We’re almost there! Here’s 20-11!

Methodology: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p2mqzaOqlbnjou4_bGI8SMZFc0S9Szscn2qLJYDXJOQ/edit

20 – Trela

“How did this happen.”

Trela is very high on this list, especially for somebody with a placement as low as his 385th at CEO. In the grading stage, Trela had the dubious honor of having one of the worst average placement numbers, sitting at 7th to last at 70. Despite that, he ranks incredibly high on this list despite an abrupt falloff and hiatus.

His 9th at EVO was certainly lucrative, earning him 245.5 points, but his run at FOW Saga was narrowly more valuable at 268.8 due to set wins over Tyrant and VoiD. Both are comparable and act as a bedrock for his high placement, with a series of dominating 1sts at various regionals supporting the bedrock until his point value reached 1045.8.

His downfall is remembered more than his brief dominance, but when he was good, he was insanely good. People had considered him a decent pick to win the eventual upset bloodbath that was CEO, but his run here, at Endgame, and SSC cut him short of reaching the highest highs.

Nonetheless, his brief dominance early in the post-patch era cycle was so significant that it puts him at 20th for the year overall.

19 – Mew2King

Known for being one of Brawl’s best players and mostly famous for his Melee play, Mew2King had a lot of trouble finding his place in the metagame throughout 2015, switching between various characters and seeing very mixed results.

However, this all changed with the release of Cloud. Finding a character he felt worked for him, Mew2King proceeded to slowly build himself up. Finally, at GOML, we saw a breakthrough, with Mew2King becoming the first person to 3-0 ZeRo in Smash 4 history.

His 5th at GOML and 5th at Shine would go on to be his best major placements during 2016, in part because Mew2King often pulled out of Smash 4 tournaments to focus on Melee. With Self DQs in effect, we can’t be completely sure what Mew2KIng’s heights would’ve been.

Despite beating Salem during Salem’s month of terror, Mew2King suffers in the Bayonetta matchup and seems to additionally have trouble in the Sheik matchup judging by his loss to Trevonte at Clutch City Clash.

Despite these bumps, it’s times like his run at Endgame that show he can be one of the best players in the world when his mind is set to the task.

18 – Tweek

Outscoring Mew2king by a mere 0.2 points, the two Cloud mains are effectively tied. Outside of a disappointing outing at EVO, Tweek is a fairly consistent player, often reaching the top 16 of events, and he isn’t a stranger to taking big sets off of big players. He unexpectedly beat Nairo at Collision XIV, Larry Lurr at TBH6, and has had a back and forth with Salem since Collision.

The instrument of the Tristate player’s rise to fame was his decision to drop Bowser Jr. and Wario. As he was Jr.’s best user, the character suffered a notable dropoff in results after Tweek made the switch to Cloud. This decision helped propel Tweek to the upper echelon of players, enabling him to contend with the very best and not be held back by characters with inadequate tools.

While Tweek still uses his Jr. for counterpicking certain MUs, he’s now know as one of the best Cloud players in the world.

17 – Tyrant

SoCal’s premier Meta Knight and a persistently high-ranked member of the SoCal PR, Tyrant took wins off of all of SoCal’s most notable players this cycle through regionals and MSM, with major hits at EVO and ZeRo Saga for taking down Zinoto and Dabuz, respectively.

With those wins and hits other players like Samsora and Ito, Tyrant has proven himself as the best solo-Meta Knight main in the world and SoCal’s third best player for the post-patch 2016 cycle.

16 – ESAM

ESAM’s falloff from the top 10 occurred during this year after a series of middling or disappointing results, either due to getting upset in pools on a frequent basis or simply not matching up to the top talent he had to fight against deeper in bracket. This is odd, especially considering his near-flawless record in Florida, but it is what it is.

Thankfully for ESAM, his saving grace to place this high was a stellar and totally unanticipated run at UGC Smash Open that saw him upsetting Salem in pools, double eliminating VoiD, destroying Nairo, and taking Abadango to the brink during their winners semis set.

With his third at UGC and a lower-profile but still impressive run at Shine, ESAM manages to sneak a high rank. While his followup to UGC was a shocking 9th at Don’t Park on the Grass, one can only hope that he’s poised to return to his former glory in 2017.

15 – Marss

With CEO as his only disappointing outing this year, the New England Zero Suit Samus main became commonly known after a devastating bracket run at G3. Following into the post-patch era, Marss’ results continued to improve, and he ultimately became one of the most consistent players in the world.

His most illustrious run of the year, reflected by the infographic, was his run at KTAR Saga. He managed to run through both VoiD and Larry while taking a set off of the eventual tournament winner during Grand Finals.

While he only got 9th at UGC, he also made a lot of waves at the event by swiftly defeating MKLeo, a loss MKLeo would later rebuke at a midwestern weekly. Marss’ odd upset wins over out-of-country attendees like Kameme and MKLeo give Marss a sizable boost, putting him at 15th.

14 – Kameme

Promising to win EVO after a breakout victory at Umebura 23, Kameme came dangerously close – placing second at the event and solidifying himself as the best Mega Man in the world with wins over VoiD and ZeRo to back him up.

His win vs. Mr. R was partly due to the latter player’s repeated errors and SDs throughout their set, but Kameme had several chances since to prove his win at EVO wasn’t a fluke, with a convincing 2-0 victory at Umebura S.A.T. and a solid 3-1 victory at Smashdown World.

He did lose in their last meeting of the year at UGC, which perhaps sets a trend for Kameme’s mediocre post-EVO U.S.A. record. While never bad, Kameme struggled to take sets off of top players in America for the rest of the year, even losing to Marss at TH6 in an unexpected 2-3 loss.

His run at ZeRo Saga showed signs in bucking this trend, defeating both Zinoto and Tyrant in a losers bracket run ending in him narrowly losing to ANTi 2-3. He’s still maintained a respectable Japan record since EVO as well, taking 1st at Umebura 25 over Abadango and KEN.

13 – Zinoto

Sporting a strong early-year record and an impressive run at CEO that included wins over Larry, Nairo, Hyuga, Abadango, Davuz, and a bracket reset on ANTi, Zinoto set himself up for a high placement.

In spite of his following major event performances being lackluster, Zinoto retained an exceptional regional record, taking multiple sets off of most top players that crossed him in the Midwest. With CEO in mind, he’s beaten players like Larry, VoiD, Abadango, and more on multiple occasions, not to mention his weekly win against MKLeo prior to Battle Royale or his rare victories over Ally.

12 – Komorikiri

Komorikiri had trouble early-mid year with 17th placements at Supermajors like G3 and EVO, but he broke through his problems at Abadango Saga, outperforming the event’s namesake and taking 5th after a win on Ally that broke his 17th place curse. This was after three consecutive Sumabato victories at 11, FOR THE BIG HOUSE, and 12 – signalling that Komorikiri was ready for the international stage.

Quickly following Abadango Saga, Komorikiri took MSM 67 over VoiD 3-0 and handily beat Nairo in an exhibition set. The latter wasn’t counted due to the low-pressure environment, but it served as a bit of foreshadowing for Komo’s eventual revenge at TBH6, where he followed up his loss at Abadango Saga by sealing out Japan vs. East Coast crews by defeating Nairo and later beating him 3-2 in bracket.

Following his loss to ANTi, Komorikiri beat VoiD again in a much tighter 3-2 set, then went on to take a slow-paced set 3-1 against Mr. R that included a well-executed shift into a timeout strategy on Duck Hunt. He eventually dropped the run to ZeRo 1-3, but he left with a tournament run well on-par with Ranai’s at G3 and Kameme’s at EVO.

His evolution from a player that strictly did better in-region to a player that carried both in-region and international skill might be one of the better player narratives to come out of the year. His last roadblock is ZeRo, whom he’s 0-3 with in sets for the year. A difficult record to contend with, but something he’s attempting to improve on judging by his Bayonetta pick at ZeRo Saga.

11 – ANTi

Our first Supermajor champion on this list, ANTi’s low attendance prior to 2016 was typically still successful in its nature, taking 13th at CEO 2015 and going down to the wire against ZeRo at TBH5. During 2016, his attendance increased at a regional scale, with him attending events around the country and typically doing well in the process.

The event that foreshadowed his eventual CEO victory was Wednesday Night Fights 2.5, where he defeated ZeRo twice to take the event. A little over 2 weeks later, he’d go on to take CEO 2016 in convincing fashion, defeating VoiD, False, Mr. R, Dabuz, and Zinoto in an unexpected finish to an event with numerous twists and turns. Despite the amount of good players in losers bracket, ANTi still took away a ton of good sets and finished high and mighty.

While suffering from consistency problems at certain majors, ANTi’s late year performance at TBH6 and two respectable if understated performances at UGC and ZeRo Saga sealed him as one of the best players of the year.