TEK9 QuakeLive Rankings February - Meet the Panel

Liam "crow" Crowley

A former key member of GotFrag's European coverage team, Liam Crowley has covered Quake, Counter-Strike and Call of Duty around the world at EuroCups, ESWCs, WSVGs and more.

2010 sees Liam return to the competitive gaming world after a brief hiatus, taking over QuakeLive coverage on TEK9 as the game continues to grow and grow. The 22 year old brings a wealth of experience to the site after working alongside some of the biggest names in gaming and has already become a regular contributor.

Despite currently residing in Sydney, Australia, Liam stays up-to-date with the latest Quake happenings in both Europe and North America and heads the panel as TEK9's resident expert.

"Grading the world's best players is never easy but right now, with the top five so tight, it's tougher than ever. It's hard not to slot rapha straight into first place but I do feel Cypher's IEM EU performance gives him the edge in our ranking simply because rapha looked so beatable at the American finals. All this could easily change come March but for now the Belarusian is the form player and he's done just about enough to deserve top spot.

av3k comes third after consecutive victories over Cooller but, like his teammate, he still has a lot to prove - especially after the manner in which he took second place at the IEM EU finals. He will want to prove his critics wrong after the messy handling of the T7 replay and he'll have the perfect chance to do so at CeBIT. av3k's Russian friend/rival will have to settle for fourth despite looking a lot better at times and the unpredictable DaHanG rounds off a very evenly-matched top five. The remaining players are without a doubt a level below at the moment but I will go out on a limb and say strenx might continue to surprise at big events in 2010 if he can keep learning and get some confidence."

Michal "Carmac" Blicharz

A two times esports award winner for journalism with GGL and SK, Michal Blicharz has since made the switch to tournament organisation at ESL and is now considered by many to be one of the most important figures in Quake's uncertain future.

Described in his own words as "malicious, cynical, annoying, petty, rash and impatient", Michal has somehow still managed to endear himself to a community not known for normally welcoming ex-UT players. In his role as Product Manager for the Intel Extreme Masters, the Pole has overseen QuakeLive's explosive growth in ESL and has been ever-present at the company's events across the world.

A well-known figure among the game's most biggest stars, Michal has his finger on the pulse of competitive Quake and provides a unique perspective into the world of top level play.

"In my eyes, Cypher has just won the toughest QuakeLive event in history so result-wise there's no way to put him below number one. At the same time, though, skill-wise he's very even with the top three or four. Next comes av3k as I think second place at the IEM EU finals and a victory at Dreamhack speak volumes about his potential. This leaves the most consistent Quake player of 2009, rapha, in third as I think he's slipped a little and with his defeat to DaHanG we can finally begin to question his dominance.

Cooller places fourth but arguably deserves higher, while DaHanG just needs more consistency to improve on his fifth place this time around. strenx takes sixth as, although he still has much to learn, he has proven a lot by breaking into the top four in Cologne. There are no Americans aside of DaHanG and rapha who are clearly better than fox, so Europe's number five is the world's number seven for me - closely followed by stermy. Chance takes ninth after qualifying for the global finals and Spart1e picks up the last spot as his bad luck does not change the fact that he is still feared by all top players."

Rod "Slasher" Breslau

An often controversial figure in the Quake scene, Rod Breslau has played the series for close to a decade now and over that time has never shied away from speaking his mind.

Formerly of GotFrag, ESReality and SK, Rod now works as a social media consultant and lines up alongside fellow esports enthusiasts Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham and Scott "SirScoots" Smith on popular gaming radio show "Live on Three", where the issues of the week are thrashed out and high profile guests are rolled out on a regular basis.

Rod's expertise on both the American and the worldwide Quake scene have cemented his place in the game's history after years of work alongside commentators, tournament organisers, admins and just about anybody who'll listen to what he has to say when it comes to Quake!

"The top three spots between rapha, Cypher and av3k are all relatively interchangeable to me, but rapha gets the top spot with the benefit of the doubt. rapha won QuakeCon, IEM Dubai and GamesCom consecutively, and only just missed out on a 3-0 win at the IEM North American championships. A no-show at Dreamhack and a lack of practice as of late could be reasons for his stock to fall, but I see no reason to justify a ranking any other than first until proven otherwise.

Cypher defeating av3k at the IEM European Championships defines the second and third spots, while Cooller's extremely impressive but "unlucky" results moves him down just behind the pack. DaHanG has shown to be the second most impressive North American player while strenx finally proved himself on LAN at the European Championships. Fox and stermy have had decent performances but both have faltered down the stretch in the latter stages of the bracket. noctis, a potential top three player after his strong performances earlier in the season, has seemingly lost the motivation to stay on top, or has continued with mentality issues that keep him from getting back."

Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner

Considered one of the most highly respected gaming commentators around, Paul Chaloner has over eight years of experience and a CV that covers basically every gaming tournament worth knowing about.

An expert in many games, Paul's first love - other than brightly coloured cars - has always been fast-paced FPS games. In his time he's worked with GGL, iTG, the CGS and, since March 2007, the company he co-founded, QuadV. There he's commentated on games ranging from the ClanBase OpenCup to the World Cyber Games finals and everything in-between.

Paul is a keen follower of Quake's top stars, whether he's casting their matches, sharing coaching tips or simply tuning in to follow their latest results. Often opinionated... but rarely wrong.

"Our first month of rankings on QuakeLive here at TEK9 will of course be very subjective. What do you base it on? How far back do you go and which tournaments mattered most? It's tricky to know, but for me there is still only one player who sticks out at the top over the last twelve months and that's Mr. Hendrixson.

Yes, he was finally beaten at a tournament at the last time of asking, but you can't take anything away from his 2009 achievements based on one single tournament, which can't be treated as a flop just because he lost a game to the ever-improving DaHanG.

Of the rest, they aren't far behind and catching up fast are the two youngsters, who right now in 2010 seem almost like veterans despite their tender years, the Serious Twins of av3k and Cypher. Both are capable of explosive Quake, mind-blogging shot creation and have now added experience and guile to their repertoire. No longer are they the proteges or the padawans, instead, either or both of these great friends has the chance to reach the kind of fan adoration that only a select few achieve.

Outside of my personal top three, it's much closer and much harder to decide where people go. My heart says Cooller has to be number one, but that's just my fanboyism breaking out in to full swing, instead my head says DaHanG, purely on results should be just above for now. The rest of my top ten contains fox (still the nearly man), Stermy (great application, but still waiting for a big result), dkt (almost the forgotten man again!), Z4muZ (fantastic return after 100 years out of the game to reach the final at Dreamhack) and just about hanging on to a top ten spot is noctis."

Duncan "Thorin" Shields

Another gaming veteran on the panel, Duncan Shields first made his mark in gaming journalism in 2001 on ESReality (then called XSReality) and has been going strong ever since.

Currently Editor-in-Chief for SK-Gaming, Duncan is a well respected figure in both the Quake and Counter-Strike scenes and is often referred to as a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to either. Famous for his in-depth interviews and movie reviews, the 26 year old has worked hard to fill the shoes of past SK editors Malystryx and Carmac despite a disruptive 2009 for the German organisation.

Almost a decade of watching the big names come and go in Quake haven't dulled Duncan's enthusiasm for the game and he remains as dedicated a fan as ever.

"The IEM EU finals really seemed to suggest that the Eastern European trinity of QuakeLive is on another level from everyone else right now. rapha may have slipped up at Edmonton but it felt like DaHanG played at his absolute peak while rapha looked a little distracted by external issues and wasn't playing at his own peak.

Cooller has the potential to rank anywhere in the top four at any moment but his repeated losses in close situations suggest something is still waiting to fall into place for the Russian maestro, despite being the most entertaining player to spectate in Quake still. The other players are all fairly close and it seems as though their rankings for the last few months and the upcoming few will largely be decided by how hot they are or aren't for the next tournament."

Follow next month's QuakeLive rankings on TEK9 after the IEM Global Finals.