Hmm, Buhlitz.
Also - the rivalry between .cm and zeta really motivated me to get better.
Thanks buddy. Warms my heart, really does. Glad to see your name listed a few times as well.
Basically, what shaped me as a player was constantly playing the best players as often as I could, and playing pickups as often as I could to test out what I had spent all day practicing alone in a server. of I'd sit in a server either alone, or with shanks or ice darklord and 1.0 crew and just try my damdest to go as fast as possible, as practically as possible. 1.0 testers had an edge on skiing/speed simply because we had to struggle so ridiculously hard for every individual unit of speed early on, and this instilled a sense hardcore trial and error practice that paved the way for many of us.
The individual players who'd I say shaped me the most would be :
Darklord : For his constant condescending attitude towards me, as if I'd never be good enough. So in a way, this provided an eternal fire beneath my ass, because no matter how good I became, I was still beneath him. Playing with him everyday didn't help. We have history, ask about Legacy.
Shanks & Ice : I can't even imagine the actual amount of hours the three of us spent going over every possible aspect of every cap route, every strategy, every hill, every map, it was *dancing* ridiculous. Shanks, known as one of the best LD in the game and imo the best utility LD (bb/s and flag play) was whom I'd practice my routes on him day in day out, and I had an opportunity to learn how to avoid body blocks against the person who did them best, before anyone else could even do them. without him I wouldn't have had the same opportunity.
On the other hand, I'd like to thank and give respect to every player who's ever played a pickup with me, and any player who's ever practiced as hard as I did to get in game and tear *chocolate cookies* up. Because players like that pushed me to try to come up with *chocolate cookies* nobody had seen or knew about, to practice as hard as I could to get an edge. As you know, at my peak, I probably played pickups like a part time job, and without those I would never have been as good.
Honorable Mentions go out to :
Early 1.0 testers and fervant 4 v 4 's on Nivosus.
ZhouYo for always helping me push the boundaries on capping styles. Everyday it was a new thing learned.
As a capper, I taught myself absolutely everything, but owe that drive to do so to people like APC, Twisted Demon, Phanakapan, StealthRG, Ice and I'm sure a few others I'm forgetting.