We are excited to partner with Red Bull to present the 2017 end of year SSBMRank!

As a quick reminder, the SSBMRank panelists comprise of a large group of players, figureheads, and community volunteers that rate the players. Voters rated players based on the following criterion:

Given the quality and quantity of work in late 2016 to 2017 (From Eden to Twitch Invitational: Holiday Bash), if everyone entered 100 tournaments, who on average would place the best?

Panelists voted on a 1-10 scale with the best player receiving a “10” and the worst player on the list receiving a "1." Ballots that were not scaled properly were rescaled using an algorithm to place the best player at a “10” and the worst player at a “1.” This was then rescaled to a 1-100 scale. To reduce the variance, the highest and lowest three scores were removed from the average.

SSBMRank No. 90: Blea Gelo © @msealjr

Rating: 36.6 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

This was a noteworthy year in Michelangelo “Blea Gelo” Greco's Melee career. He spent his time traveling back and forth between North America for majors and Venezuela for locals, earning notable placings at all of them. His 25th place finish at CEO Dreamland and 33rd place finish at Evo 2017, especially, deserve mention, along with his consistent 1st place finishes at VSGC and TGL tournaments in Florida. In the process, he’s earned wins over Jace, NY Joey, Ice, and Prince Abu.

But if there was one big moment for the Luigi main this year, it was his successful campaign for an appearance at Smash Summit 5—a feat that many considered infeasible, if not impossible. Backed by the scenes in Florida, Venezuela, and the whole Latin-American Melee community, Blea Gelo made history by becoming the first Luigi main to make it to a Summit. He failed to put himself on the board in both stages of the tournament, but the opportunity to represent the scenes that supported his growth, and the subsequent chance to train with some of the best players in the world, will surely pay dividends for him going forward. Luigi enthusiasts should remain on the lookout for Blea Gelo's performances in the future.

Written by: Pablo Montero | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 89: Zgetto © Zein Alaouie

Rating: 36.8 | SSBMRank2016: 61

Miguel "Zgetto" Rodriguez started his 2017 season by traveling from the Netherlands to the United States, where he placed 33rd at Don't Park On The Grass and 49th at Genesis 4, his first American super major since Pound 2016. The old school Fox main finished 9th at both BEAST 7 and Syndicate 2017, and scored wins over Amsah, Professor Pro, Overtriforce, Medz and Spark. With yet another strong season, Zgetto consolidated his No. 2 spot on the Dutch PR and remains one of the best players in Europe.

Written by: Fairfax | Edited by: Sam "Bint" Wolfson

SSBMRank No. 88: Darktooth © @DarktoothVG

Rating: 37.4 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Rosario “Darktooth” Fuschetto started the year with a bang, winning local Long Island tournaments over perhaps better known players in iBDW and Kaeon. Outside of Long Island, Darktooth’s attendance remained sparse until the summer, where the uniquely aggressive Fox main began to shift the spotlight away from established Tri-state competitors and onto himself. At the biggest ever Long Island tournament, OMEGA, Darktooth finished in 7th place, taking wins from JFlex and Hax, two highly potent Tri-state threats. Venturing into the city, Darktooth took a set off of DJ Nintendo just a week before defeating Lovage at Evo 2017.

The month of August saw a flurry of activity for Darktooth, where his real breakout performances began racking up. Following the Tristate Invitational where he went undefeated in his pool and defeated Slox, mayb, and Qerb, Darktooth found himself winning a Xanadu monthly, winning a set over Plank and two over Jerry. Darktooth continued his run over MDVA’s best by eliminating Junebug at Super Smash Con to finish at 33rd place. Back in New York, Darktooth took 2nd at one of the most stacked Nebulous tournaments of the year, eliminating Ryobeat, Hax, and Captain Smuckers in quick succession. The last week of August saw Darktooth winning over Cactuar 3-0 at Shine 2017, ending his extremely solid summer with a flourish. Darktooth has proven that his mixture of unorthodox pressure and well-timed reads can propel his Fox to go on par with some of the game’s best, and this year has established himself as one of New York’s largest threats landing him a respectable spot in the Top 100.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Darren Lynch

SSBMRank No. 87: $mike © $mike

Rating: 38.1 | SSBMRank2016: 97

Mike “$mike” Scaturchio underwent an exceptional amount of growth and progress this year, as well as a great deal of change: earlier this year, $mike’s career brought him to Charlotte, North Carolina, a city where competitive Melee is less active than in other areas of the state. As a result, $mike’s approach to the game shifted; instead of constantly practicing and competing at locals, he adapted his Melee routine by focusing on set analysis and studying strategy outside of the game. This new approach paid off as he placed within the Top 12 at every southern regional he attended (finishing within Top 6 of all of these but Super FamiCon 2017). He also put on a respectable show at the few nationals he did attend, placing 17th and 25th at CEO Dreamland and Super Smash Con 2017, respectively.

Throughout his career, $mike has suffered from somewhat of a mid-tier plateau. Though he rarely gets upset by players below his skill level, he also struggles to upset those higher on the food chain. This year, however, $mike began to break out of this pattern. Despite his sparse tournament attendance, $mike earned notable wins over players such as R2DLiu, Junebug, KPAN, lloD, and dizzkidboogie. Perhaps even more impressive than these were the sets in which $mike managed to push many top players to their limits: this year, he took Druggedfox, Duck, Lucky, and n0ne to last game, although he was unable to secure wins over any of them. All the while, he avoided getting severely upset himself, suffering only one “bad loss” all year: Georgia Sheik main HT at Function(2). Although there remain gaps in his gameplay which have prevented him from securing those top player wins, $mike is confident he’ll break into that high level of play in 2018.

Written by: Dylan Tate | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 86: Mojo © @TramTramPhotos

Rating: 40.7 | SSBMRank2016: 88

Texas’s pride and joy, Oscar “Mojo” Malherbe has taken over as the number one player in the state. It’s tough to give the recognition that he deserves since he rarely travels out of region, but he performs very well in his home state. A prime example of this was Clutch City Clash 2 where he put together an amazing losers run, defeating Mafia, Squid, Aza, Milkman, HomeMadeWaffles, and Bananas twice in Grand Finals to win the entire event.

One thing that lacks from Mojo’s resume is national results. While his local results are strong, he lacks strong wins out of his region. Even though his performances may leave question marks at the national level, he’s still a master of consistency, with no real bad losses to note.

Written by: Solomon "DiplomaticTucan" Fuller | Edited by: Daniel Lee

SSBMRank No. 85: KPAN © @msealjr

Rating: 41.1 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

For a long time, Kevin "KPAN" Pan was seemingly defined by the greatest failure of his Melee career: dropping a two-stock lead against the then Top 15 player Wizzrobe in a nail-biting game 3 set at CEO 2016 in what could have been the crucial victory that all but assured his inclusion on that year's SSBMRank. However, KPAN's tragic loss had another effect: the entire Melee community was now aware of the fact that KPAN was a tournament threat.

This year, the Georgia Falco has overcome his past to cast aside any lingering remnants of his previous missteps. At The Big House 7, KPAN gathered wins over top players like Captain Smuckers and Professor Pro to earn an impressive 25th place. He also managed to maintain his status as one of the South's biggest regional threats, defeating regional powerhouses such as drunksloth, MilkMan, and iBDW. Though a place on SSBMRank once eluded him, this year KPAN has rightfully earned his spot among the Top 100 alongside the world's best players.

Written by: Glenn "KayB" Kim | Edited by: Jonah Fritz

SSBMRank No. 84: iBDW © @nilpholan

Rating: 41.2 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Cody “iBDW” Schwab has long been on the fast track to widespread tournament success. After breaking out to dominate the Rochester Smash scene, he expanded his playfield to the whole of New York, establishing himself as one of the best and hardest-hitting Fox mains in the state. This year, iBDW has extended his reach even further, with the rising star making his mark on the national scene.

Though his activity has been somewhat low in 2017, every time iBDW has had the spotlight, he has displayed impressive performances that highlight just how far he has come since he began playing less than 3 years ago. iBDW’s few placings have been very consistent, finishing in 33rd place at Super Smash Con 2017, 65th place at The Big House 7, 13th place at CEO, and 7th at Tipped Off 12. It is nearly impossible to reach such placements without some extremely solid wins, and iBDW is no exception. Over the course of the year, iBDW claimed wins over The Moon, Slox, Cal, Drephen, Kaeon, Hax, Sharkz, and Captain Smuckers, as well as just about every hidden boss that Tristate has to offer. Given the rapid pace of iBDW’s improvement, competitors even at the highest level of Melee should watch out, lest they find themselves overtaken by the phenom.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Alex Botts

SSBMRank No. 83: Jerry © Peter Zhang

Rating: 41.3 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

MDVA netplay warrior Jerry Powell has come a long way since placing 3rd at his region’s arcadian in May of 2016. The up-and-coming Fox main has collected a resume of extremely impressive wins for the year, taking sets off Swedish Delight, dizzkidboogie, Zain, Captain Smuckers, Rishi, Chillindude, lloD, Junebug, Vro, and Redd. He has made a regular routine of winning most of his local tournaments, demonstrating just how well his netplay experience can translate into tournament play.

Before this year, Jerry had never entered a tournament outside of Xanadu, and he will doubtlessly improve as he becomes more comfortable with the tournament experience. As he travels more, Jerry's resume will undoubtedly grow increasingly prestigious, with some huge wins on the horizon. Jerry has more than just wins; he placed in the Top 32 at both Royal Flush and Super Smash Con 2017, with an extremely impressive 5th place finish at the MDVA invitational, adding another notch to his belt. Jerry has proven that he can take on any challenger from MDVA, and is surely itching to prove himself on a national level. Expect to see Jerry much higher on next year’s ranking list.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Tanner "Tanwad" French

SSBMRank No. 82: Rocky © @sleepike

Rating: 41.4 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

One of Norcal’s rising stars, Kristian “Rocky” Cruz has seen great improvement in both his placements and victories. Starting off the year with Don’t Park on the Grass, he defeated Fat Goku and went game 5 last stock with Syrox. His expectations hit a wall shortly with an abysmal performance at Genesis 4. That didn’t deter Rocky from becoming one of the most consistent threats at Norcal locals.

The hard work paid off in the second half of the year. At Shine 2017, Rocky put his name on the map, defeating SFAT and Junebug, and placed 17th overall. The momentum helped fund his trip to The Big House 7 where he finished a solid 65th.

Written by: Solomon "DiplomaticTucan" Fuller | Edited by: Daniel Lee

SSBMRank No. 81: Rik © @msealjr

Rating: 41.6 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Erik “Rik” Gerliz started out the year quietly. A relatively unknown Midwest Fox, Rik had held the number one position on Indiana’s power rankings since summer 2016. As his attendance increased this year, however, Rik started accumulating a series of respectable placements at majors. He placed 17th at Eden, 13th at Full Bloom 3, 33rd at Smash ‘N Splash 3, 33rd at DreamHack Atlanta, 49th at Super Smash Con 2017, and 65th at Shine 2017 all while remaining active in region. He took sets over Michael and Cob at different Indiana regionals.

As good as these results were, they were nothing compared to the second half of Rik’s year. At Show Me Your Moves 18, Rik fell early in bracket to Thor, a relatively unknown player, only to begin a legendary losers run. He took out PRZ, Cal, Reeve, KJH, Kels, and Captain Faceroll in one of the biggest strings of upsets the Midwest has ever seen. In the end he lost to Mike Haze in Grand Finals. That tournament alone would have been enough to secure Rik’s place as a newcomer to the Top 100, but he went on to secure two more incredible wins at The Big House 7, beating Rishi and Tai to finish 33rd. In only the past three months Rik has proven he can compete with Melee’s finest. With more time to improve in 2018, there is no telling who is next to lose to this rising star.

Written by: Benji Spetter-Goldstein | Edited by: Brandon "Brando" Geren

Credits

Graphics: Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino

Statistician: Andrew “PracticalTAS” Nestico