DefMike should be considered a legend in our community. While not the strongest player in terms of raw battling, he has been an always pleasant opponent for over 2 decades to 1000s of players. He is best known as one of the primary custom map creators in the history of our game. We as a community owe a lot to him. Perhaps best of all he is known for the map HJK6 EvW. A very insightful interview about Red Alert history which you should enjoy reading [answers in bold]:
1) Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start playing Red Alert?
I started Red Alert Lan Party when the game was released. In 1996 joined Westwood online. I joined Heat. net in 1997. Next came kali.net, mplayer.net and gamespy.net once mplayer died. Gamespy sucked badly so I was trying to look for another place to Red Alert online and I eventually found CnCNet.org and the rest is history.
2) Which other games do you play online?
At various times, Duke Nukem 1, Battlefield 1942, 3d Avatar, 2nd Life etc...I was number 1 on First Blood Hunger for a while.
3) You are a legend in our community for your map making skills. This is perhaps what you are best known for and I hope you realise how much all of the top players appreciate you for this. Can you tell us a little about the maps you created?
I made the original Chrono map called "Chrono at pond", then T2 blue modified it and we eventually arrived at the Chrono map we use today. I am most famous for the HJK6 EvW 3v3 player map which I made because I realised on regular HJK6 that left side's ore trucks were being crazy and it was unfair. Then darasta started editing my maps and we eventually got to Rasta and Goldrush etc.
4) Who is your best ever friend playing Red Alert online?
Iamafreak from Heat.net. He doesn't play anymore.
5)Who do you consider to be your biggest ever rival(s) in your time playing Red Alert online?
Wow. Good question. Honestly, I always tried to get along with everyone, there is no one I had a real beef with so I would say no one. I'm very fortunate for that.
6) What is your favourite map and why?
GTK Original. Loved stealing enemy CY with APC! lol!
7) What is your most memorable ever game?
Not one in particular. I have had hundreds of great games on GTK original and V3 Rashowdown in particular.
8) You played throughout all eras of the game which very few players can say! Who do you recall being the strongest ever player(s) you faced?
The strongest player I faced was called OldBie from heat.net (not to be confused with modern player Oldie). I also think Milo234 was incredibly strong at his top.
9) How does play on CnCNet compare to other severs?
CnCnet is without a doubt the best place there has ever been to play Red Alert online! I love it! It has none of the issues of previous servers and it is just great. The future is very bright.
10) Are there any changes you would like to make to CnCNet/Red Alert?
I played Remastered as well. I would ultimately like some things from that version to come to CnCNet, at least the graphics. CnCNet is doing an amazing job though, thank you so much to all who made it possible!
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for more! Don't forget to follow.
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!
What a fantastic 1v1 tournament we had on Saturday 13th February 2021! It was great to see lots of new faces taking part! Thanks to all who played.
16 players took part and we played the following maps:
4c Ore, Arena Valley, Crush Basement 1v1, Random Violence, No Escape.
The first round saw most of the favourites progress to the 2nd round as their experience proved too strong. In the second round Yuzgen defeated Entidad, Hrvats defeated Fighter and Diga defeated Lordy in the match of the round. Sadly there was a real low point in this tournament as Bart refused to play his match with Tanja with the score tied at 1-1. He was very upset about laggy spectators not leaving and wrong map being selected. Out of stubbornness Bart refused to continue his games and was adamant he was not playing. He quit on the tournament and forfeited the match. This was extremely disappointing because his skill-set suited these maps very well and he would have had a good chance of winning. Even his opponent, Tanja, was disappointed Bart did not continue the match as he wanted to play it out. It was very sad for everyone involved, but especially for Bart as he let himself down 😔. Still, the tournament had to go on, and Tanja progressed to the Semi Finals to face Yuzgen.
Yuzgen was able to reverse his scoreline from last week's match with Tanja and progressed to the final this time round. The veteran Turk was clearly on top of his game. The 2nd semi final was a sensational nail-biting match, as Hrvats proved he was the surprise package of the tournament and took Diga to a game 5. A game 5 which he nearly won! He missed Diga's last small power plant otherwise he could have taken victory. A 3-2 victory was secured which is a must watch on Kicknass's Twitch Click This Link For Video, an absolutely fantastic match. Warning: Drunk Lordy appeared on the stream talking a lot of drunken gobbledegook during this match so just cover your ears 😤. One might think that the Englishman was having a temper tantrum because he hates losing. I don't think he took too kindly to getting pumped by Diga in the Quarter Finals 😖.
After a truly phenomenal semi-final encounter with Hrvats, Diga progressed to the final to face Yuzgen. In the mean time, Tanja defeated Hrvats to take the bronze medal for a 2nd consecutive week, adding to his gold medal from the 2v2 tournament on Friday 12th February. A blockbuster final was setup with 2 of the pre-tournament favourites colliding: Gravediga and Yuzgen. 2 players who actually have shared a rivalry for years. They were able to put past differences behind them and the final was played in a great, sporting manner. [Spoiler Warning: Watch the link before reading on if you do not want final result spoiled]. Yuzgen's Final Stream
The final was truly a classic. Once again Diga went to a deciding game. The score was tied at 2-2 after some intense games. Whoever won on the map, "No Escape" would be declared champion. The final game is probably the most dramatic 1v1 ever played in a tournament, as both players made nervous basic mistakes. Ultimately, the New Zealander Diga of TB clan fame was able to prevail and slay his old nemesis. A truly remarkable victory for Diga who has not long returned to the battlefield on CnCNet. He proved his class and was truly worthy of his victory. Did it in some style - winning 2 game 5s in the Semi and Final - doing it the hard way with true grit and determination. A very well deserved win. Commiserations to Yuzgen who had to settle for 2nd place after a long and hard fought tournament. Once again a huge thank you to all who played, and also to the fans and streamers who made it a huge success.
This tournament will henceforth be remembered as: The Return of the Gravediga!
I missed this tournament due to getting my ass kicked in the chess.com Friday Arena 🤣👀🤒. It seems like Tanja and Kickn were just too strong in the end as they justified their place as the highest graded team in my rankings. Some of the matches were very close scorelines and this looked a fun tournament. Maps were Tdawg, Big Open Ore and P4 mini. Definitely check out the videos.
TB-Kickn [winner] statement:
"I really enjoyed the mixture of maps for this tourny. The tourny is pretty fair when you have a mixture of good players and having it shuffled so you end up with a random partner instead of set teams. Tanja (aka Commander) played very well, I have to admit I felt very comfortable in most of the games while partnered with him. Discord also plays a massive role in Tourneys especially when you can just directly speak to your partner throughout the game. E.G. asking for assistance of if they're incoming for an attack. I'd prefer the 2v2 tourneys and playing the maps we usually play. Not just some random maps we need to learn couple days before the tournament.
We had some strong teams; Leigh and Yuz - you just never know what is up their sleeve. Lordy and Kobra - who just kept coming up with new ideas. I think it was such a smart idea having both players APC. I never saw the second one coming in our first match against them while playing T-dawg - it caught me completely by surprise and actually won them the game. Like you (Crush) have said many times before: Know your enemy. In the finals they attempted to do it again, but both myself and Tanja anticipated they would. This time it actually cost them the game because it just set them back and they didn't do any damage. Really liked the outcome at the end beating the semis 3-0 and then finishing it up with a nice 3-1 in the final. All players did very well and hope to play another 2v2 shortly."
8 seasoned warriors took the stage in the latest tournament.
This time it was 1v1, with the format being Best of 5, Single Elimination. As tournament host I had the pleasure of selecting the maps.
I selected 5 maps which had been suggested in RA Ladder Discussion Room on Discord. These were:
T-dawg 1v1 (a long gem map which requires expansion in the middle game)
Normandy (an old standard map which requires you to micro manage gem picking)
Jungle Diamonds (a map i made which requires quick reaction time and base trade/Q/infantry skills).
First Come First Serve (tiny ore map loved by bart)
Hamburger Hill (mega sized map like arena but with less money)
The most exciting match of the first round was Lordy vs [BAT] Hrvatz as the Croatian veteran took a 1-0 lead. Ultimately, however, the English Bear was able to run it back after some closely fought games and won the series 3-1 in a nail biter. Tanja (vs Madman), RushyBoo (vs Fighter) and Yuzgen (vs Miko) would ultimately prove too strong for their opponents and progressed to the semi finals relatively unscathed.
The first semi final match saw Lordy put in a mesmerising performance against Tanja. The Bear truly brought his A game, the highlight of which was an excellent exhibition of allies starving out soviets on T-Dawg. I have that game recorded so you will be able to see it on my YouTube channel soon. Lordy really played fantastic in this series, albeit Tanja was clearly quite rusty in 1v1 games. Onlookers opined that there was a full moon in the sky as the bear turned into a werewolf and howled his way into the final.
Semi final 2 featured the Turkish Rambo against everyone's favourite creepy name changer: RushyBoo, who doesn't know whether his real identity is Rushy, Herm or Zhang Wei. However all 3 names are owned by the same Canadian Grand Master of Red Alert. Ultimately HermyBoo would prove too strong for the Turkish Guile and hoho'd his way into the final with a 3-1 victory.
Tanja ended up defeating Yuzgen 3-1 in the bronze medal match while the finalists prepared themselves with their respective rituals. Lordy had time to squeeze in a celebratory fridge raid and Rushy was able to wax his asshole during the pre-final intermission.
So the stage was set for the final. The English Bear vs the Canadian Chameleon. We would soon find out who would make the Queen proud. Over 20 live viewers tuned in to Yuzgen's live twitch stream with their sausages in their hands excitedly awaiting the 2 titans to take to the battlefield.
A hotly contested final took place. With the scoreline going back and forth, and taunts of "ezzzz" pollinating the competitive atmosphere. The players were so closely matched. Unfortunately it was not possible to settle the final with a mud wrestle, so a game 5 was needed.
A game 5 in which RushyBoo put the Bear to sleep. RushyBoo tickled the bear's tummy on an intense Q battle game 5 on the Normandy map and Lordy had to ultimately fall on his sword and drink his milk. A great fun tournament that passed without hiccup.
You can watch the tournament final here:
There will be another 1v1 tournament this Saturday 13th Feb, 9PM London time. You can find all of the information here https://challonge.com/c43qm5ej including the 5 maps we will be using. Would be great to see as many people enter as possible! Don't be scared of losing - it's all about the fun and experience! Pro attitude. You might surprise yourself and do better than you think. All very welcome to enter!
