Power Rank: IPL5 Edition Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by HawaiianPig and shiroiusagi

Power Rank: IPL5



IPL5 brackets and results at



IPL5 brackets and results at Liquipedia Power Rank: IPL5 Edition

What is the Power Rank?



"Who would beat whom in a best of 101 series with their lives on the line?" That crossed our minds. So did "Who had the best tournament results in the past X months?" Those, and many other questions factored in as we attempted to figure out the answer to a contentious question: "who's better?" It was a complex process, which we're not even sure we completely understand ourselves. A few notes:



The PR is not a ranking of everyone's chances to win this tournament. There's a lot of bracket luck involved, as well as a considerable advantage given to players who start with seeds, and doing a final ranking prediction would be pretty damn complicated. Again, the Power Rank is just our all-around answer to the question "who's better?"



Finally, the Power Rank does not suggest that a higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head. Rankings are based on the overall appraisal of a player.



Notes:

The Power Rank only takes players competing at IPL5 into account.



The official pre-tournament fantasy bracket was used as a reference - some players may cancel or be absent from the tournament.



The power rank is a compromise between the opinions of several writers, ensuring that not even the writers are happy with the end result.



TeamLiquid is not responsible for rage or rage related injuries suffered as a result of reading the Power Rank.



Honorable Mentions

iG.XiGua



It's very rare that we see one of these elusive creatures so far away from his natural habitat. The only international tournaments the Chinese usually attend are those that include the letters, "W" and "C". And even those usually held in China. Only through much cooperation between s.163.com(China's biggest fan site), MarsTV(one of China's broadcasting media), and IPL was a single seed secured for the Chinese. And as such, XiGua will have a lot riding on his shoulders. It's no secret that the Chinese SCII scene has been struggling. They lack money, tournament experience, and connections to the outside world. So it's a huge deal that Xigua is coming halfway across the world to attend such a prestigious tournament. China has combined their collective resources to send but one representative to America; it's as if Xigua is the last son of Krypton, sent on a rocket ship to Kansas Las Vegas as the last hope for their race.



Liquid`Sea



Perhaps the most mysterious player in terms of how well he'll do, Sea will be Liquid's secret weapon heading into IPL. Most of the indication of Sea's skill comes from the EG MC tournament Sea competes in weekly. Though he suffered a loss to Empire.Happy in his very first, he easily beat the likes of Thorzain, Major, Luvsic, DdoRo, fraer, and Genius. His most recent victory against Genius was most notable, because in this series, Sea actually used mech to demolish the caught-off-guard Protoss player. Though he has a good record against some good players, Sea is very untested against fellow Koreans, especially the top ones we're used to seeing in the GSL. As IPL5 will be his debut offline tournament, Sea's progress will be a big story-line to follow this weekend. Will Sea cause waves, or will we have to wait till the next tide?



The other Koreans: GanZi, ByuL, Genius, BBoongBBoong, Sculp, HwangSin, Shine, Sleep, Apocalypse, Shuttle, Luvsic and some more.



Just to get an idea of how stacked this tournament is, here's is a list of all the Koreans who didn't make our ranking.



The other Europeans: LucifroN, Snute, sLivko, NaNiwa



Ditto, but for Europeans.



North Americans: Illusion, Major, ViBE, HuK



And here are the most internationally known North Americans with the best results, all coming back from the WCS Grand Finals.



The Power Rank

#30: San



San has shown some amazing prowess in online preliminaries. He's earned flights to more than one MLG tournament through qualifiers, and he comes into IPL5 with a winners round four spot after taking second place in a very tough Korean regional. Strangely, the skill he shows in qualifiers never really shows up in the actual tournaments, leaving us to wonder what's the matter with San. It might just be a bad case of stage fright like it is for many other players, but he's got to do something about it if he doesn't want to squander his great starting position at IPL5.



#29: Acer.Scarlett



So we've finally seen Scarlett in two big tournaments against top caliber players, and we've come to the initial conclusion that while she isn't Stephano and can't be predicted to consistently beat S-level Korean players, she is still good enough to be one of the few foreigners who is a real threat to said Code S level Koreans. The massive hype surrounding her since she upset BumblebeePrime at IPL4 has made everything she does get put under a microscope, so hopefully returning to the place where she got her big break will also mean a return to more realistic expectations. Scarlett isn't a player you expect to win the title, but she is someone you expect to show the Koreans that they won't have it easy.



#28: K3.VortiX



Over the course of a year, Vortix has climbed from being just Lucifron's brother to being the more accomplished Duran. After a rapid rise that seemed to know no end, the last two weeks have finally started to reveal the precipice of Vortix's climb. At the WCS Grand Finals, he lost 2-3 to Creator and at IEM Singapore, he lost again in a close 2-3 to Sting. Vortix seems to be able to fight toe-to-toe with top Koreans, but lacks that final bit to be able to break into Stephano territory. Perhaps it's just a lack of chances? Well, here comes the third try in three weeks.



#27: Fnatic RC aLive



The defending IPL champ has been in a strange spot lately. The wins have stopped coming, but at the same time, the quality of his play suggests that he's better than what the stats say. With aLive always having struggled with TvZ post-patch, the difference seems to be that while he was previously able to barely win over top class Terran and Protoss players, he's now barely losing those same games. It would be great if he could return to Las Vegas and tip those narrow margins back in his favor, but his current form makes it seem unlikely.



#26: Acer.Nerchio



In power ranks, we often joke about how Nerchio is the domestic version of Stephano, preferring to stay in Europe while his French counterpart finds success all over the world. Well, no more! Not two weeks ago, Nerchio made the rare trip to Asia to compete in the WCS Grand Finals. And this week, he'll make his first appearance on American soil, a truly joyous occasion for those hoping for something less than total Korean domination at IPL5.



Nerchio doesn't seem to be optimistic though, as when TL spoke with him at the WCS Finals, he was in a state of despair over Protoss. Specifically, the Protoss known as CreatorPrime.



#25: Quantic.TheStC



As a possible heir to PuMa's throne, TheStC has experienced a condensed version of his predecessor's career over the last four months. With a combination of beastly TvT and TvP, backed by sufficient all-in skills to prop up an average TvZ game, TheStC produced some great results at foreign tournaments, placing top four at MLG Summer and Dreamhack Valencia. And then, like PuMa, his TvZ stopped holding up in a Zerg filled world, with Snute and Stephano knocking him out of DreamHack Winter. Unless TheStC can improve his TvZ game greatly or bring some better cheeses, things can only get worse at this rate.



#24: WW.Sting



The former NS Hoseo Terran Sting never made a big impact in GomTV run Korean scene, but he's showed a great aptitude for winning multi-game series in international tournaments. With a combination of cheeses, greedy economic gambles, and strong two base timing attacks, Sting found success first in TSL4, and then at IEM Singapore. While some people might not like his choice of style, you can't deny that it's getting him results, and that IPL5 seems like just the kind of tournament where Sting would do well.



#23: coL.Heart



Somehow, Heart is still one of the most underrated players in the business. People have been waiting for him to regress to his true level ever since he took third place at MLG Winter Championship in March (eliminating HuK with two 1/1/1's didn't help) but he's stayed the course - and he might have even gotten better. At the last two MLG Championships he put in tie-7th and tie-5th performances, and he even made it into Code S as if to send a message to his haters. Yes, Heart might have a stronger-than-normal penchant for cheese, but his cheeses are strong because he uses them in tandem with other strategies. His tournament results speak for themselves, and those who continue to underrate him do so at their own peril.



#22: AX.CranK

#21: Acer.MMA



Two of the three central figures behind the SlayerS drama will be in competition at IPL5, with only Jessica required to complete the unhappiest reunion ever.



Crank seems to have come down a bit after a nice tie-9th finish at MLG Summer Championship, whether it was due to continued problems with his neck pains or distraction from the SlayerS drama. He's proven to be a solid Protoss player in his limited outings, but has yet to have a truly impressive result.



Then there's MMA, the player that the power rank committee had the most contrasting opinions about. No, not in terms of his culpability in the entire SlayerS scandal - just in terms of how good he is now. There's no soft way to put it: his recent results have been dismal, and he's dropped straight down to Code B. On the other hand, you can never count out players who have played at the highest level. While you have to keep the cautionary tale of jjakji in mind, you also have to think about the times MC and MVP surged back after looking faded, proving that there's something timeless about class. MMA's in the roughest patch of his career, but now that he's found a new team and put the drama behind him, it could be time for his recovery to begin.



#20: ByuNPrime



Looking at Ryung finally get his big break, we can't help but be reminded a tiny bit of ByuN. Like Ryung, he was another Terran who was a regular fixture in Code S, a core part of his team, and someone who could play at a championship level on his best days. Since Ryung has finally put together that one good run, you have to think that maybe ByuN could have his day as well. They do differ in one important way, however. Ryung's great at TvZ, while ByuN's specialty is TvP - not something that bodes well for ByuN in the current environment.



#19: LG-IM_YoDa



You have to be a little bit disappointed: After MVP singled out YoDa as the best player on the LG-IM team, he's proved himself to be merely good-but-not-great. With clean mechanics and strong macro play, there's a hint of an excellent player lying underneath, but somehow he hasn't come to light in the GSL. At least we know MVP's words weren't entirely lip service, as LG-IM choose to send YoDa as their IPL Team Arena finalist seed. While it only means so much when you consider Seed was already qualified and Yonghwa has WCG duty this weekend, it shows that the team has faith in their #2 Terran. Perhaps the rapid-fire, gauntlet style of foreign tournaments is what YoDa needs to really show his skills?



#18: AZUBU.viOLet



Though it's been overshadowed by many of the bigger storylines of the year, viOLet's consistency in 2012 has been remarkable. Just look at his



#17 EG.Stephano.RC



Stephano hasn't been able to impress with his recent performances at DH Winter and the BWC, but he's still the best shot the foreigners have at winning this tournament. The champion of IPL3 and top six finisher at IPL4, Stephano returns to Vegas with a chance to make a year end statement to the people who think there's any substance to the EG curse. While his last two tournament outings were poor, everything will be forgiven with a strong showing at IPL5. Stephano doesn't necessarily need to take the title due to the stacked player field, but letting a player like Vortix or Nerchio finish higher than him could re-open the 'best foreigner' discussion that seemed slammed shut just a few months ago.



#16: TSL_Polt



After looking like he had roared back to his early 2012 form heading into MLG Dallas, Polt instead looks like he's back to being in so-so form. With a disappointing 9~12th finish at MLG and then a disastrous Lone Star Clash where he didn't even finish in the money, Polt traveled back to Korea for his Code S Ro16 matches. While he didn't make it to the quarterfinals, he was still able to knock off Parting 2 - 0 before losing to semi-finalists Bogus and Sniper to be eliminated from the tournament. Heading into IPL5, nothing would really surprise us from Polt. He could win it all, as we've known for a while that he's one of the best Terrans in the world when he's fully prepared and in form. He could also fall out early, in a third straight disappointing result.



#15: ST_Bomber



To recycle some content from a Code A article:



Bomber's Law: Bomber will always disappoint.



Corollary to Bomber's Law: If Bomber does not disappoint, it will be in order to set up a bigger disappointment later.



It's surprising and depressing how well this rule holds up, as Bomber is great at building up momentum with a string of good results, only to smash into a brick wall in a burning wreck. His great runs at MLG Fall (including a fantastic win over by.Rain) and Lone Star Clash seemed like signs of a Bomber revival, but his fans are cautious about getting their hopes up lest they get burned again. As usual, Bomber enters the tournament with the potential to win it all, but also bearing a huge weight of doubt.



#14: MVP.DongRaeGu



Monk: I could not believe that so many of my fellow writers have called DRG down and out for the count, ranking him so low here in the power rank! After all, DRG is still arguably the best performing player of 2012. And did we forget that he was recently in the finals of an OSL? Or that he still made round of 16 in the GSL?



Sure, DRG is in a mini-slump at the moment, but we've all seen those DRG mini-slumps before, and each time he came back. The last time we doubted DRG, he made it all the way to the finals of the OSL. And more recently, look no further than the fact that coach Choi of MVP still saved DRG as his closer/ace in the GSTL match against TSL, sending even the "higher rated" Sniper beforehand. Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared to see DRG surprise us all and silence the naysayers yet again.



#13: SK_MC



You have to be looking at MC anxiously as he comes to IPL5. It's been nearly four months since he earned his last serious payday at an international tournament, having earned $6,500 for a second place finish in August's ASUS ROG Assembly tournament. The foreign circuit is MC's bread and butter, and he seems bound to cash in in Vegas, regardless of criticisms of an inflexible style.



Someone would say the cracks are showing, with his Ro8 elimination at IEM Singapore being the latest disappointing result. But this is MC in an international tournament, for which we must hold an equal amount of reverence as we do for MVP in the GSL. The major complication would be that this tournament is a little more Korean than international, but we ARE talking about the third place OSL finisher here.



#12: AX.Ryung



MMA and Ryung may be on different teams, yet somehow they're still connected. As previously mentioned, MMA is in a situation where many are willing to overlook his current form because of his past results. It's the same case for Ryung, but not in a positive way. After so many tournaments where Ryung proved he was good-but-not-great, it seems that many believe his current semi-final run in Code S is a temporary spike rather than a real shift.



After all, what Ryung showed was mostly an increase in consistency (he was already capable of playing world class games on his best days) - something that can be hard to tell apart from luck without seeing a lot of games. It's all very familiarly unfair for Ryung, as his fellow semi-finalists are receiving the benefit of the doubt because of their lack of a track record, when it's not yet clear that any of them are the real deal either.



As with MMA, the Power Rank committee was conflicted on where Ryung should go, and we ended up compromising at #12.



#11: ST_Squirtle



Squirtle comes back to IPL5, mostly known as the guy who should have won IPL4. As history tells us, aLive bested Squirtle in the finals of the previous IPL, but what do we find when we dig a little deeper? Squirtle had tirelessly clawed his way to the finals through the open bracket, the group stage, and then the loser bracket of the championship round, playing around forty games in three days. Meanwhile, Alive progressed from the lofty group stage into the finals, watching his would-be challengers scrap against each other in the dirt. Even though Alive was holding the trophy at the end, many were more impressed by Squirtle's second place finish.



The momentum of IPL4 saw Squirtle to a Code S finals, and earned him recognition as the best Protoss player in the world. After that, there followed a decline, where Squirtle seemed more egg than blastoise. Recently, however, Squirtle seems to be finding his stride again, cruising in Code A and playing a key part for Startale in Team Leagues. As he's returning to the place where his career first took off, he couldn't have had better timing.



#10: LG-IM_Seed



Not since Jjakji won a GSL champion last November, has a Code S champ looked so vulnerable. The path to Seed's trophy was paved with close 3 - 2's and cheesy play in a PvP finals. Sure, Seed showed some instances of greatness directly after his championship; he was the hero who prevented Taeja from all-killing IM twice at the IPL TAC finals and he qualified to WCS Asia after placing in WCS Korea. Seed's stable and solid play inspired confidence that he was not just the beneficiary of a lucky run, but a player who would be around in the scene for a long time. But more recent events suggest differently. Seed fell out of WCS Asia, and in last week's GSL matches Seed joined jjakji in Code B after losing to the unheralded TSL_Center.



Few would remember that in IPL4,



#9: TSL_Symbol



It's weird to say, but Symbol, the hottest kid on the Zerg block, is rapidly being phased out by newer players like Life, Sniper and even his own teammate Hyun. Red hot with momentum after surprising everyone at Iron Squid in April and then following it up with a reverse all-kill of LG-IM in the GSTL, Symbol was never able to get past the Ro8 of Code S and went out 0 - 2 in this season's Ro16. With Hyun destroying IPL Fight Club, making the semifinals of GSL, and even used as TSL's final ace in the most recent GSTL semifinals, Symbol has seemingly been replaced as the head Zerg on the TSL team. Hyun and Symbol are known close friends and share everything when it comes to builds, and Symbol has stated thousands of times that Hyun is one of the main reasons why he is so good. Symbol is still one of the best Zerg players in the world, but this is a tournament where he's in danger of being demoted from TSL's super ace to Hyun's sidekick if he can't put in an awesome performance.



#8: Liquid`TaeJa

#7: Liquid`HerO



The events of DreamHack Winter were critical in HerO overtaking TaeJa for the first time in months. Both destroyed their group stage opponents, but come the playoff stage, TaeJa had a fairly rough time handling ThorZaIN and Nerchio (his games vs. the latter were tighter than the 3 – 0 scoreline suggests) while HerO breezed through monchi and Snute. And while we don't take head to head directly into account in these rankings (our criteria for tiebreaks are more nebulous than DreamHack's), HerO's 4 – 0 finals victory over TaeJa counted as a quality win against a Code S player, giving him the push ahead.



While both players are more than good enough to dominate international competition, one has to wonder how things will go for them against the masses of Korean Zergs at IPL5. It's those very Korean Zergs who caused them to drop from the current season of Code S in the first place, and HerO's loss against Sen at WCS and TaeJa's less-than-easy wins against foreign Zergs at DreamHack suggest they haven't found the whole answer just yet. It's a strange world where HerO and TaeJa's worst match-ups are now against Zerg, and while both can get far, they won't be able to win the championship without fixing that point.



#6: STX_Innovation (aka Bogus)



Bogus, man. He started out his SC2 career with a 1 - 8 record on one of the most overlooked teams in the KeSPA Proleague, and he is now on the verge of creating history in Vegas. He not only has a chance to become the second royal roader in GSL history and the first KeSPA player to take a GSL championship, but he is also listed to take part in the IPL5 tournament as well. With comparable micro to MarineKing and Polt, he has an array of timing attacks that he can rely on to take out players in the early game. In the times he's been pushed to the mid and late game, Bogus has been just as solid, having wins over Soulkey and Sniper on his way to the semis. Innovation, Bogus, or whatever you want to call him, is a different kind of KeSPA player. He erased his past and started anew by changing his ID, and he is the only KeSPA player to do away with the barcode ID and publicize his actual account. Eccentric, powerful, and strong enough to a-move to victory, he is one of the top contenders to take the title in Sin City.



#5: MVP.Sniper



Sniper makes his international debut after having made a reputation for himself among the hardcore GSL fans as Mr. Anti-Fun. In his career, he's eliminated fan favorites like NaNiwa, Sen, Clide, Leenock and PartinG from the GSL, robs MVP fans of opportunities to see DongRaeGu play as the ace, on top of which he recently all-killed the remnants of the SlayerS team in their emotional farewell GSTL match. In the latter match, he also happened to make SlayerS_Eve cry in her debut game, confirming his position as the biggest fan-not-favorite in a very long time. As he starts at the bottom of the IPL5 bracket, he's guaranteed plenty of games where he can cause even more grief.



Though Sniper's not the first player to knock out popular players and earn their fans' ire, there's something about him that makes him even further embody the spirit of 'no fun allowed' (he's the anti-mage of SC2). At least players like Heart and Sparta had the storylines of resourceful underdogs getting by to make them interesting. Sniper is just flat out excellent in a very unremarkable way, and we know from years of esports that unless your name is MVP or Flash, that's not a good way to get people to like you. The thing is, Sniper just might have the talent to get to that level.



#4: CreatorPrime



After the WCS Grand finals, Creator must have felt a bit aggrieved. Just compare Creator's opponents of Nerchio, Vortix, and Rain against Parting's opponents, Socke, Suppy, and Sen, and even PartinG would have to say he had it a bit easy. And of course, the finals happened to be a PvP... Even so, $40,000 is a pretty good consolation prize, and Creator seemed to be a good sport about it.



Unlike IPL4 at the beginning of the year, which was Creator's first international tournament, Creator comes into IPL5 as a veteran, a known quantity, and one of the favorites to win the championship. But even as a contender, Creator is looking for his first real big league win. At the end of the day, TSL4 and WCS Korea are being remembered as very tough competitions, but not tournaments of the highest order. With Creator's failure to win at the WCS Grand Finals, he will be looking to IPL5 as his chance to finally win on the grandest of stages.



Oh, but those dreaded Zergs. Last week, against Hyun in the GSL, Creator seemed to be trying to make a statement with his game on Daybreak. He got his ultimate army, everything he could want, even highly upgraded carriers with templar support. But even as Hyun let Creator be, not attacking at all while each player built up his force of choice, the final outcome was a Protoss massacre. As the only player we've ranked in the top 5 who's not a Zerg, Creator better be prepared with some new type of fly swatter if he wants to squash some bugs.



#3: TSL_HyuN



Although Hyun was one of the first A-team KeSPA players to switch to SC2, his debut games in the GSL left much to be desired. In those debacles, Hyun looked like a perfect neophyte to the game. He missed his opponent's troop movements totally, used very questionable builds, and seemed to lack understanding of basic unit counters. So Hyun went back to the drawing board, determined to live up the hype befitting an elephant. He waited in the shadows, fading into the label that was "TSL Zerg". And even when Symbol arose as the dominant TSL Zerg, Hyun still did not fret nor did he lose determination to become the very best; he knew his time drew near.



Fast forward to August 6th, 2012, a date many would consider a turning point in Hyun's career. On that date, Hyun was pitted against the top Protoss at the time, Squirtle, in IPL's Fight Club #28. With Squirtle's then stunning form, his the 3 week streak, and Hyun's relative anonymity, it seemed at first like an easy walkover for the Startale Protoss. But don't forget that Hyun once



#2: FXO.Leenock



With the Zerg race being derided from all corners for its boring play, Leenock is nearly single-handedly keeping up their reputation as race that can play dynamic, entertaining games. While even Life seems to be gradually abandoning his more unpredictable play for the comfort of BL-infestor, Leenock is going the opposite direction and getting more erratic by the day (alas, he's bound to play standard in ZvZs). Whether it's by going for Nydus all-ins, overlord drops, or early baneling busts, Leenock makes sure that his opponents never know what to prepare for.



Even with his less than standard play, Leenock has been one of the best performing and most consistent players in the second half of the year, winning one MLG and taking second place in another, as well as reaching the final eight of two consecutive Code S tournaments. Leenock's made the most out of limited international opportunities compared to other players, and opportunities don't come any bigger than this.



#1: ST_Life



Life doesn't have a GSL title to play for in Las Vegas due to a surprise loss to Soulkey in the GSL Ro16, but he still has a lot to gain. With Rain ending his 2012 campaign by taking third at WCS, and Mvp opting out of IPL5 to rest his body, this could be the championship that affirms Life as the most accomplished player of 2012. DRG and MVP have the best resumes so far this year, but for player of the year honors, you'd have to say a triple of GSL/MLG/IPL would give Life the edge.



On the other hand, another quick exit in this tournament would start to put some doubt on Life's true abilities, and make people wonder if his style has already been figured out in a few short weeks. It's been a year where momentum has been alarmingly hard for anyone to keep going, and it was a shock to see Life drop out of the GSL in ZvZ's after having had a 70%+ win rate in the match-up earlier in the year. If a KeSPA newcomer in Soulkey could figure out his ZvZ style so easily, you have to wonder if the same can't be said for his aggressive, unpredictable style of playing non-mirrors.



But then again, you have to remember that he's still a 15-year-old kid who's still enrolled in school while only playing StarCraft II full time during vacations (by the way, a 2 month winter break in Korea is coming up). In those circumstances, he came up with a style that all his colleagues say is impossible to imitate, and executed it well enough to win a GSL and MLG in dominating fashion. Thus, while Life's momentum might have taken its first real hit after MLG Dallas, he's still the most exciting young player in the world, and the one nobody will want to face.





"Who would beat whom in a best of 101 series with their lives on the line?" That crossed our minds. So did "Who had the best tournament results in the past X months?" Those, and many other questions factored in as we attempted to figure out the answer to a contentious question: "who's better?" It was a complex process, which we're not even sure we completely understand ourselves. A few notes:The PRa ranking of everyone's chances to win this tournament. There's a lot of bracket luck involved, as well as a considerable advantage given to players who start with seeds, and doing a final ranking prediction would be pretty damn complicated. Again, the Power Rank is just our all-around answer to the question "who's better?"Finally, the Power Ranksuggest that a higher ranked player is better than a lower ranked player in a head to head. Rankings are based on the overall appraisal of a player.It's very rare that we see one of these elusive creatures so far away from his natural habitat. The only international tournaments the Chinese usually attend are those that include the letters, "W" and "C". And even those usually held in China. Only through much cooperation between s.163.com(China's biggest fan site), MarsTV(one of China's broadcasting media), and IPL was a single seed secured for the Chinese. And as such, XiGua will have a lot riding on his shoulders. It's no secret that the Chinese SCII scene has been struggling. They lack money, tournament experience, and connections to the outside world. So it's a huge deal that Xigua is coming halfway across the world to attend such a prestigious tournament. China has combined their collective resources to send but one representative to America; it's as if Xigua is the last son of Krypton, sent on a rocket ship toLas Vegas as the last hope for their race.Perhaps the most mysterious player in terms of how well he'll do, Sea will be Liquid's secret weapon heading into IPL. Most of the indication of Sea's skill comes from the EG MC tournament Sea competes in weekly. Though he suffered a loss to Empire.Happy in his very first, he easily beat the likes of Thorzain, Major, Luvsic, DdoRo, fraer, and Genius. His most recent victory against Genius was most notable, because in this series, Sea actually used mech to demolish the caught-off-guard Protoss player. Though he has a good record against some good players, Sea is very untested against fellow Koreans, especially the top ones we're used to seeing in the GSL. As IPL5 will be his debut offline tournament, Sea's progress will be a big story-line to follow this weekend. Will Sea cause waves, or will we have to wait till the next tide?Just to get an idea of how stacked this tournament is, here's is a list of all the Koreans who didn't make our ranking.Ditto, but for Europeans.And here are the most internationally known North Americans with the best results, all coming back from the WCS Grand Finals.San has shown some amazing prowess in online preliminaries. He's earned flights to more than one MLG tournament through qualifiers, and he comes into IPL5 with a winners round four spot after taking second place in a very tough Korean regional. Strangely, the skill he shows in qualifiers never really shows up in the actual tournaments, leaving us to wonder what's the matter with San. It might just be a bad case of stage fright like it is for many other players, but he's got to do something about it if he doesn't want to squander his great starting position at IPL5.So we've finally seen Scarlett in two big tournaments against top caliber players, and we've come to the initial conclusion that while she isn't Stephano and can't be predicted to consistently beat S-level Korean players, she is still good enough to be one of the few foreigners who is a real threat to said Code S level Koreans. The massive hype surrounding her since she upset BumblebeePrime at IPL4 has made everything she does get put under a microscope, so hopefully returning to the place where she got her big break will also mean a return to more realistic expectations. Scarlett isn't a player you expect to win the title, but she is someone you expect to show the Koreans that they won't have it easy.Over the course of a year, Vortix has climbed from being just Lucifron's brother to being the more accomplished Duran. After a rapid rise that seemed to know no end, the last two weeks have finally started to reveal the precipice of Vortix's climb. At the WCS Grand Finals, he lost 2-3 to Creator and at IEM Singapore, he lost again in a close 2-3 to Sting. Vortix seems to be able to fight toe-to-toe with top Koreans, but lacks that final bit to be able to break into Stephano territory. Perhaps it's just a lack of chances? Well, here comes the third try in three weeks.The defending IPL champ has been in a strange spot lately. The wins have stopped coming, but at the same time, the quality of his play suggests that he's better than what the stats say. With aLive always having struggled with TvZ post-patch, the difference seems to be that while he was previously able to barely win over top class Terran and Protoss players, he's now barely losing those same games. It would be great if he could return to Las Vegas and tip those narrow margins back in his favor, but his current form makes it seem unlikely.In power ranks, we often joke about how Nerchio is the domestic version of Stephano, preferring to stay in Europe while his French counterpart finds success all over the world. Well, no more! Not two weeks ago, Nerchio made the rare trip to Asia to compete in the WCS Grand Finals. And this week, he'll make his first appearance on American soil, a truly joyous occasion for those hoping for something less than total Korean domination at IPL5.Nerchio doesn't seem to be optimistic though, as when TL spoke with him at the WCS Finals, he was in a state of despair over Protoss. Specifically, the Protoss known as CreatorPrime. Lo and behold, look who Nerchio has to play in round two, none other than Creator himself. For a player who has made much of his fame by defeating Protoss players, MC and Yonghwa in particular, it's curious that Nerchio would struggle so much with Creator, who he holds a 0 - 5 record against. But hey, as long as they're in the same place, maybe Nerchio could ask HyuN for some pointers.As a possible heir to PuMa's throne, TheStC has experienced a condensed version of his predecessor's career over the last four months. With a combination of beastly TvT and TvP, backed by sufficient all-in skills to prop up an average TvZ game, TheStC produced some great results at foreign tournaments, placing top four at MLG Summer and Dreamhack Valencia. And then, like PuMa, his TvZ stopped holding up in a Zerg filled world, with Snute and Stephano knocking him out of DreamHack Winter. Unless TheStC can improve his TvZ game greatly or bring some better cheeses, things can only get worse at this rate.The former NS Hoseo Terran Sting never made a big impact in GomTV run Korean scene, but he's showed a great aptitude for winning multi-game series in international tournaments. With a combination of cheeses, greedy economic gambles, and strong two base timing attacks, Sting found success first in TSL4, and then at IEM Singapore. While some people might not like his choice of style, you can't deny that it's getting him results, and that IPL5 seems like just the kind of tournament where Sting would do well.Somehow, Heart is still one of the most underrated players in the business. People have been waiting for him to regress to his true level ever since he took third place at MLG Winter Championship in March (eliminating HuK with two 1/1/1's didn't help) but he's stayed the course - and he might have even gotten better. At the last two MLG Championships he put in tie-7th and tie-5th performances, and he even made it into Code S as if to send a message to his haters. Yes, Heart might have a stronger-than-normal penchant for cheese, but his cheeses are strong because he uses them in tandem with other strategies. His tournament results speak for themselves, and those who continue to underrate him do so at their own peril.Two of the three central figures behind the SlayerS drama will be in competition at IPL5, with only Jessica required to complete the unhappiest reunion ever.Crank seems to have come down a bit after a nice tie-9th finish at MLG Summer Championship, whether it was due to continued problems with his neck pains or distraction from the SlayerS drama. He's proven to be a solid Protoss player in his limited outings, but has yet to have a truly impressive result.Then there's MMA, the player that the power rank committee had the most contrasting opinions about. No, not in terms of his culpability in the entire SlayerS scandal - just in terms of how good he is now. There's no soft way to put it: his recent results have been dismal, and he's dropped straight down to Code B. On the other hand, you can never count out players who have played at the highest level. While you have to keep the cautionary tale of jjakji in mind, you also have to think about the times MC and MVP surged back after looking faded, proving that there's something timeless about class. MMA's in the roughest patch of his career, but now that he's found a new team and put the drama behind him, it could be time for his recovery to begin.Looking at Ryung finally get his big break, we can't help but be reminded a tiny bit of ByuN. Like Ryung, he was another Terran who was a regular fixture in Code S, a core part of his team, and someone who could play at a championship level on his best days. Since Ryung has finally put together that one good run, you have to think that maybe ByuN could have his day as well. They do differ in one important way, however. Ryung's great at TvZ, while ByuN's specialty is TvP - not something that bodes well for ByuN in the current environment.You have to be a little bit disappointed: After MVP singled out YoDa as the best player on the LG-IM team, he's proved himself to be merely good-but-not-great. With clean mechanics and strong macro play, there's a hint of an excellent player lying underneath, but somehow he hasn't come to light in the GSL. At least we know MVP's words weren't entirely lip service, as LG-IM choose to send YoDa as their IPL Team Arena finalist seed. While it only means so much when you consider Seed was already qualified and Yonghwa has WCG duty this weekend, it shows that the team has faith in their #2 Terran. Perhaps the rapid-fire, gauntlet style of foreign tournaments is what YoDa needs to really show his skills?Though it's been overshadowed by many of the bigger storylines of the year, viOLet's consistency in 2012 has been remarkable. Just look at his results on Liquipedia – he's been top eight in nearly every major tournament he's entered, and he even made the Code S Ro16 as if to prove that he's not just taking advantage of weaker international opposition. While viOLet has been fairly quiet in the past few months (a top four performance at LSC2 was quickly buried by the onslaught of giant year end tournaments), that's no reason to think one of the most consistent players of 2012 has somehow declined. With a little bit of that all-important tournament luck, he could be right back in the championship picture.Stephano hasn't been able to impress with his recent performances at DH Winter and the BWC, but he's still the best shot the foreigners have at winning this tournament. The champion of IPL3 and top six finisher at IPL4, Stephano returns to Vegas with a chance to make a year end statement to the people who think there's any substance to the EG curse. While his last two tournament outings were poor, everything will be forgiven with a strong showing at IPL5. Stephano doesn't necessarily need to take the title due to the stacked player field, but letting a player like Vortix or Nerchio finish higher than him could re-open the 'best foreigner' discussion that seemed slammed shut just a few months ago.After looking like he had roared back to his early 2012 form heading into MLG Dallas, Polt instead looks like he's back to being in so-so form. With a disappointing 9~12th finish at MLG and then a disastrous Lone Star Clash where he didn't even finish in the money, Polt traveled back to Korea for his Code S Ro16 matches. While he didn't make it to the quarterfinals, he was still able to knock off Parting 2 - 0 before losing to semi-finalists Bogus and Sniper to be eliminated from the tournament. Heading into IPL5, nothing would really surprise us from Polt. He could win it all, as we've known for a while that he's one of the best Terrans in the world when he's fully prepared and in form. He could also fall out early, in a third straight disappointing result.To recycle some content from a Code A article:It's surprising and depressing how well this rule holds up, as Bomber is great at building up momentum with a string of good results, only to smash into a brick wall in a burning wreck. His great runs at MLG Fall (including a fantastic win over by.Rain) and Lone Star Clash seemed like signs of a Bomber revival, but his fans are cautious about getting their hopes up lest they get burned again. As usual, Bomber enters the tournament with the potential to win it all, but also bearing a huge weight of doubt.I could not believe that so many of my fellow writers have called DRG down and out for the count, ranking him so low here in the power rank! After all, DRG is still arguably the best performing player of 2012. And did we forget that he was recently in the finals of an OSL? Or that he still made round of 16 in the GSL?Sure, DRG is in a mini-slump at the moment, but we've all seen those DRG mini-slumps before, and each time he came back. The last time we doubted DRG, he made it all the way to the finals of the OSL. And more recently, look no further than the fact that coach Choi of MVP still saved DRG as his closer/ace in the GSTL match against TSL, sending even the "higher rated" Sniper beforehand. Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared to see DRG surprise us all and silence the naysayers yet again.You have to be looking at MC anxiously as he comes to IPL5. It's been nearly four months since he earned his last serious payday at an international tournament, having earned $6,500 for a second place finish in August's ASUS ROG Assembly tournament. The foreign circuit is MC's bread and butter, and he seems bound to cash in in Vegas, regardless of criticisms of an inflexible style.Someone would say the cracks are showing, with his Ro8 elimination at IEM Singapore being the latest disappointing result. But this is MC in an international tournament, for which we must hold an equal amount of reverence as we do for MVP in the GSL. The major complication would be that this tournament is a little more Korean than international, but we ARE talking about the third place OSL finisher here.MMA and Ryung may be on different teams, yet somehow they're still connected. As previously mentioned, MMA is in a situation where many are willing to overlook his current form because of his past results. It's the same case for Ryung, but not in a positive way. After so many tournaments where Ryung proved he was good-but-not-great, it seems that many believe his current semi-final run in Code S is a temporary spike rather than a real shift.After all, what Ryung showed was mostly an increase in consistency (he was already capable of playing world class games on his best days) - something that can be hard to tell apart from luck without seeing a lot of games. It's all very familiarly unfair for Ryung, as his fellow semi-finalists are receiving the benefit of the doubtof their lack of a track record, when it's not yet clear that any of them are the real deal either.As with MMA, the Power Rank committee was conflicted on where Ryung should go, and we ended up compromising at #12.Squirtle comes back to IPL5, mostly known as the guy whohave won IPL4. As history tells us, aLive bested Squirtle in the finals of the previous IPL, but what do we find when we dig a little deeper? Squirtle had tirelessly clawed his way to the finals through the open bracket, the group stage, and then the loser bracket of the championship round, playing around forty games in three days. Meanwhile, Alive progressed from the lofty group stage into the finals, watching his would-be challengers scrap against each other in the dirt. Even though Alive was holding the trophy at the end, many were more impressed by Squirtle's second place finish.The momentum of IPL4 saw Squirtle to a Code S finals, and earned him recognition as the best Protoss player in the world. After that, there followed a decline, where Squirtle seemed more egg than blastoise. Recently, however, Squirtle seems to be finding his stride again, cruising in Code A and playing a key part for Startale in Team Leagues. As he's returning to the place where his career first took off, he couldn't have had better timing.Not since Jjakji won a GSL champion last November, has a Code S champ looked so vulnerable. The path to Seed's trophy was paved with close 3 - 2's and cheesy play in a PvP finals. Sure, Seed showed some instances of greatness directly after his championship; he was the hero who prevented Taeja from all-killing IM twice at the IPL TAC finals and he qualified to WCS Asia after placing in WCS Korea. Seed's stable and solid play inspired confidence that he was not just the beneficiary of a lucky run, but a player who would be around in the scene for a long time. But more recent events suggest differently. Seed fell out of WCS Asia, and in last week's GSL matches Seed joined jjakji in Code B after losing to the unheralded TSL_Center.Few would remember that in IPL4, Jjakji was considered one of the favorites . After his GSL win, Jjakji too, had his successes, even winning the IPL tournament of champions . But after a disappointing performance at IPL4, his stock seemed to plummet, sending him into obscurity. Seed will have to do his best at IPL5 to avoid suffering the same fate.It's weird to say, but Symbol, the hottest kid on the Zerg block, is rapidly being phased out by newer players like Life, Sniper and even his own teammate Hyun. Red hot with momentum after surprising everyone at Iron Squid in April and then following it up with a reverse all-kill of LG-IM in the GSTL, Symbol was never able to get past the Ro8 of Code S and went out 0 - 2 in this season's Ro16. With Hyun destroying IPL Fight Club, making the semifinals of GSL, and even used as TSL's final ace in the most recent GSTL semifinals, Symbol has seemingly been replaced as the head Zerg on the TSL team. Hyun and Symbol are known close friends and share everything when it comes to builds, and Symbol has stated thousands of times that Hyun is one of the main reasons why he is so good. Symbol is still one of the best Zerg players in the world, but this is a tournament where he's in danger of being demoted from TSL's super ace to Hyun's sidekick if he can't put in an awesome performance.The events of DreamHack Winter were critical in HerO overtaking TaeJa for the first time in months. Both destroyed their group stage opponents, but come the playoff stage, TaeJa had a fairly rough time handling ThorZaIN and Nerchio (his games vs. the latter were tighter than the 3 – 0 scoreline suggests) while HerO breezed through monchi and Snute. And while we don't take head to head directly into account in these rankings (our criteria for tiebreaks are more nebulous than DreamHack's), HerO's 4 – 0 finals victory over TaeJa counted as a quality win against a Code S player, giving him the push ahead.While both players are more than good enough to dominate international competition, one has to wonder how things will go for them against the masses of Korean Zergs at IPL5. It's those very Korean Zergs who caused them to drop from the current season of Code S in the first place, and HerO's loss against Sen at WCS and TaeJa's less-than-easy wins against foreign Zergs at DreamHack suggest they haven't found the whole answer just yet. It's a strange world where HerO and TaeJa'smatch-ups are now against Zerg, and while both can get far, they won't be able to win the championship without fixing that point.Bogus, man. He started out his SC2 career with a 1 - 8 record on one of the most overlooked teams in the KeSPA Proleague, and he is now on the verge of creating history in Vegas. He not only has a chance to become the second royal roader in GSL history and the first KeSPA player to take a GSL championship, but he is also listed to take part in the IPL5 tournament as well. With comparable micro to MarineKing and Polt, he has an array of timing attacks that he can rely on to take out players in the early game. In the times he's been pushed to the mid and late game, Bogus has been just as solid, having wins over Soulkey and Sniper on his way to the semis. Innovation, Bogus, or whatever you want to call him, is a different kind of KeSPA player. He erased his past and started anew by changing his ID, and he is the only KeSPA player to do away with the barcode ID and publicize his actual account. Eccentric, powerful, and strong enough to a-move to victory, he is one of the top contenders to take the title in Sin City.Sniper makes his international debut after having made a reputation for himself among the hardcore GSL fans as Mr. Anti-Fun. In his career, he's eliminated fan favorites like NaNiwa, Sen, Clide, Leenock and PartinG from the GSL, robs MVP fans of opportunities to see DongRaeGu play as the ace, on top of which he recently all-killed the remnants of the SlayerS team in their emotional farewell GSTL match. In the latter match, he also happened to make SlayerS_Eve cry in her debut game, confirming his position as the biggest fan-not-favorite in a very long time. As he starts at the bottom of the IPL5 bracket, he's guaranteed plenty of games where he can cause even more grief.Though Sniper's not the first player to knock out popular players and earn their fans' ire, there's something about him that makes him even further embody the spirit of 'no fun allowed' (he's the anti-mage of SC2). At least players like Heart and Sparta had the storylines of resourceful underdogs getting by to make them interesting. Sniper is just flat out excellent in a very unremarkable way, and we know from years of esports that unless your name is MVP or Flash, that's not a good way to get people to like you. The thing is, Sniper just might have the talent to get to that level.After the WCS Grand finals, Creator must have felt a bit aggrieved. Just compare Creator's opponents of Nerchio, Vortix, and Rain against Parting's opponents, Socke, Suppy, and Sen, and even PartinG would have to say he had it a bit easy. And of course, the finals happened to be a PvP... Even so, $40,000 is a pretty good consolation prize, and Creator seemed to be a good sport about it.Unlike IPL4 at the beginning of the year, which was Creator's first international tournament, Creator comes into IPL5 as a veteran, a known quantity, and one of the favorites to win the championship. But even as a contender, Creator is looking for his first real big league win. At the end of the day, TSL4 and WCS Korea are being remembered as very tough competitions, but not tournaments of the highest order. With Creator's failure to win at the WCS Grand Finals, he will be looking to IPL5 as his chance to finally win on the grandest of stages.Oh, but those dreaded Zergs. Last week, against Hyun in the GSL, Creator seemed to be trying to make a statement with his game on Daybreak. He got his ultimate army, everything he could want, even highly upgraded carriers with templar support. But even as Hyun let Creator be, not attacking at all while each player built up his force of choice, the final outcome was a Protoss massacre. As the only player we've ranked in the top 5 who's not a Zerg, Creator better be prepared with some new type of fly swatter if he wants to squash some bugs.Although Hyun was one of the first A-team KeSPA players to switch to SC2, his debut games in the GSL left much to be desired. In those debacles, Hyun looked like a perfect neophyte to the game. He missed his opponent's troop movements totally, used very questionable builds, and seemed to lack understanding of basic unit counters. So Hyun went back to the drawing board, determined to live up the hype befitting an elephant. He waited in the shadows, fading into the label that was "TSL Zerg". And even when Symbol arose as the dominant TSL Zerg, Hyun still did not fret nor did he lose determination to become the very best; he knew his time drew near.Fast forward to August 6th, 2012, a date many would consider a turning point in Hyun's career. On that date, Hyun was pitted against the top Protoss at the time, Squirtle, in IPL's Fight Club #28. With Squirtle's then stunning form, his the 3 week streak, and Hyun's relative anonymity, it seemed at first like an easy walkover for the Startale Protoss. But don't forget that Hyun once broke even God's streak . When Hyun toppled Squirtle, many called it a fluke, but as his streak grew and grew to its current 14 kills, none could deny that HyuN had finally arrived. And with his current standing in the GSL Round of 4, well, it's about time.With the Zerg race being derided from all corners for its boring play, Leenock is nearly single-handedly keeping up their reputation as race that can play dynamic, entertaining games. While even Life seems to be gradually abandoning his more unpredictable play for the comfort of BL-infestor, Leenock is going the opposite direction and getting more erratic by the day (alas, he's bound to play standard in ZvZs). Whether it's by going for Nydus all-ins, overlord drops, or early baneling busts, Leenock makes sure that his opponents never know what to prepare for.Even with his less than standard play, Leenock has been one of the best performing and most consistent players in the second half of the year, winning one MLG and taking second place in another, as well as reaching the final eight of two consecutive Code S tournaments. Leenock's made the most out of limited international opportunities compared to other players, and opportunities don't come any bigger than this.Life doesn't have a GSL title to play for in Las Vegas due to a surprise loss to Soulkey in the GSL Ro16, but he still has a lot to gain. With Rain ending his 2012 campaign by taking third at WCS, and Mvp opting out of IPL5 to rest his body, this could be the championship that affirms Life as the most accomplished player of 2012. DRG and MVP have the best resumes so far this year, but for player of the year honors, you'd have to say a triple of GSL/MLG/IPL would give Life the edge.On the other hand, another quick exit in this tournament would start to put some doubt on Life's true abilities, and make people wonder if his style has already been figured out in a few short weeks. It's been a year where momentum has been alarmingly hard for anyone to keep going, and it was a shock to see Life drop out of the GSL in ZvZ's after having had a 70%+ win rate in the match-up earlier in the year. If a KeSPA newcomer in Soulkey could figure out his ZvZ style so easily, you have to wonder if the same can't be said for his aggressive, unpredictable style of playing non-mirrors.But then again, you have to remember that he's still a 15-year-old kid who's still enrolled in school while only playing StarCraft II full time during vacations (by the way, a 2 month winter break in Korea is coming up). In those circumstances, he came up with a style that all his colleagues say is impossible to imitate, and executed it well enough to win a GSL and MLG in dominating fashion. Thus, while Life's momentum might have taken its first real hit after MLG Dallas, he's still the most exciting young player in the world, and the one nobody will want to face.