by David “ImpetuousPanda” Gil Nolskog







With GWENT Open #4 looming just around the corner, the 8 top Pro Ladder players of Season 3 are anxious to prove their worth and fight for the lion’s share of the $25,000 prize pool. GWENT has an ever-changing landscape of competition, with new players hungry for success and veteran players fighting each other to remain top dog. I’m here to analyze recent results, the meta, and player form to determine the underdogs and the tournament favorites.







8. Damorquis





As a newcomer to esports, Daniel “Damorquis” Morkisch has a lot to prove. Unlike his opponents, he has no prior experience competing at a professional level. GWENT Open #4 will be a testing ground for the German player, and he’ll have to be sure to remain focused all throughout the tournament, no one knows this better than him. Damorquis will surely show the world why he deserves a place among GWENT’s top competitors.





This weekend, Damorquis will have a chance to prove he means business. He claims to take a fairly different approach to GWENT, in part thanks to his background in behavioral economics, which gives him an analytical edge few players have. With a nail-biting 9th place finish in Season 3 of the Pro Ladder, Damorquis can guarantee us one thing: excitement. As the new kid on the block, fans of competitive GWENT will surely look on with interest: will Damorquis find a spot among GWENT’s elite competitive scene?





7. Lbdutchboy





At just eighteen years old, Liam “lbdutchboy” Brouwer may seem inexperienced. Unbeknown to many followers of competitive GWENT, he is all but that. Liam’s first brush with competitive CCGs throws us back three years, to Hearthstone’s Gfinity 2015 Spring Masters II. The fifteen year old Dutch player surprised the world with a fantastic run which saw him finish in 3rd place, losing out to the future Hearthstone World Champion Firebat.





With a few more live events under his belt, the Dutch player has already acquired experience that many competitors within the GWENT scene are missing. He’s also proven he can handle the pressure. With a finals loss to Dyuhaaa in the GWENT Slam #2 Online Qualifiers and the best Swiss record of the GWENT Challenger #3 Online Qualifiers at 7-1, he’s proven he has what it takes to make it far. His 8th place finish in Season 3 indicates he’s still far from the elite players that top Pro Ladder every season, but that can change. As the youngest player in competitive GWENT, he has a bright future ahead of him. GWENT Open #4 may decide if that future is in GWENT, or elsewhere.





6. ProNEO





Alex “ProNEO” Shpak is a name long-time fans of competitive GWENT will definitely recognize. He was present during the first ever GWENT tournament — Challenger #1 in May 2017. After a gruelling online qualifier, he found himself competing against esports legends such as Lifecoach, PPD, Noxious or Trump. Unfortunately for him, PPD was too tough a challenger and he was eliminated in the quarterfinals.





As the sole representative of Ukraine, ProNEO is ready to make his country proud. His remarkable last day grind propelled him to a 6th place finish for Season 3, thanks to an astounding 80 MMR gain to his Skellige score and finishing with a 1,513 MMR Skellige peak. Out of all qualified players, ProNEO had the most games played with 1,725, showing he certainly doesn’t lack hard work or dedication. With only 6 MMR separating ProNEO from last place Damorquis, it’s a very close race at the bottom. Despite that, ProNEO’s veteran status earns him the sixth spot on our list, and his big stage experience may very well be a deciding factor.





5. Cmel





The last of the bottom four, Nikolay “Cmel” Sakharov, has made one thing clear — he’s a very dominant Nilfgaard Spies player. With two consecutive faction peak records, and an all-time high faction score for Pro Ladder, few can contest this. His 1,547 MMR Nilfgaard record in Season 2 still holds to this day, and his 1,501 MMR Nilfgaard faction peak in Season 3 further cements his dominance. Unfortunately for him, spies as an archetype have lost a lot of power and Alchemy is now leading the pack for Nilfgaard. Cmel finished Season 3 with a 5,822 MMR score, in a fairly low 7th place, joining the tight race at the bottom.





Despite some positive stats, it’s not all roses for Cmel going into the GWENT Open #4. The Russian player had the lowest fourth faction score of any player in the top 8, with 1,385 MMR Scoia’tael score considering the faction's dominance at the start of the season. With an unsuccessful performance at his first ever tournament, GWENT Open #3, he’ll have to beat the nerves and truly compose himself if he wishes not to repeat his 0-3 clean sweep loss in quarterfinals.





4. Hanachan





Zhao “Hanachan” Ze Hua is hungry for a finals appearance, and this may very well be his chance to get it. As the only regular competitor from the Asian region, the Chinese player has the weight of an entire continent on his shoulders. Although he’s made an appearance at all GWENT Open tournaments, and the only player to do so, he has yet to reach the finals of any tournament.





Hanachan is defined by consistency. With a 5,897 MMR average between three Pro Ladder seasons, he’s the second best overall Pro Ladder player, falling only to the two time champion Adzikov. Hanachan’s consistent performance rewarded him with the backing of Huya TV, one of China’s streaming giants, showing that he definitely has the potential to make it big. There’s a truly large gap between the bottom four and the top four, but Hanachan’s lack of tournament results puts him behind some of the top competitors.





3. Adzikov





Andrzej “Adzikov” Bal has become a mainstay within GWENT’s competitive scene. He’s had a story full of up and downs, and it’s difficult to say at what level the Polish two time Pro Ladder champion will perform for GWENT Open #4. He has the most ever tournament appearances of any player, with a total of 7 tournaments, missing out only on GWENT Challenger #1 and GWENT Open #1. He is also the most successful Pro Ladder player, with a combined MMR average of 5,900 between the past three seasons, beating out Hanachan and TailBot for the title of king of the ladder.





Despite this, Adzikov’s journey has been bittersweet. For five consecutive tournaments, Adzikov was eliminated in the first round, with his GWENT Open #3 performance finally breaking the curse, although still losing to SuperJJ in the finals. Despite this upward trend, Adzikov’s Season 3 was not as stellar as previous editions, finishing in fourth place with a 5,836 MMR score. This score pales in comparison to his #1 ladder finishes in both seasons one and two, but it’s impossible to discount Adzikov, one of GWENT’s greatest competitors.





2. Kolemoen





Few have made a mark on a competitive scene as quickly as Benjamin “Kolemoen” Pfannstiel. The German player took the scene by storm after qualifying for GWENT Challenger #2. No one expected him to have such an incredibly dominant performance. After all, the odds were not in Kolemoen’s favor showing up to the most competitive GWENT tournament to date and upsetting veteran players like TailBot or Adzikov. But then Kolemoen did just that, eliminating Adzikov 3-0 and then TailBot in an exciting 3-2 win in the semifinals, before losing out to an unstoppable Freddybabes in the finals.





Kolemoen made it clear he was here to stay, and two second place Pro Ladder finishes in Seasons Two and Three with an astounding combined average of 5,940 MMR cemented that thought. Kolemoen had a brief showing at GWENT Open #3, with a slim chance to put up a fight against SuperJJ’s consume-hate lineup in the quarterfinals. Despite this, Kolemoen went on to pull off a marvelous Pro Ladder season, qualifying for GWENT Open #4 while breaking two records: least games needed to qualify, with only 983 games played, and highest ever Pro Ladder winrate at 72.63%. It’s no wonder he was picked up by Topdeck to represent them in future tournaments. If you only take a look at the statistics, Kolemoen may very well be the best player in the world. Although with only two tournaments to his name, it’s hard to tell how far he can go.





1. TailBot





There’s no player in better form than the infamous Damian “TailBot” Kaźmierczak. It seems that missing out on GWENT Open #3 due to a poor Pro Ladder finish in Season 2 has rekindled the competitive flame for the Polish player. TailBot has dominated online competition since then and with an impressive #1 Pro Ladder finish for Season 3, he showed the world he was back and better than ever. His 5,945 MMR finish, the third best Pro Ladder score of all time, also included two faction peak records for Season 3: a 1,521 MMR score for Scoia’tael and a 1,514 MMR score for Skellige.





TailBot hasn’t only dominated the ladder, he also cleared out the GWENT Challenger #3 Online Qualifiers of all competitors, emerging victorious against seasoned Austrian rival GameKing in the finals. With this incredible display over the past two months, it’s hard not to have TailBot as tournament favorite going into GWENT Open #4. Kolemoen, Adzikov, and Hanachan are certainly worthy competitors, also vying for the title of favorites. Don’t be mistaken though, this is truly TailBot’s best chance at finally taking home the trophy.









Conclusion



