Never made a "top 10 list", but here's my opinion on some of the past big players (I'm sure most people don't really care so skip to the next post).

Rich Hatch...set the blueprint for how Survivor is played. I think his overall game play is slightly overrated b/c it's balanced against most people not having any clue. Still, I think you have to put him up there.

Colby - Michael Skupin injury aside, he played a great game and would be an all-time great if he hadn't been so stupid to take Tina to the finals. As for Tina herself, she's the first coattail winner, but part of the game is getting people to like you and want you to win a million dollars (I'm looking at you Russell).

Season 3...the best player was probably Lex, but he was too paranoid and strange to be a "great" player.

Season 4...no great players (including Rob). Kathy and Pasquale were good players.

Season 5 -the aforementioned Brian Heidek. As for his competition being weak, you work with or against what is there. He won rather easily.

Season 6 - Cesternino was a good player, but he started overthinking things towards the end, and that along with the fact that he wasn't a good challenger competitor cost him.

Season 7 - I think the whole season is skewed b/c of the Outcast tribe. Hard to call anyone great.

Allstars - Clearly Rob played the dominant game, but it was a losing game. He could never win the votes with that game. He only "won" b/c he ended up marrying the winner.

This is where I have to look up the order of seasons...

Vanuatu...Chris won, but I thought Twila played the best game. She just put herself in an impossible position with the jury votes. She needed to win the final challenge and take Scout to the end. Chris also nearly blew it for himself with how he got rid of Eliza and Julie Berry.

Tom - a great dominant player in charge of probably the best pre-merge tribe in Survivor history. He gets a lot of credit for that. Ian could have challenged him in the end, but he flaked out in the last challenge.

Guatemala...Rafe played the best game until he blew it the end. He had Stef taking the falls for all of his moves. However, he let Danni stay in the game too long (way too many friends on the jury) then let her off the hook with actually taking him to the finals. He just blew it.

Panama...Aras was ok; there have been worse winners. Terry was good at challenges but was far from a strategic genius. Still, he should have been on this season. Cirie was a good strategic player with a great social game, but her physical game will always be a debit to her b/c her social game is so obviously good. No one ever wants to face her at the end. She had to win her way to final 2.

Yul...the first player to ever really effectively use the immunity idol and should belong on anyone's top list. Obviously, he had help from Ozzy in winning the challenges and strategically from Becky, but he set the agenda and was rightfully viewed as the leader thus getting himself the win in the greatest final 2 of all time (yes, I know it was a final 3 and Becky was there, but the only reason we ever got Ozzy vs Yul was b/c it was a final 3...they would have never have taken each other). On a personal note, he was one of my favorite winners. I really liked how he played the game.

Fiji - a bad season with a great player. Yau is most remembered, but Earl played the best game. He even correctly cut Yau lose at the end. He's the first unanimous winner for a reason (Tom should have been, but Coby was acting bitchy with the vote).

China...for the bulk of the season Todd and Amanda were both superior players and one of the best partnerships in Survivor history (though Aaron getting cut w/o them having to do anything was a big plus for them). However, Amanda let Todd be the public mastermind a few too many times, then completely tanked starting at around final five. The right person won, and I think takes his place among the best of Survivor. Amanda...well she finished third to Courtney.

Micronesia...the spot for Parvati to shine. Caught a MAJOR break with Penner's injury as he had her number and the votes to get rid of her. After that she lucked out with it being a final 2 (no Cirie) and won the hearts and minds b/c Amanda sucks at final tribal.

Gabon...I have a hard time calling anyone a great player. Sugar controlled the vote the latter part of the season, but she made counter intuitive moves and was not popular with other contestants. It was a strange game to try to become more popular with viewers.

Tocantins...JT takes his place among Survivor's best. I think Stephen should get a nod here as well. He just put himself in a bad spot by having his two closest allies be people he could never beat in a vote (JT and Taj).

Samoa...obviously Russell was the dominant player. Caught a break with the disorganization that occured in the other tribe after the other Russell was evacuated. If that Russell stays I think the whole latter half of the season is different (Erik doesn't go first for starters). Still, you play with what your dealt, and he did a great job getting to the finals. He also did a poor job in getting people to want to vote for him.