Overview of 2007's Best Players

Who?
Moon is a Night Elf player from South Korea and has widely been regarded as the strongest player from the country since 2004. He is known for his creative play style and is named the "fifth race" among fans. He has had major success in international competition as well as Korean televised leagues, having won more tournaments and prize money than any other Warcraft III player.

What did Moon do in 2007?
He dominated the televised South-Korea MBC Game World War, won countless tournaments taking place on western soil and time and time again proved to be the strongest player in star-sudden tournaments taking place in China. The sum of his winnings in individual tournaments is $168,074. To put that in perspective, it is more than the next three players combined as well as more as the best season a Counter-Strike team has ever had.

What can we expect in 2008?
Moon proved a title contender throughout the year and has shown no signs of slowing down. He has slumped in the past and may do so in the future, but as things stand right now he should be one of the major contenders in 2008.

Who?
Creolophus is a Night Elf player from Norway and was signed to a one year contract with the legendary team Four Kings in 2006 in the hope that the obviously talented player would become a major title contender. This paid out and the young player performed exceptionally in international competition throughout 2007. He is currently retired from professional gaming and is studying computer science.

What did Creolophus do in 2007?
After a relatively slow start in the beginning of the season he finished second at the Electronic Sports World Cup and subsequently took first place at BlizzCon. He then retired at what seemed his peak. He did however play one more major tournament and against all odds won the World Cyber Games despite being inactive.

What can we expect in 2008?
Given that Creolophus' retirement came from a position of exceptional strength (unlike pretty much every other retirement in Warcraft III professional gaming history) it seems unlikely that the world of professional gaming can tempt him to come back. He has no glory to recover by returning so do not expect him to do so.

Who?
ReMinD is a Night Elf player from South Korea and came to prominence in 2004 by winning the first (online) season of Battle.net. He would go on to win season II in 2005, as well as become the runner-up of major Chinese competition ACON 5. He is widely perceived to be a friendly individual and is known to be a devout Christian. ReMinD is currently signed with SK Gaming with which he defended the Warcraft 3 Champions League title he won while playing for World Elite.

What did ReMinD do in 2007?
ReMinD started 2007 as the dominant player of the season, winning China eSports Games Xi'an and Battle.net Season IV in January. He would not go on to win any other major individual tournaments throughout the year but would remain a major tournament contender with many high ranking finishes including a second place at Battle.net Season V.

What can we expect in 2008?
ReMinD was strong throughout 2007 with some exceptional tournament finishes. Expect him to keep his shape up and make a go for a number of major titles in 2008, chances are he might not win any but top 3 finishes are definitely to be expected.

Who?
Sky is a Human player from China and a two-fold World Cyber Games champion and has for a long time been regarded as one of the world's absolute best players. He is regarded as the face of China's professional gaming scene as well the star-player of World Elite. He often finds himself challenged in the extremely competitive Chinese scene but maintains his status as the nations' number one player on account of his international success.

What did Sky do in 2007?
Sky had considerable successes in his home country winning the ProGamer League and finishing second at the World Series of Video Games stop in Wuhan. Outside of China he reached the semi-finals of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, the finals of a World War edition, won the Warcraft 3 Champions League and most noticeably he became the runner-up of the World Cyber Games.

What can we expect in 2008?
Sky had a very good season but also failed to defend his World Cyber Games title and finds himself facing tougher opposition in China. He will remain one of the strongest players of the world but seems to be sliding downwards slowly as well, expect him to show great results at competitions but the World Cyber Games gold might be out of his reach.

Who?
ToD is a Human player from France and has been regarded as one of the world's strongest players since 2004. He is currently seen by many as the strongest western player. He has resided in China since 2006 in order to train and compete in local tournaments. Representing team Four Kings he has won the Warcraft 3 Champions League three times. He has won a number of major individual competitions as well.

What did ToD do in 2007?
ToD Started the year with a fourth place finish at Battle.net Season IV. He participated in a number of (local and international). He would continue to compete in major international competition with significant results, his highest rated achievements include victories at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, IEF Masters and the Extreme Masters. He also participated in a large number of top rated tournaments in China throughout the year.

What can we expect in 2008?
ToD was definitely one of the strongest players of 2007 and there is no reason to indicate he will not be one in 2008. He has a somewhat fluid shape but throughout the season should be one of the favorites for more than one major competition.

Who?
Lyn is a Orc player from South-Korea and has since 2005 been regarded as one of the world's strongest Orc players. Together with ReMinD and Soju he is one of only three players to win the Warcraft 3 Champions League more than once representing different teams, first for World Elite and secondly for his current team SK Gaming. His success in 2007 has lead many to regard him as the world's top Orc player.

What did Lyn do in 2007?
Lyn started the year by showing great success in Korea, winning the KespA Cup as well as many televised World War matches. He added international success on account of strong results in the Electronic Sports World Cup, the Warcraft 3 Champions League and the NGL One. His biggest wins came by the end of the as he became the only Orc player to win major competitions by winning Make Games Colorful and Extreme Masters Los Angeles.

What can we expect in 2008?
Lyn started the year as a solid player and got progressively stronger. This means there might still be room for him to grow but it also means that it is not clear yet if he has what it takes to stay on top. He will be cast as the great Orc hope for 2008 by fans around the world, but if he will live up those expectations remains a unknown.

Who?
Grubby is a Orc player from The Netherlands and has been counted among the world's strongest players since his 2004 World Cyber Games victory. He is nicknamed the "Orc Emperor" and until 2007 was the only Orc player to win a major title in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. He won the 2005 Electronic Sports World Cup and prize money wise was the best earning player of 2006.

What did Grubby do in 2007?
Grubby started the year with a strong third place finish at Battle.net season IV. Throughout the remainder of the season he participated in many tournaments and continued to show strong results at tournaments, with as highlights third places at the Electronic Sports World Cup and Battle.net season V as well as victories at smaller European tournaments.

What can we expect in 2008?
Grubby has been perceived to be in slow decline for a long period of time now, with 2007 being the first year since 2004 that he did not bring home a major title. He remains a stable presence at tournaments however, showing strong finishes.

Who?
FoV is a Undead player from South Korea and has been counted among the world's strongest players since his 2004 Electronic Sports World Cup victory. Due to his many international appearances and his signing with United Kingdom based Four Kings he has been a very visible player around the globe throughout his career, including in times in which most Korean players still focused on their national scene.

What did FoV do in 2007?
FoV had many strong finishes in major international competitions including second places at Game-X and Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. He also won tournaments in China versus very strong fields at China eSports Games Changchun and International eSports Festival.

What can we expect in 2008?
FoV will possibly fulfill his draft duty in the Korean army, following such players as DayFly, ShowTime and Zacard. Assuming he continues competing throughout the 2008 he should remain one of the strongest contenders at every tournament he enters and should be perceived as the most likely Undead player to bring home a major title in the year.

This article is mostly about the numbers, but it still feels like a shame not to add some redundant thoughts about what the year 2007 meant for Warcraft III.

- There were more tournaments than ever, the top players traveled more and more people made some money out of the game.

- There is no hard public data on this subject (tho the author would love some) but player movements and the given motivations for those movements among top teams have made clear that salaries for the very best are going up with considerable amounts. One team has also send out some pretty strong signals that they are the number one team in this regard.

- The amount of people playing Warcraft III seems to be in heavy decline. Custom games keep the amount of people on Battle.net using Warcraft III high, but usage of Battle.net ladder services seems to be down a lot. This can also be contributed in some regard to the usage of other clients for multi-player games however.

- The Warcraft III professional scene has expanded considerably every year since the release of the game, and 2007 was no exception. This is no guarantee that this will continue to be the case in the future however.