OK - so I'm a bit wiped out, but wanted to throw down some thoughts. First and foremost, good 'ol pacov was boozed up when he made the OP. Of course, it all sounded great at the time. That said, I still think the basic idea is good, but perhaps with some revisions. Let me address a few things.
However, a big question mark arises: how can pacov, being inactive for ~6 months, judge the skill level of players adequately? I'm not sure the retrospective judgment does justice (both ways): for example, most of the players that I remember from my mid days as ZOMG-soooo-good seem rather meh now (sorry, guys, hehe). On the other hand, the high professionalism of certain players I've never put on a pedestal (sazonov/yellow_belly or OMG_UserBanned, for instance) is much more evident now.
Bottom line: the perspective changes (we tend to idealize the past glories), people's skill changes (some get better, some get worse). You see the problem, I trust.
IN1 - I think you misunderstand a few things about me and then also fall into the same arrogant category that you place me. First, if I thought you are at the same skill level when I played you last... well, I'm an idiot and your response is totally justified. I'm quite aware that you've put more than a little time into your craft. And while I wouldn't put you in the tier 1 class (my def = players that are excellent with all characters), I absolutely wouldn't slight your sedna. And I also assume you are decent with other characters, but not quite tier 1 with them. That said, tier 1 is just my view on things and makes you completely versatile. For instance, zen might be tier 1 with ub (and a better ub than me), but (while he can play a solid erebus), he can't compete at the same level as I can at erb. To me, all that crap means is that there is a player that is no joke with all characters, but I edge them out here and there... and they edge me out here and there. You've spent a significant amount of time becoming excellent with Sedna. I assume you are excellent with Sedna now (and not the midish/mid+ you were when we played last). That said, while you assume that I have no idea how folks may have progressed in their skill, I'm actually quite confident that I do understand. I can see potential, the same as you. I fully know that some folks have been and will stay tier 2 - while others will progress in their skill level.
Anyway, all of that said, if I have debunked your belief that I think no one has changed in skill level and that I do appreciate that folks with potential can increase in skill, let me go on. Assuming that folks that you've considered great in the past are rot falls into the same category. In fact, you weren't so good back then. Now that your skill level is improving, you are simply going another step to indicate that you think folks that you played in the past were crap. The matter of fact is that you are simply getting better and perhaps can now play at the same level. Anyway, you can disagree on that point, but its simply a matter of logic. If cow beat you down in the past and now you are doing substantially better than you did then, the logical thought is to think you can beat cow now. And that's how we all are (at the competitive level). The difference is in discounting folks like cow completely. You can say you think you'd beat him, but to say he's crap, etc, goes a bit beyond what you've experienced (eg he's crap if you play him today and kick the ever loving crap out of him).
Sigh... I'm apparently wordy.
Anyway, let me bring things back and hopefully wrap up soon. My OP is quite arrogant (and again, fueled by booze). It passively says that I'm amazing and that I will invite amazing folks to play. A better approach would be to simply organize a small get together amongst peers and fight it out. And for the community, we could provide replays and perhaps some commentary. I'm fully confident that watching replays has helped many players games (especially new ones).
I took an angle of trying to charge an entrance fee to exclude folks. I figured zen's cheap arse would buckle (lo and behold 
), while other folks that we might not see in this competition (prussian) step up to the plate. While I like knowing that prussian wants to put his money where his mouth is, I think I took a wrong approach.
So here's what I'm thinking for this. Fug the prize money/entrance fee. We can have a real, arse kicking, tournament of the top players. We will pick like 2 weekends. Pick some time slots. I'll invite folks that I believe can compete at this level (and yes, I will gladly listen to folks that are currently active in the game for input). We will all have to be willing to commit to like 4 hour time blocks (maybe 1 day per week - on the weekend). If you can't make it, you are dropped (or some annoying rule).
Prussian and IN1 will be invited to participate for sure. Everyone else I'll list out here that I'm thinking of soon.
Oh - and on the rule side, I'm thinking it would be no restrictions on DG selection. Any thoughts? Or maybe forcing 1 player on the team to a restricted list (eg handicap 1 player to force more diversity)?
