Tracking Liereyy's AoE4 Grind & Progress

[LowEloNobody]

About a week ago Liereyy announced that he was going to Git Gud at AoE4 to try to be competitive in upcoming tournaments (assuming Golden League since it is too late for NC4).

So how has that grind been going?
Well using the wonderful AoE4 World website we can look at his recent games:

[aM] Liereyy – AoE4 World

AoE4 World is website with Age of Empires 4 news, stats, tools, and much more.

aoe4world.com

It looks like Lierrey is playing a couple games a day pretty consistently, and has played about 20 games since his announcement.
In the past 2 months, he has climbed from #500 in the world to #300, and gained about 150 elo (which is pretty impressive).
I'm sure his military service is slowing down his progress a bit, and Lierrey has never been one to grind the ladder 12 hours a day like some of his teammates.
If Lierrey keeps up his current ladder and elo climb pace, he should hit the top 32 level (Kasva, IAmMagic, Running, etc.) in about 2-4 months.
Unfortunately, the Golden League qualifiers are in ~2 weeks, and he would need to be in roughly top 64 shape which is a bit of a stretch, but maybe he could get a wild card invitation?

There may also be other yet-to-be-announced AoE4 tournaments in the summer that he could potentially be competitive in

 

[Lord Bolton]

r/aoe4 - We're excited to announce the participation of two all-time AOE legends in the $125,000 Golden League!

325 votes and 75 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

Liereyy is among the invited players to golden league aoe4 tournament.

PS: he still plays 2-3 games a day , still high 15xx-1600s. A long way to go before he masters playing with and against different civilizations. He is currently maining english/mongol/french but he needs to expand quick if he wants a shot at a respectable placement in the end. Top finish is kinda impossible task though

 

[LowEloNobody]

r/aoe4 - We're excited to announce the participation of two all-time AOE legends in the $125,000 Golden League!

325 votes and 75 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

Liereyy is among the invited players to golden league aoe4 tournament.

PS: he still plays 2-3 games a day , still high 15xx-1600s. A long way to go before he masters playing with and against different civilizations. He is currently maining english/mongol/french but he needs to expand quick if he wants a shot at a respectable placement in the end. Top finish is kinda impossible task though

Yeah just saw this. Knowing Lierrey he will still manage to be competitive, but a top 16 finish seems a bit out of reach at his current level / rate of progression

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

TRAITOOOOOR REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ALSO MS USED THEIR DIRTY MONEY TO LURE MY PLAYERS WHO SHOULD PLAY MY GAME TO ENTERTAIN ME NOW I HAVE NO OTHER ENTERTAINMENT AVAILABLE SO COMPARING NUMBERS EVERYDAY 5 THREADS 10 POSTS A DAY WOULD BE A GOOD OPTION FIGHTING VS AOE4 FANBOYS SUPER INTENSE MORE INTENSE THAN LIEREYY MICRO I HECKING LOVE IT

 

[LowEloNobody]

TRAITOOOOOR REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ALSO MS USED THEIR DIRTY MONEY TO LURE MY PLAYERS WHO SHOULD PLAY MY GAME TO ENTERTAIN ME NOW I HAVE NO OTHER ENTERTAINMENT AVAILABLE SO COMPARING NUMBERS EVERYDAY 5 THREADS 10 POSTS A DAY WOULD BE A GOOD OPTION FIGHTING VS AOE4 FANBOYS SUPER INTENSE MORE INTENSE THAN LIEREYY MICRO I HECKING LOVE IT

Can you take this **** somewhere else

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

Can you take this **** somewhere else

yeah me 1 single post should get **** somewhere else meanwhile thousands of those should remain

aguasome

 

[willdbeast]

yeah me 1 single post should get **** somewhere else meanwhile thousands of those should remain

aguasome

The many other posts is exactly why we don't want it spreading, not a reason to want it 11

 

[The Bloodless]

TRAITOOOOOR REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ALSO MS USED THEIR DIRTY MONEY TO LURE MY PLAYERS WHO SHOULD PLAY MY GAME TO ENTERTAIN ME NOW I HAVE NO OTHER ENTERTAINMENT AVAILABLE SO COMPARING NUMBERS EVERYDAY 5 THREADS 10 POSTS A DAY WOULD BE A GOOD OPTION FIGHTING VS AOE4 FANBOYS SUPER INTENSE MORE INTENSE THAN LIEREYY MICRO I HECKING LOVE IT

The spam is getting out of hand

 

[The Bloodless]

Personally I'm pretty hyped for lierrey. I think he'll pick up aoe4 very quickly, like Hera. Wouldn't hope for him winning, but top 8 sounds possible.

 

[oozkan]

Good luck to the boi, I hope he can make some money.

 

[LowEloNobody]

Personally I'm pretty hyped for lierrey. I think he'll pick up aoe4 very quickly, like Hera. Wouldn't hope for him winning, but top 8 sounds possible.

I think it's mostly a question of how much time he has to practice. Given the time Viper has put in and how he performed at NC4, top 8 would be pretty incredible

 

[HongeyKong]

I think it's mostly a question of how much time he has to practice. Given the time Viper has put in and how he performed at NC4, top 8 would be pretty incredible

Agreed, unless hes been secretly practicing with a smurf + so little people participate, he will have a hard time winning a set.

 

[HongeyKong]

Btw imo EGC gotta hire someone for graphic design, their images / stream overlays are like middle school level. Sorry to whoever made them.

 

[malamadre]

They are getting desperate lol

 

[Lord Bolton]

Personally I'm pretty hyped for lierrey. I think he'll pick up aoe4 very quickly, like Hera. Wouldn't hope for him winning, but top 8 sounds possible.

Top 32 itself is hard imo. There is way too much gameknowledge at high level which is only possible to get when you play a LOT of games at high level with all civs. For instance, liereyy probably never played hre and he will need to either play hre or have a strategy vs hre on hill and dale. And then there are players who know liereyy's missing game knowledge on a map and pick chinese and go full outpost rush on hill and dale. At the rate at which he is playing, he will never get there. He should opt for coaching from many players offering it imo to speed up the process. Maybe his teammate hera could help Sadge

 

[HongeyKong]

btw I know they have to sell it but calling larry an all time top3 is a bit too much 11
https://t.co/gsmFqSU9Nh

 

[robo]

btw I know they have to sell it but calling larry an all time top3 is a bit too much 11
https://t.co/gsmFqSU9Nh

In terms of tournament results that seems like a valid claim that could be made.

 

[HongeyKong]

In terms of tournament results that seems like a valid claim that could be made.

Prize money earned yes. I have reservations about tourney results tho.

 

[HelloWorld]

The same deja vu gonna happen, Liereyy will get clapped. But, I am not sure if the tourney had enough sign ups or not. If it had enough signups for quals, why do they need to invite a player directly to main event.

This comes back to the previous stage of AoE2 where Spring and some other people complained that there are no qualifiers for big events. Only direct invites. These two will still grab the opportunity of 2 players from qualifiers. High level nepotism.

 

[Dusk2Dawn]

btw I know they have to sell it but calling larry an all time top3 is a bit too much 11
https://t.co/gsmFqSU9Nh

Liereyy is in top 3 of all time;

 

[Dusk2Dawn]

The same deja vu gonna happen, Liereyy will get clapped. But, I am not sure if the tourney had enough sign ups or not. If it had enough signups for quals, why do they need to invite a player directly to main event.

This comes back to the previous stage of AoE2 where Spring and some other people complained that there are no qualifiers for big events. Only direct invites. These two will still grab the opportunity of 2 players from qualifiers. High level nepotism.

They want liereyy's viewers and fans; it's a business decision

 

[Michaerbse]

In terms of tournament results that seems like a valid claim that could be made.

Liereyy is in top 3 of all time;

He was voted as #8 not too long ago. Could have changed meanwhile but I guess Viper, DauT and Chris should always be at the top, no?
(Anyway, more of a sidenote, the wildcard is understandable I guess)

8. Liereyy

View attachment 187936 ------------------------------- The Micro Nerd​

"For people who have followed him since his beginnings on the professional scene, Liereyy may forever be known as the “kid prodigy” who stormed the scene in 2017, making the finals of the Escape LAN event in Cologne at the age of just fifteen. In the following years, he was arguably the world’s second best but always fell short against TheViper, until 2020 where he broke through and claimed his first major tournament victories. Liereyy is perhaps the fastest player who ever competed at the top level. He was initially famous for his incredible micro, and the “dancing” style of his archers enabled him to take better fights than anyone else. Now a very complete player, he still favours an aggressive style where he puts his opponent under heavy pressure from the beginning of the game, dictates the pace of the match and use an economy or technology lead to close out the game." - Tarsiz

Alternate IDs	-
Name	Kai Kallinger
Year of Birth	-
Teams/Clans	aM, Tempo
Recurrent team partners	MbL, Hera, Nicov, Hearttt
Tournament activity	2016-present
Best tournament achievements	King of the Desert 3 (2020)
1v1 tournament 1st places	2
TG tournament 1st places	9
Total cash prize earned	$57,982
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

7. Koven

View attachment 187937------------------------------- The Original 2k5​

"According to Koven in an interview with FOPT, he was a professional gamer for Samsung in 1998. Koven was the best at AoE2: The Conquerors, AoE/AoE2: The Age of Kings, and he was the best at Command and Conquer: Red Alert. In his peak years, Koven dominated the competition in AoC. His macro was first-rate in Castle Age where he won games and outboomed everyone. But what stood out even more was his micro. Koven was especially skilled at fighting with mixed units. For instance, when it came to battles in which both players had spearmen, scouts, and skirmishers, Koven outmicroed his opponent. He had patience in warfare and never rushed into battle. He preferred gathering a large army before the fight. There would be a smaller chance he would lose, and a bigger chance he would win key spots on the map. And if the game went to Imperial Age, Koven was unmatched. After all, Koven was a top DMer from AoK. In those days, it was a rare occurrence for a RMer. From 2000 to 2002, Koven emerged as the best player. And then duty called. Koven left gaming to serve in the military for the next two years." - Rayne and Funito

Alternate IDs	Arch_Koven
Name	Lee Jae Baek
Year of Birth	1980
Teams/Clans	Arch, BsK
Recurrent team partners	Grunt, Halen, kkab
Tournament activity	2000-2002; 2004-2006; 2014
Best tournament achievements	Arbalet Cup I (2002), WCG 2v2 2001
1v1 tournament 1st places	1
TG tournament 1st places	3
Total cash prize earned	$17,675
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

6. Yo

View attachment 187938----------------------------------- The Master Mind​

"Mr Yo has been a top 10 player since 2014. Aside from his awesome nickname and for him being the only Chinese top player to ever to speak English, watching him play live gives as a tip: he doesn’t move around as crazily as someone like Hera or MbL does. When you think of micro gods you don’t think of him. So, how has he managed to always been SO good? How is he the player with the best tournament results besides Viper since he showed up? Well, I think the main reason is because of how smart he is and how he had always being the king of master planning. Forget about comfort zone when you play him: he is taking you out to his dirty one. Mr Yo is the kind of guy that you say wtf is he doing and then 15 minutes later you realise you are ****ed because of that. It’s like he can see the future while your struggling to balance your economy. There are many other factors: he is a total beast at performing comebacks, he has top mentality and he is the second best on late game. He always knows where to place his castles, when to fight and where to attack, and a total master at distracting you by attacking at multiple spots at the same time with great timing. And he is great with his aggression on castle age that he usually chooses instead of booming. And well, don’t face him on a tournament where he has time to prepare because he would know everything about you and you will die. That’s the main reason he won Mangrove Shallows Cup or Red Bull Wololo first edition: settings that no one has ever played so you have to come up with something new. And what a TG player he is! He is there carrying his team with his wacky game plans. Forget about something called meta if he is in your TG." - Funito with Nicov

Alternate IDs	Mr_Yo, _TheYo_
Name	Gan Yangfan
Year of Birth	1992
Teams/Clans	SY
Recurrent team partners	Lyx, Tim, vivi
Tournament activity	2012-present
Best tournament achievements	Red Bull Wololo (2020)
1v1 tournament 1st places	5
TG tournament 1st places	6
Total cash prize earned	$50,887
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

[/SPOILER]

Spoiler: #5 to #1

5. Grunt

View attachment 187933----------------------------------- The Creative Mind​

"Grunt was already an AoE2 player when he became an apprentice of Koven. Under his wing, Grunt evolved into a more clever, efficient player. He became solid in all aspects of the game, notably macro and economy. He immediately recognized what was required for survival in bad situations and adapted appropriately. His quick wit, brilliance, and creative thinking helped him win games. At some point in time, Grunt decided to play in tournaments. Although he was inactive for months or even a year, when he competed in a tournament, he trained hard for the event. Grunt won the Microsoft International and Legion Cup 1, and generally placed second or third in other tournaments. The Microsoft International was particularly special, because Grunt was the only player who did 22 pop scout rushes. He used this strategy in the final match. His expert handling of the 22 pop scout rush was the reason he won the event. He walked away with the largest 1v1 prize pool in AoE2 history. In 2004-2006, Grunt participated in WCL Tournaments where his team won three events. After WCL 4 ended in 2006, Grunt temporarily left AoE2 and started playing Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. There he became the number one player. Following Rise of Nations, he played AoE3 and competed in the WCG 2007 Tournament in which he won a gold medal. Since Grunt had previously won a gold medal in another tournament, and he had two gold medals, he was eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame." - Rayne and Funito

Alternate IDs	BsK_erer_s, iamgrunt, wargrunt_kr, __Mossar
Name	Kang Byung Geon
Year of Birth	1983
Teams/Clans	BsK, TyRanT
Recurrent team partners	Halen, kkab
Tournament activity	2001-2006; 2011
Best tournament achievements	Microsoft International Tournament (2001)
1v1 tournament 1st places	3
TG tournament 1st places	5
Total cash prize earned	$74,430
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

4. Halen

View attachment 187939--------------------------------- The Explorer​

"A legendary player, Halen was on the famous BsK team back in the MSzone days. He participated in the WCG 2002, which was the biggest tournament that year. He won without losing a single game. In the tournament, Halen’s Feudal Age was unique. He used a stable forward and later added archers in some games. In those days that was a distinctive style of play. He had great micro, killed villagers in many spots, and got an advantage. Halen’s biggest strength, however, was in the Castle Age. He frequently made many TCs to boom, amassed a huge economy and villager lead. This increased an advantage that was usually obtained earlier when he advanced to Castle Age first. His macro worked great with this style of play. He kept up the villager and military production, maintained an economic equilibrium, and raided his opponent all at the same time. The rest was history for anyone behind in the game. After the tournament, Halen retired from AoE2, played Age of Mythology for about a year, and then returned to AoE2 in 2004. Back at AoE2, he played TGs with friends and became one of the best TG players. Halen and other BsK players (Grunt, kkab, Koven, and Yanzi) won three of the WCL tournaments." - Rayne and Funito

Alternate IDs	poZ_Ray, _oN_Silva_
Name	Akihiro Nakamura
Year of Birth	-
Teams/Clans	CNS, BsK, poZ, TyRanT
Recurrent team partners	grunt, kkab, Koven, Chun_Yu
Tournament activity	2001-2007; 2011
Best tournament achievements	WCG 2002
1v1 tournament 1st places	4
TG tournament 1st places	3
Total cash prize earned	$33,987
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

3. Chris

View attachment 187940-------------------------------- The Situationist​

"As far as names go, Chris was the player who will always be remembered. Versatile and highly intelligent, he played all settings. Yet he was mostly known for being a forwarder on Arabia with the Huns. During MSzone, two RM players achieved a rating over 2600: Chris and Daut. They were the strongest and the most competitive players during those years. An intense rivalry developed between them. For example, Chris issued a Best of 21 Challenge to Daut. The winner would be considered “King of AoE2.” For Chris, Arabia with the Huns was where he excelled as a forwarder. He did 22 pop forwards, and over time he became a situationist. Certain factors influenced him such as map, opponent’s style, and meta of the time. This made Chris more skillful at the game. In addition, he had great macro, controlled the economy well, exploited mistakes, and adapted accordingly. He successfully defended himself in the worst situations. Chris was virtually invincible in the Huns war. If that wasn’t enough, Chris was an AoE2 pioneer. He had ideas no one else did: no loom in Dark Age until he researched the Feudal Age, and he invented the 21 pop build order. While other methods faded, Chris’ ideas withstood time. Eventually the game changed and moved in his direction." - Rayne

Alternate IDs	L_Clan_Chris, IamChris, Thewanderer, GTL_Chris
Name	Chris Bourque
Year of Birth	1988
Teams/Clans	RVK, Wolfpack, Legion Clan, Infinity Legends
Recurrent team partners	Capoch, Buddha, Bender
Tournament activity	2001-2017, 2020-present
Best tournament achievements	Arbalet Cup 4 (2007)
1v1 tournament 1st places	14
TG tournament 1st places	3
Total cash prize earned	$38,843
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

2. Daut

View attachment 187941-------------------------------- The Eternal Legend​

sieste - Why do you think participants chose Daut? What are his strengths and weaknesses as a player? TheViper - Daut is one of the all time greats. His strengths are his macro, strategy and decision making (except when to drop castles). Whenever there are new civs, new game modes and new maps he will always come up with an interesting idea or approach. What are his biggest achievements in the game in your opinion? Definitely the longevity of his success. After all this time he's still achieving and competing at the top, top level. When you first arrived in the competitive scene, what did you think of Daut, what was his status? I didn't really know what to think of him, as he didn't talk much at all and wasn't an active figure, bar playing. It was a completely different landscape as there wasn't streaming, there wasn't discord and all these areas for the community where you got to know each other better. Only place was pretty much Aoczone, and he wasn't active there either. How would you say his play style evolved since then? It is fairly similar to what it was at the time. His ability to macro under pressure is what everyone was talking about back then, and although he has adapted to the times, his playstyle remained consistent. What do you learn from him? I would say my playstyle is quite similar to his all things considered. When I entered the scene he was the best, so I did look to his games to learn. In general, I never really studied games in extreme detail, but I watched many Daut games back then to see what he was doing. His overall gameplay was impressive to me. How different as a player would you be if he was not your teammate? I think I would be quite the same still even if he wasn't my teammate, probably would have more hair. I think our brains work well together though, so when we merge thoughts and ideas, we come up with really good strategies and approaches sometimes. We've played one 2v2 tournament together in our life where we actually prepared together properly, and we won that tournament. I think when we are serious together, we are a really good team, but that's rare (laughs)

Alternate IDs	ArgoNaut_GoKu_, CsI_Vegeta_, IamDauT, L_Clan_Shmeker
Name	Darko Dautovic
Year of Birth	1985
Teams/Clans	ArgoNaut, CsI, Legion Clan, TyRanT, Secret, Gamer Legion
Recurrent team partners	Rami, Viper, kkab, JorDan_23
Tournament activity	2002-present
Best tournament achievements	Brain Champion Cup 2 (2009), War Is Coming (2015)
1v1 tournament 1st places	14
TG tournament 1st places	13
Total cash prize earned	$89,912
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

1. TheViper

View attachment 187942-------------------------------- The Greatest of All Time (the jury has decided)​

"TheViper has played Age of Empires for a long time before getting interested in competing. Starting from custom Lord of the Rings scenarios and Land Nomad team games, he progressively switched to Arabia 1v1 in 2011, steadily climbing his way up the ladder. Winning his first tournaments in 2012, TheViper has since become the most dominant player in the history of the game. In addition to his long tournament experience at the highest level, TheViper is a pure archetype of a complete player with great macro, micro and decision making. TheViper is a patient player, who excels at defending and saving gold for the late game, where his superior macro, map awareness and positional play enables him to take the win. Perhaps more than any other player, TheViper offers very little to his opponents, and turns enemy mistakes into a game-deciding advantage." - Tarsiz "When Viper became quite famous around 2011 he was more of a team game player than 1vs1. Then around July of that year he started playing 1vs1. By October he was around 2300, and by March 2012 he was already at the peak level a player ever played his game and of course #1 on the ranked ladder. Watching him improve so fast, faster than any player ever did, was a preamble of what he was going to be. He was probably the first player to dominate every aspect of the game: micro, macro, decision making, and especially, knowledge. I would say up until he showed up almost every player lacked a bit on some area. Viper not only became the best, he changed the way this game was played and he also mastered everything you can think of. Everyone is trying to master all civilisations now because Viper was there trying to master all civilisations and showing how fun it can be. He showed the variety this game has, how to even master all units. He was the main reason why Age of Empires 2 overall gameplay and meta has evolved through the years and he even took DM to the next level. And well, his tournament record shows how absolute dominant he has been. I don’t have the exact math but I would say that from 2013 onwards he has won something like 90% of all tournaments he entered. Won, not reaching semi-finals or finals, won. And we are talking about a game that has a lot of luck involved. He has been the main figure of the game not only by his gameplay but also by his charming personality that we got to know better through his streams. And his masterpieces are the reason why many of us thinks this game would never get boring. It’s hard to imagine in the future someone as dominant and influential as Viper has already been." - Funito

Alternate IDs	-
Name	Ørjan Larsen
Year of Birth	1991
Teams/Clans	RVK, TyRanT, Secret, Gamer Legion
Recurrent team partners	DauT, TaToh, JorDan_23, kkab
Tournament activity	2011-present
Best tournament achievements	Hidden Cup 3 (2020) War Is Coming (2015)
1v1 tournament 1st places	42
TG tournament 1st places	19
Total cash prize earned	$129,205
Links	esportsearnings | aoe-elo | voobly | aoe2.net | gameplay

Spoiler: condensed list from 1 to 50 for readability purposes

1. TheViper
2. DauT
3. Chris
4. Halen
5. Grunt
6. Yo
7. Koven
8. Liereyy
9. kkab
10. Hera
11. Ruso
12. JorDan_23
13. RiuT
14. dogao
15. IORI
16. TaToH
17. Capoch
18. Tim
19. MbL
20. Windy
21. alive
22. BacT
23. Nicov
23. TheMax
25. Ding
26. BT4
27. PeEl
27. IamKmkm
29. Rami
30. Yanzi
31. RD_Champion
31. Bender
33. slam
34. RuKie
35. vivi
36. Kaiser_Wilhelm
37. Buddha
38. Dreams
38. GeeK
40. Goodboy
41. zuppi
41. Abe
41. F1Re
44. paladin
45. Mimmox
45. cyclops
47. Jidba
48. feeling
49. FletcheR
50. True
50. Vile

Thanks for all the warm response to this project. It has been quite time consuming in the last 2 months but I'm happy how it turned out. If by any chance you feel like tipping me for this you can do it here: https://streamlabs.com/multiples_siestes/tip (it's of course not at all mandatory, and if some crazy people actually end up tipping it will be shared with the people who did the write ups)

Until 2021-12-30, the following thread stood in this place: https://www.aoezone.net/threads/best-aoc-players.69712/

 

[Brlr716]

Btw imo EGC gotta hire someone for graphic design, their images / stream overlays are like middle school level. Sorry to whoever made them.

Can't agree more my eyes hurt seeing these graphic...

 

[Breakfast]

He was voted as #8 not too long ago. Could have changed meanwhile but I guess Viper, DauT and Chris should always be at the top, no?
(Anyway, more of a sidenote, the wildcard is understandable I guess)

I think Liereyy would have to be higher than #8 now, even if not as high as #3 - this was from the end of 2020 (I assume after he'd won KOTD3 but not certain), and he's since won 2Pools2, EWD2 and RBW4, as well as a host of other S-tier 2nd places. I think he's at least drawn level with Yo in assessments of 'greatness'.

 

[SuperskinnyBLS]

They want liereyy's viewers and fans; it's a business decision

I am Larry's biggest fanboi from like 2016 but this doesn't encourage me to watch Aoe4 xDDD