| Rank |
Player |
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High |
Description |
| 1. |
Leta
(T) (stats) |
+1 |
1 |
***First of all, if you haven't already read it, please read my explanation for the Feb. Power Rank which will give you insight to my madness.***
Nobody is more terrifying than Leta at the moment. Nobody. While some may hew and cry at the level of his competition, nobody can argue with the results. Leta doesn't just win, he humiliates.
Exhibit A: Leta vs Guemchi on Tau Cross. After getting his expo shoved back in his face, Leta used a single dropship, handful of vultures, and a swig of devil juice to harass Guemchi to little pieces. Yes, hindsight is 20/20. Guemchi could have saved himself a huge headache if he had placed a couple cannons. But the fact is he didn't, Leta saw it, and by the end of the game Guemchi was so frustrated he suicided his army at Leta's tanks and quit the game before losing a nexus.
Exhibit B: Leta vs Luxury on Destination. Verses Luxury, the same Luxury I'll be talking about shortly, Leta won with 5 marines, two tanks, and a wraith. It was pure build order domination from beginning to end, where Leta knew exactly what was coming and played perfectly. Luxury was never in control of that game. Not for an instant.
With the array of weapons he has at his disposal, the results speak for themselves. The man has not lost two TV games in a row since May 2008 October 2008 (but before that was May, my bad). OSL, MSL, ProLeague, Winners League, right now Leta has it all. Fear him. |
| 2. |
Bisu
(P) (stats) |
+3 |
1 |
Whereas Leta is winning with the grace of an eagle, Bisu is an embattled ship on the seas. He is everyman's target, facing ridicule and scorn over his MSL picks and performance.
He looked destined to fade into the background this season, with others taking the spotlight in the two major leagues. Then irony hit BackHo with a ho, in the back, and Bisu had breathing room. He promptly went 6-0, got himself back in the spotlight, and is set up to prove himself in one of the strongest OSL groups in recent memory.
Bisu is, perhaps along with Flash, the most studied progamer around today. Through all the scrutiny, he continues to produce results. Look for him to add a hefty $40,000 payday to his wallet over Jangbi, and another badge on his shirt. Most importantly, look for him to grab the number 1 spot next month if he continues his domination. |
| 3. |
Jaedong
(Z) (stats) |
+1 |
1 |
A terran, a protoss, and now a zerg. Jaedong has done what he had to since the last PR, winning 4/5 games in the OSL to make the final 16. Other than that, he gets this spot on scariness points. He is 15-5 in his last 20 games *shiver* and the favorite against anyone in the world in a best of 5 *brrr*. He is an autopick to anchor the best team in the world, and has a foot in both major leagues, as should be expected. You can't take a game from Jaedong, you just have to hope he is feeling generous and gives you one. |
| 4. |
Jangbi
(P) (stats) |
-3 |
1 |
Well Janbi, I hope you enjoyed your perch while it lasted. You are going to have to pull off a big upset to get back up there. Fortunately you have been given the chance in the GOM finals.
The thing about Jangbi is that he is overpowering in every single game he plays. When he wins, he wins with ease, dominating people much like Leta does. His recent MSL qualification was a walk in the park over two baffled terran players. Sunday's GOM semi-final was a 3-0 mauling of Free, a pretty good PvPer.
However when he loses, Jangbi is overpoweringly(?) bad. He looked like a timid puppy against Anytime on Tau Cross, getting smacked around the map despite Anytime's disregard for micro. Against Luxury he barely made it out of his base after being crammed in the mouth with mutas for 20 minutes.
Jangbi has the unique ability to not only beat anyone in the world, but lose to anyone as well. |
| 5. |
Flash
(T) (stats) |
-2 |
1 |
Is it just me, or has the shine come off of Flash just a little bit? To be fair, he hasn't played much this month, and other than losing 2-1 to Bisu in GOM, there isn't much to go on. I am sure he is relieved that Luxury is taking some of the Winners League pressure off of him.
Also, I guess he can be forgiven for his loss to Fantasy (although it did ruin his nice 10 game TvT winning streak). Fantasy is coming up with some nice games these days, spaced in between his lousy ones.
I just can't help but feel that Flash is not so much the "Ultimate Weapon" as he is just a really good player. I just feel it in my guts, and that is definitely the appropriate yard stick here. His OSL group will be an important one to follow. If he crashes out, I'll point to this column here as proof of my genius. If he wins the OSL, well, never trust your pancreas. He is a deceitful little guy. |
| 6. |
Luxury[GsP]
(Z) (stats) |
- |
2 |
BOOM! Hi, how ya doing? My name is Pack Chan Soo. I've got a brother who also plays zerg, but right now I'm sitting on his head.
I'm well known for being a streaky player, which always relegates me to a notch below S-Class. However, when this new-fangled winners league format came along, and I looked at Flash, I saw a miserable kid thinking he would be playing 30 games a month.
So I said, "put me in coach!". And what's funny is that when I sat down I didn't feel like getting up again. So I decided to win all my games. Then I decided to qualify for an MSL and an OSL at the same time.
So now I'm in both major leagues, and I've won 9 of my last 11 games. I win with both cheese and straight up play. Sometimes I kill people with only mutalisks just for fun.
Stick around, and watch me play. Hold up a sign for me (but please spell my name right this time TL) and you can see me win a title GGPlay style or crash and burn out of both ro16's. Either way, it will be a blast. |
| 7. |
YellOw[ArnC]
(Z) (stats) |
+2 |
7 |
Yarnc not only looks like his brother, but is currently playing like him too. Both are in the two major leagues, and both have a difficult OSL group.
He also has an all-kill in the winners league, taking apart MBC with little difficulty (facing all three races too).
Like his brother, he has the ability to produce an epic streak or an epic fail. Hopefully for Park Myung Soo fans, this is just the beginning of something special. |
| 8. |
JulyZerg
(Z) (stats) |
- |
4 |
July hasn't played enough games recently, but he has done what he needed to. He pounded a hapless Mujuk to advance to the OSL ro16. He was then promptly dumped in a group with Yarnc (under 50% ZvZ), Stork (whose PvZ is easily his worst matchup) and Bisu (whose MSL has left some doubters). It would be perfectly reasonable to see July get through this group. With the five terrans stacked in two groups, the road looks shiny and bright for July to make history as the first four-time OSL winner. |
| 9. |
Anytime[gm]
(P) (stats) |
- |
2 |
It comes as no surprise that Anytime is doing well. When you live in the house of the best team in StarCraft, and practice with greats like Jaedong and-
O, wait a minute. That's right. Anytime is in the AirForce now. AIR FORCE. The mats of proleague since time immemorial. Suddenly, there is hope on the bench. The players are watching the games rather than hanging their heads. There is hope!
I realize this may be premature. After all, it was just a couple good days at the office. We all have those...
But has there ever been a player more suited for the Air Force scowl than Anytime? Xellos might be close, but for now Anytime has the angry look he earned at basic training on his face and in yours 24/7.
If you are a coach, the one player you need to snipe is Anytime. Just pray he doesn't shoot back. |
| 10. |
Stork[gm]
(P) (stats) |
-4 |
1 |
I stipulate that the most difficult part of the power rank is number 10. There is no clear cut criteria, and more often than not there are several players banging on the door to be let in. However, I am judging by fear, and one would be foolish to not fear Stork. His PvT matchup is still top three in the world, and he has the ability to pull out wins against almost anyone. His real test will be against his OSL group though. He ranks as #3 in my book there, and needs a great game or two to get out of things alive. He better, because his place on the PR depends on it (and what more motivation could any progamer need?) |
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Osaka27125 Posts
Close But No Cigar.
BackHo: While I realize that Steve might fly to my house and beat me with a hose for this, I have to give the man some love. If it were not for his injury, he might be in two of the three major leagues right now. As it worked out, he sacrificed himself for Bisu, making Emlary extremely happy.
Besides, giving him a CBNC is like giving the last place kid a "participation" ribbon. It doesn't mean shit.
Best: Win your OSL games and I will bring you back. Best is a purely win/loss kind of player. He doesn't play with any style or grace to cause fear, he just bludgeons people to death. There is a reason why fencing is an Olympic sport and caveman skull bashing isn't. That being said, if all the cavemen kill the fencers, then you have to show respect to the form.
FBH: Dude what happened? You got on my Fantasy team and then shit the bed. Your recently games look like suck. Please stop, if only for the sake of my Fantasy PL sig bet.
Hwasin: Yep, you are in both leagues, and should you perform well you will be back in the rankings next month. Best of luck.
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I like prefer your writing style over FakeSteve's (dont kill me FakeSteve).
hah i almost died laughing at this *Best: Win your OSL games and I will bring you back. Best is a purely win/loss kind of player. He doesn't play with any style or grace to cause fear, he just bludgeons people to death. There is a reason why fencing is an Olympic sport and caveman skull bashing isn't. That being said, if all the cavemen kill the fencers, then you have to show respect to the form.*
and Hippie you like men ! Where you at ?
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Awesome awesome awesome writeup. Really. Thanks ^^ I love the commentary. Especially "Sometimes I kill people with mutas only for fun". rofl
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Damn nice power rank
there are so many hot players right now, I'm sure it was hard
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4 Zergs in and FBH out of the Top 10. I like this power rank.
"Jangbi has the unique ability to not only beat anyone in the world, but lose to anyone as well."
I'm not sure it's that unique...I feel like this applies to Zero right now as well. I still have faith he'll pull it all together some day. Maybe a deep MSL run.
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I laughed through half of this, and @ Luxury... ROFL. Amazing PR, well justified, and I hope you're wrong about Flash. Lee Young Ho represent ~~
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On February 02 2009 10:20 Manifesto7 wrote:
Close But No Cigar.
Best: Win your OSL games and I will bring you back. Best is a purely win/loss kind of player. He doesn't play with any style or grace to cause fear, he just bludgeons people to death. There is a reason why fencing is an Olympic sport and caveman skull bashing isn't. That being said, if all the cavemen kill the fencers, then you have to show respect to the form.
Thank you for this comment about Best. I really don't like watching his games because as you said, it's just about winning through pure power. Yet there are so many Best fans on the board that I thought perhaps I was crazy or something.
Anyway, good PR. Don't really have much to say about it, although I really believe(or just hope?) that Stork will come through in the OSL and MSL. When thoroughly prepared, I truly believe Stork is the best player in the game. But the winners league really disagrees with him, because he has trouble adjusting on the fly it seems(although is game against Reach is fairly inexcusable).
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yay, this PR is on time (not in the middle of a month). I disagree with Anytime being in the PR but well written otherwise. GJ MAni
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Even after his loss to jangbi i still think Free deserves atleast cnbc
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haha, I like your metaphors. PR was really interesting to read =)
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Nothing to do with this power rank, but rather a suggestion for the format:
Instead of having a column devoted to "highest" Power Rank achieved, perhaps we should change it to 'average Power Rank rank', which would be more indicative of their past strength.
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On February 02 2009 10:35 Jaksiel wrote:
4 Zergs in and FBH out of the Top 10. I like this power rank.
"Jangbi has the unique ability to not only beat anyone in the world, but lose to anyone as well."
I'm not sure it's that unique...I feel like this applies to Zero right now as well. I still have faith he'll pull it all together some day. Maybe a deep MSL run.
1) die. FBH will win a starleague someday.
2) to agree with the 2nd point and more, like 10 starleague caliber players hold this quality. I don't know if it's B-class shaking the nerves and owning a bitch, or these guys just failing hard on occasion. But I think this quality really limits their candidacy for titles.
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o hey 4 zergs in the PR nice
the luxury writeup made me laugh 
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we really need a new leta head pic :\
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I disagree with one part of your PR:
Manifesto7 wrote:
Jangbi has the unique ability to not only beat anyone in the world, but lose to anyone as well.
That's not a unique ability. Think of the reverse statement:
Backho has the unique ability to not only lose to anyone in the world, but to beat anyone as well. Okay, maybe had the ability, but whatever. Also, I'm not sure about dropping Jangbi 3 spots, but I think I only watched the games where he was dominating.
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Osaka27125 Posts
On February 02 2009 11:35 CDRdude wrote:I disagree with one part of your PR: Show nested quote +Manifesto7 wrote:
Jangbi has the unique ability to not only beat anyone in the world, but lose to anyone as well. That's not a unique ability. Think of the reverse statement: Backho has the unique ability to not only lose to anyone in the world, but to beat anyone as well. Okay, maybe had the ability, but whatever. Also, I'm not sure about dropping Jangbi 3 spots, but I think I only watched the games where he was dominating.
Nope, it is unique, because while I could never beat BackHo, I have no doubt that Jangbi could drop a game to me because he is too busy getting his hair right in the mirror.
But anyway, I see your point. It was written that way more for style than to be taken as a universal truth.
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A++ write-up. Good to see LJD climbing the ranks again ^^
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
I have issues with Luxury being so high, mostly because of how his games unfolded. Yes the man boasts impressive results, but the games themselves were not champion material games - they were mostly cheeses, all-ins and build order wins (see his OSL games, and vs Stork in PL and so on) while his losses have been abysmal.
Everything else is fine
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your description of jangbi reminds me of mind during flash's reign. he has the skill to take down the top players, but he's not consistent enough to be the top player. i'm not sure i'd have july as high as he is, but i can't think of a better player to replace him.
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JIJIyO
Canada1957 Posts
On February 02 2009 11:31 Hazz wrote:
we really need a new leta head pic :\
Leta looks more badass with short hair.
Excellent Power Rank Mani. Nice to see ZERGS on there. And Anytime on the power rank as well is fucking awesome. He had Jaedong and Forgg when he was on Lecaf really, same applies to JD and Forgg I guess.
Oh, and holy shit PR is out on February 1st!
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EPT
