well my personal vote goes to Timi or Szeweningen. I might have some nice ratings, but it's like lolo stated - only If I'm focused enough. For some reason I'm not always giving my 100%,

Although I haven't played against them in last 2 years on Start ME, my ratings against both of them are not so impressive:

Timinatior vs Latnox (1v1) 6:0
Szeweningen vs Latnox (1v1) 1:0

also Widzisz maybe is a bit rusty now, but I've learned alot from him back then and I was afraid him like hell

Widzisz - nie przesadzaj. Jeszcze nie dawno rządziłeś na dzielni :D

Also there are some players, that just should be mentioned here regardless of what opinion they have now. Like HHH, myhand, Gnuffone, Fridge, Timon

'By strategic I mean that the player should be able to adapt to different playstyles' well clearly thats timi. Me summer and krzychu dont belong in that list at all, we can really only do one template, and we play pretty much the same whoever we are against.

My vote goes to Norman

Looks like everyone is forgetting Billy Walsh, we've already established he is the best player warlight has ever seen.

Gruffone, Master of the Dead, and Qi should all be added to this list.

MotD has 2nd place on all laters (not that he cares about ranks) but he also performs well on seasonals and stuff. Just look it up.

Gnuffone has been a well rounded top player for years. Yes he has had some 'ethical' issues but everything he's gotten from cheating he's done just as well at without cheating.

Qi has the real time ladder rating record. As the founder of 20 he has to be badass. He's topped all ladders (not seasonal) and is still actively playing.

My top 3 strategic players of today:
1. Latnox
2. Timinator
3. Master of Deseaster

I reckon a computer could beat all of them.

On 0%SR, NLC, No Fog, No Wastelands, Not random warlords... any of the AIs made for warlight wouldn't even come close.

@mod,an alt nameed Yves had a run of 2403 points on rt ladder

My top 3 strategic players of today:
1.Szeweningen
2.Timinator
3.Latnox

I think this is a very interesting question and not one that is easily answered. I don't believe one player stands out above the rest based purely on 1v1 play. That said, I believe there are only a few players who really have a claim as being the best:

Latnox: His 1v1 ladder run is the best run ever seen on the 1v1 ladder. His Seasonal performance this season was also extremely impressive. His realtime ladder performance is also strong, although not as strong as many others. I personally know very little about his style or his play so can't give a qualitative analysis.

Szeweningen: The king of the realtime ladder early on. He has taken #1 on 1v1 in the past but hasn't played it recently. I believe his activity is his biggest detriment. He's definitely a player to be wary of, and he must be included in this list. He seems to make fewer mistakes than any other player and his play has a certain beauty to it.

Gnuffone: Gotten a 2300+ run with one account on the realtime ladder, and 2200+ with his main (which started out well below 2100). He has taken #1 many times on the 1v1 ladder. He also won a seasonal with his alt. I believe Gnuffone's technical skill is below most of the other players listed here, but his ability to correctly predict opponents is likely the best in the game.

Timinator: He has taken #1 on all 3 individual ladders, although none with outstanding ratings. Just taking #1 on all 3 is a huge accomplishment though, and if he tried to make a big run on the 1v1 ladder, I believe he could achieve 2300+ without much trouble. He is often where you least expect him, and his games are interesting and fun to watch.

Gui: I don't know whether or not he belongs here. But his 1v1 ladder runs currently are very nice (on at least 2 accounts with 2300+ ratings, potentially more). His realtime ladder run on Yves is currently the realtime ladder record holder. I think it is tough to know how good he actually is, but I believe he can make a claim to be the best at 1v1.

These five seem to stand out among other players. I'm not saying these five are the best (Myhand, masterofdesaster, Odin, and some others should also be seriously considered). I do believe these five have performed the best on the ladders, and objectively shown they are top 1v1 players. I believe accurately choosing one out of this pack at 1v1 is a joke. I would assume that even these players do not think one stands out above the best (even themself). Personally, my biggest fear out of these five would be Szeweningen, but that does not make him the best out of them. It's my opinion, and could be partially based on how his playstyle works against mine.

If we just consider the Strategic 1v1 template, I believe there are 15-20 players that are at the top level of it.

Edited 9/12/2015 03:26:13

My Top 3:

Giant Frog
MOD
QB

:)

B-Cool (the widowmaker) https://www.warlight.net/Profile?p=3811333145

Edited 9/12/2015 04:02:07

1. Timinator
2. Latnox
3. HHH

I think this is a very interesting question and not one that is easily answered.

Why not easily?

All what we need a good competitive system where these players can fight againts eachother and everybody can see who is the best...

Unfortunatelly the present systems are not good for this purpuse, and seems Fizzer never will do a perfect system for professional competitive playing because it is not important for him :(

But I still cannot understand why do not do this system the competitive community for themselves...

Only 2 steps:

1. Collect all competitive warlight players, but filter the alts! (this second part is not a simple task but a must)
2. Together create a really good competitive system (btw I still think the present chess competitive system would be perfect to implement into warlight (chess monthly ELO ranking (patrons could make big iterative coin tourneys with added prizes like Linares, Wijk aan Zee in the chess), World Championship Cycle, etc.)

But I am afraid this status (without any accurate competitive system) is good for the community, because in this way everybody can be the best :P

So I think I am the best warlight player ever!
Just don't have enough time to play to show this you :P

WarLight has some luck factor involved so it's not that interesting if you won a certain game but if you played sound. The ultimative way to measure someone's skill is by a better player criticising his gameplay. The problem I see with you guys voting for who is the best is that you yourself aren't the best so you don't have the ability to tell. As it happens I am the best player in the history of WarLight. I can also prove this easily by letting the best player in the history of WarLight criticise my gameplay and it's always A++.

Edited 9/12/2015 13:03:04

Not counting games where I got booted before it started and a couple of games where I got booted in a winning position, my record against top players:

TFSB v Timmy 2-1
TFSB v Latnox 2-1
TFSB v Krzychu 30-14 (sorry Krzychu)
TFSB v MOD 8-6
TFSB v Piggy 4-4
TFSB v SZE 4-2
TFSB v Widzisz 4-1
TFSB v Summer 7-4
TFSB v Qi 3-2
----
61-33 = 65% wp

Players against whom I have a losing record
TFSB v Gnuffone: 6-8
TFSB v HHH 6-8
TFSB v Quicksand 5-13

So predictably my vote goes to those 2 guys at the bottom ;)

Just realized that to be fair, I needed to remove games where opponent got booted before starting and in winning position, but all wins show up the same in summary and I am not going to go through 61 games. Best guess, there are ~4 games that need to be removed from the wins.

i think there is no best

there r a lot of top players.

its like in the sport. there is one top player or one top team for one season or maybe more. but still there is no best player in my opinion, just a few top players.
they all have their runs and then thats it.

as i can remember timi didnt play this season cause he didnt like the settings, is that the best player who doesnt play cause of settings? i doubt that. but he is still a beast, like others. (timi, i dont remember that good with the seasonal, so if im wrong im sorry) but i know that a lot of top players didnt play it cause of settings; and then im suppose to call them top players, NO.

i think those top player have there + and - on different maps and settings, so u cant say someone is the best.

also i think the 1vs1 ladder means nothing when it comes to top players. guys, its always the same map and the same setting. yes there r top players on that ladder, but often they r not top on other maps.
i suck for example at 1vs1 ladder on that map but on other im doing better. for me its so boring, but hey, thats me.

i think the real deal is the realtime ladder, cause of different maps and settings.
thats where i can see top players, and on the seasonal.

i think all those players u metioned r top but i think u forgot especially one name, and thats
ACL Tears, i like his style and he is a beast as the others r.

peace out

Also important to mention Ruthless Bastard, the best seasonal ladder player of all time

TFSB vs ACL Tears 1-0
TFSB vs Ruthless 4-4

"Timinator: if he tried to make a big run on the 1v1 ladder, I believe he could achieve 2300+ without much trouble." Definitely not, his games are fun to watch but hes ranked 18th in the ladder atm for a reason. he is playing in a very...odd way. He still guesses a lot but he is wrong more often now.

On my last ladderperiod i played more like casual games for fun, no real counting or planning on picks. Just what my gut told me.

Don't forget Odin he is the best I know and he helped me a lot to improve ;)
Then it was very fine to play with summer two times, nice chat and analyse of my mistakes ;)
Piggy was surly a good player but I dont like him much.

I don't know Timi but if he like we could play a game or two ;)

In my opinion the best overall player are the RT-Ladder player, there are much different maps and settings.
I myself are awful bad in RT-Ladder so I can't say who is the best one :(