We are excited to partner with Red Bull to present the 2017 end of year SSBMRank!

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

Given the quality and quantity of work in late 2016 to 2017 (From Eden to Twitch Invitational: Holiday Bash), 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.” This was then rescaled to a 1-100 scale. To reduce the variance, the highest and lowest three scores were removed from the average.

SSBMRank No. 20: n0ne © @msealjr

Rating: 82.6 | SSBMRank2016: 18

After his explosive rise to the top level of play in 2016, Edgar “n0ne” Sheleby experienced steady progress throughout the year and continued to prove his ability to compete at the highest level of competitive Melee. Top players describe his flashy Falcon as “a man on a mission” to restore the spirit of Falcon. The year started off rough for n0ne, finishing 33rd at Genesis 4 with disappointing losses to Kels and Abate. However, he showed he was far from done by placing first at SoCal Colosseum just a week later with wins over La Luna, Westballz and Druggedfox. This would be a pattern that would tend to repeat itself, as n0ne’s worst performances all year came at the three biggest tournaments he attended (Genesis 4, Evo 2017 and The Big House 7), placing 33rd at all of them. However, n0ne made impressive runs at smaller events such as Dreamhack events and Majors like Smash ‘n’ Splash 3 and GOML 2017.

n0ne’s first big showing of the year came at DreamHack Austin 2017, where he defeated MacD and Mew2King in order to secure a solid ninth place finish, further cementing his role as the premier Falcon in the Sheik matchup. However, at the same event, losses to Plup and Laudandus show that this was perhaps only true for Mew2King’s Sheik. Later that quarter, a seventh place at GOML 2017 showed that he was still to be feared with wins over Ryan Ford, Ginger and Mafia, but respectable losses to Leffen and La Luna.

n0ne’s first impressive national performance came in the summer at Smash ’n’ Splash 3 where he placed 13th. While his wins were not all that surprising, neither were his losses, where he nearly upset Leffen in the losers bracket in a game 5 nailbiter. In general, performances such as this throughout the year showed that n0ne had the skill to take on some of the game’s best, but losses to lesser ranked players landed him at the same rank on the Summer 2017 SSBMRank as the 2016 SSBMRank, at 18th place. Despite this, n0ne showed his dominance at DreamHack Montreal 2017, where he succeeded in defeating Nightmare, dizzkidboogie, and Kage, dropping just two games the entire tournament. The end of the season was marked by solid regional placings for n0ne, including fourth at Canada Cup 2017, with wins over Ginger, Duck and KJH; third at Tipped Off 12, with wins over Ryan Ford and Swedish Delight; fifth at Super FamiCon 2017, with wins over KPAN and Mango, and an impressive third at the Holiday Bash Smash Invitational, coming out first in his round robin pool with wins over Shroomed and SFAT. He also finished third overall in the bracket, with a set win over Crush in winners, after which he was sent to losers by SFAT and then eliminated by Crush in the runback.

Though this year has not been as eventful for n0ne as his 2016 outbreak, he has shown he still has the fire to compete with Melee’s finest. This year n0ne has maintained winning records against Duck, Druggedfox and Ice, as well as even records against S2J, La Luna and Westballz. In addition, he has taken sets off Mew2King, Lucky, Swedish Delight, Crush, HugS and dizzkidboogie. While n0ne may not have breached the very highest echelon of competitive Melee as some may have predicted after his rapid improvement last year, he has proven that he can continue to give Melee’s best a run for their money with his explosive punishes and creative combo extensions.

Written by: Dylan Tate | Edited by: Darren Lynch

SSBMRank No. 19: La Luna © @tischphotos

Rating: 84 | SSBMRank2016: 21

This was a strange year for the artist formerly known as The Moon. Ryan “La Luna” Coker-Welch exhibited more variance in his abilities than any other player around his skill level. He kicked off 2017 on shaky footing: dropping sets to unranked players such as dublat and Smashbob Squarepants, failing to make it out of pools at Genesis 4, losing to Medz and Mafia, and only making Top 8 at one North American national — Royal Flush — during the first six months of 2017.

Despite this less-than-promising start, Misfits’s only Melee player went on a tear over the summer, placing seventh at both Evo 2017 and Dreamhack Atlanta. His magnificent Evo placement was the result of an epic losers run: in the second round of pools, La Luna fell to Wizzrobe, only to turn around and dispatch Ice, Android, ChuDat, Duck, and Leffen in losers bracket to make Top 8 at one of Melee’s most prestigious supermajors. The fact that La Luna was able to tear through such a competitive bracket less than two months after being double-eliminated by unranked players speaks volumes of his incredible resilience and drive to succeed. More importantly, he defeated Leffen, his first ever win against a god.

In July, Tri-State’s number one swordsman followed up his dazzling Evo performance with an even better losers run at GOML 2017. After another disappointing loss to Mafia, La Luna forward-aired his way through MattDotZeb, Abate, Nintendude, Duck, n0ne, Westballz and SFAT and earned a third place finish at the Canadian national. Though his Evo run was impressive, La Luna’s losers run at Get On My Level is arguably one of the greatest of all time. La Luna’s decision to officially change his tag in September was not only a reflection of his pride in his Hispanic heritage: It was an indication of his rebirth as a top-level threat. He’s always had the potential to take out big names—but this year, he really set out to make good on it.

In November, La Luna achieved his biggest tournament win of the year, capturing first place at Super Famicon with victories over Westballz, dizzkidboogie and SFAT (twice). However, the end of the season has heralded another string of inconsistent major results for New York's champion, who placed 33rd and 65th respectively at GameTyrant Expo and The Big House 7. These numbers are not at all indicative of the Marth main's losses at these tournaments, though: his only truly surprising loss at these events was to Anther at The Big House 7. At December's Holiday Bash Smash Invitational, La Luna failed to make it into the final bracket, thanks to losses at the hands of Crush, Rishi and others. Regardless, his fiery resurgence over the summer has demonstrated that a smattering of unfortunate placements isn’t enough to keep him down, and the sword-swinging spacie slayer is poised to have a strong year in 2018.

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 18: Westballz © @Delta52_

Rating : 84.1 | SSBMRank2016: 8

One would be remiss to say that 2017 was Weston “Westballz” Dennis’s year, but one would also be foolish to say that Westballz has fallen off. Amidst a slew of smashers gunning for the top, Westballz managed to stay a prominent threat to the game's powerhouses, despite facing a few unexpected losses. With his relaxed and goofy demeanor, it seemed like Westballz intended on entertaining his audience every time he made his way to the stream setup. After watching his combos, commentary and creative style, it is safe to say that he did just that.

Critics are quick to say that Westballz had an inconsistent year, yet of the fifty tournaments that he attended throughout the season, Westballz only finished outside of top thirteen twice (his lowest placement was at The Big House 7 where he placed 65th, losing to Vortex and Ginger). Westballz secured fifth place at Get On My Level 2017, seventh place at Genesis 4 and seventh place again at Full Bloom 3. Performances like these highlighted Westballz's ability to regularly make deep runs in bracket, all while putting everyone in his path on a highlight reel.

While Westballz was not able to defeat any gods this year, he still managed to hold a winning record over his notable rival, SFAT. Rivalries like this seemed to help keep Westballz interested in competing, and while it appears that some of his rivalries have settled down, fans are eager to see him reach new heights and take more names. The trash talk, the stylish disrespect and the I-can-beat-anybody attitude are all defining characteristics of Westballz and his red Falco, and, in 2018, there will definitely be more to come.

Written by: Jake "Jiggy" Coppola | Edited by: Sam "Bint" Wolfson

SSBMRank No. 17: Lucky © @TeamDignitas

Rating: 84.8 | SSBMRank2016: 19

It’s been a quiet, but not unsuccessful, year for Joey “Lucky” Aldama. Though Lucky has traditionally been considered the second-best of the famed Norwalk quartet — ranked only below Mang0 — he was overtaken by S2J during the latter half of the year. However, this doesn’t mean that Lucky isn’t an elite player in his own right, and he’s proven that he’s still capable of competing with the very best. Lucky’s play this year was marked by consistent placements intermixed with stellar peaks.

Over the last 12 months, Lucky has attended nine major tournaments, placing at 13th or higher at all but two of them. Even his lower placements, at GameTyrant Expo 2017 and The Big House 7, come with significant asterisks: at the former, he was eliminated by Leffen after the Swede entered losers bracket early, and at the latter he suffered his only serious upset to Bobby Frizz before losing a game-five set to S2J in losers. Lucky’s good performances deserve more attention, with the obvious standout being Evo 2017. At that tournament, he lost to Duck in pools before going on a warpath in losers bracket, defeating ARMY, Colbol, S2J, Wizzrobe, Prince Abu and SFAT to finish at fifth. Lucky also had solid ninth-place finishes at Genesis 4 and Smash Rivalries, where he collected wins over Colbol, KJH and Westballz.

Lucky’s most impressive win of the year came at The Bigger Balc, a SoCal regional. In winner’s bracket, a well-spaced neutral air allowed him to narrowly defeat Hungrybox 3-2. Though he would lose two sets to the Jigglypuff legend in Grand Finals, Lucky remains the only player not ranked in the top 10 of the Summer 2017 SSBMRank to have taken a set off Hungrybox this year.

Perhaps the most significant downside of Lucky’s year has been the loss of his longtime sponsor; he’s been a free agent since Selfless Gaming disbanded in early July. Despite this setback, the Californian Fox main has maintained the level of play that has kept him in the top 20 of every year-end ranking since SSBMRank began in 2013. With the new year around the corner, his hard work has finally been rewarded with the announcement of his new team, Dignitas.

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Greg Schaefer

SSBMRank No. 16: Swedish Delight © @msealjr

Rating: 84.8 | SSBMRank2016: 11

While James “Swedish Delight” Liu’s year may seem lackluster when compared to his explosive 2016, he has firmly proven that he belongs in the upper echelon of Melee players with what was, by all measures, a great year. Early in the ranking season, at Genesis 4, Swedish Delight managed to have a solid losers run that may have gone slightly under the radar. Despite a 13th place finish, he managed to eliminate Mafia, KirbyKaze and PewPewU, losing to Rishi and SFAT. At Yahoo’s Smash Rivalries invitational, Swedish performed excellently. He managed to take fierce sets off Axe and Shroomed, with all-too-familiar losses to the technical Fox mains Druggedfox and SFAT. The next week, he went on an absolute tear through the losers bracket of CEO: Dreamland after an early loss to Druggedfox, eliminating Rishi, Nintendude, Axe, dizzkidboogie and Plup’s high-caliber Luigi.

Looking to the summer, Swedish Delight’s year maintained its strength. At CEO 2017 the reaction-heavy Sheik main snagged a win from S2J in a very close 5 game set. At Bad Moon Rising 2, he double-eliminated n0ne, again demonstrating his competence against Falcon. He also picked up a dominating 3-0 performance over Slox before losing yet again to Druggedfox at the event. The Big House 7 showed Swedish Delight taking a pair of great wins over Axe and ChuDat before being eliminated by Mew2King — finishing in a respectable ninth place at the supermajor.

At Too Hot to Handle, Swedish Delight was again just short of making Top 8, facing an early upset at the hands of DaShizWiz and then elimination at the hands of Crush, a player eager for revenge after losing sets to the Tri-State smasher earlier in the year. Swedish Delight’s efforts finally paid off with a Top 8 finish at the long-running series Tipped Off 12, claiming with it a confident victory over fellow in-region competitor dizzkidboogie and ultimately finishing in fifth place.

Though as of yet unable to consistently overcome the overwhelming Fox mains that seem to plague him in every bracket, Swedish Delight has leveraged his methodical and patient play into a slew of fantastic victories, showing that he is clearly well deserving of his high rank. His next steps will be to find some way to shore up his Fox matchup weakness that has given him so much trouble. Despite this very real matchup weakness, Swedish Delight is capable of going toe to toe with just about any floaty player thrown his way, proven by the winning head to head records that he boasts over top players like Duck, PewPewU, Shroomed, La Luna, Rishi and Zain. With a rather recent relocation to New York City and thus more exposure to top-level competition, the top Tri-State Sheik only has room to grow.

Written by: Jonah Fritz | Edited by: Shirish Nene

SSBMRank No. 15: Crush © @msealjr

Rating: 85 | SSBMRank2016: 49

This was a wild year for Jack “Crush” Hoyt. His first sponsorship, from broadcasters EndGameTV, enabled the young Fox main to travel to more major tournaments this year than ever before. No longer limited to attending New England locals, Crush was finally able to put his considerable abilities to the test at the international level. He made appearances at Genesis 4, B.E.A.S.T. 7, DreamHack Austin, Royal Flush, Battle of BC 2, Evo 2017, GOML 2017, Super Smash Con 2017, Shine 2017, and The Big House 7, placing no lower than 25th at all of them save for one: his hometown's Shine 2017, where he placed a disappointing 65th. Even then, this unexpectedly low finish came after a tight five-game thriller versus Westballz, who'd been chucked into losers bracket early in an unfortunate turn of events for New England’s finest—and most impeccably dressed—competitor.

Although his No. 49 slot on last year’s SSBMRank was nothing to sniff at, Crush rocketed up to No. 23 on SSBMRank Summer 2017 due to his respectable placings at majors and the impressive wins on Swedish Delight, S2J, dizzkidboogie, and ChuDat that he’d already racked up less than halfway through the year. In the fall, Crush showed no signs of slowing his roll, taking sets over aMSa, Druggedfox, and even Plup—the biggest feather in his cap yet. At invitationals, he marvelously exceeded expectations, once more beating S2J and even scoring a win on Shroomed at Smash Summit 5, and wrapping up the year with the Holiday Bash Smash Invitational, which he won—vanquishing Westballz, S2J, La Luna, Shroomed, n0ne, and SFAT, among others, along the way.

Crush’s rise to national prominence has been a long time coming. Since he won the New England Invitational in June 2016, Crush has secured his place as the one to beat, boasting sizeable winning records over fellow New England competitors Slox and Mafia. Crush’s attendance at locals in the Boston metropolitan area remains consistent, to the point where there’s never even a hint of doubt that he’ll win a tournament the moment he steps into the venue. His infamous nonchalance and aloof manner of speech, however, belie his deep passion for Melee. The Boston native is truly a workhorse: he balanced thirteen majors with a full college course-load—he’s a computer science major at Northeastern University—as well as managing one of the most critically acclaimed accounts in the realm of Smash Twitter. His biting wit is a perfect match for his incredibly calculated playstyle, which involves shrewd analysis of his opponents’ movements in order to catch them by surprise with perfectly timed up-tilts, shines, and nairs. It’s been years since Crush successfully downloaded the entirety of New England, and it’s only a matter of time until he downloads the world.

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

SSBMRank No. 14: Duck © @msealjr

Rating: 85.2 | SSBMRank2016: 15

Even with all the rising stars from the Midwest this year, it’s hard to ignore the consistency of James "Duck" Ma. Duck continues to push the boundaries of both his region and of his character, persisting as the shining star of both Midwesterners and Samus mains alike. Duck has boasted solid performances throughout the year, such as 9th place at Smash ‘N’ Splash 3, where he sent Axe to losers, and EVO 2017, where he defeated lloD and Lucky. However, two of Duck’s most stand-out performances came at Full Bloom 3 and Pat’s House 3.

Considering his impressive results throughout 2016 and his respectable showing at Genesis 4, Duck looked to be in a good position near the beginning of 2017. As a result, his fans would undoubtedly have had high hopes for him going into Full Bloom 3. However, few could have predicted his explosive run to 2nd place. After sweeping through pools, all without dropping a single game, Duck edged out Shroomed in a close Game 5 set to advance into Top 16. He would go on to 3-0 both Leffen and La Luna to advance to Winners Finals, where he fell to Hungrybox. He defeated SFAT in Losers Finals, and lost to Hungrybox again in the Grand Finals rematch, ultimately finishing with a handful of incredible wins under his belt and respectable losses to one of the gods.

Despite his strong showings throughout the first half of the year, Duck suffered some subpar placing during the second half, placing 25th at Shine 2017, his worst placing in 2 years. Looking for a strong performance to round out the year, Duck traveled to California for Pat’s House 3, the last big tournament of the year. Here, Duck put together another phenomenal winners run, akin to his Full Bloom 3 run earlier in the year. With wins over Rocky, Hugs, SFAT, Crush, lloD, and Zain, Duck was able to win Pat’s House 3 without dropping a set, picking up his best tournament victory of the whole year.

Duck appears to be in a good position going into 2018. It is apparent he still has problems with the Captain Falcon matchup, suffering from losing records against Wizzrobe, S2J, n0ne, and Gahtzu, and barely edging out $mike at CEO Dreamland. Nevertheless, Duck has improved in other areas. He has winning records against Druggedfox, Lucky, Crush, Mike Haze, Professor Pro, Ryan Ford, and Kels, along with even records against Leffen and SFAT, making it clear that no Fox is safe when Duck is in the bracket. While his losing records against most of the top 10 show Duck’s need to continue to improve, his general lack of losses to lower level players acts as a reminder of Duck’s consistency and his position as one of the best Samus mains this game has ever seen.

Written by: Trent "Dusty MD" Schaeffer | Edited by: Dylan Tate

SSBMRank No. 13: Shroomed © @msealjr

Rating: 87.7 | SSBMRank2016: 10

Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel has been long known for his consistency against his peers and his high energy Sheik. Even though he lacks god-level wins, his head to head records have consistently kept him in the Top 10 in prior years on SSBMRank. However, his fabled records came to a crashing halt in the beginning of the year, when he lost uncharacteristically to Duck at Full Bloom 2, La Luna and s2j at Frame Perfect 2, and shockingly KirbyKaze at Get On My Level 2017. These losses and a lack of quality wins placed Shroomed at a low point on the Spring Power Rankings at No. 21 and a lower than usual 14th on the Summer 2017 SSBMRank.

The story turned around quickly for Shroomed, who wanted to prove doubters wrong. With a newfound motivation, he grinded out his movements, punishes, and tech chasing. Previously, his tech chasing was a sore spot in his gameplay, often made fun of by fellow top players and commentators for his low conversion rates off grabs. Similar to s2j and edgeguards, Shroomed’s tech chasing went from a weakness to something threatening. While it’s easy to point when he misses on a grab, he demonstrated great proficiency in racking up damage off a grab, going from 20-30 percent punishes to a more respectable 50-60 percent per grab. In addition to this, he also incorporated Marth more regularly into his game. No longer just a Final Destination counter-pick, Shroomed's Marth now comes in full sets against Top 20 level Fox players, with some degree of success against other top 15 players.

The key part to Shroomed is his confidence, and one can quickly see that come alive in his gameplay with how ambitiously he commits to taking away space from his opponent or when he makes a gutsy callout on his opponent’s defensive options. While Shroomed may not know how to explain all of the micro situations for his characters, he has a natural feel to his play that is rarely shown by other Sheik and Marth players. His intuition and grind led him to a great summer of improvements, but also one of “almosts”. Though he can celebrate two set wins over Plup’s Fox at Smash ‘n’ Splash 3, Shroomed fell just short against the other Top 6 members, taking Mang0, Armada, Leffen, and Mew2King all to game fives. After a series of strong performances, Shroomed had a disappointing Smash Summit 5, where he failed to take a single set, suffering losses to Mike Haze and Crush. Shroomed took away a lot of personal lessons about himself and Melee from the Smash Summit, and despite that low point, he redeemed many of his earlier losses in the year with a Top 8 finish at Shine 2017, 5th at both GTX 2017 and Royal Flush, and 4th at Smash ‘n’ Splash 3.

Shroomed has much to celebrate about this year, but we know he’s not content with where he is now. Shroomed has been a Top 20 player for almost an entire decade and held onto a title of “demi-god” for a good portion of his career. Time will tell if he’ll continue to add accomplishments to his already decorated career, and with the improvements and lessons from this season, his fans have good reason to expect just that.

Written by: Daniel Lee | Edited by: Darren Lynch

SSBMRank No. 12: DruggedFox © @msealjr

Rating: 87.8 | SSBMRank2016: 23

No one’s asking who Sami “Druggedfox” Muhanna is anymore. Devotees of Sami's Sheik like Laudandus and Captain Faceroll may mourn the death of Druggedfox’s former main, but 2017 has given us good reason to believe he made the right choice when he decided to make his tag more literal again. Ask Druggedfox who the most optimal player in the world is, and he’ll only have one answer for you: “It’s gotta be me." The potential proof of that came at the very start of the ranking season at Eden 2016, where Druggedfox triumphed over a veritable who’s who of contenders to the upper echelon, picking up wins over Ice, SFAT, and Rishi along the way.

That win put him on a hot streak that fueled him for an entire month in California while visiting for Genesis 4, where his optimal, calculated punishes let him put SoCal’s wild finest in their place with a win at the eminently stacked Super Smash Sundays 55. On top of that, his Genesis itself was nothing to scoff at, as Druggedfox rocketed all the way to 17th place after an early upset loss to local Samus Darrell in his pool, dashing the hopes of Ryan Ford, drunksloth, Bladewise, Zhu, and Santiago along the way. With such an impressive start to the year, it seemed as though Druggedfox’s resume couldn’t become even more impressive; but he proved otherwise at Smash Rivalries, where early exits from Mew2King and Mang0 cleared a path for him to rampage to a 3rd place finish, again picking up huge wins in the form of Westballz, an on-point ChuDat, S2J, and Swedish Delight.

Along with those wins, Druggedfox notched his belt with another win over SFAT, cementing him as a premier threat in the Fox ditto. His results back that up, as he boasts even or winning head-to-heads against every single Fox bar Plup. That prowess in the ditto lead to perhaps the highest point of Druggedfox’s year at Royal Flush, where he dialed in for a convincing 3-0 over Leffen, a player often touted as a master in the matchup. While Druggedfox’s latter half of the year wasn’t as stellar, it’s easily overlooked in comparison to his monstrous entry into 2017. What poor placements he did have were usually the result of struggles in certain matchups, such as Peach, Jigglypuff, and Samus; but given how quickly Druggedfox quashed another demon in Captain Falcon, expect him to advance past those hurdles sooner rather than later.

In a world of Fox mains who all claim to be seeking perfection, Druggedfox’s mission of optimization could be easily ignored. But he still manages to stand out from the crowd, both in playstyle and perspective. It’s rare to find a player who is as much a scholar of the game as a competitor, but Druggedfox’s devotion to studying and understanding Melee is admirable. While he gets pigeon-holed as “optimal,” his play reveals a sensibility distinctly different from his European counterparts. Druggedfox is a master of throw mix-ups and other traps, his gameplay indicative of an understanding that being optimal is not always being perfect, but in fact accounting for inevitable lapses in perfection—whether on his part or the opponent’s. Going into 2018, that deep understanding of the game is liable to take him far. Don’t ask about him—the name Sami Muhanna will be on everybody’s lips already.

Written by: Zane "Epengu" Bhansali | Edited by: Shirish Nene

SSBMRank No. 11: ChuDat © @msealjr

Rating: 88.8 | SSBMRank2016: 22

Daniel “ChuDat” Rodriguez has long been considered one of Melee’s legends—throughout the MLG era, he was usually a strong contender for 1st place at any major he entered, and his early success with Ice Climbers drummed up public interest in developing the character. Though ChuDat has continued to compete at a professional level through the modern era of Melee, his results in past years seemed to indicate that his peaks were far behind him. Though Top 8 placements at tournaments such as EVO 2015 proved that Chu was still capable of making deep bracket runs, he ultimately failed to crack top 20 since the first SSBMRank in 2013… that is, until this year.

Over the last 12 months, ChuDat has undergone an incredible return to form. After defeating Shroomed and Wizzrobe on his way to a respectable nine place finish at Genesis 4, ChuDat made Top 8 at a string of majors, including Smash Summit Spring 2017, Smash Rivalries and DreamHack Austin. At Battle of BC 2, he performed especially well, sweeping Mew2King in Grand Finals to win the whole tournament. This victory over Mew2King was far from ChuDat’s only god win this year: He cultivated an impressive 8-12 record against the Top 6 players, featuring winning records over both Mew2King and Mang0, and at HFLAN Melee Edition 2017, he was even able to take a game off Armada’s Peach for the second time, a feat no Ice Climbers had ever managed to achieve before. Riding the strength of his stunning victories against Melee’s best, ChuDat’s ranking surged forward, earning him the No. 7 slot on SSBMRank this summer.

However, as the year progressed, Chu seemed to lose steam. At Royal Flush, he was eliminated by Ice Climbers slayer Crush and finished, disappointingly, at 13th place. Subpar results continued to haunt him at Evo 2017, DreamHack Atlanta and Super Smash Con 2017: He failed to make Top 8 or add any particularly notable wins to his record at any of them. At Shine 2017, a close set over Leffen that could have granted him an incredible losers run was replayed after his victory due to an oversight by the tournament organizers; although the replay was hotly contested by spectators, Leffen’s victory the second go-around ended Chu’s run at a respectable seventh place. Toward the end of the year, Chu continued to place lower than expected, but his run at DreamHack Denver — where he beat Westballz and Mew2King to place fifth — proved that he’s still capable of bringing his A-game.

Chu’s biggest accomplishment this year, however, most likely lies in the sponsorship from Team Liquid he secured this summer. Though his 2017 has had its fair share of ups and downs, support from a top-tier esports organization has allowed Chu to attend more tournaments in 2017 than ever before. With this increased attendance came an increase in vulnerability, and some could argue that Chu’s worst losses are, to an extent, simply a result of his consistent out-of-region activity. Though Chu’s stock might not be rising as fast as it was the first half of the year, he’s still proven himself to be a powerful competitor capable of defeating almost anybody. ChuDat is like a fine wine: he’s aged very well — and when you get enough of him, everything starts to look a little wobbly. There’s no reason to believe that 2018 won’t be another great vintage for the world’s best Ice Climbers player.

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett

Credits

Graphics: Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino

Statistician: Andrew “PracticalTAS” Nestico

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Nicole "Ibuprofen" Bennett