if you look 1v1 ladder, you can see that in last 6/7 month Wm and apex have monopolized top 5.
if you look 2v2 ladder, you can see now ReLite clan 1st (ciekiu+jupiter), and you can remember WM team artham+nord and me+sze tale 1st/2nd place for some time.
Dunga with hhh take it too, and apex team make same (luxis+frank) and frank take 2 times 1st place (other with oliebol)

I'm sure that this shows how being in a clan helps a lot to improve.
Only old player like Gui myhand zibik dunga can compete with strong clan, new player without clan can't became so good IMHO.

gnuffone.

i missed after "dunga" etc. , there are some more old player strong.

Nobody can compete with the clans.
... except for those without a clan that are strong enough to compete.

a lot of people improve on their own :P

Go clans! Oh baby!

You will soon have that on econometry Gnuff... correlation does not imply causation.

eeyore got it right XD
i think the fact is that most people who are good play a lot and so are part of a clan

anyone want to join my clan? it is called Q. i am Qi. you can be Qa, Qb, Qc, etc. i have 25 openings in the english alphabet. then, we will start using other alphabets.

24.

So, what does the clan do? Shall we have a clan tournament now, new friend?

Yes, Qu. A Q clan tournament will be great.

Q vs Relite.

Q vs Apex.

Q vs WM.

They are all so good. But they have never played Q Clan! (Also known as The Qlan)

join mine.

ku kidx klan > Qlan

qu, i dont thin aranka would like that picture being posted online. :P

is our community so unfriendly that one cannot get feedback on his/her playing-style without being in a clan ?

qu, i dont thin aranka would like that picture being posted online. :P

Says the little prick.

Btw, just out of curiousity - how does it feel licking Qu and others like that ?

join this to see which 'clan' is best: http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread?ThreadID=5877

abd billy walsh can also defeat them, binldfolded

Gnuffone, can you provide a mechanism by which clans control the ability to learn the game? Are you saying that most of the good teachers have moved to clans? Are you saying that people in clans will not teach people outside of clans?

It seems to me that a sharp mind and playing a large number of games are the two biggest factors in learning the game. A good teacher can help you get around playing a bunch of games, but you still need to play enough to think out moves yourself.

To me, it looks like a strong majority of the best players got good while not in a clan, WM included. In fact, access to the best clans seems restricted to people who are already good, so your position seems counter-factural from the start.

You are partly right.

To me, it looks like a strong majority of the best players got good while not in a clan, WM included. In fact, access to the best clans seems restricted to people who are already good, so your position seems counter-factural from the start.

when i joined WM 1 years ago, i was only decent/almost good (i was really bad on 1v1s, specialist of Eu map, decent/almost good on teamgames)
On past month i play a lot of tourney with WM-mate, and they help me to learn more, they help me to understand how pick/move/predict opponent.

also i don't agree on this.

It seems to me that a sharp mind and playing a large number of games are the two biggest factors in learning the game

nope, if you play 5000 games you are not good for sure. the two things are not connected. is better play 100 games with really high prerequisites (60% in 1v1s and 3v3s and +700 games are good as requisites) then 1000 vs average player.

is better play 100 games with really high prerequisites (60% in 1v1s and 3v3s and +700 games are good as requisites) then 1000 vs average player.'

not really. i realized that all the people who have the really nice ladder ranks and profiles all play similarly. playing 1000 games means you get to play against all types of style., which is more fun and also makes you more experienced.