Esports has always argued about greatness in two different languages.
One language is memory. The eye test. The feeling that a player bent a game to their will, changed the meta, and made a generation of opponents look ordinary.
The other language is record. Titles. Finals. Seasons of dominance that show up year after year no matter the patch, the roster, or the era.
EsportsHistorian.org uses both, but it ranks players with a consistent, transparent record based system that can be applied across games. That system is the Hallmark GOAT Score, a single number built to answer one question as fairly as possible.
Who has the strongest career résumé in esports when you measure peak achievement and sustained dominance the same way in every title?
What the Hallmark GOAT Score is trying to measure
The GOAT Score is a career legacy score. It does not try to measure mechanical skill in a vacuum, and it does not try to rewatch every match to crown the best player on their best day.
Instead, it measures what esports history can actually compare across games and eras.
It rewards the highest level championships first.
It rewards elite tournament success next.
It rewards long term consistency after that.
It uses MVPs and awards as separation, not as the foundation.
That structure is deliberate. Championships are the spine of legacy, but greatness is also defined by how often a player reaches the final stages of the biggest events and how long they can stay there.
The one rule for GOAT eligibility
A player cannot appear in the Hallmark GOAT Score rankings unless they have won at least one World Championship.
This is not meant to erase all time legends who were one series short, or to disrespect players whose influence reshaped a game. It is a boundary for what the word greatest means in a cross title system.
Every GOAT, in every esport, has to stand on the mountain once. They have to finish the run. They have to hold the highest trophy in the game at least one time, in at least one era, under the pressure that only a world final can create.
Once a player has stood on that summit, the GOAT Score becomes the tool that compares what comes next. How often they returned to the top. How long they stayed elite. How deep their résumé truly is.
The four pillars of the score
Every player is scored in four categories. These categories are designed to translate cleanly across esports titles.
WC means World Championship titles.
This is the top prize in a game’s official or historically accepted world championship circuit.
S Tier means majors.
These are the most prestigious non world championship events, usually LAN majors or top level international events with the strongest fields.
A Tier means regionals.
These are premier regional events or top domestic level tournaments that represent sustained dominance across a season or era.
OA means MVPs and other accolades.
This includes MVP awards, season awards, finals MVP type honors, and other recognized achievements that signal individual distinction.
Our event tiers match Liquipedia’s tournament tier language
To keep our rankings consistent with how esports fans already catalog history, EsportsHistorian.org uses the same tournament tier language you see on Liquipedia: World Championship, S Tier, and A Tier.
Liquipedia’s tiering is widely used across esports communities as a shorthand for event prestige, and that makes it the best common language for a cross game ranking system.
The formula, in plain language
The Hallmark GOAT Score is weighted, so each category matters, but not equally.
World titles matter most.
Majors matter next.
Regionals matter after that.
Awards matter least.
This is the formula used in the sheet:
=((WC*10)*0.4)+((S1*7+S2*5+S34*3)*0.3)+((A1*3+A2*2+A34*1)*0.2)+(OA*0.1)
In the spreadsheet, that corresponds to:
=((B2*10)*0.4)+((C2*7+D2*5+E2*3)*0.3)+((F2*3+G2*2+H2*1)*0.2)+(I2*0.1)
What the weights mean
The weights are the philosophy of the system.
World Championships are 40% of the score.
S Tier results are 30% of the score.
A Tier results are 20% of the score.
Other accolades are 10% of the score.
That means a player cannot win the GOAT conversation on awards alone, and they cannot farm only regional results and outrank a player with a superior top tier résumé. At the same time, a player with fewer world titles can still compete if they build a historically rare major résumé and stay at the top for years.
Why S Tier and A Tier are split into three finish levels
Not every great tournament finish is the same. Winning matters more than placing. Deep runs matter more than early exits.
To reflect that, S Tier and A Tier are broken into three finish bands in our system.
Tier 1 means a win.
Tier 2 means a top 2 finish, which is the runner up result.
Tier 3 means a top 4 finish, because third and fourth usually share the same placement in esports brackets and are typically treated as equal semifinal finishes.
This keeps the score from being a simple trophy count, and it keeps it from being a simple attendance count. The system values being in contention at the very top, then converts that contention into consistent points.
How to read the score in practical terms
Because the formula is weighted, you can translate the score into understandable building blocks.
Each World Championship title adds 4.0 points to the final score.
Each S Tier 1 result adds 2.1 points to the final score.
Each A Tier 1 result adds 0.6 points to the final score.
Each OA accolade adds 0.1 points to the final score.
That scale is intentional. World titles separate eras. Majors define elite careers. Regionals show how long a player truly ruled their scene. Awards help separate careers that look similar on paper.
How EsportsHistorian defines tiers across different games
To rank across all esports, you need consistent event definitions. EsportsHistorian assigns tiers using the same prestige ladder that Liquipedia’s tournament tier language is designed to represent.
World Championships are the premier season ending championship in that esport’s most authoritative circuit for the era being scored.
S Tier events are the top non world championship tournaments with the strongest competition, typically international majors and the events most fans and professionals treat as career defining.
A Tier events are the highest level regional events and domestic championships that represent consistent excellence.
When an esport changes formats over time, the tiers follow the competitive reality of that era. The point is not to force every game into one circuit structure. The point is to keep the prestige ladder consistent.
Why this system is fair across eras
Esports careers do not all look the same. Some players peak in shorter windows. Some build dynasties. Some dominate online eras. Some define LAN eras. Some are role players on great teams. Some are the clear face of a championship run.
The Hallmark GOAT Score does not pretend those paths are identical. It simply applies the same logic to all of them.
If you win at the very top, you are rewarded the most.
If you contend at the very top repeatedly, you are rewarded heavily.
If you dominate regionally and stay elite for years, you are rewarded meaningfully.
If you earn awards, you gain separation without letting awards rewrite history.
What the score is not
The GOAT Score is not a perfect measure of individual skill. No spreadsheet can be.
It does not capture everything that matters, like leadership, innovation, shot calling, or the difficulty of a specific bracket run. Those belong in written history, which is why EsportsHistorian pairs GOAT rankings with long form profiles and event chronicles that explain context in our own way without using the GOAT score as influence.
The score is the ranking tool. The articles are not, but can serve as evidence.
Why EsportsHistorian uses one system for every game
Most GOAT debates collapse because every game uses different standards. One scene values rings above everything. Another values consistency. Another values MVPs. Another values prize money. Another values era difficulty.
EsportsHistorian.org uses a single method so readers can compare careers across Rocket League, Apex Legends, and beyond without changing the rules mid argument.
If you disagree with a ranking, you can do what esports history should invite you to do. You can point to the categories, point to the results, and argue the record.
That is the entire purpose of the Hallmark GOAT Score.