Gameplay was less refined back then as well. If you want to take into account the era they were playing in that’s fine, but the fact is that regardless of the competition, the level of skill and execution required to play was far lower than it is now, and that should be a deciding factor in of itself. Relative to the players around them, putting players like jay (who was provably one of the most talented players in invite (having also had several placement seasons (and wins) at the time the list was written) under players like dummy solely because of unc status and longevity is a bit preposterous.
Even as someone who wasn’t there at all for what would be considered the “golden era” of the game, keeping players out of the top list (or the list at all as is the case for soapy and Alex.exe) for being newcomers while shoehorning in uncs with a similar or worse/shorter resume made a lot of the list feel like filler, even if you could technically spin their careers to seem outstanding.