With huge thanks to the sponsor(s) of this tournament, War is Coming has given us DMers something of a purpose in the aoc community! That being said, many of you might feel that DM has too little of an impact to be noticeable. However, especially in the later rounds, the 1 point generated from DM games could give a deciding edge in some of these match-ups.
So lets get started!
Legion Clan
The Legion team consists of me (L_Clan_True_), Wayne (L_Clan_RaGE) and Igs (L_Clan_IGS).
Wayne has had a checkered past in AoC DM. At different points on Zone, he was well above your average 2k Dmer, and known for his aggressive hun war tactics. Here on Voobly, in the past couple years he has made somewhat of a comeback, most notably this last February/April when he took some games off of some notable players. An easy example was these amazing hun wars he played vs. RiuT during a time when RiuT was knocking off all top dmers:
http://www.aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... ge#p333989
For now, Wayne is attempting to once again make a comeback, so that we may have a shot at defeating the rest of the DM teams in WiC!
Igs is more of a recent player to DM, who only began DM in July of this year. At first he was simply an RMer who wanted to try out DM; After putting in some effort (and much training with me) he has found himself at a fairly strong level (around 1850) and continues to grow rapidly. If he can keep up the pace, we may find a powerful challenger in him.
KGB
KGB consists of only two DMers: Dane (Praxes, aka mYsTikaL_SouL) and Dan Hughes (KGB_Hecto12, aka SuNo_Daywalker, commonly referred to as Hughes in DM world).
Dane has a phenomenal history in the world of AoC DM. On the zone, he was the highest rated DM player for much of it's existence (peaking at around 2650). On top of that, he has had numerous bouts with Jidba and other top DM players, of which he will claim "I have a winning record vs. all DM players except maybe Jidba". During several of the previous WCL tournaments, Dane's team was always in the top 2 positions, in which some of the games he would even play the RM portion. An old example of his achievements vs. Jidba in 1v1 can be found in this following topic:
http://www.aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... dba#p84792
Hughes' past in AoC DM can be considered one of the greatest alongside with Dane. Both Dane and Dan can be considered "two of the oldest of the old". Throughout his time, Hughes has managed to carve his name in the DM world by his 1v1 talents, in particular his 1v1 huns war skill. He is also remembered for going to the finals vs. Andy (L_Clan_Bender, now known as Aantan) in Juno Cup 2, where he narrowly lost 2-1. In more recent times, he is well known for his numerous bouts vs. Viper and Jidba, and even managed to make an astounding 49-2 record on his Cup_of_Joe name:
http://www.voobly.com/profile/view/123639681
An interesting aside: The Juno Cup 1v1 DM series, of which there were three, one hosted per year in the period of 2001-2003, was regarded as the largest 1v1 DM tournament ever hosted. And also interestingly, Andy won all 3 of these tournaments. The last tournament (Juno Cup 3) finals was Andy vs. Jidba: Jidba had been regarded as the new top DM player, and Andy was in the last days of his DM time. With a final score of 2-1, Andy won the tournament, which is amazingly the last 1v1 DM tournament Jidba has ever lost (11 year DM 1v1 tournament streak).
Str8
The Str8 team consists of 2 players: Sinan (2Heaven) and Orkut (Interdimension).
Orkut is another well renowned DM player throughout AoC DM's history, much like that of Dane and Dan Hughes. There was even a time on the zone where Orkut issued a challenge to all DM players to play him 1v1 in any civ, of which he managed to kill everyone who made the attempt. In the period of 2010-2011, Orkut went on to eventually compete with Jidba for the title of "best DM player" in numerous occasions, some of which were posted here:
http://www.aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... dba#p80372
Sinan's history in AoC is primarily within the Voobly timeframe, in which he was a serial 2k-2.1k TG player. Although he has been a part of many great 2v2 games in which he won, his list of notable achievements thus far is somewhat short. Nevertheless, I regard Sinan as one of the best DM TG players I have yet to play with, and I expect a lot out of him going foward.
VNS
VNS consists of 2 DM players: (new zealand)Brad (VNS_Priest) and Haley (VNS_Tempo).
Brad's history for DM is largely within the realms of AoK. In more recent times, he has found his mark by becoming one of the greatest 1v1 DM players we have seen. Despite his terrible attitude, Brad is never a player to be taken lightly. If you want to see his games, there are numerous posts here on aoczone.
Haley's history in DM has been dominated by his 1v1 skill. His most notable Achievement came in 2011 during a 1v1 DM tournament called DM Rebirth, which was hosted by Andrew. In this tournament, Haley made it to the final round (4-player round robin) and managed to tie Jidba 2-2 during their matchup. Despite his close score with Jidba, Haley only made 3rd place (behind Dan Hughes).
Nadya's Boys
Nadya's Boys consists of 3 DM players: Matt (c0LoRz), JB (L3af), and Rudi (Rubenstock).
Rudi is largely considered one of the new-school DM players, and is largely deemed as the rising star in the DM world. Despite having not participated in any large tournaments yet, he is recognized as arguably being a top 5 1v1 player, as well as a top 5 TG player. A rounded rounded and versatile player, we can expect Rudi to devise bold strategies in this tournament.
Matt has been around for a long time, and has been in the range of 2k to 2.1k ever since 2002. In fact, Matt is also the player who trained me in DM back in 2003. His most notable achievement exists in a tournament around 2010 that was all Persians 1v1 GA, which he placed 2nd (if I remember right) behind of course, Jidba. In today's world, he has found a solid footing as a top 5 DM 1v1 player, as well as a top TG player.
JB most likely has the funniest history in AoC DM. Rarely taking the game seriously, JB is usually found to have an 1800-1900 rate, but don't let that fool you. He is also one of the rare few players to defeat jidba in a 1v1 series (4-3 all huns), and is capable of playing far higher than his rating may lead you to believe. He also held the highest rate in IGzones for quite some time, before both Jidba and former-great Tracy took the top spots.
Matt and JB have been playing together since roughly 2002, and have both been QuEnDi members for several years. If they can gain back their old excellent team-work capabilities, and throw Rudi into the mix, this team can go very far in DM.
TyRanT Legends
TyRanT Legends has two DM players: TheViper, and Jordan (Jordan_23)
Both TheViper and Jordan's DM history is almost completely based on a small 1-2 month time frame in which they played a remarkable amount of DM games (Viper managed to play roughly 250 games vs top players in such a short time window). Both of these players made excellent contributions to the world of DM during their short visits, by including several small pieces of strategy that DM players seemed to not consider previous to their visit. If these two players begin to train DM again, we can expect a lot out of them.
TyRanT Warlords
TyRanT Warlords has 3 notable DM players: Jidba, RiuT, and F1Re.
Jidba's history in DM is (barely arguable) of being the greatest DMer to have played the game. With a truly amazing streak of 11 years going undefeated in all DM 1v1 tournaments, as well as defending his title in multiple best of 11/21 series, it's hard to argue that Jidba is the best. All one needs to do to remember his achievements is to look his name up on here, aoczone, and watch some of the great games.
RiuT has joined DM primarily in the past year, and made a huge impact towards the beginning of the year (January-March). During this time, RiuT was losing very rarely, and managed to upset many of the top DM players much like Viper and Jordan had done before him. Despite not carrying a high rate as of now, RiuT can still be regarded as a top player in both 1v1 and TG.
F1Re: Like RiuT, F1Re joined the DM world within this past year or two. On the old DM ladder, he managed to achieve 2150 rating, and only took his skills further in his more recent games during this past year. Also like RiuT, F1Re can be considered a top 1v1 and TG player within the DM framework.
Warlords has a little bit of a problem on their hands: Despite Jidba being an all-time great DM player, RiuT and F1Re have possibly the best teamwork in DM TG that I have seen in recent years. Which combination of these players should play their games?
Dreamers Zz
Dreamers has two DM players: Christ (Christ_Zz) and Josh (Imaginational).
Josh's history in AoC DM has been largely played out in Voobly times. Between him and Jordan (Improvise), they are considered the top 2 DM TG players from QuEnDi team, and may also be the top 2 DM TG players to have played DM. During the old ladder for DM, Josh never made an aka over 2100 rate. However, he made a whopping 49 2k+ nicks, truly the king of smurfs. In the 1v1 scene, he has been tentatively known as the top random civ player. A pack of his games can be seen here:
http://www.aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... h+vs+Jidba
Truly a remarkable player who can contribute a lot to the Zz team, Josh only needs to become active again.
Christ's past is most known for his 1v1 hun war talents, where he took his market-hun strategy about as far as it could possibly go. That being said, he is no stranger to other civs outside of huns. In the most recent times, Christ spends most of his energy playing TG's, and is easily one of the top players in that group. Also widely known throughout the AoC community as both a contributor and a DM teacher, having posted many videos on how to begin DM.
Vikingos Nomadas
VN has two DM players: CJ (TripleBless) and Dean (ThE_HoI2NeT)
CJ, much like Dane, Dan and Orkut, has a very rich history in AoC DM. On the zone, he was a famous player, and commonly sported a rating that was north of 2400 with names such as Honour_tha_Bum. He placed highly in several 1v1 and tg tournaments during the zone era, making him one of the few players on here who has a strong knowledge of a diverse range of possible strategies. In recent times, he made his return to AoC this past January upon hearing about the upcoming WiC tournament. Despite not showing more than 1900 level talent thus far, if CJ chooses to put fourth more energy into this game, we can expect him to become a force to be reckoned with.
Dean's history is yet another one from the AoK days, as he sees himself as something of a Franks 1v1 expert. In more recent times, he has spent most of his time playing TG's, usually with a rating hovering in the mid 2000's (old ladder) and around 1900 in current times (new ladder).
NOTE: DM ratings differ from RM ratings: The highest DM 1v1 rating currently is about 2200, while only the top 10 ratings have 2k+. For DM TG, the top ratings are from 1900-2050.
Conclusion
From the list of teams that I have above, my current rankings are as follows:
1) KGB
2) TyRanT Warlords
3) VNS
4) Nadya's Boys
5) L_Clan
6) Str8
7) Zz
8) TyRanT Legends
9) VN
Notable Mentions: nC, TILT, PoJ
Disclaimer: The above list is based on current skill trends, and where I believe everyone lies as of now if they were to play each other tomorrow. If these teams are to continue (or start) training for the DM games, we can expect to see a vastly differing list above.
So what does everyone think? How would you guys list the top DM teams right now? Am I forgetting any notably strong DM teams? Please share your opinions!