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Screengrab via Twitch.tv/nmplol

Who’s the GOAT? Ludwig struggles to solidify streaming Mount Rushmore

He might catch some flack for who he left off.

Ranking the greatest streamers of all time is something that no one person should be tasked with. But if you had to select one individual to try, Ludwig would be one of the first people to come to mind.

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The innovative content creator is certainly among the best the industry has ever seen and his ability to reflect on and analyze the streaming marketplace makes him uniquely qualified.

So when Nick Polom brought him on stream today to try to make a tier list of the greatest streamers ever, Ludwig took it one step further by trying to narrow down the S tier to a four-person Mount Rushmore.

While he may have bitten off more than he could chew, he acknowledged so before spending a considerable amount of time talking over each streamer with Polom and Malena. 

“It’s arguable who I will put in S tier,” he said. “People will disagree with me. There’s a lot of names that fit into very few spots.”

Early in the proceedings, Ludwig notably undervalued himself as a C-tier all-time streamer. He explained ranking himself in that spot by saying that giving himself a humble grade would help him build credibility with other streamers that he rated.

He added that his positioning was intended to account for the fact that other streamers would see the board through clips without watching the whole stream in its context, so giving himself the grade would prevent others from getting upset.

“I think I’m probably between B and A,” he said. “But if I put myself in C and rank anybody poorly and they see me here, they can’t really be that fucking mad, easy. Then if I put F, it’s too jokey.”

By the end of his efforts, Ludwig had a loaded A-tier and few streamers in the D and F-tier. Most streamers he rated were among the most respected and revolutionary creators to ever stream on Twitch, and for that reason, it was difficult to place anyone below a B or C.

Who was on Ludwig’s Mount Rushmore?

Screengrab via Twitch.tv/nmplol

Ludwig initially had an idea of what he wanted his Mount Rushmore to look like. But as it took shape, he realized that he had a few problems.

Jerma985 was one of the most influential streamers in Ludwig’s career, and for that reason, he admittedly in a biased fashion put him on the Mount Rushmore. After that, he included the late Byron “Reckful” Bernstein, who was among the original highly influential personalities on Twitch.

This left him with a lot of names for just two spots. Among the early snubs on the mountain were Summit1g, Dr Disrespect, Pokimane, and Shroud, each of whom has given a number of contributions to the streaming industry and has spent time at the top of the charts in terms of viewers.

After adding Sodapoppin as his third face on Mount Rushmore, Ludwig realized he made a mistake. He now only had one spot left with xQc and Ninja yet to be rated.

While xQc has been the most-watched creator on the platform for more than two years, Ninja almost single-handedly transformed the platform in 2018. Not only did Ninja bring Twitch into the mainstream by collaborating with celebrities, but he also set incredibly high watermarks for viewership, followers, and subscribers.

After some debate, Ludwig leaned toward adding Ninja to his Mount Rushmore. Talking things through with Polom a little bit more, Lud conceded that if Ninja were to be on the mountain then Pokimane also deserved a spot because of how she revolutionized the space for women.

Ultimately, Ludwig said that if he weren’t showing his biases, his Mount Rushmore would have Ninja, Pokimane, Reckful, and xQc. This put Sodapoppin and Germa in the A-tier, even though they were originally listed as S-tier.


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Author
Image of Max Miceli
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.