The NA Invite Top 100 is a project merging history and shenanigans with the purpose of highlighting some of the best players in North American TF2 history. Access the hub post here to view outlines, honorable mentions, and previous reveals.

Key Achievements

• ESEA S23: 1st - froyotech

• ESEA S24: 1st - froyotech

• ESEA S30: 1st - froyotech (19-0)

• Insomnia63: 1st - froyotech

• RGL S5: 1st - froyotech (21-0)

17 consecutive Invite seasons (2nd all time)

One of ten players with perfect playoffs attendance (min. 9 seasons)

One of five players with 10+ championships

froyotech Demoman habib marks the beginning of the end, and he joins us as the youngest player (in terms of their Invite debut) of anyone in the top ten (tying with slemnish in the top 20). Owner of a 17 Invite season streak, which is both active and the second longest all time, this establishes him in very rare territory as he is #5 in total seasons played and #4 in playoff appearances. Compared to other player's of his generation, habib's level of longevity is mighty impressive. And of course it goes without saying that when compared to only other Demoman players, habib is at the head of the class. Having played on froyotech for almost 90% of his seasons also means his trophy collection is quite massive, as his 14 titles are 3rd most all time. But let's not pretend that habib was merely along for the ride. Let's start with the ESEA portion of his career. After his internship on FROYO BLACK in S22, habib would join froyotech and immediately had an impact going 312-102 with 300 DPM for the season. Get used to hearing about 300+ DPM. Looking at habib's numbers you'd almost think the stickybomb nerf never happened because he would do stuff like this. habib accrued nine froyotech ESEA seasons, of which he had the highest Demo FPH seven times (plus was second twice). He had the most Demo frags two times (plus was second four times). He had the highest Demo DPM six times (plus was second two times). The sophomore season with froyo was the only time habib did not average over 300 DPM. Not only was his Demo DPM insane, but he'd lead Invite in DPM five instances, and usually the only player in his area code DPM-wise for many of these seasons was b4nny - which honestly really speaks more to b4nny since he wracked up such numbers while habib was doing this level of damage. habib achieved the holy hat trick of Demoman in S30, collecting the most Demo DPM (347), most Demo frags (290), and most Demo FPH (55.9).

When RGL rolled around, habib and froyotech continued to do what they do best: win. I would love to have had cumulative RGL match statistics, but you know small indie league, etc. etc. The fluctuating size of Invite did not matter as froyo demolished everyone on their path to title after title. They have lost two matches in the last six regular seasons (75-2). Combined with all his previous campaigns, habib's career regular season W-L is an astronomical 248-15. Nine of those 15 losses came from his first two seasons pre-froyo. Remember vhalin from all the way back in the first installment of the series? His 93% win rate was with a total of 28 matches. habib's 94% win rate is with over 250. In fact, since b4nny has not averaged 15-1 or better in every season of his career habib may have the one true W-L crown. It's not unrealistic to say that habib has been the most important player in froyotech's storied legacy (obviously excluding b4nny). Another aspect in which habib separates himself from other superstars of his generation is the LAN history. habib has claimed victories at home (both Rewinds and RGB4) and abroad (Esport United Community Rumble and i63). Other Dark Age members have a couple of LANs under their belts too but not to habib's extent, especially when it comes to winning. Hopefully he'll get to participate in RGL LAN if it happens next year. As just the 4th Demoman in froyotech's history, habib brought unparalleled stability, insane performance, and loud noises to the table. He cements himself as the best Demo in the history of our game. And there's little reason to believe habib will slow down anytime soon.

Key Achievements

• ESEA S16: 1st - froyotech (19-0)

• Insomnia52: 1st - froyotech

• ESEA S26: 1st - froyotech (19-0)

• ESEA S31: 1st - froyotech

• RGL S4: 1st - froyotech

25 Invite seasons (#2 all time)

One of five players with 10+ championships

One of three players to make playoffs in over 50% of Invite history

We have now breached the Mount Rushmore barrier. If needed to construct a TF2 version of the monument, these would be my four choices. First up: blaze. By now he is widely regarded as the best roaming Soldier in the history of the North American scene, and as such we'll do him a favor by glossing over two seasons of his: namely ESEA S9 with Area51 Gaming and S13 with Don't Trip. In the former, he had a LAN that he'd like to forget. In the latter, he played exactly eight matches with the team before they died so quite unluckily hit the magic number for it to count against him in the data. Speaking of data, if you've kept up with the series thus far, you'll know that the statistics presented are used to add flavor to the player descriptions. With these last few players I almost considered forgoing stats entirely but I tracked the previous 96 so might as well complete the process. Roamer is a role whose stats don't necessarily reflect their performance and impact on a team. You can have horrible stats but created opportunities for your team, or you can have amazing stats as a consequence of baiting. I...don't actually know why I waited until literally the last post to say that, especially since it's not like blaze's numbers are particularly poor. S11 with srsly br0 is where blaze began his journey to becoming the best, putting up respectable regular season numbers but nothing too out of the ordinary. But he did help maincall for his team which was quite unorthodox but hey try saying that to their 13-3 record. Moreover, S11 LAN was blaze's breakout moment that catapaulted him into stardom. Specifically, LR1 vs. Mihalys Flow where he compiled 60 frags to 38 deaths including incredible bombs and synergy with boomer to eliminate the #1 seed. His 340 DPM across the entire weekend was 30 DPM ahead of the next player and over 50 DPM ahead of the next Soldier. From there he solidified himself as a very dangerous Soldier and continued to terrorize opposing teams for the next couple seasons, even acquiring 47.7 FPH in S14 which was the best of any roamer.

Quick! When did blaze first play with b4nny in ESEA? If you answered S16 froyotech, you're wrong. If you answered S14 High Rollers Gaming, you're also wrong. blaze actually won Open all the way back in S5 with b4nny and the rest of eMazing Gaming. So the seeds of froyotech were sewn well ahead of time. I'll spare you the details about the winning records and all that jazz as we just had habib's section, but blaze thrived at the peak of Invite play and we can still look at some of his performances across many, many seasons. In S22 he had the best DPM (301) and FPH (43.5) of any Soldier. In S24 he cracked the top ten overall in frags for the first and only time of his ESEA career. The following season he got another first as the leading Soldier fragger. blaze had 247 frags in S26, good for 30th overall. S27 saw him at 30th again, but this time with 301 frags. Just goes to show how the amount of time played plays a factor. Funnily enough he was exactly #10 for Soldiers in both those seasons. blaze's consistency in the FPH department was nearly flawless, as he only had three froyotech seasons where he wasn't in the top four. It helps that he and clockwork were the most devastating flank duo Invite had ever seen, but from Freestate to arekk to slemnish, blaze was compatible with all of them and consistently destroyed flanks and fragged Medics. His 800+ career ESEA Medic picks are a lot but it's unclear whether or not he actually has the most in league history as like heals received, it only started tracking ESEA S17 onward. Given that blaze has played nearly every ESEA season (with 25 of them being Invite), accumulating a total of 466 regular season and playoffs matches during the league's existence, he's still very likely nestled in the top three in that category. After RGL S6, blaze left the game as the undisputed GOAT roaming Soldier whose talents rose far above his Canadian ping. An amazing redemption arc with srsly br0 into the most dominant TF2 team ever. He was the ultimate teammate and one of the most beloved individuals in Invite. Just don't ask him if he owns a suit and tie.

Key Achievements

• ESEA S6: 1st - Blight.own

• ESEA S10: 1st - Classic Mixup

• ESEA S12: 1st - Classic Mixup (19-0)

• Insomnia46: 1st - Classic Mixup

• ESEA S15: 1st - Classic Mixup

6,357 career ESEA frags (#11 all time)

One of ten players with perfect playoffs attendance (min. 9 seasons)

One of eight players to win LAN through lower bracket

One of six players to win Invite on multiple classes

There's not much to say about Platinum's early phases, as he played sparingly over ESEA's first five seasons. He logged his first ESEA Invite matches as a backup for S3 Virgin Police, but would officially make his debut as a starter for MoB Gaming the following season. Despite their 8-8 record, it was good enough to get them into playoffs though they'd make a quick exit at 4th. S6 Blight.own saw Platinum have a strong regular season with 416 frags (#7) but an even stronger LAN. He went absolutely massive with 327 frags (over 50 frags more than the next person) at 51.3 FPH (3rd best), delivering a Coldfront smackdown in grand finals to get his first championship. Again due to the times there's no damage data but we'll deal. His encore performance during the title defense saw him up his numbers further to the 2nd most Soldier frags and the highest FPH. It was more or less the same with compLexity in S8, and Platinum ended his first three Golden Era seasons with a K/D of 1,309-898, two powerful LAN performances, and was the centerpiece of every roster he was on. If you did not stop Platinum's Soldier, you were going to lose. After consecutive 3rd place finishes, he had yet another strong showing as pocket for the new Classic Mixup team but the twist would come right before LAN as they needed to make some last-minute adjustments. Suddenly Platinum was on Demoman and found the class change comfortable. He dropped 304 DPM during Mixup's long run to grand finals where they'd fall to Prophets. Still, going toe-to-toe vs. b4nny was more than impressive and this would become a preview of Platinum's Classic Mixup role, bouncing back and forth between Soldier and Demoman as the team needed.

In Platinum's first full season on Demo he picked up right where he left off at LAN, with a stat sheet that would've made any hypothetical fantasy TF2 owners swoon: #1 in overall DPM (365), #1 in Demo FPH (60.3), #3 in Demo frags (351). That postseason ended with another trophy for Platinum and his first on Demo. Thus continued the back and forth between him and b4nny. Platinum switched back to pocket for Mixup's S11 campaign and was unquestionably the best Soldier in the division. Hard to argue for anyone else when Platinum had nearly 100 more frags and 50 more damage per minute than the next on the list. His Shotgun alone almost outfragged a couple players. S12 had the undefeated season, and S14's Quick Fix shenanigans made no difference to Platinum's destructive potential. The final season in S17 was the lowest of any Mixup showing, placing 3rd for the first time in their team's history. It was an unceremonious end but did not slight a truly legendary career. Throughout Classic Mixup's nine seasons, Platinum has always been top five in regular season class FPH, top five in regular season class DPM all but once, and top five in LAN DPM all but once. More than half of these he was top four in class frags and overall DPM. No matter what class, he brought incredible power and stabilized the combo. One could argue that he was simply the greatest projectiles player, at least in terms of his resume. How many other players can say that they outdueled prime TLR and relic on Soldier? Prime dummy and b4nny on Demo? Platinum was a pocket Soldier on the tier of Reptile and Seagull but with more consistency, while also being the only Demoman for many season who could challenge b4nny. It's one thing to think about the what ifs comparing heroes of the present and those of the past, and it's another to actually do it like Platinum did.

Key Achievements

• ESEA S9: 1st - Prophets

• ESEA S16: 1st - froyotech (19-0)

• ESEA S18: 1st - froyotech (19-0)

• Insomnia52: 1st - froyotech

• ESEA S21: 1st - froyotech

7,670 career ESEA frags (#4 all time)

54.5 career ESEA FPH (#1 all time among top 100 frag leaders)

Only player to record 80+ frags in a single ESEA match

Only player to record 60.0+ FPH on LAN multiple times

He may not be the most decorated Scout anymore, but clockwork lands the highest spot of all Scout and solo mains. It's pretty easy to see why going over team successes. After his debut season of Invite with Blast TF2 he joined eMazing Gaming, and the ten win jump from 5-11 to 15-1 is probably the best two season turnaround for any individual ever. To say he followed in Yz50's footsteps would be an understatement but we'll get to the flashy numbers later, don't worry. clockwork would then win S9 and S11 with the same core, sandwiching a grand finals appearance in the middle, all of which involved Classic Mixup as the opponent. In S12 he jumped ship from Leviathan Gaming over to Spacewhales midway through the season and would finish LAN at 3rd, while an timely team death with Don't Trip the following season cut his playoffs streak early. S14 tri hards took another placement at 3rd before another team death - this time with superteam watch this in the preseason - snapped his Invite streak (though he did go and win Main on Soldier, which is frankly hilarious). Then froyotech was born in S16 and you guys already know the drill. 87-9 in the regular season, five titles in six attempts, two perfect seasons. Upon his retirement following S21, clockwork ranked highly (approximately top five) in total matches played, total map wins, and championships. When you think of flank Scouts, you think of clockwork. When you think of destructive Scouts, you think of clockwork.

clockwork's statistics were very easy to compile and analyze: there were lots of big numbers and #1's. What category of excellence would you like to look at? In Scout frags, he led six times, including his rookie season. Expanding to everyone in Invite, he led the entire division four times, including his final performance in S21. Only corsa has had more seasons as the Invite frag leader. What about damage? For Scout DPM clockwork was first on six separate occasions, and had only one season where he wasn't at least top three (excluding S8's incomplete data). The frags and damage data was pretty good, but we can take things a step further with frags per hour. Here are the seasons in which clockwork had an FPH that was not top two in Invite: S8 and S20. In S8 his FPH was 50.2, still respectable and good for 3rd overall. In S20 clockwork hit his career low in FPH at 41.6. He was 5th in Invite that season. And playoffs brought much of the same, as clockwork led in FPH and Scout DPM at five different LANs. His career FPH of 54.47 is the #1 among the top 100 ESEA frag leaders, with only slemnish and TicTack being in the vicinity. In fact, if you sort by every Invite player in ESEA history, only Ruwin's 54.59 FPH surpasses clockwork, just barely. He is #4 in frags ESEA all time, behind cyzer, blaze, and b4nny who all have far more seasons played. blaze has a little over 1,200 more frags on him with seven more (ESEA) seasons. You don't think clockwork would've caught up in half that time? Within ESEA, clockwork holds the record for most frags in a match with 82. He's also 2nd with 71. And 3rd with 69. And 5th with 65. In fact, throughout ESEA there have been 20 players who've dropped 60+ frags in a single match. Five players have done so twice. clockwork did this six times. Even though I can't speak for any RGL Era statistics, there's good reason to doubt nobody has topped 80 in a single match so far, nor has anyone dropped this many 60+ frag games. At the end of the day clockwork was the most dominant Scout for years in a time where Scout was the most dominant class.

Key Achievements

• ESEA S7: 1st place - eMazing Gaming

• ESEA S13: 1st place - High Rollers Gaming (19-0)

• ESEA S16: 1st place - froyotech (19-0)

• ESEA S24: 1st place - froyotech (19-0)

• Insomnia55: 1st place - froyotech

• ESEA S26: 1st place - froyotech (19-0)

14,400 career ESEA frags (#1 all time)

32 consecutive Invite seasons (#1 all time)

Only player to win Invite on three different classes

It's fucking b4nny

Once upon a time, b4nny was but a humble Demoman main rising quickly through the ranks. Since his Invite debut in S6 with eMazing Gaming, one word perfectly describes him in the North American scene: dominant. He won it all the following season. For the next three years, b4nny's teams would place no worse than second. Then: froyotech. Need I say more? b4nny and his franchise have been as close to perfect week in, week out. But this is a blurb about b4nny, not froyotech, so let's refocus. By RGL S6, he actually has had twice as many seasons on Scout (18) than Demo (9) but I'm going to group all of his ESEA campaigns together and pick out some of the craziest statistics (or at least the interesting stuff), otherwise we'd be here until 2023. b4nny would collect the 4th most frags in S6 Invite, though his FPH was actually on the bottom half of Demos and players. In S8 he and TLR joint led the division with 498 frags, which is (a) the most in any Invite season ever and (b) the only time a Demoman has been #1 overall in frags. S10 LAN witnessed 351 DPM and clutch play after clutch play. Then S11 through S14 saw b4nny as a constant top three in frags, top one in DPM, and top one in Demo FPH. This includes High Rollers Gaming's 32-0 stretch which was merely a precursor of things to come. b4nny switched to Scout for the first time in S15 and never looked back. Four straight championships until S20, which marked the beginning of sheer statistical superiority from b4nny.

From ESEA S20 to S31 (twelve seasons), b4nny has never had a season where he wasn't at least top four in both frags per hour and damage per minute. Eight of those twelve had him in top two for said categories which is just ridiculous. I'm sure if we had RGL data there'd be even more craziness. Keep in mind these are all primarily Scout seasons. His Soldier has been sprinkled in sporadically but played enough times to win four rings and an international title at i55. Combined with i52, b4nny is the only NA player with European LAN wins on multiple classes. He's won Invite on all the combat classes, with perfect season(s) for each. b4nny essentially revolutionized three classes while also taking them to their maximum potential. Whatever he played, he was almost always the best at his position. He has 16 regular season losses in the last 22 seasons (a period spanning over seven years). b4nny has as many Invite championships as blaze has seasons played. Part of me wishes I could put clockwork at the very top but b4nny has acquired clockwork's numbers on Scout and then more extremes on Demo and Soldier. Ultimately, the insane longevity and numbers cannot be denied. Years ago, I remarked on parallels between Tom Brady (plus his Patriots) and b4nny (plus his froyotech). The talent, the consistency, the winning pedigree, it's all there. Brady could split his career in half and you'd have two Hall of Fame careers. b4nny could split his career in half and you'd have two top ten placements here. Makes everyone on the team better. Absolute dominance in regular season, even more in playoffs. You can hate him all you want, but when all is said and done it's simple: b4nny is the best TF2 player the game has ever seen.