#3: Rogue – Greatest Players of All Time

The Greatest Players of All Time

By: Mizenhauer

• 3x World Champion and 4x Code S champion
• 13-1 in offline BO7 series
• 11x Liquipedia-premier tournament wins

Notable tournament finishes

• 2017 IEM Shanghai: 1st place
• 2017 GSL Super Tournament 2: 1st place
• 2017 WCS Global Finals: 1st place
• 2018 IEM World Championship: 1st place
• 2019 Code S Season 3: 1st place
• 2020 IEM Katowice: 1st place
• 2020 Code S Season 2: 1st place
• 2021 Code S Season 1: 1st place
• 2021 DHM Winter Season Finals: 2nd place
• 2021 GSL Super Tournament 3: 1st place
• 2021 TeamLiquid Starleague 8: 1st place
• 2022 Code S Season 1: 1st place

Rogue enters the list at #3, possessing one of the best tournament resumes in history AND the most vaunted reputation as a big-match player. His trophy cabinet of three world championships, four Code S titles, and eleven Liquipedia-premier tournament wins overall easily surpasses everyone below him on the list. This is made all the more impressive by his 13-1 record in offline BO7 series, which was earned against all-time greats such as herO, soO, Dark, Stats, Zest and Maru. While Rogue may have been notorious for slacking in lower-stakes matches, not even clutch kings like sOs or Serral can claim they were as good in the matches that mattered most.

The key to Rogue’s success was his all-around strength as a player, letting him do anything and everything he needed to win. He was famously fond of using creative builds and cunning all-ins to catch his opponents off guard, but when the meta dictated it, he was just as good at using abusive macro builds to grind his way to sure victories. For Rogue, every unit in the Zerg arsenal was a potential weapon, and he wielded each one to perfection.

Career Overview: Fashionably Late

Rogue is by far the most successful member from the KeSPA invasion class of 2012, but he was also by far the latest bloomer in his cohort. He was certainly not one of the “elephants” SC2 fans feared, as he entered with a nearly blank Brood War resume with no Proleague games played. His early StarCraft II career was similarly nondescript, as he made just a single major tournament appearance in 2012-2013—a RO32 finish in the 2013 OnGameNet Starleague. Rogue’s Proleague stats were also unimpressive, as he put up a mere 8-17 record for Jin Air during the 2012-13 season (playing under the ID “Savage” at the time).

In 2014, Rogue finally started to enjoy his first, small bits of success. He reached the RO32 of two Code S tournaments that year, and he even made the qualifier cut for two “weekenders” in the KeSPA Cup and IEM Katowice (though he lost in the first round of both). In Proleague, he improved to become a solid 3rd option behind Maru and sOs, recording a solid 17-13 record for Jin Air.

After his slow start, Rogue finally had his first breakout year in 2015. He made an enormous jump in individual leagues, reaching the RO8 in five out of six Code S and SSL tournaments held that year. He was vastly improved in Proleague as well, with his ace-worthy 26-14 record getting unfortunately overshadowed by sOs and Maru having even better seasons. All of this success culminated at the 2015 WCS Global Finals, where Rogue entered as the #15 seed and beat Maru and Hydra to achieve a career-best top 4 finish (losing 0-3 to eventual champion sOs in the semifinals).

Rogue looked to be one of the hottest rising players in the scene, but the release of Legacy of the Void in late 2015 waylaid his ascent. His individual league results cratered in 2016, as he only achieved RO32 and RO16 finishes in Code S while not qualifying for SSL at all (both SSL and GSL had only two seasons in 2016). While he did go 13-9 in Proleague, the only reason he had a positive win rate was his 7-0 record in ZvZ (nonetheless, Jin Air won their only championship in 2016).

Chances of a recovery looked grim to start 2017, as Rogue dropped out of Code S Season 1 in the RO32 while failing to even make it through the qualifiers for IEM Katowice, SSL, and Super Tournament #1. However, he abruptly picked up the pace midway through the year, returning to the RO8 of Code S in Season 2 (as for the reason for this turnaround, all Rogue gave was the boilerplate progamer answer of “I practiced hard” in interviews). Still, headed into July, Rogue still had to make up a lot of ground if he wanted to return to his previous high point from 2015: the WCS Global Finals.

Rogue’s comeback tour made a critical stop in China in late July, as Rogue ran roughshod over the field at IEM Shanghai to win the first major championship of his career. It was a win that came out of left field—even though Rogue had been playing extremely well on the ladder, few had expected him to convert it so quickly into a trophy against a strong field of players. His impressive run with wins over top players such as Dark (3-0), ByuN (3-1), and herO (4-1) did much to lighten the shadow from his 18-month slump, suggesting that the rising star from 2015 may have finally returned—and even leveled up significantly. In that regard, Rogue’s RO8 finish in Code S Season 3 was a glass half-full/empty result, leaving fans to keep wondering what his true ceiling might be.

In any case, two Code S RO8’s and an IEM Shanghai win put Rogue in a do-or-die situation headed into GSL Super Tournament #2 in September. He was just on the cusp of having enough points to qualify for WCS Global Finals, but had to beat out both sOs and Classic for that final spot. In the end, Rogue made the most of the opportunity and reaffirmed that his career has reached an entirely new phase. With wins over Maru (3-0), Dear (3-1), INnoVation (3-2, with INnoVation coming fresh off a Code S title), and herO (4-3), Rogue won his second major trophy and locked in his spot at BlizzCon.

Rogue’s runs at IEM and the Super Tournament instantly placed him among the favorites to win BlizzCon 2017, despite the fact that he entered as the last place seed from Korea (the TL.net Power Rank placed him at #2). The Rogue hype-train suffered a derailment scare just as it left the station, as Rogue lost his opening group stage match against Neeb (featuring their famous/notorious 50 minute game on Mech Depot). However, Rogue got back on track by defeating Nerchio in the losers’ match, and then took revenge on Neeb in the decider match to reach the playoffs.

Having reached the quarterfinals, Rogue recorded his third straight offline BO5+ win over herO that year, before moving on to reverse-sweep TY to advance to the finals opposite of soO. Like Rogue, 2017 was also a bounceback year for soO after a quiet 2016—though soO had obviously reached a much higher level previously in his career. soO quickly gained the upper hand in the final, jumping ahead to a 2-1 lead. He very well could have gone ahead 3-1, but due to Catalina’s starting-point asymmetry preventing a full wall-off, he was forced to surrender the tying point to Rogue’s Zergling all-in in game four. From there, the series was all Rogue. soO tried his hand with his own all-in in game five, but Rogue defended with aplomb and took the 3-2 lead. Rogue then took game six in the exact opposite way, forcing a late-game scenario where soO was known to struggle. soO was forced into mass Corruptors to counter Rogue’s Brood Lords, but his overcommital to anti-air units opened himf up to a mass tech-switch to Hydralisks and Infestors. Forcing soO down to just one mined-out base, Rogue forced the final GG of the series out of his hands. In the span of just six months, he had gone from intriguing-but-disappointing talent to world champion.

In hindsight, Rogue’s run to the BlizzCon championship in 2017 was a preview of what would become a familiar pattern in the years to come. He disappointed sorely in the first half of the year, dropping out of events in the first round or not qualifying at all. But when it came down to brass tacks, when winning championships at “weekender” events was the only way he could qualify for BlizzCon, Rogue played better than anyone in the world. And, once he reached his final destination of BlizzCon, he only got even better while his illustrious opponents collapsed around him.

The cycle began anew in 2018, as Rogue followed up his brilliant performance at the WCS Global Finals by dropping out of Code S Season 1 in the opening round. For a brief moment, it made the events of the second half of 2017 feel like a bizarre dream. However, at IEM Katowice, Rogue reassured everyone that his ascent to the top of the SC2 scene was very, very real.

Rogue started off his RO24 group with a loss to Serral (who was just beginning his own ascent), but it would end up being his only match loss of the entire tournament. Advancing from his group in second place, Rogue tore through the initial rounds of the playoffs with a 3-0 win against sOs and 3-1 against TY. Maru provided a tougher challenge in the semis, but Rogue prevailed 3-2 to reach the finals. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the bracket, Classic 3-0’d Serral to set up Rogue’s third ZvP grand final. Having already defeated herO in back to back finals in 2017, Rogue proved his ZvP skills once more with a 4-0 pummeling of Classic. In the span of four months, Rogue had won world championships at both BlizzCon and IEM Katowice, joining sOs as the second player ever to simultaneously hold the two titles.

Rogue went back into cruise control after that, settling for two more Code S RO8 finishes while flopping out of the opening round of both Super Tournaments and GSL vs the World. However, BlizzCon qualification would be no issue this time around, as the 2018 edition of the tournament awarded a direct seed to the IEM World Champion.

It was no surprise to see Rogue flip a switch once a huge payday was on the line, and he breezed through his opening group in first place at the 2018 WCS Global Finals. An in-form TY proved to be a difficult quarterfinal opponent (TY had just finished runner-up to Maru in Code S), but Rogue eked out a 3-2 victory to eliminate the Splyce Terran from a world championship tournament for the third time. Rogue’s hibernation-domination cycle was coming close to completion, but in an ironic twist, he ran into a player who was repeating his own story from Blizzcon 2017. Serral, following his semifinal loss at IEM Katowice, had become a complete monster in the second half of 2018 and had rapidly ascended to BlizzCon title contender status. Heading into his match with Rogue, Serral had defeated INnoVation, Dark, Stats, sOs, and Zest in the previous six months, and Rogue soon joined his countrymen. Rogue surrendered a 1-3 loss to the Finnish Phenom, sending him on his way to a historic BlizzCon championship win.

After his RO4 run at BlizzCon, Rogue once again fell into a lull. He soft-announced his transition back into stand-by mode at November’s HomeStory Cup 18, getting eliminated in the group stage with ShoWTimE, uThermal, Cure, and Harstem all finishing higher than him (a ridiculous result for an ostensible top-5 player). The first half of 2019 was full of similarly crummy results, including a RO32 finish Code S Season 2, RO16 finish in Super Tournament #1, and group stage elimination at IEM Katowice 2019. The only positive result for Rogue was Code S Season 1, where he notched his customary top eight finish.

Then, in a twist that was simultaneously out of nowhere and utterly predictable, Rogue caught fire in Season 3 of Code S. Finishing first in his RO32 and RO16 groups was no surprise, but Rogue turned an important corner by defeating Zest 3-1 in the RO8. Prior to Rogue’s ascent in 2017, his numerous RO8 finishes in Code S were emblematic of his good-but-not-great status in SC2. However, his failure to get over the RO8 hump even after he had won twin world championships was simply confounding, with fans struggling to find an explanation. Whether it was nerves, the Code S format, or simply a lack of effort, Rogue cleanly washed off his Code S jinx with his win over Zest. From there, it was smooth sailing for Rogue who looked like the best version of himself again, as he toppled Dark (4-1) and Trap (4-0) to claim his first Code S Championship after twenty seasons in the tournament. (Amusingly enough, Rogue gave an interview not long after the finals where he admitted that Zerg was overpowered at the time.)

Having reached a key career milestone with his first Code S title, Rogue went into another down period—albeit shorter and less severe this time around. After exiting Super Tournament #2 in the first round (another ongoing trend), Rogue came up short at the 2019 WCS Global Finals as well. Zergs were expected to dominate the tournament, and indeed, Rogue was one of the five Swarm generals to make the quarterfinals. However, playing his best match-up of ZvP against Classic, he gave up one of the most stunning and dramatic upsets of the tournament, as Classic pulled out a legendary DT blink strategy to steal game five and the series.

The rebound from this brief slump came at IEM Katowice 2020, where Rogue would win his third world championship. Rogue began by seizing first place in a tough group that included Zest, Reynor, ShoWTimE, and defending champion soO, earning himself a direct seed into the quarterfinals. He made short work of Dark in the quarterfinals (3-0) before getting the better of his former Jin Air teammate Maru in a BO5 semifinal that went the difference.

A symbolically important Korea vs. The World clash between Serral and Rogue seemed to be on the cards, but Zest scratched it from the schedule by scoring a huge 3-2 upset against Serral in the semifinals with his ‘new’ Glaive-Adept style. Zest had been making waves in the tournament with his twist on the old build, having also used it to defeat Rogue and Reynor in the group stage. However, by the finals, Rogue had all the scouting information he needed to counter the opener, and he took a comfortable 4-1 win to win his second IEM Katowice title and join sOs as the only players to win three world championships (Serral would equal them in 2024).

With Rogue having tied a historic record, fans would have been wise to prepare for another trip on the Rogue roller-coaster. In comically predictable fashion, dropped out of both Code S Season 1 and the Super Tournament in the first round. However, Rogue bounced back quickly in Code S Season 2, recapturing some of his momentum from IEM Katowice to win a second Code S title. This run was laden with hiccups in the group stage, as Rogue stumbled through in second place in both the RO24 and RO16. However, he was completely untroubled in the playoffs, as he swept Dream and DongRaeGu in the first two rounds to set up a finals match against Stats in the finals. In a match that resembled his many prior ZvP finals, Rogue never gave Stats room to breathe and took a one-sided 4-1 victory.

With 3 world championships and 2 Code S titles in hand, Rogue had put himself firmly in the GOAT discussion. His case was enhanced by what was becoming a near-mythic statistical record: 7-0 in offline BO7 matches. In the most important matches, Rogue simply never lost. However, Rogue wasn’t done building his resume just yet, as he would pick up two more Code S championships before he put down his keyboard and mouse for good.

The rest of 2020 was rather unremarkable for Rogue—he dropped out of Code S Season 3 in the RO16 and failed to attain notable results in the many online majors of the pandemic era. Likewise, the first and only online version of IEM Katowice held in 2021 was a disappointment by Rogue’s standards, as he was held to a top eight finish after being thrashed by Maru in a quarterfinal sweep.

Thus, when he met Maru again in the finals of 2021 Code S Season 1 just two months later, it felt like it might finally be time for Rogue to actually lose in a finals and in an offline BO7 series. He had only narrowly defeated Zest 3-2 in the quarterfinals, and he had even struggled to keep the streak intact against heavy underdog Dream in the semifinals. Combined with his earlier defeat to Maru at IEM Katowice, the only thing keeping Rogue from being the clear underdog in the match was the belief that he would activate some kind of superpower to keep his undefeated streak going.

Against all expectations, the match was hardly a contest. Maru, playing for the hallowed G5L title, looked utterly unlike the player who had crushed Rogue a few months prior. In particular, he was completely vexed by Rogue’s decision to play a Roach-Ravager style in the first three games, unable to find a way to get into a macro game without taking damage or just flat-out dying. Maru only took a single map against a failed Nydus all-in from Rogue in game four, after which Rogue closed things out with surprise Mutalisks in game five.

Having trained us to expect a subsequent slump, Rogue gave the StarCraft II community a swerve by actually using his third Code S title to spark his most consistent career stretch in terms of tournament results. While he fell back to the RO8 in 2021 Code S Season 2, he quickly recovered with a RO4 finish in Season 3 (although, his loss to Zest in the semis ended his offline BO7 streak). More noticeably, he started to rack up high finishes in various non-Code S “weekender” events, something he hadn’t done since his initial rise in 2017. In the online sphere, he achieved top four and runner-up finishes in DreamHack Masters Summer and Winter, and won TeamLiquid Starleague 8 with victories over Serral in both the winners finals and grand finals of the double-elimination tournament. In offline tournaments, he finally played up to his reputation in the GSL Super Tournament, winning the 2021’s Season 3 with a 4-3 victory against Maru in the finals.

Rogue’s strong play continued at IEM Katowice 2022, where he made it all the way to the semifinals. Unfortunately for Rogue, Serral was out for revenge after TSL8, and took the rematch 3-0 before going on to win the championship.

Ultimately, Rogue’s wave of momentum sparked by Code S championship number three crested with championship number four. 2022’s Code S Season 1 was a tournament laden with upsets, featuring perennial group stage player Creator going on the run of his career to reach the finals. Dark and Rogue were the only two title favorites to actually survive until the playoffs, and once Rogue took care of Dark in the semis, it was almost certain that he’d end Creator’s miracle run in the finals and lift the trophy once more.

While Creator put up a better fight than some expected, the finals ended up playing out as expected. Even the famously emotional Creator didn’t seem terribly disappointed at losing 2-4 to one of the greatest players of all time. With his victory, Rogue tied Maru for the most Code S wins in history at four.

Rogue would have one shot to achieve the G5L ahead of Maru, but it was not to be as he dropped out of Code S Season 2 in the group stages. That would end up being the final Code S tournament of his career, as in August of 2022, he retired after twelve years of progaming (Maru would finally win the G5L the next season).

When Rogue transitioned to StarCraft II, he did so as a KeSPA trainee who had never played a Proleague match. From those humble origins, Rogue gradually rose to become one of the most successful players in StarCraft II history. With four Code S titles and three World Championships to his name, it would be irresponsible to not count him among the best ever to play StarCraft II. While he comes in at #3 on this particular list, it’s not unreasonable for some fans to still consider him to be the true GOAT.

The Tools: Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

Before Rogue became a Code S, IEM, or WCS World Champion, he was entertaining fans as one of the most creative and unpredictable players in Proleague. He found ways to win with Swarm Hosts when others considered the unit unplayable, used mass Baneling drops in PvZ, and was unusually fond of proxy-Hatcheries as a tool. I could keep going on with the examples—what’s clear is that Rogue really enjoyed going off the beaten path.

When Nydus Worms, Swarm Hosts, and Proxy Hatches all became overpowered in future metas, you could hardly blame Rogue for abusing them. He had already been using them for years, and he was just the right man to maximize their capabilities.

As the years passed by, Rogue’s skillset became increasingly well-rounded. Rogue was arguably one of the best late game Zergs of all time by the time 2017 wrapped up, taking full advantage of all three Zerg spellcasters in complicated engagements. He eventually mastered the art of mid-game macro, using superior mechanics to overwhelm opponents with endless waves of units.

But even as Rogue added these new facets to his game, he lost none of the creativity from his past. Few players, if any, could so ably wield the full spectrum of Zerg strategy. Rogue was capable of anything, and could do anything capably, making him one of the most impossible opponents to plan against.

While it’s a bit tricky to include Rogue’s ability to ‘flip the switch’ as one of his strengths—because it comes with the weakness that the switch needed so much damn flipping—it was clearly an important element to Rogue’s success. As we pointed out with sOs and Mvp, strong mentality and the ‘know how to win’ factor can be incredibly important in StarCraft II, and Rogue was the player who paired these intangibles with the highest level of baseline skill.

The Numbers: 3 World Championships and 4 Code S Titles, What More to Say?

Well, there is one statistical quirk about Rogue that must be pointed out, beyond the fact that he has one of the strongest tournament resumes of any player in history.

That is, of course, the mythical record in offline best-of-seven matches.

a: Double-elimination best-of-seven finals where winners’ bracket player had a map advantage were included.
b: HomeStory Cup tournaments with a BO5 + BO3 finals format were included.

It’s a bit complicated squaring this against Rogue’s record in offline BO5’s, which is a pedestrian 36-31 (again, Liquipedia-premier tournaments only). After all, many of those BO5’s were also important matches, with most major tournaments outside of Code S holding their semifinals in a BO5 format.

However, it’s not narrative-focused analysis to single out Rogue’s offline BO7 results when you compare him to every other great player. Of the players on this GOAT list, he was clearly the most successful in such settings, with only INnoVation and Serral coming close to challenging him (and that with the benefit of having several fully region-locked WCS Circuit tournaments added to Serral’s record).

a: The 2010 Open Seasons and the 2011 Super Tournament were included due the number of players and amount of prize money.
b: SSL 2017 was excluded due to its 10-player format
c: INnoVation is 4-1 in finals when including SSL 2017
d: Dark is 3-3 in finals when including SSL 2017
c: Stats is 2-4 in finals when including SSL 2017

Despite not winning Code S until 2019, Rogue wasted no time in becoming the second most winningest player in Korean Individual Leagues. Where Maru and INnoVation won their first Premier Events as early as 2012 and 2013 respectively (it took Maru nine years to win his fourth Code S title and eight to win his fourth Korean Individual League), Rogue managed to win Code S four times across the final 11 seasons he played in before departing for the military. This, of course, is directly related to Rogue’s absurd win rate in Best of 7 series from 2017 until he retired in 2022. Once Rogue made it far enough to participate in a seven game series, he converted that chance into a victory on all but one occasion.

a: Included tournaments: WCS Global Finals 2013-2019, IEM Katowice 2014-2024 (except 2016), WESG 2016-2018, Gamers8 2020
b: WESG tournaments are listed according to the year in which the grand finals was actually held. The year in the official title of the tournament is given in parentheses.

In terms of world championship caliber tournaments, sOs, Rogue, and Serral are tied on top of the mountain with three world championships a piece. Rogue came close to tying sOs’s unbelievable mark of three world championships in 24 months, achieving his triple in a 26 month span. For comparison, that’s about the same amount of time between championships one and two for Reynor and Serral.

Rogue’s career took a massive turn for the better in 2017 as he shed the mantle of quirky player who always loses in the Round of 8 in Code S to become the WCS Global Champion. During Rogue’s prime, TY was the only top-tier player who could break even with Rogue in terms of statistics, but Rogue had a key advantage in winning all three of their meetings in world championship caliber tournaments.

While Serral holds a firm lead over Rogue in offline matches, it’s worth at least a footnote that Rogue handed Serral some of the worst defeats of his prime by beating him in back-to-back winners’ final and grand final series in the online TSL8 tournament.

a: While the overall level of non-Korean players rose in the 2020’s, only matches vs Korean players were chosen to simplify this state (and not have to pick and choose which non-Korean Protoss players to include)

Considering Rogue defeated a Protoss player in seven of his 11 wins in Premier Events, it is no surprise that he ranks among the best ever when it comes to ZvP. While one could argue that all modern Zergs benefited greatly in playing during various periods of Protoss weakness, not everyone achieved the win-rates that made ZvP seem hopelessly imbalanced. Rogue and Serral were the two key figures in making sure Zerg ruled 2018-2020 with an iron fist, snuffing out nearly all Protoss hope.

The Placement

Why Mvp got the nod over INnoVation for fourth place on this list largely came down to a single question—do the aggregate achievements from a long career outweigh short-term brilliance that defined an era? In the case of INnoVation, the answer was no. But when we ask the same question of Rogue, the balance comes out in the favor of extraordinary career accomplishments.

Rogue never dominated any era the way Mvp ruled over Wings of Liberty, but the fact is, no player ever did. However, from 2017-2022, Rogue won so many events that even the King of Wings would feel envious. In that time, Rogue won a combined seven Korean Individual Leagues (all Code S) and World Championship titles, which is a mark only surpassed by Maru. Rogue won the bulk of these trophies in a highly competitive period that saw players like Maru, Serral, TY, and Reynor enter their primes, while old-guard players like Zest, soO, INnoVation, Dark, Classic, and Stats proved they still had plenty of fight left in them. Only Rogue’s final Code S title was won in a period where the Korean scene had entered noticeable contraction (in fact, one might even consider Rogue’s retirement the demarcation line).

Of course, Rogue’s penchant for dropping out of events early (or failing to qualify altogether) is a slight knock against him. Rogue’s three first round exits in Code S from 2017-2022 equals the number of times Maru, Dark and Trap collectively dropped out of the Round of 32 in that time (once each). However, most of the KeSPA-era players on this list went through one or more slump periods, and when you compare overall tournament placements throughout their careers, Rogue doesn’t appear any more inconsistent than other mercurial greats such as Zest and INnoVation.

While Rogue doesn’t win the honor of being the Greatest of All Time in my eyes, he’s certainly the greatest of something. The greatest champion? The greatest big-match player? The greatest son-of-a-b**** you never want to face in an important game? Whatever you call it, Rogue had a special quality that separates him from everyone else on this list.

The Games

Rogue vs herO: 2015 Proleague – Playoffs, Game 7 (September 29, 2015)

[embedded content]

In what I deem to be Rogue’s most memorable game from Heart of the Swarm, he faced off against herO in a final, super ace-match to whether CJ Entus or Jin Air Green Wings would move on to the Proleague grand finals.

herO went with his typical blink stalker/sentry aggression that served him so well in 2015, but Rogue had something much more unorthodox prepared: mass Baneling drops. The CJ Entus ace was caught completely off guard by these tactics, and Rogue stepped over broken Stalker pieces to send Jin Air to the finals.

Rogue vs Stats: 2017 Code S Season 3 – Round of 8, Game 4 (August 30, 2017)

[embedded content]

After a failed proxy-Hatchery all-in in the prior game of the series (“is this the worst strategy I’ve ever seen?” quipped Tasteless), Rogue stuck to his aggressive ways with another all-in in game four.

Rogue started with a fast Nydus just outside of Stats’ natural, beginning his assault with Roaches and Ravagers. However, with Stats parrying the initial assault and starting to mass Oracles, Rogue doubled-down on his containment and started a slow Spore Crawler push into the Protoss natural. A Hydralisk Den and even Lurkers followed after, showing Rogue’s commitment to this bizarre two-base slowpush. Penned in with a frail unit composition, Stats’ only option was to commit to a hopeless breakout attempt before GG’ing out.

Rogue vs Trap: 2019 Code S Season 3 – Finals, Game 3 (September 28, 2019)

[embedded content]

Single-handedly forcing a balance change is something few players can claim to have achieved, and I imagine Rogue wears that badge proudly. Alright, maybe Rogue wasn’t solely responsible for getting Infested Terrans removed entirely from StarCraft II, but you get the feeling that this was the game that broke the camel’s back.

Playing against Trap in the Code S Season 3 finals, Rogue successfully forced a late-game scenario where Zerg was heavily favored. With numerous options at his disposal in terms of finishing Trap off, Rogue went in the direction that would make Protoss feel maximum hopelessness: mass Nydus-Infested Terran harass. Hiding behind a forest of Spore Crawlers at home, Rogue refused to fight Trap’s army while spewing Infested Terrans all over his bases. Trap was stuck defending as Rogue’s nonstop harassment continued to chip away at his infrastructure for basically no cost at all. When Trap forced a desperation engagement with his main army, countered yet again with mass Infested Terrans, showing us that time is truly a flat circle.

---

---

• SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
• PlatoData.Network Vertical Generative Ai. Empower Yourself. Access Here.
• PlatoAiStream. Web3 Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
• PlatoESG. Carbon, CleanTech, Energy, Environment, Solar, Waste Management. Access Here.
• PlatoHealth. Biotech and Clinical Trials Intelligence. Access Here.
• Source: https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/621637-3-rogue-greatest-players-of-all-time