SC2 Power Rank: September 2019 Text by TL.net ESPORTS Power Rank: September 2019 by TeamLiquid.net writers



The Power Rank returns after an extra-long break, taking into account a flurry of Korean and international tournament activity over the last six weeks. GSL Code S progressed into the semifinal stage, WCS Fall closed out the 2019 Circuit, and GSL vs. The World gave us our final taste of mixed-region competition before the Global Finals. Before we present the rankings, here's a summary of how our monthly list is compiled:



The Power Rank is an aggregate, average ranking of separate lists submitted by individual members of the TeamLiquid.net writing staff.



Criteria considered include, but are not limited to: Tournament placements, overall record, quality of opponents faced, and quality of play.



Recent results are weighted more heavily, but players receive benefit of the doubt for consistent performance over time.



Close, But No Cigar RagnaroK: We've seen a handful of GSL underdog stories play out this year, but RagnaroK's quarterfinal run in Code S Season 3 might have felt the most 'real.' He had to beat far more established players such as sOs, Zest, and Classic to reach the playoffs, where he put up a surprisingly decent fight against Maru (he even ruthlessly picked apart his BC-mech strategy) before tapping out.



Reynor: The trend of Reynor being a beast on the Circuit but disappointment in international tournaments continued, as the Italian Zerg placed runner-up at WCS Fall shortly after getting swept by SpeCial at GSL vs. The World. Will the 2019 Global Finals be the tournament where he casts off this jinx in a big way?



#10

Zest

New! After lurking just on the outside of the top ten in the last PR, Zest officially enters the rankings after PvP'ing his way to the Code S quarterfinals. Though he couldn’t make it past Rogue in the playoffs (in a rather weak and forgettable series from both players), it continued a trend for Zest where he's earning mid-high placements in every tournament he enters. Zest may not be a title contender, but he takes herO's PR spot as the grind-it-out, pretty good Protoss player.



His biggest weakness right now is clearly PvZ, even saying he'd rather face Stats in PvP than TRUE in a PvZ. Not only was this exemplified in his loss to Rogue, but also in his losing streak to Solar (who beat him 6-2 in maps over three different series) and his Ro16 loss to RagnaroK. If Zest is to challenge for a BlizzCon spot at Super Tournament II, he'll need to patch-up this weakness quickly.



#9

Rogue

New!



A top eight finish in GSL Code S remained his best result—until now. A few days ago, Rogue finally broke his quarterfinal curse in Korean leagues and now stands in the top four of Code S for the first time ever. And while his quarterfinal against Zest was not convincing in any way, his Ro16 matches against Stats and Solar were a much better showcase of his power.



This rise in form comes at an opportune timing, as the BlizzCon race in Korea is still fully ongoing, and Rogue may just be in the right time and place to still make it over the finishing line with strong Code S and Super Tournament performances. It's all about getting hot at the right time, as Rogue showed everyone at the 2017 Global Finals. It’s hard to believe this for a player of Rogue's reputation and skill, but this is his first entry into the top 10 in 2019. But the results speak for themselves: After finishing 2018 by placing top four at the Global Finals, he's had minimal impact in 2019's major tournaments.A top eight finish in GSL Code S remained his best result—until now. A few days ago, Rogue finally broke his quarterfinal curse in Korean leagues and now stands in the top four of Code S for the first time ever. And while his quarterfinal against Zest was not convincing in any way, his Ro16 matches against Stats and Solar were a much better showcase of his power.This rise in form comes at an opportune timing, as the BlizzCon race in Korea is still fully ongoing, and Rogue may just be in the right time and place to still make it over the finishing line with strong Code S and Super Tournament performances. It's all about getting hot at the right time, as Rogue showed everyone at the 2017 Global Finals.



#8

TY

No change TY's decision to become a part-time GSL caster after dropping out of the Ro32 in Code S Season 2 seemed like a transitional move, but his recent run to the Code S top eight reminded us why he's uncontested as Korea's #2 Terran. Unfortunately, for replacement caster soO, TY has been sent back to the casting desk after a close 2-3 loss to Dark in the quarterfinals.



TY has actually been quite unfortunate, getting eliminated from Code S by the best Zerg player in the GSL and also getting eliminated from GSL vs. The World by the best Zerg player, period, in Serral. Faced with some softer competition, TY could have advanced a round or two more and possibly picked up a better Power Rank spot. But these are the results we have to go by, so it's a steady stay at the #8 spot for TY.



#7

Solar

No change When Solar crushed Maru's turtle-mech on Thunderbird, it seemed like he had all the skills needed to make a late push for a Global Finals spot. In playing the the toxic, suffocating late-game Zerg style with BL-Infestor, Solar looked every bit as good as Serral. Unfortunately for Solar, he doesn't have Serral's ability to reach the late-game at will, losing to Maru's revised, bio-centric strategies (to be fair, it's not like Serral plays vs Maru-tier bio pushes on the Circuit). Also, Solar isn't quite the ZvZ player Serral is, losing to Rogue on the cusp of securing a quarterfinal spot.



Despite his disappointing elimination in the Code S group of death, Solar remained a powerful force online. And seeing that he can play best-in-world level StarCraft for at least one game stretches, there's still a chance remaining that he'll succeed at the desperate dash for a BlizzCon spot at Super Tournament II.



#6

Classic

-2 Classic seemed to be aging like a fine wine in 2019, but his performances have rapidly began to sour toward the end. Despite coming into his GSL Ro16 group as the seeded player and favorite to advance, he got dismantled by a surging RagnaroK and got out PvPed by Dear, resulting in his first group stage elimination of the year. Combined with his loss to the low-ranked Creator in the round of 32 and 3-3 'tie' against SpeCial at GSL vs. The World (when you include the team match), one has to wonder if he's losing momentum at the most inopportune time.



Should Classic receive permission to travel to BlizzCon from Korea's military, it will be interesting to see if he plays like the title contender we thought him to be all year, or if he's fallen into being 'just' another strong competitor.



#5

Stats

-2 Stats quietly slides down the power rankings, having suffered an upset of sorts in his GSL group of death. Stats came in with the most momentum, having defeating Serral to win ASUS ROG and haing swept Maru in GSL vs. The World. And while a player can't be faulted too much for losing to Rogue and Maru, Stats was defeated so thoroughly that everyone was confused by his Jekyll and Hyde like performances. The Ro16 setback exemplified how the reputedly steady Stats has actually been rather inconsistent on the year, both giving up and starring in upsets.



Stats will be thankful that he's still in solid position to make it to BlizzCon, despite this latest setback. The closest competition in TY and Dear are now out of the GSL, and as long as Stats can get any kind of result in the second Super Tournament, he'll lock up a BlizzCon spot (barring the unlikely miracle run from the outsiders). However, he'll need to figure out how to tighten up his game and bring his best play to the Global Finals.



#4

Trap

+1 This month, Trap was the victor in the three-way race to be called the best Korean Protoss, putting in solid results all around. Trap dominated his Code S Ro16 group, handily defeating both Cure and TY to reach the playoffs. There, he also dispatched of KeeN in quite a dominant fashion with a 3-0 victory. Trap continued to be an online powerhouse as well, winning both an OlimoLeague Weekly and Monthly Finals for some extra cash (including solid wins vs TRUE, GuMiho, Solar and Cure).



Overall, it's been a good month for Trap, mostly beating the players he should beat, and really only suffering a 'bad' loss to Serral at GSL vs. The World. His PvT series have been looking quite one-sided, and a victory in his upcoming semifinal match against Maru would shoot him even further up the rankings.





#3

Maru

+3 It speaks to our faith in Maru that we're quickly hopping back on the bandwagon after a good, but not-entirely-convincing month. He's clearly not the super-dominant Maru of 2018—GSL vs. The World was a low point, where Maru gave up a one-sided 0-3 to Stats for an early exit.



But Code S gave us plenty of reason to hope for the return of god-mode Maru. Yes, he did lose his initial series 1-2 to Solar, and basically admitted that he couldn't mech his way to a win in the late game (unthinkable for prime Maru). But Maru remained composed, changed his strategy, and got his revenge in Solar with aggressive and entertaining bio play. Also, his late-game mastery seemed fully intact against Protoss, as he absolutely destroyed Stats in a series that made you wonder what the hell happened at GSL vs. The World. Maru then took out RagnaroK 3-1 in the Code S quarterfinals—a weird series that saw his mech play undermined again, but where his bio offensive was still overwhelming.



Maru's upcoming match against Trap will help decide whether or not we kick this hype bandwagon into overdrive, and start anticipating that Serral vs Maru showdown months ahead of BlizzCon.



#2

Dark

-1 Despite an embarrassing ZvZ undressing at the hands of Elazer at GSL vs. The World, Dark still lands at the #2 spot.



If there was an 'interim Korean champion' title belt, Dark would be the owner by default. After all, he's still the Code S champion from Season 2, reached the Code S semifinals once again this season, and he hasn't lost a match to a Korean opponent since APRIL. It's enough to make us look past his unthinkable upset vs Elazer for now, even with Maru and Trap in fierce pursuit. Also, in a period where there were few matches between top-tier Koreans besides the Code S group of death, it helped Dark's case that he beat TY in the most difficult playoff match.



#1

Serral

+1



While Serral was certainly deserving of the top spot in the months after the 2018 Global Finals, TL.net writers 'robbed' him of such an accolade by putting the Power Rank on hiatus during the off-season after BlizzCon (we did give him our



This was more a source of consternation for Serral fans on TL.net than Serral himself, who basically told us 'I don't care' when asked about his previous PR placements. In any case, it's finally official. Shout it from the mountain tops! Print this list out and frame it in on your wall! Get a custom trophy made that says "#1 TL Power Rank" and mail it to Serral's house! After showing absolutely dominant form to win both GSL vs. The World and WCS Fall, it's indisputable that Serral belongs at #1. At long last, Serral has claimed the one accolade missing from his gleaming competitive resume: #1 in the TL.net Power Rank.While Serral was certainly deserving of the top spot in the months after the 2018 Global Finals, TL.net writers 'robbed' him of such an accolade by putting the Power Rank on hiatus during the off-season after BlizzCon (we did give him our 'Player of the Year' award ). Unfortunately, after Serral's relatively slow start to 2019 (losing WCS EU to Reynor, top eight at IEM Katowice), he couldn't lock up the #1 spot once the Power Rank resumed.This was more a source of consternation for Serral fans on TL.net than Serral himself, who basically told uswhen asked about his previous PR placements. In any case, it's finally official. Shout it from the mountain tops! Print this list out and frame it in on your wall! Get a custom trophy made that says "#1 TL Power Rank" and mail it to Serral's house! After showing absolutely dominant form to win both GSL vs. The World and WCS Fall, it's indisputable that Serral belongs at #1.





The Power Rank returns after an extra-long break, taking into account a flurry of Korean and international tournament activity over the last six weeks. GSL Code S progressed into the semifinal stage, WCS Fall closed out the 2019 Circuit, and GSL vs. The World gave us our final taste of mixed-region competition before the Global Finals. Before we present the rankings, here's a summary of how our monthly list is compiled:We've seen a handful of GSL underdog stories play out this year, but RagnaroK's quarterfinal run in Code S Season 3 might have felt the most 'real.' He had to beat far more established players such as sOs, Zest, and Classic to reach the playoffs, where he put up a surprisingly decent fight against Maru (he even ruthlessly picked apart his BC-mech strategy) before tapping out.The trend of Reynor being a beast on the Circuit but disappointment in international tournaments continued, as the Italian Zerg placed runner-up at WCS Fall shortly after getting swept by SpeCial at GSL vs. The World. Will the 2019 Global Finals be the tournament where he casts off this jinx in a big way? Credits and acknowledgements



Ranking contributors: TeamLiquid.net writing staff

Writers: Wax.

Editor:

Photo Credit:

Ranking contributors: TeamLiquid.net writing staffWriters: Destructicon , Orlok, TheOneAboveU Editor: Wax Photo Credit: hexhaven