*Blank does not count for this list as he has not been actively playing during 2021 - otherwise he would obviously be at the top end of this list*
Honourable mentions: Xxtreme (solid tanker who plays lots of maps), bartsama (standards map bipolar troll genius), Aegon (very good P4 player) and many other decent players such as kidzero and Bakenast. Lots of good players from USA.
I try to be as fair and objective as possible with the selections and it is my honest opinion, I don't let personal differences impact it. I believe these selections are very fair.
5) Stackopoly
Very good on the 2-3 maps that he plays. He just spams tanks though and doesn't really know how to do anything else. He has excellent tank production. This sort of one dimensional play though only takes you so far and I'm pretty sure he would lose to any of the other players on this list on maps like HJK6, Rasta, Keep off the Grass, Shallow Grave or pretty much anything that isn't Ribbon Isle or Basement tank spam, or 1v1 in general on anything that isn't a Ribbon Isle clone. Think on balance this ranking is pretty fair as he excels in one specific aspect of the game but doesn't possess the same range of important skills as the higher ranked players.
4) Dr4g0n.
Strong solid player who is very good on tanking and building aspects of the game on a wide range of maps. Can be very solid on T Dawg, P4 mini, ore maps and will play any 2v2 map going. His main drawbacks are that he doesn't play 1v1s (Qmax/Qmaster doesn't count) and he is maybe not quite as fast as his brother. Overall he is a solid player both as soviets and allies and I think 4th place is about fair.
3) Pr1de
Very good player, one of, maybe even the best, GQ/SGQ tankers in CnCNet. Has also become a pretty solid builder both with teslas and turrets. He really is a great player but I can't place him above the top 2 on this list as he only really plays team games. He played some 1v1 games with bartsama and took a heavy beating so his 1v1 game isn't much to shout about at the moment and that loses him a lot of brownie points. Can't possibly put him above the top 2 for this reason.
2) Robskate
Still a legend. A great Q tank fighter who in a micro managing small tank battle on a map such as Path Beyond or North by Northwest is even to this day one of the best that CnCNet has to offer. He's also very capable of large scale GQ tank battles on a tdawg or P4. I've not placed him 1st because it is true that his building skills are not up to scratch and I do believe that the number 1 ranked player has become even stronger than Robskate in the last year or so.
1) ORA-Jacob
I think it's pretty obvious that Jacob is the best active American player right now. His LCS performances against Faust and R3sistant were impressive and he also was the winner of the 2021 Royal Rumble FFA Tournament. He's become an extremely strong player over the last year and I think it is fair to say he has surpassed Robskate at this point as he has a greater range of weapons in his arsenal (2nd best turret player on CnCNet after Ford?). Jacob is now one of the top 5-10 strongest players in all of Red Alert and definitely deserves the title of the best active American Red Alert player.
Thanks for reading. More to follow.