i58 Player Rankings – Top 5 Players Overall

Okei, enough of my opinions about my opinions. Here are my rankings for the top five players overall at i58:

 

5. Hafficool

Credit: @Crownsgg

Picking the fifth best player at i58 was a difficult one, there were so many good performances. I was toying with the ideal of Raymon, Drackk, Alle , Kaptain and there are valid cases for all of them. What swung it for me with Hafficool was the thought of what would have happened if Hafficool did not play as well as he did. Would Crowns have done as well with a different pocket or a different med, potentially but without Hafficool to hold everything together it could have been a different story. His discipline and consistency is a key part of Crowns being able to play the way they do. Especially when you take into account the amount of additional pressure Silentes and Mike bring to the opposing pocket scout when they were playing as they did.

Hafficool’s role became more difficult but he rose to the occasion and was a crucial part of Crown’s road to becoming world champions.

 

4. Paulsen

Credit: @malplays

Paulsen really was so good at i58. What always impresses me the most about the Australian’s who come over and compete at i-series is how they adapt and raise their play to compete with the best around the world when their domestic scene is often lacking real competition in depth. There were questions about whether Paulsen could replicate his form domestically against the best in the world but after i58 there were no doubts left. He not only performed against the best he outperformed most of them and much as Yuki was the key for Immunity back when they came over, Paulsen was the key for Jasmine Tea.

There was little he did wrong and if the other teams had not stepped their game up to the degree they did we could of finally seen Jasmine Tea break the fourth place curse. While he did not leave with a novelty cheque he definitely left with the hearts of the TF2 community.

 

3. Silentes

Credit: @XavierHardy8

Let’s All Cheer For Silentes, and with good reason. A player who has always had potential but often found himself lost or out of sync with his team and never quite reached the level that his raw skill would have you believe he could reach. To then come in to his first LAN ever and perform the way he did was remarkable. He was the driving force behind Full Tilt’s day 2 revival. The way he initiated so many of their successful pushes and got crucial picks to start off every fight. i58 was a demonstration of what Silentes can achieve from Pocket Soldier and he was sensational. Everything that went well for Full Tilt was started by their soldiers and the comeback from their disappointing domestic finish and their disappointing exit from the upper bracket was something to behold. The difference he made for his team is what made Silentes the third best player at the event, truly taking his team to a new level.

 

2. Stark

Credit: @Crownsgg

Stark is one of the most talented all-round players in the world. This was demonstrated at i55 where he played roamer for the first map of the Grand Final on Sunshine and reinforced by his great performance off-classing at i58. I spoke before about how much Crown’s rely on Stark to open up games for them and for him to change rounds. Stark does this so often in so many different ways, on different classes and it puts him above any other scout in the world at the moment. Stark’s DM is as good as any one elses but what really puts him on another level is his consistently intelligent play. He always seems to be thinking more about every play and how to make the most of every opportunity and this is what allows him to make these round and game changing plays with such consistency.

 

There have been very few players who have put the effort in Stark has to all the little things. He so often exploits the smallest of things that most players would not even recognise as an opportunity. Best example the round winning play on Process in the Grand Final, going behind while Mike was getting ammo/buffs. A truly fitting way for Stark to win his team the world title and an invaluable member of the Crown’s roster.

 

1. Mike

Credit: TFTV Andy Bones and Austen “Taggerung” Wade

Mike has been regarded as the best soldier for a long time, his DM is un-paralleled. He can hit the most insane shots but what makes him stand out is his ability to always come away with a trade, regardless of the situation. Every time he finds himself in a 1v1, a 1v2 he always seems to get at least a trade, perfect rockets that make him a constant threat.

On top of this he consistently top damages despite getting less heals while playing roamer, a role that traditionally is more difficult to get good stats on. However he does this time and again, the threat and talent that he has forces other teams to commit more resources to containing him. This means even without doing anything he contributes to his team. Then you factor his ability to do great damage in every fight, to find the important picks. Mike hits a crazy number of the flashy shots and gets plenty the big plays too. Mike did everything he could to lead his team to the World Championship but it was not to be. Despite not winning Mike impressed as always and was the best player at i58, and the best soldier TF2 has ever had anywhere in the world.

Final Thoughts

 

i58 was a truly incredible LAN with some great individual and team performances. Europe came out on top thanks to a great step-up in cohesion and aggression from Full Tilt and an organised, clinical Crowns roster masterminded by Coach kaidus.

My final top five players were unsurprising constructed from players I rated top of their class at the event previously. The placement I had the most second thoughts about was Hafficool, mainly considering alle as a possible fifth best player at the event for stepping it up the way he did at DreamHack Summer and also contributing on the comms. With Full Tilt there is not a defined main caller in the traditional sense as someone like say Byte or Ipz so while I am sure he made a positive difference, I do not think the impact was as great as some main callers have been in the past. While Hafficool’s responsible, diligent, smart pocket scouting was so consistent it gave the rest of his team a great platform to build from. In the same vein Kaptain and Raymon were considerations for fifth as they were super consistent and reliable as well but I felt Hafficool was more important than both in Crowns’ setup.

Other than that all the other top five rankings fell into place for me. Mike is clearly the best TF2 player who is still playing right now and Stark is not far behind. Following him was Silentes, the player who stepped up the most. Then Paulsen who was the focal point for everything Jasmine Tea did.

Crowns were worthy winners and the quality of the whole event is credit to every other team involved. Going into the event everyone was talking about how this is the closest the teams have been at any i-series and that was exactly what we got. The amount of draws we saw on Day 1 were testament to this. It is going to be fascinating watching the EU and NA shuffle take place following this event, both Froyotech and Crowns have already made changes. Both teams have taken the lion share of talent after RONIN and Full Tilt disbanded looking to continue domestic dominance and build towards the next intercontinental LAN. Despite the sceptics TF2 is not dead and with new ETF2L and ESEA Seasons (Presumably stuff is happening in Australia too) are right around the corner and with them more top level TF2 is inbound.