Commissioner's Top 10 Pre-Tournament Ranking (2020)

So you've signed up for the tournament. You're swimming in the big pond. But do you know who the sharks are that are getting ready to eat you alive? Well let me introduce you to my list of the top 10 tournament participants to look out for in this year's tournament. This isn't necessarily a list of the best mystery set players, but these are the folks who have proven to be highly competitive in this tournament year after year. There's lots of veteran players not on the list, including former winners, but here it goes:

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10. waynick - Finished in the top 25 in 4 of the past 5 years, reaching the champions round twice. Finished as the runner up last year, losing to franky35 in the finals of the champions round.

9. mburatti76 - Finished in the top 20 in 4 of the past 5 years, reaching the champions round twice. Went as far as the semi-finals of the champions round in 2016.

8. pushpin76 - The 2015 Mystery Card Players Championship winner has finished in the top 25 in 4 of the past 5 tournaments, making it to the champions round twice. He has made the playoffs in 56% of the mystery set leagues he has participated in, winning the championship 22% of the time.

7. Lee300 - Top 15 finish in 4 of the past 6 tournaments, including winning the 2016 Mystery Card Players Championship. Of the 40 individual league championships Lee300 has won across all sets, 23 of them have come in the 80's mystery set.

6. Rjnewman - Has reached the champions round 4 of the past 5 years, an amazing accomplishment, but failed to make the playoffs in the champions round each time. He has never won an individual league championship in the 60's mystery set despite an all-time winning percentage of .556 in that set.

5. Jimmy_C - Has reached the champions round in each of the past 3 years, reaching the semi-finals last year. Look out for Jimmy_C in the 80's, were he has made the playoffs in 62% of the leagues he has participated in.

4. sphillip8 - The only player to reach the champions round in 5 of the past 6 tournaments, reaching the semi-finals in the champions round twice in the past 3 years. If you are going to face sphillip8 you want it to be in the 60's mystery set where he has his lowest winning percentage and least individual league championships of all of the mystery sets.

3. Moodywoody - The Greatest of All-Time (G.O.A.T.) player in the mystery tournament, he has been the Mystery Card Players Championship winner 3 times including back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. He has won the individual league championship in 34% of the 70's mystery sets leagues he has participated in. He falls to number 3 in this list after finishing 19th last year, failing to qualify for the champions round. But he's still the GOAT!

2. franky35 - The 2019 Mystery Card Players Championship winner has made the top 20 in each of the past 6 tournaments, 4 times finishing in the top 5. franky35 has 93 championships and a career .551 winning percentage across all 365 sets. He's particularly strong in the 70's set, where he has won 31 individual league championships all time. Can he win this tournament in back-to-back years like Moodywoody did?

1. hallerose - Comes into this year's tournament as the favorite, ranking above some of the other 365 Mystery Card legends despite not having won the title yet. He simply makes the champions round EVERY year. His dominant run in this tournament includes finishing in the top 3 in every year from 2015 through 2018, and 5th in 2013. With a .569 winning percentage in all 365 sets, hallerose ranks 3rd all-time. Look out for him in the 80's set where he has a .578 lifetime winning percentage - an average of 94 wins per season! Is this hallerose's year to win it all?

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Disagree with the list? Feel like you were "snubbed"? Make your case!

Honored just to be mentioned in this group.

I think #1 has got to be Moodywoody since he's won the most tournaments (an amazing 3) including '17 and '18. His 2018 finals strategy was highly unusual with an almost crazy number of early transactions. I agree about the 10 listed, I'll add a few more that always seem to finish close: 2013 champ ths, merkle, jomboy, Delbird, Unwashed, Rube and daveaq (he'll probably finish with the most wins in this year's 1960s League 11). This year's tournament is probably the biggest ever, so just reaching the final 12 will be an accomplishment.

For those that asked who I think will be in the finals, check out this list I did a few weeks ago.

franky35 also named some "honorable mentions" that I definitely agree with - former champ ths92110, jomboy78, Delbird, daveaq31 - my original list had 15 and they were all on there. I could also add some other names like Radagast Brown, Apoptosis, BruceF, gbrookes, I could go on. There's a guy named Juiced JC who is not bad either. There's a lot of good players in this tournament - it's going to be fun!

I like my chances once I get out of the 60's round. hehe

After a 9 year hiatus, nobody knows me. Few humans on earth have stared at SOM cards as much as I have. I like it and am enjoying seeing so many old and new faces on the boards.

Curious to know who has flopped in the 60's round, yet finished in the top 12 overall.

Looking forward to proving that an overall winning pct shouldn't be overlooked.

Sorry Sykes, my list was made before your triumphant return, and was based on results of the past 5 tournaments. There's many others like yourself that have been playing a long time that remain strong contenders to make the finals in any tournament you are in.

Sorry Sykes, my list was made before your triumphant return, and was based on results of the past 5 tournaments. There's many others like yourself that have been playing a long time that remain strong contenders to make the finals in any tournament you are in.

I'm totally breaking balls here.

My 80's guys from The Sporting News days will testify to my sarcasm.

Thank you for the top 10 list, the honorable mention from FranKy35, and the other names.

60's League #6 : Radagast Brown is the big favorite to win this league.

Cabrera24 : I have never played the 60's and 70's. What to expect? 85-90 wins!!! Or just 65...

Here's another list worth considering - the top 20 tournament participants in terms of total winning percentage across all sets (not just Mystery):

1. hallerose - 0.569
2. franky35 - 0.552
3. Radagast Brown - 0.552
4. fakesportsfan - 0.551
5. BruceF - 0.550
6. Juiced JC - 0.545
7. Apoptosis - 0.542
8. Hola - 0.538
9. jomboy78 - 0.537
10. Lee300 - 0.537
11. chris_s - 0.536
12. Moodywoody - 0.535
13. djkalle - 0.535
14. pushpin76 - 0.535
15. ths92110 - 0.534
16. Rjnewman - 0.534
17. daveaq31 - 0.533
18. stratorat - 0.532
19. Jimmy_C - 0.531
20. sphilipp8 - 0.528

And one more list - the top 20 tournament participants in terms of total championships won across all sets (not just Mystery):

1. divad - 110
2. franky35 - 95
3. LMBombers - 84
4. jddoug - 68
5. Rube - 64
6. visick - 54
7. pacoboy - 51
8. YountFan - 51
9. Jablowmi - 51
10. RICHARDGAGNON - 50
11. Moodywoody - 48
12. sphilipp8 - 46
13. hallerose - 46
14. Jimmy_C - 45
15. WJS6768 - 45
16. pushpin76 - 42
17. Lee300 - 40
18. ggrover15 - 40
19. unclerowser - 39
20. BruceF - 38

Note: Delbird, gbrookes, Radagast Brown and Sykes25 all have 35.