A month is over and it’s time for another series of Southeast Europe Power Rankings, where we take a look at the Southeastern European StarCraft2 scene, it’s players and their results in October. The past month turned out to be quite a roller coaster ride for some, while the others stapled their place among the best of the region. For those who missed the first Power Rankings ever, check out the standing and the introduction here. But now, without any further ado, let us start with the October 2013 Power Rankings.

The Power Rankings

The power rankings are based on the recent performance of eligible players on all tournaments and with a focus on local or national events in each of the considered countries. The bigger and more competitive the tournament is, the more impact it has on the rankings. The most important things for players to stay among the very best of the region will be competitiveness, achievements and readiness to play on international and local tournaments.

DISCLAIMER: this is a bias ranking, based solely on the author’s opinion, and it does not reflect the true relations and match-ups’ between the ranked players.

10. (/) Robert ‘RobbyG’ Irimias

While he was not one of the most active players around in October, RobbyG still managed to make his debut Power Rankings appearance with more than a solid performance in the first group stage of SteelSeries Arena Season 3. There is not much more to go with, other than his loss to Naama and a decisive 2 to 1 win against Pink to earn his Ro16 berth, but that alone is enough for the Romanian Hungarian to place among the Top10 of the region. Now he finds himself in a tough group with Monty, Bunny and GenjiTakiya, which makes him the first candidate not to advance. Yet, we all know better than to count RobbyG out prematurely, and even if he goes fishing after two straight defeats, that won’t affect his Power Ranking much, as long as he starts playing tournaments regularly.

9. (/) Vaklin ‘MetHiX’ Petkov

MetHiX is another newcomer to the Power Rankings, and he fully deserves it. Not only is he one of the most active Bulgarian StarCraft2 players, but he also had some more than decent results in the past month or so. He placed 4th on the important Vorpal Bulgar Challenge, beating StaikmaN and BateToshko in the process to grab €250 of prize money. His great form was on display at Go4SC2 Cup #319 as well, where he reached semi-finals, but ended up losing to BurNinG after winning against DieStar in the quarter-finals. All in all, MetHiX could be on a brink of a breakthrough, and if he keeps showing up for tournaments and playing as good as he can, he might jump a few spots in the next Power Rankings.

8. (3) Danail ‘Giantt‘ Lazov

After a successful September our Bulgarian Zerg seems to be hitting a slump, evident by his underachieving results in the month of October. His group on SteelSeries Arena S3 with Tefel, Breach and Pajack was considered to be a good draw for Giantt, but surprisingly he lost to aggressive play-style of Breach in the Deciding Match to end his Arena journey. Much later in the month, he attended the Vorpal Bular Challenge in Bulgaria and with elfi and Dayshi in the competition, it was more or less a battle for the 3rd place between the Bulgarian trio of MetHiX, BateToshko and Giantt. Lazov won against MetHiX but lost to BateToshko and ended up on a 5th place due to a tiebreaker in a 3-way-tie, and although that might be an unfortunate outcome, it did knock Giantt down a hefty 5 spots on the rankings.

7. (7) Roko ‘frozz’ Marinković

The best Croatian Terran continues to be one of the most active players around the region and is showing good form as of late. He constantly competes on Go4SC2 Cup’s and usually gets quite far, and despite not winning a notable tournament yet, he remains a fearsome opponent whenever he plays; like reaching the top4 on Go4SC2 Monday tourney, losing to Dana in the semi-finals. While he stayed put on the 7th place of the rankings, this is bound to change in November with SC2CRO Masters #1 and SteelSeries Arena S3 Ro16 on the schedule, be it for better or for worse. Both tournaments will have an affect on his standings, especially as he will be competing against many Slovenian and Croatian players (and Naama). But if he stays active and continues to be his usual self, there is little to no chance of him dropping from the rankings.

6. (4) Matija ‘Ptak‘ Vragović

Ptak is the only player in this edition of Power Rankings that didn’t make an appearance in October, but remains on it, and that should say quite a bit already. The memory of his victory at KSET E-Sports LAN 3 is still fresh enough for us to remember that he is a dominant force in the Croatian competitive SC2 community. He just might have his chance of playing against Starbuck on SC2CRO Masters #1 in the beginning of November, a game he wished for after winning the KSET LAN, and that tournament (and possibly that game) will have a big impact on the standings of our Croatian Zerg.

5. (10) Dénes ‘Breach’ Orosz

Last month, Breach had to show everyone that he is truly the best and most successful Hungarian StarCraft2 player, and he had a lot of opportunity to do so. And once again, the Hungarian Terran got the job done, albeit in a somewhat dirty way. Hungarian Pro League and MondoCon Invitational #7 proved to be a walk in a park for Breach, who sealed the deal as a Champion of Hungary by grabbing two first place finishes. But it was SteelSeries Arena where he really showed what he can do, as he managed to advance to the second stage of Arena tournaments for the third time in a row, beating Pajack and later Giantt in a close and exciting Deciding Match after losing to Tefel in the Winner’s Match of his group play. Although he proceeded to lose in the Ro16 against uThermal and RunA, therefore dropping out of the tournament, he had a decent run that earned him a high fifth place on the Power Rankings of October. We would like to see more of Breach on international competitions, but if he continues to deliver as he usually does on local tournaments, his place among the 10 will be safe.

4. (8) Tomislav ‘CheeseKing’ Matić

CheeseKing bounced back after a mediocre September to grab the fourth place on rankings in October, while finally living up to his nickname on his way to the Ro8 brackets of SteelSeries Arena Season 3. He was in a tough position, having to face RunA, uThermal and/or Breach in order to advance from his group, and it wasn’t looking good despite the fact that CheeseKing had some past success against RunA and players alike. But this time, the Croatian Protoss was determined to get past his opponents, and he did so in his fashion, using early aggression and utilizing units well, to earn a spot in the brackets. He will have a chance to redeem himself for his shaky KSET E-Sports LAN performance a while ago at the upcoming SC2CRO Masters #1 in early November. Although played online, it will be an important factor for all Croatian and some Slovenian players for the next Power Rankings, and CheeseKing is no exception.

3. (5) Dimov ‘BateToshko’ Todor

BateToshko is looking more and more like a staple player of Bulgarian StarCraft2 scene, as he showed the community at the Vorpal Bulgar Challenge, where he placed 3rd after elfi and Dayshi as the most successful Bulgarian player at the event. He did lose to MetHiX, but beating Giantt had to feel good for the up-and-coming Zerg. While he wasn’t very active on international scale, he has upside and should be regarded as one of the strongest players in this part of Europe. His high finish on Vorpal Bulgar Challenge and a check for €750 are enough for the third spot on the standings, but the competition remains tough and there is not much space between the players from BateToshko at third and all the way to MetHiX and RobbyG at the ninth and tenth place of this Power Rankings.

2. (2) Matic ’Starbuck‘ Dejak

All the hype is slowly fading as Starbuck made his big WCS appearance, but he is still looking for his place among the very best competitors in Europe. While he was nothing spectacular in the past month, the young Slovenian Zerg is in good form and remains one of the biggest prospects around, and he started October with a victory against San in a somewhat worthless WCS Challenger League Round of 40. He kept his cool in his Ro32 group of SteelSeries Arena Season 3 after losing to Bunny, but beating Rivaille beforehand and GrayWarden in a Deciding Match was what he needed to advance to the Round of 16, where Naama, frozz and VonComet await for the next challenge. While Starbuck is waiting for the 2014 WCS Season to be announced in details, he didn’t repeat the recent success on International level and failed to qualify for the upcoming Dreamhack, but at least the Round of 16 of SteelSeries Arena looks more than doable for the Zerg player. The youngster from Slovenia still can improve and be considered as one of the best in Europe, but it’s up to him to reach his full potential. For now, he remains a prospect and is regarded as a Slovenian bonjwa, who has yet to drop a map on Slovenian StarCraft2 league SGL, as a Terran.

1. (1) Silviu ’NightEnD‘ Lazar

NightEnD stays on top of the Power Rankings thanks to his decent results in the past month, while also showing us what a professional StarCraft2 player is all about – activity. He lost his group play at Fragbite Masters Round of 16, and also didn’t manage to qualify for the Dreamhack, but he was close to making it before Polt stopped him in the last round of the final qualifiers for Dreamhack this winter. The most successful Romanian StarCraft2 player lost his WCS Challenger League Round of 40 match against San, who eventually lost to Starbuck, but NightEnD was able to grab the first spot later in the WCS CL Ro32 group with DIMAGA, ThorZaIN and uThermal. His list of defeated players in October is nothing to laugh at, with the likes of Babyknight, Kas, DIMAGA and uThermal on it. All in all, NightEnD remains the most successful and most professional StarCraft2 player from Southeastern Europe, but with Starbuck and the rest breathing down his neck, he will have to show better results than just getting in the mix and dropping out somewhere in the middle of the tournaments.

Stay tuned on Treach.tv for Southeast Europe Power Rankings in November! If you are willing to help me improve this series of monthly power rankings, than please write me an email to treachtv@gmail.com (all links to various tournaments are more than welcome)!

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