SSBMRank 2016: Day 10 © Melee It On Me

Making it into the teens is no easy task. Today features a list of longtime veterans and an exciting Captain Falcon main that might be okay with his ranking in 2016.

As a quick reminder, the SSBMRank panelists are comprised of a large group of players, figureheads and community volunteers that rate the placers. Voters rated players based on the following criterion:

Given the quality and quantity of work in 2016 (From Genesis 3 to Eden), 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." With over 50 panelists this year, we also decided to remove the two lowest and two highest ratings before taking the average in order to reduce the variance.

Rank 20: Silent Wolf © Matt Seal/Juggleguy

Rating: 8.261

Last year's rank: 11

Other placements:

7th: Battle of the 5 Gods, 3rd: Dairly Beloved, 1st: Rubicon 6

Though his busy school schedule led to a drop in activity in 2016, Otto "Silent Wolf" Bisno still showed up every once in a while to remind us that his insanely technical Fox was not to be slept on. Silent Wolf's placings at nationals this year included ninth and 17th at The Big House 6 and Genesis 3, respectively, and he finished Top 8 at the Battle of the Five Gods invitational. Washington's No. 1 player was well-rounded throughout the year, taking sets off the likes of Mew2King, S2J, HugS, MacD and Fiction. With his undergraduate studies concluded, expect an even bigger return to form for Silent Wolf in 2017.

Written by: Jack McDonald

Edited by: Henry Fellner

Rank 19: Lucky © Thomas Tischio

Rating: 8.296

Last year's rank: 12

Other placements:

1st: Full Bloom 2, 5th: DreamHack Austin 2016, 3rd: Olympus, 5th: Low Tier City 4, 13th: CEO 2016

While he didn't have the breakout year that he wanted, Joey "Lucky" Aldama still scored some great victories in 2016. The Norwalk Fox main put together an exceptional losers bracket run at GOML 2016, defeating Ice, n0ne and Westballz before finishing 4th, and he double-eliminated Axe to win the Indiana regional Full Bloom 2. Lucky also ended the year at No. 4 on the Power Rankings in SoCal, arguably the world's strongest Melee region. As he recovers from his injury, this year could still be Lucky's chance to break into an even higher echelon of play.

Written by: Anokh Palakurthi

Edited by: Matt Knutson

Rank 18: n0ne © Thomas Tischio

Rating: 8.299

Last year's rank: 58

Other placements:

1st: SuperFamiCon 2016, 7th: Smash N' Splash 2, 1st: SoCal Colosseum 2, 9th: Canada Cup 2016, 1st: Smash Factor 5, 17th: CEO 2016

Becoming the first Captain Falcon to beat Mew2King's Sheik in years was already a huge accomplishment. Doing it again at UGC Smash Open proved to the doubters that Edgard "n0ne" Sheleby was the real deal. The fast and flashy crowd-pleaser shot up the ranks this year to No. 1 in Southern Ontario and No. 18 on SSBMRank, thanks in part to his Top 8 finish at GOML 2016 and tournament victories at SuperFamiCon 2016 and SoCal Colosseum 2. The Smash Summit 3 attendee and combo video fiend is poised to style on many more opponents in the upcoming year.

Written by: Anokh Palakurthi

Edited by: Matt Knutson

Rank 17: Nintendude © Thomas Tischio

Rating: 8.340

Last year's rank: 25

Other placements:

7th: DreamHack Austin 2016, 2nd: SSS: Blood For Blood, 3rd: NorCal Loves Teams, 13th: CEO 2016

Michael "Nintendude" Brancato 's 2016 results are stellar. The current No. 4 on the NorCal Power Rankings continued to take names this year, including top 15 players such as Wizzrobe, PewPewU, SFAT, Plup, Mew2King and most impressively, Mang0. In fact, he's the first Ice Climber to beat Mang0 since Wobbles at Evo 2013. Placing regularly in the Top 16 of supermajors, his consistency with his main was unmatched; this is no easy task given the Climbers' horrendous matchups with many top tiers. It's clear that anyone who dismisses the Genesis 3 Top 8 finisher as "just a wobbler" is working with outdated information.

Written by: Martin Gale

Edited by: Henry Fellner

Rank 16: S2J © Thomas Tischio

Rating: 8.585

Last year's rank: 16

Other placements:

2nd: NorCal Loves Team, 5th: Clutch City Clash, 2nd: SoCal Colosseum 4, 1st: Revelation 2016, 1st: Zotsmash Bikweekly 16, 7th: PAX Arena

Johnny "S2J" Kim gave the world its first taste of the coming Captain Falcon renaissance with his Top 8 run at Pound 2016, where he defeated Wizzrobe in the ditto matchup, a feat which eluded him the year prior. He only raised the bar for his character when he finished a phenomenal fifth at Evo 2016, taking out Javi, Druggedfox, Duck and Westballz along the way. The flashiest Falcon south of the 49th parallel is a serious threat at every tournament he attends, but perhaps more impressively, also has the uncanny ability to make the front page of Reddit each time he takes the stage.

Written by: Henry Fellner