Decided to do a write up of why my list is sorted as it is, enjoy!
1. SpareUndisputed. The most well rounded player the UK has seen to date, taking a break from farm for the last 6 or more months to focus purely on rounding out his skillset has proven to be indispensable in shaping a player that I look up to as a consistent beast. Put any map with any mod in front of him and, provided he can aim or stream it, he'll likely FC.
2. KarthyGive Karthy an aim map and he'll hit the jumps. Give him a deathstream map and he'll SS the longest stream. There seems to be very little that this mechanical powerhouse of a player can't do, and that gives him a solid #2 on my list. He has improved majorly this year, and I only expect this to continue well into the future.
3. OPJamesFocusing on HD but being able to play anything, James is an incredible player who can show up anyone if you take him lightly. Probably a top 50 contender if he ever decides to take ranks seriously, his current #10 UK placing obscures the insane consistency and skill coverage he possesses. Expect big things in the near future.
4. CastielCastiel has seemingly come out of nowhere to most of the community, however I've always known him as a player with insane HR consistency. Another top 50 contender if he ever decides to take ranking seriously, since his accuracy and aim are top notch. AR10.3 isn't a problem either, which gives him a great base of skill in places most players wouldn't focus.
5. bahameteWhilst baha hasn't played much on bancho this past year, I pulled him out of retirement for OWC and what a great decision that was. He'd been playing casually for a while, and after a good de-rust session returned back to even better form than he was in when he left, setting some insane scores to boot. Consistency, reading and mechanics all come together to create a monstrous player with insane potential in him.
6. JameslikeJameslike was peaking at #100 when I joined, and he's still somehow the same nomod god that he was back then. You can't find a map that he isn't in the top 10 nomod scores on, with such a great mechanical base to allow this. Very similar player to OPJames, he can play anything at a high level, disregarding what he says about being bad at AR10.3 and HD. Very underranked, and definitely one not to glance over.
7. DoomsdayStill knockin' around after nearly a decade of play, Doomsday is cemented as a central pillar of UK osu with no signs of crumbling any time soon. Incredible tournament skill is his game, as ranking on DT just isn't worth the expended effort, he has remained at the top of the game and still continues to teach these new whippersnappers a lesson or two about full combos.
8. MoeYandereYou don't get better aim than this. Able to hit and tap 300bpm jumps, if you have a mechanical map Moe can play it. Extremely talented at DT only, Moe is a very scary leaderboard player. He is, also, slowly getting up to speed on HD, which means we could expect a massive Totoki-style rank spike soon.
9. OskaRRRitoSOskar was under the radar for a long time as one of the best tech players in the UK. He made an appearence in UK tryouts and did incredibly well, being scarily consistent on anything that wasn't AR10.3. Superb at playing anything irregular, and well known for being mentally unstable enough to play marathon maps with HT (and fc), it's hard to describe how stupidly good his reading is.
10. WarioWario tends to be overlooked, however he boasts some of the best acc in the UK, and sets some impressive HDHR scores that would be difficult to match. Slowly making his way up the leaderboard, he just edges out the #10 spot on my list.
----------------------------------------Honorable Mentions (11-15)11. Mafham - There were no majorly memorable plays from Mafham this year (apart from on McOsu), who has largely gone inactive and only plays casually now. Still as insane as he was, I don't feel like I can put him on the list due to inactivity.
12. Spook - Again, no majorly memorable plays, however still a scary DT player.
13. Squapple - Improving at an incredible rate, the mechanics and consistency make Squapple a scary incoming player who I predict will be comfortably on this list next year.
14. [Bloo] (Bloo-sun) - Another up and coming player with a great repertoire of skills, and another player I expect to be firmly, if not high up on next year's list.
15. Electovoid - Some incredible consistency on HD only, many high acc marathon scores have been very impressively set recently. Given more time, I'm sure Electo could be a contender for a spot on this list.