

Photo Credit: Team Balcony​



Photo Credit: Casey “CND” Ruiz​

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Photo Credit: Princess Hyrule​



Photo Credit: Tram Tram​



Photo Credit: Princess Hyrule​



Photo Credit: Casey "CND" Ruiz​

Rest of the List

Credits

Welcome to the very first! We are pleased thatis hosting our articles for the inaugural list.PMRank is a panel-based Power Ranking of the top 50players worldwide. Players, commentators, and tournament organizers within the community had the opportunity to apply to be panelists, and we ended up with about 20 panelists by the time of the project's conclusion. Initially, 85 players were qualified to be ranked based on their placings and attendance at majorevents throughout 2016. Only 50 highly skilled players made the final list.With that information in mind, the panelists were given the following prompt:Panelists were also tasked with rating each player on their list from 1-10, with the lowest ranking player given a 1 and the highest a 10, scaling it appropriately. For each player, the highest and lowest rating on all panelists lists were removed when averaging votes to reduce variance.This project would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers who helped us engineer spreadsheets, track down tournament data, construct head-to-head charts, create and revise ranking ballots, write and edit player summaries, and gather photographs. A number of photographers have given us permission to use their high-quality photographs ofplayers for the purposes of this project as well.Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let’s begin the list! We'll be releasing parts of the list daily, so stay tuned to Smashboards for the entire week to catchunfold!3.5511st at Do or DIMax “” Guerrero mains an unusual pair of characters — Yoshi and Luigi — and you might overlook him on a scan of the NY/NJ Power Rankings, a region with arguably the deepest talent pool in. But don’t underestimate the current #18 while you’re fawning over consistently high performances from Malachi, Switch, and dvd.At Do or DI in March, Zubat caused a massive upset in his home state, claiming first place over a field of heavy hitters. In Grand Finals, Shiny Zubat triumphed in a sizzling sibling showdown between his Luigi and Gallo’s Mario. Shiny Zubat also earned a respectable 7th at WTT2 over the summer and has taken at least one set from nearly every top NY/NJ player this year. With his renewed commitment to mastering Yoshi, Zubat is a lurking threat in any bracket.Darth Shard3.574: 1st at SuperPharmaSmash, 2nd at Neokan Party 2, 2nd at Neokan Party 3, 5th at GUTS 4One of Europe’s best players, Yannis “*” Samba dominated continental Europe with his agile Charizard in 2016 and gained admiration around the world for his lengthy combos and intelligent usage of sourspots and sweetspots. *Zen took home 1st place at European major SuperPharmaSmash over his fellow Frenchman, Poilu, and claimed victory in a set against n0ne at Heir 3, but some of his most impressive wins came on American soil.While travelling in the US near the end of 2016, *Zen placed 5th at GUTS 4 with wins over Envy and Kycse, the American Charizard main. While he was unable to compete much outside of Europe in 2016, *Zen remains a name to be feared in 2017.Sabre3.7697th at Salty Juans 3, 7th at Soirée du SmashIn a short 12 months after his first Project M appearance at MVG Sandstorm in 2015, Kevin “” Rosas quickly rose to #1 on the Arizona Project M Power Rankings, with an almost spotless record in-region at the end of 2016. Boasting a host of out-of-region wins over the likes of Aero, Aion, and Luck, the Arizona Archer has made a mark on the scene with his unorthodox Link playstyle.Make no mistake, Blue may not shield-drop or wavedash OoS, but he will pick up on your habits and punish you hard. With a new year ahead of him, Blue looks to take more names in 2017. Finishing 9th place at LTC4 and 13th place at FinalBOSS, Blue is gunning for a Top 8 placement at a major in 2017.FingerStripes4.1292nd at Soirée du Smash, 2nd at 5:00PM Fights: Breakfast of Champions, 9th at Salty Juans 3Giovanny “” Garcia hails from the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, AZ. Currently #2 on the Arizona Project M Power Rankings, Bagelz is a force to be reckoned with. If you want to see the pinnacle of Project M Luigi movement, grab some popcorn because you're in luck. With his signature wavedrops, slippery movement, and invincible Up-Smashes, Bagelz puts on a show for his viewers.Whether he’s on the ledge or flying at you off-stage, you’ll need to be quick on your feet to keep him at bay. Fresh off of wins over Sosa, iPunchKidsz, Junebug, Venom, Pikmon, and Machiavelli, Bagelz looks to continue his hot streak in 2017.: FingerStripes: 4.280: 3rd at Nexus, 9th at Shuffle VIII, 9th at The Big House 6, 13th at Shots Fired 2Kyler “” Curtis is most well-known for his upset of Junebug at the first We Tech Those in 2015. Considering Junebug was widely believed to be the best PM player at the time and XYK hailed from a lesser known Midwest region in Ohio, this was especially impressive. In 2016, XYK used his superb Luigi play to place top 16 at a host of Midwest events.He earned 13th at Smash ‘n’ Splash 2, 9th at The Big House 6 and 9th again at Shuffle VIII. His skill as a competitor is complemented by his positive outlook on the game and the larger community. In 2017, XYK will look to tap into the energy that earned him a victory over one of PM’s best players to establish himself amongst the most elite in the Midwest.: Darth Shard: 4.4383rd at Revelation 2016, 5th at Clutch City Clash, 5th at ARLO 3, 7th at Super Bit Wars 4Once considered easily within the top 10 players for Project M, Low Tier City and Tourney Locator organizer Rob "" Dickson has taken a less active role as a competitor in 2016 than previous years. Despite this, he still had strong placings whenever he did show up. Placing 9th at Big Balc and top 8 at both ARLO 3 and Clutch City Clash, Oracle showed he can still compete at a high level.Picking up a myriad of secondaries to adapt to the 3.6 metagame, Oracle used his Zero Suit Samus to secure a win on Frozen. And of course, Oracle's signature Boost-Forward-Air pressure and off-stage edgeguard reads with ROB netted him wins on Sothe, Luck, and Aero in 2016. Will Oracle return to his prime form in 2017?Only he can see that far ahead.: Strong Bad: 4.489: 5th at Revelation 2016, 13th at Shots Fired 2Kyle “” Carrero, the Charizard player from Connecticut, has had a rather interesting 2016. While his national results can look underwhelming at first glance, they don’t tell the full story of how scary encountering Kycse in bracket can be. This man has taken multiple sets off of Malachi, in addition to sporting wins over the likes of Flipp, Anther, and Envy.Kycse has been a major pioneer of his character’s metagame, mastering tricky glide mixups and using the movement options they provide to surprise and overwhelm opponents. Be on the lookout for a breakout tournament for Kycse in 2017.: FlashingFire: 4.542: 2nd at TGL Monthly 7Florida native Camilo “” Nuñez put up consistently respectable placings throughout 2016 and kept Link on the map with his great projectile game and strong punishes. Nuñez put up strong showings at FinalBOSS and Low Tier City 4, defeating players such as ilovebagelz, Boiko, Sneez, Pikmon and Loyal to take 9th place at both tournaments.Still commonly hailed as the best Link in the world, Hero of Time has earned his place among the strongest players in today’s meta with his prominent national and local results.: Sabre: 4.544: 4th at Project Clash 14 (Olympus Pre-Game)Of all the Sonic players out there, Seth “” George is the fastest, and when he’s not making quick work of The Balcony’s weekly brackets, he’s turning heads on the national stage. Aion’s 2016 was his best year yet—despite a slow start, Aion really stepped it up in the latter half of 2016.As he’s climbed into the upper heights of the SoCal power rankings, Aion has also secured major upsets on players like BaconPancakes, Professor Pro, Jose V, and Sosa. Aion’s aggressive, rushdown Sonic puts him a step ahead of the rest and he’s not looking to slow down at all in 2017.: Maddox and Yata!: 4.905: 2nd at Smashed Bros 2, 5th at BOSS 3Peter “” Woodworth has long been a threat to nationally known players such as Aki and Bladewise in his native Washington, but for much of 2016 he was unable to travel and prove himself on a larger stage. After defeating Fuzz and Dirtboy at Low Tier City 4 to take 17th place over the summer, Pikmon moved to Norcal, where he found himself regularly competing against top players like ThundeRzReiGN and Boringman.With solid Game & Watch gameplay and fundamentals, Pikmon has defeated an array of talented players in the latter half of 2016, including Jose V, Boringman, Venom, Aero, and Sneez. Now ranked #4 in Norcal, Pikmon is looking to prove himself over the next year as one of the best Game & Watch players in the country.: Sabre: Adam “” Oliver, Cody “” Anderson, Brennan “” Connolly, Devin “” Gajewski, Nick “” Boiko.Eric “” Bohorquez, Desiree “” Macasieb: Adam “” Oliver, Ahmed “” Akbar, Cody “” Anderson, Brennan “” Connolly, Justin "" Banusing, et al.