Viper > All

When talking cream of the crop-AOE2 players, there are two players who I consider above the others: Jordan23 and Viper. At their best, there are a handful of other players on par with these (most notably kkab, Nicov, Riut, yo, Lyx and slam) but usually only one game, a short stint, or within team games.

As Jordan23's career is in sleep mode, Viper is currently unmatched. The reason for this, is his ability to regain and retain momentum. Consistently, he plays with a clear-cut win strategy, and executes it start to finish. All other players suffer from a frustrating disability to maintain a forward push. Countless of games they are in an excellent position, only to still be defeated - because their opponent got the time to restructure and turn it around.

This never happens in Viper's games. I've watched hundreds of games, and not seen a single instance of him in a winning position, and lose because he halted his offense. There are of course examples where defenders turtle out his gold, or counter-attacks beautifully against him - but never him going passive to the point of losing.

That, my friends, is why he wins considerably more than any other player in this game.