On December 18 2010 06:24 HalfAmazing wrote:
You guys are mostly getting the chronology and relative skill levels for their respective playing periods mixed up. 1999-2001: Slayer, sVEN, Maynard, NTT, ElkY, Grrrr... were the best non-Korean players in the world. Slayer, NTT and Grrrr... were better than almost all Korean progamers and were better than the other players mentioned. ElkY always played in Slayer and NTT's shadow and it took their retirement for him to shine. There were no US players at the time who were even close to being on par with the best European and Korean players. Slayer is the best non-Korean of all time, and to put NTT at #5 on the best Dutch players list is just offensive. :-) Shit, we're talking about guys who quit playing because they got bored of being so dominant. Korean progamers would practice with these guys, lose horribly and then go on to win tournaments the next day. It was a different era.
EDIT: also, please don't include known map hackers like Testie in the "best of all time" list, that's just wrong.
You guys are mostly getting the chronology and relative skill levels for their respective playing periods mixed up. 1999-2001: Slayer, sVEN, Maynard, NTT, ElkY, Grrrr... were the best non-Korean players in the world. Slayer, NTT and Grrrr... were better than almost all Korean progamers and were better than the other players mentioned. ElkY always played in Slayer and NTT's shadow and it took their retirement for him to shine. There were no US players at the time who were even close to being on par with the best European and Korean players. Slayer is the best non-Korean of all time, and to put NTT at #5 on the best Dutch players list is just offensive. :-) Shit, we're talking about guys who quit playing because they got bored of being so dominant. Korean progamers would practice with these guys, lose horribly and then go on to win tournaments the next day. It was a different era.
EDIT: also, please don't include known map hackers like Testie in the "best of all time" list, that's just wrong.
You are looking at the glass half empty rather than half full.
As for the list I provided, I wouldn't read too much in it other than which players stood out like sore thumbs for their given countries. I used a variety of criteria in choosing which players deserved to make it on a shortlist based on the following:
- chronological, for example it is much easier listing Germany this way, because they had so many
- contribution to their countries
- made it to Korea
- tournament wins
- clan wars/nation wars
- ladder
- players I know off the top of my head
As for the Netherlands..
Why does Ret come to mind first? (I should have left my side notes in so there was no confusion). Anyway, the answer is simple. He has been the most active for the longest and when he was he was hands down one of the best players our scene had to offer. So take my 'rankings' with a grain of salt. Hell, I wouldn't even call it a ranking. Everyone who made my list is special in my opinion and it doesn't necessarily mean one is above the other. It's more or less a way to keep things organized. As for the bolded part, that's very misleading especially in the case of NTT. It's a cop out.
Testie is one of the few ex-hackers who deserves to be recognized. If you were around while the kid was playing legit you would know he was still a beast without hacks. He had what most players don't. A raw talent and good understanding of the game.