Rock: Back in the late 90s Zetor were one of the top clans around and indeed featured a couple of former tVS players like Hibdan and Acid. My favourite at the time however was Rock who had an aggressive style of play.

Trinidy: Probably the standout player at Euthanasia, his movement was extremely good at a time when bunny-hopping wasn’t really mainstream. IIRC he quit QW to take up Q3, which is a shame.

ParadokS: A very consistent performer over an extended period, one of the defining points of QW in the early noughties was the rivalry between E/SR and FF/LA. 10 years ago he was famed for his shaft (and of course, the Cheapo 2.61 incident!) but over the years he developed a solid all-round style

Pietro: Flaming Fist developed the mantle of fast, dynamic play introduced by ZR/E and he was a large part of that with his combination of movement, aim and teamplay. Possibly the best dm3 quad-runner of that period.

Dag: Came across as having quite an attitude/ego problem but nobody could deny his ability to frag. As an ISDN player he was the king of YA, but once he moved to broadband he quickly became the sort of player who could own you anywhere on the map, regardless of what kit you had.

Gamer: I first noticed Gamer around the SD2 period when Koff developed an extremely solid dm3 game. Quadrunners tend to get all the fame and attention but it wasn’t long before SR snapped him up and his solid play around RA/ring area was a lynchpin of their success.

Shiva / Memil: We played a modem prac against some Swedes once (featuring the likes of Razor, Mutilator and Sub iirc?) and he was the standout player. Very comfortable on a high ping and strong on all maps.

Nabbe: His unbelievable shaft caught my eye at Lithium in the early smackdown days and was pretty monstrous on e1m2 as well. Famously identified as a weak link in LA’s lineup by Sassa, he was anything but.

Hibdan: By the mid-2000s he had developed into arguably the best 4on4 player around. Once he got dm2 low rl locked down, you had no chance.

Fifi: I’m including him because he’s a nice guy and had the ability to think outside the box in terms of trying innovative tricks/shots etc. Lol.

Fix: An absolute monster and one of the few who could rival Hib during that era. A very astute teamplay mind coupled with phenomenal skills and very few mistakes had quakers across the continent, well, quaking at the prospect of facing him.

Riker: I really don’t know if I should include him, sometimes I wonder if he was a solid as teamplayer as most on this list. But his aggressive ssg-fuelled quadrunning on e1m2 and dm2 win out, when he was on form there were few more devastating opponents around. Ultimately, if I was picking my dream e1m2 lineup 5 years ago, he would have been in it.

Reppie: Back in the early 00s there was seemingly a general view that any player from outside Scandinavia couldn’t actually be a top player (note where all the above names come from!). However Reppie in some ways was a pioneer in this regard as his devastating performances for Firing Squad helped to eliminate this view. An aggressive player that spectators queued up to watch.

Striker: One of those annoying players. You know, the ones that always seem to have RL. And LG. And 500h. And wherever you spawn on the map, they are waiting round the next corner to kill you in one shot. Seriously, just FOAD.

Razor: Decent TP and strong on all maps. One of those genuine all-rounders who isn’t quite as explosive as many of these players but can be relied on to do a job.

Milton: At Noskill he was perhaps overshadowed by the likes of JarreX and Zhin. He then spent several years at SSC but it was clear that he was ‘too good’ to remain there forever - I remember Blob taking offence when I used the phrase “Milton-powered SSC” in a newspost once  Widely regarded as the top 4on4 player of today, he is brilliant at all tb3 maps and is also not too scared to risk his reputation by playing customs either. If I’m honest, I can’t think of another player who has been ‘ahead of the rest’ in the way that he is.

BlAze: In the early days of my watching tVS he was somewhat overshadowed by his brother, Ihminen, who I remember ParadokS once describing as the best dm2 quadrunner in the world. However Blaze is just so efficient that he must have German blood in him – everything he does seems to be about maximising the potential to exploit a mistake by the opponents. He used to be like a robot, seemingly slow laborious movement yet mopping up a huge rack of spawnfrags with ruthless precision. In more recent years he has become slightly more aggressive (aided by an improved hitscan aim) yet still retains the mentality to position himself optimally to surprise an opponent.

Reverend / Player / Valla: Another player with killer shaft back in the day who spent a long time playing in ‘weaker’ clans, typically with his buddy Znappe. At one time just a dm3 master, he has now ported his get armour > get quad > kill lots > get armour > kill lots > get armour > get quad…. Routine to e1m2 as well.

Murdoc: Perhaps the key player for SR now, he has improved during my absence from the 4on4 scene. His key strength for me is RL aim, something many people take for granted but few genuinely master (think Dare, of cMF fame, but modernised and more aggressive).


And there we have it. A list that might be different if I was to create it tomorrow. A list missing many great players that I have either forgotten about, or not seen enough of during my inactive years of 2006-2009. A list that perhaps I should have expanded to include the likes of XN, Insane, Avenger, Carna, aKKe, Griffin, MrLame, Scenic, Ihminen and assorted f0m players. All genuine div1 players who can win maps on their own. I’ve listed 19 players leaving room for one more to round it up to 20. Can YOU be #20?

But really, it’s just the starting point for a debate. Who would you pick in your squad of 20 to represent Earth against Jupiter?