Here are the top 10 best Starcraft players in the world as of 04/10/2009. Arranged in order from Highest to Lowest rank.

Jaedong

Bisu who? We all knew this was coming, there is no need for debate.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to name ANYONE “Bonjwa” in these chaotic times, this is the ticket. Jaedong has no weak matchups. Jaedong is 80% in his mirror matchup. Jaedong is the beginning and end of every criteria Zerg is currently measured by. The fact that he just won an OSL is small potatoes in comparison to actually watching his games. What a fucking MONSTER. I wouldn’t call him the best at all three Zerg matchups, though, because the best ZvP player on earth right now is someone else.

Luxury

YES, LUXURY IS NUMBER TWO. This guy right here is the best ZvP player on earth, a title held by Jaedong for the last year and a half. Luxury’s reformed ZvP is smarter, more aggressive, and more effective than Jaedong’s, and with comparable-sometimes-better mutalisk control, his other matchups ain’t too shabby either.

Besides a shaky Luxury in ProLeague, which we are all accustomed to by now - it’s no secret that Luxury plays like ass every other week for long stretches - where has Luxury been anything but S-class? His series against Leta seemed to be a Zerg trying as hard as he can to lose, but then staging a disgusting comeback out of NOWHERE in the three games he won. The level of play involved in his victories in that series was unreal, and his complete dismantling of Jangbi was more of the same.

It looks wierd having two Zerg players in the top two, but you Zerg players can start smiling and doing whatever it is you do when you’re happy. There are two kings right now, and they are both Zerg. Stand up, hats off, give some credit to a guy playing some beautiful StarCraft.

Bisu

Let me say one thing before I get started on this: I am a huge, huge, huge, HUGE Fantasy fan. Bisu, I could take or leave. So I don’t want to see anyone bitching in the comments about “bias” this or “fanboy” that.

Now, Bisu is above Fantasy for two reasons. The first should be obvious - Bisu’s average game has been astounding lately, whereas Fantasy has only excelled in series where he has a lot of time to prepare.

Second, let’s have a look at Bisu vs Fantasy from the OSL Semifinal. Now, this was a 3-0 drubbing of the highest order. Usually, this would be a strong indicator of who is better. In this specific instance, that’s not the case. It shows that Bisu vastly underestimated Fantasy, and shows that his preparation went in completely the wrong direction. That’s bad, but given Bisu’s long history of success, we KNOW this is not the norm, and we KNOW this is not going to happen so simply again.

Fantasy’s abilities lie in his excellent preparation, and his exceedingly flexible, air-tight TvP style. This was not a series that would be won 3-2, and if Fantasy was anywhere as good as he is now during the last OSL final, Stork would be taking as many sleeping pills as he could just to end his miserable existence.

But, it goes back to the first point. I can recognize an oversight in preparation for what it is. It doesn’t mean Bisu is a bad player. It doesn’t mean he is off-form. Bisu is a wrecking crew, overshadowed by two Zergs vying for the best-in-race crown. The level of games Bisu has played recently is simply higher than the level of games Fantasy has played. We aren’t always going to be in the best-of-5 stage of a major league, and being a successful pro requires a broader skill set. Fantasy still needs work in other areas. He just isn’t as good as Bisu yet.

Fantasy

He is, however, a shitload better than everyone else.

Fantasy is the best Terran on earth, all his flaws included. Second OSL final in a row, second heartbreaking 2-3 loss. iloveoov is building a mechanical titan, but construction is not yet complete. He’s well ahead of schedule, though.

What seperates Fantasy from other Terrans right now is his game sense - his TvP is a thing of beauty; not nearly as mechanically impressive as Flash, but wholly more devastating all the same. Fantasy brings intelligence and flexibility against Protoss to an entirely new level, similar to what Sea[Shield] was doing two years ago. I’m sure Protoss pros will eventually figure this out and begin cheesing him endlessly, but I think Fantasy is capable of shrugging it all off. When you watch Fantasy play, you aren’t watching an SKT T1 Terran. You are watching the next inevitable step in the evolution of StarCraft. The fish has grown legs, but the lungs ain’t done yet.

I fucking love Fantasy because he teaches me more about StarCraft than anyone else - even when he loses. He is just losing too often at this stage of his development to hold a candle to Bisu right now. If you disagree, watch all of the games they’ve played this month and tell me Bisu doesn’t look like the better player.

Jangbi

What is the deal with Jangbi? He looked invincible during MSL. Yet again, he couldn’t elevate his level of play to match that of his opponent - Bisu twice before, and now Luxury. Is Jangbi destined to follow Stork? Time will tell, but it certainly seems so. Samsung players seem to lack the ability to improve a great deal in a short amount of time, despite whatever goal they have in mind. This is a stark contrast to the development of Fantasy, and the improvements Luxury has made since his move to KTF.

Still, Jangbi is a savage motherfucker. Where he goes from here, I can’t honestly even guess. He had a great month, another final under his belt. We shall see.

Stork

I thought more people would catch this - when I posted the order in the last Power Rank’s comments I was sure some people would look at Flash and Stork and tell me how wrong I am.

Here’s the deal: If you looked at Flash being above Stork and thought, “What is FakeSteve smoking?”, you are a clever man. Yes, Stork is above Flash, and for good reason. Maybe everyone’s too used to how erratic and opinionated I am.

Stork got bounced outta OSL by Jaedong, but won the first game in the best of 3. Stork got trounced outta MSL by his teammate and perennial canemaster, Jangbi. Stork is never gonna win a series against Jangbi, folks. Get used to it!

Other than that Stork’s been all right. He still looks lazy. He is still cheesing. He is still winning. As up-and-down as Stork always seems to be, it appears that this trip downtown is just a little window shopping, not a six-week stay in a five-star hotel doing blow and buying hookers (which is obviously why he plays so bad sometimes).

Flash

In an alarming turn of the tables, KTF carried Flash through the WL playoffs. Flash didn’t win a single game - sniped by Much with a brilliant build and patient defense in the last match of the season (the match that determined who was auto-seeded into the finals), obliterated by Fantasy against T1, and slaughtered by Jaedong during Jaedong’s playoff all-kill of KTF.

GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER FLASH! How much longer can he expect to coast on his mechanics? Flash’s play need a serious overhaul if he is going to get back to where he was six months ago.

by.Hero

by.hero? What?

Yeah, by.hero is pretty good it seems! I was pleasantly surprised watching his games this month, and I’m sure I’m not alone. He shows a great deal of promise, but more importantly, the games he won this month were strong performances full of very strong, unconvential play. I still think Zero is the next big Zerg (Zero is absent from this Rank because ZvZ does not a champion make - his ZvT and ZvP are so inconsistant that he’s barely likely to surpass 50% in the upcoming ProLeague season. Let’s not get too excited here.). by.hero makes me reconsider. He’s playing well, and should be an asset in ProLeague.

SkyHigh

First of all, let me say that SkyHigh is notoriously a player that has significant nerve problems while playing on TV. It’s pretty common knowledge amongst progamers that SkyHigh is top dog on the CJ A team in practice. Has anyone else noticed how weird his style is? It’s nuts, but it’s effective, and with a reverse all-kill on one of the biggest stages in ProGaming, bright lights and a huge, surging crowd.. SkyHigh is getting the experience he needs. It’s all gonna get better from here.

Nada

This looks odd, I know. It was a choice between Nada and Zero, and Zero just ain’t cutting it.

Against Jangbi, Nada showed us what is probably the strongest TvP performance to date. I’m referring to game one, of course. One game isn’t enough to justify anything, but if it’s at that level, we can certainly say that Nada is on the rise for the millionth time in his career. This guy never totally fades away.

He is also conspicuously absent from WeMade’s lineup in their first ProLeague match. Given his lighter load in WL, which he thanked the coaches for numerous times so he could focus on individual leagues, I think we can safely say this is more of the same. Auto-seeded into MSL thanks to a top 8 finish, things are looking up for the greatest player of all time. I can only hope that this isn’t another simple flash in the pan, and that Nada is back for real. Given his series against Jangbi, I think it’s a very real possibility that Nada will remind everyone who he is in the very near future.

Nada is a legend, and rightfully so. Everyone at this website should be cheering him on as he tries to resurrect his career.

credits to teamliquid.net for the list.