your original post and you were responding to a post about stats. No one mentioned Trap. Did you even read what you wrote?
Also you seem to forget that trap got second at the 2014 iem WC and was actually a better proleague player than parting as well.
I would recommend either seeing a doctor, reading your posts before posting or using liquipedia as a reference before posting.
You know what, I got completely turned around on the argument here. I read Stats. wrote Stats and somehow got it in my head that you were arguing for Trap.
I don't know. Shouldn't post when tired I guess. Stats is a much better 4th place than Trap is on Mt. Rushmore for Protoss.
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Easy to forget since Trap won exactly 1 MLG before 2020 and nothing else. Before 2020 he was totally irrelevant as a player, barely managing to qualify for Code S and when he did hardly ever doing anything in it.
Parting was a Top tier Protoss player from like 2011 all the way to when he left to the military. He actually won a WCS World Championship in 2012 which is a bigger title than anything Trap ever won.
That's why he's more remembered as a more iconic pro. The fact you have to go digging up Trap's proleague record which hardly anyone cares about for SC2 to try and make Trap's case isn't helping him.
Trap's success is very recent and it's consistent with the narrative that he's only been good when all of the other top tier Korean Protoss talent retired or left to the military. He might have some good career stats, but he has very little in terms of legacy and legacy is what you want to have to be on Mt. Rushmore. The other 3 Protoss on Wax's list have LOADS of legacy in SC2.
Are you okay? You said Stats in your original post and you were responding to a post about stats. No one mentioned Trap. Did you even read what you wrote?
Also you seem to forget that trap got second at the 2014 iem WC and was actually a better proleague player than parting as well.
I would recommend either seeing a doctor, reading your posts before posting or using liquipedia as a reference before posting.
You know what, I got completely turned around on the argument here. I read Stats. wrote Stats and somehow got it in my head that you were arguing for Trap.
I don't know. Shouldn't post when tired I guess. Stats is a much better 4th place than Trap is on Mt. Rushmore for Protoss.
On January 06 2025 13:50 Waxangel wrote: Similar to all the GOAT debate threads, I'm mad that the SC2 fandom doesn't have sufficient respect for old school players
Terran: MVP, Polt, MMA, Taeja Protoss: MC, PartinG, Squirtle, NaNiwa Zerg: Fruitdealer, Nestea, LosirA (maybe this should be Leenock), Stephano
On January 04 2025 22:36 Waxangel wrote: Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
I'm hesitant to give that final spot on the Terran mountain to TY, but I'm struggling to decide who I'd want on there instead.
Otherwise I agree with this list.
EDIT: Put Parting as the 4th Protoss over Stats. He had a longer and more successful career. Was a much more popular player in his peak as well.
You do realize Stats both played longer and collected more accolades then parting, right? That's not opinion, it's fact
Easy to forget since Trap won exactly 1 MLG before 2020 and nothing else. Before 2020 he was totally irrelevant as a player, barely managing to qualify for Code S and when he did hardly ever doing anything in it.
Parting was a Top tier Protoss player from like 2011 all the way to when he left to the military. He actually won a WCS World Championship in 2012 which is a bigger title than anything Trap ever won.
That's why he's more remembered as a more iconic pro. The fact you have to go digging up Trap's proleague record which hardly anyone cares about for SC2 to try and make Trap's case isn't helping him.
Trap's success is very recent and it's consistent with the narrative that he's only been good when all of the other top tier Korean Protoss talent retired or left to the military. He might have some good career stats, but he has very little in terms of legacy and legacy is what you want to have to be on Mt. Rushmore. The other 3 Protoss on Wax's list have LOADS of legacy in SC2.
Are you okay? You said Stats in your original post and you were responding to a post about stats. No one mentioned Trap. Did you even read what you wrote?
Also you seem to forget that trap got second at the 2014 iem WC and was actually a better proleague player than parting as well.
I would recommend either seeing a doctor, reading your posts before posting or using liquipedia as a reference before posting.
Trap is as underrated as Parting is overrated as I often say
Parting is a huge fan favourite and for good reason and he had a great career don’t get me wrong but I don’t think his palmares really stacks up versus quite a few other Toss players
On January 06 2025 13:50 Waxangel wrote: Similar to all the GOAT debate threads, I'm mad that the SC2 fandom doesn't have sufficient respect for old school players
I'm of two minds on this.
Mind #1: I think it's very natural for Starcraft, being a video game, to not be viewed in the same way traditional sports are. With those, we tend to think "well, the players then probably weren't as good as the players were now, but that's very natural, people get bigger, faster stronger over time and we should respect the old-school guys." In a video game, that's a more subtle thing.
In reality, though, humans are REALLY good at optimizing games over time. Look at any speedrun, look at chess after computers came into it, look at Tetris. It was never realistic that players just figuring the game out were going to be playing the game anywhere close to optimally, even with an SC1 knowledge base to go on. The maps were way too small, the devs thought colossus ledge scaling was going to be a big deal, nobody knew how broken something like fungal could be, marine-splitting vs. banes had to be figured out, I could go on.
The old-school players definitely deserve a lot of credit for their skill relative to their peers while figuring out a brand-new game, making the innovations that players after them could build on and hone. There should definitely be a place for guys like MVP, NesTea, MC, et al in SC2 history.
Mind #2: With SC2 specifically, it's really hard to ignore the looming specter of Kespa and all the SC1 pros who didn't switch over. With few exceptions, the early days of SC2 really were mostly populated by guys who weren't able to make a comfortable living playing SC1. I wouldn't call SC2 a "minor league," but it was kind of like the ABA to SC1's NBA. You had a few guys like Dr. J and Rick Barry who were as good as any basketball player in the world in the ABA, and they were doing things like shooting 3-point shots before the NBA players were, but overall the skill level of the league was lower.
When the Kespa teams came over, they ran off 10 straight GSL code S wins, and with very few exceptions the SC2 guys couldn't keep up. There were a few guys, such as Flash, who couldn't translate their Brood War dominance into SC2 dominance, and guys like Maru who were every bit as good or better than the Kespa players at SC2 (and then joined a Kespa team himself), but it seems pretty fair to say that in the pre-Kespa days the majority of the best Starcraft players in the world weren't playing SC2.
To be clear, a lot of the best Starcraft players in the world are in SC1 now, and guys like Rain and Soulkey were GSL champs in SC2 before switching back over, but I feel like that's more about game preference than financial incentive, which is why the SC1 pros stayed in the first place and were eventually forced to switch over. (I did want to say that, but would appreciate if this tread didn't devolve into the current financial state of BW vs. SC2, there are other places for that.)
On January 06 2025 14:02 zelevin wrote: I've heard "mount Rushmore" debates in the prowrestling scene, and the question is often interpreted in terms of influence or how someone pushed the envelope in 1 particular way. It's not necessarily about who won the most titles or who drew the most money. (For example, here is how the undertaker answers the question https://youtu.be/7qmVuPqUI84 )
Looking at it from that perspective, it's easier to understand someone putting Parting over a player like stats. Parting brought stylistic flair and personality to the game and pushed the envelope with micro.
Also, understanding the question that way makes an argument for early players like nestea, MVP, mkp, MMA, etc... because they had a huge effect and influence on the scene. Like how I said Terran micro has a definite "before 2016 byun and after 2016 byun."
Putting this out there so that it's understood that "mount Rushmore" doesn't have to be another GOAT debate.
I've thought about this a little more, and I think Scarlett belongs on the list for zergs. Creep spread was complete dog shit in the game until Scarlett showed up and showed people how. I may consider Scarlett the most impactful zerg in the history of the game because of this.
On January 11 2025 09:44 zelevin wrote: I've thought about this a little more, and I think Scarlett belongs on the list for zergs. Creep spread was complete dog shit in the game until Scarlett showed up and showed people how. I may consider Scarlett the most impactful zerg in the history of the game because of this.
I know Scarlett was very notable for being very good at this aspect of the game, but was it that bad before she started really prioritising it and showing its potency?
I genuinely don’t know, it’s hard to keep the exact chronology of 14/15 years of development in one’s brain.
If she did then sure I think a spot is probably responsible on Mount Rushmore! In the way that MC and Mvp really laid a lot of groundwork for how their respective factions were properly played, even if others took that ball and ran further with it.
We need a better name for it. I’m usually better at such things but my brain is failing me lately, ‘Mount Zergrushmore’ is the best I’ve come up with so far
Yeah, here's where she really showed the world the importance of creep spread. Listen to how the casters react to her creep spread, they hadn't ever seen it before. Managing creep spread expertly while also dealing with aggression just wasn't the norm. (This should link to a specific time in the third game)
Also look at the first game of the series on Ohana. Looking back, it's so extremely obvious that, "Oh, bomber isn't pressuring at all so of course there's going to be creep spread to his side of the map." but Scarlett was the player that made it obvious that creep was a huge punishment to passive play. Bomber played that way because it worked against most zergs at the time. Scarlett completely changed the game.
On January 11 2025 10:16 zelevin wrote: Yeah, here's where she really showed the world the importance of creep spread. Listen to how the casters react to her creep spread, they hadn't ever seen it before. Managing creep spread expertly while also dealing with aggression just wasn't the norm. (This should link to a specific time in the third game) https://youtu.be/zg5JVesF2Ag?si=lNfeyHYqfuelwagx&t=2704 Also look at the first game of the series on Ohana. Looking back, it's so extremely obvious that, "Oh, bomber isn't pressuring at all so of course there's going to be creep spread to his side of the map." but Scarlett was the player that made it obvious that creep was a huge punishment to passive play. Bomber played that way because it worked against most zergs at the time. Scarlett completely changed the game.
here's a game where the creep spread is more normal for the time. Symbol was in complete control of the game the whole game. like, at one point he was building 19 drones at once. He was never under any pressure. This was around the same time as that MLG. Symbol made it to the round of 8 in this GSL. This was the season with my favorite finals of all time, Life vs Mvp, and if you view those games, Life was better about creep spread than symbol, but still not close to Scarlett's level.
I've been bingeing some old starcraft from "the good ol days." I had a dream the other night where I was showing someone my esportearnings page of when i was a starcraft pro, i specifically remember showing them how much money i was paid for winning the world championship..... It sucked to wake up from that dream.
Hero, sos and zest would be pretty clear picks for me. These were all relevant at the hardest point in hots, you can argue they were top 3, And they had success after as well. If you weight each year equally, then stats would probably replace sos, and you can argue trap. If you discount 2018+ because of imbalance, then sos is the clear best, with zest second, I would say.
If it's for iconicness, I would place MC, sOs and Zest. Far away to the side there would be a smaller parting statue, so small that it is called the big boy, and he would be pointing to the mount rushmore with a ruler as if it was a rifle.
EPT
Maru, INnoVation, Mvp, TY
Serral, Rogue, Nestea, Dark
sOs, Zest, MC, proooobably Stats but this fourth slot is wide open
Or was I?
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/V3bcy4D.png)
