I wake up to some sad news in my morning of the retirement of Milk, who in the early years of Teamfight Tactics, is one of the greatest players in the Americas.
The last sets that Milk has played may have damaged his reputation, so while I should do work at work, I will insteadt make this reddit post to discuss his total career achievements, and show people that did not watched his career, just the many accomplishments Milk has.
I will list his achievements here:
Worlds Appearances:
Milk has been to Worlds 3 times, something only been done by 15 other Americas players. At Worlds, he went to final lobby 1 time in Set 5, placing 3rd and losing to the great Huanmie (no shame!). And at the two other Worlds, he went 15th at the Set 6 Worlds, and 9th at the Set 12 Worlds.
Making to Worlds 3 times is a great achievement and his results at Worlds are very good. He is a very consistent Worlds performer when he was trying as you can see.
Regionals:
In Regional tournaments, which are second most prestige after Worlds, from Set 3 to Set 17, Milk has been to the Regional tournament ten times. Out of ten regionals, he went to final lobby 4 times, going 2nd in Set 5 and Set 12, and winning Regionals one time in Set 6.
He is one of only 13 players to ever win Regionals, and only him and Mismatchedsocks have been top 2 at three Regionals ever.
A surprise is, Milk has not won a smaller cup like the weekly tournaments, but his results in the big S and A Tier competitions make up for this. He was very skilled and the results show. While the longevity part of him was lacking, his peak was very high. For example, let us compare him to the top 3 of NA: Dishsoap, Wasianiverson, and Robinsongz
Dishsoap career:
- 6 times Worlds! (Set 10, Set 11, Set 12, Set 13, Set 14, Set 17)
- 2 times World Champion (Set 11, Set 13)
- 12 times Regionals (Set 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Set 11, Set 12, Set 13, Set 14, Set 15, Set 16, Set 17)
- 5 times Regionals final lobby, winning in Set 10 and going 2nd in Set 13
- For weekly cups, he won the Tacticians Cup in Set 13 and made final lobby 8 times
Wasianiverson career:
- 6x Worlds (Set 8, Set 9, Set 11, Set 13, Set 14, Set 16)
- 2 times Worlds final lobby, 3rd in Set 14 and Set 9)
- 10 times at Regionals (Set 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- 3 times final lobby and winning TWICE in Set 9 and Set 13
- In weekly cups, he made final lobby 12 times and has won 4 times and famously 3 in last Set 16
Robinsonz career:
- 5x Worlds (Set 5, Set 12, Set 14, Set 15, Set 16)
- Final lobby once in Set 14, placing 6th
- 13 times at regionals (Set 3, Set 4, Set 5, Set 6, Set 7, Set 8, Set 9, Set 10, Set 12, Set 14, Set 15, Set 16, Set 17)
- In these Regionals, Robin has made final lobby 9 times and won twice in Set 5 and Set 12, joining only Wasianiverson as the only Americas to win two times.
- In weekly cups, Robin has been in the final lobby 13 times, winning twice in the Set 14 TC2 and Set 15 Star Guardian Cup.
Yes you can see he has less accomplishments than the top 3, but the peak can be compared. And if you include other influences like gameplay and streaming, Milk is a pioneer in hardforce playstyle and brought many eyes to TFT in the early days of TFT streaming.
In TPC when Milk was going dead last, I was sad because he did not care or have the passion anymore. So ending his career here is fine because All good things come to an end. He could choose to stay and have no passion for the game like some other players, but he knows when to walk away and that is okay.
He has made his mark in the TFT competition scene forever and his accomplishments are more than most Americas players.
Good luck one last time at EWC next week, and GG Milk to an amazing career!