HyralGambit Profile Joined February 2014 2439 Posts #1 Post-BCTV1 Power Rank



With



#1 Bisu







The undisputed God of the post-televised era of Brood War. Anyone who even casually follows Brood War knows Bisu’s level of dominance and if you don’t, stop reading and go watch any of his games, whether streamed or official.



Despite recently announcing that he would soon depart to complete his mandatory military service, the former SKT1 player's return to Brood War in September 2013 has made a large impact. Perhaps if the SSL9 Grand Finals had not gathered so much attention, the rise of future Brood War events may not have even existed. Even if his time with us now is short, his former SKT1 teammate BeSt in the military recently streamed on Afreeca after obtaining permission, so perhaps we will still see Bisu play in the years to come. There are so many recommended Bisu games that listing them all would be futile, but let’s recall his match against ZerO in the PLU2014 finals played a month ago where he silenced all doubters in Twitch Chat who said "there's no way Bisu can comeback from this" during the nail-biting series.





#2 Killer







Former Hwaseung Oz Zerg and heir to the fallen Dong Tyrant. Shortly after the 2012 Tving OSL, Killer returned to Brood War and dominated the scene with two consecutive SSL gold medals. Sadly, after winning SSL7 against Larva and SSL8 against HiyA, Killer decided that his girlfriend was more important than Brood War (preposterous!) and fell into a slump. After a shocking loss against Mong in the SSL9 Ro32 Group A, Killer's Sonic 2014 Proleague performance have caused many (even myself) to doubt his capabilities all throughout the first half of 2014. However, no one should doubt that Killer as of now is the best Zerg of the SoSPA scene. In the past 4 months, Killer has demonstrated his profound talent in ZvZ: 4-1 against Modesty in the LoveTV Starleague 2 finals and 4-1 against hero a few days ago in the BCTV Season 1 finals. He has also crushed every Protoss in the past few tournament games with the exception of Snow and his signature Reaver play, but Killer still managed to beat the Reaver King in a close 3-2 series. 75% in both ZvZ and ZvP: an unprecedented achievement.



Many would now point to his lackluster ZvT, but Killer's ZvT has noticeably improved since his poor showing earlier this year. Despite coming in second place against Mind and Sea in recent finals, Killer nonetheless beaten his long time SoSPA rival Sea narrowly 3-2 in the BCTV Season 1 semifinals, with superb tactical play against the commonly considered “overpowered” late mech switch against Zerg. Killer seems to have finally overcome the hurdle known as ZvT and the metagame once again is appearing stable despite 13 years after the last Brood War Balance Patch. Some credit must of course be given to Modesty, but Killer is the one who capitalized on his ZvT concepts and is once again the undisputed #1 Zerg of Brood War.



Having earned over $4,000 in official tournaments in the past 4 months, Killer is looking sharp to be the favorite to take down the $86,000+ LSL3 at the rate he’s going. If Killer has found the answer to defeat Sea's late mech in ZvT, there will be no stopping his momentum (unless he happens to find a Korean girl worth more than $50,000).





#3 Sea







One of the SoSPA veterans, his rivalry with Killer goes back a long way, and the most solid Terran player of the scene. Having no weakness in any match-up with all his lost series being down-to-the-wire close, many may mistakenly paint Sea as a “jack of all trade, master of none” Terran. However, a glance at the former MBC Terran's recent results would tell otherwise. Despite not many 1st place finishes, Sea had a very solid run throughout recent touranments: 2-1 against hero and 3-0 against Shuttle in BCTV1 as well as 2-1 against Movie and 2-0 against Killer in the HEL Special Match #2. Even his matches against Mind, Killer and PianO were close in later parts of BCTV1 and the matches could’ve gone either way. Sea played well, showing his experience and deep understanding of Brood War fundamentals. Despite accusations of occasional cluelessness in late game TvP and some may even call him a pure late mech abuser in TvZ, Sea has demonstrated his deep understanding of both match-ups. By executing some great 3 factory pressure and sharp TvP timing pushes against Shuttle and Movie as well as excellent SK Terran bio play against Killer, Sea knows how to play standard as well as using old unorthodoxed strategies. Perhaps Killer and hero “solving” Zerg’s problem against late mech forced Sea to admit to himself that perhaps his past statement of “late mech being superior to SK Terran” was premature and narrow-minded? Regardless, Sea’s adaption as a player throughout the SoSPA era has made him never fall off the radar. That, or it’s his loud obnoxious personality.



A note on the infamous rivalry between Killer and Sea: while Sea may have initially had the edge over KIller when Sea first returned to Brood War, I believe both now are capable of beating each other equally. The relationship has given us some of the most memorable highest level TvZ and even though Sea will eventually join the army, the epic tale between these two powerhouses will never be forgotten.





#4 Mind







If you were to ask someone to write you a textbook on Terran builds to use in a bo7 tournament finals, Mind, the Scholar Terran, would be your best bet. Or go by his other nickname, Rommel, since his builds against Killer in the bo7 were nothing short of magnificent. SK Terran, proxy rax, Goliath bio push, mass drops,



Mind’s TvZ is by far his strongest match-up with a winrate of 78% and his 1st place victories in recent finals, 4-2 against Killer in 41SL2 and 2-0 against hero in the HEL Special Match #3, are excellent examples of this, but I would like to highlight one of his exceptional TvP games. Just by watching the following game you can get a sense that Mind "gets" it. Despite playing on the Terran Graveyard known as Medusa against a horrifying Carrier count, Mind proved his superior thinking when he out-positioned and out-maneuvered a desperate situation against Shuttle in the 41SL2 semifinals.





#5 hero







The God of ZvP with 73% winrate,



Regardless, hero is still the God of ZvP and showcasing a ZvP would only be fitting. I know a lot of people were horrified by what you saw Snow did to Killer game 4 in that BCTV1 ro8 game on Electric Circuit, but hero always seems to find a way, even against Disruption Web Corsair/Reaver into mass Carriers.





#6 sSak







Maybe the best Terran 2 months ago when he won SBENU All-Stars in a crushing victory defeating hero 3-0, but I honestly can’t put sSak in the top 5 judging from his recent results. Losing to Sky 5 times in a row is not acceptable, especially considering he can get TvP practice from his ex-SKT1 teammate Bisu whenever he wants. That would explain Bisu’s cheesy mood in his recent PvT games and odd fascination with Carriers experimentation, most of which did not work out at all. However, it’s not just TvP that sSak is waning: he almost got knocked out by ZerO, “the guy that has a worse ZvT than hero”, in the BCTV1 Ro16. Then next round, PianO went completely nuts on sSak with his trademark TvT aggression. However, sSak did not play bad. His opponents just played better. He seemed completely unprepared for PianO's aggression, which is surprising considereing PianO's reckless reputation. Going to a final deciding game against ZerO when it's pretty much a given that you possess excellent TvZ is also bizarre. Compare these results to his superb performance in SBENU All-Stars 2 months prior, 3-1 against PianO, 3-1 against Mong and a clean sweep against hero in the finals. One could say that PianO and hero have improved in the last 2 months, which makes sense depending on how long they have known about the magnitude of LSL3. sSak did not even show that much interest in LSL3 until after he heard about the massive prizepool, so maybe he was planning to take a break until starting to focus again just recently?



With the LSL3 sponsor negotiation meetings still under way, sSak is still not 100% confirmed to be playing. Without him, the Terran line-up will take a heavy hit and Zergs will definitely smile at the prospect of not having to face sSak. Hopefully, the smell of cash can rekindle sSak's passion and once again return him to where he was when he finally won a gold just 2 months ago.





#7 PianO







. Either that he succeeds with his aggression and looks like the dirtiest genius or he trips and looks like the dumbest Terran on Earth. But always entertaining none the less, even when he loses horribly. "Inconsistent" may be his middle name, but he did get 3rd place in the recent BCTV1, so who are we to judge? It’s a good thing PianO did not run into a single Protoss in BCTV1 since he has some of the worst TvP I have ever seen, but what’s funny is that PianO somehow 4-0’d Modesty (the supposed best ZvT player in SoSPA) in the ro32 and yet somehow lost to hero in the semifinals 3-1. Like I said, you never know what to expect with the ex-Woongjin Stars Terran. However he is skilled, rocking an average of 420 apm on his stream with style, showing off very mechanically demanding TvZ on his good days and very exciting vulture micro in TvT. It must be fun for PianO being 26 years old who already finished his military service, taking it easy and having the time of his life playing Brood War while entertaining his fans. It's interesting to note that PianO may be partly responsible for the shift towards the more aggressive Vulture heavy TvT metagame we see today instead of the more turtle Goliath/Battecruiser TvT of late last year, so at least we can thank him for making most Terran mirrors a little more tolerable: either a TvT win with PianO's aggression or PianO types "gg" after a failed cheese. With cloaked Wraiths slowly becoming the Mutas of TvT, can anyone really find 1 serious tournament TvT game that went over an hour long or where a single Battlecruiser was made in the year 2014?



People parodied Kwanro's thinking in the epic flowchart diagram, but try and imagine one for PianO. Maybe that's why he has so much trouble in TvP: you actually have to defend attacks from other people for once, but "defending" and PianO are like oil and water, so that's not going to work. Still, no one doubts that this recklessly entertaining style of Terran play can be effective in the hands of PianO, as demonstrated when he played against sSak in the BCTV1 Ro8.





#8 Snow







He may not be one of the Six Dragons, but Snow’s inner talents may prove himself to be something more than just Ned Stark’s bastard. Holding the record for the most kills with a Reaver in a televised match, the former CJ Entus Protoss has shown some of the best Reaver usage in recent months. With his former teammate Movie falling off the radar with only a recent 1-2 loss against Sea in HEL Special Match #2, Snow seems to be training hard to make a good impression when LSL3 begins. You may think Reavers are standard in PvT and PvP, but just check out Snow's Reavers in PvZ. It's almost as if every time Snow makes a Reaver in PvZ, his chance of winning goes up by 30%, although considering that the average Protoss player only has a 10% chance max of beating hero or Killer, that's not saying much. However closing the gap between people like hero and Killer is no small feat, and Snow seems to be getting close to finally taking a series from them. Despite narrowly losing to Killer 2-3 in BCTV1 Ro8 and hero 1-2 in HEL Special Match #3, Snow fought well and the series were down to the wire. Just watch the final game 3 between him and hero in the HEL Special Match #3, a long drawn-out split map PvZ game on Python where the victory was inches away from Snow's grasp, but it slipped away just barely in the end.



Although the entire participant list for the LSL3 is not entirely confirmed, the Protoss line-up, with the absence of Bisu along with Movie’s questionable skill level, seems the weakest by far. It quite possible we might get an under-representation of Protoss when the ro16 begins, but if Snow can reach the top of the wall, he could raise the scarab cannon defense with his Protoss brothers and defend against the terrifying onslaught of the White Walkers: Mind[WHITE] and Killer[WHITE].





#9 HiyA







The Magikarp Terran, known for his fish-like appearance, did not make it far in BCTV1, but with LSL3 coming up, HiyA may have once again evolved into his more threatening form judging from the devastation in the past days. Despite a humiliating 0-2 defeat against Sky in the 41SL2 Ro16 and a more understandable 0-2 loss against Snow in the BCTV1 Ro32, HiyA is surprisingly better known for his TvP match-up. However, I would like to briefly talk about his TvT because I feel it's one of his more overlooked traits, with TvZ being overall strong among all the top Terrans. Whereas PianO may favor aggressive Vultures or Wraiths style TvT, HiyA tends to favor a more classical Goliath heavy composition with Dropship play, slowly inching for territory and positional maneuvering. It's still very effective, as HiyA demonstrated in his match against Sea in HEL Special Match #4 where HiyA won 2-0, even in an era of TvT metagame where games tend to be more chaotic and harassment focused. HiyA's TvP is also very noticeable, occasionally breaking away from the cookie-cutter FD and 1 Rax FE, opting for more 1 base early aggression against Protoss or even the Bunker Rush with SCV pull, an uncommon sight. What makes him even more dangerous is that fact that, along with his good tank focus fire control, HiyA has some of the more effective uses of Spider Mines I have ever seen, which also translate to cost efficient Vulture drops and run-bys. Others may prefer a maxed out Terran mech army, but HiyA is just as capable of fighting early TvP engagements cost-efficiently. If you cloned PianO, and somehow made him good at TvP, it would probably look like HiyA.



Oh, and HiyA also beat Bisu 2-1. No, really:





#10 Larva







Despite focusing a lot of his time on casting, and killing headphone users casually checking out his stream, Larva slow rise in a time of lackluster performance from Modesty may have gone under-appreciated. You wouldn't think that someone who narrowly won against free 3-2 in BCTV1 Ro16 and lost to hero in a ZvZ 1-3 in the Ro8 would be performing well, but don't let that fool you. Larva's ZvP is no slouch and if you watched his recent stream games against his former SKT1 teammate Bisu, the PvZ Revolutionist, you would know that Larva can fight well into a macro game and can put the pressure on when he finds a chance. What's more impressive is his ZvT of late, showcasing his incredible game sense against Terrans by attacking their bases at just the right moments. Perhaps it's due to his incredible ling control that gains him crucial intel on where his opponent's army is on the map. It appears Modesty is not the only one who can put the fear in Terrans these days, Killer, hero, and even Larva can all tell the metagame that Zerg too can attack lethally in ZvT.



In the SBENU Super Fight #3, after making pork chops out of Mong (known for his TvZ), Mong was forced to wash Larva's dishes as according to the rules. The Zergs in LSL3 are looking to be the scariest race to face right now, and it will continue to grow as more Zerg players return to Brood War.





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And that's it: the top 10 players of September 2014 based on the most recent games I've seen. Some other players such as Movie, Mong, and Modesty who have not been performing as well lately or simply due to a lack of notable games did not make the list, and I do not count cheesing Shuttle in a bo7 PvP or going Carriers mindlessly again and again against Mind to be representative of high level Protoss. Feel free to disagree about any of the rankings since I have not seen every Brood War game, although I wish I could. Hopefully, this has helped people get a sense of the current dynamics of the Brood War scene and with exciting news of more ex-pros returning to Brood War in the coming weeks, I can gladly say the following:



Get hyped for Brood War 3.0! With the $86,000+ prizepool LoveTV Starleague 3 just around the corner and a new wave of fresh blood in the form of 16 TBA ex-progamers to be revealed in the following weeks, it is a great time for Brood War and an even greater time to start following the post-KeSPA scene of the greatest RTS in the world. BCTV Starleague Season 1 has just concluded, and Cabbage has promised us that season two is coming to satisfy the cravings of the fans in anticipation for the next chapters of Brood War’s history: LSL3 and SSL10. HungryApp has started a Special Match series as well that drew the attention of some of the top Brood War players streaming on Afreeca. So with all these recent tournament results and epic stream games, you might be asking yourself: who are the best players as of September 2014? What makes them so great and are there any games to showcase their talent? Well, let us examine which 10 players have performed exceptionally well in these exciting times leading up to the biggest Korean Brood War league hosted in the post-televised history of the game.The undisputed God of the post-televised era of Brood War. Anyone who even casually follows Brood War knows Bisu’s level of dominance and if you don’t, stop reading and go watch any of his games, whether streamed or official. Winner of the best PvT game of 2013 against Sea (and the Highest Recall per Minute Award of 2013) , SSL9 champion where he defeated the God of ZvP with 73% win-rate, and absolute monster to anyone who dares challenge him when he streams. The only Protoss, in an era of Zerg dominance in ZvP, to have beaten the likes of hero and Killer times beyond counting on stream. The only Protoss who magically seems to pull epic comebacks after comebacks against seemingly impossible odds, whether if it’s after a failed cheese in PvT or failed timing in PvZ. His impeccable skill of finding holes in Terran’s sieged positions and Zerg’s sim city creates aggressive attacking potential which suits his multi-tasking style of play. His attacks may seem reckless to any casual viewer, but after the dust is settled with his opponent typing "gg", any person can only stare in awe at Bisu's ability to pull something out of seemingly nothing. If there was one player who may be considered to receive the Bonjwa status in the post-KeSPA Brood War Era, it would be none other than Kim Taek Yong. There was Bisu and there were all the rest.Despite recently announcing that he would soon depart to complete his mandatory military service, the former SKT1 player's return to Brood War in September 2013 has made a large impact. Perhaps if the SSL9 Grand Finals had not gathered so much attention, the rise of future Brood War events may not have even existed. Even if his time with us now is short, his former SKT1 teammate BeSt in the military recently streamed on Afreeca after obtaining permission, so perhaps we will still see Bisu play in the years to come. There are so many recommended Bisu games that listing them all would be futile, but let’s recall his match against ZerO in the PLU2014 finals played a month ago where he silenced all doubters in Twitch Chat who said "there's no way Bisu can comeback from this" during the nail-biting series.Former Hwaseung Oz Zerg and heir to the fallen Dong Tyrant. Shortly after the 2012 Tving OSL, Killer returned to Brood War and dominated the scene with two consecutive SSL gold medals. Sadly, after winning SSL7 against Larva and SSL8 against HiyA, Killer decided that his girlfriend was more important than Brood War (preposterous!) and fell into a slump. After a shocking loss against Mong in the SSL9 Ro32 Group A, Killer's Sonic 2014 Proleague performance have caused many (even myself) to doubt his capabilities all throughout the first half of 2014. However, no one should doubt that Killer as of now is the best Zerg of the SoSPA scene. In the past 4 months, Killer has demonstrated his profound talent in ZvZ: 4-1 against Modesty in the LoveTV Starleague 2 finals and 4-1 against hero a few days ago in the BCTV Season 1 finals. He has also crushed every Protoss in the past few tournament games with the exception of Snow and his signature Reaver play, but Killer still managed to beat the Reaver King in a close 3-2 series. 75% in both ZvZ and ZvP: an unprecedented achievement.Many would now point to his lackluster ZvT, but Killer's ZvT has noticeably improved since his poor showing earlier this year. Despite coming in second place against Mind and Sea in recent finals, Killer nonetheless beaten his long time SoSPA rival Sea narrowly 3-2 in the BCTV Season 1 semifinals, with superb tactical play against the commonly considered “overpowered” late mech switch against Zerg. Killer seems to have finally overcome the hurdle known as ZvT and the metagame once again is appearing stable despite 13 years after the last Brood War Balance Patch. Some credit must of course be given to Modesty, but Killer is the one who capitalized on his ZvT concepts and is once again the undisputed #1 Zerg of Brood War.Having earned over $4,000 in official tournaments in the past 4 months, Killer is looking sharp to be the favorite to take down the $86,000+ LSL3 at the rate he’s going. If Killer has found the answer to defeat Sea's late mech in ZvT, there will be no stopping his momentum (unless he happens to find a Korean girl worth more than $50,000).One of the SoSPA veterans, his rivalry with Killer goes back a long way, and the most solid Terran player of the scene. Having no weakness in any match-up with all his lost series being down-to-the-wire close, many may mistakenly paint Sea as a “jack of all trade, master of none” Terran. However, a glance at the former MBC Terran's recent results would tell otherwise. Despite not many 1st place finishes, Sea had a very solid run throughout recent touranments: 2-1 against hero and 3-0 against Shuttle in BCTV1 as well as 2-1 against Movie and 2-0 against Killer in the HEL Special Match #2. Even his matches against Mind, Killer and PianO were close in later parts of BCTV1 and the matches could’ve gone either way. Sea played well, showing his experience and deep understanding of Brood War fundamentals. Despite accusations of occasional cluelessness in late game TvP and some may even call him a pure late mech abuser in TvZ, Sea has demonstrated his deep understanding of both match-ups. By executing some great 3 factory pressure and sharp TvP timing pushes against Shuttle and Movie as well as excellent SK Terran bio play against Killer, Sea knows how to play standard as well as using old unorthodoxed strategies. Perhaps Killer and hero “solving” Zerg’s problem against late mech forced Sea to admit to himself that perhaps his past statement of “late mech being superior to SK Terran” was premature and narrow-minded? Regardless, Sea’s adaption as a player throughout the SoSPA era has made him never fall off the radar. That, or it’s his loud obnoxious personality.A note on the infamous rivalry between Killer and Sea: while Sea may have initially had the edge over KIller when Sea first returned to Brood War, I believe both now are capable of beating each other equally. The relationship has given us some of the most memorable highest level TvZ and even though Sea will eventually join the army, the epic tale between these two powerhouses will never be forgotten.If you were to ask someone to write you a textbook on Terran builds to use in a bo7 tournament finals, Mind, the Scholar Terran, would be your best bet. Or go by his other nickname, Rommel, since his builds against Killer in the bo7 were nothing short of magnificent. SK Terran, proxy rax, Goliath bio push, mass drops, TERRAN UPGRADUUU , mech play on Match Point, the sheer amount of builds this former KT Rolster Terran has up his sleeve is infinite. Whereas Sea is arguably more mechanically superior, Mind makes up for his rather lackluster apm by out-thinking his opponents. Compared to other top Terrans who usually play cookie cutter (or cookie cutter aggressive when it comes to PianO), Mind’s unpredictability is what makes him a dangerous Terran to face. His preparation for a bo5 or bo7 is unmatched, throwing opponents off guard and unable to adapt. That is not to say Mind is bad at micro however, since he demonstrated great drop play against Killer in the 41 Starleague Season 2 finals as well as clutch marine control versus hero in the HEL Special Match #3, where Mind once again got 1st place. But, strategy is Mind’s strong point. Even when Mind does not win a game, it still may be worth studying the idea and thought process behind this brilliant mastermind. His decision-making in tough situation and able to see the correct path before him is what makes him stand out above other Terrans.Mind’s TvZ is by far his strongest match-up with a winrate of 78% and his 1st place victories in recent finals, 4-2 against Killer in 41SL2 and 2-0 against hero in the HEL Special Match #3, are excellent examples of this, but I would like to highlight one of his exceptional TvP games. Just by watching the following game you can get a sense that Mind "gets" it. Despite playing on the Terran Graveyard known as Medusa against a horrifying Carrier count, Mind proved his superior thinking when he out-positioned and out-maneuvered a desperate situation against Shuttle in the 41SL2 semifinals.The God of ZvP with 73% winrate, Master of Lurker Drops … or the new King of Silvers, perhaps? Even if you're a Protoss player who got Hydra-busted for the last 10 games in a row, you still have to feel sorry for this guy. It’s gut-wrenching to even think about the Zerg player who narrowly lost to Bisu in the SSL9 Grand Finals earlier this year 2-3. On top of that, these days on stream, it seems hero cannot even take a game off Bisu anymore. What’s more depressing are his recent results: third place finish in LSL2 and second place finishes in SBENU All-Stars, HEL Special Match #3 and BCTV1. However, hero is still the God of ZvP and not all is terrible for hero: his ZvT has improved considerably over the last few months and his stream games against some of the top Terran on Afreeca definitely shows. While his ZvP is of course his most specialized match-up, I believe hero has proved himself quite instrumental in the recent ZvT metagame development, partly due to the fact that both Modesty (with 73% ZvT) and hero are on friendly terms, since both were players on STX-SouL. Building upon Modesty’s Guardian/Devourer all-in off 2 Hatcheries, hero adapted from this a 3 hatchery variant into Guardian/Devourer timing pressure against late mech Terran while simultaneously securing an economic advantage. Crazy Zerg fast tech into Ultralisks timing is another effective tool up his sleeve against greedy mech switching Terrans thinking they can get away with it. hero has also experimented with numerous Overlord drop based play against Terran mech: punishing the lack of marines and getting Defilers into safe positions to lay down crucial Dark Swarms against tank lines, along with better executed ling mine dragging, using the cost-efficient Spider Mine against the Terran. Recently, there has been a major explosion of SK Terran bio late game and it's no surprise due to how well the top Zergs are adapting to the once dominant late mech strategy. Who knows, without all these tactical developments, maybe we could’ve had a TvT BCTV1 Grand Finals instead of a ZvZ.Regardless, hero is still the God of ZvP and showcasing a ZvP would only be fitting. I know a lot of people were horrified by what you saw Snow did to Killer game 4 in that BCTV1 ro8 game on Electric Circuit, but hero always seems to find a way, even against Disruption Web Corsair/Reaver into mass Carriers.Maybe the best Terran 2 months ago when he won SBENU All-Stars in a crushing victory defeating hero 3-0, but I honestly can’t put sSak in the top 5 judging from his recent results. Losing to Sky 5 times in a row is not acceptable, especially considering he can get TvP practice from his ex-SKT1 teammate Bisu whenever he wants. That would explain Bisu’s cheesy mood in his recent PvT games and odd fascination with Carriers experimentation, most of which did not work out at all. However, it’s not just TvP that sSak is waning: he almost got knocked out by ZerO, “the guy that has a worse ZvT than hero”, in the BCTV1 Ro16. Then next round, PianO went completely nuts on sSak with his trademark TvT aggression. However, sSak did not play bad. His opponents just played better. He seemed completely unprepared for PianO's aggression, which is surprising considereing PianO's reckless reputation. Going to a final deciding game against ZerO when it's pretty much a given that you possess excellent TvZ is also bizarre. Compare these results to his superb performance in SBENU All-Stars 2 months prior, 3-1 against PianO, 3-1 against Mong and a clean sweep against hero in the finals. One could say that PianO and hero have improved in the last 2 months, which makes sense depending on how long they have known about the magnitude of LSL3. sSak did not even show that much interest in LSL3 until after he heard about the massive prizepool, so maybe he was planning to take a break until starting to focus again just recently?With the LSL3 sponsor negotiation meetings still under way, sSak is still not 100% confirmed to be playing. Without him, the Terran line-up will take a heavy hit and Zergs will definitely smile at the prospect of not having to face sSak. Hopefully, the smell of cash can rekindle sSak's passion and once again return him to where he was when he finally won a gold just 2 months ago. The Floating Rax Ninja . Either that he succeeds with his aggression and looks like the dirtiest genius or he trips and looks like the dumbest Terran on Earth. But always entertaining none the less, even when he loses horribly. "Inconsistent" may be his middle name, but he did get 3rd place in the recent BCTV1, so who are we to judge? It’s a good thing PianO did not run into a single Protoss in BCTV1 since he has some of the worst TvP I have ever seen, but what’s funny is that PianO somehow 4-0’d Modesty (the supposed best ZvT player in SoSPA) in the ro32 and yet somehow lost to hero in the semifinals 3-1. Like I said, you never know what to expect with the ex-Woongjin Stars Terran. However he is skilled, rocking an average of 420 apm on his stream with style, showing off very mechanically demanding TvZ on his good days and very exciting vulture micro in TvT. It must be fun for PianO being 26 years old who already finished his military service, taking it easy and having the time of his life playing Brood War while entertaining his fans. It's interesting to note that PianO may be partly responsible for the shift towards the more aggressive Vulture heavy TvT metagame we see today instead of the more turtle Goliath/Battecruiser TvT of late last year, so at least we can thank him for making most Terran mirrors a little more tolerable: either a TvT win with PianO's aggression or PianO types "gg" after a failed cheese. With cloaked Wraiths slowly becoming the Mutas of TvT, can anyone really find 1 serious tournament TvT game that went over an hour long or where a single Battlecruiser was made in the year 2014?People parodied Kwanro's thinking in the epic flowchart diagram, but try and imagine one for PianO. Maybe that's why he has so much trouble in TvP: you actually have to defend attacks from other people for once, but "defending" and PianO are like oil and water, so that's not going to work. Still, no one doubts that this recklessly entertaining style of Terran play can be effective in the hands of PianO, as demonstrated when he played against sSak in the BCTV1 Ro8.He may not be one of the Six Dragons, but Snow’s inner talents may prove himself to be something more than just Ned Stark’s bastard. Holding the record for the most kills with a Reaver in a televised match, the former CJ Entus Protoss has shown some of the best Reaver usage in recent months. With his former teammate Movie falling off the radar with only a recent 1-2 loss against Sea in HEL Special Match #2, Snow seems to be training hard to make a good impression when LSL3 begins. You may think Reavers are standard in PvT and PvP, but just check out Snow's Reavers in PvZ. It's almost as if every time Snow makes a Reaver in PvZ, his chance of winning goes up by 30%, although considering that the average Protoss player only has a 10% chance max of beating hero or Killer, that's not saying much. However closing the gap between people like hero and Killer is no small feat, and Snow seems to be getting close to finally taking a series from them. Despite narrowly losing to Killer 2-3 in BCTV1 Ro8 and hero 1-2 in HEL Special Match #3, Snow fought well and the series were down to the wire. Just watch the final game 3 between him and hero in the HEL Special Match #3, a long drawn-out split map PvZ game on Python where the victory was inches away from Snow's grasp, but it slipped away just barely in the end.Although the entire participant list for the LSL3 is not entirely confirmed, the Protoss line-up, with the absence of Bisu along with Movie’s questionable skill level, seems the weakest by far. It quite possible we might get an under-representation of Protoss when the ro16 begins, but if Snow can reach the top of the wall, he could raise the scarab cannon defense with his Protoss brothers and defend against the terrifying onslaught of the White Walkers: Mind[WHITE] and Killer[WHITE].The Magikarp Terran, known for his fish-like appearance, did not make it far in BCTV1, but with LSL3 coming up, HiyA may have once again evolved into his more threatening form judging from the devastation in the past days. Despite a humiliating 0-2 defeat against Sky in the 41SL2 Ro16 and a more understandable 0-2 loss against Snow in the BCTV1 Ro32, HiyA is surprisingly better known for his TvP match-up. However, I would like to briefly talk about his TvT because I feel it's one of his more overlooked traits, with TvZ being overall strong among all the top Terrans. Whereas PianO may favor aggressive Vultures or Wraiths style TvT, HiyA tends to favor a more classical Goliath heavy composition with Dropship play, slowly inching for territory and positional maneuvering. It's still very effective, as HiyA demonstrated in his match against Sea in HEL Special Match #4 where HiyA won 2-0, even in an era of TvT metagame where games tend to be more chaotic and harassment focused. HiyA's TvP is also very noticeable, occasionally breaking away from the cookie-cutter FD and 1 Rax FE, opting for more 1 base early aggression against Protoss or even the Bunker Rush with SCV pull, an uncommon sight. What makes him even more dangerous is that fact that, along with his good tank focus fire control, HiyA has some of the more effective uses of Spider Mines I have ever seen, which also translate to cost efficient Vulture drops and run-bys. Others may prefer a maxed out Terran mech army, but HiyA is just as capable of fighting early TvP engagements cost-efficiently. If you cloned PianO, and somehow made him good at TvP, it would probably look like HiyA.Oh, and HiyA also beat Bisu 2-1. No, really:Despite focusing a lot of his time on casting, and killing headphone users casually checking out his stream, Larva slow rise in a time of lackluster performance from Modesty may have gone under-appreciated. You wouldn't think that someone who narrowly won against free 3-2 in BCTV1 Ro16 and lost to hero in a ZvZ 1-3 in the Ro8 would be performing well, but don't let that fool you. Larva's ZvP is no slouch and if you watched his recent stream games against his former SKT1 teammate Bisu, the PvZ Revolutionist, you would know that Larva can fight well into a macro game and can put the pressure on when he finds a chance. What's more impressive is his ZvT of late, showcasing his incredible game sense against Terrans by attacking their bases at just the right moments. Perhaps it's due to his incredible ling control that gains him crucial intel on where his opponent's army is on the map. It appears Modesty is not the only one who can put the fear in Terrans these days, Killer, hero, and even Larva can all tell the metagame that Zerg too can attack lethally in ZvT.In the SBENU Super Fight #3, after making pork chops out of Mong (known for his TvZ), Mong was forced to wash Larva's dishes as according to the rules. The Zergs in LSL3 are looking to be the scariest race to face right now, and it will continue to grow as more Zerg players return to Brood War.And that's it: the top 10 players of September 2014 based on the most recent games I've seen. Some other players such as Movie, Mong, and Modesty who have not been performing as well lately or simply due to a lack of notable games did not make the list, and I do not count cheesing Shuttle in a bo7 PvP or going Carriers mindlessly again and again against Mind to be representative of high level Protoss. Feel free to disagree about any of the rankings since I have not seen every Brood War game, although I wish I could. Hopefully, this has helped people get a sense of the current dynamics of the Brood War scene and with exciting news of more ex-pros returning to Brood War in the coming weeks, I can gladly say the following:Get hyped for Brood War 3.0! Passion overcomes corporate stupidity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9hbbA-WP4#t=4h2m