PDA

View Full Version : TAO Top 100



Pages : [1] 2

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:03 PM
TAO Top 100




Tactics Arena Online is a turn-based strategy game that was established in 2003. Since that time, TAO servers have been host to millions of diverse and competitive players from around the world, each of them influencing and shaping this game in a unique way. This thread aims to recognize some of the greatest players in the history of TAO based on tournament performance, overall skill, stats, and contributions to the game.


-Special thanks to bludhoundz, The Professor, Darkness, and all others who have helped with these rankings.

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:03 PM
(1) |AFO|- TAL Season 2 Champion, TAL Finals 2 Champion, GS4 Champion, Captain of Victorious Secret in PSST4. Achieved 1700+ on Great Lakes, Banff, and Armageddon. Leader of the NJ 12, AFO is one of the most consistent players in the history of TAO. His many TAO accomplishments as well as his remarkable longevity as an elite player give validity to his position at the top of these rankings.


(2) The Professor? - TAL Finals 3 Champion, runner-up in TAL Finals 2, GS1 Champion, GS4 Champion, FPS vs Legends Turtle record: 16-2, FPS vs Legends Freestyle Record: 9-0. Member of Netjak and leader of The Badasses, The Professor is superb in all 3 styles. He was also captain of the Female Body Inspectors in PSST5 and has typically performed well in PSST


(3) Detonation - One of the best PSST players ever, Detonation has won two rounds as Last Man Standing. He Made 3 consecutive TAL Finals, finishing 3rd in TAL Finals 2 and 2nd in TAL Finals 3. Achieved 1800+ on Great Lakes and can play all 3 styles at a very high level. He won GS1 in 2009 and GS2 in 2011.


(4) Rantzu1- Although he didn’t participate in a lot of tournaments, Rantzu’s success on both Legends and FPS servers is well-known. Rantzu, who is also known as ~GladiatoR~, was the leader of ChaosGladiators on Legends. His best style is probably turtle, but he could play all 3 well.


(5) OmegaShin - He was the first player to break 2000 stats on legends or any server. There are some rumors that he may have boosted a bit to get there, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that he was one of the best players that TAO has seen. He played primarily on legends where he led the top clan, Judgment. I think his highest recorded stats were 2031.


(6) Legend Z - TAL Finals 1 Champion with a 16-5 overall record, top 10 pick in PSST4, which included 128 players, competent in all 3 styles, and has had great longevity as an elite player.


(7) Punishment - Punishment was the leader of the Harry-Potter-themed clan, Hogwarts. Using accounts Albus Dumbledore and Godric Gryffindor, he waged war on Netjak. Additionally, Pun won GS1 in 2008, beating Prof in the championship round, and captained Mr. Rogers Neighborhood in PSST2.


(8) Poison Shadow - Poison Shadow is one of the friendliest, well-mannered players that I've ran into on TAO. PS first showed up on people's radar when he went 6-1 in PSST5. He followed that up by winning GS2 in 2010 and TAL Finals in 2011. Sound in all 3 styles.


(9) Bottle - One of the first players to break 1700 on FPS. Was captain of the team, The Great Leviathan, in PSST1 and his team won. Member of the Legends team in the first Revelations vs Legends tournament. Member of SI and later switched to Netjak. Very good at both grey and turtle, he contributed largely to the development of grey sets. He might be Pikachu.


(10) Frylock - First player to break 1800 on FPS. Participated in a lot of FPS tournaments and generally performed well. He could hold his own against anyone in grey and freestyle and in his prime he pretty much just trashed everyone he played in those styles. He went 18-0-1 in tryouts for the FPS grey team.


(11) Lieutenant - Generally considered one of the best all-around players in the game, the Colombia native was a top 10 pick in pretty much every team tournament that he played in. He won GS3 in 2008 and GS4 in 2011.


(12) Stiven - Originally from Legends, Stiv is considered one of the best greys to ever play, and is also an amazing freestyle player. He was a pretty quiet guy, but is generally thought of very highly by his TAO peers.


(13) Sniper Master - Perhaps the best freestyle player this game has ever seen. He dominated Revelations Grand League when it was exclusively freestyle in a very competitive era of TAO. He used the same setup every game. Players tried to counter him, but he still would find a way to win. He was not only efficient with his moves, but good at making other players play inefficiently. He could probably be ranked higher.


(14) bludhoundz - One of the nicest, well-liked TAO players. Also voted the hottest TAO female. He could play all 3 styles well, but was particularly known for his superb turtle play. He captained blud's bananas in PSST2. His team won and he finished undefeated. Participant in both of FPS vs Legends turtle tournaments. 1800+ player on Banff and #1 eater of Dape's stats.


(15) Allstar - Very active player. Very good player. Very good freestyle player. Member of the NJ 12. Captain of TAO Dream Team in PSST1, and Nursing Home Bandits in PSST3. He went 6-2 in PSST1. I think he’s from Canada.


(16) CRX - Achieved 1800+ on Great Lakes. Good freestyle player, good grey player. One of the leaders of Netjak. First overall pick in PSST1. Plays in the same Fantasy Football league as I do.


(17) Wack-Head - Solid all-around player, with emphasis in grey and turtle. One of the leaders of Netjak. He was the top overall pick in PSST3 and went 4-2, losing to Mithrandir in grey and Detonation in freestyle.


(18) Bobcat - Very good Legends player who eclipsed 1900 stats. He also played on the accounts TianChao and arkbloc on FPS. I think he was best at freestyle. In December of 2008 he held the top spot in the rankings on Legends on his Box Leaders account, which was in Netjak at the time.


(19) Monkus - Legendary turtle player. Broke 1800 on Great Lakes and lead Bushido Gaiden. He was the 4th overall pick in PSST1 and went 4-2. He was the 8th overall pick in PSST3.


(20) Ragnarth - When Ragnarth felt like it, he was the best turtle player in the game. But he didn’t always feel like it and he was inconsistent at times. Overall, he was an excellent turtle player and above-average grey player.


(21) Geeky_Bastard - Good at all 3 styles. Another Netjak leader. He was the 16th overall pick in PSST1 and went 7-2. He was the 2nd overall pick in PSST2.


(22) Lemon - He primarily played grey and is generally considered to be one of the best grey players ever. He could also play turtle and freestyle at a high level. Along with Eagle, he was one of the players that I most hated playing against because the games would last 2 hours and he took forever to move.


(23) Pikachu - I don't know where he's from. I don't know all of the accounts that he's played on. It's more likely than not that he's appeared multiple times on these rankings. In TAO's latter years, newer, unknown players who could play well good were suspected of being Pikachu. He's played in a lot of tournaments and won a lot of games. His best style is grey but he can play all three well.


(24) RAHAN - I think RAHAN tends to not get the respect he deserves as a player due to the fact that he's a little bit of an asshole. He won GS1 in 2010 and GS3 in 2011. He finished in 2nd place in TAL Finals 4, barely losing to Poison Shadow. He could probably be ranked higher on this list than he is.


(25) Magician - Easily one of the best turtle players to ever play this game. He would let me set legends style while himself playing with alpha rules and still kick my ass. Mag was the leader of the PSST3 team, The Tartan Army, which is considered maybe the best PSST team ever.

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:04 PM
(26) Bodexxx - Elite player who was originally from Legends Server. He was a member of Chaos Gladiators on Legends. He was a quiet guy and didn’t post on forums much, so I think people tend to underrate him. But he was an amazing player who reached 1986 stats on Legends Server. I think he played as Knight’s Blood on Banff.


(27) Draquist - Describes himself as being the original TAO powerhouse and claims he will come for all of those above him on the list. Elite freestyle and turtle player. Captain of the team, Nude Breakdancers, in PSST2.


(28) Bullcat0 - I may have ranked him too high on this list, but he always kicked my ass in freestyle when I played him and I have a very high opinion of him. He was the 7th overall pick in PSST2. He was part of NJ’s Fantastique Four, along with |AFO|, Bottle, and Allstar.


(29) Tcbb - He was one of the first great players to play this game, but didn’t have the lengthy career that some of the TAO greats did. He played on grey accounts a lot, and activated his gold account when he felt like it.


(30) Aza - He was either the first, or one of the first, to achieve 1900 stats on Legends server, or any server. He played almost exclusively on Legends server. He didn’t participate in FPS tournaments and, as far as I know, stopped playing when Legends died. He broke 1900 stats in 2005, and held the top spot in Legends rankings for more than a year. He was in Netjak at that time.


(31) ExpectDeath - His primary server was Banff but he also played on Great Lakes. His best style was freestyle.. In-game mod. He also was a leader of the clan, Omnipotent. Before that he was a leader of Netjak.


(32) llrich - Originally started on Armageddon server and was in x-factor. He later founded the firm which he led until later joining The Badasses. He was one of the founders and 5 core members of The Badasses. He’s good at all 3 styles and probably best at grey. He was drafted 3rd overall in PSST5.


(33) Realist - Long-time TAO moderator and forum contributor. Hosted several TAO tournaments. Good all-around player. Great grey player. Created a thread called "Some basic anti strategy." Frequent agitator of RG in the Political Discussion Thread.


(34) Anarchy_United - Part of the 2007 FPS grey team and went 6-1-2 in the FPS vs Legends grey battle. He was also part of the 2007 FPS turtle team and went 6-3 in the FPS vs Legends turtle battle. Additionally, he was part of the 2007 FPS freestyle team which I couldn’t find W/L records for. He was the 3rd overall pick in PSST3 and the 14th overall pick in PSST2.


(35) _-x-X-x-_ - He was originally from Legends server. He was kind of a dick. He reached 1936 stats on Legends and was in the clan ToySoldierz at the time. He pissed off seed in some way (I think by freezing people in-game) and was banned. He swore constantly in the lobby (another great feature of Legends; no filter).


(36) Tactoholic - Impressive grey player from Netjak. He was one of the first to use wardless grey sets and, because of his success, they became more popular among TAO players. He was one of the top performers for FPS server going 7-2 in the FPS vs Legends grey battle in 2007.


(37) Brutal Rage - Excellent grey player and could play turtle well too. Created TAO Rankings. He was the 28th overall pick in PSST5 draft, but submitted a performance worthy of a top pick by going an impressive 9-1.


(38) Warcow - Played primarily on Great Lakes and lead the clan, The Elite. His best style was turtle, and he used a slightly unorthodox set which included a furgon but no frost golem. He was the 8th overall pick in the PSST1 and went 7-2. From Canada.


(39) Mithrandir - The best tournament host ever. Also a very good grey player. He was picked 12th overall in PSST3 and went 5-0 with wins over Wack-Head, Solingro, gigolojlo, Realist, and worker. He was on the 2 best PSST teams ever; Tartan Army and Victorious Secret. He was drafted 12th overall in PSST3 and beat the number 1 overall pick, Wack-Head.


(40) Darque - First player to win a trophy and have the trophy unit. Drafted #1 overall in PSST2 by his brother, Draquist. Darque, Draquist, and Monkus won Tid and death’s most excellent team tournament by beating Gryph, C.H.I.L.L. and manonfire in the finals. Darque beat me in freestyle. Fucker.


(41) Codeman1 - Achieved 1800+ stats on Armageddon. Leader of the TDP (The Dawg Pound).


(42) Redreoicy - He’s not as well-known as some of the other players on this list with similar rankings, but Redreoicy was absolutely a great player. Member of SI and good at all styles. Like many other SI members, he was particularly beastly in grey.


(43) *Machiavelli* - Originally a legends player and had several ranked accounts there. Moved to FPS around 2007 and played on revelations server as PoundeR. He was in The Badasses for a while. He was the 4th overall pick in PSST4.


(44) Darkfire Phoenix - DFP was one of the leaders of HA (Hells Angels) and was solid at all 3 styles. Apparently he was Spencer’s protégé. His best style was turtle.


(45) Wayfaerer - Originally from Legends server. He played on the account Wayfaerer and led the clan, SoilWorkers. He had a trophy, but I don’t remember how he got it. Presumably he won some tournament or sent Nude pics to Seed. He was 1800+ on Legends.


(46) Hoolwath - He was yet another elite turtle player, which he proved by winning GS2 in 2008. He was also the 3rd overall pick in the PSST2 draft and went 6-0.


(47) Rubbish - Native of Colombia, Rubbish finished 3rd overall in TAL Finals 1, going 13-8. He earned mastery in freestyle, going 6-1 in that style with wins against The Professor?, Detonation, Master TAO, Lieutenant, Anarchy United, and Stiven. He is the nicest guy on TAO and probably the most handsome Colombian that I'll ever know.


(48) Spencer 555 - Canadian native and oddly born on the same day and year as me. He won GS2 in 2009 and was a participant in TAL Finals in 2010. He was captain of the legendary PSST team, The Ginyu Force, which won PSST5 by upsetting the heavily-favored, Female Body Inspectors.


(49) Master of the Blade - Not everyone will recognize this name, but he was one of the best players from very early Legends. He was in the clan, Imperial Guard, which I’m fairly certain that he led. Good at all styles and typically mentioned as one of the top players on old Legends threads.


(50) BlackSyphon - He started as BlackSyphon and was a member of OutKast. He later moved to Legends server for the grey tournaments and joined Netjak under the name du. I think his best style was grey.

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:05 PM
(51) Lodovico - Originally from Legends, he was an excellent freestyle player. He was in the clan, Judgment. I think he was Italian. From what I can remember, he was pretty laid back personality-wise.


(52) Dan U - Stud turtle player and very crafty with a furgon. Typically when I played him I got killed by a furgon/frost combination. By the time he beat me half of the board was covered in shrubs.


(53) Dr. Nipples - Acquired stats with apparent ease. Screwed around on Great Lakes and beat everyone. Very good at turtle and grey.


(54) Bax Varlet - Played as Zoma on Rev. He was the captain of the PSST3 team, Darkwing Ducks. He was the captain of the PSST4 team, 13itch Please. He finished in the Top 8 in TAL Season 2 and was a participant in the end of season tournament.


(55) Manadragon - 1800+ player from Legends Server. He was a very good turtle player, and participated in FPS vs Legends turtle tournament in 2007 as part of the Legends team. He went 3-3 overall with wins over bludhoundz, deepsea, and Hoolwath. He was in the clan YWN (Your Worst Nightmare).


(56) noda - Best at grey, good at turtle. Started on Banff server as noda and also played on Great Lakes as Legit Penguin. One of the first players to popularize the idea of the anti-rush. SI Member. Was drafted 7th overall in PSST1.


(57) The Sniper - Not to be confused with Sniper Master. He was bludz’ training buddy on Banff server. Very good freestyle and turtle player. SI Member.


(58) Bonesplitter - I think he’s originally from Legends, but don’t know what account he used there. He won TAL Finals 6 in 2013. He has high stat accounts on Great Lakes and Revelations (although he may have boosted his rev stats). He is a good freestyle and turtle player.


(59) Pxndx - I think he’s like a 6’5 dude from Spain, but not 100%. His best style was turtle, but he was also very good at grey. He played on the FPS grey team in the FPS vs Legends grey tournament in 2009.


(60) Moose - He played in the early days of TAO and was originally from Legends server. His best style was turtle I believe. I think he was a leader of Slayers Guild, although he may have just been a member. He is Canadian.


(61) Powza - Powza was known for his grey playing. He was part of the FPS team in the FPS vs Legends grey battle in 2007, which FPS ultimately won. I think he is Australian. He made threads lamenting the deaths of Steve Irwin and Peter Brock.


(62) xEaglex - Another solid all-around player who was especially good at grey. Like Lemon, he took for god damn ever to make a move. He captained the team, Birds of Prey, in PSST4. He won GS4 in 2009, beating Sniper Master in the championship game.


(63) Lord White - There is no denying that Lord White is a very good player. Most of his rep comes from Legends server, which is where he started. He frequently signs up for FPS tournaments and gets disqualified. I’ve never seen such a good player who was so bad at using forums. His best style was probably turtle.


(64) Maverik07 - He was a solid all-around player and particularly good in grey. He was in and out of several popular clans. He played as Hot Action Cop on revelations server. His home server was Armageddon. He led the team, The ShamWOWs in PSST4. He’s been a long-time participant in TAO tournaments including TAL Finals 2, 4, and 5.


(65) Ualldeathwithme - Excellent turtle player and I think he was in AK (Arcadian Knights). He was the 19th overall pick in the PSST4 draft, which included 137 players, and went 6-2 as part of the team, The ShamWOWs.


(66) Master TAO - Prof described him as a poor man’s Lieutenant. I suppose this means that he could play all 3 styles well, but not quite at the same level as Lieutenant. Participated in TAL Finals 1 and finished 7th overall. He was also a part of the FPS freestyle and turtle teams in 2009.


(67) Tugnus - Short, part-Asian, husky, and super best friends with Spencer, Tugnus represents the full package both on and off the battlefield. He was a great freestyle player that reached 1700+ on both Banff and Armageddon. He made people hate DSM sets.


(68) QuicksandSlowly - I'm pretty sure he started on Legends and then migrated to FPS. He achieved 1700+ on Legends server and was in the clan, Slayers Guild.


(69) Cuathon - Cuathon was in the clan SI (Strategic Insomniacs) in his early days and played primarily on Great Lakes (though I think he had a bunch of different accounts on different servers). He raised multiple accounts to 1700. I was never a huge fan of his but he was a good player.


(70) HolidayForHire - From Great Lakes. Early member of AL (Arcadian Legends). Good at freestyle and grey. Achieved 1700+ on Great Lakes and 1300+ on Revelations. He didn’t talk much, he was pretty quiet, but he was a good player.


(71) Cliché - Cliché played primarily on Great Lakes server where he achieved 1700-1800 stats. He was a leader of Arcadian Knights and Netjak. His best style was turtle, but he could also play free and grey well. He was a leader of the PSST team, The Truth, in PSST2.


(72) PUNISHER - Old Great Lakes player and co-founder of the clan HA (Hells Angels). Very good turtle player and also solid in grey. He didn’t participate in a lot of tournaments but he achieved 1750+ stats on Great Lakes.


(73) ~Priest~ - Extremely nice and funny person. His primary server on FPS was Great Lakes. He wasn’t spectacular at any one style, but he was well above average at all 3. His best was probably turtle. He’s from California, but I think he lives in China currently.


(74) Mask - Another Legends player. He was a member of SI (Strategic Insomniacs) and his best style was grey. He could also play freestyle quite well. He nearly beat me in GS1 in 2011.


(75) Doctor_Device - Primarily a freestyle player and played on Great Lakes. I think he was either in AK or AL but I’m not too sure. He played on the 2009 FPS team in the FPS vs Legends tournament. He was on the PSST5 Ginyu Force team and beat Sniper Master in freestyle. Pretty cool guy in general.

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:05 PM
(76) –Unforgettable - Unfo has improved a lot in the last few years, finishing 2nd in TAL Finals 5 and 2nd in TAL Finals 6. He’s decent at all 3 styles, but best at turtle in my opinion. I think he’s originally from Legends but has played primarily on Great Lakes in his FPS tenure.


(77) ShadowBone - Older player from Legends Server. He raised multiple accounts to 1700+ stats on Legends. He was in the clan CK (Celestial Knights). He played on FPS a bit too, on Great Lakes, where he was 1600+. Best at Legends grey and Legends freestyle.


(78) Roody Poo - One of the leaders of Netjak in the early days. AFO claims he was one of the best players ever using a default grey set, and that he kicked AFO’s ass all the time when he first joined Netjak.


(79) freshevaus - He played primarily on Great Lakes, and was a great freestyle player. He was one of the leaders of AL (Arcadian Legends). He achieved 1700+ stats on Great Lakes. He also played on Armageddon on the account, Rico Suave.


(80) SpLiFF - Member of Netjak. 1700+ player on Great Lakes. Played a lot of freestyle. Also played on Banff on an account called m@rs and achieved 1700+ stats. Good player and one of the earlier players on TAO.


(81) Celtic - Huge dick. Great troll. Celtic was one of the founding members of The Badasses and a pretty decent player all around. He was best at freestyle. Really, though, Celtic was a pretty nice person if you got to know him a little bit. He's also a Kansas Jayhawks fan which automatically makes him a better person than any of you.


(82) zzzaacckk - He was one of the leaders of Bushido Gaiden. He played mostly from 2004 to 2006. He didn’t participate in many tournaments. He played primarily on Great Lakes and achieved 1700 stats.


(83) Omar - Also known as Luzbel. I don’t think he ever won any major tournaments but he’s been an above-average player for a long time. He’s always drafted well in PSST. He does well in most of the tournaments that he signs up for. Solid all-around player, I’m not sure if he’s best in turtle or freestyle.


(84) ~Slayer~ - Another Australian. He was a pretty solid grey player at one point, and then he became complete shit. He's also shitty at Halo. He was drafted 9th overall in PSST2, 19th overall in PSST3, and 26th overall in PSST4. He’s currently in The Badasses.


(85) Soda - Great grey player and member of SI. He was a bit arrogant, but also pretty funny. He played on Great Lakes. He was the 10th overall pick in PSST2 and the 21st overall pick in PSST3. He went 5-2 in PSST2. He was part of the NJ12.


(86) Darkness - He started on Great Lakes and broke 1600 stats. He was the leader, and still is, of the Arcadian Knights. He was best at freestyle and not far behind in grey. He’s a New Orleans Saints fan.


(87) Lord Shinok - Member of Netjak. I think he was best at freestyle, but I could be wrong. From what I’ve heard and what I remember myself, he was a bit of a goofball.


(88) |Number_One| - To quote Prof, “He was awesome at grey. And the fucker somehow gave me a loss during the FPS vs Legends turtle tourney.” He beat Lemon and AFO in PSST4. He was on The Ginyu Force in PSST5. Originally from Legends server.


(89) Geoffrey - Old SI (Strategic Insomniacs) member that played almost exclusively grey. I think he played on all FPS servers, I don’t recall which he started on.


(90) Chainheart Machine - Also known as Silent Fear. He started on Armageddon where he achieved 1700 stats. He was a member of SSTEO (Start Slow Then Ease Off), which was led by The Big Kahuna. He was a very good freestyle player.


(91) Swiftness - He was a member of Netjak and I used to play him occasionally on revelations. I’m assuming freestyle was his best style based on the fact that he would typically kick my ass, but he may have been good at other styles as well.


(92) ATControl - Also known as Dark7. He was in multiple clans during his TAO tenure and his best style was easily turtle. He could also play grey a bit I think. He was the MVP of PSST5. He went 9-0 as part of The Ginyu Force, and beat several noteworthy players in the process.


(93) Zadico - I don’t know how to describe this guy. He’s just been around for a long time. He was the 14th overall pick in PSST3, the 18th overall pick in PSST4, the 10th overall pick in PSST5, the 27th pick in PSST6, a captain in PSST7, and has participated in a shit load of tournaments in general. I don’t think he was ever an elite player, but his longevity as a good player dictates that he be put on this list.


(94) Ricky-X - Brother of the super TAO player, Isaac-Z. He started on Armageddon where he had pretty good stats. He was in the clan, Final Destiny, which I think was spelled with some goofy crosses and other symbols. I played him a few times. He was never quite as good as Z, but he was a very good player.


(95) A-99 - He was either in AK (Arcadian Knights) or AL (Arcadian Legends). He participated in several TAO tournaments, including on the FPS team in the FPS vs Legends tournament in 2009. He went 5-5 in overall and contributed to and FPS victory. He also beat me in that tournament. Bastard.


(96) Reymo - Originally from Legends server. He was good at Legends grey (which includes beast drops) and freestyle. Member of CK (Celestial Knights). He played in several FPS tournament including multiple PSSTs (he was on The Ginyu Force), and he was a member of the Legends team in the FPS vs Legends tournament in 2009.


(97) The Antibiotic - I’m not a huge fan of his, but he’s a very good, and maybe a little bit underrated, grey player. He’s never been a lottery pick in PSST, but in my experience playing against him, he’s been one of the better grey players that this game has to offer.


(98) C.H.I.L.L. - From what I remember he was a really nice person. He played with myself and Gryph89 in Tid and Death’s Most Excellent Team Tournament in 2006. He played grey, but that might have been because gryph bitched about being in turtle. I think he could play all styles fairly well.


(99) Dragoen Link - Dragoen Link was one of the earlier players in this game and started on Great Lakes server, where he lead the clan, AK (Arcadian Knights). He achieved 1800 stats on Great Lakes, according to Darkness, which I don’t remember him doing. But he was a good player. I played him multiple times back in the day, including in a clan war.


(100) Phillysoul29 - One of the laziest players in TAO history, gave up a promising Turtle career to move to faster Freestyle games. Not an advocate of the rule changes preventing wisp on first move as his original freestyle set didn't include DSM. Could give any player a run for their money in free games. Joined TAO at the inception and played on GL and legends. Eventually became a leader of KoTR and †Hells Angels†.

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:18 PM
AFO managed to maintain his hold on the top spot on the new forums, but Dape is closing in on him.

Wizzy
05-05-2016, 08:30 PM
can i be number 100

manonfire101
05-05-2016, 08:34 PM
I don't know, maybe. What are your TAO accomplishments?

Toledo
05-05-2016, 08:44 PM
Damn. Reading through this list hit me right in the feels. A lot of great guys and talented players in there, yet even more snubbed. Good work to whomever was involved in its creation.

Wizzy
05-05-2016, 09:36 PM
I don't know, maybe. What are your TAO accomplishments?

i beat bludhoundz with a GA front hit on a knight once

Madamos
05-05-2016, 09:41 PM
Very glad you kept this saved manon

Mask
05-06-2016, 03:00 AM
I've fallen a lot in that list haven't I? I think I was around 60-s before.

If you guys want to add few accomplisment under my name than I was around 2008 highest grey in legends with ~1850 (until Stiv passed me in 09). 2nd highest in 2009 when legends went down: http://legends.taorankings.com/rankings.pl?active=week&display=gray

I was SI's one of main leaders in Legends and later one of the leaders in GL. This one might sound bit arrogant but I together with Matzer, Toniselius and Jonspen (who got us to join SI) put SI back on the map in Legends. SI was pretty much a sleeping giant back then in Legends but we rebult it to one of the major clans again (of course with the help of all the recruiters and members). This is the part I'm most proud of my so called TAO carreer (not the stats I gained on my accounts or tourney wins or anything else but rebulding SI in legends).
All the hours we spent in playing new ppl, recruiting, promoting the clan in Legends forums and working on our section in 4thfactor. I think one of the reasons SI got so big (again) in there too was cause of our recruiting system (had to play many recruiters and pass recruiting poll). It was hard to get in which showed quality. Even if you had high stats and great skills but had s*tty attitude, you didn't get in.

I didn't participate very often in tourneys because I'm from Europe and it was hard to arrange tourney games with most top players being from totally different time zones. I remember playing most of my tourney games late at night with having to go to school (and later to work) in the early morning. Fun times. :)

DivineLeft
05-06-2016, 08:14 AM
50 of thems are noobs. Good effort put into the list. Nice descriptions.. Could help with some of the backgrounds likes Quicks and others..

In awe some of those people are even listed.. Kinda .. insulting to some of the better players.. solid top 8-10 for sure though.

The Butcher
05-06-2016, 08:37 AM
oh I'm so happy this made it.

DivineLeft
05-06-2016, 09:03 AM
Mask said stuff
Yeah you guys did great. Big X was away for studies and a lot of guys went away. I was busy with my 3rd child being born and this is when I slipped off both FPS and Legends maps for awhile. The 4 of you really did make a name for us over there and helped get some great people, like that weird Bogart guy... :coffee:

Bogart
05-06-2016, 11:57 AM
My name got mentioned in this thread... My life is complete! :coffee:

max2k106
05-06-2016, 01:52 PM
Yeah you guys did great. Big X was away for studies and a lot of guys went away. I was busy with my 3rd child being born and this is when I slipped off both FPS and Legends maps for awhile. The 4 of you really did make a name for us over there and helped get some great people, like that weird Bogart guy... :coffee:

Dude, I remember Big X. I always wanted to beat him. He was one of the toughest for me. I think I was like 0-4 against him.

|AFO|
05-06-2016, 01:58 PM
I've fallen a lot in that list haven't I? I think I was around 60-s before.

If you guys want to add few accomplisment under my name than I was around 2008 highest grey in legends with ~1850 (until Stiv passed me in 09). 2nd highest in 2009 when legends went down: http://legends.taorankings.com/rankings.pl?active=week&display=gray

I was SI's one of main leaders in Legends and later one of the leaders in GL. This one might sound bit arrogant but I together with Matzer, Toniselius and Jonspen (who got us to join SI) put SI back on the map in Legends. SI was pretty much a sleeping giant back then in Legends but we rebult it to one of the major clans again (of course with the help of all the recruiters and members). This is the part I'm most proud of my so called TAO carreer (not the stats I gained on my accounts or tourney wins or anything else but rebulding SI in legends).
All the hours we spent in playing new ppl, recruiting, promoting the clan in Legends forums and working on our section in 4thfactor. I think one of the reasons SI got so big (again) in there too was cause of our recruiting system (had to play many recruiters and pass recruiting poll). It was hard to get in which showed quality. Even if you had high stats and great skills but had s*tty attitude, you didn't get in.

I didn't participate very often in tourneys because I'm from Europe and it was hard to arrange tourney games with most top players being from totally different time zones. I remember playing most of my tourney games late at night with having to go to school (and later to work) in the early morning. Fun times. :)

Yeah man. Logging on to all those accounts to never play on them must have taken a lot of hard work from you four. I am trolling you.

Mask
05-06-2016, 02:20 PM
Yeah man. Logging on to all those accounts to never play on them must have taken a lot of hard work from you four. I am trolling you.


You weren't even around when we first rised our main accounts. I was with them in netjak when Shin was leading it. Later in Judgement.

Later we just rank whored and rised new accounts when we got stuck with stats or couldn't find high stat games. But all the top clans ranked whored so no biggie I guess. It used to be even worse when there were no Brutal rankings since you needed to play to be ranked on digisonline. Omega had like 30 accounts to play once a month and they were all 1750+.

All me:
http://legends.taorankings.com/player.pl?name=Insomniac3
http://legends.taorankings.com/player.pl?name=Jx
http://legends.taorankings.com/player.pl?name=FootPrints
http://legends.taorankings.com/player.pl?name=Selfish
http://legends.taorankings.com/player.pl?name=Irony

Plus accounts like M&M (Mask&Matzer) Dark Avenger which wete rised pre-BrutalRankings time.
And so on.

Edit: I saw the black txt just now. >.< Well played AFO. :)

DivineLeft
05-06-2016, 02:29 PM
Dude, I remember Big X. I always wanted to beat him. He was one of the toughest for me. I think I was like 0-4 against him.
First off. LOVE your signature!

Second.. He was good. Much better legends player for sure he is still around on tao-facebook and si-facebook. He actually said hi the other day, all around good guy ;).

Mask
05-06-2016, 02:30 PM
Yeah you guys did great. Big X was away for studies and a lot of guys went away. I was busy with my 3rd child being born and this is when I slipped off both FPS and Legends maps for awhile. The 4 of you really did make a name for us over there and helped get some great people, like that weird Bogart guy... :coffee:

We also recruited the likes of BrutalRage, Lemon, Omar (at some point before he went to lead his own clan) Voltron, ff7cloud, Supernatural, Forbes, Bloody-Killer, Oblyvion (Entrain), Snakebite, Jack115 etc.

I remember BrutalRage saying something like that he didn't plan to join any clans at all but liked SI and how things were ran inside the clan. I think he also liked how SI greys used to give him challenge in games (I remember him saying something like that).

zzzaacckk
05-06-2016, 08:59 PM
Was a bit surprised to see Big X and Twelve both not on that list. Twelve was dominant on Great Lakes as Eindeg-Dein back when it was Warcow, Himself and Myself in the top three.

Thanks for the shoutout though guys, quite the honour.

Rubbish
05-06-2016, 09:16 PM
Love you manon!

manonfire101
05-08-2016, 03:00 AM
50 of thems are noobs. Good effort put into the list. Nice descriptions.. Could help with some of the backgrounds likes Quicks and others..

In awe some of those people are even listed.. Kinda .. insulting to some of the better players.. solid top 8-10 for sure though.

Thanks. Which players do you think I left off who deserved to be here? I'm always open to changing this a bit, but you're going to have to really sway me.

Entries for Quicksand would be great, or for any older players. Master of the Blade, Tcbb would be great.

Blasphemy
05-08-2016, 05:47 PM
This may cause some drama. YOLO :coffee:

I think people's memories of the skill level of older players are greatly inflated for some strange reason, I think it's just natural for us to forget. And this is a point The Professor has agree'd with me on.
Strategy in players greatly improved in later years. As we got older, we simply got better. Many close games that came down to a 60% block for victory against PS, manon, unfo, bone, AFO, etc in later later years, simply didn't happen in the early years.

I take umbrage with Sniper Master being ranked so high for his Freestyle. When he knew he was losing against me, he would change his strategy to a more luck base in high-hopes for a victory. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. I think BrutalRage should be ranked dramatically higher for his sheer brilliance in Gray if you want to rank Sniper for his freestyle.

PS ranked at #8 is great, but I think we forgot about his dominance 3 years in a row (2010-2012) prior to me making this dominating Blasphemy alt in 2012, then I took over PS as TAL champion. PS is the definition of a consistent winner. I would rank PS at #2, if not #1 for TAO accomplishments. Don't think anyone else here has has pulled a Michael Jordon.

Regardless of how much Unfo and Bone were trolls, they are ranked way too low. Put their later-year-skills in the early days of the game, there would be no question of a Top 10 placement. Bias inflation of skill level of early-years players is quite evident when you put these players at #58 and #76.

Have a lot more to say, I keep looking at this list and reminding myself Manon put this together with his bias in mind.


I don't know, maybe. What are your TAO accomplishments?

If you really think you put this entire list based on accomplishments then try to think back to my 2013 dominance.

Won almost all League 1 RGL's and was undefeated in 1 Gray and 1 Turt 2013RGL.
Won 4 out of 6 ODT's I participated in.
Grand Slam Champion
WDT Champion
WAR Champion
RAAT Champion (don't forget it all came down to our Turtle game in the finals, Manon. I have the video if you need your memory refreshed)
Over 100 TAL points at the end of the year with nobody else even close. The #2 and #3 2013TAL players combined didn't even add up to as much.
*takes a breath*

Everyone knew I made this Blasphemy alt in 2012 after my very first tournament I smashed the #1 pick The Professor in GS4 Gray, so I don't expect you to put an alt on your Top 100 rankings, but to think you compiled this based on the accomplishments of players is silly.

manonfire101
05-08-2016, 07:07 PM
You might have a point if you omit context when you talk about accomplishments. Winning TAL Finals in 2013 when the game is on life support is not as impressive as winning TAL Finals in 2008. Neither is winning a Grand Slam, RGL, or any other tournament.

You guys were good players, but you were good in an era of TAO when the evolution of sets had stagnated and hardly anybody played. Consequently, I think a lot of your skills just came from repetition, just doing the exact same shit with the exact same sets over and over again. You were bound to get more efficient. It would be hard not to. But I think that a lot of players would have achieved a similar skill level as you all did if they had continued playing. Contrast that with older TAO, where the best starting sets were not really evident, updates were still occurring, and there was a way bigger and more competitive population. I have to really stress this point, because I think you all are taking for granted what you inherited from older generations of TAO.

Brutal was not as dominant in grey as Sniper was in freestyle. Sniper dominated RGL when it was exclusively freestyle against the best players in the game. I 3'0'd Brutal in his grey challenge. If I was going to move a player up for being dominant in grey it would probably be Lemon. Actually, I think Sniper may be ranked too low. You can make a good case that he was the best freestyle player ever. And I tend to put a little bit more stock into freestyle than into grey or turtle since freestyle has no restrictions. Essentially nobody could beat Sniper with any set for a long time.

PS is fine at 8. I don't think I really need to address this a lot. I played PS more than anyone here and have a pretty good idea of where he should be ranked. Feel free to make your own ranking if you think you can improve on this one, though.

Congratulations on beating me in turtle, a lot of people did. I mean, fuck, even Chain's beat me in turtle a few times.

Blasphemy
05-08-2016, 08:09 PM
I agree with you that strategy doesn't seem to exist anymore from the moves being so repetitive and predictable. This is mainly due to the fact that 99% of the sets players use have a Cleric in the back corner. Most good players know they need to build their strategy based on killing the cleric then holding solid ground until victory. Especially with 2 scouts, defensive sets simply crumble against any good rusher. This is a point AFO has tried to tell Guide. This isn't Chess, where there are a trillion different moves. TAO can be broken down much more simpler. The cleric in the back corner has pretty much always been the Norm, even in the adolescent years of TAO. Over time people began to realize the best strategy is strategic rushing.


Winning TAL Finals in 2013 when the game is on life support is not as impressive as winning TAL Finals in 2008. Neither is winning a Grand Slam, RGL, or any other tournament.

I actually played in the TAL Tournaments 2008. I can tell you the skill level of those players simply were not as advanced as the players (as you say on life support) in 2013. I can watch my batshit crazy lack of strategy games, but still beating some of the best players in 2008, and compare them to the TAL Tournaments in 2013, the best 2008 players were not as good as 2013 players.
I think it comes down to a fundamental disagreement of the skill of oldschool vs newschool.
imo, an average newschool player, like Vish, would be ranked among the best if he played against oldschool players.

The Professor
05-09-2016, 02:19 AM
Playing as an alt is stupid. Well actually it's pretty fun, but it's stupid for this debate.

It's just such an unfair advantage. I had this conversation with Cua awhile back but basically it boiled down to this; knowing your opponent allows you to try strategies that are more effective while he/she has to be more conservative (depending on player). I'm not going to do certain things against an unknown since it could be strategically catastrophic.

That's why I never considered you/Guide/whoever to be great. Oh you got your wins in, especially on me here and there. But considering the advantage you had, or should of had, it's really surprising you weren't more dominant. Especially considering all the time played perfecting sets and strategies.

Also, as far as comparing somebody like Vish to older players, it's probably not accurate. I've played Vish a couple of times and his skill is more from repetition than true creative skill. Just like older players sometimes inflate their memories, so do newer players arrogantly believe they are the best for perfecting strategies and styles that have evolved since.

Blasphemy
05-09-2016, 08:35 AM
It's just such an unfair advantage.

his skill is more from repetition than true creative skill.

You complain about an unfair advantage, but yet you think true creative skill existed. It didn't.
The game is built a certain way: 2 scouts, 3 knights, cleric etc. The repetitive strategy is evident in everyone because players took advantage of repetitive sets.
The Anti has been the normal set used by the top players for the longest time.
I remember back in 2008, people would get angry at me for using a DSM. They would even request before a game start, "No DSM". Some players would call you a pussy for using a DSM. These players were simply bad at making sets, and only knew how to use the Anti.
Strategy became repetitive because the sets sucked. Newer players became better and better and better at perfecting the Strategic Rush. "position mud golem" "position scouts" "kill cleric" "pull back until victory".
To win games, creative strategy was not needed.
Newer players simply became better at rushing than old players.

The Butcher
05-09-2016, 09:04 AM
DK > the rest of you noobs.

What always baffles me is how someone like Frylock could win EVERY SINGLE GAME. I understand being good but Frylock didn't play scrubs... and he still won pretty much all the time. I liked that.

|AFO|
05-09-2016, 11:40 AM
You complain about an unfair advantage, but yet you think true creative skill existed. It didn't.
The game is built a certain way: 2 scouts, 3 knights, cleric etc. The repetitive strategy is evident in everyone because players took advantage of repetitive sets.
The Anti has been the normal set used by the top players for the longest time.
I remember back in 2008, people would get angry at me for using a DSM. They would even request before a game start, "No DSM". Some players would call you a pussy for using a DSM. These players were simply bad at making sets, and only knew how to use the Anti.
Strategy became repetitive because the sets sucked. Newer players became better and better and better at perfecting the Strategic Rush. "position mud golem" "position scouts" "kill cleric" "pull back until victory".
To win games, creative strategy was not needed.
Newer players simply became better at rushing than old players.

The difference between knowing who your opponent is and not is huge. Using the "i played on a secondary when the game was active!" argument is silly. Also, the anti was still a legitimate set against the dsm spread. Normal games devolved into mostly dsm due to the pace of the game increasing. I'd argue that my mid-game was better than most, giving me that one or two turns advantage into the end game. Just like in chess, the mid-game is where creativity comes into play. Opening moves and closing strategies can be memorized, but mid-game is where you can separate yourself. That's why Vish was never good. He only knew the beginning and the end. If you played slightly unconventionally against him he did not fair well.

Greendaybum5
05-09-2016, 04:26 PM
Thanks. Which players do you think I left off who deserved to be here? I'm always open to changing this a bit, but you're going to have to really sway me.

Entries for Quicksand would be great, or for any older players. Master of the Blade, Tcbb would be great.

I think it should be changed to include me :) don't really wanna make a case for it besides the fact that I'm better than lots of people towards the end of that list haha!

Mar
05-09-2016, 05:31 PM
Pretty happy to have gotten into the Top 40. Nice job, Manon.

Madamos
05-09-2016, 05:45 PM
Pretty happy to have gotten into the Top 40. Nice job, Manon.
No hate, i dont see your name.. :o

Spencer 555
05-09-2016, 08:40 PM
Hey Blas. Just so u know. I'd rank u bone and unfo ahead of me. But I have to agree with a lot of what Manon and prof say. I would have personally ranked u in th 20s or 30s just because you guys were so dominant in the l years. Personally believe the skill in tao is capped, but you guys continue to win consistently in a time where no one plays.

Toledo
05-09-2016, 09:01 PM
Can we make a bottom 100 list? I don't want my talents to go undocumented.

Wizzy
05-09-2016, 09:23 PM
Can we make a bottom 100 list? I don't want my talents to go undocumented.

i second this idea

KickAssPlaya
05-09-2016, 09:26 PM
I third that. :tribunal:

DivineLeft
05-09-2016, 09:52 PM
Where there's Dape.. Tick_ToCk...

Wizzy
05-09-2016, 09:57 PM
tao ruler/krome/xenon

manonfire101
05-09-2016, 11:45 PM
I think it should be changed to include me :) don't really wanna make a case for it besides the fact that I'm better than lots of people towards the end of that list haha!

I might. You would deserve it. You were always a pretty solid freestyle player.

elimination
05-10-2016, 08:59 AM
I was a beast.
You're still missing the 100th player, so really its top 99 right now. :rolleyes:

Blasphemy
05-10-2016, 10:39 PM
I've played Vish a couple of times and his skill is more from repetition than true creative skill.

Vish was never good.

I just used Vish as an example of an average skilled player like Cekkino or Burnout, and you guys blast him. Haha, savage.

|AFO|
05-10-2016, 11:02 PM
I just used Vish as an example of an average skilled player like Cekkino or Burnout, and you guys blast him. Haha, savage.

You implied that he could compete with top old school players. He would have a very hard time. Likewise with Cekkino and Burnout. I like both of them, but they shouldn't be in this conversation. Honestly, you mentioning these players really devalues your argument.

Blasphemy
05-10-2016, 11:51 PM
They were just average players, if you think Burn or Cekk were better than avg in 2013, it actually devalues your argument and plays into my point that 2013 skill > 2008 skill.

elimination
05-11-2016, 12:13 AM
Here is a nice ending to this silly arguement.
I kicked vish's ass too much, he always sucked, he didn't get good enough to consistently beat me until I came back after a 3 year retirement.
If I could beat a player consistently than that player isn't good considering if you look at my skills, I mean I'm just a mediocre player and always was.
If you have a different opinion in rank placement, than just like manon said make your own, I do agree though people did get better over the years but "creativity", being able to counterattack and improvise, like afo in most of our games, plays a huge part in skill.

Blasphemy
05-11-2016, 12:26 AM
I don't know why creativity keeps coming up. If you have most of your units up front with a cleric in the back, the creativity is gone. Poof.
In the last couple years, Rantzu was the probably the only player that had some creativity because he had a Furgon in his Turt. The rest of us were robots.

Aristocatt
05-11-2016, 12:29 AM
I don't know why creativity keeps coming up. If you have most of your units up front with a cleric in the back, the creativity is gone. Poof.
In the last couple years, Rantzu was the probably the only player that had some creativity because he had a Furgon in his Turt. The rest of us were robots.

Hey...I played dragonless and used furg antis. And used the berzerker...
I also used Freeturtles, and Furgon Freeturts. And center furgon freeturts.

I wasn't good...but I resent being lumped in with you robots!

elimination
05-11-2016, 12:30 AM
You do know what I meant by creativity right? I'm not talking about sets, I'm talking about moves. A player who does the same exact moves that he did to win previous games is a pathetic player, while or his opponent is just pathetic for losing multiple times either way you want to spin that. A player (like afo, or prof, even you) that can consistently win games reqardless of the set advantage and be able to creatively think of new/different strategies to counteract/pull a win out of your ass without luck is a great player.

Blasphemy
05-11-2016, 12:49 AM
You do know what I meant by creativity right? I'm not talking about sets, I'm talking about moves. A player who does the same exact moves that he did to win previous games is a pathetic player, while or his opponent is just pathetic for losing multiple times either way you want to spin that. A player (like afo, or prof, even you) that can consistently win games reqardless of the set advantage and be able to creatively think of new/different strategies to counteract/pull a win out of your ass without luck is a great player.

I agree with you that strategy doesn't seem to exist anymore from the moves being so repetitive and predictable. This is mainly due to the fact that 99% of the sets players use have a Cleric in the back corner. Most good players know they need to build their strategy based on killing the cleric then holding solid ground until victory. Especially with 2 scouts, defensive sets simply crumble against any good rusher. This is a point AFO has tried to tell Guide. This isn't Chess, where there are a trillion different moves. TAO can be broken down much more simpler. The cleric in the back corner has pretty much always been the Norm, even in the adolescent years of TAO. Over time people began to realize the best strategy is strategic rushing.

I touched on it a little bit already, but I can try to rephrase it for you. Strategy is mainly formed based your opponents set.
When I bombed people with clericless sets, their scout placement was drastically different.

Another example, if you used an Anti and played against someone with a freeturt on opposite sides, there is no chance that that you will play defensive. You're going to rush hard and fast to smack the Stone Golem and kill cleric. Really not much creativity. imo.

Habeas Corpus
05-11-2016, 01:22 AM
I think both sides of the argument have truth in them. Of course the good 2013 players would beat the good 2008 players because the game has progressed since then. This is the case for alot of things, like if i went back to the 80's i would be a pro skater along with all of my friends because it has progressed so much. I also agree with spencer 555 when he says the skill in tao is capped at a certain point and if two good players are playing their best, it will come down to luck. (If sets are neutral)

The Professor
05-11-2016, 01:31 AM
I must be missing something, but isn't Chess even more simplified? King dies, game over. At least if a Cleric lives, you have 9 other units capable of winning.

And I get that with Chess there are tons of moves and strategies to try, but there are plenty of moves with Tactics (R.I.P. :( ) that can be done too. Luck also augments that as good players would try not to depend on it, even if we all complain about it.

Not a chess master by any means by the way. Played it, was decent. But never more than that.

|AFO|
05-11-2016, 05:56 AM
I think both sides of the argument have truth in them. Of course the good 2013 players would beat the good 2008 players because the game has progressed since then. This is the case for alot of things, like if i went back to the 80's i would be a pro skater along with all of my friends because it has progressed so much. I also agree with spencer 555 when he says the skill in tao is capped at a certain point and if two good players are playing their best, it will come down to luck. (If sets are neutral)

No. You and your friends still would suck. The pros back then would take the new tricks that y'all are doing and be better at them than you are. Because they are more athletic than you are. That's why they're pros. You may have a better shot at being a pretty good skater than Vish would have at being a pretty good player if you all went back in time. This is due to the relative lack of popularity of skating back then and the relative lack of popularity to TAO later on.

Aristocatt
05-11-2016, 09:03 AM
You do know what I meant by creativity right? I'm not talking about sets, I'm talking about moves. A player who does the same exact moves that he did to win previous games is a pathetic player, while or his opponent is just pathetic for losing multiple times either way you want to spin that. A player (like afo, or prof, even you) that can consistently win games reqardless of the set advantage and be able to creatively think of new/different strategies to counteract/pull a win out of your ass without luck is a great player.

I was responding to Blasph. +P

I still maintain that I was one of the more creative, albeit mediocre-above average players in the game. Never a great player, not shitty either, but definitely creative.

DivineLeft
05-11-2016, 09:57 AM
I wish I would have played more after 2012-2013. When they added the known block % on the units it changed the game style.. everyone saw the %'s and weighed the risks. The game changed. The player changed. During 2004-2008 (because 2003 was the coolest before they changed from WLD so i won't include in the garbage) anyone could beat anyone on a given day based on their play and set-up vs set-up. There were several games I came back with just a knight, scout, and pyro to beat players still with 7 plus units. (true they would fall into the lower 100 for sure for allowing this to happen but it did happen.. often)

Players pre-seeing the RNG relied on "luck" (waits for that to start argument) and players after 2012 played the math of the game. If you took quality players like ozmaj, Smubeht, Quicks, and Bottle and gave them same game as the 2012+ plus played they would consistently win.

elimination
05-11-2016, 10:39 AM
I wish I would have played more after 2012-2013. When they added the known block % on the units it changed the game style.. everyone saw the %'s and weighed the risks. The game changed. The player changed. During 2004-2008 (because 2003 was the coolest before they changed from WLD so i won't include in the garbage) anyone could beat anyone on a given day based on their play and set-up vs set-up. There were several games I came back with just a knight, scout, and pyro to beat players still with 7 plus units. (true they would fall into the lower 100 for sure for allowing this to happen but it did happen.. often)

Players pre-seeing the RNG relied on "luck" (waits for that to start argument) and players after 2012 played the math of the game. If you took quality players like ozmaj, Smubeht, Quicks, and Bottle and gave them same game as the 2012+ plus played they would consistently win.
The block percentage was added around 09-10 I believe, it was around a few years before I quit in 2012/2013. Or was there a new block percentage thing I missed when I came back this past fall? It would be just like me to not notice something different lol.

Mask
05-11-2016, 10:43 AM
2006 or 07 rather. Legends went down in 09 and we had it for few years by then.

DivineLeft
05-11-2016, 12:07 PM
Too many thoughts un-organized by me, I'll try again..I type too fast for my own good.
I wish I had played more after 2012. I rarely did more than grey so anyone who started after I that.. I don't know their talents and couldn't really compare skill level.

When they added the %-RNG (looking at the flash files it was mid 2007) it changed the game. Players who had been around from the beginning had yet another thing to change or enhance their gameplay.

New players, that I never got to encounter really, after 2012 I cannot speak for their talents, but they did get to play a different game than the older folks. They played the math side of the game and "luck" was never something that had to play for.

Since the conversation was players in 2008 vs 2013 those were the numbers I was trying to discuss and compare and failed miserably...

manonfire101
05-11-2016, 12:27 PM
So there's still a spot open. You all should nominate one player who you think deserves to be on this list. I'll take 5 of the nominees and make a poll for you all to vote on it.

Since the players that you nominate are probably players that I either overlooked or don't know much about, it would be helpful for you to state WHY you think that player should be included.

Habeas Corpus
05-11-2016, 12:33 PM
No. You and your friends still would suck. The pros back then would take the new tricks that y'all are doing and be better at them than you are. Because they are more athletic than you are. That's why they're pros. You may have a better shot at being a pretty good skater than Vish would have at being a pretty good player if you all went back in time. This is due to the relative lack of popularity of skating back then and the relative lack of popularity to TAO later on.
Thats my point dude im saying if we time traveled back right now, not if we grew up back then. Same with 2013 players if they time traveled back to 08 they would beat 08 players. Im saying the skill level for things evolves and gets better as time goes on. You completely misunderstood me. Also the tricks nowadays would take about a year to learn no matter how athletic you are because it's mostly muscle memory. Just like the 08 players, it would probably take them a couple months to catch up to (or surpass if they have more talent/skill) 2013 players IF they went back in time and played them. It doesnt mean that the 2013 players are better than them, they just have an unfair advantage of the game being out longer and using strategies that are new.

Wizzy
05-11-2016, 12:35 PM
So there's still a spot open. You all should nominate one player who you think deserves to be on this list. I'll take 5 of the nominees and make a poll for you all to vote on it.

Since the players that you nominate are probably players that I either overlooked or don't know much about, it would be helpful for you to state WHY you think that player should be included.

I nominate Wizzy

elimination
05-11-2016, 12:38 PM
I nominate myself as a suprise underdog!
watch me get denied XD! hahaha I don't really deserve to be among the top 100, but then again I ccan easily compete with a couple of those in that list "coughcelticcough"
:jester:
@corpus- if the skill level evolved and player after 2012 were better than why can they not beat afo? Many on that list that played majority before 2010 could easily own players after 2012, just like Afo still did. I played a bit from 2012-now, not much but the few I have played and I did not see the same level of talent as I did before 2011. Not saying players after 2012 weren't good, but they were lacking somewhat. My info may be slightly inaccurate due to me not playing the game for 95% of the last few years, yet for the past several months I'd say I'v seen less talent except for a few players.

The Butcher
05-11-2016, 12:47 PM
Zombie. he was like, the best turtler probably on Arma ever. I'd vote him.

Habeas Corpus
05-11-2016, 12:57 PM
Im talking mass majority vs mass majority. Not all 2013 players vs. one of the greatest of all time. Also top players from 2013 probably would split 50/50 with afo(because i believe the skill is capped). For example I would bet a 2013 RAHAN or Bonesplitter would beat an 08 afo. This doesn't mean they are better or even equal in skill, they just have advantage. This is just my speculation from playing this game my whole life.(an OPINION i could be wrong.)
@elimination

elimination
05-11-2016, 01:17 PM
Many on that list that played majority before 2010 could easily own players after 2012, I played a bit from 2012-now, not much but the few I have played and I did not see the same level of talent as I did before 2011. Not saying players after 2012 weren't good, but they were lacking somewhat. My info may be slightly inaccurate due to me not playing the game for 95% of the last few years, yet for the past several months I'd say I'v seen less talent except for a few players.
I didnt name any names, but this part I clearly said there were more players not just Afo that could play much better than the 2013-after players. I do understand what you're saying though about players getting better in later time periods than when they were years back, yet the mass of skilled players in the past were superior to those in the late years of Tao. I played alot more troublesome players in 06-10 rather than the players I have came back to play in recent time.
@Manon- in all seriousness unless you would put me on that list, I would nominate Cam-W He certainly deserves it,was a very solid freestyler.

Madamos
05-11-2016, 05:02 PM
I'd nominate HaLdAvId...

|AFO|
05-11-2016, 08:43 PM
Thats my point dude im saying if we time traveled back right now, not if we grew up back then. Same with 2013 players if they time traveled back to 08 they would beat 08 players. Im saying the skill level for things evolves and gets better as time goes on. You completely misunderstood me. Also the tricks nowadays would take about a year to learn no matter how athletic you are because it's mostly muscle memory. Just like the 08 players, it would probably take them a couple months to catch up to (or surpass if they have more talent/skill) 2013 players IF they went back in time and played them. It doesnt mean that the 2013 players are better than them, they just have an unfair advantage of the game being out longer and using strategies that are new.

What I'm trying to say is that Blas' argument is invalid. You are trying to give merit to his argument. This is not about which meta-game is better. This is about who has more talent and skill. The old school players are ranked higher than the new players regardless of the meta-game, they are more skilled and talented. In other words, if they had the same time spent playing the newer meta-game that is supposedly superior, they would still be dominant... i.e. Bottle would still stomp Vish.

Habeas Corpus
05-11-2016, 09:20 PM
Agreed, im just saying i see where he's coming from :)

Blasphemy
05-11-2016, 11:36 PM
i.e. Bottle would still stomp Vish.

And Veilmenacex would still stomp you.

Madamos
05-12-2016, 07:10 AM
Blasph is so butthurt. You're ridiculous, get over yourself.

The Butcher
05-12-2016, 08:55 AM
And Veilmenacex would still stomp you.

Well damn.. I've beaten Veil.. I must be better than AFO?

This is the best day of my life.

elimination
05-12-2016, 09:50 AM
And Veilmenacex would still stomp you.

So this means I am ranked #1.

|AFO|
05-12-2016, 09:51 AM
And Veilmenacex would still stomp you.

Hah. Good one bruh. Really brings your argument along.

rainblade
05-12-2016, 12:57 PM
Surprised I was even included. :P

Anyways, tcbb and Bobcat are the same people, so that gives your list's accuracy some perspective. :D

Sauron
05-12-2016, 06:19 PM
I beat all the players in that list at least once... I was just too good.

manonfire101
05-12-2016, 08:39 PM
Surprised I was even included. :P

Anyways, tcbb and Bobcat are the same people, so that gives your list's accuracy some perspective. :D

You make yours then. I'm done. I tried to do something fun and I just have to deal with miserable fucking people like you. Bye.

Mar
05-12-2016, 09:49 PM
Anyways, tcbb and Bobcat are the same people

i lol'd

shouldn't have removed it though, manon, it was still a good list

there will always be critics

The Butcher
05-12-2016, 09:53 PM
Like I've said for years, this thread blows my mind. The work and thought that went into it. I fucking love it, and I'm glad it made it over. Manon you gotta understand that people are going to bitch no matter what. Ignore em. They could have made their own list by now.

This is a piece of TAO history here.

Aristocatt
05-12-2016, 10:24 PM
Like I've said for years, this thread blows my mind. The work and thought that went into it. I fucking love it, and I'm glad it made it over. Manon you gotta understand that people are going to bitch no matter what. Ignore em. They could have made their own list by now.

This is a piece of TAO history here.

This.

Great Job.

Blasphemy
05-13-2016, 02:17 AM
Relax kids, I made a joke. Though, it was entertaining to watch Veil smack AFO.


You make yours then. I'm done. I tried to do something fun and I just have to deal with miserafble fucking people like you. Bye.

Kid, one day you're going to grow up and realize how much time you wasted here. You need to take a deep breathe and relax, don't take this that seriously.
Everyone could make a few adjustments here and there, but the list is fine. Pretty much what Butcher said.


Hah. Good one bruh. Really brings your argument along.

Kid, you were only good during the middle ages of the game. The few tournaments you joined in the later years, you got the shit smacked out of you by average players.
You are a perfect example of a good 2008 player that was nothing more than an average player in 2013. You are living proof that my argument is valid.

Mask
05-13-2016, 03:19 AM
Anyone even played the game in 2013?

Madamos
05-13-2016, 06:02 AM
Yeah man, I played in 2013 and i beat Seed. I'm line totally the best player there and shit on thay whole list. Those guys cant get on my level. I should be numero uno.

|AFO|
05-13-2016, 07:39 AM
Kid, you were only good during the middle ages of the game. The few tournaments you joined in the later years, you got the shit smacked out of you by average players.
You are a perfect example of a good 2008 player that was nothing more than an average player in 2013. You are living proof that my argument is valid.

Oh man... "Kid." The worst insult in TAO history. You're right... I must have been a terrible player. I won TAL finals in 2012, so your timeline is a little off. I don't think I entered another tournament aside from a couple of PSSTs. And I was somehow able to earn a perma during one. Perhaps they just give those out for getting smacked though. Shit... $even earned a perma with a LW avy and a dsm during those evolved later years. Lawl.

The Butcher
05-13-2016, 08:08 AM
Relax kids....



Kid....


Kid....

The insults are strong with this one.

Crawl back into your hole, Blas. It was sad when you used to argue like this when we actually had a game.

Mask
05-13-2016, 08:13 AM
I wish I was a kid. I think "grown up" is much better term to use to insult. :p

Anyway I hope Manon puts the list back up.

elimination
05-13-2016, 09:45 AM
So if Afo was average in 2013 does that mean the players in 2013 were below average? I came back late 2015 so what happened to those "amazing" 2013 players? Were they only good for 2 years? Because when I came back everybody sucked, only player I couldn't beat was Afo......
If veil is great than abviously the skill level had dropped dramatically.

|AFO|
05-13-2016, 10:52 AM
I wish I was a kid. I think "grown up" is much better term to use to insult. :p

Anyway I hope Manon puts the list back up.

Yeah man... I got you. Being an "adult" sucks. Haha.

Aristocatt
05-13-2016, 11:07 AM
I wish I was a kid. I think "grown up" is much better term to use to insult. :p

Anyway I hope Manon puts the list back up.

Stop being so adult.

Mask
05-13-2016, 12:05 PM
How dare you?!? I'm gonna go and cry myself to sleep now.

Aristocatt
05-13-2016, 12:08 PM
How dare you?!? I'm gonna go and cry myself to sleep now.

That's the spirit! Be a brat! +P

Madamos
05-13-2016, 12:12 PM
So manon took this down ?

Blasphemy
05-13-2016, 11:23 PM
I won TAL finals in 2012

You memory of skill is just a delusion, just like how you think you won TAL Finals in 2012 when /\/\anonFire101 actually won TAL finals in 2012.


1. Blasphemy
2. Unforgettable
3. Vish

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/5/5d/4854949832_good_good_let_the_butthurt_flow_through _you_11_xlarge.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20150821201530

rainblade
05-13-2016, 11:42 PM
I kind of feel sad for AFO after reading this thread. For how fiercely he defends the legitimacy of his reign still to this day, this game must have meant a whole lot to him.

I appreciate the effort that went into this list, but really it should have just been a Phonebook type deal. You make a list detailing the best of the best, then you better bet your ass you're drawing a ton of criticism. Besides, we don't need anymore e-boners running around, AFO's takes up just about the whole room.

The Professor
05-14-2016, 01:47 AM
Man Cliche, I envy you. I have no idea how you post so much but it must be nice having so much free time.

3000 stat
05-14-2016, 09:07 AM
This list was/is awesome. When it first came out I read the entire thing at once.

Debating a list like this is part of the fun. Getting pissy about it is dumb as fuck though. All lists like this are going to be subjective, everyones going to have a different opinion, complaining about it is silly.

Manon, if you still have this saved somewhere I'd appreciate you putting it back up. Was a pretty cool breakdown of the top players to ever play TAO.

Madamos
05-14-2016, 09:12 AM
This thread was suppose to be awesome, but a silly little butthurt decided to qq. Fucking love e-warriors.

Blasphemy
05-14-2016, 10:40 AM
the list is fine

I also liked the list. Manon is going through a temper tantrum. Once he cools down, he'll put it back up.

rainblade
05-14-2016, 11:51 AM
Man Cliche, I envy you. I have no idea how you post so much but it must be nice having so much free time.

It is great! You're such a badass cuz you don't post a lot/don't have a lot of free time, though. Keep it real. :D


This list was/is awesome. When it first came out I read the entire thing at once.

Debating a list like this is part of the fun. Getting pissy about it is dumb as fuck though. All lists like this are going to be subjective, everyones going to have a different opinion, complaining about it is silly.

Manon, if you still have this saved somewhere I'd appreciate you putting it back up. Was a pretty cool breakdown of the top players to ever play TAO.

I think manon is just a little sensitive that we're criticizing what is essentially his opinion. He should know the TAO community by now, though. This is what we do: criticize and argue. Without question, he should have expected to draw heat for a list like this. It's not really a big deal, though. No one was like, "UGH! Fucking WORTHLESS!!!!!!!!!" Nobody said that and nobody said it wasn't appreciated. Put the damn list back up.

elimination
05-14-2016, 01:39 PM
It is great! You're such a badass cuz you don't post a lot/don't have a lot of free time, though. Keep it real. :D

This is what we do: criticize and argue. Without question, he should have expected to draw heat for a list like this. It's not really a big deal, though.
1. Prof is a dumbass who sucks. jk :rolleyes: Then I will be called a dumbass for making black text obvious.
2. Are you voting for clinton? She's a stupid bitch.
This is fun.

rainblade
05-14-2016, 04:04 PM
No, I'm not voting for her. I'm wearing her name in my signature ironically.

elimination
05-14-2016, 05:28 PM
Trump for president.
jk that dumbass shouldn't even be allowed 200 miles near the capital.

Madamos
05-14-2016, 05:54 PM
Vish is better then trump

|AFO|
05-15-2016, 05:38 PM
I kind of feel sad for AFO after reading this thread. For how fiercely he defends the legitimacy of his reign still to this day, this game must have meant a whole lot to him.

I appreciate the effort that went into this list, but really it should have just been a Phonebook type deal. You make a list detailing the best of the best, then you better bet your ass you're drawing a ton of criticism. Besides, we don't need anymore e-boners running around, AFO's takes up just about the whole room.

Lawl. If you could check posts from the old forum I openly denied the legitimacy of my #1 rank. Cool story though.

|AFO|
05-15-2016, 05:41 PM
You memory of skill is just a delusion, just like how you think you won TAL Finals in 2012 when /\/\anonFire101 actually won TAL finals in 2012.


Sheet. You right. You right. Still pretty sure I didn't win it in 2008 doh.

Greendaybum5
05-16-2016, 09:17 AM
I might. You would deserve it. You were always a pretty solid freestyle player.

people forget in like PSST2/3 I was a turtle player :)

Also before the changes to the game limiting the wisp and the GA I had that solid rush set with Scout-3 knights- Scout then Wisp GA and Mud on the right flank. It was awesome.

The Butcher
05-16-2016, 09:23 AM
please post the original list again manon, i wanna read it

rainblade
05-18-2016, 10:49 PM
Do we still have access to Du(BlackSyphon)'s database? If not we should make a thread to post TAO formations in.

Spencer 555
05-19-2016, 01:41 AM
If philly's not on the list, I'd put him at 100. He's better then Zad ever was :P

The Butcher
05-19-2016, 08:34 AM
There is no more list, you guys ruined it.

I keep checking here every day to look at it... damnit.

Wizzy
05-19-2016, 12:01 PM
Do we still have access to Du(BlackSyphon)'s database? If not we should make a thread to post TAO formations in.

that went down a while ago, not sure if it can be accessed through waybackmachine i forget the url

|AFO|
05-19-2016, 01:49 PM
https://web.archive.org/web/20100323181922/http://netjak-tao.com/portal/

You can click the link on the left for the database, but it doesn't look good. Thargor hosted netjak-tao.com up until 2010-2012 or something like that. We all decided it wasn't worth to keep around after that. Unfortunately Du's database went down with it.

|AFO|
05-19-2016, 01:50 PM
I miss the netcave. D:

rainblade
05-19-2016, 02:02 PM
Me too. :( I miss Bottle and others.

Spencer 555
05-19-2016, 02:42 PM
Totally forgot about Hatchet Warrior, way better then HK :P

rainblade
05-19-2016, 02:51 PM
Hatchet Warrior gets the award for worst player to keep playing this game for a very long time. I'm runner up.

Mask
05-19-2016, 04:19 PM
You mean noobcave? Where nerds were hiding themselves from daylight? :P

rainblade
05-19-2016, 05:06 PM
You mean noobcave? Where nerds were hiding themselves from daylight? :P

Jelly SIer, right? Pretty typical. :P

elimination
05-19-2016, 05:35 PM
very typical Sier. :p

Mask
05-19-2016, 05:38 PM
You mean noobcave? Where nerds were hiding themselves from daylight? :P

And from girls. I forgot girls. :p

|AFO|
05-19-2016, 05:39 PM
You mean noobcave? Where nerds were hiding themselves from daylight? :P

Sheet. I hid from the daylight quite a bit back in the day. I remember having a point tournament, where we earned points based on the stats of opponents we beat throughout the week or month or something. Y'all helped earn me a gold account. ;p

I forget who I was racing at the end. But I spent a weekend on TAO to finish off that thing. Probably played 200 games. Haha. Good times.

Mask
05-19-2016, 06:00 PM
Sheet. I hid from the daylight quite a bit back in the day. I remember having a point tournament, where we earned points based on the stats of opponents we beat throughout the week or month or something. Y'all helped earn me a gold account. ;p

I forget who I was racing at the end. But I spent a weekend on TAO to finish off that thing. Probably played 200 games. Haha. Good times.

You're welcome, Sir! Always glad to help. :)

We had plenty of those in SI too. Won many of them since I was kinda expert of statwhoring. They were fun. Nice way to boost clans activity when needed. Accounts had to have SI infront of them (FPS) and I remember that some nubs outside of the clan started to copy them. :p Same thing happened in legends with Insomniac (randome number) accounts.

rainblade
05-19-2016, 06:09 PM
It's funny. I remember playing an SI recruiter on a random grey name in a grey game, beating him badly, and then he said I couldn't join cuz I wasn't good enough.

lulzzzz

Mask
05-19-2016, 06:23 PM
Nomad used to play when he was drunk ;P

|AFO|
05-19-2016, 06:54 PM
Most people used to play when drunk. :D

We never did those stupid clan name accounts. After all, we had the NJ12, which was stupid enough. Still fun though.

rainblade
05-19-2016, 06:56 PM
NJ12 was total narcissism but I loved it. :P

We should definitely have someone figure out a way to make clan markers and stuff on the forum.

KickAssPlaya
05-19-2016, 10:25 PM
It's funny. I remember playing an SI recruiter on a random grey name in a grey game, beating him badly, and then he said I couldn't join cuz I wasn't good enough.

lulzzzz

Sounds like me... :rolleyes:

SI > NJ :p not that I have much room to talk.. I was more of a personality tester =p

Achilles
05-19-2016, 10:29 PM
50 of thems are noobs. Good effort put into the list. Nice descriptions.. Could help with some of the backgrounds likes Quicks and others..

In awe some of those people are even listed.. Kinda .. insulting to some of the better players.. solid top 8-10 for sure though.

This. So much this.

I don't even know how this could be done without asking the '03ers, as TAO basically had different eras in terms of game play. You'd really need to ask people who were there from the onset to get a vaguely accurate opinion on who was the best. The problem is that you're dealing with eras in terms of the early evolution of the game. I was easily top 5 for the whole game when turtles were still the go to, and BEFORE the mudquake was added, but then after the game changed drastically and I wasn't all that good and Monkus more or less took over. Then DM rushes came into play once Rev went up, then the Furgon negated it, then all out rushes took over.

Point being, you'd need to ask people who were there at the onset, and even so, you couldn't really produce a definitive list.

rainblade
05-19-2016, 11:02 PM
Yeah. I think we all know there were different versions of this game that different people excelled at while others lagged behind. I remember before the GA+Wisp was nerfed, the Wisp was godly and the GA was just a total backdoor to Cleric protection. The mudquake addition geared this game towards offense, while the 1st turn restriction later on pulled it back. The Berzerker affected the game for all of two days before everyone essentially benched it permanently. I think the DSM was introduced early 04? I think it came out a bit before I came around.

What is the exact list and order of the modifications made to the game? Dates, also? Does someone still have those pages or are they gone?

|AFO|
05-19-2016, 11:09 PM
Point being, you'd need to ask people who were there at the onset, and even so, you couldn't really produce a definitive list.

I mean... that's really all there is to be said about doing something like this. If you all have suggestions, you can always post more names. I think there's something about being one of the first great players.

The Butcher
05-20-2016, 08:12 AM
For all the bitching going on in this thread, 10 new lists could have been made.

Make your own list or STFU. Sick of coming to this thread with false hope.

rainblade
05-20-2016, 10:43 PM
For all the bitching going on in this thread, 10 new lists could have been made.

Make your own list or STFU. Sick of coming to this thread with false hope.

Who wants to man the TAO Phonebook thread? I'd do it but I don't want you guys to think I'm greedy.

Madamos
05-20-2016, 11:35 PM
Just do it. No matter who does it, its probably going to make ppl cry.

rainblade
05-20-2016, 11:37 PM
Just do it. No matter who does it, its probably going to make ppl cry.

People already cry about me enough. :P

Madamos
05-20-2016, 11:38 PM
Hasnt stopped you yet! :p

rainblade
05-20-2016, 11:39 PM
Hasnt stopped you yet! :p

Hey now! I read everything and consider it fully. :)

elimination
05-22-2016, 09:01 AM
Who wants to man the TAO Phonebook thread? I'd do it but I don't want you guys to think I'm greedy.

Does this mean I get to call everybody and tell them to "Fuck Off I love you"? Then Call you a whole bunch of times everyday?

Madamos
05-22-2016, 11:04 AM
Hey now! I read everything and consider it fully. :)
:P

Just saying that no matter what/who, its going to happen.

manonfire101
05-25-2016, 12:23 AM
I’m going to repost this Top 100, mainly because I like The Butcher more than I dislike the people who are complaining. If someone besides Cliché could confirm that Tcbb and Bobcat are the same person, I’ll take one of them off. To be honest, 29 and 18 isn’t a huge difference since you’re splitting hairs with a lot of these players. I’m actually kind of happy I had them that close together considering I haven’t played either in a very long time.


50 of thems are noobs. Good effort put into the list. Nice descriptions.. Could help with some of the backgrounds likes Quicks and others..

In awe some of those people are even listed.. Kinda .. insulting to some of the better players.. solid top 8-10 for sure though.

So which of the 50 players on this list are noobs? Please list them for me. I’m pretty interested to hear your rationale for calling those 50 players noobs considering you probably didn’t play many of them when they were at peak form.

And which great players did I omit? I’m sure I left off a lot of deserving players but I haven’t heard any names mentioned. I mean, if you’re just commenting that this list sucks, that’s fine. But if you actually want me to amend it, I need to know why a particular player deserves to be on here.


This. So much this.

I don't even know how this could be done without asking the '03ers, as TAO basically had different eras in terms of game play. You'd really need to ask people who were there from the onset to get a vaguely accurate opinion on who was the best. The problem is that you're dealing with eras in terms of the early evolution of the game. I was easily top 5 for the whole game when turtles were still the go to, and BEFORE the mudquake was added, but then after the game changed drastically and I wasn't all that good and Monkus more or less took over. Then DM rushes came into play once Rev went up, then the Furgon negated it, then all out rushes took over.

Point being, you'd need to ask people who were there at the onset, and even so, you couldn't really produce a definitive list.

You say you were “easily” a top 5 turtle player before the mud quake was added. Well I played in 2003 and I don’t remember you being a top 5 turtle player, or anywhere close to that. Darkness and Bludz (who both helped me with rankings) also played, maybe not as early as 2003 but certainly in the earlier years of TAO, and neither of them made mention of you. But I can’t remember ever playing you, so I can’t say for sure. So for the sake of argument let’s just say that you were. That would mean that you were good at playing a particular style of turtle during a pretty non-competitive era of the game for a short period of time. You were, as far as I know, not good at any other styles, and couldn’t figure out how to play with or against a mud golem after the mud quake was implemented. That doesn’t sound like a description of a top 100 player to me by the criteria that I was using when I made these rankings. It doesn’t sound like the description of a top 100 player by any reasonable criteria actually. And it definitely doesn’t sound like the résumé of a player who should be calling anyone on this list a noob.

I do agree, though, that it’s impossible to come up with 100 players for this list and make everyone happy - different eras, different units, different levels of activity, subjective criteria, etc. But I did play in 2003, and I did ask other people who played during different eras. I spent months browsing through TAO tournament history looking at records for fps vs legends tournaments, Pssts, Grand Slams, and other tournaments. I looked at tournament history and server rankings on legends. I made a huge list of more than 500 players to choose from, and I had 3 other people helping me when I actually started to rank the top 100 players. Then I revised those rankings. Then I revised them again. Then I revised them again. Then I revised them probably about 10 more times before actually posting them on forums. The point is, I did spend a lot of time on this, and I did ask other players, and I did try to use criteria that I thought was reasonable. And this was about the best I could do.

manonfire101
05-25-2016, 12:26 AM
And blow me, Cliché.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 12:30 AM
I'm glad you mentioned all the work you put into it. You deserve credit for it and people who know that probably won't be so harsh.

Thanks for putting it back up.


And blow me, Cliché.

You got me all wrong, dude. <3

manonfire101
05-25-2016, 12:34 AM
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If you aren't, thanks. If you are, see my last post.

It's not really the harshness, I just wish people who were harsh would be a little more constructive, because I'm definitely still open to changing things up.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 12:35 AM
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If you aren't, thanks. If you are, see my last post.

It's not really the harshness, I just wish people who were harsh would be a little more constructive, because I'm definitely still open to changing things up.

Nah, not sarcasm. I felt bad when I saw you took it down.

I don't think anyone else will be able to confirm my claim, though. Who knows, maybe he was lying. It's possible but I doubt it since he gave me access to TianChao before he left.

manonfire101
05-25-2016, 12:37 AM
I might just average the two, then. Really I'm more concerned that I might have like 8 people on this list who are Pikachu, though.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 12:39 AM
I might just average the two, then. Really I'm more concerned that I might have like 8 people on this list who are Pikachu, though.

Yeah, no worries either way. They played in different enough times that their skill levels very well may have been/seemed different.

Guide is a little punk. He's on FB if you guys wanna see the real him. He lives in the midwest.

manonfire101
05-25-2016, 12:44 AM
No, I don't want to see him. It's more fun to imagine what he looks like.

Like I always pictured Rahan looking like Pau Gasol.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 02:11 AM
Guide looks like a 5'4'' pale white kid with average features overall.

Hulky
05-25-2016, 02:48 AM
I'd recommend Juggernaut for the list. Never was gold though that I remember. Anyone from Banff could verify he was awesome.He also was active and dominate the entirety of the game. When 1600 was a big deal on Banff, Juggs was a legit not boosted 1531 grey. Last couple years he was 900-1200 grey depending on how many matches he got in. He was a hell of a player that seemed so many turns planned ahead it wasn't funny.

|AFO|
05-25-2016, 06:09 AM
Can confirm. He was a pretty good grey. Always enjoyed playing him. Not sure where he'd rank on the list though.

The Butcher
05-25-2016, 08:56 AM
fuck yeah

Greendaybum5
05-25-2016, 09:57 AM
Dr. Nipples was also very good at free using the standard anti 99% of the time. Not sure if you want to update his bio with that.

Also just personal feeling, I think Dragon Link is probably more in the 50's than 99. He top out around 1812 stats so I can confirm Darkness' claim. He was a beast in the KoTR vs AK war... at least one of them.

Mask
05-25-2016, 10:49 AM
Last time I played Dr. Nipples I gave him the win because I had around 600 less stats and didn't want to statrape him. Plus he was very nice and polite. That was two years ago or so. Not sure if he's Top 100 worthy player..

Toledo
05-25-2016, 10:51 AM
Last time I played Dr. Nipples I gave him the win because I had around 600 less stats and didn't want to statrape him. Plus he was very nice and polite. That was two years ago or so. Not sure if he's Top 100 worthy player..

He's top 100 in my books just for the name.

Mask
05-25-2016, 11:36 AM
He's top 100 in my books just for the name.

I was pleasantly surprised how nice the guy was considering his epic username. That's why I didn't mind giving him the win (he didn't gain any stats since I was below 1000. He jumped me). I would of certainly taken his stats if he would of hit me with some F-bombs.

|AFO|
05-25-2016, 12:41 PM
Dr. Nipples was a good guy and a great player. I don't think he ever participated in any tournaments though.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 01:36 PM
Dr. Nipples was an AKer for a long time (from like 2006 till the end of TAO, I think). Quiet guy, loyal, kinda did his own thing, but definitely a great player. I'd say he deserves a spot, but not as much as JUGGERNAUT does.

KickAssPlaya
05-25-2016, 04:28 PM
I played Juggernaut like everyday for a long time. I was in his clan Reservoir Dogs lol. Him and Cuckoo(?) we're good people to chat with. I think there was only us 3 in the clan ha.

Lots of good times with people mentioned. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on who should be in the list but if they aren't making their own list who cares. It's a subjective list.

rainblade
05-25-2016, 04:32 PM
Manon has said he wants constructive criticism. That is the only reason I would suggest anything.

rainblade
05-28-2016, 09:18 PM
Constructive criticism, Dark7 should be lower on the list. 92 is much too high. I mean, PSST5 MVP alone puts him as probably one of the 25 most accomplished tournament players in TAO history. Maybe I'm wrong and PSST5 was a total dud, but I don't remember it ever not being impressive when someone went undefeated in PSST (9-0 for Dark7). He was also an AK leader for a while until around the time I left for NJ, and was at least moderately active from 2004 or 2005 or maybe even before, until at least 2013 (which is when I stopped coming around the game). He was always a consistent and competitive player when I'd go up against him, which was a lot in the early days of AK/AL/BG. Being in AK with him, we trained together extensively in freestyle and early turtle formations when clan wars were starting up. Interestingly, he seemed to reach his prime much later on (e.g. PSST5 was a ways out from his join date). That's pretty cool, being able to find that extra gear after playing for a long time already. He wasn't terribly involved in the forum community, but my memory of him is prominent and distinct and I always felt he deserved more recognition.

manonfire101
05-29-2016, 12:19 AM
I was his teammate in that PSST so I remember it pretty well. It wasn't just that he went 9-0 either; the players he beat in that tournament were all really good. It was one of the best performances by a player in any TAO tournament ever. That being said, tournament performance was only one of the criteria I was using to rank players. I don't remember him doing a lot in any other tournaments. He wasn't great at grey or freestyle. I don't think he was ever that highly rated stat-wise on any of the servers (though he may have been). He was a very good turtle player and he was Superman in PSST5, and that was enough to get him into the Top 100. But I'm not sure it's enough to put him ahead of some other players on this list.

rainblade
05-29-2016, 02:02 AM
I remember freestyle being his primary style early on. I don't remember him being a slouch, but there really weren't any tournaments around at that time so I guess all you have is my word.

Hugh
05-29-2016, 11:27 AM
Twelve and Meletus. Netjak and SI. Kind of a no brainer.

rainblade
05-29-2016, 02:40 PM
Twelve was one of the most influential players in the game, since he was the founder of longstanding clan, netjak.com, but I don't necessarily think he deserves top player recognition. He wasn't much of a competitive player, from what I remember. He played here and there, and was active early NJ days, but he left fairly quickly after the game came out and never really made his mark on gameplay.

I've never played Meletus, but I know he was around very early on and helped found SI. Mel, when did you vanish from TAO and were you ever a competitive player?

Toledo
05-29-2016, 02:46 PM
Twelve and Meletus. Netjak and SI. Kind of a no brainer.

I think this list is supposed to be a compilation of the most skilled/talented players of TAO's history. If it were a list of most impactful/influential it would be very different.

manonfire101
05-29-2016, 04:37 PM
Twelve and Meletus. Netjak and SI. Kind of a no brainer.

Netjak sucks my balls and SI is full of grey rubes.

Toledo
05-29-2016, 04:39 PM
Netjak sucks my balls and SI is full of grey rubes.

Have you taken your protein powder today manon? :rolleyes:

Hugh
05-29-2016, 05:15 PM
Netjak sucks my balls and SI is full of grey rubes.

Your mom sucks my balls and has grey pubes.

rainblade
05-29-2016, 05:57 PM
Netjak sucks my balls and SI is full of grey rubes.

oh, that's right! mano was in his jerk circle clan. :D

manonfire101
05-29-2016, 06:25 PM
Well probably more than half of this list is Netjak/SI, so that should tell you what I think of them.

But Netjak still sucks my balls.

@Hugh - You got me.

elimination
05-29-2016, 10:30 PM
He played here and there, and was active early NJ days, but he left fairly quickly after the game came out and never really made his mark on gameplay

You could say that again :dry:
I beat him without much difficulty back when I tried out for nj12 and before my prime. But I guess it really was just one game so that doesn't mean anything.
-Manon and his homophobe ass clan? What was it called again I forgot.....The suckasses?:rolleyes:

rainblade
05-29-2016, 11:01 PM
You could say that again :dry:
I beat him without much difficulty back when I tried out for nj12 and before my prime. But I guess it really was just one game so that doesn't mean anything.
-Manon and his homophobe ass clan? What was it called again I forgot.....The suckasses?:rolleyes:

elimination is brawlin'. it's all that pent up testosterone. ;P

|AFO|
05-30-2016, 08:19 AM
I think this list is supposed to be a compilation of the most skilled/talented players of TAO's history. If it were a list of most impactful/influential it would be very different.

That'd be an interesting list. I doubt I'd be top 10 on that one. I don't think anyone in the top 10 would remain in the top 10. Even the top 20 might be entirely different people.

rainblade
05-30-2016, 07:43 PM
That'd be an interesting list. I doubt I'd be top 10 on that one. I don't think anyone in the top 10 would remain in the top 10. Even the top 20 might be entirely different people.

It would also be more subjective, since we don't really have any objective criteria to go on (like stats, tournament records, etc.). I think far fewer people would agree on who goes where with a list like that, and we wouldn't be able to make such an extensive list as a top 100. Probably more like top 10 or 20.

The Professor
05-31-2016, 02:44 AM
Top 10 Influential? Hmmm. Super rough draft:

Twelve (Creator of Netjak)
Mith (Best Tournament Hoster)
Brutal (FPSRankings Creator and Possibly TAO 2.0)
Bottle (If you ever played a game, you heard of this guy. Grey Legend. )
Omegashin (even on FPS, the Legends dude was a Legend)
Punishment (All time player, dumbest/funniest posts ever, and started Battle Recordings)

Not much of a forumer, and so you guys can judge who had the biggest impact in that area. But those six come to mind for players of the game, at least for me. I could think of others given a lot more time and talking to others.

EDIT: Oh, I don't think many people read it since I've never seen it mentioned much but Realist made an awesome strategy guide. If that's truly how he played, pretty sure he would have been the best player ever or close to it had he kept playing consistently. And he was a blue mod too, so that's something.

Still fun trying to think of what people did on here for close to ten years.

Spencer 555
05-31-2016, 12:18 PM
I was his teammate in that PSST so I remember it pretty well. It wasn't just that he went 9-0 either; the players he beat in that tournament were all really good. It was one of the best performances by a player in any TAO tournament ever. That being said, tournament performance was only one of the criteria I was using to rank players. I don't remember him doing a lot in any other tournaments. He wasn't great at grey or freestyle. I don't think he was ever that highly rated stat-wise on any of the servers (though he may have been). He was a very good turtle player and he was Superman in PSST5, and that was enough to get him into the Top 100. But I'm not sure it's enough to put him ahead of some other players on this list.

Personally don't believe Dark was ever a fantastic player, but he had 1 amazing stretch of games for that tournament. I felt I was better then him at the time of that psst and still did after he won 9 games for us. At that time he would have been the 5th best player on our team, possibly lower with reymo around even though reymo did nothing lol.

I think if u asked the "good" players he beat (he beat some scrubs too) they would say he got a bit lucky.

elimination
05-31-2016, 01:25 PM
<<<Most coolest scrub player ever? I DID NOT get promoted to MODSHIP after beating deto! Geez ya'll slacked off on that one. :rolleyes:

rainblade
05-31-2016, 01:38 PM
Personally don't believe Dark was ever a fantastic player, but he had 1 amazing stretch of games for that tournament. I felt I was better then him at the time of that psst and still did after he won 9 games for us. At that time he would have been the 5th best player on our team, possibly lower with reymo around even though reymo did nothing lol.

I think if u asked the "good" players he beat (he beat some scrubs too) they would say he got a bit lucky.

yeah, 9-0 isn't impressive at all, even with a little luck. probably fifth best player on your team at that time...

...

Spencer 555
05-31-2016, 02:26 PM
yeah, 9-0 isn't impressive at all, even with a little luck. probably fifth best player on your team at that time...

...

It is impressive, I didn't say it wasn't. I was the captain of the team he played on so I was there and I witnessed it. I also realised that Dark wasn't a good free player or grey player and I was probably 50/50 with him in turt. He went 9-0 which is a fantastic streak, but it was just a streak in my eyes.

elimination
05-31-2016, 10:32 PM
I don't know man, I use to play dark7 a shit load during that time, and I was a beast and he kicked my ass so I say he was a super beast. :rolleyes:

manonfire101
06-01-2016, 02:59 AM
Top 10 Influential? Hmmm. Super rough draft:

Twelve (Creator of Netjak)
Mith (Best Tournament Hoster)
Brutal (FPSRankings Creator and Possibly TAO 2.0)
Bottle (If you ever played a game, you heard of this guy. Grey Legend. )
Omegashin (even on FPS, the Legends dude was a Legend)
Punishment (All time player, dumbest/funniest posts ever, and started Battle Recordings)

Not much of a forumer, and so you guys can judge who had the biggest impact in that area. But those six come to mind for players of the game, at least for me. I could think of others given a lot more time and talking to others.

EDIT: Oh, I don't think many people read it since I've never seen it mentioned much but Realist made an awesome strategy guide. If that's truly how he played, pretty sure he would have been the best player ever or close to it had he kept playing consistently. And he was a blue mod too, so that's something.

Still fun trying to think of what people did on here for close to ten years.

This is good. I'd probably put Rantzu on there as well.

Hulky
06-01-2016, 04:31 AM
FryLock goes on the list for influential and top player. I dunno where but he'd be pretty high on each I'd think. I remember Office_Shredder and him developing the clericless rush, which was a counter meta-set that pushed them high on the top 100s and fast (had different openings to snipe the cleric in the main positions was the first set I remember that took LOS and build based off using the scout as fast and as efficiently as possible). Like it shaved the time per game down so they could shoot up the rankings. Anyways later he was one of the first people to always use that damned GA Wisp set, like the perfected one that everyone copied and the game began to suck.

nads would be ranking with influential list with his mass teaching of LOS and how to effectively use the enchantress.

Spencer 555
06-01-2016, 10:54 AM
Hulky #1

|AFO|
06-01-2016, 01:36 PM
Agreed with the above. In terms of game play, I think there are a few names we should mention...

Around the time I won TAL finals turtle had become a rock paper scissors style. 1st players like Mag dominated with their back rows. Then Isaac beat all the backrows with his 2nd corner. Then I believe Lieutenant began popularizing the off-center, allowing the more traditional back row to come back into action. I suppose it wasn't a true rock-paper-scissors, but close. IMO it became the most boring style.

Lemon, Tactoholic and BR were pretty influential in the grey realm, making wardless and center sets very popular. Tacto was very effective with center wardless, while BR used that corner set quite well. Lemon kicked a lot of butt with his center warded set. Prior to that, most used warded corners. After that, grey sets were highly variable. Grey will always be my favorite style. I think it had the most variability of all the styles.

I don't think there were too many people who were as influential in free, at least when I started playing gold. Legends freestyle was pretty stagnant with the ga+mud one sided rush. Stiven and I pretty much demolished everybody with that thing. On FPS, Bobcat used the one sided anti pretty effectively, but a lot of people were using similar sets at the time. There were a bunch of people who used DSM spread rushes too. I'll never understand why people call the AFO spread the AFO spread. Lol. I just moved the scouts to the outside of the knights. I think it was Tugnus' that had them on the inside. Guide made that 3rd corner freurtle popular towards the end. I don't think any of this is deserving of a spot on the list though.

|AFO|
06-01-2016, 01:38 PM
Founders of all the major clans should be on there too, obviously.

rainblade
06-01-2016, 04:57 PM
Just for reference, what were all of the major clans?

(in no specific order, excluding tournament clans)
1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. Powerpuff Pussies
8. ?

Add to it.

|AFO|
06-01-2016, 06:21 PM
I don't think Powerpuff Girls count. Judgment and maybe Celestial Knights on legends. TDP on army has to be up there. Maybe X-Factor too.

rainblade
06-01-2016, 06:23 PM
Just for reference, what were all of the major clans?

(in no specific order, excluding tournament clans)
1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. Powerpuff Pussies
8. ?

Add to it.


I don't think Powerpuff Girls count. Judgment and maybe Celestial Knights on legends. TDP on army has to be up there. Maybe X-Factor too.

Yeah, three people doesn't really make a clan. I just wanted to have a little fun. :D

1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. The Dawg Pound
8. Celestial Knights
9. Judgment
10. X-Factor

|AFO|
06-01-2016, 06:28 PM
I think that's a pretty good list of clans. I only know that Twelve founded NJ, and OmegaShin founded judgement. Pretty sure there was a bunch who founded CK, but I consider Zad the "father" of that group. Could be wrong though.

Darkness
06-02-2016, 01:48 AM
Yeah, three people doesn't really make a clan. I just wanted to have a little fun. :D

1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. The Dawg Pound
8. Celestial Knights
9. Judgment
10. X-Factor
Also in no particular order:
11. Slayers Guild
12. *Jokers Wild*
13. Pyro Pyrates
14. _OUTKAST_
15. The Elite

All of these are probably less influential than the 10 you listed (Slayers Guild certainly has a case considering they were the first clan ever and had several memorable players, but their reign was relatively brief and were essentially nonexistent by the time TAO hit its peak), but I feel they all significantly impacted TAO and deserve mention.

Wizzy
06-02-2016, 02:00 AM
I'm gonna go ahead and make the bold statement that OUTKAST was a little more influential than x factor on army but I'm bias

Hulky
06-02-2016, 03:26 AM
I hate all of you for not mentioning the only clan that counts and the first clan on FPS: Knights of the Round

Mask
06-02-2016, 03:45 AM
I don't know if it counts but I created legends dropped grey formation around 07' which kinda went into masses and was called "GoodLuck rush". They named it after my grey account. I got 1800 using it but soon ppl started to create sets to counter it (2 frost and furgon good defensive skills usully gave the edge). I think even Rahan used it for a while because I spanked his butt with it many times. :)

Edit. How SI got created through Mel's words:

Well I can't exactly follow the mold of the thread.. How did I get into Si. They needed someone to guard the poop and no one else showed interest or as much promise as me!

Bigmikeasf, Rescorlian, Nads, Orthodox, and Myself all joined during the first weeks of TAO. We played each other a lot and were all always on from like 10pm to 5am pretty much every day.. trying set-ups versus each and all on ICQ or AIM making fun of the opponents who decided to jump us. Little by lil people came out of the wood work to play and join us.. DWarrior.. was looking for a Banff clan.. Minigunsniper who actually came up with the Si Name.. Sam toet an 11 year old Aussie who owned just about everyone's butt.. DoesthislookInfected (later to become Rogue_Wolf).. KoSpades.. Jon The Don.. MikeisGod.. Demonicgod.. Ravus Rhin.. BoBo The Fool.. Cuathon.. Cobra9 This was the core of Si and in the beginning we pretty much dominated 14 of us in the top 50 spots.

rainblade
06-02-2016, 04:30 AM
1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. The Dawg Pound
8. Celestial Knights
9. Judgment
10. X-Factor
11. Slayers Guild
12. *Jokers Wild*
13. Pyro Pyrates
14. _OUTKAST_
15. The Elite
16. Knights of the Round

Mask
06-02-2016, 07:07 AM
Wolf Clan and Hells Angels are probably worth to mention too. And wasn't Jokers Wild pretty much CG with just a different name? I think members were mostly the same (Carlos as main leader and rantzu/Glad and Bodexxx their top player)

Greendaybum5
06-02-2016, 07:57 AM
Jokers Wild was actually created after The Illuminati fell apart. It was Dan U, Ryan56 and I believe a female as the third just can't remember the name. I know Carlos and Bode ended up over there too.

+1 for KoTR, HA and Wolf Clan. At first the big legends clans were SG and Wolf Clan then Luca created Judgement and Netjak was over there too.

Mask
06-02-2016, 08:08 AM
Jokers Wild was actually created after The Illuminati fell apart. It was Dan U, Ryan56 and I believe a female as the third just can't remember the name. I know Carlos and Bode ended up over there too.

1 for KoTR, HA and Wolf Clan. At first the big legends clans were SG and Wolf Clan then Luca created Judgement and Netjak was over there too.

You're right. I forgot about that part. I remembered that Carlos was very active while I was in there for a short period in Banff.

Greendaybum5
06-02-2016, 09:32 AM
You're right. I forgot about that part. I remembered that Carlos was very active while I was in there for a short period in Banff.

Yea that was when I was ranked in top 10 on Banff #shamelessplug

I believe the girl was Taran and there was a 4th leader named Reggie I think.

Mask
06-02-2016, 11:18 AM
around 2005?

I don't remember Taran or Reggie but I remember Dan U and ryan56. Dan was kinda jerk at times.

Greendaybum5
06-02-2016, 12:00 PM
around 2005?

I don't remember Taran or Reggie but I remember Dan U and ryan56. Dan was kinda jerk at times.

Yup. I remember competing with them in clank rankings. Used to calculate by hand since Thargor(I think it was him) took a while at times.

Mask
06-02-2016, 12:12 PM
You were in KoTR back then?

Do you remember YWN, Philly? I think I wasn't around when they first came. (At least I don't remember. I think I tried the game first time around early 2004). They were pretty big too back in a day in Legends.

Greendaybum5
06-02-2016, 02:23 PM
You were in KoTR back then?

Do you remember YWN, Philly? I think I wasn't around when they first came. (At least I don't remember. I think I tried the game first time around early 2004). They were pretty big too back in a day in Legends.

Yea I joined in the beginning. YWN was started on legends actually I believe by andobo (he was like 1800+) he got mad at something in Wolf Clan and left to start that I believe. Then he also played on Banff.

Mask
06-02-2016, 02:42 PM
Yea I joined in the beginning. YWN was started on legends actually I believe by andobo (he was like 1800+) he got mad at something in Wolf Clan and left to start that I believe. Then he also played on Banff.

Yeah I did mean in Legends. I think they're worth a mention too.

Aristocatt
06-07-2016, 09:02 PM
Clan hello should also be up there. +l

elimination
06-21-2016, 02:26 PM
There was a clan called "Hello"? o,O

A-99
07-14-2016, 01:54 PM
A little late to the conversation...

Not intending to bump up his ranking, because it's probably fine where it is, but as some trivia I remember when Frylock beat Lemon in Grey with only 9 units (he was down a knight). It was a team tournament but I cannot remember the name. Was pretty epic.

bludhoundz
07-27-2016, 10:53 PM
regarding the whole clans thing i was in a very interesting situation

for those of you who don't know the backstory, as a 14 year old dumb kid i named my clan bludhoundz after myself. i then 'merged' (jesus kids are dumb) clans with Altar of Chaos and we formed ChaosHoundz. after some time passed all the leaders of the clan (myself, AssassinOfLords, and Koolaid1) were busy with school or whatever and couldn't be assed recruiting so we got melded into SI and gained rank quickly since we had been leaders and brought quite a few members in. thereafter i became a leader of SI

the interesting thing is that on Legends, ChaosHoundz had already merged with another clan, Medieval Gladiators. that clan became ChaosGladiators and I was also a leader there, but they didn't want to merge into SI the way that ChaosHoundz did. so i was leader of both clans technically for a while.

at some point later on Jokers Wild was formed on the FPS servers and it was apparently a ChaosGladiators + The Illuminati thing? i was offered a leadership position if i joined but i didn't take it

rainblade
07-28-2016, 12:01 AM
bludz thirstin' for dat glory

manonfire101
07-28-2016, 12:18 AM
at some point later on Jokers Wild was formed on the FPS servers and it was apparently a ChaosGladiators + The Illuminati thing?

Eh?

Hulky
07-28-2016, 05:52 PM
I was in every FPS clan bludz mentioned and that's all correct. I don't know about the Legends stuff since I played like two weeks there over the years.

Jokers Wild was carlos22/ryan56/Dan U + Dape and crew + me and a few of the other Banff guys

Best clan name though: him in bed.

"Hulky has invited you to join him in bed."

just spamming everyone with invites when I was bored lol

rainblade
07-28-2016, 05:56 PM
I remember the clever clan invites. :)

Spencer 555
07-29-2016, 12:03 PM
1. netjak.com
2. Strategic Insomniacs
3. ChaosGladiators
4. The Arcadian Legends
5. The Arcadian Knights
6. Bushido Gaiden
7. The Dawg Pound
8. Celestial Knights
9. Judgment
10. X-Factor
11. Slayers Guild
12. *Jokers Wild*
13. Pyro Pyrates
14. _OUTKAST_
15. The Elite
16. Knights of the Round

I would definitely put KoTR above TDP at 7. A lot of the clans you mentioned are server specific. TDP was a great clan on Army, along with X-factor, but KoTR was a top 10 clan on all three servers for most of the existence of TAO though mainly on the banff and GL servers. Could definitely make a case for judgment, above KoTR as well, but I'm biased. And yea, Hells Angels has to be on that list somewhere. I'd personally put them above X-Factor at 9, similar clans skillwise in terms of being a top clan on a specific server for a long time, but I gotta go with the GL clan considering I always believed army to be the weakest of the 3 servers (with a few exceptions at the very top, depthwise Army definitely had the most nubby 1500 players for the longest time, it was the only server I managed to crack 1700 stat on)

Spencer 555
07-29-2016, 12:08 PM
Granted, I don't know a whole lot about the clans u mentioned 11-15.

rainblade
07-29-2016, 12:12 PM
Why didn't you quote the "no specific order" part? lol

Hulky
07-29-2016, 04:23 PM
x-factor, JW, and Hells Angels merged into KoTR and KoTR was the first clan on FPS (by hours over SI, but still). I was also one of the last people on TAO and still in KoTR as and after it went down. So KoTR lasted from the beginning to the end which has to have some bonus points. We were also one of the most active threads on the forums (one of the Arcadians, Netjak, and SI I believe where the only 3 more post-whorey).

rainblade
07-30-2016, 01:07 PM
x-factor, JW, and Hells Angels merged into KoTR and KoTR was the first clan on FPS (by hours over SI, but still). I was also one of the last people on TAO and still in KoTR as and after it went down. So KoTR lasted from the beginning to the end which has to have some bonus points. We were also one of the most active threads on the forums (one of the Arcadians, Netjak, and SI I believe where the only 3 more post-whorey).

These are technicalities. I don't think they count. The creation, sure, but the end? That was just a mess.

Darkness
07-31-2016, 12:10 PM
*Jokers Wild* was a merge between CG, Illuminati, and X-Factor. Interesting info about CG on Legends, blud, I didn't remember that.

Regarding the end, I was in AK post-apocalypse, so AK also deserves bonus points if they are still being handed out. The end was pretty bad, though. When discussing the most influential clans, the cutoff for relevance should probably be like 2012.

I don't remember all the details behind the KoTR / HA fiasco. Hulky, could you maybe clear that up? I think HA was formed in late 04 because there was some disagreement as to their legitimacy as the Great Lakes KoTR branch. Philly could probably explain this if he's around too.

As mentioned, Spencer, Cliche's list is in no particular order. Thinking about the history of the listed clans, it's really difficult for me to say which should be ranked higher in terms of dominance, relevance, etc. SI and NJ are clearly the top 2 in just about any category, but after that it gets really cloudy. A phonebook type of thing with some info on each memorable clan would be cool to write up at some point.

Hulky
07-31-2016, 09:17 PM
I was the leader of KoTR Banff and GL. I made A.R.T a coleader on GL, he stole leadership to sole leadership and then killed KoTR off to make his Hells Angels. Later HA merged back into KoTR.

Wizzy
07-31-2016, 10:22 PM
I brought KoTR back to life once cause CD sponsored me and asked me to. I stopped playing and it died shortly after so I guess I don't count as a leader. Whatevz

rainblade
07-31-2016, 10:35 PM
I brought KoTR back to life once cause CD sponsored me and asked me to. I stopped playing and it died shortly after so I guess I don't count as a leader. Whatevz

You count as a leader but this is your write-up describing your leadership experience. You get to decide whether you want it included or not. :P

Greendaybum5
08-01-2016, 09:52 AM
*Jokers Wild* was a merge between CG, Illuminati, and X-Factor. Interesting info about CG on Legends, blud, I didn't remember that.

Regarding the end, I was in AK post-apocalypse, so AK also deserves bonus points if they are still being handed out. The end was pretty bad, though. When discussing the most influential clans, the cutoff for relevance should probably be like 2012.

I don't remember all the details behind the KoTR / HA fiasco. Hulky, could you maybe clear that up? I think HA was formed in late 04 because there was some disagreement as to their legitimacy as the Great Lakes KoTR branch. Philly could probably explain this if he's around too.

As mentioned, Spencer, Cliche's list is in no particular order. Thinking about the history of the listed clans, it's really difficult for me to say which should be ranked higher in terms of dominance, relevance, etc. SI and NJ are clearly the top 2 in just about any category, but after that it gets really cloudy. A phonebook type of thing with some info on each memorable clan would be cool to write up at some point.


I was the leader of KoTR Banff and GL. I made A.R.T a coleader on GL, he stole leadership to sole leadership and then killed KoTR off to make his Hells Angels. Later HA merged back into KoTR.

that's the short description.... I do remember I agreed with A.R.T. and went to HA though because I wasn't happy with the KoTR leaders back then... eventually we brought HA back into KoTR like you said.

man 30 years from now reading these posts are going to be hilarious. sound like such nerds.

rainblade
08-01-2016, 11:53 AM
We are nerds. Well, some of us. I don't know if you are, Phil.

A-99
08-01-2016, 01:51 PM
Phillys the biggest nerd out of all of us

Greendaybum5
08-01-2016, 02:27 PM
Phillys the biggest nerd out of all of us

I am an accountant....

rainblade
08-01-2016, 03:00 PM
That just means boring, not necessarily a nerd. ;P

Greendaybum5
08-01-2016, 03:03 PM
That just means boring, not necessarily a nerd. ;P

truth, it's an incredibly boring job. pays great though haha

Spencer 555
08-02-2016, 01:18 PM
I totally missed the fact that that list was in no particular order. It certainly looked like a list that could be perceived as a clan rankings lol. I definitely jumped the gun on that post.

Edit: Don't ask me how lol

Gryph
08-06-2016, 10:13 PM
Considering AL roflstomped 10 out of the original Netjak 12 and lost to Bottle and Allstar, I'd say that list does justice.

...

I couldn't resist.

rainblade
08-06-2016, 11:28 PM
Considering AL roflstomped 10 out of the original Netjak 12 and lost to Bottle and Allstar, I'd say that list does justice.

...

I couldn't resist.

lol, oh silly, irrelevant-as-a-player-beyond-2003/early-2004-Gryph. Everyone on this game who's a decent player has beat everyone else who is a decent player, for the most part. No need to be stupid.

I couldn't resist.

Gryph
08-06-2016, 11:32 PM
<ochocinco> Child please </ochocinco>, I stayed relevant for an entire decade lol

manonfire101
08-07-2016, 06:12 PM
I remember Gryph being a pretty good turtle player. Didn't you beat Monkus in that team tournament in 2006? You must have beat a few good players because our team got to the finals against Draquist, Darque, and Monkus.

Gryph
08-07-2016, 06:56 PM
I did yes. I also brought that bullshit stone golem in the 2nd row from legends into FPS and got to 1700 with it xD

I had a few memorable moments, 10-0'ing Cuath for the 1700, beating monkus, winning Strife and Geeky in the NJ12/AL12 war before losing to Bottle in grey. And let's not forget, being a dope as fuck in game mod for a while.

*ego +1*

manonfire101
08-07-2016, 08:00 PM
10-0'ing Cuath for the 1700

You should have saved a s/s of that. That's a treasure.

Gryph
08-07-2016, 09:10 PM
I did, but that computer is so old and imageshack doesn't exist anymore lol

|AFO|
08-08-2016, 09:46 AM
Considering AL roflstomped 10 out of the original Netjak 12 and lost to Bottle and Allstar, I'd say that list does justice.

...

I couldn't resist.

Allstar, Bottle, Bullcat, and I beat your 12 players, so no. You didn't roflstomp the 10 out of 12. I went 3/4 against you all. I lost to FireBrand in turtle, with some luck helping him pull out a close game. Had I remained in grey I wouldn't have lost. Bullcat went 2/3. Had he remained in free I doubt he would have lost either. Bottle and Allstar finished you all off, but they got to stay in their respective styles longer. I recall a lot of early games were close that swung your way with a little blocking, but the better team still won. Cool story though.

Gryph
08-08-2016, 11:05 AM
I don't remember you being in that, at all actually, bullcat yes (I think HolidayForHire won that game). I remember pretty vividly we went 8-4 in the opening round. and Firebrand beat someone else next round, I thought that was Spliff, not you. I also remember at one point I had to go grey to face Bottle because there were no one left turtle on your side when Bottle beat FreshEvaus and Mei (tripleseven). Fuck now I wanna go back and reread that thread. The only game I remember anyone bitching about luck was Mantis vs Twelve.

|AFO|
08-08-2016, 11:18 AM
I was involved. You all went 8-4 in the opening round. I do not specifically remember which games had luck involved. But the remaining four were me allstar bottle and bullcat. And we each won multiple games. I won 2 or 3 grey games, but had to move to turtle and lost to FireBrand. Now that I think about it I must have only won 2 grey games before being put in turtle. My match against FireBrand was close, but knight blocking at the end pulled his way. I wouldn't say that I outplayed him though.

|AFO|
08-08-2016, 11:23 AM
(28) Bullcat0 - I may have ranked him too high on this list, but he always kicked my ass in freestyle when I played him and I have a very high opinion of him. He was the 7th overall pick in PSST2. He was part of NJ’s Fantastique Four, along with |AFO|, Bottle, and Allstar.

That last sentence is in regards to the AL vs. NJ war. We were dubbed that after the war and were considered the top 4 in the 12 at the time.

manonfire101
08-08-2016, 12:35 PM
That would be a cool story if it were true, AFO. Unfortunately I know first hand that Netjak sucks balls.

|AFO|
08-08-2016, 03:43 PM
Are you trying to tell me that your list shouldn't be taken as gospel? :o

I thought this list was like the Bible of TAO and that I am basically TAO Jesus.

Mar
08-08-2016, 03:54 PM
I think AFO only comes back to the forums because we keep stroking his cock in this thread

Spencer 555
08-08-2016, 04:28 PM
You're just mad you didn't make it on the list.

|AFO|
08-08-2016, 04:34 PM
I think AFO only comes back to the forums because we keep stroking his cock in this thread

Mostly. I am keeping tabs on new game development though.

rainblade
08-08-2016, 04:59 PM
I think AFO only comes back to the forums because we keep stroking his cock in this thread

Nah, AFO just has a fucking steel trap for a memory when it comes to TAO game history. Get on his level, bitch.

Mar
08-08-2016, 05:50 PM
You're just mad you didn't make it on the list.

Oh, but I did :D

rainblade
08-08-2016, 06:38 PM
Oh, but I did :D

out with it, then, queer. who are you? put your money where your mouth is.

manonfire101
08-08-2016, 08:07 PM
Are you trying to tell me that your list shouldn't be taken as gospel? :o

I thought this list was like the Bible of TAO and that I am basically TAO Jesus.

I just put all of you NJ'ers on here because you suck and I feel bad for you.

Well, except for you, AFO. You have some good games every once in a while.

Spencer 555
08-08-2016, 08:28 PM
Oh, but I did :D

Nope, no kash on the list. Sorry try again :)

rainblade
08-08-2016, 08:53 PM
As mentioned, Spencer, Cliche's list is in no particular order. Thinking about the history of the listed clans, it's really difficult for me to say which should be ranked higher in terms of dominance, relevance, etc. SI and NJ are clearly the top 2 in just about any category, but after that it gets really cloudy. A phonebook type of thing with some info on each memorable clan would be cool to write up at some point.

I just read this and I want to make a spreadsheet and rate clans by certain criteria, and put some rough write-ups down on paper for clans and most influential players/moments/people/clans. Anyone interested in teaming up with me to do that? I would need someone prominent with a good memory from the early era (before 2004) and the late era (after 2011) and the middle era (the golden era) (2004-approx. 2011). Let me know, plox.

Duraza
06-05-2017, 12:37 PM
I had a thread on that some time back, with some generic ratings. I think in my mind at least SI and NJ were a near-even tie, with NJ getting some points for being active in clan wars and SI getting some points for more longevity.

Ah well.

Gryph
06-07-2017, 08:21 PM
Every time this thread shows up in my subscription box, my eye gets a slight twitch of anger.

Veilmenacex
06-15-2017, 07:43 PM
Mostly. I am keeping tabs on new game development though.

I'm lAFOl''s cheerleader