SC2 Power Rank - July 2013 Text by TL.net ESPORTS By: monk



One month has passed, and it's time to bring you the next monthly edition of the TeamLiquid Power Rank. In June's



Before we continue, here is an overly simplified version of our criteria.

Results : Obviously, this will be the basis of any power rank. And since this is a monthly power rank, we'll be mainly focusing on results from the last month, that is the month of June. Previous HotS results will also be taken into account as well, but with less weight.



: Obviously, this will be the basis of any power rank. And since this is a monthly power rank, we'll be mainly focusing on results from the last month, that is the month of June. Previous HotS results will also be taken into account as well, but with less weight. Difficulty of opponents : Let's put it this way: if the PR existed last year, we probably wouldn't have given PartinG the #1 spot for his BWC run.



: Let's put it this way: if the PR existed last year, we probably wouldn't have given PartinG the #1 spot for his BWC run. Quality of play: How impressed were we with this player's performance, especially over the last month?





Special Mentions ST_Life: Let's take a second to take a look at how far Life has fallen. After HotS was released and Life won MLG Winter, he was considered one of the best, if not THE best player in the world. But in just the month of June, Life has:

Dropped series to both SjoW and TLO at DreamHack Summer, losing a supposed "sure win" tournament (or at least a 50% win tournament).



Went 0 - 1 in GSTL, losing as Startale's starter against Ryung.



Dropped out of his OSL group 0 - 2 Life has certainly lost both his luster and his aura of invincibility, and the hopes and dreams of eSF supporters across the land have been shattered as they realized their best chance at a #1 Power Rank placement is now but a whisper in the wind.



prOp.SjoW: Props for giving us the biggest upset in SC2 since qxc over IM, Goody over Nestea, Thorzain over MC, or Adelscott over Mvp. I see a



Alliance.NaNiwa: Kept foreigner hope alive by defeating Dear and Jaedong to place 4th at MLG Anaheim..





Close But No Cigar mYi.StarDust: Gained thousands of viewers and fans alike on the backs of his PvZ, his personality, and his English. Because of him, we now know who



Samsung_RorO: RorO's month wasn't absolutely terrible by most standards. He took out Parting in Proleague and even took games off of both Innovation and Soulkey. But with loses to both Pigbaby and aLive and a quick exit out of the OSL, RorO just barely drops out of the top ten.



ST_PartinG: Parting started off the month by losing to Jaedong's JvP. Then he got schooled by sOs in a lesson on modern PvP. He made much of it up, however, in his OSL group when he played brilliantly in his PvPs (thanks for the lesson, sOs) and even decently in the PvT that he lost. Unfortunately, he ended up with a 6 - 4 record and it just barely wasn't enough to make up for his poor showings earlier in the month.



Azubu.Symbol: Last month, we gave Symbol a fifth place spot but presented him with two challenges: First, to become slightly more clutch for his team in the GSTL, and second, to test his strength against more difficult opponents than he had in May. Symbol accomplished the first task, finally performing as the ace player for his team by beating sC and Hurricane. But when it came to challenging and beating better players, Symbol fell short as he lost 0 - 2 in the WCS finals both to HerO and sOs. In the OSL Ro32, though he eventually made it through, it was the same story as last month, as he only beat mediocre players in ZvZ to do so.





The July 2013 Power Rank

10.

Liquid`TaeJa



New! New! TaeJa starts off the power rank, coming in with a top four finish at DreamHack Summer and winning a championship at HomeStory Cup 7. Now before we drone on about TaeJa, we should bring up the subject of international tournaments versus Korean results.



This is an inevitable problem that comes with dealing with such a fragmented scene. While we were compiling the list, we ran into some issues filling the last two spots and played around with various combinations of Polt/TaeJa/Symbol/Parting. The core issue came down to the how we weighed big international tournament finishes against above average results in Korean tournaments. Were the runs made by Polt and TaeJa more impressive than the ones by Symbol and Parting this month? At what point does slaughtering foreigners cease to matter? Each month, we'll aim the tackle these questions—and I'm sure it's going to be our #1 source of controversy—but for the the month of June, we felt that the Korean offerings were lacking. With PartinG and Symbol holding just barely 50% win rates with inconsistent displays of skill, they could not trump the runs made by the winners of HSC and MLG.



Back to TaeJa. During his brief backpack through Europe, TaeJa defeated Seed and Gumiho with convincing scores as well as some of Europe's current best in Stephano, TLO, Snute, and then countless other Europeans on top of that. That being said, he holds quite a tenuous position at this tenth slot as he dropped a lot of maps as well, even losing to elfi when he over-manner muled. When you look at TaeJa's games, they seem wild, unhinged, and even sloppy in a way. But to be fair, TaeJa had always looked this way, even in his prime. Though in recent times, he's beginning to look a bit more like a kid coloring outside the lines rather than the raging wildfire of his glory days.



9.

CMStorm_Polt



New! New! Polt made us believe this month, believe that it was possible to succeed without KeSPA or even eSF training conditions. He took out the likes of Suppy, Naniwa, Dear, and Hyun in dominating fashion, showing great flair and refreshing strategies along the way. But perhaps most importantly, he showed us that a-moving hellbats can achieve similar winning effects as dropping them.



Polt's biggest advantage over TaeJa is the convincing nature of his play. During his MLG run, he did not drop a single series and he always seemed to completely overwhelm his opponents, consistently confounding them with his unexpected, innovative builds. Even though TaeJa played well in two tournaments compared to Polt's one, Polt was just the more impressive player.



8.

LG-IM_Mvp



New! New!



Afterwards, Mvp returned to his European Kingdom (or at least WCS EU) and Finishing off the triumvirate of the 'foreigner' Terrans is Mvp. Though MVP didn't win a tournament like Polt or TaeJa, he had the most difficult month and delivered the most impressive results. After qualifying for the WCS finals, Jürgen took his mantle as European champion seriously as he took down Ryung(AM), ForGG(EU), and Kangho(KR), though he lost to Alicia(AM) along the way. But perhaps most impressive was Mvp's demonstration of his TvT and hellbat prowess against Innovation, a player that is now the nearly undisputed best in the world. MVP put up an excellent fight, coming close to eliminating the stoic Terran, and teaching him a few things along the way.Afterwards, Mvp returned to his European Kingdom (or at least WCS EU) and won a game when he was down to 5 workers against his opponent's 43. It was certainly more of a display of his opponent's blunders than Mvp's skill, but it was amusing nonetheless.



7.

SKT_FanTaSy



New! New! we're not playing at the top of the top.



Now I know what some of your are thinking. Is Fantasy just getting bonus points for being Fantasy? Before you draw a conclusion consider this: This month, Fantasy advanced in first place out of arguably the hardest Ro32 group in the OSL. And out of all the Ro16 participants not named Innovation or Soulkey, Fantasy had the best record in June. Finally, if you can forgive the obvious macro mistakes, Fantasy showed fantastic play throughout the month in most of his games as well,



I've leave you with a lesson that Fantasy taught us this month: Note that these rankings were written before any Ro16 OSL games. Last month, Fantasy skipped towards 7-3 record, floating tens of thousands of resources along the way. Not that it had ever been his strength in BW, but SC II's better observing mechanics make it painfully obvious that Fantasy does not win his games through sheer mechanics and macro. You could see it as he floated 3500 minerals against Jaedong at 19 minutes or as he floated 1400 minerals twice against Life at both 16 minutes and 18 minutes. Fantasy's production tab would often be empty sometimes for literally a minute at a time while he's off doing god knows what, and yet he would go on to win both these games. It's an ability that makes us all question what we're doing wrong in our games and whynot playing at the top of the top.Now I know what some of your are thinking. Is Fantasy just getting bonus points for being Fantasy? Before you draw a conclusion consider this: This month, Fantasy advanced in first place out of arguably the hardest Ro32 group in the OSL. And out of all the Ro16 participants not named Innovation or Soulkey, Fantasy had the best record in June. Finally, if you can forgive the obvious macro mistakes, Fantasy showed fantastic play throughout the month in most of his games as well, especially against Flash I've leave you with a lesson that Fantasy taught us this month: Mines > BCs



6.

Samsung_JangBi



New! New! With RorO's recent slight slump and Stork's recent extreme slump, Jangbi is the sole reason Samsung KHAN is still in slight contention for the Proleague playoffs. In round 5, he finished with an 8-5 record, and in round 6, he currently holds a 6-2 record including three ace matches (two of which he's won). With these ace match wins, Jangbi, has officially taken over RorO's position as Samsung KHAN's ace, a position that looked awkward on RorO anyway for BW fans.



In total, Jangbi is 10 - 4 this month, including wins against both Flash and Rain. He also played immaculately in his first game of his OSL group stage against Kangho, a fact that made it even more painful when he failed to advance from said group. Nevertheless, Jangbi gets this #6 spot for the sheer quantity of his wins over the past two months, the quality of the opponents he's beaten, and the consistent quality of his play.



5.

Woongjin_sOs



+ 3

Won his first WCS Season Finals match against Symbol 2 - 0



Won his first WCS Season Finals match against Symbol 2 - 0 Surprisingly lost to European player ForGG and his excessive use of hellbats.



Surprisingly lost to European player ForGG and his excessive use of hellbats. Easily won against both HerO and Alicia in PvPs, then took revenge against his teammate Soulkey for 4-3'ing him in the GSL semifinals by 3-2'ing him in return in the WCS semifinals.



Easily won against both HerO and Alicia in PvPs, then took revenge against his teammate Soulkey for 4-3'ing him in the GSL semifinals by 3-2'ing him in return in the WCS semifinals. Started off the finals against Innovation with a 0- 3 score.



Started off the finals against Innovation with a 0- 3 score. Showed off a innovative tempest strategy against Innovation, taking the best player in the world to the brink of defeat.



Showed off a innovative tempest strategy against Innovation, taking the best player in the world to the brink of defeat. Lost that game.



Lost that game. Recorded a respectable 4-1 Proleague record.



Recorded a respectable 4-1 Proleague record. Failed to advance from OSL Ro32.



Failed to advance from OSL Ro32. Defeated Flash to win the Asian Indoor Martial arts tournament, whatever the hell that is. From last month's series of results we've learned two things about sOs: First, that he is actually a very good player, one that can make it to the finals of tournaments and slug it out with the best of them. But more importantly, we reaffirmed our initial assessment that he's still prone to fatal execution errors, especially during high pressure situations. It happened in his first semifinals against Soulkey, when he played like a headless chicken and it happened against in the finals against Innovation, when he made many unforced errors such as doubling up on tech structures, accidentally killing off his own units, and other miscellaneous misclicks. The term "nervous wreck" is thrown around all too often in StarCraft II, but sOs may be the first player since ByunPrime to truly warrant this description. sOs certainly had an up-and-down month in June. Here's a quick recap:From last month's series of results we've learned two things about sOs: First, that he is actually a very good player, one that can make it to the finals of tournaments and slug it out with the best of them. But more importantly, we reaffirmed our initial assessment that he's still prone to fatal execution errors, especially during high pressure situations. It happened in his first semifinals against Soulkey, when he played like a headless chicken and it happened against in the finals against Innovation, when he made many unforced errors such as doubling up on tech structures, accidentally killing off his own units, and other miscellaneous misclicks. The term "nervous wreck" is thrown around all too often in StarCraft II, but sOs may be the first player since ByunPrime to truly warrant this description.



4.

SKT_Rain



—



The other two loses in Proleague were against well executed snipes, specifically designed for abusing Rain's predictable style. The



Though the aforementioned losses are partially forgivable, Rain was headed toward a drop in the rankings until the end of the month. Then, during his demolish Bomber and Keen. Though his opponents did their best to abuse Rain's predictable style, Rain had an answer to their every move and countered with harassment that they were powerless to stop.



Win or lose, the common themes in found in Rain's games include safety and confidence in his own play. While this confidence sometimes gets him into trouble, it is usually well placed. The problems come when Rain begins to become too predictable and players begin blind countering his play, as they have this very month. Against both Keen and Bomber in the OSL, he was able to outplay his opponents regardless, but we've already seen cracks in his armor in his games against Solar and Soulkey. As Rain gets deeper into the OSL, he won't be able to rely anymore on completely outplaying his opponents; rather, he'll have to learn to change it up or go home. For Rain, round 6 of Proleague has been his worst yet as he found himself finishing the month off with a 2 - 5 record. But when you take a look at his loses in depth, you get to see a more clear picture. Three of these games were in PvPs, a matchup notorious for its volatility. And though we can blame the nature of PvP for most of these loses, one in particular stands out. Against Oz, Rain found himself in a considerable lead during a phoenix mirror and, and in a rare blunder and show of overconfidence, went to push his opponent instead of either solidifying his advantage with an expansion or scouting and denying his opponent's expansion. Rain went on to lose this game after failing to break his opponent.The other two loses in Proleague were against well executed snipes, specifically designed for abusing Rain's predictable style. The first of the two was to Solar, who took advantage of the fact that Rain always used the same build against lesser Zergs, and therefore executed a brilliant bust that involved three overseers, which were used to completely halt Rain's colossi production by gooping up his robotics. The second loss was a build order loss to Soulkey, who took advantage of Rain's propensity for blind nexus first.Though the aforementioned losses are partially forgivable, Rain was headed toward a drop in the rankings until the end of the month. Then, during his OSL group , he reminded everyone of his brilliance. In this group, Rain displayed immaculate control, defense, and execution of safe and conservative play toBomber and Keen. Though his opponents did their best to abuse Rain's predictable style, Rain had an answer to their every move and countered with harassment that they were powerless to stop.Win or lose, the common themes in found in Rain's games include safety and confidence in his own play. While this confidence sometimes gets him into trouble, it is usually well placed. The problems come when Rain begins to become too predictable and players begin blind countering his play, as they have this very month. Against both Keen and Bomber in the OSL, he was able to outplay his opponents regardless, but we've already seen cracks in his armor in his games against Solar and Soulkey. As Rain gets deeper into the OSL, he won't be able to rely anymore on completely outplaying his opponents; rather, he'll have to learn to change it up or go home.



3.

KT_Flash



—



First were the games against



But perhaps most interesting of all was Flash's battlecruiser build and resulting



When Flash wins, it's expected, effortless, and almost calming in a way. When he loses, it's explosive, jarring, and eventful. Whatever the case, Flash always puts up a fight and in this way, he begins to seem like his old BW self day by day. Overall, June was a mediocre month for Flash and he finished it off with a 5 - 3 record. He started off by killing off fan favorites Major and HerO in Proleague and then rather effortlessly, even casually, breezed through his OSL group. But it was his bewildering defeats where all the interesting things about Flash occurred last month.First were the games against Jangbi and Dear , both of whom used oracles to throw the game into chaos. Flash did his best to try to claw his way back into the games, and although he looked close to recovery each time, both games were lost.But perhaps most interesting of all was Flash's battlecruiser build and resulting loss against Fantasy . Flash had devised a complex, almost convoluted anti-hellbat build designed specifically for Fantasy that involved defensive bunkers, turrets, and tanks into fake bio into a real, totally-not-a-gimmick three-base battlecruiser rush. I'm sure Flash was sporting a half smirk when the build completely caught Fantasy off-guard without any air defenses. Nevertheless, Fantasy pulled out the unexpected trick of using widow mines like scourge from Brood War and was victorious in one of the best games of the month.When Flash wins, it's expected, effortless, and almost calming in a way. When he loses, it's explosive, jarring, and eventful. Whatever the case, Flash always puts up a fight and in this way, he begins to seem like his old BW self day by day.



2.

Woongjin

Soulkey



— I don't expect this second place placement to be controversial at all and yet I had the hardest time writing this particular section. After pondering on it for a while, I realized it was because Soulkey is just so obviously and quite unquestionably the second best player in the world right now (at least in terms of results).



As the reigning WCS KR champion, Soulkey has little place to go until someone either usurps him or he begins to completely flounder. He did neither this month. In fact, Soulkey solidified his place as top Zerg by convincingly and soundly defeating his Zerg KeSPa rival, RorO, in the WCS finals. He eventually lost against sOs, depriving us of a WCS KR rematch, but it was a close series and Soulkey didn't look too bad when losing.



Of course, Soulkey also played in Proleague this month, ending off with a 3 - 2 record with losses to Cure(hellbats) and HerO(cannon rush); we can't really blame him too much for either loss. And though he gave us quite a scare by losing his first game to Yugioh, he eventually made it out of his OSL group as well. So there you have it, a description of the second best player in the world.



1.

STX_INnoVation



—



Anything else we want to say?



No, nothing in particular.



Nothing?



Uh, not really. Last month, there was quite a debate over whether GSL runner-up Innovation or GSL champion Soulkey deserved the #1 spot. This month, with Innovation's convincing win at the WCS Season Finals, few will deny that he's at the top. And since according to a recent interview , Innovation stated that his main goal in SC II is to always be at the top, the prestigious title of #1 in the official TeamLiquid Power Rank of July, 2013 should satisfy him for now.Anything else we want to say?No, nothing in particular.Nothing?Uh, not really.

One month has passed, and it's time to bring you the next monthly edition of the TeamLiquid Power Rank. In June's Power Rank , the later rounds of Code S factored in heavily. For this month's power rank, a lot more tournaments had to be considered, from the WCS Season 1 Finals to last week's MLG Anaheim.Before we continue, here is an overly simplified version of ourLet's take a second to take a look at how far Life has fallen. After HotS was released and Life won MLG Winter, he was considered one of the best, if not THE best player in the world. But in just the month of June, Life has:Life has certainly lost both his luster and his aura of invincibility, and the hopes and dreams of eSF supporters across the land have been shattered as they realized their best chance at a #1 Power Rank placement is now but a whisper in the wind.Props for giving us the biggest upset in SC2 since qxc over IM, Goody over Nestea, Thorzain over MC, or Adelscott over Mvp. I see a pretty good game resulted from this as well.Kept foreigner hope alive by defeating Dear and Jaedong to place 4th at MLG Anaheim.. Is Stephano's reign over?!?!?! Gained thousands of viewers and fans alike on the backs of his PvZ, his personality, and his English. Because of him, we now know who MYinsanity are, though we still know him better from LighT. We loved his interesting new take on PvZ, but he'll have to show more results in a larger variety of matchups to make the top ten.: RorO's month wasn't absolutely terrible by most standards. He took out Parting in Proleague and even took games off of both Innovation and Soulkey. But with loses to both Pigbaby and aLive and a quick exit out of the OSL, RorO just barely drops out of the top ten.Parting started off the month by losing to Jaedong's JvP. Then he got schooled by sOs in a lesson on modern PvP. He made much of it up, however, in his OSL group when he played brilliantly in his PvPs (thanks for the lesson, sOs) and even decently in the PvT that he lost. Unfortunately, he ended up with a 6 - 4 record and it just barely wasn't enough to make up for his poor showings earlier in the month.Last month, we gave Symbol a fifth place spot but presented him with two challenges: First, to become slightly more clutch for his team in the GSTL, and second, to test his strength against more difficult opponents than he had in May. Symbol accomplished the first task, finally performing as the ace player for his team by beating sC and Hurricane. But when it came to challenging and beating better players, Symbol fell short as he lost 0 - 2 in the WCS finals both to HerO and sOs. In the OSL Ro32, though he eventually made it through, it was the same story as last month, as he only beat mediocre players in ZvZ to do so.