Welcome to another edition of the Power Rank! Serral shook up the rankings last month by entering the top ten, and this month he's joined by fellow foreigner Neeb who's been on an impressive tear in GSL Code S. Here are the Power Rank criteria:
Results up to September 4th (BEFORE the GSL Code S semifinals) were taken into consideration.
The Power Rank is an aggregate, average ranking of separate lists submitted by individual members of the TeamLiquid.net writing staff.
Criteria considered include, but are not limited to: Tournament placements, overall record, quality of opponents faced, quality of play.
Recent results are weighted more heavily, but players may receive benefit of the doubt for consistent performances over time.
Leenock: Alas, poor Leenock! After making a surprising late-career comeback and reaching the Code S quarterfinals, Leenock found himself hospitalized for gallstone surgery just before his match against TY. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't able to play his best, losing 0-3 in the quarterfinals.
INnoVation: After many great years and one absolute disaster year in 2016, INnoVation is having a rare, so-so year in 2018. He's advanced exactly one round in every GSL tournament he's played in, putting him right in the upper 50th percentile. Hopefully he'll do well enough in September that we can place him at tie-ninth place as the 'Terran Trap.'
soO: For everyone who says 2018 is a lost year for soO, he was still good enough to finish runner-up in the surprisingly competitive Master's Coliseum III... Hold on a second, I have two wipe a tear from my eye...
Hot off a stellar July, Dark had an unseasonably cold August. With no foreigners to dismember in his GSL Ro16 group, Dark fell to Korean peers in Rogue and GuMiho. Rogue outfoxed him in game one of their series, forcing Dark to over make Roaches while Rogue was able to Drone and tech up to Lurkers. Dark was then banished to the decider match by Rogue’s crisp 1-1 timing attack in game two. Dark and GuMiho went back and forth throughout the night. Dark took the series 2-1 to open up the group, but unfortunately for him, GuMiho won where it mattered most and sent Dark packing in the decider match. However, seeing as this was arguably the hardest group of the Ro16, it’s hard to fault Dark too much for an early GSL exit.
With this GSL loss being Dark’s only major tournament result this month, there is no other evidence indicating that Dark has lost the killer instinct he displayed at GSL vs the World. As is often the case with power rankings, the other players on the list simply have better results to show this month, thus knocking Dark all the way down to number 10.
The vast ocean of competitive StarCraft is a turbulent thing. Storms come and go, they blow some players away and wash up new faces, the big fish eat the little fish, but Trap simply keeps on paddling. For another month he is our solid rock, something we can hold on to, in this stormy time for the scene. Aside from good showings against mighty players such as INnoVation and Solar, much of Trap’s August was dominated by two opponents: Leenock and Zest. Five times Trap met Zest, only a single time he was able to win his series, making Zest his top nemesis in online competitions this last month while clearly defining Trap’s spot in the Protoss hierarchy. As for Leenock, Trap met him three times, scoring one Bo7 victory in the ONPOONG Masters quarterfinals. Unfortunately, one might argue, that was the wrong series to win.
Trap sat at 8th place in the WCS point standings before the Round of 16 of GSL Code S begun. Things had started well for him with a win against herO. But then came Zest, and after him came Leenock. Trap lost both series, being eliminated for the sixth time with a 1-2 match score at this stage of the tournament. And with the conclusion of the Round of 16, Trap fell down to, you guessed it, the 9th spot in the WCS point standings.
Making his debut in the TL.net Power Ranking this month is Neeb. The American Protoss has long been considered one of the best on the WCS Circuit, but he is only now, nearly two years removed from winning the KeSPA Cup, making an impact in GSL. The first foreigner to reach the Round of 4 since Jinro way back in 2011, Neeb has accomplished a tremendous feat, regardless of the semifinal result.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Neeb. He went 8-3 in matches in August (including a whopping nine PvZs), but five of those wins came in the North American qualifiers for WCS Montreal. He went 3-3 in offline matches—including his shocking win over Rogue—but he was swept by Scarlett in Master’s Coliseum (a curious result given the fact that he defeated her by a 4-0 score the very next day). All in all, Neeb’s position in the power ranking is well-deserved, and it will be interested to see if he will be able to climb even further in the rankings.
Slowly, but steadily, the reigning BlizzCon champion falls down the ranks. August wasn’t exactly terrible for Rogue, but neither was it great. He did reasonably well in online events, scoring some solid results for most of the month. Most importantly, he triumphed in what was described as this Round of 16’s Group of Death in GSL Code S, beating INnoVation and Dark to advance in first place, making a very strong case for himself in the tournament. The prospects to overcome his Code S quarterfinals curse looked quite good.
However, the further we got into August, the worse things got for Rogue. His online results declined, but that won't send you down two spots in the Power Rank. However, being completely schooled by Neeb in a Code S quarterfinals will do the trick. Wonky builds are nothing new with Rogue, but if they show up, there’s a strategy behind them, and someone who makes good decisions even under pressure. None of that happened against Neeb. It looked like Rogue ran into a wall head-on repeatedly, scratching his chin after every bump and then trying again, without any real idea or even will to get through. Now, a bad day doesn’t define a player, and Rogue looked good before that Round of 8 match, so we can’t count him out for anything… but the downward trend is real.
As in every month, GuMiho has been a busy bee, participating in whatever tournament he could find. Also as in every month, the results have been varied. It has been noted before that GuMiho remains dangerous to players of all calibers, but ranks just under the top tier of Korea’s elite. This conclusion can be very much confirmed with August’s results. Yes, the Towel Terran had some great online showings once more, especially against Stats. But his online performances would not be enough to allow him to climb two spots, as his victories over Stats were overshadowed by losses to Reynor, Cure, and Impact.
It’s GSL Code S, which we have to look at. He survived the Group of Death, going 3-3 against Dark in maps, but winning the deciding series to secure a spot in the quarterfinals (he beat INnoVation 2-0 as well). Losing to Maru in GSL’s round of 8 wasn't all too surprising, but the one-sided nature of the defeat was disappointing given GuMiho's strong TvT.
For GuMiho, Super Tournament will be the decisive ground regarding BlizzCon. He has the #8 spot for now, but it could still be taken away by any number of players below him. Consistency against his own tier of competition is what the Towel Terran requires to hold it.
Stats had a generally solid month for a player of his caliber, and while he wasn’t quite able to replicate his GSL vs the World run, he still put on a strong performance in Code S. He advanced in second place behind TY in his Ro16 group, proxy-gating his way past KeeN and out-dueling sOs in PvP. Stats has shown an impressively wide breadth of strategies this year, and his future opponents will have their hands full preparing against his well-rounded assault.
However, even with such a deep playbook, Stats was unable to best Zest in their full-set quarterfinal series. Stats took an early 2-1 lead in the series with the help of an ill-advised push from Zest game 1 and phenomenal Stasis Ward placement in game 3. Despite strong play from Stats, Zest was still able to pull the battle back in his favor and take the series 3-2. Overall, it was a good month for Stats, and lest we forget, he's still the last player to defeat Maru in a live, BO5+ series.
TY’s competitive spirit burned hot through August, as he continued his active participation in online tournaments after an uncharacteristically active July. Yet again, TY showed us just how good he is: he went 11-2 in online series, only losing to Dark and Zest. He won a KungFu Cup with victories over the likes of Classic, Dark and Trap, eliminated GuMiho from two tournaments, and showed his power in TvP by beating Patience and Classic in ONPOONG Masters. TY's GSL Code S results were even more glorious: He got out of his Ro16 group in first place, winning against Stats and sOs. He showed no mercy against an ailing Leenock in the quarterfinals, taking their series 3-0.
TY continues to fortify his position as the world’s #2 Terran behind Maru, with his TvP being especially fearsome. He may not have been on people’s minds for most of the year, but he's quietly crept up as one of the few legitimate challengers to Maru's throne.
After being shockingly snubbed last month, Zest is back in the Power Rank. July (and the first two days of August) wasn’t the most spectacular month for Zest, but he’s completely turned things around over the past few weeks. He won Master’s Coliseum 3 (beating soO in the finals) and finds himself in the Code S semifinals for the second time this year. One of only two players to reach the Round of 8 in all three seasons, Zest has been oddly consistent in Code S, especially considering his turbulent form elsewhere. Zest went 19-7 against Korean competition in August, but seven of those wins came over soO and Trap, neither of whom reached the elimination stages of Season 3. In fact, his only really noteworthy wins were a 2-1 over TY in Kung Fu Cup and his 3-2 victory over Stats last weekend.
On the whole, Zest continues his trend of winning ugly, while putting up impressive results when it matters most. He finds himself in quite the predicament this time around though, staring down Maru with a Code S finals berth at stake. Their last meeting will give Zest’s supporters little hope, but should he lose, the TL.net writers wouldn't dare to callously remove him from the rankings again (probably).
Serral rocked StarCraft II to its core in early August by winning GSL vs. the World, beating a slew of big name Koreans over the course of the long weekend (including a kinda-not-really showmatch against Maru). It was an unprecedented high in the Finnish Zerg’s career, a moment fans, Korean and foreign alike, will never forget. His detractors probably hoped he would fall victim to some sort of post championship hangover, but he hasn’t missed a beat since returning home. He tore through the WCS Montreal qualifiers and has only dropped a single game in four Best of 5s in the QLASH Invitational.
All of this is fine and dandy, but the pressure will be on Serral in the coming days as he prepares to break another record by winning his fourth WCS Circuit event this year. And of course beyond that is the event that really matters, the WCS Global Finals, a tournament which has never been won by a foreigner. It’s still a few months away, but the truth is it’s the only event in which Serral can still impress. A loss anywhere else would be catastrophic and it’s quite possible falling short at BlizzCon would be as well. These are the sort of expectations that are being deservedly placed on Serral given his exceptional results. Should he rattle off a win in Montreal there’s no reason to believe he won’t continue to hold down the number two spot in our power rankings as we prepare for the end of year spectacular.
Maru’s GSL vs. the World might not have ended as he hoped, but he’s effortlessly rebounded from his losses to Serral and Stats by winning the demonstration event at the Asian Games and making it to the semifinals in GSL Season 3. His 17-1 record in games is evidence of how special Maru has been over the last few months. His dominance might have been briefly interrupted, but he’s back on the horse as if nothing had ever happened. Much was made of his woes in TvT, but Maru completely outclassed GuMiho in their semifinal tilt, setting up another Best of 7 against Zest. We all know how that went last time around and a third consecutive trip to the finals seems imminent.
What Maru is doing is unquestionably historic and his efforts have been rewarded by another month in the top spot in our power rankings. If there ever was confirmation of his greatness, this would be it. At this point it seems unlikely that he’ll be yielding his current position. He’s a massive favorite against any opponent he faces and the occasional loss is easily forgiven when compared to his back to back Code S titles. The amazing this is that by the time we do this power ranking thing again, he’s very likely to have won another.
Hue hue hue let's keep making Trap number 9 for some dumb reason. All of your close but no cigars plus Dark clearly outclass him, he has done nothing notable in forever and I don't know why you keep insisting on prolonging this unfunny meme but whatever.
Other than that nonsense, I think gumiho is a bit high but otherwise pretty good.
On September 06 2018 00:29 Dave4 wrote: Hue hue hue let's keep making Trap number 9 for some dumb reason. All of your close but no cigars plus Dark clearly outclass him, he has done nothing notable in forever and I don't know why you keep insisting on prolonging this unfunny meme but whatever.
Other than that nonsense, I think gumiho is a bit high but otherwise pretty good.
FeelsMaruMan. I'd like to add that Maru showed us some cool cool builds and unique games these days. BCs at Asian Games. Mech 2/2 into Bio at GSL. Freshy feelings. Oh, yeah he proved that ... proxy 2rax is a macro opening.
On September 06 2018 00:29 Dave4 wrote: Hue hue hue let's keep making Trap number 9 for some dumb reason. All of your close but no cigars plus Dark clearly outclass him, he has done nothing notable in forever and I don't know why you keep insisting on prolonging this unfunny meme but whatever.
Other than that nonsense, I think gumiho is a bit high but otherwise pretty good.
Dark doesn't outclass Trap at all, but ok
If you exclude h2h he does. Dark generally performs much better in tournaments and against other top opponents. Trap hasn't had a deep run in anything since kespa cup in 2016.
Yeah, sounds about right: a justifiable list without much controversy. Personally I would probably have some of the players ahead of our beloved Towel Terran, but otherwise its's a good list!
Also, I love the mentioning of Leenock, sad to see him go due to health issues :/
Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe put Zest ahead of Serral. Serral is likely better, but in terms of recent results Zest has been pulling them in with a ro4 following a final appearance in GSL and he won Master's Coliseum.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe put Zest ahead of Serral. Serral is likely better, but in terms of recent results Zest has been pulling them in with a ro4 following a final appearance in GSL and he won Master's Coliseum.
Well it's hard to have a good performance in GSL vs The World as Trap considering you get there on invite/vote only.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
So this is actually just a conspiracy, making us focus on Trap and ignore how Zest climbed above Stats with one 3-2 series and a showmatch tournament win.
Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
On September 06 2018 01:21 Rodya wrote: Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
Power rank is about the actual form. The actual form of Dark isn't exactly bright, as he showed us how he doesn\t lose to foreigners
On September 06 2018 01:21 Rodya wrote: Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
Power rank is about the actual form. The actual form of Dark isn't exactly bright, as he showed us how he doesn\t lose to foreigners
His form isn't really the best it's ever been but it's still enough to 3-0 Neeb
1-2. Serral/Maru (sorry but they are tied for me, until I see more of them) 3. Stats 4. Dark 5. TY 6. Rogue 7. Gumiho 8. Zest 9. Innovation 10. Trap
11. Classic 12. Neeb
Included a little past 10 just to get a bit more perspective. I think my problem with the Power Rankings posted is it relies way too heavily on this GSL season and even GSL vs World in my opinion. For example, Stats losing a close PvP series in RO8 against Zest doesn't warrant him dropping a few spots and Zest being suddenly ranked 3rd.
EDIT: I'd also like to give a shoutout to Solar. Boy is he inconsistent, but boy oh boy does he look good at times. Just recently he beat Inno and then Zest in the ONPOONG tourney. So... 13. Solar 14. Soo
On September 06 2018 00:15 Ishmael wrote: Is "I have *two* wipe a tear" a joke about soO always getting second place or...?
Wow I think your right, can't believe TL editors let that one slide without a second look puns are such second-rate humour, with things like that you can't be surprise that the website is always no2 behind reddit.
We live in interesting times, very rarely do you have 2 clear-cut leaders like you do now - hopefully Maru and Serral can develop a Flash-Jaedong type rivalry.
On September 06 2018 03:02 Bagration wrote: We live in interesting times, very rarely do you have 2 clear-cut leaders like you do now - hopefully Maru and Serral can develop a Flash-Jaedong type rivalry.
I don't see a world where they face often enough to have anything of the sort occur.
On September 06 2018 01:18 Ej_ wrote: But there are Neeb and Serral included.
So this is actually just a conspiracy, making us focus on Trap and ignore how Zest climbed above Stats with one 3-2 series and a showmatch tournament win.
Is it a conspiracy if everyone know tl staff like zest more than Stats
it is a conspiracy that the great zerg and terran innovator who hasnt qualified for any premier tournament but is the best sc2 this world has ever seen A V I L O is not on this list when he should clearly be in the 10th spot
Not sure what justifies Trap above Dark. They were both 1 map away from reaching the GSL playoffs but Dark had a way harder group. Then there was GSL vs the world where Dark reached the semis... When did Trap perform better than Dark?
Zest above Stats is also very questionable. Zest may have slightly better PvP but in PvT and PvZ Stats is way superior. But this doesn't really surprise me, for some reason TL writers are underrating Stats the entire year.
Zest above Stats is also very questionable. Zest may have slightly better PvP but in PvT and PvZ Stats is way superior. But this doesn't really surprise me, for some reason TL writers are underrating Stats the entire year.
Stats is head and shoulder above Zest in PvZ but it's very debatable to call his PvT way superior to Zest's.
Zest above Stats is also very questionable. Zest may have slightly better PvP but in PvT and PvZ Stats is way superior. But this doesn't really surprise me, for some reason TL writers are underrating Stats the entire year.
Stats is head and shoulder above Zest in PvZ but it's very debatable to call his PvT way superior to Zest's.
I just remember Stats beating Maru who made Zest look like a bronze player.
I remember Stats getting knocked out of gsl by Byun or Stats losing to TY after he beat Maru. Beating Maru sure is impressive but it's not the whole storry.
On September 06 2018 01:18 Ej_ wrote: But there are Neeb and Serral included.
So this is actually just a conspiracy, making us focus on Trap and ignore how Zest climbed above Stats with one 3-2 series and a showmatch tournament win.
Zest has performed better recently and is only a couple of hundred points short of Stats in WCS points for the whole year.
On September 06 2018 03:02 Bagration wrote: We live in interesting times, very rarely do you have 2 clear-cut leaders like you do now - hopefully Maru and Serral can develop a Flash-Jaedong type rivalry.
I don't see a world where they face often enough to have anything of the sort occur.
Someone should organize a Bo9 showmatch - or a Bo69
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
No, that's how you choose to interpret him being placed at #9 again. I don't care where he lands at all, and I doubt most of us do. It's just a fitting place for him to be, and has been for a while. Trap is consistently good, but just short of a Ro8 finish.
The argument at the end of your post really shows you're just angry for the sake of it. None of our close but no cigar mentions deserves to be top 10 over Trap right now. soO made the Masters Coliseum finals but did really poorly otherwise, Innovation's been a trainwreck recently and Leenock might have made the Ro8 but has offered nothing else, while also having no previous results to make an argument for consistency.
Trap has the latter. He's constantly been a top 10 player, capable of taking games and series off everybody, but not making deep tournament runs. Whether Dark should be above him or not is debatable, but I really don't see what the big difference is if you switch the two.
In my opinion Trap has earned a bit of a "buffer" with previous consistent results, and hasn't done so poorly that his spot needs to be changed. Again, this can be argued, but Trap certainly isn't where he is because we think it's funny.
It seems like players are judged differently. When Trap finishes 3rd in a ro16 group it proves he's a consistently good player - when someone like Stats, Inno or Dark gets 3rd in a ro16 group it's a terrible result which often makes them drop out of the PR completely despite having stronger results previously.
I agree with Dave4, Trap at #9 really seems like some kind of a meme or at least it's not consistent with how other players are judged. I mean Trap at #9 despite 2 foreigners ahead of him says basically he's a top 8 player in KR despite never having reached the ro8.
On September 06 2018 16:18 Charoisaur wrote: It seems like players are judged differently. When Trap finishes 3rd in a ro16 group it proves he's a consistently good player - when someone like Stats, Inno or Dark gets 3rd in a ro16 group it's a terrible result which often makes them drop out of the PR completely despite having stronger results previously.
I agree with Dave4, Trap at #9 really seems like some kind of a meme or at least it's not consistent with how other players are judged. I mean Trap at #9 despite 2 foreigners ahead of him says basically he's a top 8 player in KR despite never having reached the ro8.
This GSL's top 8 includes a foreigner... So he is technically 8-11 in Korea this August. 9th seems about right!
On September 06 2018 01:21 Rodya wrote: Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
You'd be pretty hard pressed to find any "western bias" in the writing staff. And yes, I'd take Dark over Neeb any day, but that's not really what a PR is about (1v1 comparisons).
And no, we were not "hoping Neeb would win" - the PR was written before the semi-finals, as stated in the disclaimer. Originally there was even a prediction in the TY part saying that he's on course for a Code S finals appearance (because I was pretty sure he was going to win).
Our articles aren't part of some grand conspiracy to glorify foreigners or whatever the hell you seem to believe.
On September 06 2018 01:21 Rodya wrote: Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
You'd be pretty hard pressed to find any "western bias" in the writing staff. And yes, I'd take Dark over Neeb any day, but that's not really what a PR is about (1v1 comparisons).
And no, we were not "hoping Neeb would win" - the PR was written before the semi-finals, as stated in the disclaimer. Originally there was even a prediction in the TY part saying that he's on course for a Code S finals appearance (because I was pretty sure he was going to win).
Our articles aren't part of some grand conspiracy to glorify foreigners or whatever the hell you seem to believe.
That's what the US goverment says but we all know the aliens are among us, there was no Moon landing and Elvis lives under the sea.
On September 06 2018 01:21 Rodya wrote: Neeb makes one GSL run and he's a top 8 player in the world? Dark > Neeb any day of the week and no it isn't close. The western bias in the english speaking SC2 community is insane.
By the way you just KNOW that the reason this power ranking came out today and not yesterday was that the writers were hoping Neeb would win, in which case they would put him on Rank 3 lmao
You'd be pretty hard pressed to find any "western bias" in the writing staff. And yes, I'd take Dark over Neeb any day, but that's not really what a PR is about (1v1 comparisons).
And no, we were not "hoping Neeb would win" - the PR was written before the semi-finals, as stated in the disclaimer. Originally there was even a prediction in the TY part saying that he's on course for a Code S finals appearance (because I was pretty sure he was going to win).
Our articles aren't part of some grand conspiracy to glorify foreigners or whatever the hell you seem to believe.
That's what the US goverment says but we all know the aliens are among us, there was no Moon landing and Elvis lives under the sea.
Denying conspiracy doesn't work, jsut saying
Yeah... thing is that pretty much nothing "works" once you're dealing with someone sufficiently paranoid. Having said that, we all know that TL would have the power rank 100% populated by westerners if not for people like Rodya keeping them honest. But that's because TL writers are all reptoid aliens and part of the overall grand scheme of human subjugation.
On September 07 2018 00:48 DSK wrote: Good ranking, not sure Serral should be that high still but whatever - he's still killing it.
Would be weird to lose rank while not losing any games.
It really depends on how other players fluctuate in form. If Serral didn't do anything while TY won GSL he'd probably move down to #3 at least for example. I'm pretty sure in previous PRs he's gone up in rank without playing many games, or at least not any against players who would be near top 10, for that reason.
On September 07 2018 03:57 Xamo wrote: Not much controversy besides... Zest over Stats? After Stats reached the finals at GSL vs the World by beating Maru? Are you kidding?
Zest since won a tournament and beat Stats in GSL.
I like this ranking, but I'm (pipe dream) hoping that Serral wins Montreal AND Blizzcon, and for the first time everyone has to say a non Korean is #1.
On September 07 2018 11:06 mierin wrote: I like this ranking, but I'm (pipe dream) hoping that Serral wins Montreal AND Blizzcon, and for the first time everyone has to say a non Korean is #1.
Honestly, at this point, there's a good chance that Maru is the only player whose peak play should be decisively favored over Serral. If he doesn't bring peak play to Blizzcon (and I'd guess there's a good chance he won't, but who knows), anything could happen.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
No, that's how you choose to interpret him being placed at #9 again. I don't care where he lands at all, and I doubt most of us do. It's just a fitting place for him to be, and has been for a while. Trap is consistently good, but just short of a Ro8 finish.
The argument at the end of your post really shows you're just angry for the sake of it. None of our close but no cigar mentions deserves to be top 10 over Trap right now. soO made the Masters Coliseum finals but did really poorly otherwise, Innovation's been a trainwreck recently and Leenock might have made the Ro8 but has offered nothing else, while also having no previous results to make an argument for consistency.
Trap has the latter. He's constantly been a top 10 player, capable of taking games and series off everybody, but not making deep tournament runs. Whether Dark should be above him or not is debatable, but I really don't see what the big difference is if you switch the two.
In my opinion Trap has earned a bit of a "buffer" with previous consistent results, and hasn't done so poorly that his spot needs to be changed. Again, this can be argued, but Trap certainly isn't where he is because we think it's funny.
Short of a top 8 finish in GSL, plus Serral, therefore 10th at best and realistically he is not above Inno or Leenock. Clearly Dark at a minimum should definitely, indisputably ahead of Trap on any metric.
'Angry for the sake of it' - could be applied to absolutely any post on TL.
Anywho I look forward to seeing Trap in #9 again next month, best meme 2018.
On September 07 2018 17:32 StarscreamG1 wrote: Watching Zest play he looks so far away from when he was the perfect Protoss a years ago. But don't know how he's getting the results \m/
that's how i feel about zest, too. remember how well he would play in his proleague ace matches against maru? i miss that zest. but lately he's been getting results somehow.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
No, that's how you choose to interpret him being placed at #9 again. I don't care where he lands at all, and I doubt most of us do. It's just a fitting place for him to be, and has been for a while. Trap is consistently good, but just short of a Ro8 finish.
The argument at the end of your post really shows you're just angry for the sake of it. None of our close but no cigar mentions deserves to be top 10 over Trap right now. soO made the Masters Coliseum finals but did really poorly otherwise, Innovation's been a trainwreck recently and Leenock might have made the Ro8 but has offered nothing else, while also having no previous results to make an argument for consistency.
Trap has the latter. He's constantly been a top 10 player, capable of taking games and series off everybody, but not making deep tournament runs. Whether Dark should be above him or not is debatable, but I really don't see what the big difference is if you switch the two.
In my opinion Trap has earned a bit of a "buffer" with previous consistent results, and hasn't done so poorly that his spot needs to be changed. Again, this can be argued, but Trap certainly isn't where he is because we think it's funny.
Short of a top 8 finish in GSL, plus Serral, therefore 10th at best and realistically he is not above Inno or Leenock. Clearly Dark at a minimum should definitely, indisputably ahead of Trap on any metric.
'Angry for the sake of it' - could be applied to absolutely any post on TL.
Anywho I look forward to seeing Trap in #9 again next month, best meme 2018.
What metric do you use? GSL S3 - Dark 3rd in the RO16 group, Trap 3rd in the RO16 group, S2 - Dark 4th, Trap 3rd and both were in the same group. Innovation ended 4th in his ro16 group in S3. Since PR should be about the current state and partially about consistency.
Onpoong masters - Trap beat Leenock on Aug31, Trap Dark is happening today I believe, so we don't know this kind of metric. Innovation who should be ahead of Trap lost in the same tournament where both Dark and Trap advanced
BSTLS2 - I don't see Trap there, sadly.
GSL vs The World - Trap wasn't invited.
So, what kind of metric do you use? Inno is at this moment worse, Leenock is at best the same, but their last H2H game in August was for Trap. And I cannot see how Dark is better with the current result they both get. Trap is more consistent and has slightly(very slightly) better results over the last few months. Sure, you may want to write after today, if Dark wins, that Dark is better. But this PR is for the August results...
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
No, that's how you choose to interpret him being placed at #9 again. I don't care where he lands at all, and I doubt most of us do. It's just a fitting place for him to be, and has been for a while. Trap is consistently good, but just short of a Ro8 finish.
The argument at the end of your post really shows you're just angry for the sake of it. None of our close but no cigar mentions deserves to be top 10 over Trap right now. soO made the Masters Coliseum finals but did really poorly otherwise, Innovation's been a trainwreck recently and Leenock might have made the Ro8 but has offered nothing else, while also having no previous results to make an argument for consistency.
Trap has the latter. He's constantly been a top 10 player, capable of taking games and series off everybody, but not making deep tournament runs. Whether Dark should be above him or not is debatable, but I really don't see what the big difference is if you switch the two.
In my opinion Trap has earned a bit of a "buffer" with previous consistent results, and hasn't done so poorly that his spot needs to be changed. Again, this can be argued, but Trap certainly isn't where he is because we think it's funny.
Short of a top 8 finish in GSL, plus Serral, therefore 10th at best and realistically he is not above Inno or Leenock. Clearly Dark at a minimum should definitely, indisputably ahead of Trap on any metric.
'Angry for the sake of it' - could be applied to absolutely any post on TL.
Anywho I look forward to seeing Trap in #9 again next month, best meme 2018.
What metric do you use? GSL S3 - Dark 3rd in the RO16 group, Trap 3rd in the RO16 group, S2 - Dark 4th, Trap 3rd and both were in the same group. Innovation ended 4th in his ro16 group in S3. Since PR should be about the current state and partially about consistency.
Onpoong masters - Trap beat Leenock on Aug31, Trap Dark is happening today I believe, so we don't know this kind of metric. Innovation who should be ahead of Trap lost in the same tournament where both Dark and Trap advanced
BSTLS2 - I don't see Trap there, sadly.
GSL vs The World - Trap wasn't invited.
So, what kind of metric do you use? Inno is at this moment worse, Leenock is at best the same, but their last H2H game in August was for Trap. And I cannot see how Dark is better with the current result they both get. Trap is more consistent and has slightly(very slightly) better results over the last few months. Sure, you may want to write after today, if Dark wins, that Dark is better. But this PR is for the August results...
I will not be baited by a troll. Obviously Traps results are way lesser than Darks which you deliberately do not mention - then proceed to use arguments like it's an August only rank even though previously the argument is oh trap has been consistent forever so he has weight in his ranking. Lol'd.
On September 06 2018 00:50 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Seems reasonable. I think Dark should go ahead of Trap though. Yeah Trap has his number, but Dark in general looks to be the better overall player and still gets some respect for making it two rounds in GSL vs World, of which Trap was nowhere to be seen.
Yeah but it wouldn't be as funny to TL writers if they didn't have Trap as 9.
Did you know Trap finished 9-12 in every GSL this season? He's sitting at #9 in the KR WCS ranking.
He's exactly where he should be.
Hi Olli, pretty sure your own evidence just proves my point that trap is not #9:
1. Average of 9-12 means he should be 10.5 based on that solely, or worse if you look at the groups he has had. 2. If he is 9th in GSL but you guys put 2 players from WCS into the top 10 ahead of him, then he is at best 11th overall.
So no he is definitely not 'exactly where he should be'. This also doesn't take into account the miriad other reasons that he is not 9th e.g. form, lack of notable achievements, lack of wins when it counts, lack of hot streaks, etc.
I agree he is consistent - consistently not 9th. But for some reason TL always need him to be 9th, which I wouldn't care about except i don't think a perennial meme in a power rank is a good idea. What if you just made soO rank 2 all the time in every single one? You're keeping a player who deserves to be top 10 out solely for this silly meme.
No, that's how you choose to interpret him being placed at #9 again. I don't care where he lands at all, and I doubt most of us do. It's just a fitting place for him to be, and has been for a while. Trap is consistently good, but just short of a Ro8 finish.
The argument at the end of your post really shows you're just angry for the sake of it. None of our close but no cigar mentions deserves to be top 10 over Trap right now. soO made the Masters Coliseum finals but did really poorly otherwise, Innovation's been a trainwreck recently and Leenock might have made the Ro8 but has offered nothing else, while also having no previous results to make an argument for consistency.
Trap has the latter. He's constantly been a top 10 player, capable of taking games and series off everybody, but not making deep tournament runs. Whether Dark should be above him or not is debatable, but I really don't see what the big difference is if you switch the two.
In my opinion Trap has earned a bit of a "buffer" with previous consistent results, and hasn't done so poorly that his spot needs to be changed. Again, this can be argued, but Trap certainly isn't where he is because we think it's funny.
Short of a top 8 finish in GSL, plus Serral, therefore 10th at best and realistically he is not above Inno or Leenock. Clearly Dark at a minimum should definitely, indisputably ahead of Trap on any metric.
'Angry for the sake of it' - could be applied to absolutely any post on TL.
Anywho I look forward to seeing Trap in #9 again next month, best meme 2018.
What metric do you use? GSL S3 - Dark 3rd in the RO16 group, Trap 3rd in the RO16 group, S2 - Dark 4th, Trap 3rd and both were in the same group. Innovation ended 4th in his ro16 group in S3. Since PR should be about the current state and partially about consistency.
Onpoong masters - Trap beat Leenock on Aug31, Trap Dark is happening today I believe, so we don't know this kind of metric. Innovation who should be ahead of Trap lost in the same tournament where both Dark and Trap advanced
BSTLS2 - I don't see Trap there, sadly.
GSL vs The World - Trap wasn't invited.
So, what kind of metric do you use? Inno is at this moment worse, Leenock is at best the same, but their last H2H game in August was for Trap. And I cannot see how Dark is better with the current result they both get. Trap is more consistent and has slightly(very slightly) better results over the last few months. Sure, you may want to write after today, if Dark wins, that Dark is better. But this PR is for the August results...
I will not be baited by a troll. Obviously Traps results are way lesser than Darks which you deliberately do not mention - then proceed to use arguments like it's an August only rank even though previously the argument is oh trap has been consistent forever so he has weight in his ranking. Lol'd.
So you are basically a Dark's fanboy? Because you were not able to write down your metrics for anyone, not for me, not for the authors of TL, not for other TL readers. Everybody is trolling?
I mean... I love Trap! And I'm usually protoss biased. But just look at Dark and Trap's results in August until now. Dark's winrates are a lot better. Dark is definitely better at this point in time, and he has been since he came with KeSPA I think.
On September 13 2018 16:24 Olli wrote: Byun vs Dark wasn't even good ;(
By finals standards it was.
Life vs Taeja Blizzcon 2014 semis blows it out of the water though if we're talking Blizzcon in general. Hell nearly all of the 2014 Blizzcon kills it. That was just an epic tournament.
He does raise a good point that Maru almost never wins outside of korea.
WeSG was literally just him farming foreigners and then Dark going full kong in the final. Even against Dark he was losing the series and pulled out the cheese to win, in the bo7 they played in korea right after Maru dominated him.
On September 06 2018 00:29 Dave4 wrote: Hue hue hue let's keep making Trap number 9 for some dumb reason. All of your close but no cigars plus Dark clearly outclass him, he has done nothing notable in forever and I don't know why you keep insisting on prolonging this unfunny meme but whatever.
Other than that nonsense, I think gumiho is a bit high but otherwise pretty good.