The final of five articles breaking down the Top 50 is here!

Information about OrionRank 2017 Late Summer can be found here for those who missed the announcement post.

Using data from very late December of 2016 to Shine 2017, we proudly present the Top 50! Let’s get into things.

#10 – VoiD

OrionRank 2016: 9th (-1)

One noticeable pattern at the top level is that weak placements – like 33rds, 25ths, etc – are often (but not always) as a result of a major upset in pools, followed by a loss to a top player in losers bracket. For VoiD, his only two lackluster performances of the year have this unfortunate circumstance apply. First, he lost to HIKARU at Civil War before running into the Sheik Grinder that is ANTi, and second, he lost to Lea at Greninja Saga before running into Nairo in losers bracket.

This might be devastating for players, but consider what it means: One player is better than most thought and may have been underseeded (HIKARU, Lea) and the same top player only lost to players of their skill caliber.

This even extends to EVO and Frostbite, where he was similarly upset by Konga and Tsu. As his scorecard shows, the bulk of his losses are to players in the top 10, with several in the 14 who weren’t ranked top 10 being close to top 10 to begin with.

In other words, VoiD has had a very good year just looking at the negatives. When you look at the positives? He’s come closer than ever before to winning a major event (Dreamhack Atlanta, classified as a Category 4 on OrionRank’s methodology) and has remained competitive with multiple top 5 players, including MKLeo, Tweek, and Nairo.

Per this list’s rankings, he is also the best Sheik in the world at the moment, and his relatively consistent tournament spreadsheet backs his capacity as a player. VoiD’s only weakness appears to be struggling versus the absolute upper echelon, but he’s shown the ability to beat players ranked above him and has come very close to taking down his biggest bracket demon – ZeRo. It’s likely only a matter of time if he continues to play.

#9 – KEN

OrionRank 2016: 22nd (+13)

People who watched Umebura S.A.T. in August of 2016 may have seen this as inevitable. KEN brutally defeated both American challengers and defended his country right after a fairly successful EVO, where he placed 13th (Losing to VoiD and ZeRo) at his first overseas event. None of this was used in the 2017 ranking, but it’s a useful preface.

In 2017, he placed second at NicoNico Tokaigi after a reset despite losing to Mr. R in round 1, which may have established KEN then and there as Japan’s best, with a 3-3 record on Nairo, 3-0 record on Dabuz, a win on ESAM, and a dominant number of performances against his countrymen.

Yet, KEN placed 17th at Frostbite 2017 not long after. What happened? Well, had finally lost to Dabuz in a very close five game set, and then he went on to fight what can only be described as peak Ally, who overcame all odds and defeated KEN – the best Sonic, a matchup that Ally historically struggles in – 3-2.

While KEN wouldn’t show up at U.S. majors again for a while, he took his time in Japan, continuing to prove to be the country’s most consistent player. His next international scuffle was against MKLeo, whom he somewhat predictably rolled over in Winner’s Finals, as part of KEN’s historically dominant record versus Clouds.

However, he was defeated 3-2 in Grand Finals by a surprise Meta Knight counterpick, and was thoroughly obliterated 3-0 in the following set. While KEN hadn’t defended his homestead like he did at Umebura S.A.T., he once against bested his countrymen and at least demonstrated the ability to defeat Leo once.

KEN’s summer was the tipping point. Despite losing to ZeRo and Salem at Nairo Saga, KEN still walked away with two more Cloud main souls – Ned and komorikiri – as part of his collection. Then, he’d go on to convincingly win Mega Smash Mondays 100, the largest weekly event in Smash 4 history.

Outside of Kanto weeklies, Nairo Saga marked the final time to date that KEN has placed outside of top 8 at any event he’s entered. He similarly lost to the first and second placers at both CEO and EVO, but he hardly walked away empty handed, defeating Mr. R, Dabuz, Ranai, ANTi, & more over the course of the summer.

Yet, his most convincing performance to date was probably his loser’s run at ARMS Saga, where he went from a narrow loss to Kameme to running a train over the three best active Foxes in world, adding Tweek to his list of Cloud souls, taking VoiD down again, and very nearly defeating ZeRo in losers finals.

His history demonstrates that he is both Japan’s best player in-country and internationally and that he’s the best Sonic player in the world by a significant margin, owning a match-up that was long considered very poor for the character. He struggles versus ZeRo and Salem, but otherwise seems capable of defeating any player in his path. If KEN’s overseas attendance rises – hopefully he’ll get a sponsorship for this – he may rise further up this list in the future.

#8 – Ally

OrionRank 2016: #2 (-6)

Ally has struggled a bit in 2017. He suffers from the most mixed major placement record of any player on the top 10, but he’s still managed to maintain himself in the top ten with his ability to defeat just about anybody, remaining as a very difficult challenge for ZeRo.

His start to the year was phenomenal. He placed second at GENESIS 4, taking down VoiD, Abadango, ZeRo, and managing to avoid the upset machine that plagued many players that event. This wouldn’t last, unfortunately.

Yet, despite that memorable loss to Komota at Frostbite a month later, he managed to go on a Japan-destroying losers run that saw him defeating T, Ranai, MVD, KEN, Kirihara, and Kameme, before Shuton finally brought an end to it by putting Ally out at 7th. Tournaments don’t have to be about winning – Ally went on one of the most underrated and incredible loser’s runs all year here.

Civil War was different, though. Acting as some kryptonite for every top ten player in attendance besides Dabuz, Ally lost to Locus and ESAM, not making many waves at the tournament.

However, his next three months proved to be very positive, taking another set off of ZeRo at DreamHack Austin, winning Greninja Saga in convincing fashion over players like komorikiri & Larry Lurr, and thoroughly stomping out the remnants of whatever Sonic demon he may have had left at MomoCon by defeating Wrath and komorikiri.

During the following months, Ally would struggle a bit more. His placements didn’t begin to decline until EVO (losing to Chanshu and MVD – though he was hardly the only player having an “off tournament” at that event) but he began to lose more often to VoiD, continued to struggle against MKLeo, traded blows with ZeRo, and found a new enemy in Bayonetta as Salem would begin to be a serious roadblock.

These summer performances at EVO, SSC, DreamHack, and SCR Saga are largely why he dropped the placements he did. Ally retained strong regional performances throughout the year up this point and closed things out with a solid 5th at Shine 2017, leaving him battered, but hardly defeated compared to his 2016 self.

With a set over Tweek and a potential new secondary in Diddy Kong to combat some of his long-term bracket demons, we might see Ally shooting back for the throne in the coming months. Only time can tell, but his mixed year is still relative, and filled with huge success for Canada’s best.

#7 – Larry Lurr

OrionRank 2016: 5th (-2)

While a victory at a major event continues to evade Larry Lurr, he makes up for it with a strong portpolio of major performances that include four of the top five. ZeRo has proven an evasive a victory as possible despite going back and forth during 2016, but this hasn’t translated to an overall rough decline.

He’s suffered from some spotty performances during the year, many due to unexpected pools upsets. Ke-ya, Chag, and quiK are all names that weren’t as well-known as some, but all have placed Larry Lurr into losers bracket during pools.

On the same token, however, Larry’s Category 4 tournament performances are some of the most consistent of any player in the world, and he has incredible peaks at events like CEO and EVO. Between those events, he has a set on MKLeo, two sets on Nairo, a set on Salem, and an assorted collection of players seen on this ranking that many would fall to.

For all of his unfortunate losses – often to a hidden boss, then to a top player (much like his SoCal brother in arms VoiD), Larry has similar peaks to VoiD that make him an undeniable top level threat. Victory may evade SoCal, but for how long? It’s only a matter of time until one of their top two take the gold home, and Larry on a good day is a player that few can beat.

If Larry can overcome his ZeRo demon, it’s likely that brackets could be made a lot more chaotic. Larry has lost many sets to ZeRo this year. More than eight, in fact, but all it takes is one for the script to flip and for Larry to start taking more.

We’ll see what happens, but people better keep a lookout for Larry Lurr. As of this writing, he’s won DreamHack Montreal. I’d expect much more on the horizon.

#6 – Dabuz

OrionRank 2016: 10th (+4)

Major victories evaded Dabuz for the longest time, but Civil War was arguably handed to him on a silver platter. With Captain Zack as his most threatening challenger once Shuton fell, Dabuz managed to take the set 3-2 and coast through both T and Fatality to win Civil War.

However, he wasn’t going to finish there. People had made a point of noting how Dabuz’ bracket wasn’t as hard as it could’ve been, so he defeated Ranai after having been 3-0’d by him recently, overcame his Cloud demon in komorikiri, and finally defeated ZeRo’s Diddy Kong for the first time in a long time.

After that, he slowly worked around ZeRo’s Cloud, managing to take a second major, this time over a very difficult and exhaustive bracket that also included a near loss to Locus early in bracket. ARMS Saga was a massive success for Dabuz.

His attendance has been spotty, however, which may hold the Rosalina main back a bit. A 33rd at SSC doesn’t help, but this is a fate many were relegated too. A low placement is still a low placement, and it does affect a player’s ability to score points on OrionRank’s model fairly drastically.

Despite that, this was his only real dud of the year. Dabuz is generally a model of consistency and usually only loses to people on the very top, as evidenced by the majority of his top 50 losses being to the top 10.

With this and a slew of dominant regional performances over the course of the year, Dabuz has largely found himself in the best position of his career so far. He may not be universally considered the third best in the world, but he’s beating ZeRo and taking events like never before.

#5 – Tweek

OrionRank 2016: 18th (+13)

If there’s any player that has put the most work in from where he was at the start of his career to now, it’d have to be Tweek. No one-time runs, no tricks, just a dominant, scary Cloud player with a fantastic last few months under his belt.

The early year was a bit of a struggle, with him being noted for some consistency issues. However, he progressively solved them and has become perhaps the best Cloud main the world, with Leo as his only potential superior in this regard. He has wins on players ranked 1st to 7th around him, and more than makes up for shakier performances early in the year with multiple wins on ZeRo, a running rivalry with Salem and Leo, and a winning record on Nairo.

With solid wins at Low Tier City 5 and strong top 8 placements at the bulk of super regionals and majors he’s attended, Tweek has accrued a very long list of set wins that ultimately led to a solid 16-23 record against the top ten (with most of those loses being against ZeRo) and an even stronger 47-35 record versus the top 50.

While Tweek is more likely to get upset in bracket than the players that follow him, he’s quickly becoming increasingly difficult to stop in bracket. His reads and his coverage with Cloud appear to be nearly unstoppable on his best days, with some losses only coming through the skin of his opponent’s teeth.

Tweek also introduced his Donkey Kong at the start of the year during a quirky solo run at Mega Smash Mondays 81. This proved to be incredibly successful, and he’d go on to further success in the future with the character, including an incredible win over ZeRo with the character at KTAR XX.

Tweek’s skill carried Bowser Jr. until he wanted more, and Tweek has taken full advantage of the potential that was held dormant in the shell of his old clown copter. Now, Tweek is one of the best players in the world.

#4 – Salem

Salem’s high ranking on OrionRank 2016 was largely due to his strong regional performances in spite of a much weaker track record at major events. However, in 2017, something appears to have clicked, and Salem has transitioned into becoming one of the best players in the world.

Perhaps the only thing holding Salem back from the third spot, who’s quite obvious at this point, is the contrast at the start of the year. After CEO, Salem has yet to miss a top 8 at a major event. He does have a slew of 7ths, however, he also carries one of the biggest tournament wins of the year with EVO, and an additional major win at DreamHack Atlanta.

While Bayonetta play can be the target of scorn, it’s undeniable that Salem avoids a significant amount of it. Not to say all of it, but there’s always that common reminder: Salem was the miraculous Apex champ, running past many of Brawl’s best as an unlikely Zero Suit Samus main.

This legacy leaves no question as to how he rose to power. ZeRo’s warnings of Salem being incredible and Salem’s dominant gameplay at one day events in 2016 were a window into the future, where Salem has become one of the most consistent, dominant players in the game.

With wins on every player in the top with the exception of noted Bayonetta slayer Dabuz, Salem can comfortably demonstrate a lack of any true or consistent bracket demons this year, with Mistake perhaps being the only one that may build himself up as one over time.

#3 – MKLeo

OrionRank 2016: 3rd (No Change)

Riding hot off his win at ZeRo Saga, Leo made a statement by winning GENESIS 4 early in the year after a solid run at GENESIS Saga. This gave him two consecutive supermajor wins, something very few players have a claim to at all.

After an underperformance at Frostbite where he lost to Kameme and VoiD, he kept the steam going with a third place at Frame Perfect Series 2 after managing to bring it back against Dabuz in a reverse 3-0 and dominant set over komorikiri.

Yet, this tournament would be the start of a certain and very unfortunate trend for Leo: While he may have solid record against most players he fights, his record versus ZeRo would eventually become worse that Mr. R’s record vs. Leo.

We wouldn’t know it by Frame Perfect, but Leo was on the path to many losses against ZeRo.

After a weak run at Civil War he picked the pieces up and put up excellent fights at KTAR XX and DreamHack Austin. However, we began to see the emerging trend of Leo’s difficulty against ZeRo at this stage.

That took a backburner during May, however, when Leo went off to participate at KSB 2017 and Umebura Japan Major. He won both – KSB convincingly, Umebura Japan Major with a long fight. He was taken to game 3 by both Masashi and Kirihara in bracket, was 3-0’d by KEN, nearly defeated by Choco in loser’s finals, but ultimately ran it back 3-2 against KEN with a return to Meta Knight followed by a dominant 3-0 to win the event and secure another major event under his belt.

The only further struggle Leo would see during the year up to end of August were two oddball losses at EVO (to False and Mute Ace) and an unexpected 17th outing at DreamHack Atlanta due to a loss to Vinnie and an unfortunate run in with ZeRo in losers.

Other than those, he has done remarkably well during the remainder of the year, using a toolbox of sword characters depending on player & matchup that has helped him have an answer for nearly anything he runs into.

MKLeo largely edges Salem out due to slightly stronger performances across more Top 8s. Both have dud-level tournaments, and 25th isn’t significantly more positioned well to earn points on this model than Leo’s 65ths are. They do share fairly similar tournament histories, though, with both winning a supermajor and major, with both also carry remarkably similar Top 50/Top 10 records.

Don’t let the “No Change” fool you, either. While he retains the same placement as last year, a good chunk of the score that allowed him to place third during 2016 was through his local performances where he would frequently beat top players. Now, he’s supported almost exclusively by major and super regional performances.

With that, Leo makes third worldwide again. Will he carry this to the end of the year? Only time will tell, but he’s positioned himself well.

#2 – Nairo

OrionRank 2016: 4th (+2)

While Nairo placed 17th at GENESIS 4, it wouldn’t be fair to call it a bad performance. He lost to Mr. R and ZeRo, making his only truly lackluster bracket this year being his losses to Mekos & Zack at Greninja Saga.

With that in mind, Nairo should be able to proudly call him the second best player in the world right now. He has a totally workable record versus ZeRo as of the last couple of months, a split win/loss record against the top 10, and two major wins (MomoCon & Tokaigi) to go with his repeat win at Super Smash Con.

His record also indicates just how hard it is to upset Nairo in bracket: Only eight people outside of the top ten have managed it, and most of those players are ranked close enough to the top 10 anyway. We’ve reached a point where an unranked player or a low-end top 50/100 player defeating Nairo is nearly as big of an upset as the same happening to ZeRo.

Reclaiming that silver from 2015, Nairo’s gameplay hasn’t slowed down at all. He’s gone back to his strategy of diversifying his character list, this time by keeping Bowser and Diddy Kong in his pocket. Bowser in particular has been an incredibly useful tool against Clouds like Leo or Tweek that Nairo might struggle against.

His Diddy, however, is worth an article by itself. Out of nowhere, he pulled out an extremely well-tuned and refined Diddy Kong to defeat Salem at Shine 2017 3-1, looking even stronger against Salem than ZeRo’s Diddy has in their last few encounters.

What really put Nairo in the spotlight this year, even though he had performed well prior, was likely his incredible loser’s bracket run at Super Smash Con 2017. After losing to Rideae in the semifinal of his pool, Nairo went on to defeat Rich Brown, Sinji, komorikiri, Tweek, VoiD, James, WaDi, Mr. R, MKLeo, and ZeRo twice. All in one run.

Some consider this to be the best loser’s run ever. While this may be subject to debate, there’s no doubting it’s a top three contender, and it really puts a spotlight on how good Nairo is with momentum. Rough tournament at Greninja Saga aside, Nairo’s had the best year of his career since 2015. With the number of events and the steeper competition, this may very well be the best year of his career period.

#1 – ZeRo

OrionRank 2016: 1st (No Change)

Yeah, no one’s surprised here.

However, his #1 status really is dominant. Not mildly, not by a slight edge, no. He’s so dominantly #1 that the difference in points between him and Nairo is worth 1650, a point total that would put a player at 11th on this ranking.

ZeRo has only placed outside of the top three on three occasions this year, two 9th place hits (Greninja Saga, DreamHack Atlanta) and one 49th (Civil War) with every other tournament ending with him either winning or placing second.

He struggled at the winning part during summer, similar to last year, but with far less dud placements and with all of those losses being something he fought tooth and nail against. As a result of his consistent top 2 finishes, ZeRo carries a monstrous 98-23 record against the Top 50, with a 52-13 record against his peers in the top 10.

A running theme in this top ten is that everybody has a bracket demon in ZeRo. Even a player like Ally, who can give ZeRo trouble, still loses more sets than he wins at this point, marking masterful adaptation from ZeRo. He has broken hearts with his defiant victories over fan favorites, but his nerves of steel during gameplay, remarkable patience, suffocating coverage, and unmatched adaptation make him THE player to beat.

Despite him retaining a dominant record over others, it’s definitely more common to see ZeRo drop sets now than it used to be. However, he never gives them for free, and the tournament is still probably going to end with him winning anyway: He rides momentum like no other player and effectively carries the best collection of loser’s runs among the playerbase.

This can generate a ton of excitement whenever ZeRo does fall, but it can still make a spectator feel hopeless when ZeRo makes no errors in a set and simply dominates a player. There’s very rarely ever a sense that a player has figured ZeRo out, as few have managed to 3-0 him. Every player who defeats him to this day usually fights to the death for it, down to his most noteworthy loss of the year with Salem’s final clutch play taking EVO.

While he doesn’t have his second EVO win yet and while his performance at Civil War was an unusual occurrence never seen before or since, ZeRo still walks away the undisputed champion by an incredibly wide margin. He closed out August with two major event wins, while otherwise still doing better than most this summer despite not winning as often.

Will ZeRo ever stop being this good? Probably not – it’s been nearly three years, and ZeRo has never not been the best, with only two fleeting short periods of time during the Summer of ’16 and ’17 making people question whether or not ZeRo is #1 before ZeRo picked things back up and silenced all debate.

Perhaps it’s better that way, though. Almost every fan favorite set at this point involves ZeRo, because many want to root for the underdog. However, that level of underdog cheering can only happen if ZeRo has earned the throne, and he has by all accounts earned one of the most comfortable thrones imaginable.

Thank you for reading! Freezie & I will return with OrionRank Top 100 2017 at the end of the year. I’ll return with no articles starting next week. My Bayonetta article is still being worked on, but I’m briefly going to visit the history of Bowser Jr.