2019's Pro Rank Changes, Month by Month

22 Dec 2019

We’ve know had a full year of Smash Ultimate’s nascent competitive scene. In that time, we’ve seen MkLeo go from prospective #1, to definite #1. We’ve seen Tweek go from contender for #1, to losing at locals, back to top 2, back to top 10, and back to top 2. We’ve seen VoiD and Cosmos fall off, and Maister rise to top 10 in the world.

With 2019 on it’s way out, what better time to look at the month-to-month rankings of our favorite competitive players.

Notable tournaments: Glitch 6, SoCal Chronicles, Umebura SP2, Smash Conference United #

VoiD - 1664 Tweek - 1659 ImHip - 1649 WaDi - 1635 Nicko - 1631 ZD - 1622 Light - 1620 Stroder - 1620 ザクレイ - 1614 Eon - 1613 Elegant - 1604 yeti - 1603 MkLeo - 1600 Larry Lurr - 1598 Lui$ - 1595

These rankings are here just for curiosity’s sake. At this early point in Ultimate’s history, the biggest tournaments were Glitch 6 and SoCal Chronicles; Smash Conference United, Leo’s first real ultimate victory, is very underweighted by it’s limited size.

As we can see, it’s mostly SoCal players and people who did very well at Glitch.

Notable Tournaments: Genesis 6, Frostbite 2019, Heart of Battle #

Tweek - 1920 MkLeo - 1905 Shuton - 1829 VoiD - 1811 zackray - 1810 Dabuz - 1803 Light - 1794 Cosmos - 1778 Nairo - 1776 Lea - 1770 Samsora - 1758 Myran - 1744 ZD - 1742 MVD - 1741 Glutonny - 1738

February was quite a month. Unfortunate for MkLeo, his win at Genesis at the beginning of February, and #1 ranking at the beginning, was closed out by Tweek with big wins, including a double-elimination at Frostbite, near the end of February.

VoiD is still on-fire from his 2nd place at Genesis. Nairo is shockingly low for the perennial top 3, usually top 2 player in Smash 4. Samsora slumped after a respectable placements at Genesis.

Myran showed his potential as a top player at Frostbite, taking out Shuton in the famous “dair a pikmin” match.

The Japanese invasion began; Shuton rounds out the top 3, and Lea inches into the top 15.

Notable Tournaments: Battle of BC 3, Collision 2019, Ultimate Nimbus, Full Bloom 5 #

(+1) MkLeo - 1905 (-1) Tweek - 1900 (+4) Light - 1851 (+2) Dabuz - 1835 (-2) Shuton - 1829 (-2) VoiD - 1821 (+9) ESAM - 1819 (-3) zackray - 1810 (+26) Ally - 1799 (-1) Nairo - 1796 (-3) Cosmos - 1795 (+19) Marss - 1787 (+1) MVD - 1780 (-4) Lea - 1770 (+11) Stroder - 1768

MkLeo does a Luigi, winning the #1 spot back by doing absolutely nothing. A poor showing at Ultimate Nimbus tanked Tweek’s rating.

In the meantime, you-know-who’s Snake began to climb the ranks, Cosmos began to fall off, and Marss appears at #11 after a good showing at Full Bloom and Collision. Wonder if we’ll ever see that guy again.

The actual major tournament that occured here was Summit, however our system counts it as a local and PGR for whatever reason did not include it either, so unfortunately Leo gained nothing with his actual big win.

Notable tournaments: Umebura Japan Major 2019, 2GG: Prime Saga, Pound 2019, Come To Papa 3 #

(+4) Shuton - 1958 (+0) Tweek - 1903 (-2) MkLeo - 1896 (-1) Light - 1882 (+5) Nairo - 1872 (+3) Ally - 1866 (+1) zackray - 1866 (-4) Dabuz - 1861 (+10) Samsora - 1854 (+81) Kameme - 1843 (+1) Marss - 1842 (+18) Tea - 1837 (+8) Glutonny - 1837 (-1) MVD - 1836 (+5) Myran - 1819

Shuton comes in with a vengeance. A big win at Prime Saga and 2nd at Umebura puts him on top of the world. On the other side of that, Kameme rises as one of the few players in the world to ever win an S-tier event.

On the other side, Leo has (spoilers) his worst ranking at any point, falling to 3rd after 33th at Umebura, 7th at Pound and 7th at Prime Saga. Part of this seems to playing this weird anime character called Joker. I mean, Reddit said he’s mid tier at best–I really think he’s wasting his time.

Notable Tournaments: Smash’N’Splash 5, Momocon 2019, Get On My Level 2019, Combo Breaker 2019, Stunfest 2019 #

(+2) MkLeo - 2054 (+9) Marss - 1987 (-1) Tweek - 1979 (+5) Samsora - 1974 (-4) Shuton - 1966 (+0) Ally - 1965 (-2) Nairo - 1932 (-4) Light - 1928 (+12) VoiD - 1920 (-2) Dabuz - 1900 (+27) Shoyo James - 1890 (+4) Cosmos - 1887 (-6) zackray - 1873 (-1) Glutonny - 1868 (+2) ESAM - 1862

May: The Empire Strikes Back

Leo’s back, playing a new broken DLC character, with big wins at Momocon and Smash’N’Splash. Tweek’s having middling results, though his month began with a win at GOML, and Marss makes an argument for top 3 in the world. Samsora recovers from his slump, making 2nd at SnS.

Cosmos continues to fall, and we see Rivers just barely miss top 8s.

While all this is happening, Zackray is also slumping from big heights around February.

Notable Tournaments: CEO 2019, Battlegate, Just Roll With It! 11 #

(+0) MkLeo - 2169 (+0) Marss - 2021 (+3) Ally - 2008 (-1) Tweek - 1990 (-1) Samsora - 1978 (-1) Shuton - 1966 (+3) Dabuz - 1944 (-1) Nairo - 1933 (+5) Glutonny - 1917 (-2) Light - 1898 (-2) VoiD - 1896 (+1) zackray - 1873 (-1) Cosmos - 1871 (+2) MVD - 1867 (+0) ESAM - 1866

Leo just can’t lose, winning another (almost) S-tier at CEO 2019, his 3rd in the span of a month. All eyes are on him for Evo. On the other hand, Marss is still doing great, being 2nd at CEO after a notable Tweek absence.

After CEO, things quieted down for a while; EVO was on everyone’s mind. But, we’re going have one more pre-Evo month.

Notable Tournaments: Albion 4, Low Tier City 4, 2GG: Breakthrough, Smash Factor 8, Defend the North 2019 #

(+0) MkLeo - 2163 (+0) Marss - 2054 (+1) Tweek - 2036 (-1) Ally - 2008 (+0) Samsora - 2003 (+1) Dabuz - 1995 (+2) Glutonny - 1965 (+0) Nairo - 1933 (-3) Shuton - 1933 (+1) VoiD - 1896 (-1) Light - 1883 (+2) MVD - 1880 (+0) Cosmos - 1878 (+7) Pandarian - 1864 (+0) ESAM - 1857

The calm before the storm: no S-tiers this month, just anticipation for Evo. Marss makes a case for himself, defeating Leo (not something you say every day) at Smash Factor 8.

Tweek seemingly recovers with a new character (Pokemon Trainer), crushing Low Tier City 4.

Samsora, too, wins a tournament here too, finishing off Defend the North 2019 with a Southern victory.

Albion 4 also had a different winner–Gluttony, the penguin Wario, beating favorite Dabuz.

So the month before Evo ends with Leo on top of the world still, Marss, Tweek, and Samsora winning smaller tournaments.

PGR BREAK #

Here’s also when the first PGR season ended, and thus the first PGR release in Ultimate history. The first PGRU went as followed (first 15)

MkLeo Tweek Marss Samsora Shuton Ally Dabuz Nairo VoiD Light Cosmos Zackray Myran Glutonny Tea

In the end, I had Ally a bit higher, Glutonny much higher, Dabuz 1 higher, Cosmos slightly slower, Shuton much lower, and had ESAM over Tea.

Notable Tournaments: Evo 2019, Super Smash Con 2019, Shine 2019, 2GG: Switchfest 2019 #

(+0) MkLeo - 2256 (+3) Samsora - 2154 (+0) Tweek - 2108 (-2) Marss - 2042 (+3) Nairo - 2007 (+0) Dabuz - 1987 (-3) Ally - 1972 (-1) Glutonny - 1967 (+0) Shuton - 1953 (+7) zackray - 1915 (+4) ESAM - 1903 (+8) Maister - 1903 (-2) Light - 1901 (+2) Kameme - 1897 (-3) MVD - 1880

An explosive time in Smash History, Leo wins the two largest tournaments of Smash History back to back, Samsora has a good performance at Evo, a great performance at Smashcon, and an amazing one at Shine to take #2.

Tweek has a great Evo, but falls off a little.

Other things to note is the rise of Maister, who went from dark horse to serious threat after finally having great performances at an S-tier, Light slumping, and Nairo slowly but surely climbing the ladder throughout the months.

Notable Tournaments: Mainstage, Glitch 7 - Minus World, Umebura SP5, Port Priority 5 #

(+0) MkLeo - 2267 (+0) Samsora - 2114 (+0) Tweek - 2094 (+1) Nairo - 2082 (-1) Marss - 2077 (+7) Light - 2009 (-1) Dabuz - 1997 (+3) ESAM - 1987 (-1) Glutonny - 1975 (-1) Shuton - 1946 (-4) Ally - 1939 (+2) Kameme - 1917 (+4) VoiD - 1910 (-2) Maister - 1907 (-5) zackray - 1894

Nairo has his big break through, joining the small club of players who have won S-tiers. Tweek actually lost some points this month, just not much. Leo and Samsora retain #1 and #2.

Light has a big resurgence, and so did ESAM, who also won a big tournament this month.

Notable Tournaments: The Big House 9, Ultimate Fighting Arena 2019 #

(+0) MkLeo - 2261 (+1) Tweek - 2103 (-1) Samsora - 2100 (+0) Nairo - 2095 (+0) Marss - 2066 (+1) Dabuz - 2032 (+2) Glutonny - 2023 (-2) Light - 2015 (+5) Maister - 2014 (+5) zackray - 2010 (-3) ESAM - 1970 (-2) Shuton - 1950 (-1) Kameme - 1937 (+5) Salem - 1907 (-4) Ally - 1907

Not that much happened this month; Zackray has a resurgence, Leo has fun in Europe.

Notable Tournaments: Umebura SP7, Dreamhack Atlanta, Tristate Showdown #

(+0) MkLeo - 2269 (+1) Samsora - 2121 (+1) Nairo - 2114 (+1) Marss - 2106 (-3) Tweek - 2098 (+1) Glutonny - 2055 (-1) Dabuz - 2046 (+2) zackray - 2025 (+0) Maister - 2014 (-2) Light - 2011 (+0) ESAM - 1978 (+0) Shuton - 1948 (+0) Kameme - 1934 (+4) Cosmos - 1909 (+8) Dark Wizzy - 1905

Again, a pretty light month; Tweek had a new character crisis, trying out Joker with some success, but falling to Nairo at Tristate Showdown; Marss won something at Dreamhack. Umebura happened.

Behind the scenes, Dark Wizzy was slowly but surely climbing the ranks, and now he finally pops into the top 15.

Notable Tournaments: 2GG Kongo Saga #

(+0) MkLeo - 2292 (+3) Tweek - 2120 (+0) Nairo - 2109 (-2) Samsora - 2107 (-1) Marss - 2106 (+0) Glutonny - 2082 (+2) Maister - 2038 (-1) Dabuz - 2038 (+1) Light - 2026 (-2) zackray - 2015 (+0) ESAM - 1978 (+0) Shuton - 1966 (+0) Kameme - 1931 (+8) WaDi - 1915 (+5) Tea - 1909

The last month came with the last S-tier, and once again Leo won. Tweek surged back to #2 after two close sets (losing to Leo 3-2 is literally the best way to lose in an Elo system; you only lose about 4 Elo points) against him.

Tea and Wadi jump into the upper echelon, Maister continues to go up and up and up.

And that wraps up the first year of Ultimate. Though fairly rowdy in the beginning, by May a definite heirarchy had appeared. The quad of MkLeo, Tweek, Samsora, and Marss were top 5 ever since. Nairo joins towards the end, making a seemingly impenetrable block at the upper ranks.

Will a new player enter the top 5? Only time can tell.

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