Inspired by syntox's lack of kiwis in his rankings; this is where I feel that the current New Zealand standings are; with the current rate of improvement of our players I can see some big changes in this line-up during the coming months.
Petraeus is currently playing at a phenomenally high level; he's grown into a really strong, well rounded player. I can see him achieving more success in 2013 as he continues to take down big names in SEA, and hope he can go to more foreign tournaments and show some upsets!
Crimson has been practicing consistently this year, showing some strong results at LANs in Wellington, taking home two first place finishes. He's currently looking like he could be a strong contender for the number 1 spot in a short time; I see him having a big online tournament win sometime in the first half of this year.
JazBas is a really strong player for New Zealand, and has been for a long time, he's consistent and has taken a heavily macro-aggressive style and really made it his own. It's been a little while since I've seen him come out on top in a tournament, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before he shows off his brilliance yet again and takes down some prestigious SEA tournament.
Tilea, despite not being seen in an SEA tournament for a long time, is still a very strong player. I think he's recently run into some trouble with his motivation to play (from what I've seen from his twitter)? Can someone confirm/deny this? I'm interested to see how he's doing, and I'm sure lots of other SEA players are as well.
AgUy is currently someone I would rank as the biggest up and comer in the New Zealand scene (and probably all of SEA tbh). His multitasking and precise control is excellent, and his play is consistently high-level. I see it as only a matter of time before he starts really contending with the players in the top 3. Big things to come from AgUy.
Another, one of the few non-zergs in my top 10, has been one of the strongest players in New Zealand for a long time. He's currently been having one or two troubles with his gameplay in certain matchups, but I'm sure that once he figures out where he's going wrong he'll be winning series vs the best SEA has to offer.
Stallion was one of the strongest players in New Zealand by far up until a few months ago, when he fell out of practice and started playing games like LoL too much. I feel like he'll be making a come back in HOTS and showing us what he's made of. Time will tell what will come from Stally.
MK is another player who's due a breakout tournament performance. Some people have said that his play is very "all-in", but he has shown recently in practice that he has no trouble playing the macro game. I can see him really rounding out sometime over the next couple of months and stepping up to the plate, and taking down some big SEA names. I, personally, feel like his lack of consistency is his biggest downfall atm, we'll see if he can fix that in his play. Another big up and comer, watch this space.
TheGoonSquad hasn't been seen in tournament play for quite some time now, but has always come out of the woodwork and been able to pull off an upset. I feel like if another online tournament for New Zealanders comes up, he'll put on a good show for everyone. A consistently strong player.
Savior is a consistently high level NZ player; however with the big wave of Iris Academy members coming up, he's going to have to practice harder than ever to keep his place in the top 10. I feel harsh placing him 10th, and he could probably be placed as high as 6th in other people's lists. I look forward to seeing where his placing in a few months will be; my current feeling is he could be anywhere from 3rd to 15th.
I also want to mention that these are all my own personal opinions, and do not represent the views of anyone besides myself. I attempted to be as unbiased as possible.
IrisCabracan feels, to me, like a player who's on the rise. Very impressive during practice, hardworking and motivated. Yet again, another member of Iris who is due some big results. We will see how he performs in the coming months; with consistent practice and training, I can see him doing very well.
Re: FLuX's 2013 New Zealand Top 10 Power Ranking Predictions
If Xzam starts turning up to tournies then I'd see Tilea Jaz Pet and Xzam round up the top 4. Sorry to guys I don't know of well, especially crimsom who seems to be getting alot of love. Also just keep in mind these are all predictions no need to get worked up.
Pet you gotta keep your rage from losing to people you think you shouldn't to yourself, it feels very insulting when you display it, keep the confidence inside.
Re: FLuX's 2013 New Zealand Top 10 Power Ranking Predictions
How about we all stop being wankers in here. You can give honest, unbias perceptions of a top 10 without deliberately baiting someone / jabbing at them. You know who you are.
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