glasslmao this thread. "shade for achievements, other medics for skill and positioning." i get the feeling if shade actually had less lan wins he might be considered a better medic by everyone.
raymon had to carry at i58, and he did. shade has never had to carry really, but he could.
But that's the whole debate, isn't it? What constitutes as a better medic: the achievements won alongside top teams or the ability to perform at an independent level regardless of what their team composition is?
If you're consistently playing for top teams and winning that must mean you're great and obviously a preferable choice over any other medics if said top team insists on continuing to use you.
If you're the kind of player that can singlehandedly change the tide of the game in situations when the rest of your team failed then surely you must also be great.
Which of these two is the greatest?
To put it in another perspective you can ask the question:
What defines the best medic? Someone who ensures their team's victory or someone who can pull their weight and change the outcome of the game? These are two different things. One's about filling your role, which is the whole "great medics don't get in stupid situations" argument. The other is about doing more than it is expected of you in the face of adversity, performing at a game-changing level.
For me it is the latter. I dislike hard metagames because it wrongfully conditions players to adapt to someone else's way of thinking. Metagames are imposed by true TF2 titans who understand the game at such a capacity that they are able to visualize how to consistently check-mate the opposition. It therefore takes an even larger titan to find ways to exploit the convention and break it.
Being very good at following a set of directives doesn't make you the best player, it only proves that you can listen. Being very good at finding ways of turning the tide around is what makes you the best player. These concepts aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, obviously, but one sets a higher expectation.
I pick Knoxxx.