Hello! We delayed the publishing of this article by a day to let the hype from GENESIS die down a bit. This is the 6th article, and the delay will prompt #10-#1 to likely be released on either Saturday or Monday.

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

#50 – Tyrant

2016 Rank: 17th (-33)

SoCal’s prime Meta Knight as far back as the Brawl era saw a significant amount of struggle during 2017. Despite that, certain upticks at events like Fire Emblem Saga or his win at WYP10 helped garner him a decent number of points, especially due to the values of his SoCal alumni.

#49 – Shoyo James

2016 Rank: 135th (+86)

Tristate’s prominent Diddy/Luigi main made his splash early in the year at Midwest Mayhem 6, beating a plethora of ranked players – most notably Ally and Captain Zack. He continued to enjoy varying levels of success until SSC, where he took out MVD, DarkShad, and dyr in order to place into the top 8.

#48 – Glutonny

2016 Rank: 49th (+1)

Europe’s definitive #2 and a Wario player to boot, Glutonny roughly maintains his place from last year through his consistent performances across European major events. Notably, he took 2 sets off of Fatality at MARS 2017, and took KEN to game 5 during Winners Semis at Syndicate.

#47 – Wrath

2016 Rank: 41st (-6)

Wrath has enjoyed a quiet year marked with solid performances in his home region of Goergia, as well as rare but lucrative attendance at major events. His major record across the board is consistent, but he hit his peak at CEO 2017 where he defeated ESAM and placed 13th.

#46 – tyroy

2016 Rank: 62nd (+16)

Tyroy’s decline post-Bayonetta nerfs has seemed to resolve itself as of 2017, culminating into a number of solid major placements but most notably an extensive list of wins across the Midwest’s “Midwest Mayhem” series.

While his national record versus Chicago rival Ned is weak, he enjoys a clean record over Ally and notably took a fairly dominant set over Nairo.

#45 – Javi

2016 Rank: N/A (Hidden Boss)

Javi went from a solid performance at Canada Cup as his primary international dip to becoming one of the most well recognized Sheik & Cloud players by early 2017. At GENESIS Saga, he upset Tyrant and went on to place 9th at the event, and made an early splash at Midwest Mayhem 7 where he defeated Ally and Ryuga in bracket.

For the rest of the year, his wins and placements were scattered, but included a string of wins over Ned as well as a well numerous wins on SoCal residents in the few pre/post major weekly Mega Smash Monday events that were used.

#44 – ScAtt

2016 Rank: 46th (+2)

ScAtt quietly creeps into the Top 50 through two major factors: His solid performances at Nairo Saga & CEO Dreamland, as well as his extensive regional record. He, like his fellow top PR in Georgia, enjoys wins on most of the state as well as event wins across the region.

At nationals, he upset Zenyou & JK at Nairo Saga and a significant 3-0 victory Tweek at CEO Dreamland.

#43 – falln

2016 Rank: 34th (-9)

Falln is arguably one of the most underrated players in the world, at least going by his prominence when people bring up top players. While losing his status as second best Rosalina to Kirihara this year, it did not shake his resolve or his ironclad consistency at events that includes one flub and a number of major success stories.

While GENESIS 5 has come and gone leaving Falln with his first top 8 at a supermajor, his best scored achievement for 2017 was definitely his victories over ZeRo & Locus and ultimate 5th placing at 2GGC: Greninja Saga, with special consideration to his wins over Wrath & Nietono at Civil War.

#42 – 6WX

2016 Rank: 33rd (-9)

Pennsylvania’s historically noteworthy Sonic main started the year off well, placing top 12 at 2 consecutive 2GG events, 33rd at the game’s most substantial event, and placing 9th during April’s unique CEO Dreamland event.

He’s remained a fairly consistent threat throughout the year, including a good run at SSC that saw him taking home wins over Mr. E and ESAM. and his year as a whole saw him winning over a good number of top 20 players when he encountered them.

Considering the 25 sets he’s had versus the top 20, a 40% win rate marks the best win rate listed here today, a sign of his veteran status at the game a good predictor of future success.

#41 – NAKAT

2016 Rank: 87th (+46)

His low position on last year’s OrionRank was a mark of controversy for the list, notably due to his relatively consistent record at major events throughout that year. This year, with a higher number of qualified players, his chances for point scoring increased greatly.

Most importantly, NAKAT himself improved significantly, starting the year off on the right foot by defeating Kameme and very nearly beating VoiD at GENESIS 4. While not quite making it that far, he did eventually defeat Abadango & Larry Lurr at different events, and has notably defeated later take-offs like Mistake.

His placement record at majors has gradually improved, and much of it shows in the data with the larger playerbase to work with, giving him more credit for his work.