Most other sports or games have a recognised World Champion. An annual event or match takes place where the World Champion is crowned. Sadly we as a Red Alert community never had the foresight to make this a reality. However, it is possible to retrospectively argue who was the strongest player for any given year. I've only played online in the CnCNet era and I think that 2010-2021 is quite an easy time-frame to deliberate on who was the most dominant player each year. For years prior to when I played, I have collated multiple opinions and answers from players who played during those eras. Some of my sources (built up over years of conversations) include; Robskate, Eve (aka Pr1de), Kobra, Milo234, Breakdown, Dragonsan, Diaz, Danco, At0m1, CousinTank, Boy and multiple online sites such as Case's Ladder. I have therefore attempted to create a cohesive list of who was the best player for each year of this historic game. Obviously this list is subjective and is just an estimation. It is not official by any means but it is a genuine non-biased attempt at documenting the history of Red Alert champions. Going forward, why don't we as a community try to have an official World Championship at some point later in 2021? I will first present my list of unofficial yearly World Champions and then argue why each year was chosen afterwards. So without further ado:
For 1996, I chose the legend known as Nike1. Multiple players from those days regale his wizardry on early Standard maps. I think this was a fairly straight forward and fair selection. Niklas was chosen as the best of 1997 because Robskate unilaterally defined him as one of the two best players he ever played. Robskate declared that Niklas and Ehy are on a different level to anyone else he has played in his 20+ year career of playing Red Alert. So by virtue of this high regard alone, Niklas certainly deserves to be called the best player in the world for the time he was most active. I value Robskate's opinion a lot so I again think this is a fair choice.
In 1998, Red Alert had the closest thing to a World Championship it has ever had. There was a Pro Gamers League event held in Seattle which was dominated by a player known as DeepBlue. You can read about this tournament here 1998 PGL RA Tournament . DeepBlue took home the $7500 first prize and with it the right to be called World Champion for 1998.
By 1999 Niklas had mostly wound up his playing in search of pastures new, a young path beyond master known as Porker was prominent around this time. Based on various accounts of his playing level and his success on historical ladder sites, I gave him the award for 1999.
The early 2000s represents the Mplayer era which was a hugely popular time for Red Alert. 10,000 players were active. Galgu and Ssanai were two active ORA clan legends of this time. Katsh asked Ford in 2018 if he was Galgu hiding since he had not faced a Germany player with the ability of Galgu for almost 20 years. That is a testament to Galgu's ability. The 2000-2002 is a rough estimate and based on accounts from multiple players. The servers were splintered and some top pros of the time never crossed paths - for example Robskate and Galgu never played each other. Robskate was dominating most of his opponents at that time but I gave the award to Galgu based on his mystique and legend and multiple accounts from other old players. That was a very competitive era of Red Alert with multiple strong players so I just made an opinion based on the rough time frames of Galgu and Ssanai's Red Alert careers. This could be wrong. 2000 was definitely the hardest year to choose and there were multiple candidates. 2001 was a year dominated by JJFjr as robskate recalls, so I gave him the title for that particular year.
By 2003, Gamespy was left as the place to play Red Alert after MPlayer's demise. The game was on its last legs however a few super strong players still hovered around such as Aloli, Eve and others. Fallenangels was the best of these as Eve informed me. Eve said Fallenangels retired from the game shortly after the demise of Mplayer in 2002, so I gave Fallenangels the award for 2003. Kobra also remembered how strong Fallenangels was by recalling a tournament defeat to him in his player focus . 2003 and 2004 were probably dying years for Red Alert but I've given 2003 to Fallenangels by default as he was the last true superpro before this dark era for Red Alert.
By 2004, Eve said there were virtually no players left on Gamespy, as the true competitive era had died with Mplayer's demise. He is certain he was the best player left at this time as he was young and at his peak. DragonSan confirms this. There was also a very small player pool left so his opinion is probably quite accurate so I've given Eve the award for 2004. With a lack of players left, Eve himself would soon retire after 2004, not returning until CnCNet in 2019 and reemerging as a force in the game under the names Pr1de and Uchicha.
2005, Milo takes the crown. Players had migrated to Kali by this point and the game was on its knees. Milo was the best player by default as the only real true pro left standing. Many young players were trained by him during this era like Yoda training a young skywalker. Milo dominated everyone. By 2006, an old superpro legend called JJfjr appeared out of retirement and was able to defeat Milo 8-1 in head to head 1v1s (as referenced in Milo's famous self-written Red Alert guide. )Therefore I think 2006 is a pretty fair and easy choice to award the crown to JJfjr (the only player to regain the title).
By 2007, Milo was winding down his play and focusing on his college education more. A lack of competition was a pivotal factor in him winding down his play as well. Meanwhile on Tunngle there were some signs of potential life in the game. Then rookie players such as Yuzgen and Danco-cro were getting beaten up on by a legend known as Herm. Herm famously was able to 2v1 players on Tunngle and is remembered fondly by Dizzyman and others. I think it's pretty fair to award the 2007 title to this still-active legend (who now plays under the name RushyBoo).
Throughout 2008 and 2009, At0m1 and NastyNate were sparring with each other and quickly ascending in the game. At0m1 often told me how the best player during this era was a legend known as Fattynoob. He was the only one that was always maybe 1 step ahead of himself and NastyNate. He spoke very highly of Fattynoob's play on the Kali servers of 2008-2009 so I think it is definitely fair to award Fattynoob the title for these years.
By 2010 came the CnCNet era. A total rebirth for Red Alert and pivotal in resurrecting the game and making it what it is today. A young Finnish player called Ehy had been playing with his countryman At0m1 on Kali and was slowly but surely getting better. 2010 was a crucial point in Red Alert history, as it marks the time when Ehy reached his peak level and surpassed Fattynoob. Granted - Fattynoob had stopped playing as regularly due to a successful stint playing Final Fantasy. Regardless, Ehy would later defeat Fattynoob in an HJK tournament 1v1 and this marked his ascension to the top of the game.
[Ehy vs Fattynoob HJK Tournament final 2012]
He would not relinquish his status as the best player in the world for the remaining 6 years he would play. Ehy was clearly the absolute best player in the world from 2010 to 2016 when he retired, so awarding him the World Championship crown for this period is a no-brainer. As a result, Ehy holds the distinction of having the most longevity of any Red Alert unofficial World Champion with 7 years at the top.
By 2017 with Ehy retiring, NastyNate who had always been 2nd best was left as the default best player in the world. There were lots of strong P4 players and 1v1 players like RC1985 at this time but no-one was as well rounded as NastyNate during this time. GQ had still not been actualised and NastyNate's tanking was just overall much stronger than everyone else. He deserves to be called a World Champion and so 2017 was his year as the undisputed best player in the world and I don't think anyone would argue against this.
By 2018, a young Canadian savant had discovered a secret nuclear weapon - GQ. He perfected GQ and absolutely destroyed everyone in tank battles. He was certainly the best player in the world all-round at such a time and awarding him the title for 2018 is also an easy decision. Ford made a fatal mistake and released his secret weapon knowledge to the community and his domination would suffer a little. Throughout 2019 and 2020 I would say he was still one of the top 2 players in the world, and you could even argue for 2019 that he was still number 1, though I marginally awarded it to Bea5ty for 2019 as he had matured to his peak level by then. Certainly in 2020, however, Bea5ty deserves his place as the undisputed best player in the world. All of the current top pros generally agree with this consensus and his record in matches is the most dominant. Who will emerge to claim the title for 2021? No more speculating. Let's make an official formal World Championship a reality this year.
Thanks for reading! Thanks to all the sources for their insight! I hope you enjoyed history time with Uncle Crushy! Don't forget to follow!