| Rank |
Player |
Prev |
High |
Description |
| 1. |
Flash
(T) (stats) |
0 |
1 |
I'm not going to say Flash looks unbeatable--his game against Stork is evidence that he can be stopped... should an opponent exert an unfathomable amount of effort.
11 matches played, and 11 wins attained in dominating fashion. No discernible weaknesses against any race. Jaedong fell in minutes. EffOrt defended valiantly, but his efforts were not enough to stop the slowly advancing Maginot Line. Dear learned that "one does not simply 12nexus God." And Light's proxy-into-wraith tactics proved fruitless against maphacksstarsense. Clutch play won't save you from Flash. Cheese won't save you from Flash. Impeccable standard play won't save you from Flash. So then, what will?
Answer: John Connor
Let's play a game. I say Flash won't lose in Proleague till Round 4. What say you? |
| 2. |
Fantasy
(T) (stats) |
+1 |
1 |
As I've always stated, Fantasy is an enigma. Will he go on a ten-game winning streak? Or will he inexplicably lose to B-team rookies? You never know what's going to happen next, so sometimes it's best to just guess. After watching Fantasy's game against Skyhigh, I knew that the Crown Prince was in for a good round. I don't know how Fantasy did it, but somehow after saving that crucial Command Center at 11 o'clock he managed to claw his way back into the game, ultimately attaining his first ever victory against TvT menace Skyhigh. And after that, Fantasy continued the killing spree by going undefeated throughout Round 2 with good decision-making and excellent unit control. Despite the fact that SKT lost (again ahahaha) to STX, Fantasy helped SKT keep some of its pride by first destroying Classic's economy with vulturesterrorists on bikes and then meticulously grinding down the STX Terran in the endgame. Furthermore, just like in the first round when he played against ZerO, Fantasy was able to demonstrate some impressive bionic control.
In hindsight, I can assuredly say that (ignoring his most recent game against Leta) Fantasy's in pretty good form. But still, was that apparent at the start of the round? And how long will this form last? |
| 3. |
Neo.G_SoulKey
(Z) (stats) |
+4 |
3 |
Neo.G_Soulkey deserves this third slot in this month's Power Rank for two reasons: he's been Woongjin's most consistent player this season thus far and is by far, the best-performing Zerg of the season.
Though Stars at 7-7 sits in a middling fifth position, Soulkey at an impressive 9-3 personally is (record-wise) the third best-performing player in Proleague, a position he shares with KT Rolster's Stats. Guess who's been doing better than him? Oh right, Flash and Fantasy.
Though I believe Soulkey's strength lies in his macromanagement, lately his unit control and decision-making has impressed me. I'll put forth two prime examples. First, consider the game against Movie--despite being down, Soulkey kept his calm and essentially won the game with one carefully calculated observer snipe. Second, in his game against Sea, Soulkey's burrowed zergling tactics wiped Sea's bionic force out in a matter of seconds, forcing the GG. And as Soulkey demonstrated to us in his game against Piano, there's still nothing lacking in his monstrous macro.
I wrote last time that Soulkey's ZvZ was, for the most part, practical and uninspiring--it gets the job done. And seeing as he is 4-1 vZ this season (with one really boring loss to Hydra this round) I still stand by that statement. Game against Calm? Meh. Game against Killer? Ling massacre into economic destruction into GG. Game against RorO? Three bases! ...And then Soulkey wins with his massive economic advantage.
Still, Soulkey is winning. I have no qualms with that--I just want to see cleaner, more "awe-inspiring" play. But then again, that's the difference between "solid" and "excellent". And as Kim Min Chul claimed after his victory against Calm, he's going to let his results do the talking. |
| 4. |
Stats
(P) (stats) |
-2 |
2 |
I don't have much to say about Stats that I didn't say last time. He's still doing quite well--9-3 is nothing to sneeze at, and he's still one of the main reasons that KT is first place. Decision-making is still solid--greedy RorO taking extremely fast fourth? Roll him with archon/zealot. Feeling pressured by sHy's assault? Defend expertly with shield battery and then roll with better storms. Engaging Kal's shuttle/reaver with only reaver? Roll him anyway (okay this was actually Kal being extremely sloppy).
Stats is still prone to game-losing sloppiness, which is somewhat disappointing. Lesson to be learned: despite being up more than 25 supply on Snow, if you choose to suicide all your reavers bad stuff is going to happen. Other than this, I can't really find anything reprehensible about Stats' play.
And once again, Bogus vs Stats (even though Stats lost this one) was my favorite game of the round. That rivalry is quickly manifesting itself as one of the best modern rivalries as well.
Speaking of which, I'll end with this:
![[image loading]](http://i.minus.com/iYMcvD9k8TZ39.gif) Kipsate: "Frozen Kakaru gives 0 shit."¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
| 5. |
Stork[gm]
(P) (stats) |
+1 |
1 |
After falling into a three-game losing streak by being defeated by Movie, Stork looked like he was losing steam after his 5-0 start. But, like the stock markets, Stork is quite the hard fellow to predict--you cannot simply extrapolate based on such a small set of data. Over the past month, Stork has issued forth a medley of "meh" and "sexy" games: standard (and by that I mean Light sucks at TvP) wins over Light and Piano, "interesting" but slightly sloppy win against Jaehoon, awesome storm against Mini to seal the deal, and two close losses against Flash and Fantasy. Despite having an overall positive mix of games played, Stork is sort of in a quandary: he beats his lesser opponents like drums and comes close to beating some awesome opponents (à la Flash and Fantasy), but the crux of the matter is he doesn't beat them.
Against both Flash and Fantasy Stork had chances to win. Brood War is a game of "what ifs"--what if Stork hadn't decided to be silly and move his army around randomly against Flash? What if he hadn't rallied so many templar into Fantasy's vultures? We don't know the answer to that, but with rivalries as deep as Flash-Stork (14-13) and Fantasy-Stork (8-10), I feel confident in saying that next time, Stork will get themFantasy back. |
| 6. |
Bisu
(P) (stats) |
+2 |
1 |
I'm not going to lie, I'm highly uninspired by ranks 6-10. But since we have to fill ten a month, let's do this.
If I only had one phrase to use to describe Bisu's play for this past round, it would be "thoroughly uninspiring". What has Bisu done in Round 2?
- Cannon rushed Wooki
- Died to hOn_sin's fail 2fact -> 5fact push
- Beaten Canata
SC2'd4gated Grape
- Outmicroed Trap
- Crushed Snow
My responses:
- Meh
- Blah
- Canata
- Zzz
- Whatever
- Holy whoa Bisu this is what happens when you use high templar
There are two main things to glimpse from these two lists. First, Bisu's opponents (with the exception of Snow) have been mediocre. Second, Bisu's play has been somewhat mediocre (with the exception of games against Snow and Trap, though Trap's control was just awful). With no strong opponents and no exceptional play against these lesser opponents, I can't justify ranking Bisu any higher than 6. |
| 7. |
Turn
(T) (stats) |
- |
7 |
TurN hasn't played many games this season, but the ones he has played have been quite entertaining. And he's won all four of his games. And they were all against quite good competition.
What's not to love? Well, for one thing TurN is very sloppy. Seeing as he's a rookie, I don't fault him too much for that, but it's something he can improve upon. The scary thing is cleaner play would win him games much faster. TurN's style favors aggressive play, and these games have delivered. Despite throwing away tons of units, TurN utilized +1 marines effectively in mowing down Hydra. Similarly, against BeSt TurN went for triple CC into some insane aggression (though he threw away most of his initial army due to poor positioning) that ended up winning him the game. TurN even makes TvT fast-paced and interesting. After characteristically throwing away vultures (to blow an early lead), TurN overruns Bogus by moving him out of his element and catching him out of position multiple times.
TurN may not play a clean game of StarCraft, but he definitely plays an entertaining one. |
| 8. |
Jaehoon
(P) (stats) |
- |
8 |
Jaehoon of Team 8 makes his Power Rank debut as rank 8. While I've always liked Jaehoon, it's still weird to have him on the Power Rank--as I said, I think 6-10 are all kind of meh this month. The scene in general just seems... sloppy right now. But nonetheless, Jaehoon is playing some nice games.
Despite Clam playing for Calm, Jaehoon's crisis management and storm usage were quite nice. Against Stork, had he built earlier cannons at his third he would have easily won (and the dark archon was pretty awesome). Jaehoon's game against hyvaa featured clutch shuttle micro, massive storm drops, and lots of invisible imbalanced units slicing up stuff.
I don't really have much more to say about this. Jaehoon's definitely been playing well, but I think this is more a commentary of "normal" Power Rank frequenters (Jaedong, Hydra, ZerO, etc.) playing poorly. |
| 9. |
Leta
(T) (stats) |
- |
1 |
Leta gets this ninth spot because he's been one of CJ's only positively-performing players this round and because I can't really justify it for anybody else. He's only played four games this round, but I can't say I see anything wrong with his play. In fact, his unit control is still as phenomenal as always. His 2port wraith execution against ZerO pretty much sealed the game (13 kills on one wraith wow) and his vulture harass -> wraith play managed to outmicro Fantasy (handing Fantasy one of two losses this season). And against Tyson, Leta didn't micro poorly--it's more like Tyson decided to take a level in badass for that game. |
| 10. |
Brave[S.G]
(P) (stats) |
- |
10 |
I literally don't think there were ten good players in this round. One way or another, there was some deficiency that cost a player this tenth spot on the PR. So to choose "the best of the bad" is tough... Really, I'd just give it to nobody. But we'll give it to Brave since the slot must be filled. Despite being a one-map, one-matchup sniper, Brave has posted results. Others have not. |
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FREEAGLELAND26782 Posts
Close But No Cigar
 Bogus
Excellent non-TvT play, terrible TvT. Has had the misfortune to go against so many ridiculous opponents. Amazing games, but oftentimes can't win when needed.
 Jaedong
This has been the first time since July of 2007 that Jaedong hasn't been on the Power Rank. And, all favoritism aside, I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, one jaw-dropping game does not an appearance on the Power Rank make.
Last
He's shown somewhat that he can play TvP, but his last two TvT games have been bad. It seems that Last is only good when controlling the tempo, and doesn't respond well to pressure. And his TvZ is terrible.
Light
Light's plight is kind of like Bogus': lots of tough opponents, one bad matchup, one phenomenal matchup, and because of these factors he's slightly negative.
Shoutouts
hOn_sin
Quoting mustaju: "He made Bisu cry. Always a good thing to do."
I kid, I kid. Or do I?
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Seeker
Where dat snitch at?37124 Posts
WTF!!! JAEDONG!!!!!!!!!!
But yay! Flash still #1 but...
JAEDONG!!!!!!!!!!
Damn... we need OSL to start like NOW!
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Jaedong will easily get back on if he continues his form as when he was doing donuts around Modesty (my friend that doesn't even know much about pro BW was in amazement at the colony block)
Last and Bogus have a chance of getting up there if they can start getting favourable matchups. Same with Leta, he's CJ's best player at the moment so it's a travesty that he's not being fielded.
I also expect greater things from Jaehoon
And Bisu will be back again
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Nice write-up  Thanks.
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i admit jaedong was off form this month but taking him off the pr? seems excessive no? i mean if u put him vs most players on the list i'd say he is favorite
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I lurk here most days.. and have done for years with the odd comment... but I could lurk no longer at this.
it is a joke that you have taken Jaedong off the rank.
hes not 100% and maybe not even 75% the tyrant granted but still hes way better than most on this list.
Over Reaction much, when you consider there have been times when hes dipped like this before to come back and destroy flash when no one else could.
Jaedong You are still Number 1. You just need to get over this t8 bump.
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Where is Jaedong? He doesnt deserve to drop out of the ranks. He should definitely be rank 7 thru 8.
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The Flash vs Stork game is the most high level play i have seen in quite a while. Stork played tight as hell, still Flash won. If this game proves anyting it's that Flash truly can't be beaten.
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I think Jaedong is currently underrated.
I'm not complaining that the new power rank is finally out! Please keep up the pace for as long as you can, beloved flamewheel!
I'm very happy that Brave is getting recognition for his excellent results last month. Congratulations to him!
I hope the map revisions will give zergs the chance to dominate like they did last season. They are too weak this season and I want to blame the maps!
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While I'm pained to see JD off the rank, I have to agree...he just wasn't up to par in January. The loss to Flash was baaad. I mean, sure it's Flash, but JD had beaten him four times in a row, and this time it wasn't even close. And of course losing to (shudder) Canata...Thankfully he's 3 for 3 this month, so let's wish him a speedy return to the PR.
Yes, Brave is a Bloody Ridge/Chain Reaction specialist, but he really has two great matchups. His PvT appears to be ridiculously bad, but that's kind of hard to test when you manage to avoid the matchup THIRTY-TWO FRICKING TIMES IN A ROW, including all of 2011. How in the world...?
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11 comments, seriously?
Please keep this up, despite the (seemingly?) lack of attention. PLEASE!
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It feels like such a joke that Jaedong is of the ranking after his two last games. 
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konadora
Singapore66366 Posts
this month's PR hard 
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On February 17 2012 22:24 Cambium wrote:
11 comments, seriously?
Please keep this up, despite the (seemingly?) lack of attention. PLEASE!
I wouldn't say there is lack of attention. I for one prefer just to read and not post on PR
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On February 18 2012 11:26 Elroi wrote:It feels like such a joke that Jaedong is of the ranking after his two last games.
i ts always like that
whenever they rank him low he's like a new man
thats why i dont care what they rank him
should be better once the individuals will start
more sample of games and much less time for practicing
he peaks in those times
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The issue is that the PR commentary is split between the News section, the actual PR section, and the Power Rank thread.
If Teamliquid was actually concerned for how active the PR seemed, they would remove two of those things.
ZerO is STILL UNDEFEATED on Electric Circuit, even after the map revision. I'm sure he'll replace Jaehoon on next week's PR.
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If the TL staff still gave a damn about Broodwar, the power rank would still be on the sidebar.
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Flash's music really is suitably epic for him, I get chills whenever I see Flash in the booth with it playing.
P.S. Bring back the PR to the right sidebar, what's the point of even having those joke foreigner Elo ratings there anyway?
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10/3 now. What are they waiting before making PR for March?
It seems that people are going to abandon Brood War in 1 or 2 years.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/flamewheel/sadsheep.gif)
