GosuGamers Rankings: May

A busy month in Brood War

There was an incredible amount of activity last month. The TSL changed to their qualifier rounds, and we had no less than four other leagues at any given time, including WGTour CL, GameStar Liga, ICCup CL and Hauppage Cup. A good portion of players managed to keep their ground this month, with the help of good play... and the removal of a hacker.

Hacker Removed

Russian player and former RoX player Localhost, who was very active and playing very well, was caught with a few other players using hacks in their games and removed from almost everything they participated in, including our very own database.

A new method, relying on logic... and a ton of replays, was discovered by a TeamLiquid.net forum member. After many hours of research using the combined efforts of the top Starcraft websites, we were able to catch anyone who had used a hacking program in a major event. They have all been kicked from their clans and barred from participating in any events.

Does Strelok threaten Mondragon's throne?

Mondragon and Strelok have consistently done well in 2008. These two players are regarded by many to be the best in the foreign scene. Their presence on the list is practically a given, however as time goes on they draw closer together. The Ukranian player Strelok is one point away from 1400, a milestone only Mondragon has accomplished in quite some time. They are literally only a few wins (or losses) away from switching and could at any time.

GosuGamers Rankings Top 30 - 9 Zerg, 7 Terran, 13 Protoss, 1 Random
#	Player	Team	Pts	Change
#1	Mondragon (Christoph Semke)	Templars of Twilight	1450	-
#2	Strelok (Eugin Oparyshev)	MeetYourMakers	1399	-
#3	IefNaij (Jian Fei Wang)	Excello	1346	-
#4	NonY (Tyler Wasieleski)	Excello	1340	+5
#5	Draco (Krzysztof Nalepka)	-	1327	-1
#6	White-Ra (Aleks Krupnick)	MeetYourMakers	1275	-
#7	Legend (Luo Xian)	Beijing eSports Team	1274	+3
#8	F91 (Sun Yi Feng )	MeetYourMakers	1274	-3
#9	Chosen (Shawn Simon)	Excello	1267	+3
#10	Gosia (Rafal Kontowicz)	Templars of Twilight	1266	-3
#11	Dreiven (Grzegorz Kordek)	MeetYourMakers	1235	NEW!
#12	Tarson (Tomasz Boron)	Betson Voodoo Gaming	1225	+1
#13	Cloud (Carlo Giannacco)	Templars of Twilight	1220	+17
#14	A2 (Dmitry Demichev)	Team RoX	1200	+3
#15	Fenix (Giancarlos Joan Morayra Alejo)	Los Reyes del Mambo	1196	+9
#16	SEn (Yang Chia Cheng )	MeetYourMakers	1184	+1
#17	IdrA (Greg Fields)	Micro Media	1179	+6
#18	DIMAGA (Dima)	Team of Saints	1177	+9
#19	HoRRoR.T (Marius Overhageböck)	StarCraft Troopers	1173	-
#20	Arew (Vytautas Graiciunas )	MeetYourMakers	1170	-1
#21	XiaOzI (Zhe Teng)	Templars of Twilight	1169	-6
#22	Testie (Nick Perentesis)	Abandonment	1156	+1
#23	Notforu (Alexander Davydov)	3D Clan	1156	-3
#24	Rondo (Kolchin Egor)	fuSion	1155	NEW!
#25	PJ (Jun Chun Sha)	World Elite	1153	-4
#26	iNfeRnaL (Patrick Möller)	Templars of Twilight	1150	-1
#27	TemujiN (Shyngis Satubayev)	3D Clan	1150	+1
#28	GohaN (Krzysztof Zyszczuk)	Templars of Twilight	1147	NEW!
#29	CaStrO (Jose Castro)	Excello	1143	-18
#30	Rushgoon (Ye Rong Long)	-	1138	-1

Dreiven returned to the top 30 and brought some friends

After slipping out of the top 30 last month, MeetYourMakers' Dreiven came back with a vengeance. The Polish player returns this month at the eleventh spot, something that does not happen often. Also debuting on the list this month is fellow Polish player GohaN, who is far from unknown and is considered a dangerous opponent to almost anybody who plays him. At the 24th spot is Russian player Rondo, who pulled off some major upsets in TSL and also manages to play solidly for his clan, fuSion in clan wars. These players are new to the list this month, but their inexperience only goes about that far.

Big changes

Aside from Dreiven's incredible re-debut, we had a couple of drastic changes take place. Excello's CastrO dropped 18 spots down to 29th, which is a larger slip than anyone else. Next in line is Xiaozi, who dropped a total of six spots to 21st. It would be no surprise to see either of these players regain the spots before June.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Italian player Cloud from ToT raised 17 spots last month, going from last all the way to 13th place. Cloud is a top player who managed to be one of the lucky few who gamed against the mysterious andromeda9999 account who was heavily rumored to be the legendary Slayers_Boxer during these games.

Also gaining many spots were Ukraine's DIMAGA with 9, American player NonY and his ex team-mate and friend Idra with five and six respectively, as well as LRM's Fenix who jumped up nine.

Players come and players go

A lot of players gained new clans or lost old ones last month, but the rankings didn't change much. As expected, the Templars of Twilight and MeetYourMakers hold the top two spots. Lithuanian player Arew left the Templars to join MYM last month. He loses a spot this month and is ranked 20th. Excello brings four members, but risk losing one as CastrO reaches the bottom. Russian team 3D Clan Has a dynamic duo in Notforu and Temujin who are both veterans of the top 30.

A fair amount of clans only bring one member this month, including Team RoX, Los Reyes del Mambo, Micro Media, Betson Voodoo Gaming, and fuSion. Various Chinese teams claim some of the spots, and Draco and Testie aren't a part of any roster. The legendary Polish player Draco has participated in the TSL and will end his streak of inactivity after his games are played. Testie dropped out of the TSL and quit Brood War, so we prepare to say goodbye to him as he slips out of the rankings.

Top 30 Breakdown - Nations
Nation	Players	Highest rank
Poland	5	Draco (#5)
China	4	Legend (#7)
Germany	3	Mondragon (#1)
Ukraine	3	Strelok (#2)
Canada	3	IefNaij (#3)
United States	3	NonY (#4)
Russia	3	A2 (#14)
Peru	2	Fenix (#15)

Final thoughts

May could likely bring a lot of surprises. Rondo is making a mark, Strelok is close to the top, TSL is really starting to get serious, and there are more leagues than you can shake a stick at.

This month could really shock you.