THL Top 8s: Players To Watch

Welcome, once more, to another edition of THL Top 8s. The festive season has come upon us once more, bringing with it none other than a whole new season of THL action! The new seasons for both Ragnaros and Sylvanas Leagues begin in earnest on the 1st of January, so what better way to while away the last few idle days than to join our panel of Ericokey, rebobson and Sage as they take you through their picks of the top 8 players to watch out for? Of course, we want to keep things fresh, so we are restricting things to those players you might not be aware of; no Markshires or Slimschi in here, we don’t want to tell you what you already know. Whether these are players you definitely want to catch on stream, or just players you need to keep an eye out for if you are matched up against them, we predict great things in the season ahead for these guys. Tune in over the coming weeks to see if our predictions are correct, or if we have made a huge, glaring mistake!​

List is in alphabetical order:

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AndyRogers

Andy has taken a few seasons off, but remains a name with much renown amongst the veteran THL community. He was a Hall of Fame nominee, and I'm excited to see what all the hype is about.
-Sage

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Inkd

Inkd had, quite honestly, an incredible rookie season. He began the season only playing in SHL for Team WeaselShark, but his 6-1 record quickly caught the eye of Noob Central, who brought him on their permanent roster in THL in Week 5. From then, he established a more than respectable 3-2 score (and really, does losing to Anamor count?), and earned himself a spot on both the THL and SHL All-Stars as a result. The Noobs have assembled quite a team this season, and Inkd can only improve as a result of being on a team with such strong players, so really, the only question to ask is, how do you top double All-Star? Double MVP? Watch this space.
-rebobson

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Ridiculous

This guy truly lives up to his name. At 400 PR, he consistently hits high legend every month. A strong player in any seed, Ridiculous is one to watch out for; I hope to see him frequently on stream.
-Sage

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Rizen

Captain Switters sure seems to have an eye for talent, with his newly assembled Thermic Whims hitting the Semi-Finals last season, rookie Rizen being integral to that. With a starting PR of 229, Rizen put in solid performances in the 5 Seed, gaining a 6-5 match record and a 59% game record. However, that is not what has caught the eye; since entering the League, Rizen has begun hitting Legend, which is astounding for a player whose starting PR a few short months ago corresponded to someone hovering around the Rank 10 mark. It seems safe to say that being around such quality players has improved his game no end, and with quality lower-PR players often being the deciding factor in a teams success, he certainly seems to have Rizen to the occasion.
-rebobson

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Rkeysar

I first became a fan of Rkeysar’s when i saw him on stream the first time. He brings creative deck and tech choices that border on meme territory, but still manage to remain competitive. It's always a treat to watch when he gets on stream and I can't wait to see what he'll be bringing this next season.
-Sage

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Sirlos

Sirlos was a back to back second place finisher on Dirty Mike and the Boys, as well as both a THL and SHL All-Star last season, but now he has joined up with the reigning  THL Champions the Texas Stubbies. This looks to be a great combination and I imagine Sirlos will continue his domination of the regular season.
-Ericokey

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Stephieee

Stephieee had quite the remarkable debut season in Season 7; she came into the league as the 1 Seed of the ill-fated Philly Hearth, who appeared terminally determined to undermine their own chances by DQing as much as possible. Despite her involvement via what appeared to be a dysfunctional team, Stephieee put together a 7-2 match record, a 60% game record, rose to 500 PR, and bagged herself a place as the Blue/Purple Conference’s All-Star 1 Seed to boot. This season, she has joined Noob Central (yes, another one), surrounding herself with such serious League heavyweights as Slimsch and Nade; she is actually beginning the season as the 2 Seed, due to the Slimschmeister’s famously high PR. If she could attain such lofty heights while carrying a fairly weak team on her back, we can only imagine what being around such established players is going to do to her game, especially while playing a whole seed lower than she should be. Stephieee, and the Noobs, are definitely people to look out for this season.
-rebobson

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Wolfmack

Wolfmack took a season off last season, but in the one before that he was the THL MVP. He has returned with a whole team he has assembled himself, and if they are as good as he is then you should definitely watch out for him and his Spicy Boys. I imagine he will be one of the top performing 1 seeds this season.
-Ericokey

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Honourable Mentions:

ArcaneTHL

Arcane has a long history in THL, and has just had his best season ever in SHL, coming runner-up MVP. Unfortunately, his season in THL was the polar opposite. We're all still very interested in seeing how he does this season on Dirty Mike and the Boys.
-Sage

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Bytes

Bytes is someone who may be familiar to those of you of a certain generation; Bytes last graced the League with his presence in Seasons 3 and 4. Building on his fairly weak opening Season 3, Bytes built up to a more than respectable 4-3 performance in the 1 Seed in Season 4, only to not play in the League again… until now. We can only assume that a player who was a 1 Seed 4 seasons ago has grown as a player in the time elapsed, though the unknown quantity of his time spent outside the League means he is unfortunately confined to an Honourable Mention. Keep an eye peeled.
-rebobson

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Nate

Nate won it all last season on the Texas Stubbies and now he has broken away and started his own new team in Thunder Gun Express. He was the top performing player on the Stubbies in his rookie season, so if he is able to stay as strong this season then he is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
-Ericokey

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​Thank you for reading all the way to the end, you the real MVP! We hope you enjoyed the article; if you feel like you could contribute writing or ideas to this series, another series of articles in general, or you just have an idea for content you think is pretty neat and think somebody else could do it justice, please get in touch, we are always on the lookout for new and interesting content to put up on the site! You can get in touch with the Content Editor at rebobson#3620 on Discord, or via email at bobson@live.co.uk.

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