We've had many opportunities to see professional Starcraft 2 players compete through tournaments, casts, and streams. At this point, we should have a general idea of who the the top players are in SC2.
There are many ways one can based their top 10 best players' list. You can do it through tournament wins, placing high in major tournaments, prize money earned, consistency from beta to now, overall skill level, mentions by other pro players, etc.
Once you list your top 10 best players' list, you should give your reasoning, so people can see where you are coming.
Overall Reasoning: My list is influenced by the player's environment. GSL is the best league/tournament where the topmost caliber of players participate, while the Korean server has the highest skill level. So naturally, most of the best players would come from the GSL.
Individual Reasoning: IMMvp: Most recent season GSL championship; shown top-level play in team leagues
oGsMC: Previous GSL champion; consistently shown high level play throughout the GSL seasons.
IMNestea: Previous GSL champion; placed in the top 4 in the GSL at least two times
MarineKingPrime: Took second place twice in the GSL
Jinro: Finished in the top 4 in back to back GSL seasons
oGsTop: First Code A champion. Did well in the first season of GSL until losing a very close game to fruitdealer.
Idra: Has appeared in all 4 GSL seasons. Shown consistency, improvement in skill level, and tournament rankings.
Fruitdealer: Previous GSL champion. Fortunes have somewhat declined from GSL 1.
TLO: Shown he can compete with the best players in the world by qualifying and advancing in GSL 1+2. Consistent high level play from beta to now.
Huk: Had two accounts in the Korea ladder in the top 10. After 4 days in Europe, he has managed to become the number 1 player with 4k points.
Edit- I'll add up the tallies from people's entries to see what the general consensus is. I'll use a 10 point system (1st=10, 2nd=9, etc). Also, I will only consider lists that have all 10 players and is serious.
I agree with OP for the most part, the only glaring issue I have is putting HuK in top ten based on the "overall reasoning" since HuK has yet to accomplish anything in the GSL. His ladder results are impressive sure, but I'll wait to see how he fares in the GSL to put him in my "Top 10 Best Starcraft 2 Players" list.
Also, I strongly disagree with TOP over IdrA. TOP is a great player, IdrA is better imho. Other than that pretty good list. edit: For reasoning: You put a code A player over a code S player? I don't quite understand that. Like I sad before, not a knock to TOP, IdrA is just better.
On February 11 2011 01:23 kirkybaby wrote: I agree with OP for the most part, the only glaring issue I have is putting HuK in top ten based on the "overall reasoning" since HuK has yet to accomplish anything in the GSL. His ladder results are impressive sure, but I'll wait to see how he fares in the GSL to put him in my "Top 10 Best Starcraft 2 Players" list.
Also, I strongly disagree with TOP over IdrA. TOP is a great player, IdrA is better imho. Other than that pretty good list.
I was debating between HuK and Genius, but yeah, I can see where you are coming from.
1. IMMVP (Baller) 2. MarineKing (Strong Solid player) 3. oGsMC (Good but his mid/late game has not been tested) 4. Jinro (Extremely solid) 5. Idra (Solid and consistent) 6. Nestea (Interesting style and a good previous legacy) 7. Fruitdealer (The Zerg Hope) 8. Huk (Good on ladder but hasnt been tested) 9. Select (Great player and beat jinro but failed to prove himself in tournaments) 10. oGsNada (High potential and former bonjiwa, can grow into a new bonjiwa)
Honestly I don't see why people still put Fruitdealer as one of the top players, he's really not at the highest tier of players anymore. He'll be gone from code S within a few seasons if he maintains this level of play.
On February 11 2011 01:32 Xinder wrote: Seriously? no whitera anywhere?
Well my list is based on the presumption that the GSL is the best league/tournament and the korean server had the highest level of skilled players. If White-ra goes to Korea to compete, I might consider him on the list.
On February 11 2011 01:30 SheaR619 wrote: 1. IMMVP (Baller) 2. MarineKing (Strong Solid player) 3. oGsMC (Good but his mid/late game has not been tested) 4. Jinro (Extremely solid) 5. Idra (Solid and consistent) 6. Nestea (Interesting style and a good previous legacy) 7. Fruitdealer (The Zerg Hope) 8. Huk (Good on ladder but hasnt been tested) 9. Select (Great player and beat jinro but failed to prove himself in tournaments) 10. oGsNada (High potential and former bonjiwa, can grow into a new bonjiwa)
How can you put Huk in a top ten list and then say he "hasn't been tested"? It doesn't make any sense.
1. IMMVP - watch his games- he's obviously classes above everyone else. 2. NesTea - Similar to MVP, just add "at his race" at the end of the sentence. 3. oGsMC - Exact same as NesTea. NesTea plays a more difficult race, so he goes higher up. 4. MarineKing - Two finals appearances in GSL is pretty baller. He made his own style of play with marines. Easy pick. 5. Jinro - One of few terrans that took games to the late game by choice, rather than failed all-ins. Knocked off some top dogs on the way, and shows how solid practice can make you. 6. TLO - People forget he would've made Code-S from just making Ro32 in Season 3. He beasts out at tournaments, and is the lone exception to the "you shouldn't play random" rule of competitive starcraft. 7. IdrA - Almost every top player in these lists has that one season that was the "exception" for them. IdrA doesn't. He consistently gets better. Whether his reputation matches his results is irrelevant to me. 8. Squirtle - Watch the GSTL. That will explain everything. 9. Nada - When watching Nada, it just feels as you watch like he's better than his opponents, results aside. I anticipate Nada being a wrecking ball in the GSL with the bigger maps. 10. FruitDealer - Considering his reputation for practicing much less than the average progamer, and maybe for nostalgia from season 1, I feel like the FruitDealer is the right person to round out this list.
1. mvp : clear choice 2. Nestea : no contest 3. MC : lost quite a few maps recently but still the best toss outta there 4. MKP : been struggling a bit but his micro,mobility & fresh builds are still enough to rape noobs 5. Byun : his code A & teamleagues games prove himself to be a truly Code S terran, and theres still much room to improve 6. Jinro : doesnt amaze me but he definitely has the safest play and his previous gsl is impressive 7. Squirtle : dude surely evolves alot, watch his GSTL games for more info 8. TOP : code A top1 9. IdrA: his macro game is cool and all but I guess future opponents wont let the game pass 15 mins mark 10. NaDa: seems to lack something to compete with the best (aka top4) but still played brilliantly against the rest.
*Close but no cigar: Clide: played many epic games & lost most of them] FD, Tester, July: love to see u guys' games but still too fragile Bomber : so few appearances and not made to code A, had he beat mvp I would place him in #10 StC : having followed his gisado & ladder games closely, he will be #1 when he left the army
My list won't be based on any tournaments in particular, but in my "feeling" that maybe someone who is not from GSL can take down someone who can. Obviously, overall the GSL will have the highest quality players, but still...
1. IMMVP (after crushing GSL4 and all of those online tournaments in korea, pretty sure he's the man to beat) 2. IMNestea 2. oGsMC (I made a tie here because I don't think they've played quite enough yet to say who is better overall. Each basically tore up in various respects: MC was killing PvT for a long time, Nestea is a BEAST of zvz, both got a championship, etc. I have to give nestea the slight edge because he seems like a more long-term focused player, whereas MC relied a lot on really really crisp attack builds) 4. Marineking (I think his stylistic play will cost him wins in the long run since people have focused on it a lot, like it cost kyrix when he used 2 base high econ aggro over and over. Still, his micro is sublime and his decision making in end-game scenarios is uncanny). 5. Jinro (two top 4's in the two hardest seasons is quite an impressive feat. Moreover, he didn't get there with gimmicky play, but with solid play. This means that I think he's got more skill throughout the whole spectrum of possible games, whereas someone like Rain was only good at rushing.) 6. IdrA (He's pretty good - I think he could be in the 10th-15th slots also. I think once he solidifies his play against cheesy rushes and learns to tilt less, maybe he will go farther?) 7. Duckload! (he's been just crushing in foreign tournaments, so I have to give it to him. I absolutely think the foreign scene can take down the Korean scene right now, so he's got to be on this list)
Don't know who else deserves to go up...I'm not a fan of throwing on as-yet-unproven IM players or ST players just because they did well in a tournament one time. People have good days, other people have bad days, you get lucky on builds, etc.
No particular order really, other than the first three
IMmvp - Self explanatory, this guy is on a completely different level.
oGsTheStC - A lot of people still have no idea who this guy is, but they will after May 22nd. This guy is an absolute monster and I would almost put him in the same category as MVP. He has undoubtedly the best dropship multitasking I have ever seen in any player. He was by far the best Terran out there for a while before MVP started tearing things up. Notable achievements include holding the record for the highest win streak (22 wins) on Gisado's KotH, as well as winning the recent FXOpen tournament.
ST_Bomber - This guy nearly beat MVP (I think nerves got to him and he got careless which is why he lost) and was the most dominant player in the Zotac Team Invitational a few weeks ago, including an all-kill on oGs.
oGsMC - I was on the MC bandwagon back when he got eliminated in the ro64 in GSL1, I had seen him play and I knew how good he really was back then. Then everyone else seemed to finally realize that after he won GSL3.
ST_Squirtle - I've been a fan of this guy since I first saw him play in one of the earlier GSLs; he made some poor decisions which ultimately cost him but after seeing him play in the GSTL he has definitely improved exponentially and I hope he'll get code S soon. Probably toward the bottom end of my list if I had to actually order it but definitely deserves a spot imo.
ZeNEXPuzzle - Bad games in the GSTL but he destroyed people in the Zotac Team Invitational recently, with one of his notable achievements being an all-kill on IM, including MVP, Losira, Yonghwa, and Yoda, and an all-kill on oGs, including Ensnare, Hyperdub, MC, and Cezanne. He's also consistently highly ranked on the ladder, so hopefully we get to see more from him in future GSL events.
oGsTOP - I think people kind of overlooked him since he failed to qualify for GSL2 and 3, but he's always been incredibly good, and he 4-0'd MC in one tournament. Hopefully he'll show good results now that he's (rightfully) in code S.
oGsNada - The best (or one of the best) macro Terrans. I hear he doesn't practice all that much so if he really put in the time he would be a beast; as it is he's still incredibly good.
IMNestea - To be honest I was hesitant about even putting any Zergs on the list because I personally don't think any of them are really amazing in comparison to the top Terran and Protoss players. I don't even really care for Nestea's play, but he is very solid and without a doubt the best Zerg so I gave him a spot, plus his GSL results speak for themselves.
MarineKingPrime - I was a little iffy about putting him on the list but I can't deny that he's been incredibly consistent with top finishes in tournaments he's played in, even if he does seem to suck in finals matches.
Edit #2: Also just noting that I excluded IMYonghwa and IMSeed from my list because I unfortunately did not see their games in the GSTL and didn't think it to be fair to include them.
I dunno I mean, if I had to have someone face against a Nada or countless other players on the list, players that I would want against them would be an MC or a MVP or Nestea, but I wouldn't bet my money on Huk winning a BO5 against say, Nada, or countless other Korean players. While Huk is a strong player I don't think he's top 10 yet til he proves his invite to code A worthy.
Same situation for ogs top. He did well in one gsl and lost to fruitdealer, but that was the 1st and easiest gsl by far, and fruitdealer has really fallen off quite a bit as well since then too. Then after all that TLO. I wouldn't say TLO is a stronger player than WhiteRa or Sjow right now the way those two have been performing in recent times.
The OP's list seems to be, 10 names I can think of right now, but I absolutely disagree that of the 10 best players in the world, 4 of them are foreigners, and only two of them have made it to the RO8 before.
1. IMMVP - reigning GSL champion. Always the favorite in any game, in any matchup, against anyone. Superb in every aspect of the game. Micro, macro, decision making, game sense, crisis management are all top tier. Not perfect but as close as there is in SC2 at the moment
2. IMNestea - GSL2 winner and high finishes in every tournament since then. Best decision making in the world. He didn't get too many chances to play in the GSTL but with the new larger maps Nestea won't be dying to cheesy all-ins anymore.
3. oGsMC - Best performing protoss in the GSL. Fantastic micro and innovative style of play. Remains to be seen whether he can macro with the best of them. Has looked mortal as of late, even in his signature matchup PvT.
4. MarineKingPrime - Most unique style of the S class players in Korea. Micro is IMO the best in the world, even better than MVP's. People keep saying he'll drop off the map after his style is figured out, but I believe MKP has the raw skill and game sense to stay an elite player for a long time.
5. Jinro - Most solid terran player in the world. Guy has very few holes in his gameplay and almost never loses due to bad decisions or unnecessary mistakes (GSL match against check notwithstanding)
6. Idra - The macro zerg. If you don't play aggressively in the early to mid game you will get rolled over Idra's infinite armies. Only major weakness is his inability to deal with cheese.
7. Nada - Still a very solid player with great macro, but his decision making, at least in the GSLs, has disappointed. Don't ever count out a bonjwa though.
8. Fruitdealer - Despite his poor results post GSL3, I still believe FD has what it takes to be an elite player. Based on his interviews he seems to be lacking in motivation ever since his win in GSL1 but I could be reading too much into it.
9. TOP - Strong, consistent performer and winner of code A, but has not shown to have what it takes to mentioned in the same breath as the top players in the world
10. Squirtle - Possibly the new king of PvT especially after + Show Spoiler +
beating MVP last night, which even MC failed to do
Posted great results in the Zotac tourney as well as GSTL. Has shown he is capable of a variety of playstyles and is definitely one of the most improved players in 2011.
Bottom half of the list could have gone in many directions. The gap between #7-10 and guys like Puzzle, Bomber, Seed, Byun, Tester, Genius, etc is miniscule. I made my list giving results in tournaments more weight than current form but it would not surprise me in the least to see people not even in code S on people's lists
I actually think your list is along the lines of what I'm thinking also. I would rank TLO a little higher though because he can hold his own as random. I still don't know how he does it. He can beat White-Ra PvP. I mean, how does that work? His weakest is Protoss, yet he took 2 games off White-Ra PvP. I'm baffled by his amazing mind.
Other than that, I might move MarineKing down a few knotches as well because his marine rush is powerful but at the same time kind of cheesy. I just don't see any variety from him.
1)MVP-reigning GSL champion. Micro, macro, decision making, game sense, crisis management are all top in the world. He destoryed his way though GSL4, thats not even the best part! In GSL 4 u only got into code S by ponits so all there players that got into CodeS in season 4 were the best overall players from the past 4 GSL.
2)Nestea- A GSL champion. his Decision making could be even better then MVP, Destoryed everyone a long the ways to the championship! one of only 2 players in the GSL to beat MKP.
3)MC-A GSL champion destoryed everything in his path. hes the top toss player in the world right now just wouldnt be right to not have him here.
4)MKP- Two time runner up in the biggest tournament in the world. plays his own style not to many people can say they do that.
5)Jinro- Been in the top 4 two times in a row, Has beaten one of the best tosses in the world in MC. Best overall non-korean. Won a MLG, was one of the first terran players to play a full game not just cheese. overall top 3 in the wrold when it comes to terran
6)Idra-Mlg champion, has been in all 4 GSl only getting better with each one. beaten almost everyone on this list that being said i dont think anyone can really say that :D
7)White-ra- nothing really needs to be sad here hes the oldest pro-gamer he can still hang with the young guys and since sc2 has come out hes won more tournements then any other player in the world so overall even if hes not in the korean seen hes a big theart to be dealt with in any tournament. Oh and hes got a wife too!
8)Fruitdealer-1st GSL CHAMPION! That cant be said enough he was the first royal roader was the first champion of many to come! that wont ever die as long as the game is around, 2nd in money made from Starcraft2. even though he hasnt done much lately what he did in GSL1 puts him on the top 10 list for now.
9)Seed although we cant really say anything about him because he hasnt made it to Code S with the big guns. From what i seen in GTSL he is a BEAST! with 2 teamates that are past champions i feel he well trun into a really good player we just have to wait and see i guess hehe
10)Huk first Mlg winner, although he hasnt done much lately i still feel like he has a good chance at getting into Code S round of 64 at least. he has some of the beast macro i have seen also was first player to get to 4000 ponits on the ladder and has been top 5 on each ladder.
1) IMMVP - just sick 2) oGsMC - anonther amazing player who suprises me everytime he plays 3) Marinekingprime - this wont last long as his agressive style will be able to be shut down soon but for now he is doing wonders 4) Liquid'Jinro - Words cannot explain what this guy has done for the foreign scene. kudos 5) IMNestea - solid 6) IdrA (ge) - relies on mechanics and believes he is better than everyone. 7) oGsThestc - another solid player. 8) Liquid'HuK - Chris the world loves your play and personality. keep it up 9) NsPGenious - impressive 10) Squirtle - impressive showing in gstl hopefully can keep up the good work and get into code S
Hate it or love it 1) IMMvP (CURRENTLY! He's gained a lot of fame from winning GSL season 4. Before that I didn't even know who he was. But just watching him play I can see his Terran style is very solid. He is only the best right now because he is Terran. I'm not raging or anything but I'm saying that SC2 is unbalanced at the moment.) 2) Genius (The best protoss in my opinion. His micro is amazing, one of the most underrated starcraft players. Being a Protoss player myself i really enjoy is style of play.) 3) Tester (Almost the same level as Genius. His play is more of a macro-safe build order. He can execute, time and defend very well.) 4) FruitDealer (In my opinion he's a very capable player, and better than NesTea. He needs to improve fast and get used to how Starcraft is changing at such an amazing speed. His use of banelings is always entertaining to watch.) 5) NesTea (Very calm and collected Zerg player. Knows the right unit composition and when to expand or macro up. I think for a Zerg player that's the most key point. Knowing what you're opponent is going to counter it.) 6) MarineKing (The best marine control I've ever seen. He's not just some all-in starcraft player getting to the finals by luck. There's a reason why pros can't defend it although they've seen him do it countless times. He's young and has a lot to learn which makes him scarier.) 7) oGsMC (Solid Protoss playing. Really good at timing attacks and putting on early pressure.) 8) Kyrix (Good Zerg play. Goes for the early expand knowing that he can defend it. Goes for high economy banelings which many players cannot defend.) 9) oGsStC (Very good unknown player because he hasn't tried out for any GSLs. I'm not sure if he's the ninth best but his style of play is very strong. If he tried out for GSL I'm sure he would do well. He's also MC's practice partner.) 10) oGsNaDa (Back from SC1 his tank-style of play is very strong. He has the apm to control many units and should be included in the top 10.)
Ill put my top 5, because I think these 5 players have shown why they are the best 5 in the world
1. MVP (reigning GSL champion, shown he is the most dominant force) 2. MC (Previous GSL champion) 3. Nestea (Previous GSL champion) 4. MKP (Runner up in last 2 GSL championships) 5. Jinro (Semifinalist in last 2 championships)
6-10 fluctuate consistently and include players like HuK, July, Idra, Tester, Nada, TOP, Genius, etc.
On February 11 2011 01:52 lazyfeet wrote: 1.IMMvp 2.oGsMc 3.Nestea 4.MarineKing 5.Jinro 6.whitera 7.NsPGenius 8.Fruitdealer 9.Trickster 10.Idra
MarineKing is defintley not the best. His play style is very predictable, and he's very good, but defintley not top 10. But, he is one of the best "comeback" players I've seen, where he's about to lose, but pulls a win out. And HuK is defintley better than Whitera. Other than that, I agree.
On February 11 2011 02:10 MegaManEXE wrote: oGsTheStC - A lot of people still have no idea who this guy is, but they will after May 22nd. This guy is an absolute monster and I would almost put him in the same category as MVP. He has undoubtedly the best dropship multitasking I have ever seen in any player. He was by far the best Terran out there for a while before MVP started tearing things up. Notable achievements include holding the record for the highest win streak (22 wins) on Gisado's KotH, as well as winning the recent FXOpen tournament.
Absolutely this. I remember watching some replays of him a few months ago, back when Terran was mostly 1 base whatever, and this guy was insane. He actually played macro, and would drop like 3-4 places simultaneously, controlling and pressuring with the main army while microing all those places, and not slipping on his macro. It was ridiculous. Only recently have Terrans been as multilocally aggressive as I saw him play.
Above all: Day[9] (If he would just play a tournament and not commentate he would own it ;])
1. Ace (After being so solid in Intel Extreme Masters, I think he can beat MVP) 2. MVP (He is MVP) 3. Moon (Again he played so well in Intel Extreme Masters and I think he is still far from his best) 4. Nada (As Artosis said, if he wants it he's gonna win it - for the TSL3) 5. Genius (Expecting alot from in in TSL3) 6. WhiteRa (Fanboy, what can I say?) 7. Squirtle (Been on a roll lately, I think we can expect alot from him) 8. Fruitdealer (Solid, and he won GSL 1 so...) 9. MC (Not been at the top of his game lately IMO, but he is dangerous) 10. NesTea (Same as above)
1. IMMVP In the words of the Power Rank writer, "don't even try to argue this one."
2. oGsMC The only people who can beat this guy in a BoX are players who have a chance at being number 1 on anyone's list. He's beaten MVP in a series. He's beaten MKP in a series. He 4-0d Jinro in a series. Honestly, the only person I'd even bet on against MC is MVP, and I'd have to think about it beforehand/look at the maps.
3. IMNesTea He has his rough patches(his games against Rain in GSL3, for instance) but overall I dunno how anyone could look at a dude this powerful and not put him in their top 3. Go back and watch how effortlessly he dominated Choya. Look at the first game against MVP in their series in January. Way too good.
4. MarineKingPrime.WE Pretty sure he's technically the most consistent GSL player. Regardless of what people might say about his style being "figured out", this dude is absolutely sick, and he's not stupid. Unless his level of play drops drastically, I don't think we'll see him go anywhere any time soon.
5. ST.Bomber It is a straight up travesty that this kid is not tearing it up in Code S right now. He is so damned good. Oh my god. He's a serious threat to every player on this list, even the ones above him(MC beat him in a series and it was a struggle.
6. Liquid`Jinro Uh, really good? I think Jinro's kind of nipping at the heels of the truly S-Class players. He'll get there, but I don't feel that he's there just yet. No doubt in my mind that he's not just on a different level from other Europeans, but actually occupying the 3 or 4 levels above most Europeans while picking at them with banshees.
7. ZeNEXPuzzle Okay, so we haven't actually gotten a chance to see the best from this guy, apparently. I'm actually wary of all these guys who we've seen through outside tournaments and GSTL because your performance outside GSL doesn't always indicate your performance within it; in BW there were definitely players who shined in individual leagues but sucked in proleague and vice versa. That's why Yonghwa isn't on this list. But you know what? I believe. This guy will be a Protoss hero.
8. EGIdra Idra's actually one of my favorite players, since the first pro games of SC2 I saw were in the King of the Beta tournament which he did incredibly well in. He's really consistent and will be around forever, but right now he just doesn't look like a champion.
9. ST.Ace I've been a really big fan of this dude since his series against IMKyumer. He's my Clide. Every GSL, I'm like, "This is the one, man." One of these times it will be. He'll tear shit up. You have my word.
10. LeenockfOu This kid is so sick. Like way way sick. He's been embarrassingly better than his Code A opponents so far, and I think he's gonna take the tournament. I genuinely do not believe anyone left is good enough to beat him in a BoX.