Times Square has rung in the New Year, but in the Starcraft world the old one continues in full swing, possibly influenced by the fact that Korea celebrates the Asian New Year, on a lunar calendar, much more enthusiastically than they do the "Western" New Year. And that, I don't think, takes place until February or something this year, so all the leagues are in mid-stride. The EVER OSL is heading towards a finish, the NATE MSL is lagging somewhat behind, and the Proleague continues its Juggernautian lumber forward. (Juggernautian is too a word.) And in the midst of all the chaos, the staff of SC2GG brings you the first Top Ten of the new year. Enjoy!

Since we last checked in, Flash has gone 15-3. His three losses have come against: Hyun in a Proleague loss he wiped out with an ace match win over Sea, ZerO in a 2-1 victory over Woongjin's Prince of Queens, and Calm in a 3-1 destruction of STX's star - in short, exactly zero of his losses counted for anything. He also has racked up wins against Jaedong, Mind, and BeSt.

"My record. Speaking for itself pretty well, actually."

- Flash

Jaedong went 9-3 in the last month, but two of those losses were against Flash. Notable victories include games against RuBy, HoGiL, KT's next new Protoss Stats, and Movie - twice.

"The list of murder victims isn't that noteworthy, but Jaedong's definitely getting up in the win count, and Hwaseung looks to get back in the proleague. And he's been a monster in the MSL."

- neobowman

Stork was knocked out of the OSL by Shine, 1-2 in a tough series, but in Proleague he went 7-1, beating Bisu, BeSt, and ZerO along the way. His lone loss was to EffOrt.

"Stork has always had problems with aggressive Zergs, and while he has overcome his Kwanro jinx Shine is a good enough player to earn the moniker "Typhoon" from the Dinotoss himself. But there are very, very few players indeed who can pose a similar threat: Stork is among the very best."

- VGhost

Calm went 9-4 since the last ranking, but he's 8-0 against players not called Flash or fantasy. This includes wins against ZerO and Shine, and a 2-0 defeat of Pure in the OSL.

"Calm displays smart tactics and excellent late-game macro - not to mention he had Flash on the back foot on multiple occasions during their series."

- Revo

Shine is a mere 5-3 during December, but he has played very little in Proleague. Why? Well, the highlight of his month was his 2-1 victory against Stork which propelled him into the semifinals of the OSL.

"Defeating Bisu, Stork, fantasy, and EffOrt on your way to an OSL semifinal is no joke; Shine is out for gold. Calm, cool, and collected, Shine has everything it takes to make it big here and now."

- BachHo

After a long hiatus, Kal seems to have found his edge once again with a 9-2 record on the month and a spot in the MSL quarterfinals, where he has won his first game against Hwasin.

"Often a consensus pick for the worst of the Dragons, Kal's much-overlooked consistency has gotten him deep into a Starleague that 'better' players like Bisu and Jangbi have long since been knocked out of."

- VGhost

Movie compiled a mediocre 5-4 record, but two of his losses were to Jaedong, one was to Kal, and he 2-0'ed ZerO out of the OSL.

"If Movie keeps performing like he has in the OSL, I'll gladly pay for more tickets to continue seeing this show. He had a rock-solid performance against ZerO in the Round of 8, and has really become a strong PvZ player"

- BachHo

ZerO is filing for overtime pay after an 8-10 month caused by overwork. But he did take a game from Flash, something very few people can claim recently.

"ZerO hasn't played poorly by any means, he's just come across some stiff competition. With his schedule back to normal, I expect him to bounce right back in the January"

- BachHo

Violet quietly went 4-2 this month - to sum up: he beat Sea, BeSt, and Pure, but lost to SeCret.

"Violet has been up here for a while now."

- Revo

"Um, yeah, you're right."

- VGhost

Bisu's record stands at 6-2. His only impressive win came against Shine, KHAN rookie TurN gave him trouble, and he lost to FrOzean.

"If Bisu weren't the bona fide genuine article, he'd have trouble staying up here. Losing mirror matches to scrubs? Fine, it's a mirror. Losing to FrOzean? LOSING TO FROZEAN?"

- VGhost

The Rest of the Pack: Killer (7), EffOrt (6), Leta (5), Kwanro (5), Stats (3), Light (2), TurN (1), JangBi (1), HyuN (1)


For this month's bonus feature, we thought we'd shed some light on why Stork sometimes does badly:

Hmm, replace Violet with Kwanro and I approve!

Jaedong's been #1 like 7 times, I think his high isn't #2

Haha

I accidentally missed voting on this. Sorry folks :/

Regarding the rankings - compare these to a year ago today. See who's here and who's new, and you'll find that there is definitely a new breed of players rising, they used to suck, but.. practice practice practice!

It's exciting to see new players doing well.

Kal fighting!

Flash is really the only thing preventing a balance discussion imo.
In the OSL he was the only terran in the RO8, in the MSL it looked a little better but in this top 10 it is shown again.

I wouldn't say that. There are some really strong Proleague Terrans that can take on anyone. The problem is that the top 20 are a very close field and leta, light and sea can easily be counted as top ten players at the moment.

Maybe it was a bit exaggerated, still I am glad that Flash is there giving us terran players something to cheer for

Flash is so on top at the moment it's scary. It's very entertaining to watch thou, I even enjoyed when he ran over my favorite player Jaedong :-)

hmm not that it really matters but i kinda like the old format where 10 was at the top
its more suspenseful!

Maybe sometimes. But this month at least #1 was so obvious... I guess I like the top 10 as a whole, and finding out who made the lower spots is often much more debatable.

Yes I agree, once you find out who's on top it sorta becomes less important to know who's 8/9/10 etc.

I read this everytime you make it and I like it, but why did you do it `upside down?` I prefer to read it from 10-1 instead of the opposite

Cuz, 1 wasnt a surpise xD

I agree, I like it more the other way regardless of the obvious first place.