The Network

Two players are linked if they've played the same map on the same team. Do that for every map since 2021 and almost everyone lands in one giant web of 1,139 players and 4,683 teammate pairs. This page ranks who sits closest to the middle of it, and traces the chain between any two players.

Era

Connect two players

From
To
Closest to everyone
# Player Hops Max Wtd Series Tm Teams
1 Demon1 3.60 6 5.57 240 24 Evil GeniusesENVYNRG+3
2 Rossy 3.68 7 5.68 176 19 T1ENVYLEVIATÁN+1
3 yay 3.73 7 5.70 324 22 OpTic GamingEvil GeniusesENVY+3
4 Zellsis 3.76 6 5.81 488 27 SentinelsCloud9Version1
5 C0M 3.78 7 5.76 401 22 LEVIATÁNEvil GeniusesFURIA
6 Marved 3.80 7 5.79 304 19 OpTic GamingENVYSentinels+2
7 zekken 3.84 7 5.71 504 17 SentinelsXSETMIBR
8 keznit 3.84 7 5.87 488 23 KRÜ EsportsENVYWygers Argentina
9 crashies 3.85 7 5.82 620 19 FNATICOpTic GamingNRG+1
10 tex 3.87 7 5.85 332 17 LEVIATÁNMIBRNRG
11 kiNgg 3.88 7 5.96 536 21 LEVIATÁNAustrals
12 Xeppaa 3.88 6 6.07 368 18 Cloud9
13 Victor 3.91 7 5.92 400 14 OpTic GamingNRGENVY+1
14 GLYPH 3.92 6 6.07 92 8 Gentle MatesENVY
15 stax 3.93 8 6.02 581 19 KIWOOM DRXT1Vision Strikers
16 Ethan 3.94 7 5.92 529 27 NRGEvil Geniuses100 Thieves
17 Governor 3.96 7 6.14 128 14 TALONApeksKRÜ Esports
18 ban 3.97 7 6.04 228 18 TALONT1Knights+1
19 aspas 3.98 7 5.86 528 20 LOUDMIBRLEVIATÁN+1
20 Sayaplayer 3.98 7 6.00 249 13 T1The Guard
21 Deryeon 3.98 7 6.15 148 18 BLEEDWolves EsportsGlobal Esports
22 Less 3.99 7 5.93 440 22 LOUDTeam VitalityKRÜ Esports+1
23 N4RRATE 3.99 7 6.04 272 15 SentinelsKarmine Corp
24 pANcada 3.99 7 6.01 260 18 LOUDSentinelsStars Horizon
25 penny 4.00 7 6.26 162 24 Version1Cloud9Apeks+2
How the network is built

Two players are linked if they played the same map on the same team. Sharing an org isn't enough: two players at the same team five years apart never actually played together, and counting them as linked would reward passing through a storied roster.

  • Hops. The average number of links from a player to everyone else in the network, which is the Bacon number idea averaged rather than measured to one target. The scene averages 5.24; Demon1 is the lowest at 3.60.
  • Breadth beats volume. The players with the most teammates are rarely the most central, because a long career in one region builds a big but tightly packed circle. One stint abroad is worth more than years of new faces at home.
  • Max. The distance to the single furthest player. It sounds like the better measure but it can't rank anyone: across 1,139 players it takes only six values, so most of the table ties. It's also decided entirely by whoever is most remote, so one obscure roster can move it. The ranking uses the average, which is measured against everyone and so can't be swung by one straggler.
  • Wtd. The same calculation with links weighted by how many series a pair played together, so a four-year duo counts as closer than two players who shared one map. It barely changes the order, which is the point: the ranking doesn't depend on picking a weighting.
  • Eras. The '23+ view is a separate graph, not a filter: dropping a player's later teams changes everyone's distances, not just theirs. 2023 is the split because franchising stitched the scene together in one offseason. There is no 2021-22 view because that graph barely holds together: its largest group contains only 26% of the era's players, so "closest to everyone" would mean closest to a quarter of them. In the '23+ window it's 94%.
  • Who's missing. 87 players sit outside the main web, in 15 small islands. Each is a single roster whose players never appear anywhere else, mostly one-off entries from the 2021 open qualifiers and the 2023 China qualifier. They have no path to anyone here, so they're left out of the ranking.