Gravon's 19 most valuable players

sadistic · Last edited by sadistic on 13.03.2006 17:48; edited 7 times in total

Here is a list of the most valuable players here at gravon. and the reasons why I picked these players. The list is not necessarily in order.

gpet0 - A highly skilled player who plays often and doesn't duck anybody.

Sadistic - I play everyone, have excellent skills and play often. In addition, I am a legend on the forum and the bedrooms of the world

. I also help new players with strategies.

Esquire - Has a high skill level, unusual style and plays many of his games with viewing on. He hides from nothing and is the furthest thing from a wimp. He could be more active, though.

Achilles - Not the best player but always a good sport and plays a lot. He seems to be improving his game.

ricardo90 - Has a very good game and plays the best without any fear. He plays often as well.

tomahawk - an aggressive player with lots of ability. He plays often and his games are action packed.

tableplay - A hell of a gentleman who is fairly active. How can anybody not like this guy? Well, Brasnikos doesn't but then again, what value does an institutional escapee's opinion have?

Rapunzel - A quiet player who is highly active, doesn't offend anybody and comes to play.

Keyser_Shihan - Plays all 3 types of stratego (UL, classic, barrage) well and gives the night time hours a regular boost.

bolivar - Plays many, many games and is a good competitor. He never complains or utilizes questionable tactics.

rubie newbie - plays often, loves competition and a challenge. He also contributes a lot to the forum.

Black Evil - Is playing a lot more in recent times and is a highly skilled player. As of late he has changed his "pretty boy" ways and looks for the best competition. Good job, BE!

maribo - another player who is consistently strong and fairly active. Maribo has a high rank at the present time and seems to have become inactive. This could be the result of the dreaded "pretty boy" syndrome, which, if found to be true, will surely eradicate him from this list.

miltos 41 - not very creative, he plays a simple yet effective game. Getting "miltosed" is a painful experience and nobody is devoid of the possibility. Miltos makes me laugh and that has a value in itself.

Brass - An escapee like this is worth the inherent entertainment that he provides.

Skilgannon - has played 700 games already and that says it all.

Ogetarts - If you ever want to know which stratego site is better, ask the Oge man. He is also an active writer on the forum and a regular on the gamefield.

Art - This is the #1 underdog, upset player if there ever was one. He has had some miraculous and hilarious victories over some of the best players and has proven heroic when it was least expected. Art is unafraid to engage in verbal warfare and deserves some accolades for this fact. He is also frequently online during the night hours in USA time and participates in some entertaining online conversation.

meiko - plays a no bs game and loves taking a good a$$ whipping. After all, he always comes back for more.

ruben87 · Posted: 08.03.2006 02:13 Post subject:

nice post, its surprising you (tried to) put my name in it too.

I only dont know how you selected the players cause there are much better players then players like miltos41, achilles and myself.

The selecting does not make any sence
I think you should add Bounty,leto too for exampel, they are better player then me and they post on the forum too.

I also think you should not add yourself but you will never learn that I think

.

sadistic · Posted: 08.03.2006 02:58 Post subject:

Ruben, don't you get it? Playing skill is only one of the criteria in the most valuable players list. What good is the world's best player to gravon if he barely ever plays?

tableplay · Fortgeschrittener Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 121

-deleted260 · Posted: 08.03.2006 07:45 Post subject:

Sadistic....it is an honor to be chosen for this prestigous category...i thank you and promise to continue to light up the chat box as i always do my friend. Without you...the forum would be DEAD , the chat box would be DEAD. In closing...i would like to thank you for the excellent game you bring to gravon..your friend Keyser_Soze...(MasterShihan)

_________________
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled... was convincing people he did not exist..

unbiasbob · Alter Hase Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 604

This dude fired off a 22 game win streak which started when he was ranked #203. This to me is mind boggling. I mean dudes, I don't care how selectively he picked his opponents over that stretch (oh he's the best hand picker around, I'm not worthy), to reel off a streak like that is awesome. I tip my hat to the dude for that.

esquire · Posted: 13.03.2006 07:54 Post subject:

HAHA....well all his opponents were ranked below 1200? So, I think Sadistic made a wise choice. Sorry man, but if he played me and beat me one of the numerous times I asked him during his streak I would have more respect for it, but he told me he would not play. So maybe he could be the king of the "1500 and lower club" but not in the top 18. He did play a game vs me recently, but it still was not during his streak. I fully understand where he was coming from, so the second half of this post is not targeted at him.And by the way, I do not agree with about 13 of this top 18. But he is using different criteria than I would.

The funniest thing about Gravon, and about almost any other competitive area of life, is that there are many people that will do almost anything to inflate their ego. This translates into playing certain targeted opponents that you have "scouted" well enough to know you will have the greatest chance to win. You will collect wins. Then you will marvel at the great accomplishment you achieved: Being higher in the ratings than your true worth. Now this might be a great thing to you, especially if you are highly competitive or need something else out of life, but c'mon, it is a game. Now you may be asking yourselves some questions about why I am saying this, or does he have proof of this?

Well, I am saying this because it becomes nauseating when someone wants to play a game, and the only people online at the time are the ones that will tell me, "I only will play against you unranked", or "I am not playing at the moment" and the moment I start a game with someone else--they enter a ranked game vs someone else. This is very irritating.

And to the other question, I have personally witnessed players (higher ranked than their skill level) use stalling techniques, demanding draws when they have no hope of getting a real draw or win, or calling their opponent names because their "precious" high rank or current win streak is in jeopardy.

I hope everyone remembers this is ONLY A GAME. So, have fun, play as often as you have the free time for, and stop avoiding certain players. If you only want to play unranked games--be uniform and play all unranked games against EVERYONE, not just the opponents that give you a better chance to sustain your current streak or high rating.........

For this reason, I truly believe that Gpet0, Ricardo, and Sadistic deserve to be in the top 3 on this list, followed by repunzel and tomahawk. They play anyone that comes to their table, always want a rematch, win or lose, and maintain a high rating. These people do not care about rating, but are still ranked high. My impression is that they are good players and all play the game for fun.

art · Alter Hase Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 325 Location: USA

Sky Walker is a good player, regardless of the streak. Without the streak its just 2006, isn't he playing everyone now? Winsome Losesome.
Unbiasbob beat Luke twice in a row while I watched, where was the "force" at that moment. Unbiasbob was about 1250 at the time so perhaps esquire is right.

But poor Luke does have those paternal issues to deal with.

Luke is a nice guy he is not one to offer silly draws, and I do think its ok for a player who let's say has the potential to rise to 1600 pts someday to actually play unranked games for a long time. Maybe he wants to learn first before he gets all these losses. The problem is any 1600 or better player playing an unranked game is going to relax his game and loosen up a bit and not play his best game and Luke isn't going to learn much.

Its easy for a top 50 player to play anyone, but I respect the top 50 who don't because of the lucky lottoer. But I think if skywalker wants to work on winning percentage, then let him do so. But if he did play only the top 50 instead, I think he'd enjoy the game a lot more than playing some of the crappy players( like a "fred") I have seen him play in his unregistered nick games. Its easy to make the list that esquire mentions because those players are good. Its not hard to play anyone when you feel confident you'll win more than 65% of the time.
10% of the players on here, are in a class by themselves. They expect to be able to beat any opponent at any time. In any non early-lotto game, these guys have anaylitical skills including being able to sense an opponents bluffs, know when to rush or when to pull back etc. Its to the rest of us pukes that have to decide where are we going to fit. Some know they've learned all they are going to learn so maybe they play any game crash and burn. That's me. Others play for fun, and others play for wins. So what who cares. Life's competitive, games are too. Games are not always stress reducers.

Tableplay - do you still need me to drive my vehicle into...

unbiasbob · Alter Hase Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 604

LOL, I got to agree with Eskie that those attempted draws by players hopelessly down in a game are massively lame (I'm a poet). However, personally I do not have a problem with bottom 50 players avoiding top 50 for ranked games

esquire · Posted: 13.03.2006 08:28 Post subject:

HAHA bob. If it was only the bottom 50 players avoiding I could care less. But, the bottom players never avoid games, it is mostly some of the top players (high ranked, not necessarily the top players though) that use this technique.

unbiasbob · Alter Hase Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 604

That's classic eskie and I know what you mean. I'd like to add a new player to our list by the name of Ponslerg (The Ponz is way cool). This dude has 7 total wins and went winless in his first 24 games. Now check this out, in his last 5 games he has beaten General, Dirac and Rapunzel. You see my friends, blind squirrels do finds acorns

unbiasbob · Alter Hase Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 604

sadistic · Posted: 13.03.2006 17:35 Post subject:

Rubie newbie made the list because of his competitive nature and the fact that he is active. In my opinion what makes a valuable player is what he or she contributes to the site. To exaggerate things, if everybody avoided one another, there would not be many games taking place. The most valuable players are the ones who have lots of ability but who are also very active and do not avoid other players, regardless of skill. A top level player who avoids low ranked players is not helping the lower skilled players improve. If he avoids high ranked players, he is merely a "pretty boy", who is undeserving of his rank. Esquire is "right on" with his assessments. In my opinion, activity is the most important aspect of who is valuable here, followed by skill and a few other lesser factors. Those players who are high on both skill and activity levels are undoubtedly the best assets that this site has. Thank you, Esquire for mentioning me as one of the top 3 valuable players. The thing that I like about Esquire is that he often plays his games with viewing on. He also discusses strategies openly and this increases the fun factor for those who are sharing these experiences with him. I do not know gpet0 at all but I can see that he plays often. I have also heard from others, things such as, "gpet taught me that", which shows that he openly helps other players learn the game. This is very valuable and of a mature nature. Maybe some of you do not agree with some of my less skilled players on this list. Keep in mind that this list is not in order and that these players always want to play. These kind of players keep the site bouncing, so to speak and have important value in doing so.

tableplay · Fortgeschrittener Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 121

OGETARTS · Posted: 13.03.2006 18:50 Post subject:

Thanks for including me, Sadistic.

OGE