Having the position I had through this world and tribe hopping through a bunch of tribes, I think I have had some of the widest exposure against all of the top tribes through most of the world, although I was missing for a fair few months at the start of this year. Obviously we had some pretty awesome players in Random/Hustle whilst we lasted, foremost among them being Ryan, Zeah and Uldza. Ryan, if he can be bothered is an amazing player and is an all-rounder, don't know anything he lacks skills in and can always feel confidant with him on your team. I am sure some people would argue, but Zeah in my opinion was the best defender this world has seen. I am not saying she didnt have a lot of help when playing SlipperyTipple as her coplayers and sitters were also very good, but it was always Zeah who came back day after day and week after week to put the account back together and get it back on track, so in my opinion could be one of the best players of this world. I also dont think a player being "good" comes 100% down to attacking and defending skills. That is why Uldza gets a mention. He is amazing in game, can time 100 attacks into 200ms (I have seen him do it) and can defend pretty much anything but was the most reliable person I had with my in my time leading and stuck through with the calamity that was TMeat, even though nearly all of the Random/Hustle council had quit and then most of the TMeat council went inactive.
Now, in my time in ND I have come across a pretty amazing team. Apologies for the lack of originality, but I would have to agree that the top 3 in ND are Jorge, Thom and Mike. I would throw Drew in contention for this, but again, a "good" player doesnt come down to just in game skills and to be a "good" player, I think its vital that you make an effort to get along with all members of your tribe, even if you dont like them. For the sake of moving on and working with those people who you dont like, I think its important to at least make amends and be civil towards them. This I know from speaking to people in ND that Drew did not do. He was always an arrogant and condescending moron who let his personal feelings impact the way he interacted with people. Anyway, Mike, Thom and Jorge are all top quality players for all the reasons other people have listed above. All of them are good all-rounders and confidant with all aspects of the game and to top it off, they still manage to lead ND and plan ops and all that jazz. Not wanting to inflate their egos beyond that, I will end it there.
As the people above have already explained, Renote has hung around for a long time and has held a significant part of the HYENAS frontline for a long time without really allowing it to fall. Yes, players around him have given up, like Rage, massively changing the frontline around Renote and almost surrounding him, but he still carries on holding the frontline, even through our ops. We have catted the account and then nukes the frontline and still not really gotten anywhere. In that light, the ops against Renote have been the only ones that I have been involved in since I joined ND more than 7 months ago that I would say have failed. So massive kudos to that.
I dont think I could actually decide one of those to be the number 1 player but those 7 are definitely up there for the best in the world.