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Polosatiy: 59% (2660)

Thresh: 41% (1831)

Greatest Gamer of all Time: Round 1, Game 8

Thresh

Name: Dennis Fong
Clan(s): Death Row, Legends

PROFILE

Actually, Dennis 'Thresh' Fong shouldn't need an introduction. But as he stopped playing when Quake2 was out, many of the younger players may not know him. His first competitive game was Doom II. He was good at it and won some tournaments. Yet his fame stems from the Quake series. Not only did he win every tournament he attended, he did so with only losing against two players on one map each and then come back and give them a spanking. To say he dominated is an understatement. With his aim and even more with his cleverness and smart play he was almost invincible. His superiority went as far that he knew at every moment of a match exactly where his opponent was and in most cases even correctly predicted his next move. And on top of that he did that in different games at the same tournament. Switching back and forth between Quake1 and 2 or Quake, Doom and Starcraft and winning in all competitions or at least doing very well once again underlines his excellence.

You can imagine that quite some prize money went into his pocket. Yet his most well-known success was winning the Red Annihilation tournament. John Carmack had donated a Ferrari as prize, being worth about $70,000. Of course, Thresh took it home. But again he topped these achievements: besides his smart game he very well understood how to market himself. So when he stopped active gaming he had himself secured a job in the industry, had his own firm and several projects running. This is just to give you a short overview over his achievements as it would actually take several pages to serve him justly.
Polosatiy

Name: Roman Tarasenko
Clan(s): 4z, Cyberfight 58

PROFILE

Roman 'Polosatiy' Tarasenko may not be as revered as his illustrious opponent here but he remains the true gamer's choice. In an on-going career spanning over six years 'Polos' never shied away from competition, participating in almost 90 LAN tournaments and winning a remarkable 35.

Arguably the best Quake 2 player in his ultra-competitive homeland, he went from tasting victory in the first FFA competition to winning most of the later duel tournaments and leading the number one clan. Polos also became renowned for his trick-jumping prowess, releasing a demo pack which became part of Q2 folklore. With the release of Quake 3, he and his clan dominated many of the early tournaments whilst remaining the best Russian Q2 side and placing highly in 1v1. What is more, he won the main Russian UT duel tournament in the same year, again underlining his multi-gaming credentials.

Nor was he without success on the international scene. He led Russia to victory in Q3 over Sweden at the BWEC in 2000 with some stellar performances in what was one of the most dramatic and prestigious tournaments in gaming history. At CPL Cologne in the same year he beat Lakerman to take second place behind fatal1ty and then led 4z to second place at EC2, beating the Allstars in the process. With Quake 3 at its peak, these performances confirmed Polos as one of the all-time greats. He continued to succeed in Russian tournaments against formidable opposition until late 2002 when he turned his attention to UT2k3. His first real success came at PG Challenge in 2003, coming second in UT2k3 and winning Quake 3 whilst also competing in Warcraft 3.

But Polos is more than just a consistent player and leader. He's the true father of Russian Quake and the touchstone of the 'Russian style' that strongly influences how the game is played to this day. He invented the now archetypal keyboard-on-lap, high fov, high sens, hit and run game that players like Cooller employ today. He also finds time to run a major esports site, conducting countless interviews and reports. It's rumoured that in friendlies at events he covers, he still beats Cooller regularly. He's a legend in his own right: other players may be great, but only Polos is rulez.