Welcome to the first of ten articles for OrionRank 2017! I’ll be detailing the Top 100 player-by-player.

More Information: https://intheloop837.wordpress.com/2018/01/01/orionrank-2017-top-100-announcement-information-methodology-101/

Written by Barnard’s Loop

Illustrations by Freeziebeatz

Ranking work by Freeziebeatz & Barnard’s Loop

#100 – Chanshu

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

One of Japan’s many 2017 breakouts, Chanshu edges out fellow top Ryu takera and narrowly places within the Top 100. While he performed well in Japan across 2017 and made stark improvements from 2016, his most notable victory came at EVO 2017 where he defeated former EVO Champion Ally in Winners Bracket.

He paced 33rd at that event, losing to Wrath and Locus.

#99 – HyperKirby

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

Ranked as the best solo Roy player in the world, HyperKirby’s lack of travel may well be holding him back. Despite only attending MomoCon and DreamHack Atlanta among this year’s countless major events, his set wins on all of Georgia across the year at regional events allow him to narrowly break the Top 100.

#98 – Brood

2016 Rank: 156th (+58)

SSBB-Era Brawl Titan Brood has made his strength known in Smash 4 with Duck Hunt. While he carried a noteworthy performance at Umebura 27, Brood is best known for his wins over Diddy Kong players ZeRo and Zinoto at GENESIS 4 after having touted his own skill at the match-up.

#97 – iStudying

2016 Rank: 48th (-49)

Despite a significant fall from his heights reached during 2016, iStudying remains the highest ranked Greninja player and one of Europe’s top players. He’s among the few in Europe to have ever defeated Mr. R, taking a single set off of his Roy at Avalon U-IX.

Despite lacking a large number of U.S. wins since he did not travel quite as much during 2017, he still has a solid number of victories across the vast number of large-scale EU tournaments during 2017, including a tied record with fellow Dutch player S1.

#96 – Sinji

2016 Rank: 128th (+32)

Currently the world’s best Pac-Man, Sinji worked his way through a number of major tournaments across the year without significant failure beyond a 33rd at KTAR XX, which was classified as a large regional.

Along his journey to various top 48s and top 32s at majors, Sinji defeated a number of East Coast notables, most notably ANTi, but including top Southeast players like Peabnut and Mekos as well as dyr and Angel Cortes, two of the more prominent active North American Diddy Kongs.

#95 – Dark Wizzy

2016 Rank: 119th (+24)

Impressively tearing through Koolaid, Craftis, Sonix, and Captain Zack at Shine 2017, Wizzy demonstrated his full capacity as one of Tristate’s best Mario players.

He is known for attending New England events due to hailing from nearby Upstate New York, resulting in him having a variety of wins on New England’s top players including Light and Marss.

#94 – Legit

2016 Rank: N/A (NEW)

NorCal’s premier Diddy makes his debut on OrionRank at 94th, taking a few odd but solid placements at events like Super Smash Con (17th) and GameTyrant Expo (25th.)

While carrying a solid record over his fellow NorCal players, he also has important wins against JK, Mr. E, and Zenyou, as well as a contextually impressive win versus Brood at a pre-G4 weekly event at the start of 2017.

#93 – Trela

2016 Rank: 20th (-73)

Once the undisputed best Ryu, Trela announced his retirement after a sendoff performance at 2GGC: Civil War. Despite that, he still managed to crack the Top 100, largely due to extremely quality wins on ZeRo & MKLeo.

#92 – Mew2King

2016 Rank: 19 (-72)

Mew2King notably let Smash 4 take a backseat in 2017, seeing his status rise in Melee as a result of focusing his resources on one game. While he’s known for excelling at the title he focuses on, Mew2King still managed to slip into the Top 100 this year thanks to performances at Tipped Off 12, Battle of BC 2, and Smashadelphia.

#91 – 8BitMan

2016 Rank: 98th (+7)

Rounding out today, Florida takes another slot with 8BitMan, the best active R.O.B. player. He’s taken a slight climb since last year, placing within the Top 64 at the majority of majors he attended while taking off sets from a number of higher ranked players out of region.

He notably took a set off of Salem (valued lowly due to the weekly nature of the event) at Little Big House 3, adding to a collection of his numerous wins against Floridian players.