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

As a quick reminder, the SSBMRank panelists are comprised of a large group of players 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. 70: Kalamazhu © @msealjr

Rating: 45.8 | SSBMRank2016: 71

Once a member of Michigan’s power trio alongside Duck and Prince Abu, Kyle “Kalamazhu” Zhu moved to Northern California to pursue his interests outside of Smash. The NorCal scene adopted him as one of their own, and since then Kalamazhu has been a quiet but present threat at both regional and major brackets.

Kalamazhu’s year lacked the explosive performances and victories that defined his career in 2014. Despite that, he still has earned a number of impressive victories, including wins over Lucky at SSS: Blood for Blood 2 and Shroomed at the NorCal star-studded event, Spartan 2. Though he has yet to match his legendary The Big House 4 run, 2017 marks another year where his legacy as one of the best American Peaches lives on.

Written by: Glenn "KayB" Kim | Edited by: Vincent "Vince" Phan

SSBMRank No. 69: FatGoku © @msealjr

Rating: 45.9 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Steven “FatGoku” Callopy has been steadily improving throughout the 2017 season. From humble beginnings in 2014, the Fox main quickly rose to be one of Oregon’s strongest players. This year, however, he started to put his name on the Melee map, taking many notable Top 20 players, such as Lucky, n0ne and Mike Haze to game five, as well as taking sets off of players like S2J, Syrox, and Bladewise. To add to his already impressive resume, he placed fairly consistently at majors with a 49th placing at both GENESIS 4 and The Big House 7, 33rd at GameTyrant Expo and 25th at Smash ‘n’ Splash 3.

The only thing holding this Fox main back seems to be bracket unluckiness. At Smash ‘n’ Splash 3, he unfortunately ran into Armada and then Lucky almost immediately in loser’s. Aside from Bladewise, most of FatGoku's key wins have been against fast-fallers. High-level Sheiks prove to still be a challenge with sets lost to Swedish Delight, Amsah and Drephen. However, if the cards fall into place, FatGoku will make deep bracket runs in the 2018 Melee year.

Written by: Darren Lynch | Edited by: Daniel Lee

SSBMRank No. 68: Drephen © @msealjr

Rating: 46.3 | SSBMRank2016: 75

Mew2King once described Drew “Drephen” Scoles as a player who gets extremely lucky all the time. To the casual onlooker, his style and the decisions he makes can seem random at best. He can blatantly spam spot-dodge five times in a row or down-smash out of the blue and take a stock. Although his characteristic wonkiness appears haphazard, there’s an intentionality behind it. He’s forcing you to play the game on his terms, betting on 50/50s that, more often than not, end up in his favor. It can be frustrating to play Drephen and question at every turn how he’s going to play you like a fiddle next.

This year, Drephen kept a solid record, especially in the Midwest, milking Columbus locals for all they’re worth — although when local hidden boss Hanky Panky is also in attendance, the two usually end up duking it out in grand finals, which has birthed countless hours of indescribably valuable Peach/Sheik VODs — and frequently beating players such as Cob, Cal and Abate. At the regional level, there have been a few instances where he’s struggled to keep up with the ever-changing metagame, but nonetheless he’s picked up a few high-quality wins: Duck, HugS and even Zain in an incredibly close set at West Virginia regional Mountain of Dreams 2. If he can tighten up his punish game and keep pace with the meta, he looks to have just as solid of a 2018.

Written by: Daniel Lee | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 67: Darkatma © @msealjr

Rating: 46.5 | SSBMRank2016: 72

Northern California is one of the strongest regions for Super Smash Bros. Melee competition, but it is primarily defined by its Top 3 players: SFAT, PewPewU and Shroomed. Many NorCal players live in their shadow, but of them all, Binyin "Darkatma" Lin may be one of the most overlooked.

This year, the seasoned Melee veteran has seen massive success in-region, with wins against NMW, Rocky and Kalamazhu. In a result that is slightly unusual for a Melee competitor, Darkatma has actually done even better at out-of-region events this year. He boasts winning records over Vro, Bladewise and Syrox, proving that his wide arsenal can be applied to all sorts of playstyles and characters. Being one of the few players to successfully use Sheik, Peach and Fox at the highest levels of the game, Darkatma possesses a deadly toolkit that has guaranteed his return on the yearly rankings.

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

SSBMRank No. 66: Zhu © @tischphotos

Rating: 46.6 | SSBMRank2016: 31

It’s a sad day for Falco players when Julian Zhu falls out of premier competition, and yet this year seems to be indicative that every bird must one day rest its wings. The legendary Falco player has historically been able to put up impressive results even in the midst of slumps, his fundamentals guiding him to respectable placings and keeping him within Top 64 at the very least, but in comparison to this year, when he finished at a career-worst 65th place at Evo 2017, it seems as though Zhu’s star may finally be fading. Some of this slump can certainly be attributed to Zhu turning away from the competitive aspect of the game to invest in other areas: This year, he’s been putting his experience to good use both behind the scenes and in the spotlight, developing his skill as a commentator and heading up the partnerships team at Smash.gg.

For those still holding out for Zhu to make a triumphant return, there remain a few glimmering reasons to have faith. He went on record at Shine 2017, his last official major of the year, that he would be redoubling efforts to make a deep bracket run to rival his ninth place at Evo 2016 — with retirement on the table if he didn’t reach that goal. While Zhu’s only made one appearance since then, at Red Bull Smash Gods and Gatekeepers , it gave fans hope: With game wins over aMSa, Ryan Ford, HugS and ARMY, Zhu proved an instrumental part of Team Mew2King’s victory. That’s reason enough to believe Zhu could, in the future, prove this year was just a fluke. If 2018 does mark Zhu’s retirement, then it’ll be a well-deserved finish to a career filled with more highlight moments than most could ever dream of.

Written by: Zane "Epengu" Bhansali | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 65: Redd © @msealjr

Rating: 47.2 | SSBMRank2016: 59

It wasn’t long ago when Austin “Redd” Self was considered a Top 3 player in MD/VA whose potential was simply hindered by his inability to travel. However, 2017 was the year of young blood, and many MD/VA hidden bosses such as Zain and Junebug turned into full-fledged world threats as the year progressed. Redd has since been placed in a tough spot, facing strong inter-region pressure within MD/VA and even greater evolving threats when traveling out-of-state.

As a result, Redd’s 2017 perhaps hasn’t been as noticeable as he would’ve liked. However, this doesn’t mean he has performed badly either; his wins in 2017 include the likes of Midwest powerhouse Kels, NorCal veteran Darkatma and Pacific Northwest up-and-comer Iceman. He has also regained momentum by placing fourth in the latest MD/VA Power Rankings, which includes a victory over ChuDat and many other players part of the new wave of MD/VA. Redd is an integral part of his region’s elite players, and it will be a long time, if ever, before we will see his absence on any future ranking.

Written by: Glenn "KayB" Kim | Edited by: Daniel Lee

SSBMRank No. 64: Cactuar © @tischphotos

Rating: 47.9 | SSBMRank2016: 60

Charles “Cactuar” Meighen’s attendance has been sparse this year, but even his few performances have demonstrated that the longtime Smash guru is far from done with high-level Melee play. He was mostly inactive for the first half of 2017, then returned to his former home of New Jersey for Tristate’s biggest tournament of the year: Royal Flush, where he achieved a commanding 3-0 victory over SFAT. Cactuar’s run did not stop there: he clawed through one of Europe’s greats, Android, before a very respectable loss to La Luna for a 13th place finish.

Cactaur’s next notable performance this year was his third place finish at Battle Gateway 18, a long running Japanese tournament series, proving that his extensive expertise can transcend both continents and characters. Even at his most recent appearance, SSS: Blood for Blood 2, he managed to place fifth, overcoming several top Californian threats such as L, Spark and MikeHaze. Despite his low tournament attendance in 2017, Cactuar evidently has yet to lose his edge. Going into 2018, fans hope to see Cactuar continue to grow as a player and put the beautiful marriage of a decade of Smash knowledge with ever-improving technical skill on full display.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 63: Trulliam © @msealjr

Rating: 48 | SSBMRank2016: 77

William “Trulliam” Truong highlights the new wave of upcoming post-documentary top stars. He recently went on record, stating that he knew nothing about Pound 3, “Azen” or anything about old school Melee, but he quickly rose from a Smash fan in 2014 to a prominent player in three short years. In many ways, Trulliam embodies what you want to see from an upcoming player: young, confident and hard-working. You can see it when you watch his stream, whether it’s grinding netplay, analyzing matches or practicing tech skill.

His efforts paid off with Top 48s at stacked events such as Shine 2017 and The Big House 7. In Canada, he churned even better results with a 17th place finish at Get On My Level 2017 and even a Top 8 at Canada Cup 2017 where he defeated fellow Canadian, Ryan Ford. He hasn’t had a breakout tournament like other rising stars such as Zain, but his close last game sets with players such as Duck, KJH, Ice and Westballz show that it can happen soon.

Written by: Daniel Lee | Edited by: Marco "Oats" Salazar de Leon

SSBMRank No. 62: Ka-Master © @msealjr

Rating: 48.5 | SSBMRank2016: 76

Ammon “Ka-Master” Styles has slid in and out of the competitive Melee scene for several years, and has long been regarded as one of the world’s top Luigi players. After his brief stint in Hawaii, an area in which he was the top player for several months, he found himself situated around the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, sitting just under Bladewise on the Washington Power Ranking. Ka-Master’s performances this year show that he is still in contention for the best Luigi in the world.

One of Ka-Master’s most impressive results for the year came at Evo, putting Mew2King on his winner’s bracket stock and very nearly taking one of the biggest upsets of the year. Ka-Master’s highlights for the year include more than this "what if," however. Ka-Master eliminated Syrox at Evo, and he won sets over FatGoku and HugS at Bridgetown Blitz, taking home a third place finish for his efforts. A month later, at Battle of BC, Ka-Master took a nail-bitingly close set from La Luna, marking another huge achievement for the Luigi main. With additional set victories over in-region competition, such as Bladewise, Iceman and Rustin, as well as wins over HomeMadeWaffles, Android and NMW, Ka-Master has proven that he is playing a pivotal part in the race to the top of the Luigi metagame.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Dylan Tate

SSBMRank No. 61: Spark © @sleepike

Rating: 48.9 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

While Zaid “Spark” Ali has been a known threat in California for quite some time, this year we finally saw him break out on the national scale. 2017 started somewhat quietly for Spark. He performed impressively at the local level, where he took sets from the likes of Azusa, Overtriforce and dizzkidboogie. However, he lacked big Top 100 wins at nationals. That was until Bigger Balc, where he finally began to get closer to top player status by knocking Squid out of winners to place 13th. Carrying this momentum throughout the summer, Spark made a respectable 49th in the ultra-stacked Evo 2017 bracket and reaffirmed his world-class prestige in the traditionally difficult Sheik vs Ice Climbers matchup by defeating Nintendude at Genesis Red.

However, it was at Shine 2017 where Spark thrust himself into the community’s spotlight — getting a stunning victory over Westballz and earning a 17th place finish. Having set a new standard for himself, the Sheik main proved that his Shine performance was not a fluke by placing 33rd at The Big House 7, where he beat Captain Smuckers, and ninth at SSS: Blood for Blood. While an unsatisfactory 33rd at Pat’s House shows there to still be some room to shore up his consistency, Spark has undeniably made a considerable climb in the past year. In the summer, he was ranked fifth in NorCal. Characterized by his run off Up B combos and his hyper-technical reaction-based Sheik play, Spark is looking to show to the world that Sheik is the best character in the game.

Written by: Jake Peskin | Edited by: Brandon "Brando" Geren

Credits

Graphics: Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino

Statistician: Andrew “PracticalTAS” Nestico