| Rank |
Player |
Prev |
High |
Description |
| 1. |
Jaedong
(Z) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
The August Power Rank's number one slot is by far its easiest to award. In July Jaedong delivered yet another inhumanly strong monthly performance — he cruised past Kal 2-0 in the Avalon MSL's Ro16, topped Canata 3-2 in its Ro8 (after losing the 1set, as is his custom in BoX series), made me look foolish for even suggesting that Zero could challenge him in the OSL, and punched Hwaseung's ticket to Pusan for the 08-09 Proleague Grand Finals.
The Legend Killer's recent wins are brilliant enough to cast a positive light on even his 0-2 loss to Effort in the quarterfinals of GOM. Given Jaedong followed up his promise to "work on [his] weakness that is ZvP" with comfortable wins over Kal on July 11 and 16, his GOM exit on the 12th now looks more like evidence of intelligent practice priorities than some vulnerability in his ZvZ. Of course, Jaedong recovered to 2-0 Effort in the Proleague's semifinal — punishing Effort's favorite ZvZ opening with a 9-pool in the 2set of match 1 and then sending CJ home with a stunning display of simultaneous muta and ling micro in the super ace.
Now blatantly obvious: Proleague has usurped the OSL's position as StarCraft's most prestigious contest. The 08-09 PL's massive season and suitably epic new playoff format have garnered an unprecedented level of attention from from fans, media, sponsors, coaches, and players; the Power Rank ought follow suit. Individual league best-ofs can no longer be the litmus test for PR placement. Even ignoring his OSL and MSL victories but considering his loss in GOM, Jaedong deserves this rank's top spot for carrying Hwaseung with two crucial single-set wins on BW's new biggest stage. |
| 2. |
Fantasy
(T) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
SK Telecom T1's Grand Finals seed is obviously cushy for its players — who, without playoff games to prepare for, have been able to focus on beating the snot out of each other in the MSL and OSL — but somewhat problematic for power ranking. Proleague's absence from T1's schedule means Fantasy and Bisu have played just five games since July's rank, and two of those were against each other in the MSL Ro16. Bisu won both, but the match was hardly decisive — especially its 2set. Holding off and almost recovering from an un-scouted proxy 2-gate at his back door, Fantasy looked at least as impressive as KTY. Thus it's no surprise that in his post-1set interview Bisu confessed "I lost to [Fantasy] a lot in practice" and named Fantasy "greatest amongst Terrans".
What seals Fantasy's position in this rank are his July OSL games: a harass-crazy, group-clinching comeback vs. Stork on Outsider, and two seemingly effortless wins over Canata in the Ro8. Fantasy abused Canata's passivity with clever vulture and dropship play, advancing one step closer to a third consecutive OSL Finals appearance and scoring a well-deserved pat on the back from Coach Oov. |
| 3. |
Bisu
(P) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
Though Bisu is down 0-1 in the MSL quarterfinals after (quite foolishly) allowing Iris's 2-fac push to catch six dragoons deep in his natural, he is in a much less precarious position than Jaedong was against Canata. When the conclusion of his match with Iris finally rolls around on August 4, Bisu will be playing on almost two weeks' undisturbed practice time — a horrifying prospect for Berserker, given that KTY bested Fantasy just one day after his last OSL appearance. Bisu's win vs. Fantasy was a demonstration of his impeccable game sense ("rather than using a specific build I tried to adjust to the given situation") and easily convincing enough to maintain the the Power Rank's third slot. |
| 4. |
Inter.Calm
(Z) (stats) |
+3 |
2 |
Fans who tuned in to the conclusion of Effort's MSL Ro8 match expecting to see him mimic Jaedong's Day 2 comeback were sorely disappointed. Using smarter builds and sick micro, Calm won two sets in less than ten minutes of game time — completing his 3-0 sweep of Effort and thus making a strong case for his advancement up the Power Rank.
Including a wild 2-0 Ro16 victory over Forgg earlier in July, Calm's Avalon MSL record is now 7-0. Even considering this, however, ranking Calm above Effort would be untenable without a competent showing in PL playoffs — a standard that Calm just barely met over his four appearances in STX's first-round match vs. KHAN. Calm's two losses (uncharacteristically poor muta micro against Great in Match 1's ace and to Jangbi's +1 speedlot timing in the super ace) ended STX's season and kept him awake at night, but neither game would have been played had Calm also lost to FBH in the 4set of Match 1. Including an ultimately inconsequential, but fail-face inducing, win over Juni in Match 2, Calm's July PL record was 2-2: far inferior to Effort's, yet not quite inferior enough to justify placing him lower than Effort given the one-sidedness of their MSL series.
Inspired by Jaedong's example, Zerg-happy maps, and the return of ZvZ Starleague series, Korea's premier Zerg players are pushing advances in ZvZ tactics and micro that demand changes in our perception of the matchup's metagame. With Jaedong winning a greater portion of his ZvZs than any other player in any other matchup and S-class Zergs regularly overcoming what were once considered insurmountable build order disadvantages in ZvZ, "BO loss" has never been a less satisfying explanation for the outcome of a Zerg versus Zerg game. To discount Calm's defeat of Effort based on build order choices is to egregiously undervalue his perfect execution and superior tactics. Calm's post-1set thoughts on the conclusion of his match with Effort betray the skill involved in contemporary ZvZ BO choice: "I’ll have to prepare mindgames, and in doing so I will have to put a lot more thought into it. I will win by using a build that will be better than today’s". |
| 5. |
Effort
(Z) (stats) |
-1 |
1 |
On July 26 Effort devastated Samsung KHAN with one of the greatest single-player performances in Proleague history. His ace games against Great and Stork were a tour de force mind-blowing enough make me forget he also carried CJ past Hite with Match 2 wins over Type-b and Yarnc. But I think the most impressive moment in Effort's 3-0 day vs. KHAN, and the highlight of the PL playoffs thus far, was defending his 12-hatch from Great's 9-pool in the 3set. If you've seen it already, watch it again.
Whether by overpractice, overexcitement, or inexperience, this heroic PL performance also devastated Effort himself. Now, just nine days after he made a strong case for world's best player vs. KHAN, Effort is out of every league and twice victim to Jaedong's ZvZ. Ultimately July was a gut-wrenching, man-making month for Effort: 25 games (across all four leagues), one OSL Ro16 exit, one MSL quarterfinals loss, four ace games, and one third-place title later, he's moved just one slot in the Power Rank. "Roller coaster" is a vast understatement. |
| 6. |
Canata
(T) (stats) |
+2 |
6 |
Canata's Bacchus OSL 2009 and Avalon MSL runs are now fresh in their graves, but he nevertheless deserves to climb two spots in the PR. In the excitement of his MSL quarterfinal series against Jaedong — where Canata played well enough to put himself just one stupid mistake away from the upset of his career — you may have forgotten that Ko Inkyu began this month by qualifying for both the OSL Ro8 and MSL Ro8 (a feat matched only by JD and Zero). Actually, describing Canata's MSL Ro16 win over Piano as a "qualification" is a travesty; in truth it was a brutally one-sided dismantling that left the poor Woongjin Terran looking totally out of place.
This StarCraft season has easily been the best of Canata's career, but I wouldn't blame him for remembering it bitterly. Simultaneous series against Jaedong and Fantasy was an unfortunately painful way for it to end. |
| 7. |
Iris[gm]
(T) (stats) |
- |
2 |
Berserker went bonkers in July: Iris is 11-4 since last month's Power Rank and comfortably past Hwasin to the MSL quarterfinals, where he leads Bisu 1-0 after yet another successful 2-factory rush. Iris's "hard preparation" for his GOM quarterfinal meeting with Effort paid off in a 3-0 sweep, but to use this result as a basis for ranking him above his overworked Zerg teammate would be to punish Effort for being CJ's ace (especially unacceptable considering that, just hours before their GOM match, Effort proved himself manifestly worthy of the role).
Iris's Proleague playoff performance was uncharacteristically inconsistent — he went 1-1 against each team CJ faced — but not underwhelming. With CJ one loss away from a season-ending defeat to Samsung and his opponent Firebathero in total command of their set on Neo Harmony, Iris met his reputation as a cool veteran player. With a perfectly-timed switch to wraiths, he broke FBH's tank line and began a huge comeback that would set up Effort to close out the match. Clutch. |
| 8. |
YellOw[ArnC]
(Z) (stats) |
- |
7 |
Yellow[arnc]'s stock has skyrocketed since he won the OSL Ro16's group of death, and rightfully so. Fake Yellow's top-class ZvT and ZvZ have him looking like a legitimate title threat in this Protoss-less OSL, and served Hite well in their playoff match with CJ: Yarnc narrowly lost Match 2's ace (a thriller!) to Effort, but only after soundly beating both him and Kwanro in earlier games.
For evidence that Yarnc means business in the Bacchus 2009 OSL, look no further than the 1set of his quarterfinal match with Go.go. Yarnc claimed an easy win by scouting both Go.go's proxy 8-rax and proxy factory — an impressive demonstration of star sense, map savvy, and hours upon hours of practice. |
| 9. |
SkyHigh
(T) (stats) |
- |
7 |
Effort dominated headlines for his gutsy performance against Samsung, but Skyhigh was an equally important contributor to CJ's momentous playoff run. Were it not for both of his huge wins over Leta in the playoffs' first round, Entus and their (–_–) faces wouldn't have made it as far as the super ace vs. Hite — nevermind the quarterfinal match vs. KHAN (to say "I figured that if I beat [Leta] both times, the rest of the matches would go well" was an especially polite understatement). And while the rest of his team turned in disappointing results against Hwaseung, Skyhigh quietly went 2-0 with commanding victories over Lomo and Hiya. Skyhigh earns the nıne-spot as the 08-09 Proleague playoffs' (once-?) unsung hero. |
| 10. |
type-b[s.g]
(Z) (stats) |
- |
10 |
Type-b was solid in Hite's Proleague match with CJ — taking advantage of a sadly typical lapse in micro to overpower Savior and even holding his own against Effort — but it's his play against Leta's feared TvZ in the OSL Ro8 that necessitates his inclusion in this rank. In the 1set on Outsider Type-b dominated by keeping Leta's vessel count low and completely shutting down any drop attempts, and in the 3set he clinched the series with a well-executed, impromptu slow lurker drop. Now up against Yarnc in the OSL semis, Type-b will once again be a massive underdog — at least this is a position he's obviously comfortable playing from. |
|
United States12607 Posts
Close But No Cigar
Note: This month's rank and CBNC are a bit longer than usual, because immeduately after publishing them I am headed on vacation and will have a very limited ability to defend myself in this thread. Thanks for bearing with me!
 ZerO once again misses PR-dom by the tiniest of margins...I'm honestly almost as disappointed as you WJ fans must be. His ZvP looked spot on against Pure in the MSL Ro16, but Zero didn't show us anything at all in his crucial ZvZs this month (vs. JD in the OSL Ro8 and in the 1set of his MSL Ro8 match with Kwanro). I'd have loved to see Zero shut up some of his doubters by turning in even a losing, but solid, performance against Jaedong — alas, he was totally overwhelmed. Without any PL notches in his belt, out of the OSL, and now one set closer to exiting the MSL as well, Zero doesn't hack it this month.
Kwanro beat Flash, proving...that he's a Zerg. His 2-1 MSL Ro16 win was rightfully overshadowed by unforgivably lackluster play in the PL playoffs — a flaw no player on this PR shares. Despite how consistent and winning Kwanro has been this season (especially relative to his own performances in seasons' past), there is no spot for him on this rank.
 Flash has only played five games since last month's PR — probably because he's once again out of both major individual leagues before their quarterfinals. I'm getting pretty tired of the same old "Flash is really good, he just loses all of his games" line. Being alive in the MSL and GOM was enough to keep Flash on July's rank, but there were so many big movers this month that I just couldn't justify keeping him in the top 10. Before you Flash apologists cry foul, stop and think who you'd bump to include him. Canata made it further than Youngho in both the MSL and OSL, Skyhigh won more PL playoff games than Flash played in July (and against much tougher opponents than Flash's), Yarnc just topped him in the OSL Ro16, and Type-b smashed a player whose recent TvZ performance is much better than Flash's. And on top of all that, keep in mind that both Zero, who also bested Flash's MSL and OSL performance, and Kwanro, who 2-1d him in the MSL Ro16 — two players who have been just out of PR contention for a while now — are not even on this rank.
 JangBi has a place in CBNC for getting his act together in time for Proleague playoffs (dude, he beat a Zerg!), but even with a super ace game win under his belt JB's PL playoff résumé doesn't stack up to Skyhigh's.
Leta almost imploded since July's Power Rank, going 2-6, losing to Type-b in the OSL and failing his team horribly in PL playoffs — it's actually amazing Hite played so even with CJ considering their ace (the supposed "ace match bonjwa") went 0-3 over the series. The reason Leta remains in CBNC is that his losses were — for the most part — excellent games with outcomes that should be primarily attributed to strong play from his opponents (Skyhigh, Movie, Type-b).
Not Close and No Cigar
Kal bombed the MSL Ro16 and couldn't redeem himself by beating Jangbi in PL playoffs. An underwhelming month from another guy who had the potential to make a splash in July.
|
Though I expected him to barely miss again, I'm still sad Zero couldn't make it. He'll just have to go ahead and win the MSL and get on next month.
|
looks like fantasy is replacing flash in being the top three of each respective race. at least I hope so
|
why oh why didnt calm end up above bisu?
|
Well worth the wait. Thanks for taking time in your vacation, JWD.
|
United States12607 Posts
On August 04 2009 00:41 drug_vict1m wrote:
why oh why didnt calm end up above bisu?
Bisu's lack of games (not his fault, just scheduling) means we're left to speculate about his rightful position in this rank. And I think you'd have a very tough time convincing anyone that Calm is now a better player than "hypothetical Bisu", considering recent losses to players against which Bisu would undoubtedly be the favorite (JangBi, great, HiyA).
|
i feel sad to see kal n leta end up like that and flash
|
Russian Federation1381 Posts
!!!
EEJAEDONG!!!
New PR!
Calm over Effort!
Not sure about high placement of Bisu, it looks to be an old way of doing PR all over again (generally accepted strength over recent performances), not that it's bad, but what's Flash doing outside of top10 then. But good stuff overall!
+ Show Spoiler +Type-b > Flash 
|
Wow, what a huge PR. Have fun on your vacation!
|
|
|
United States12607 Posts
On August 04 2009 00:57 Magic84 wrote:
Not sure about high placement of Bisu, it looks to be an old way of doing PR all over again (generally accepted strength over recent performances), not that it's bad, but what's Flash doing outside of top10 then. But good stuff overall!
The difference between Bisu-Fantasy and Flash is that Bisu and Fantasy played abnormally few games during this month because of scheduling, not losses. I try to weight results over "hypothetical strength" whenever possible, but felt it would be unfair to punish Bisu and Fantasy simply because their PL team was really good during the regular season (and, in Bisu's case, his MSL quarterfinal match is on Day 2).
|
ah very nice. the only bone i have to pick with this is how low Yellow[arnc] is...
He's alive in the OSL ; against a first timer who's ZvZ is untested. We've seen Yarnc's deadly ZvZ before and there is a STRONG chance that Yarnc will make the OSL finals.
Iris's MSL run looks grim ; and Canata is out of both leagues, i would put Yarnc over them both and right under Effort. But hey besides that~ great PR
|
Really surprised to see Calm so high. I know the general idea is that starleague > proleague, but with the recent year-round format, proleague playoff performance should be quite weighted quite heavily(especially since it's the most important league by Korean standard). I mean, Calm only played in the two biggest games of his life and bombed both. Even if you excuse his loss to Jangbi because of Jangbi's excellent retro timing-attack, his loss against Great is a facepalm moment.
Otherwise, not much to comment. Not many games are being played these days, so it's pretty hard to argue anyone over another.
|
United States12607 Posts
On August 04 2009 01:02 DreaM)XeRO wrote:
ah very nice. the only bone i have to pick with this is how low Yellow[arnc] is...
He's alive in the OSL ; against a first timer who's ZvZ is untested. We've seen Yarnc's deadly ZvZ before and there is a STRONG chance that Yarnc will make the OSL finals.
Iris's MSL run looks grim ; and Canata is out of both leagues, i would put Yarnc over them both and right under Effort. But hey besides that~ great PR
Come on dude, you can't base the PR on expected future results! If Yarnc's spot in the OSL finals, Iris's MSL results, and Canata's lack of individual league games will all be reflected in next month's rank 
Thanks for the props though, appreciate it! And thanks for being patient ^^
|
I like this rank. At first, I thought it was just my fanboyism...but the arguments make sense. I had forgotten Canata qualified during this month, for example. And I've never understood Flash's special treatment.
|
On August 04 2009 00:57 Magic84 wrote:!!! EEJAEDONG!!! New PR! Calm over Effort! Not sure about high placement of Bisu, it looks to be an old way of doing PR all over again (generally accepted strength over recent performances), not that it's bad, but what's Flash doing outside of top10 then. But good stuff overall! + Show Spoiler +Type-b > Flash
Do you think anyone below Bisu is currently better than him?
|
What about Stork?
He was THIS close to beat Fantasy's unbeatable TvP (Bisu's his teammate, so different rules apply ), also was looking like he was winning vs Effort (oh Stork, why do you suicide your army so often? T_T) and overally did good in proleague playoffs, demolishing Much and Skyhigh, and then only barely losing super ace on Zerg-favored map.
Not like I'm demanding a super high place for him, I just want to hear what do you think about him (and he's not in either CBNC nor NCANC).
|
United States12607 Posts
On August 04 2009 01:07 ZBiR wrote:
Not like I'm demanding a super high place for him, I just want to hear what do you think about him (and he's not in either CBNC nor NCANC).
Stork's in neither because I think he had a pretty middling July. Yes he did play about as we expected in PL playoffs (pretty solid) but his teammate JangBi played much better.
Stork was totally in that game against Effort until that poor decision...what a pity. A win there would have completely changed this rank...imagine if Effort didn't have to worry about PL anymore, I wonder if he would have played better against Calm?
|
Interesting PR this month.five zergs and four terrans in it.but only one protoss.no other toss is even close.just goes to show you how dominant zergs are nowadays.if this goes on then we'll see something similar to the six dragons emerging for the zergs.
Nice work btw JWD.thnx a lot.have fun on the vacation.
|
On August 04 2009 01:10 JWD wrote:Show nested quote +On August 04 2009 01:07 ZBiR wrote:
Not like I'm demanding a super high place for him, I just want to hear what do you think about him (and he's not in either CBNC nor NCANC). Stork's in neither because I think he had a pretty middling July. Yes he did play about as we expected in PL playoffs (pretty solid) but his teammate JangBi played much better. Stork was totally in that game against Effort until that poor decision...what a pity. A win there would have completely changed this rank...imagine if Effort didn't have to worry about PL anymore, I wonder if he would have played better against Calm?
Yea, and I never heard of a guy who just did pro in PL suddenly burn out IN THE SAME DAY and ends up losing EIGHT GAMES IN A ROW before he finally started winning again. And game against calm was good? No need going twelve hatch every game. Even when jaedong was being overplayed, he had to play more because of his ace matches, he never went on a epic losing streak like dat.
I'm pretty sure effort's game v great wasn't a nine pool speed but nine pool lair.
Jangbi's playoff resume was more impressive than skyhigh's. When cj v khan game ended, Jangbi was at 4 - 1 and skyhigh was at 3 - 1. Skyhigh pulled ahead because he played two more games and I'm pretty sure jangbi could take on anyone on oz except for jaedong with relative ease.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
