| Rank |
Player |
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Description |
| 1. |
Flash
(T) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
In my official position as PR Writer, I will be making a fiat: until there's actually a worthy challenger capable of dethroning Flash, there's really no point in "discussing" what Flash has done. Instead, as long as Flash remains the dominant number one on the Power Rank, I'm going to use this spot to log what new records and achievements he has attained since the last PR. For this month, Flash has set a new vZ ELO Peak of 2346, supplanting Jaedong's 2341. After that, is there anything that Flash has done that really turns heads anymore? I think it says something when Flash's 15-2 record in Proleague doesn't even make me bat an eye, but when he loses two games in a row (make sure to check out his game against Kal in the OSL if you haven't)...
Either way, just another month for our friendly neighborhood bonjwa. |
| 2. |
Jaedong
(Z) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
Honestly, at one point Jaedong was very close to losing his spot at #2. Although he was last season's undisputed Ace match master, this time around he's lost more Ace matches than he's won, and his wins have come from the likes of Modesty and Piano, while against the tougher opponents (Stork, ZerO, and now even Hydra), Jaedong has fallen short. After losing to HiyA in the OSL, I was ready to demote Jaedong a rank. However, for Jaedong, something fortuitous occurred. Fantasy, riding a 12-game winstreak (with the most recent victory against ZerO in a sick, sick game), was looking ridiculously strong, but he failed in his OSL match as well, against Modesty no less. Really, Fantasy was currently the only person that could have been a challenger for the #2 spot, and he fell just short.
All in all, Jaedong's 15-5 is still ridiculously strong, and given how everybody else has performed, Jaedong is still a clear-cut choice for #2, but not by as much as before. Jaedong has to step up his game, both against his individual league opponents in the OSL and MSL, but also in Proleague matches. Though really, if OZ keeps getting 4-1ed what does it matter?
As a closing word in Jaedong's section, I'd like to say that a good Power Rank isn't written just with results. The scare factor still plays a huge part in determining a player's position on the list. With that being said, Flash is definitely the player I'd be most scared to play in a match. However, Jaedong by far is still the person I'd be most scared to run afoul of after a match. |
| 3. |
Kal
(P) (stats) |
+2 |
3 |
Kal may not have the winstreaks like some other players this month, but he's definitely posting the results. On paper, Kal's record of 15-7 since season's start seems slightly worse than that of some others', but if you look closely you can see a very obvious fact: Kal wins when he needs to win. He won against Flash in the OSL. He lost the regular match to Bisu, but took the Ace game in the match against SKT. In the same sense, in the two Best of 3's Kal has played (against Bisu and BaBy), he's gone 2-1 over his opponents to move on. Honestly, I don't have too much to say about Kal, but results and ELO can back up this rank. As the world's best Protoss in terms of KeSPA points and ELO, Kal sits at spot three for this Power Rank. |
| 4. |
Shine[Kal]
(Z) (stats) |
- |
4 |
Shine? Four? What? Where's Fantasy? How many questions have been asked now? Two days ago Fantasy was definitely a lock for 3, even after his failure to Modesty. However, Shine's unprecedented (for him, at least) performance, combined with Kal's dominance and Fantasy's failing, definitely begets a ridiculously high spot on the Power Rank. And so, Shine edges out the Terrorist for spot 4. With a 14-game winstreak under his belt (and still riding it), Shine has bested some of Brood War's top players (Sea and Bisu) multiple times, defeated the rest, and all-ined his way to victory... and relief in the men's room. Currently the player with the fifth highest ELO (second highest Zerg after Jaedong), Shine is ELO peaking in all matchups except for vP, where he is three points shy of doing so.
To put this all in perspective, the longest winstreak in progaming history was GoRush's 16. Shine plays his teammate Mind next, and FOX's next match is against STX. If Shine can win both of those upcoming matches, he'll be in a position to set a record that Flash hasn't yet. Yep, that's right. Shine.
Love him, hate him, whatever. Shine's performance may instir both derision and hate, but his results cannot ignored. And to those of you who read this and feel the urge to flame me, you've fallen into my trap. Pad that comment count! |
| 5. |
Fantasy
(T) (stats) |
+4 |
1 |
Fantasy - As noted above, before his OSL match against Modesty, Fantasy was in a position to take the #2 spot from Jaedong. After displaying ridiculous skill in the PL match against Stars where he manhandled Flying and then ZerO in the Ace match, Fantasy was looking scary. He'd rejoined the 2300 club with a new ELO peak, and it seemed the Terrorist was going to continue, well, terrorizing. And then Fantasy decided to lose to Modesty. And Movie. And Violet. Granted, Violet played well and it's not like Movie and Modesty were too terrible, but in the same sense, Violet, Movie and Modesty aren't exactly the strongest opponents, and the records (even from this season) back up that claim. And so, Fantasy went straight from a 12 game winstreak to a 3 game losing streak, dropping his ELO by almost 50 points in the process. The Crown Prince definitely is still streaky, and I'm very sad I couldn't give him the 3 rank for this month. Still though, Fantasy is still a very good player, and 13-6 is nothing to be sad about. Here's hoping he blasts his next two OSL opponents into the ground with his vultures. |
| 6. |
Stork[gm]
(P) (stats) |
+4 |
1 |
Stork is nuts. Seriously. Who else is baller enough to play cell phone games and still dominate Starcraft? Dinotoss is on a roll, going 10-1 since the last PR. Stork has won matches and Ace matches against strong opponents such as Jaedong, stomped through his MST group easily, and pretty much qualified for the OSL Ro8 already by destroying Mind and Sea. By watching his games, you can definitely see that Stork is playing at a very high level right now, and especially his PvT. Normally, a performance like this would merit a much higher rank, it's just that this month has seen anomalous streaks from Shine and Fantasy. One wonders though: if January actually stopped trolling, how dominant would Stork be right now? However, since January is, in fact, trolling right now, Stork will get the sixth spot this time around. As he progresses deeper in the indvidual leagues though, we can only hope to see Song Byung Goo rise in the ranks.
Daniel would be proud. |
| 7. |
Bisu
(P) (stats) |
-4 |
1 |
I know I'm going to get raged at for this placement, but this is the spot Bisu deserves. He started the month very strong, by 2-0ing his MST group and keeping SKT on its monstrous winstreak, and it looked like Bisu would be nigh unstoppable. However, all good things must come to an end, and Bisu's overall win streak came to an end at the hands of his nemesis, Shine. Shortly afterward, his Proleague streak(and SKT's) came to an end thanks to Kal. While he's still won a good majority of his games since the last Power Rank, Bisu just isn't dominating like he was the previous month, and this can be seen by SKT sending Fantasy for the recent Ace matches. Regardless, Bisu still has it in him to be great, and he's got quite the MSL Ro32 group to work through. Only time can tell, but we'll have to see if Bisu can put down the Yong-Taek summoner and regain his Taek Shin status. |
| 8. |
Hydra
(Z) (stats) |
- |
2 |
It's really weird. I wish Hydra had won that game against Modesty in the OSL, but it seems it wasn't meant to be. Still though, this loss is the first (meaningful) one Hydra's had in the past month, seeing as his last loss was to Kwanro in a Bo3 that Hydra won. Hydra debuts on the Power Rank with a new ELO peak, an eight game win streak, and wins--Ace matches no less--over players like Jaedong, Free, and TvZ sniper RuBy. Furthermore, Hydra is still in both leagues, since he is 1-1 in OSL and in a mostly-zerg group for MSL. It may be too early to say yet, but it seems like Entus has found its replacement for EffOrt in the form of Hydra. |
| 9. |
Sea[Shield]
(T) (stats) |
-1 |
1 |
Ah, Sea. While you've definitely pulled off some very impressive wins (and won Ace matches for your team), I really can't justify having you very high on the Power Rank. Out of last month's Power Rankers (besides Snow), it seems you're the one who keeps getting beaten on now. True, losing to the likes of Soulkey and BaBy is okay, since the matches were fierce. However, in your OSL match against Stork you simply just... died. Not to mention that you've been beaten twice by Shine now. Not to worry though, you still have your salient points! You've won Ace matches for your team, and you've beaten plenty of big names like Kal (rage Sea is really scary...) and Free, but you're going to have to do better than this if you want to stay on the Power Rank next month. Regardless, you're still the king of Proleague, so keep that up. Just make sure not to fail your MSL group, since you do have a decently tough one coming up... |
| 10. |
Light[aLive]
(T) (stats) |
- |
2 |
Light - honestly, you're here on the Power Rank because I'm really not sure who else to put. However, I'm going to try to justify your placement now. Really, I was going to consider everybody that was placed on the CBNC list (ZerO, BaBy, Soulkey, and Leta), but the fact is you're actually showing us your skill by virtue of playing the strongest opponents. I don't know what it is about you, but you seem to attract competition, while Leta, for instance, has managed to not have to play many strong opponents. Since season's start, you've fought against, in chronological order, Fantasy, Stork, Jaedong, Kal, Free, ZerO, Flash, ZerO again, Flash again, Calm, and BaBy, and you've won about half of those encounters. You started off the season poorly, losing a lot of matches and getting knocked out of OSL in the prelims by Horang2, but you're looking scarier as of late. I'm looking forward to some invisible Terran action in the MSL, and bring your girl with you please. |
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FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
Close, but no Cigar
 BaBy
I think BaBy has found at least one of his magic socks. Excluding preliminaries, he is 14-7 since the start of the season, and he's starting to look stronger. Currently on a 4-game win streak topped off with an intense TvT against Light, BaBy looks like he's ready to be an asset, not a detriment, to FOX again. However, being out of both leagues hurts, and BaBy will have to show some serious prowess (like his 9 game win streak in PL last season) to get back on the PR.
Leta
Leta's got a record of 15-7 this season, which looks very nice on paper. However, there's a few reasons why he's not on the PR: first and foremost, he's out of OSL. Yeah, I know, power of the afro and whatnot, but still I expected more from Shin Sang Moon. Secondly, if you look at his record, Leta's most impressive wins have come against... TurN and Stats. In other words, Leta has either lost to or not played other notable players, so we can't really see his skill in this case.
Also, my god, every time I see you play I see a girl. What have you done to me?
 Modesty
Interestingly enough, Modesty is on a 7-game winstreak and has (pretty much) qualified for the OSL Ro8 with his victories over Fantasy and Hydra. Also, after the game against Hydra he should be ELO peaking, but we'll see. He's close, but I don't see Modesty moving too high up the Power Ranking any time soon, since I honestly think this run is kind of a fluke. Honestly, what's with the random streaks this past month?
Neo.G_Soulkey
I am kind of disappointed with Neo.G_Bonjwa, since after getting destroyed by HiyA he hasn't been the same. True, one of his next opponents was Jaedong, and another Stork, but losing to Much? I'm kind of miffed on that one. Regardless, Soulkey is still one of the best, if not the best, rookies on the scene, and if it weren't for his failure against HiyA, Soulkey would still be PRing. Instead, he'll have to wait for another month. He's still in the MSL, and even though Stars has slipped a bit in PL, he's still waiting to lead them to victory.
ZerO
ZerO was looking very strong at the beginning of the season, especially in his weakest matchup of ZvZ. However, in the past month ZerO's racked up more losses than wins (and along with that, his ZvZ has gone back to being streaky: look at the OSL knockout by HoGiL), and he's shown that he's still not ready to handle Ace matches. The Prince of Queens needs to step up his game, particularly against more notable opponents, if he wants to make it back on the Power Rank.
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Nice PR, pretty much agree. Baby TPLD-ize is wrong though (thank you random sc2 player).
I think the new PL format helps a lot the random streaks.
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Wow that was a rather fast writeup including today's OSL results too.
Nice job on PR!
btw you have baby as z
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Agreeable rank IMO, at least at the first glance.
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I'm not going to to argue about the #7 because I might just blow up.
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Croatia9491 Posts
Nice PR.
I'm happy to see Stork up, he doesn't get even close as much love as Mr.7 (on TL at least).
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Looks all right. Fantasy dropping to 5 was definitely a surprise, but justifiable because Shine and Kal (lol Shine[KaL]) have been playing so great this month that any slip-up costs you a lot of ranks.
Thanks for the PR!
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Sigh, I really can't argue with this, but I wish I could 
Dammit shine...
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Shine taking that record would be pretty damn surprising, but he has a shot!
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i liked the huge CBNC better
I feel like Action deserves to be there for a last minute sprint tbh, hes been consistent last few weeks
But otherwise I agree completely, even though I'd put Leta and Baby in light and seas places.
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Good job, I'm very satisfied with this PR. Pretty much all of 3-7 was quite difficult to decide this "month" but you did very well and found good reasoning for every spot imho. Keep up the good work!
You could have mentioned Flash's utter destruction of his TvP Nemesis BeSt though. I mean seriously, he schooled the guy like he did Infernal at the WCG.
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Excellent writing thank you.
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Great job. Would be nice to see Shine get a 20 win streak! Nice! XD
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Shine on the way to riding a bunch of easy matchups and some really well timed cheeses against better players to a new record. Shame that even if he does he won't be able to get a lasting accomplishment like Gorush did in winning a title.
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"anomalytic" should be "anomalous" but otherwise this is a fully agreeable power rank imo. i might not have jumped shine quite so much and i might have organized the 9-10-cbnc-cbnc terrans a little differently, but it's well-written and well-argued. hope this continues 
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Shine bonjwa? What?
Toilet Zerg <3
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Solid rankings overall, although hydra is just weird to have on there. Calm deserves a little love, imo. He is 8-4 since november, and he looked good, even in his losses against some of the best vZ players in the game. At least a CBNC.
And modesty hasn't qualified yet. If free > fantasy, free > modesty, hydra > fantasy, and modesty losses the tie breaker, then free and hydra advance.
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Great power ranking!
Hydra's such a funny guy.
Nice to see Shine's spree.
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On December 15 2010 23:39 Iplaythings wrote:
i liked the huge CBNC better
I feel like Action deserves to be there for a last minute sprint tbh, hes been consistent last few weeks
But otherwise I agree completely, even though I'd put Leta and Baby in light and seas places.
Action has been wildly inconsistent, not to say streaky. By my count he's gone 4L streak, 3W streak since last rank; he's out of the OSL after losing to Mind, he's in the MSL by virtue of a group with BByong and Tyson.
Of course, I don't like Action. But other than the win over Bisu', he's done exactly nothing worthy even of CNBC.
Also fwiw, I don't know what happened to him but Ruby's been way more of a vP player this season, and has been awful against Zerg, so I don't think you can give Hydra that much credit for beating him.
Shine #4, however, is amazing.
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EPT
