2014 was a great year for RA. When cnc4 was replaced by cnc5 number of players increased and we seen many new faces getting in "pro"-games.
There have been more RA players online in 2014-2015 than there have been since MPlayer was bought by GameSpy Arcade in 2001.
Although majority of the players are still so called "nubenators" there are some whose skills we seen grown during 2014-2015. In the below there are couple worth of mentioning. The ones who are busted by using cheats at any point are not in the list.
First to mention is Muad´Dib, whose name is inspired of old book/movie/series/game called Dune. This Romanian player never was afraid of asking tips and advice from "pros" and his urge for information must be one of the main reasons for improving.
Muad (also incorrectly often spelled Maud) wasn't very good in the beginning of Cnc5 but now in past 8 months his skills have improved greatly. He still has his weaknesses and we look forward to see if improving continues during 2015.
Only thing that might hold Muad's skills back is that he doesn't like to play 1vs1 and prefers p4 and Ribbon over all other maps.
Second who comes in mind is a britt called Crush. Crush was already better than most when Cnc5 started and had some success in Tournies, but during his time in Cnc5 he still kept improving and now he is in top 10 of current players.
RC_1985 has been proven to be a tough 1v1 opponent to almost anyone. Rc_1985 isn't afraid of 1v1:ing and sometimes it even gets annoying when he is constantly challenging everyone. However those hundreds of 1v1s are without the doubt the reason why he improved quickly in 2014-2015.
Machh1 is a person nobody can really have anything bad to say about and he is another promising new school player who showed great improvement in past months.
Poppy_fresh is very similar to Macch1, both latinos, nice persons and both have great potential to become pro tanker.
Vassallo has always been shadowed by the 3 great Finnish owners of RA: At0m1, Soleman and ehy. However despite this Vassallo has proved to be a solid allrounder and definitely one of the runner ups. Path Beyond is the map he feels the most comfortable on, even tho the skills of "The Great 3" are still beyond him.
The-1 is not yet on the same level as the ones above and although he can be annoying, nobody can argue that he hasn't improved during last year. Where many people like to show their tanking and Q skills, The-1 is good at keeping his opponents busy with constant base rushing (aka jewing). If you wan't to improve your jew defense you should play him lotsa 1v1s.
Jacko|MAN| has stayed a quiet for a while but when he was more active he showed great potential to become a good tanker. Since i'm not seen him play in few months this is all I say.
In the end I want to mention couple builders. Col0 was still better than most builders in cnc4 but now his name is well recognized in building circles.
TB-Joey, one of the few TBs who never been using cheats, was really nubish when cnc5 came along but now maybe because of the having competite with his fellow clan members who were cheating, has proven to be a decent player.
Last one is Otto, whose story is much like Joey's. Although he still is noobing around sometimes, he isn't scared of trying new things and stepping in the octagon with real men. Seems like he too is still improving.
There might be more I forgot to mention, I will add them if someone comes in my mind.
There have been more RA players online in 2014-2015 than there have been since MPlayer was bought by GameSpy Arcade in 2001.
Although majority of the players are still so called "nubenators" there are some whose skills we seen grown during 2014-2015. In the below there are couple worth of mentioning. The ones who are busted by using cheats at any point are not in the list.
First to mention is Muad´Dib, whose name is inspired of old book/movie/series/game called Dune. This Romanian player never was afraid of asking tips and advice from "pros" and his urge for information must be one of the main reasons for improving.
Muad (also incorrectly often spelled Maud) wasn't very good in the beginning of Cnc5 but now in past 8 months his skills have improved greatly. He still has his weaknesses and we look forward to see if improving continues during 2015.
Only thing that might hold Muad's skills back is that he doesn't like to play 1vs1 and prefers p4 and Ribbon over all other maps.
Second who comes in mind is a britt called Crush. Crush was already better than most when Cnc5 started and had some success in Tournies, but during his time in Cnc5 he still kept improving and now he is in top 10 of current players.
RC_1985 has been proven to be a tough 1v1 opponent to almost anyone. Rc_1985 isn't afraid of 1v1:ing and sometimes it even gets annoying when he is constantly challenging everyone. However those hundreds of 1v1s are without the doubt the reason why he improved quickly in 2014-2015.
Machh1 is a person nobody can really have anything bad to say about and he is another promising new school player who showed great improvement in past months.
Poppy_fresh is very similar to Macch1, both latinos, nice persons and both have great potential to become pro tanker.
Vassallo has always been shadowed by the 3 great Finnish owners of RA: At0m1, Soleman and ehy. However despite this Vassallo has proved to be a solid allrounder and definitely one of the runner ups. Path Beyond is the map he feels the most comfortable on, even tho the skills of "The Great 3" are still beyond him.
The-1 is not yet on the same level as the ones above and although he can be annoying, nobody can argue that he hasn't improved during last year. Where many people like to show their tanking and Q skills, The-1 is good at keeping his opponents busy with constant base rushing (aka jewing). If you wan't to improve your jew defense you should play him lotsa 1v1s.
Jacko|MAN| has stayed a quiet for a while but when he was more active he showed great potential to become a good tanker. Since i'm not seen him play in few months this is all I say.
In the end I want to mention couple builders. Col0 was still better than most builders in cnc4 but now his name is well recognized in building circles.
TB-Joey, one of the few TBs who never been using cheats, was really nubish when cnc5 came along but now maybe because of the having competite with his fellow clan members who were cheating, has proven to be a decent player.
Last one is Otto, whose story is much like Joey's. Although he still is noobing around sometimes, he isn't scared of trying new things and stepping in the octagon with real men. Seems like he too is still improving.
There might be more I forgot to mention, I will add them if someone comes in my mind.