In any sport there are players that are regarded as legends from an era gone by and there are the current group of elite players that are always compared to the legends. The world would be a sad place without something to have an opinion on I guess.
The last blog touched on where esports started and which games brought the sport to where it is today, this week I have been researching the players that made a name for themselves, the best way for me to do this is to talk about who I personally thought were the two best past players and the two best present players.
Ready Player WON.
Fatal1ty
Jonathan Wendel (Fatal1ty) is probably the most important player that the United States has ever produced. Wendel’s competitive career began in 1999 with a $500 tournament win in Quake 3. Fatal1ty was a professional gamer, he practiced longer and trained smarter than any of his rivals, as a result he won tournament after tournament—including five world championships in 1999, 2000 (in which he won two), 2001 and 2005. In terms of prize money, he was the single highest earner in esports history. Fatal1ty also monetised the sport with sponsorships and even a line of PC accessories. America’s first true celebrity gamer, the height of his fame in the early 2000s made him to good to ignore when it came to picking my top 2 legends.
Daigo
Japan’s Daigo Umehara (DAIGO) was one of esports’ first global stars. Known as The Beast, Umehara’s arcade obsession began in 1991. Daigo became Japan’s Street Fighter national champion in 1997 and has competed at the highest levels in over a dozen games from Vampire Hunter to Street Fighter 5. He moved from merely the greatest Street Fighter player in the world and catalyst for global esports competitions to a genuine international celebrity when a he won 2004 match against Justin Wong in thrilling style. Of all the videos I watched over the last 7 days this was by far the best. Daigo is on minimum health, blocks a barrage of lightning kicks before performing a match winning combo. Daigo goes in over many of the greats because when watching him I had a “thats fucking awesome” moment.
Ready Player NEW.
Gorilla
Englands very own Gorilla heads up my top pick of the new legends, one of the most successful FIFA players of the last few years with championships under his belt and a great social following the ex-Unilad player has really shown what can be done with the right skill set and self promotion. When Gorilla took home the Gfinity title he earned himself a tidy £156,000 in prize money, not bad for a lad that didn't know what he wanted to when he left school five years earlier. Gorilla now appears in the FaZe Clan roster and even though some would argue that there are now better players about, Gorilla still lead the way on and off the virtual pitch.
UNiVeRsE
Finally, the big dog himself, UNiVeRsE. The DotA 2 legend has been on the scene since 2011 and is the highest earning player of his generation with over £3,000,000 in prize money. Most notably UNiVeRse was part of the
Evil Geniuses team that won the “Six million dollar Echo slam”. The most impressive part is that he made the series clinching play that netted his team $6,000,000. As far as balls of steel go that's up there with any individual sporting achievement I can think of. Honing his skill in such prolific fashion and the consistency of 8 years at the peak of his game is why I have put UNiVeRse in this list.
So there we have it, my picks from a week of reading and watching, I strongly recommend that you take the time to research these players if you, like myself, are new to esports. This is purely my opinion and if you want to convince me otherwise or if you have any videos that you recommend I watch or a player you think I should read about then please reach out to me on our social media.
Comments