7. Hydra. Hydra lost to Flash, which apparently everybody does in series play these days. Since then - 6-1 in Proleague, 2-0 and progression in ODT. I was tempted to drop him, because seriously who loses to Juni?
On July 01 2011 03:00 Mortality wrote: No way should Hydra be #7.
Too high? Too low? I can't see him higher than #5 (behind Flash, Jaedong, Bisu, ZerO). Probably could be ahead of Jangbi based on resume at this point, but I also think Jangbi's been much more dominant this month. Plus my including YellOw throws the rank off by a place - if you don't like that just move everybody up one.
Why can't he be higher than Jaedong, Bisu, and ZerO? He has a near perfect PL record, and advanced through the prelims and ODT (no Bisu or ZerO) with multiple wins over Terrans and Zergs. Only one win over Protoss this month, but I don't think we have any reason to doubt his ability in that matchup.
I can see why Jaedong may be higher, but not the others. Unless you utterly ignore the OSL, Hydra must be either #2 or #3, imo. I believe he should be ahead of JD because JD had that mini-slump earlier in the month, but I can accept Hydra #3. I just can't accept Bisu and ZerO, who are currently two rounds behind Hydra in the OSL, being higher (remember that Hydra was only one round behind ZerO in the MSL).
Jangbi has been dominating prelims. Prelims are just prelims. How many people each season are qualified for both ODT (or higher) and MST (or higher)? It's very, very common. Between ODT and OSL you have 28. Between MST and MSL you have 48.
Jangbi is looking really good right now, but are you serious when you say someone whose best tournament result in 2-3 years is a Ro16 appearance and has a 17-24 overall PL record is "hotter" than someone who won MSL, made semifinals the next season, also made it out of ODT, was Ro16 OSL last season, and has the 5th best PL record?
What?
What? What? What? What? What?
By the way you are acting, I would think that every single one of Jangbi's wins was over a PR caliber player. It looks to me like he went 2-2 against guys who will be on the PR (1-0 over Zero and Horang2, 0-2 to Soo). A few other decent wins, sure, but if he's not going to have any accomplishments of note under his belt -- and believe me, a year from now nobody is going to remember who won the OGN offline preliminary wildcard -- then I want to see him whip up some S-class threats, repeatedly.
And also, I love Zero, but right now Hydra is a shoe-in for a higher spot. I don't understand the inconsistency in your ranking. You put an absurd emphasis on prelims for Jangbi's sake, but then you're giving Zero the nod over Hydra when Zero failed in the prelims and Hydra is in the OSL? And it's true that Zero was a finalist when Hydra wasn't, but Zero got 3-0'd by Flash just the same as Hydra did. Had the bracket been arranged differently, are you that confident that Jaedong would have beaten Hydra?
And oh, fine, he lost to Juni. Everyone will drop a game to a weaker player from time to time. Juni has also beaten Flash (at the time when Flash got 2nd place to Jaedong in GOM Classic), Effort (shortly after his OSL win), and also Bisu (admittedly during his slump). Not to mention that he knocked Soulkey out of the prelims this season.
The thing is, Starcraft is about the law of averages. Juni sucks not because he "can't beat" a good player but because he normally loses to everybody except Ace team members. I think, given Hydra's other recent results, we can safely rule that loss an anomaly.
On the case of Jangbi (which happens to be my second favorite player behind Jaedong), these monster streaks kind of happen once in a while to some random a-team player, it's statistically not even unlikely. In Jangbi's case we just know that he once had the skills to back it up, so we can give him a little more credit than others. His record looks totally ridiculous on first sight (21-2 or sth. like that, don't know for sure), but as soon as you see that this i.e. includes wins against Tossgirl, you know it's just highly inflated.
In those cases, I believe #1-#3 should be holy ground, you shouldn't occupy such a rank based on a lucky run if you are not a top3 player. #4 or #5 maybe possible if others don't perform up to their standards, but with Hydra and Zer0 (he still is a MSL finalist) in the mix, the top5 should not be in reach for him, that needs at least another very solid month. I believe #6 is the highest we should go here.
On July 01 2011 04:11 Mortality wrote: Jangbi has been dominating prelims. Prelims are just prelims. How many people each season are qualified for both ODT (or higher) and MST (or higher)? It's very, very common. Between ODT and OSL you have 28. Between MST and MSL you have 48.
Jangbi is looking really good right now, but are you serious when you say someone whose best tournament result in 2-3 years is a Ro16 appearance and has a 17-24 overall PL record is "hotter" than someone who won MSL, made semifinals the next season, also made it out of ODT, was Ro16 OSL last season, and has the 5th best PL record?
What?
What? What? What? What? What?
By the way you are acting, I would think that every single one of Jangbi's wins was over a PR caliber player. It looks to me like he went 2-2 against guys who will be on the PR (1-0 over Zero and Horang2, 0-2 to Soo). A few other decent wins, sure, but if he's not going to have any accomplishments of note under his belt -- and believe me, a year from now nobody is going to remember who won the OGN offline preliminary wildcard -- then I want to see him whip up some S-class threats, repeatedly.
I admit that Jangbi's a bit of an anomaly in my ranking. Most of that's from the way he absolutely dominated Horang2 and Shuttle, and a little bit of it's pure fanboyism. So let's say we drop him down a couple spots.
On July 01 2011 04:11 Mortality wrote: And also, I love Zero, but right now Hydra is a shoe-in for a higher spot. I don't understand the inconsistency in your ranking. You put an absurd emphasis on prelims for Jangbi's sake, but then you're giving Zero the nod over Hydra when Zero failed in the prelims and Hydra is in the OSL? And it's true that Zero was a finalist when Hydra wasn't, but Zero got 3-0'd by Flash just the same as Hydra did. Had the bracket been arranged differently, are you that confident that Jaedong would have beaten Hydra?
As I mentioned above, my love for Jangbi isn't really based on the prelims, while ZerO goofing up is something that needs at least an excuse...
At the same time, I think ZerO is actually better than Hydra; I think he played better against Flash than Hydra did (even if the result was the some); and he's been more important to his team over this last month than Hydra. Also I'm a Stars fan. I guess there's an argument to be made the other way, though.
(And yes, I think JD would have beaten Hydra.)
EDIT: Jangbi's record: without counting prelims, Jangbi is 11-1 since May, 8-0 in June with a 6-0 in Proleague play. May: W Sea, Stats, Sacsri L Hydra. June: W Last Crazy-Hydra Hyuk Horang2 HyuN Wooki. (Prelims: all wins except vs soO, qualified for both leagues.) ODT (June): wins over s2, Shuttle.
Okay, it's not the best opponents ever, but still.
Am I the only who would put JD at 1 and flash at 3-4 since he havent played at all in kt's 2 last PL games and is 0-5 in recent proleague? Taking care of the wrist and MSL curse is all good and taking into consideration but putting him at 1st seems... weird considering he hasn't anything else going for him than "fear" and won starleague cus his last 2 weeks has been pretty bad to be honest.
i just dont feel like he is up there, you might disagree but thats how i feel at this moment...
On July 01 2011 05:15 Iplaythings wrote: Am I the only who would put JD at 1 and flash at 3-4 since he havent played at all in kt's 2 last PL games and is 0-5 in recent proleague? Taking care of the wrist and MSL curse is all good and taking into consideration but putting him at 1st seems... weird considering he hasn't anything else going for him than "fear" and won starleague cus his last 2 weeks has been pretty bad to be honest.
i just dont feel like he is up there, you might disagree but thats how i feel at this moment...
You have a point but tying NaDa with a whopping 6-0 in MSL Semis and Finals alone warrants #1 imho. Furthermore JD went on the biggest losing streak of his career at the beginning of this month which isn't exactly something to be proud of either....
Another thing to consider is the ever popular "Bo5 for your life" argument - even with his current wrist condition Flash, not knowing the opponent, would still be the favorite pick for almost everyone I guess.
On July 01 2011 05:15 Iplaythings wrote: Am I the only who would put JD at 1 and flash at 3-4 since he havent played at all in kt's 2 last PL games and is 0-5 in recent proleague? Taking care of the wrist and MSL curse is all good and taking into consideration but putting him at 1st seems... weird considering he hasn't anything else going for him than "fear" and won starleague cus his last 2 weeks has been pretty bad to be honest.
i just dont feel like he is up there, you might disagree but thats how i feel at this moment...
You have a point but tying NaDa with a whopping 6-0 in MSL Semis and Finals alone warrants #1 imho.
But this isn't IFFHS for starcraft, the Power Rank is about who's playing the best now you know.
On July 01 2011 05:15 Iplaythings wrote: Am I the only who would put JD at 1 and flash at 3-4 since he havent played at all in kt's 2 last PL games and is 0-5 in recent proleague? Taking care of the wrist and MSL curse is all good and taking into consideration but putting him at 1st seems... weird considering he hasn't anything else going for him than "fear" and won starleague cus his last 2 weeks has been pretty bad to be honest.
i just dont feel like he is up there, you might disagree but thats how i feel at this moment...
You have a point but tying NaDa with a whopping 6-0 in MSL Semis and Finals alone warrants #1 imho.
But this isn't IFFHS for starcraft, the Power Rank is about who's playing the best now you know.
Power Rank isn't as simple as that and you know it. How do you define "playing the best" for example and how do you define "now". The last game? The last 3 games? Probably the last month is how I would define it. And "playing the best" includes winning titles, setting/matching records and showing incredible Bo5 perfomances imho.
On July 01 2011 05:15 Iplaythings wrote: Am I the only who would put JD at 1 and flash at 3-4 since he havent played at all in kt's 2 last PL games and is 0-5 in recent proleague? Taking care of the wrist and MSL curse is all good and taking into consideration but putting him at 1st seems... weird considering he hasn't anything else going for him than "fear" and won starleague cus his last 2 weeks has been pretty bad to be honest.
i just dont feel like he is up there, you might disagree but thats how i feel at this moment...
You have a point but tying NaDa with a whopping 6-0 in MSL Semis and Finals alone warrants #1 imho.
But this isn't IFFHS for starcraft, the Power Rank is about who's playing the best now you know.
Power Rank isn't as simple as that and you know it. How do you define "playing the best" for example and how do you define "now". The last game? The last 3 games? Probably the last month is how I would define it. And "playing the best" includes winning titles, setting/matching records and showing incredible Bo5 perfomances imho.
So what is your point exactly?
You said that achieving particular statistical record alone warrants number 1 in PR. I said it's not. That's was point. It was clearly visible, you know. It doesn't matter if you argue about horizon, the above statement was not true.
JD's ZvZ is a bit suspect right now and his ZvP isn't so dominant as ELO indicates. He no longer looks like he's on a level Protoss players cannot touch. #1 is pushing it.
Regarding MSL, I don't see how anyone can feel certain that Hydra wouldn't have been able to beat JD. If they faced in a bo5 right now I'd bet 60/40 in favor of Hydra, who already beat JD pretty convincingly at a time when JD's ZvZ was looking sharper than it does right now. Again, you're reading way too much into a single loss against Juni.
Zero is stronger than Hydra at ZvT, but at ZvZ Hydra is stronger and I actually think Hydra may be stronger at ZvP. Zero plays a very smart ZvP, but he also drops games much more frequently. Zero is Zero. When he's on he drops my jaw; when he's off I cringe.