Best Tournament players of all time

[987]

i remember

[dabomb]

I started playing tournaments when they were lagging on playbf and you were lucky to make serg, so I can't comment on who was good on bonus.... For me though, this list begins and ends with 1 name:

987


I've seen actual cheaters like Gravis...There is no comparison here. For those who don't understand...maybe didn't appreciate it when he actually played, i'll try to explain it to you what made him great. I've seen a lot of good tournament players who were on a different level from the pack: EFII, Atty Reborn, g9, and1baller. Every single one, however, was untouchable because of how much faster they were (EFII possibly because of having dtt first)....Sean never seemed fast...He wouldn't usually get that great fill...but somehow he'd always end up with top pph. He'd spend entire d6/apps tournaments on land and still have top pph. Again, I can't comment on the guys i haven't seen, but for me there is only 1 name and then everyone else.

I'll leave you with a quote from Buck Weaver,
"He was the best."

I'm seriously at a loss for words at how you can say and1 and phil were sooo great only because of their speed. Phil easily accumulated the most cups in the smallest amount of time. And1 was a hoss as well. As for ef2, I agree with the dtt statement. Although, he was a great player from what I can remember, not just speed.

It's just how can you say those players were at the level they were at from speed alone? This baffles me. Anyone who remembers any of them will probably say that it was due to lots of factors beyond speed.

987 is a tourney beast, no doubt. Although, I would have those players on the same level in the hierarchy with him.

I've been in raids/team batles/ tournaments with all 3 of those guys (when they were at their best i think)...They're all great players (better than me, etc), but two of them were probably the fastest in the game at the time. 987 was average speed but i'd still bet on him given equal or close fill times. That's my opinion. If sean wants to say that i'm wrong and those 2 were just as good as he was at tourneys, then so be it, but that's not what i saw....you can think differently though and make your own list, but my list has one name.

[therealnw]

i remember

lol, maybe in the beginning you did. I remember speaking on aim with you

[987]

honestly everyone worth mentioning in this thread obv had different strengths/weaknesses, and most of those "weaknesses" weren't even actual weaknesses, just areas where maybe they were not as strong as their peers on the tourney god hierarchy. you'll notice that more often than not they were among the best in every other category as well, not just tournaments..

i'll use my own list as the baseline for examples


cynder and knock were exceptionally well rounded and versed in dealing with water maps, so anytime scarcity was an issue they would float to the top more often than not. knock also had more exp fighting on site vs. dtt players

ef2 had a better understanding of little nuances/subtle things that most wouldn't know, but cumulatively made a big difference. he also lacked weaknesses

guest 9 could do anything and no lifed to the point that he had no choice but to be great

atty reborn was just fucking fast and that pretty much masked any weaknesses he might have had

i specialized in efficiency, looking at probabilities, timing, and understanding the community psychology, while doing everything possible to diversify my experiences and thus skill set by taking on any and every kind of situation in just about every map. showing up late and learning from those that came before me probably aided me greatly as well.

sr, sw, and vk played during every single era and played extensively in almost every map, so again the reserve of knowledge accumulated from these experiences will by default put you in the conversation. having enough repetition leads to balance, and balance will skew the law of averages in your favor over time

oxy was fast and came up in what would appear to me at least to be one of the most difficult/stacked eras, and one of the shadiest in regards to people playing on secret dtts etc. having experience in a water map (apps) as well as hundreds of hours in the 2 main maps (rocks and desert) also probably did him justice, and then some

duy also had a ton of hours in a water map (anyone else noticing a theme here? for what its worth most of the people who i would add if i extended the list had tons of hours in a water map too) and played in what was probably the most stacked era as well..





for what its worth tho, if i had to guess i would say the best ways to get a leg up on the community in tournaments would be


1) extensive time in a water map, both faking and fighting on land, and hopefully taking raids.
2) extensive time playing at severe disadvantages - i.e on site vs. dtt users, on 56k vs. broadband (shame i didn't see enough of adam to include him on my list), on generic stock dtt vs. custom/faster speedhackers, playing legit vs. people who were very good at cheating
3) character analysis of other common tournament players - name styles, fight styles, whether or not they give up/die and when, moral compass locations, etc
4) repetition with terrible fill times - exposure to a bigger variety/more demanding set of situations
5) understanding of game mechanics vs. other peoples perceived understanding of game mechanics, + tendencies. i.e, equip respawn timing, tendencies of where other players fill, etc etc


speed was always overrated and if anything would rob you of other skills that you simply wouldn't learn out of a lack of necessity

[987]

i remember

lol, maybe in the beginning you did. I remember speaking on aim with you

if you're referring to the dtt, there really was no choice at the time. when 100% of people who are capable are using it, then you do the same in order to maintain a level playing field with those who matter.


part of why i do enjoy having tankpit around is because i never had a chance to know what i could do vs. other players on the site, but now i know..

[therealnw]

That pretty much sums everything up.

[eldawg51]

I didn't play enough tournaments in BF to make my own list, but for what I've seen in Tankpit; Kenny, Knock, ok, 987 and atelo are the most consistent. UNBREAKABLE would be there as well if he still played. If lefty hadnt played like a goober in a few tournaments I may have put him up there as well.

Fact is, I'm no slouch at PPH, and when Sean and I both filled in 5 minutes in the rocks tournament early in the morning, he smoked me. He obviously knows something I don't about tournaments, because the gap he put between us was incredible. I have since learned a few subtleties that I didn't realize before, and his mindset going into tournaments is what wins so many cups.

I don't recall how I won 13 or 14 cups in 45-50 tries in BF, but one thing I strongly agree with is extensive time in water maps. I remember Atelo and I 1-1 in apps for 2 hours straight every other day without stopping. That alone helped me tremendously, but for some reason I'm nowhere near those guys... Yet.

[Zenta]

tournaments use to be the best thing in the world. i use to ask everyone who played for advice. it seemed like back then, to me atleast, that if you didn't a cup, you wasnt on the level of the good players. I took me a long time, but i can still remember that feeling. probably feels better than getting married lolol. in honesty every cup I see in tank pit is a ? and it doesnt hold as much weight as it did in bf if I don't know who the tank player of it is. then again there was a big SH issue back in bf.

I'd take SH over having tournies with no kills and the winners being the guys who got kill from free kills.

I don't really have a list cause I never kept track of who won how many.

I read MJK's bible..that helped.

[987]

just for the lols, heres my next 10 (no real order)


nas
picta
lefty
carl
jon
nu cru
chandaman
kayne
and1
sylarmac

inb4 more upset people from the 90s

[tournamentJESUS]

just for the lols, heres my next 10 (no real order)


nas
picta
lefty
carl
jon
nu cru
chandaman
kayne
and1
sylarmac

inb4 more upset people from the 90s

yeah see that would also be my list for like 07-mass deletion. g9 did some things as well towards the end

[knock]

My name used to be all over these lists, mostly near the top too...wat happened? .

There were era's I didn't get to play, this is from my t10 from my time:
1) 987
2) Cynder
3) guest 9
4) And1baller
5) Darkside
6) KILLER 12
7) stud
8) Atelo
9) SW
10) Sylarmac