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Top 100 Basers of All-Time
Every season. Every final. Every champion.
All 50 seasons are now included and available in a searchable document here.
Best viewed on a 1920x1080 monitor or larger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A list without skill ratings can be found here, for those turned off by subjective inputs
An active basers only list available here, with active ratings and more weight on current skill level.
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Rating
TWLB Champion (10 points)
TWLB Runner-up (5 points)
TWLB Semi-Finals (2 points)
TWDT-B Champion (3 points)
TWDT-B Runner-Up (2 points)
Basing Cup (2 points)
World Cup (1 point)
Players are given a Skill rating with a heavy weight, but it has a relatively small impact on ranking (given that most good players are all within 10 rating of each other). It is mostly there to anchor all the great players who almost won TWLB but didn't, and make sure their placement is appropriate. For players who won a lot, the Skill rating has a negligible effect.
Thanks to JAMAL, Spezza, and Ease for going through the Skill ratings for me and providing feedback. I took pretty much all their recommendations.
I tried to rate older players (Koan/Spybreak/Brookus/etc.) and rivals (Stayon/Commodo/Thix/etc.) as generously as possible, but ultimately this list is -- to some degree -- my subjective opinion.
FWIW, though, if I removed the 'Skill' rating, the only subjective part of the equation, the list would mostly be the same, except I'd be higher up, and some great players who didn't win as much would be further down.
For older players, I talked to elite basers from the era and leaned on All-Star voting threads from S6/S7/S8/etc., which helpfully listed how many votes each player got in every ship.
Only finals starters who played the majority of winning rounds in Finals get the dark gold color. Light gold is for winning the Semi-Finals or starting almost every game. One of the goals of this list is to eliminate benching titles and accurately assess who actually won.
Even if you disagree with the ratings, this provides a nice database to look up basers, where they played, who won what season, etc. The list
has to be ordered in some fashion, anyway.
My Views on Leagues
I personally see TWLB and TWDT-B as the main leagues. TWLB is the main piece, and TWDT-B is the complimentary one.
TWLB, from s10 to s22, has always been a top heavy league with 2-3 contenders. Re-read forums from s10-s11, everyone is crying that the only two teams that can win are Pandora and Dice, and why even bother play. This is not a recent phenomenon.
I see people yearning for "old" TWLB where 5-6 teams could win between s5-s9. Well, s5 didn't have a playoffs, s6 was still a points race with random damage and blocks on the bar making cram impossible to break and undering way worse, so I doubt anyone wants to play that. So basically they want s7-s9 TWLB where all the basing talent is spread out and a ton of teams can win.
That league exists... it's called TWDT-B. All the top TWLB talent is spread out via draft, and 8 teams can win.
Yes TWDT was a joke for a long time, but once it converted to TWL maps, had better ops, and TWL became more of a stackfest, it has taken on the role of "old" TWL to some degree. The talent is spread out and you have to actually carry to win.
TWDT-B has increased in respectability and value as TWLB has decreased these past few years.
Of course, this is a Top 100 list, TWDT-B only matters in the context of being a max slot or 9* or 10* player. Tripin winning back-to-back titles as a 7* has no bearing on these sorts of conversations. If you cost 10* and there's a TWDT-B star cap of 66*, you're playing with less talent and forced to hard carry and prove your salt.
Winning a starting spot on a TWLB contender and reaching the finals is still the main crux of any serious list, but TWDT-B has become an increasingly important part of basing, and winning as a 10* is just as hard as winning a TWLB title.
TWLB Notes
S5 is the first TWLB season. Light won the regular season and there were no playoffs. TWLB-Cup was arranged as the S5 playoffs/finals. Mostly a black hole, but grabbed some data from the Wayback machine and other sources.
S6-S22 is 99% correct, listing every winner and runner-up, we've tracked down every finals and semis boxscore thanks to Qan, Turban, Rab, and Ease, via a giant SQL database, wayback machines, twl website, and TWLM.
TWDT-B Notes
TWDT-B actually studiously kept boxscores for almost every season, making it very accurate.
Props to Rab for hunting down the 2005 TWDT-B runner-ups for me.
TWBL Notes
This stuff was extremely hard to track down. Ara and others tried to track this info down in 2005 (!!) and couldn't manage it.
TWDL and TWBL were the main leagues around 2000-2002, and even when TWLD started, TWDL was still more popular and respected for awhile.
My understanding is that mods whitewashed TWDL and TWBL, and kept them off the History page and didn't award them TWD medals.
That said, the early seasons of these leagues was pretty informal and there were no playoffs -- but I believe the same was true for early TWLD, and TWLB Season 5 didn't have playoffs or finals, either.
I did manage to get rosters for every relevant team, which is awesome.
Based on combing through the Wayback Machine, archived forums, and Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars, this is the best I could do:
TWBL S1: Cripples
TWBL S2: Wildfire
TWBL S3: Disoblige
TWBL S4: -Final-
I believe Elusive, Scrotal's Horde, Siege, and -Final- won at least one TWDL each, FWIW. After the Wildfire controversy, Dock> re-made the league and people referred to winning S3 as winning S1, making it super confusing to follow in forum posts.
World Cup Notes
Thanks to forums, the wayback machine, and Rab, I have the rosters from every season except 2006. Boxscores from the 2005, 2015, and 2018 competitions are available, but some of the other seasons they're missing.
BWC 2006 might be the only season left where I have no info, beyond the fact that Benelux beat USA West.
Cups have a small weight, so it's not a big issue, but if you have info on any seasons (BWC or otherwise), let me know!
Every season. Every final. Every champion.
All 50 seasons are now included and available in a searchable document here.
Best viewed on a 1920x1080 monitor or larger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A list without skill ratings can be found here, for those turned off by subjective inputs
An active basers only list available here, with active ratings and more weight on current skill level.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating
TWLB Champion (10 points)
TWLB Runner-up (5 points)
TWLB Semi-Finals (2 points)
TWDT-B Champion (3 points)
TWDT-B Runner-Up (2 points)
Basing Cup (2 points)
World Cup (1 point)
Players are given a Skill rating with a heavy weight, but it has a relatively small impact on ranking (given that most good players are all within 10 rating of each other). It is mostly there to anchor all the great players who almost won TWLB but didn't, and make sure their placement is appropriate. For players who won a lot, the Skill rating has a negligible effect.
Thanks to JAMAL, Spezza, and Ease for going through the Skill ratings for me and providing feedback. I took pretty much all their recommendations.
I tried to rate older players (Koan/Spybreak/Brookus/etc.) and rivals (Stayon/Commodo/Thix/etc.) as generously as possible, but ultimately this list is -- to some degree -- my subjective opinion.
FWIW, though, if I removed the 'Skill' rating, the only subjective part of the equation, the list would mostly be the same, except I'd be higher up, and some great players who didn't win as much would be further down.
For older players, I talked to elite basers from the era and leaned on All-Star voting threads from S6/S7/S8/etc., which helpfully listed how many votes each player got in every ship.
Only finals starters who played the majority of winning rounds in Finals get the dark gold color. Light gold is for winning the Semi-Finals or starting almost every game. One of the goals of this list is to eliminate benching titles and accurately assess who actually won.
Even if you disagree with the ratings, this provides a nice database to look up basers, where they played, who won what season, etc. The list
has to be ordered in some fashion, anyway.
My Views on Leagues
I personally see TWLB and TWDT-B as the main leagues. TWLB is the main piece, and TWDT-B is the complimentary one.
TWLB, from s10 to s22, has always been a top heavy league with 2-3 contenders. Re-read forums from s10-s11, everyone is crying that the only two teams that can win are Pandora and Dice, and why even bother play. This is not a recent phenomenon.
I see people yearning for "old" TWLB where 5-6 teams could win between s5-s9. Well, s5 didn't have a playoffs, s6 was still a points race with random damage and blocks on the bar making cram impossible to break and undering way worse, so I doubt anyone wants to play that. So basically they want s7-s9 TWLB where all the basing talent is spread out and a ton of teams can win.
That league exists... it's called TWDT-B. All the top TWLB talent is spread out via draft, and 8 teams can win.
Yes TWDT was a joke for a long time, but once it converted to TWL maps, had better ops, and TWL became more of a stackfest, it has taken on the role of "old" TWL to some degree. The talent is spread out and you have to actually carry to win.
TWDT-B has increased in respectability and value as TWLB has decreased these past few years.
Of course, this is a Top 100 list, TWDT-B only matters in the context of being a max slot or 9* or 10* player. Tripin winning back-to-back titles as a 7* has no bearing on these sorts of conversations. If you cost 10* and there's a TWDT-B star cap of 66*, you're playing with less talent and forced to hard carry and prove your salt.
Winning a starting spot on a TWLB contender and reaching the finals is still the main crux of any serious list, but TWDT-B has become an increasingly important part of basing, and winning as a 10* is just as hard as winning a TWLB title.
TWLB Notes
S5 is the first TWLB season. Light won the regular season and there were no playoffs. TWLB-Cup was arranged as the S5 playoffs/finals. Mostly a black hole, but grabbed some data from the Wayback machine and other sources.
S6-S22 is 99% correct, listing every winner and runner-up, we've tracked down every finals and semis boxscore thanks to Qan, Turban, Rab, and Ease, via a giant SQL database, wayback machines, twl website, and TWLM.
TWDT-B Notes
TWDT-B actually studiously kept boxscores for almost every season, making it very accurate.
Props to Rab for hunting down the 2005 TWDT-B runner-ups for me.
TWBL Notes
This stuff was extremely hard to track down. Ara and others tried to track this info down in 2005 (!!) and couldn't manage it.
TWDL and TWBL were the main leagues around 2000-2002, and even when TWLD started, TWDL was still more popular and respected for awhile.
My understanding is that mods whitewashed TWDL and TWBL, and kept them off the History page and didn't award them TWD medals.
That said, the early seasons of these leagues was pretty informal and there were no playoffs -- but I believe the same was true for early TWLD, and TWLB Season 5 didn't have playoffs or finals, either.
I did manage to get rosters for every relevant team, which is awesome.
Based on combing through the Wayback Machine, archived forums, and Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars, this is the best I could do:
TWBL S1: Cripples
TWBL S2: Wildfire
TWBL S3: Disoblige
TWBL S4: -Final-
I believe Elusive, Scrotal's Horde, Siege, and -Final- won at least one TWDL each, FWIW. After the Wildfire controversy, Dock> re-made the league and people referred to winning S3 as winning S1, making it super confusing to follow in forum posts.
World Cup Notes
Thanks to forums, the wayback machine, and Rab, I have the rosters from every season except 2006. Boxscores from the 2005, 2015, and 2018 competitions are available, but some of the other seasons they're missing.
BWC 2006 might be the only season left where I have no info, beyond the fact that Benelux beat USA West.
Cups have a small weight, so it's not a big issue, but if you have info on any seasons (BWC or otherwise), let me know!
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