We've ranked the top 30 CTF players in the world in 2020, as well as some honourable mentions. The list of panelists was selected by hand by yours truly, and all CTF tournaments were factored into the composition of these rankings, which includes ZCA tournaments as well as MDF and WDL ones.
Credits:
Panelists - Alpha, Dastan, Denzoa, Dsparil, edd, NinjaDog, RightHannMan, SkullRush, Tai & Zakken
Blurb writers - Tai & Zakken
MS Excel player cards - Zakken
Player card guide:
Main positions: the position(s) a given player is best known for, and generally employs for serious matches. Can be D (defence), Mid (middle) or O (offence);
Avg.: the arithmetic average of all panelists' rankings assigned to a player. 76 players were eligible for DCTFR 2020, so panelists could individually assign players any rank from 1 to 76;
S.D.: stands for standard deviation. In simple terms, it describes how far panelist votes diverged from the average. A low SD means all panelists' votes assigned to a player were close to each other (e.g. 5, 4, 5, 6, 4) -- conversely, a high SD means panelists' votes were very different from each other (e.g. 5, 12, 1, 18, 10). If a player's S.D. reached double digits, individual votes that deviated too much from the average were manually removed until it no longer did.
Mov.: the amount of spots a ranked player went up or down compared to the previous year's rankings. If the player was not featured last year, then they're considered "NEW".
Spoiler: Honourable mentions (Open)
Spoiler: #30 - #21 (Open)
“2020 saw the long-awaited return of Legion as a CTF league captain, having taken the helm in both DML seasons of the year. After barely missing playoffs in the winter season with HumanBones and 100% Newb, and getting a very impressive 2nd place in Vengeance Season 2 under the wing of Infer, Legion achieved his best result as a captain yet in DML Summer, by earning 3rd place in a very cutthroat season alongside Zakken and Ion. His middle and offense plays continue to elude players of all kinds, often succeeding at what he sets out to do and elevating the performances of his teammates with his battle-hardened support and teamwork skills. Having achieved greater things in 2020, Legion will continue on his journey to surpass himself and enrich his legacy.” – Zakken
“After a couple of years of semi-inactivity, Alpha returned to competitive CTF, stronger and hungrier for victory than ever before. He reprised his role as a captain in WDL Summer, seeing a bit more success than his previous captain outing 4 years prior and secured himself a 2nd place in DML Summer, where he pulled ahead of most competition and made truly evident how much he has improved since his first years into Doom CTF: communications became top-notch, his aim was consistent and he eased himself into a very strong and capable middle position. He also took home an ECI Winter title to end the year on a happy note. There’s no telling how much more Alpha will still grow in the future!” – Zakken
“After a quiet start of the year, the South-American Sharp got back into his groove by participating in Vengeance Season 2 and DML Summer. He had a rough season in Vengeance, being only one flag short of making playoffs, but was nonetheless the star player of Bad RNG, making incredible runs even on European servers. In DML Summer, he was the runner for Ammar’s Dice Rollers, and ultimately took home the championship, the culmination of many years of hard work on his part since he started playing competitive nearly a decade ago. His last appearance in 2020 was in ECI Fall, where he teamed up with Infer and Dsparil in Sharjah Squad. As an established tricky, methodical runner, Sharp is a constant threat wherever he may be.” – Zakken
”DevastatioN had somewhat of a quiet 2020, but continued his involvement with DML and WDL all the same. By teaming up with fellow veteran Jwarrier twice this year, Dev made sure to play the defensive, high-fragging foil to Jwarrier’s relentless offense and proved himself very dependable on the role, securing solid results all around for both CTF league seasons he played. While he may not have seen much CTF activity outside of those events, his consistency built up across two decades of Doom maintains his status as a solid threat even to those who currently play far more often than he does. Dev might be going on a semi-hiatus from Doom, but for a player with an insurmountable legacy in all sides of competitive Doom and nothing left to prove, he has more than earned himself a break!” – Zakken
“2020 was a blessed year for RHM, aka Goblin. While he may not have had great results in ECI Spring or DML Summer in spite of his stellar performances, he earned his very first major CTF title in DML Winter earlier in the year as a member of Praise Kek, together with Water and StarCraft. RHM has made considerable improvements throughout 2020, ascending beyond his previous status as a team’s 3rd player to become a primary pick for any team. His outstanding game sense and coordination with teammates has helped him tremendously in staying competitive at the top level even so many years after starting out. Coming into 2021, RHM remains strong, and his commendable attendance of every DML season since Summer 2019 will certainly keep him in the upper echelon of Doom CTF.” – Zakken
“Few have been in the competitive scene longer than Ralphis, going back to at least ZDaemon 0.99, if not CSDoom. Most probably know him as the original founder of the International Doom League (IDL), followed by the World Doom League (WDL), as well as the founder of the infamous clan UniDoom. That said, his CTF prowess over the years has been no joke, highlighted by 3 IDL MasterBowls and many more runner-up finishes. This year, he followed that up with a 4th place finish as captain of the signature Super Chargers, losing a close match in semi-finals against Tai’s Only Fans. Mainly a runner, Ralphis’s speedy offense has withstood the test of time, always a threat to bring in the self-proclaimed People’s Flag Cap.” - Tai
“While it is true that few had been in the competitive scene for as long Ralphis has, Bones is one of the few to truly fit the bill. Also being born and bred from ZDaemon 0.99, Bones was an early member of Ralphis’ UniDoom and a big part of the reason UniDoom was a force in its prime. 2020 had been very kind to Bones as well, grabbing a 3rd place in WDL as the captain of the Sexual Panthers and a respectable 5th place finish in Vengeance Season 2. Even to this date, Bones’s combination of savviness, fragging, and map knowledge makes him capable of winning a game by himself at anytime, anywhere.” - Tai
“While 2019 was a heavily-involved year for Jwarrier that brought him to a spot in the Top 10 rankings, 2020 was a more reserved year for this all-star player, opting to play in no more than one DML season and one WDL season. In DML Winter, he drafted a strong, well-rounded team in DevastatioN and Samurai, and made it to 3rd place in the regular season. In WDL, he once again teamed up with Dev, but this time with a new 3rd, Asriel, securing a 2nd place in the regular season. While his playoff runs have not been as outstanding as he’s usually known for, his playstyle is as fierce as ever and his flexibility across all positions allow him to bring the heat to any and all adversaries, with any assortment of teammates.” - Zakken
“Another good year to the books was earned by TheFatWilly. Having played in one DML, one WDL and three ECIs, he was deeply involved with top-level competition from start to end of 2020. In ECI Summer, he secured a 2nd place in arguably one of the most stacked CTF tournaments of all time as a part of StylerZ, followed by a solid 4th place in DML Summer under the helm of NinjaDog and another runner-up finish in ECI Fall, this time with fellow European players Dragon and Poto in Post-Traumatic Stress Doomers. His careful aiming and game sense hardened by nearly a decade of competitive CTF make him a tough opponent in any circumstance, and his consistent gameplay and unshakeable mentality will maintain his place in the upper echelon for many more years.” – Zakken
“After shocking everyone with his sudden rise to stardom at the tail end of 2019, all eyes were on Langrenus to see what new heights he would reach in 2020. He started the year with a bang in DML Winter, being a key member of the monster team that was Dsparil’s Rushing Skulls of Destruction, topping the regular season standings and barely losing their playoff semi-finals match. Afterwards, he took part in ECI Spring and Summer, the first of which he won and the second of which he got last place, but not without taking the eventual champions Team NoMic to a gritty game 6. His results in Vengeance S2 and DML Summer were less impressive by comparison, and he’s since gone on a break from Doom, but his near-robotic reaction time and aim have forced everyone to respect and be cautious of his talents in any tournament he had played throughout the year. One can only wonder how much more he can still grow as a CTF player considering how much he’s already accomplished with as little experience as he has, but whether or not he is returning to action anytime soon is yet to be known.” – Zakken
Spoiler: #20 - #11 (Open)
“WDL Summer 2020 proved to be an interesting league, as it combined established current-day top players with well-storied veterans of a more distant era of competitive CTF, and among the latter crowd, none proved as sharp and capable this year as KBlair. As the designated defender for Ralphis’s Super Chargers, Blair’s skills haven’t dulled at all, being every bit of a deadly fragger and strong team player he’s always been known for and providing the sturdy backbone that helped SUC hold out against many strong teams and push their way to the playoff semi-finals of that season. KBlair indisputably had one of the strongest showings in that WDL season, cementing his spot as a top player for another year in his career spanning over a decade and a half by now.” – Zakken
“2020 was SkullRush’s strongest year yet. As the forefront runner of Dsparil’s Rushing Skulls of Destruction in DML Winter, he was the offensive player to beat in everyone’s eyes, consistently getting many flags out and doing quick work of most opposition. He would then replicate that success in WDL Summer and walk away with his first championship title in that league, once again showing that his cerebral and efficient offense consistently brings him good results no matter what. To finish off the year, he landed a 6th place in DML Summer and a runner-up finish in ECI Winter, performing no less strongly than earlier in the year. Now with an incredibly solid resume to work with, any self-respecting league captain should put SkullRush’s talents on high priority for any draft scenario.” - Zakken
“A series of breakout performances blessed Dranzer’s 2020. After two strong, but perhaps understated showings for Caution’s Techno Vikings in DML Winter and Alpha’s Demon SlayerS in WDL Summer, he would then become the star player for Ammar’s Dice Rollers, exerting unparalleled pressure from his mid position and shutting down everyone who dared challenge his control of any map. He capped off the year equally as strongly, with a 1st place finish in ECI Fall and a 3rd place in ECI Winter. His methodical style of oppression is fairly unique and has been a staple of his gameplay for years, but 2020 stands as the one year when he fully tapped into his own potential and smashed through any uncertainties others may still have had about him. One can only speculate to what extent Dranzer will meet his ever-rising ambitions in 2021.” – Zakken
“Competitive Doom CTF is currently seeing an increasing trend in top players who are fully committed to optimizing every single aspect of their play and pushing the theoretical peak of the game to new levels, a trend which is at least partially rooted in Razor’s own work ethic and passionate theory-crafting. Arguably the strongest up-and-comer of 2019, Razor opted to be largely absent from most events in 2020, but not without at least competing in the first DML of the year during the winter. It is unquestionably hard to improve on greatness, but Razor’s lone CTF league participation showed a most refined gameplay on his part, often coming up with high-brow ideas and executing them effortlessly. Despite his Steel Ball Runners team coming up short of making playoffs, Razor was indisputably one of the strongest players of the season, and his private CTF and league team practice showings are more than sufficient to prove that his long-term absence from tournaments and leagues hasn’t impaired his gameplay in the least.” – Zakken
“Like Razor before him, Poto waltzed into competitive CTF with insatiable hunger and ambition to become the very best player he can possibly be. After spending the first few months of 2020 honing his craft and getting ready for what’s to come, he absolutely killed it during the second half of the year. Starting out with a stellar 1st place in ECI Summer in Team NoMic, he would move on to be one of the MVPs in Vengeance S2, secure a hard-earned 2nd place in DML Summer with Super Pubic Brothers, and earn two more 2nd places in the last two ECIs of the year. Efficient in all positions but mainly an offensive player, Poto’s runs are notoriously difficult to counter even for the best defenders in the world, due in no small part to his insane reaction times, game awareness and top-notch movement developed over years of competitive Jumpmaze. With a full year of high-octane competition lying in wait for him in 2021, Poto is laser-focused on his warpath to outclass everyone else and, hopefully, add his name to the list of major CTF league champions.” - Zakken
“Fragging it up since the IDL days, very few can man the middle like Caution on practically any map. Many years after establishing himself as a top talent, his 2020 campaign continued to bring in good results, getting a 4th place result as captain of the Techno Vikings in DML Winter 2020, a 7th place finish in the WDL with Steel Ball Runners, and a 3rd place finish in ECI Spring 2020 with Tai’s Unlucky Virus United. His ability to terrorize other teammates with his mid control and clever runs is evident, and even as most other competitive players prioritize high-level execution, Caution’s strategic team plays continue to elude many, always a fierce opponent who cannot be counted out against even the best of the best. Hopefully his prowess will be on display again sooner rather than later.” – Tai
“2020 was a full course meal for Tai, as he punched his card for every single notorious Doom CTF event that took place. His results ranged from an almost-championship in WDL Summer 2020 with Tai’s Only Fans, to an unfortunate last place finish in DML Summer and historically missing playoffs for the first time ever in a major CTF league, after playing in nearly 25 CTF league seasons! Consistency continues to be Tai’s middle name, as he often reaches deep into bracket runs in majors and achieves respectable results no matter how many times he finds himself having to work with different teammates for each tournament he signs up for. The competitive scene continues to collectively improve, and Tai’s personal fight to stay in the elite may become more of an uphill battle for him over time, but without a shred of doubt, he has continued to try his very best by competing as often as possible, learning as much about the other players as he can, and simply allowing his near-unmatched passion for Doom speak for itself.” – Zakken
“The return of all-star player Stall to Doom CTF was a very exciting piece of news, even if his participations in 2020 were somewhat limited. Once regarded as potentially the best defender in the world during the era of late IDL (2010-2014), Stall’s raw expertise carried him through years of accumulated rust and getting accustomed to different ports, allowing him a couple of incredible showings, such as ECI Summer, where he earned a 2nd place finish, and WDL Summer, where he took Rip and Tear to the playoffs even after losing one of their main players. His aim and game sense hold up even to today’s standards, and even the best players around are still often times overwhelmed by Stall’s defensive prowess or mid pressure. 2021 should be a bountiful year for competition if it graces the community with more performances from a player with such an outstanding legacy as Stall’s.” – Zakken
“Not holding back after solidifying himself at the top level of CTF in 2019, Denzoa was alive and at large in 2020 by participating in one DML, one ECI, Vengeance S2 and WDL. His most impressive feat of the year was outside of the realms of CTF, actually, as he won MDF’s Take the Crown Duel tournament, but by winning ECI and reaching playoffs in all of the other leagues, he’s shown to be just as scary of an opponent as ever in CTF when he puts his back into it. His middle and offensive skills are nothing to joke about: anybody short of the absolute best in those areas is prone to getting utterly decimated by the loud-mouthed Belgian. His aim and movement in 1v1 situations is near unmatched in any situation, giving even the most seasoned fraggers a run for their money. Denzoa’s talents are much coveted in the increasingly optimized game that is Doom CTF, and as long as he continues to occasionally show up for majors in 2021, retaining his spot in the upper rankings will be a no-brainer.“ – Zakken
“Many players improved and others struggled to keep up in 2020, but none of top players featured in these rankings dealt with circumstances as disruptive as Dsparil’s: moving back and forth between the UAE and Syria resulted in his dealing with constant connection problems and having to work double to make up for it, and so he did. The true mark of a top player is not only how well they can frag or move, but also their knowledge and intelligence in the teamwork aspect of CTF and their adaptability to any adversities that come their way, and in that regard, Dsparil impressed his peers all the same, with an incredible 2nd place finish in Vengeance S2 and one of his best DML seasons yet during the winter alongside Langrenus and SkullRush. His skills have not dulled one bit this entire time, what with his faultless aim and immaculate efficiency at any position he plays, and with 2021 in the horizon and hopefully better playing conditions on his side, it won’t be long until Dsparil becomes the big bully of Doom CTF once again.” - Zakken
Spoiler: #10 - #1 (Open)
“There comes a point in Doom CTF when a player reaches such a deep understanding of the game that they are incontestably considered one of the best in the world for so many years, even as new top players are given the spotlight over time. Having been one such player for the better part of a decade, Infer made sure to put in the work in 2020, by playing in 3 ECIs, Vengeance S2 and WDL Summer. By landing three 2nd places out of those, and with completely different teammates each time, Infer’s leadership, game sense, coordination and consistency perpetuate his status as a highly-respected player in all corners of the community who never performs half-heartedly and always brings peak levels of excitement to any competitive match. While he is currently enjoying a break from major events, Infer’s legacy of having won WDL twice and DML as a key member of all teams involved means he has nothing more to prove – only more prestigious results to harvest in a distant future.” – Zakken
“The fearless leader of ZCA himself went into 2020 looking to follow up his first major CTF league victory in DML Summer the year previous with the Steel Ball Runners. While his successes throughout this year were not quite up to par, Zakken did reach an impressive 3rd place in DML Summer with The Chosen Ones, losing to eventual champions Dice Rollers. While there were mixed results in other events in the year, including a dead last finish in DML Winter 2020 as well as a 7th place finish in WDL, Zakken would find some form of glory in winning ECI Spring 2020 captaining The Hateful Top Four, with help from Denzoa, Acc, and Langrenus. With his patient style of heavy fragging as well as keen game sense to pressure in timely spots, Zakken can be a terror at any moment, and is still easily deserving of a place in the top 10.” - Tai
“Indisputably considered one of the best European players in the world for the past several years, Dragon spared no efforts to live up to his world-class reputation in 2020. His activity can be traced from one end to the other of the year, starting out incredibly strong by placing 2nd in DML Winter, then winning the title in Vengeance S2, and capping off the year with a 3rd place in WDL Summer and a 2nd place in ECI Fall. With perfectly-optimized aggression combined with lightning-fast reaction times even in North-American regions, Dragon was the definitive playmaker of every team he participated in, never dipping below the upper echelon of results and becoming the face of the European CTF status quo. As somebody who prides himself in the perfect optimization and speed of his gameplay, and in his applications of the best possible team strategies regardless of which line-up he’s got to work with, Dragon is one of the most terrifying roadblocks to be found in any deep bracket run.” – Zakken
“If 2019 was the year of Dastan’s meteoric rise to fame, 2020 is the year when he completed his journey to reaching the highest level of Doom CTF play. Dastan was wholly committed to the grind this year, having played in all major events, each time coming out stronger than the previous. His unwavering aim, optimized movement and enigmatic stratagem have evolved in definitive ways, making him into a top-priority pick in any draft. One would expect such an active player to have wildly varied results, but Dastan successfully made playoffs in all leagues played and reached grand finals twice, once in DML Winter and once in WDL Summer. From all of the 4 ECIs he’s played, he also won one and took 2nd place in another. His second-to-none work ethic and consistent improvement as a player have cemented his place as the greatest factor behind the success of the teams he was a member of. As Dastan begins to write the new chapter in the book of top-level offense in CTF, he could very well reach greater heights in 2021 still.” - Zakken
“For the first few months of 2020, the sleeping giant Edd was largely absent from major events, returning only by the summer season of competition. By playing in both WDL and DML Summer, Edd was heavily invested in both leagues, sparing no efforts to take Tai’s Only Fans and Super Pubic Brothers as deeply into the playoff brackets as they did. Edd’s phenomenal aim, movement and affinity for clutch plays are no surprise to anybody by now, but in 2020 he improved in all of those aspects and stayed ahead of the competition by leaps and bounds, completely unfazed by even the most stacked teams. In WDL, he’s made a strong case for being possibly the most valuable player of the entire season, with his insane pressure and top-level execution that put nearly everybody else to shame, and his draft cleverness and team strategies in DML complimented his other talents to further solidify his status as a certified Doom god in 2020. His passion and enjoyment of the game is clear, and is showing no signs of slowing down, so provided that Edd continues to do his occasional competition reps, he will continue to gatekeep those ranked below him for many more years to come, and hopefully more highlight reels too!” – Zakken
“Questions that are often asked when it comes to any top player are ‘are they really all that?’, ‘are they still as good as they were some years ago?’ and ‘can they keep up with everyone else who’s improving?’, and for a player such as Water, who hasn’t fancied himself a very active player for the past several years, these types of second-guesses and skepticisms are even more prominent. When he came around to captain for the first time in DML during the winter, many were curious but not very optimistic when he made the outlandish decision to draft StarCraft, a completely unproven player in Zandronum CTF at the time, for most of his auction draft money, completing the team with a more conservative pick that was RightHannMan. In spite of being uncontestably one of the best to ever touch Doom, Water’s Praise Kek team had a rough regular season, losing half of their matches and only barely making playoffs after a decisive victory against the Steel Ball Runners. What followed was a streak of absolute brilliance that nobody could’ve predicted: PK fought against Tai’s Tai Left D in the quarter-finals, and after an unending, record-breaking 11 rounds, PK pulled ahead against unlikely odds and continued forward. After that, PK fought the favorites to win the season, Dsparil’s Rushing Skulls of Destruction, a match everyone predicted would go in RSD’s favor, and Water once again surpassed all expectations and performed absolutely immaculately, being an untouchable god even in the face of the most stacked team of the season and leading his team to another earth-shattering victory. Once PK took home the championship of the winter season, Water had proven once again that even to today’s standards, when he gets serious, he remains absolute and simply cannot be overthrown by anyone, never faltering in his draft decisions or team strategies regardless of where he is or who he works with. His immense textbook knowledge on playing all positions optimally and enviable reaction times also heavily contributed to his continued success for all of these years. The only fault in Water’s 2020 is that he hasn’t competed in any majors since then, never seeing the chance to fight against certain other top players featured in this list, which means whether or not he truly was better than everyone else in this year can only be speculated at best. Nothing seems to indicate Water will be returning to Doom anytime soon, but if this is where his career reaches its end, then that was indisputably one hell of a way to go out.” – Zakken
“Up until 2019, not much was known Acc: as a strictly ZDaemon-only player who rarely, if ever, touched other ports for many years, his razor-sharp skills were only recognized by a fraction of the community. Since engaging with Doom leagues in 2019, however, not only was he able to give the top player status quo a run for their money, he was also introduced to an environment where he was able to truly cultivate his strengths to greater heights, and that was made all the more apparent in 2020. While this immaculate fragger and excellent in-game communicator did have a strong 2019, Acc had still yet to actually win a major event – he would finally make good on that this year, by winning a stacked WDL Summer as the main defender for Best Ever. This, followed up by two 3rd places in the ECI circuit, and complimented by one ECI Spring title and a 4th place in Vengeance S2, helped improve his reputation from an already solid top 15 player to a near-untouchable spot in the top 5 -- his game sense for controlling defense and the middle was proven time and time again to be near-impossible to crack, often requiring combined efforts of other cream-of-the-crop players to outplay. All eyes will be on Acc in 2021, wondering if he’ll be able to repeat his success from WDL and continue to showcase his airtight position control in future tournaments and leagues.” – Tai & Zakken
“Stories of players from ancient times making their glorious return to Doom and quickly rehabilitating themselves at the high (or even top) level aren’t that uncommon, but something needs to be said about one such player coming back and disrupting the status quo at the very top of the rankings. The name ‘NinjaDog’ has only been heard of for the past decade, and never having played in IDL did not do him any favors in terms of establishing himself as any more than ‘an R member who used to be good back then.’ Enter 2020, NinjaDog decides to try his hand at the game once again, and the biggest surprise was yet to come: in a matter of just a few months of shaking off rust and adapting to the modern metagame, he had become monstrously good at Doom CTF, so much so that he is now heralded by many as the best defender the competitive scene has. After quickly working himself up to a captain spot in DML Summer, he took his team of TheFatWilly and Turki all the way to the playoff semi-finals, not giving up any ground to any team except the eventual champions Dice Rollers. Afterwards, at the end of the year, he would go on to take home both ECI Fall and ECI Winter with different team compositions each time, sending the message loud and clear: NinjaDog is the new face of Doom CTF, and the new standard by which other top players will compare themselves to. Taking a “conservative turret” approach to defense and becoming the be-all and end-all of this style that some other top players have only attempted to execute but never perfected it the way he did, NinjaDog is inarguably the player to beat in 2021, the towering giant that stands as the ultimate obstacle in everyone’s path.” – Zakken
“The title of ‘best in the world’ carries with it overwhelming expectations and enemies desperate to take it away from you, but despite holding the #1 spot in 2019, Ammar’s 2020 was just as great as, if not better than the previous year. While he did not take part in as many majors as last year, Ammar was no less ambitious to rise above all others and dominate yet another year. In ECI Summer, he drafted RoSKing and Poto, which would be Poto’s first experience with non-Tendency competitive CTF, and would go on to take 1st place in it, despite most of the team not having voice communications (hence the team name ‘Team NoMic’). After skipping one season of DML, Ammar returned as a captain during the summer, and alongside Dranzer and Sharp, he consistently got great results all around, and defeated juggernauts such as NinjaDog and Edd to take home his very first major CTF league championship, a well-deserved title after many years of grinding. Ammar stands as the only player in DCTFR 2020 to have across-the-board 1st place finishes for the entire year while also having played in more than one tournament and for good reason: Ammar’s game sense is second-to-none, with an unparalleled proficiency at smelling blood in the water and striking opposing teams at their weakest points and nerves that can only be described as titanium-made, allowing him to always show off awe-inspiring performances regardless of how high the stakes of any given CTF match might be. With top-class flowcharts to any position he plays, Ammar is the closest thing the Doom CTF community has to an actual Terminator, an apocalyptic entity who cannot be individually outplayed regardless of circumstances. The only negative that can be said about Ammar’s 2020 is, as stated before, his more modest activity compared to the previous year, but as a player who can seemingly do anything he set his mind to, if he decides to wreak more havoc in 2021, the race for the #1 spot in 2021 will have solid odds of going in his favor.” – Zakken
“The starting point of Doom CTF’s history can be traced back to 2004, a whopping 17 years ago, with the release of the first ZDaemon CTF mapset. Countless players came and went since then, across different ports and communities, and while many veterans seen today possess roughly a decade of experience, those who can state they have been around since CTF’s very beginnings is decidedly much lower. Just as the amount of players fluctuated across the years, so have the relative skill levels of those who stuck around: new players worked hard to take the spotlight, many veterans held their ground and many others slowly, but surely fell off into obscurity. The amount of top competitors who have been in contention for 'best in the world' for as many years as there has been competitive CTF is also, as you might expect, increasingly scarce. In this already-small group of players singled out from these specific terms, however, only one can state he stood above all others and was hailed as the best CTF player of 2020, and that is none other than RoSKing.
RoSKing’s battle to the top was long and unrelenting, far exceeding the WDL and DML records most know him by: by creating the clan Renegades alongside BEAST3, he worked himself and his clan from the ground up, relentlessly getting beaten up by top players at the time, until the turning point finally came in the early 2010s, where R would go on to consistently defeat top clans across all ports such as PRO, NS and UD to cement themselves as the new summit of Doom CTF, and none of that would have been possible if not for the tireless hours of hard work and dedication invested by its iconic leader. While his war path to the top of the game largely came in the form of scrims and clan wars at the time, he would eventually embrace the CTF league communities as well, always adding more top-notch results to his bountiful resume. What would come of RoSKing’s 2020 was built upon all of those years of being in the front lines of the grittiest competition out there throughout every generation of Doom CTF, by winning both ECIs he’s played in, getting a 3rd place in Vengeance S2, and most notably of all, taking home the championship in WDL Summer, which would be the second time in a row that he’s won WDL. He goes above and beyond to achieve the best synergy possible with any team he’s a part of, and his strategies and communications are just as paradigmatic. With 2021 coming up, and RoSKing taking a short break before rejoining the battlefield of CTF, the possibilities are endless for a man whose gargantuan career might never truly be outweighed by any other player from the past, the present or the future.” - Zakken
