Last Friday marked the 1 month anniversary of the AWBW Global League on the forum. Doesn't feel like it's been that long, huh? As of then there were 51 players competing in the league with 101 current games running and 222 finished, which is quite a lot for just one month. Although the league standings have yet to stabilize entirely, we are beginning to see the best players rise to the top of the standings, as the newer and less experienced players slip towards the bottom. Overall, players who play games faster are rising or falling faster than slower players, meaning that many players have not yet reached their true rating due to a lack of game results.
Obviously we can't yet draw any meaningful conclusions from the rankings, but nevertheless I'm going to take a shot at it. Here are the current (as of while I'm typing this) top 10 players.
1) Kamuscha - 1095.82, 35-4-4
Representing the USA, Kamuscha is the current league leader by a large margin, although he also had the benefit of a 1004, 22-3-3 record coming into the league from prior official events. However, his 13-1-1 record since then shows that he certainly deserves his place at the top, and I expect Kam to remain at or near the top for the foreseeable future. Games to watch: vs. the Weakest Xiaoniao.
2) The Weakest Xiaoniao - 997.73, 20-6-2
Hailing from China, Xiaoniao is certainly not living up to the "Weakest" part of his name, as evidenced by his #2 position in the league. Although his rating is inflated a bit due to his fast game-playing (with 28 games finished), he is undoubtably a dangerous opponent. Easily his biggest recent win took place against fdkanns, one of the elite players on the site. However, he has otherwise struggled against top players, and looks to be in trouble against walkerboh01 and also against Hellraider.
3) Hellraider - 946.15, 5-1-0
Like Ultra Storm and Kamuscha, Hellraider's rating is slightly inflated from a pre-league official record of 2-1. However, the Austrian powerhouse was the best player on the site before a prolonged absence, and is 3-0-0 in the league so far. One of those two wins was enough to hand Kamuscha his only league loss though, showing that he hasn't lost his touch. I expect Hellraider to continue to rise up the standings and challenge for the top league ranking. As noted earlier, he currently is playing the Weakest Xiaoniao.
4) tale - 945.78, 16-7-2
Another Chinese player, tale is seen as somewhat of a surprise at the #4 position. While he has been a solid player for some amount of time, his play in the league suggests that he is ready to start making a name for himself as one of the top players on the site. However, with few results against some of the current top players, I would not be surprised to see tale start to slip down the rankings as time goes on. A recent loss vs. Hellraider supports this. Games to keep an eye on: vs Black Mont-Blanc.
5) Ultra Storm - 941.12, 8-2-0
Breaking the Chinese trend at the top of the standings, US is currently representing Finland in 5th place. Although his rating says 8-2-0, he was 5-2-0 from former official results, making him 3-0-0 in the AWBW Global League. In fact, it has been a long time since the current #1 player on AWBW has lost a game. I expect him to be challenging for the #1 rank in the league as he finishes more games. However, he might be in trouble here, and against the 1-26 OA_Stupid at that.
6) Im_Pro_You_Blow - 941.04, 11-3-1
Mere percentage points behind Ultra Storm, IPYB is the first entry on here whose nationality I don't know. Similar to tale, IPYB has benefited a bit from his faster playing rate and will likely be hard-pressed to maintain a top 5 ranking in the future. Although he doesn't have many results against top players, he did score a draw with Kamuscha in a very crazy game. Other games to watch: vs. ramdalucksta7 and vs. tale twice.
7) frostylight - 896.21, 5-2-0
Frostylight is a one-time veteran of AWBW who has recently returned to the site after a prolonged absence. With a previous rating of 1-1-0, frostylight is 4-1-0 so far in the AWBW Global League, and has clearly not lost the touch at the game. With one loss to tale and one win against the Weakest Xiaoniao, frostylight looks to be deserving of his current standing, and will likely continue to hang around in the top 10 for a while. Games to watch: vs. centerc and vs. 77salamence.
8) Sheryl Nome - 887.06, 4-0-0
A very new player, Sheryl Nome has only played 66 games overall, but is undefeated so far in the league. None of the wins have been against particularly impressive competition, so it is hard to define exactly how much of Sheryl Nome's rating is due to his/her own skill or just favorable opponents or both. We will find out soon enough, as he/she has a couple of tougher games against IPYB and against black_wave.
9) greed is good - 879.66, 12-11-0
Although his record doesn't really indicate that he is deserving of a top 10 spot, "greed is good" has apparently done well enough in his wins to earn the #9 ranking. He has lost to most of the better players he has faced, including the Weakest Xiaoniao, tale, IPYB, and others, but has taken care of business against weaker opponents and has been the beneficiary of multiple boot-wins. I don't expect "greed is good" to remain in the top 10 for long, as his inability to get past tougher foes will consistently keep him from climbing too high.
10) vunguyenquang90 - 875.97, 6-2-1
The relatively new vunguyenquang has made an immediate impact on the new league, jumping all the way up to the #10 spot in a short time. However, he has yet to meet any of the current top players, with his best winning coming in a 31-day epic against tale, and a loss to Roswell the Black Rose. Games to watch: vs. walkerboh01 and vs. dorian5.
Outside of our top 10 players, there are a few players who have the skill but not yet the game results to crack the top 10. Here are some well-established players I expect to rise into the top 10 in the future.
On the Rise
Black Mont-Blanc - 867.92, 6-2-0, current rank: #12
walkerboh01 - 848.20, 2-0-0, current rank: #16
dorian5 - 872.64, 3-0-0, current rank: #11
blanci1 - 825.00, 1-1-0, current rank: #23
excrimophalus - 821.11, 1-0-0, current rank: #25
Over the next month, I'm sure we'll see the league ratings settle down even more, and we'll begin to get a better idea of where players fit in skill-wise.
Until next time,
Walker
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