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. 60: Overtriforce © BakiPictures

Rating: 49.7 | SSBMRank2016: 53

After playing in Europe, commentator and top player HomeMadeWaffles once commented that the Spanish seem to possess a unique playstyle that almost appears as if it developed independently from the rest of the world. European veteran Roberto “Overtriforce” Iglesias embodies this observation like no other, having found success with an incredibly aggressive Sheik in the otherwise nerfed world of PAL.

Though Overtriforce’s location has made it difficult to fight American players, he still has a strong resume with wins over Android and Amsah; among the few North American players he has fought, he obtained set wins over La Luna and Lovage. Overtriforce’s 2017 has admittedly been quieter than his more successful 2016, but he still maintains the title as one of Europe’s finest.

Written by: Glenn "KayB" Kim | Edited by: Jonah Fritz

SSBMRank No. 59: Azusa © @LadyMartel

Rating: 50.3 | SSBMRank2016: 57

While not a frequent traveler, Austin “Azusa” Demmon still remains a dominant force in NorCal, earning himself a spot in the Top 100. With wins against Nintendude, Dizzkidboogie and Shroomed on his resume, he has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he can trounce local talent. Azusa has also proven himself a protector of his region by earning seventh place at Genesis Red, snatching a win over HugS along the way.

Despite amazing home turf results, Azusa's placements are not as strong when he competes outside of NorCal: 65th at Evo, 33rd at Pat’s House 3 and losing the Forsaken Bracket at Red Bull Smash Gods and Gatekeepers to then-unknown Cal’s breakout performance. And even when inside California's Bay Area, his placements may be inconsistent in larger brackets: 65th at Genesis 4 and 17th at SSS: Blood for Blood 2.

However, on a good day (and with no Jigglypuffs in his way), expect to see Azusa placing exceptionally well, and don't be surprised if you find the dark horse of NorCal making his way to Top 16 or higher.

Written by: Solomon "DiplomaticTucan" Fuller | Edited by: Marco "Oats" Salazar de Leon

SSBMRank No. 58: Squid © @UCIEsports

Rating: 50.8 | SSBMRank2016: 69

If you want to find the whereabouts of Jeremy “Squid” Deutsch on any given night, chances are he’s playing at a local somewhere in Southern California. It wouldn’t be too surprising to hear that he attends over 100 tournaments every year. In fact, if you asked Squid himself, he’d be able to tell you the exact placings and results of every tournament he’s entered because he meticulously enters it into his personal spreadsheet — a spreadsheet that contains all of his goals and his progress over the years.

If you had to choose a word to describe Squid, “meticulous” is the perfect one. His improvement is steady as he carefully analyzes old matches for minor gains in his neutral game and punishes. Though he’s grinded out tons of events in SoCal, he hasn't quite found the same success at the national level, where many thought he’d have a breakout performance. That shouldn’t faze him too hard though, as he’s seen greater success against the top of SoCal at the end of the year, notching more frequent wins on players such as Westballz and Lucky.

Written by: Daniel Lee | Edited by: Sam "Bint" Wolfson

SSBMRank No. 57: Chillin © Jonathan Palombo

Rating: 50.9 | SSBMRank2016: 36

Writing about Kashan “Chillin” Khan’s year as a Melee competitor is tough, to say the least. His level of play on the whole struggled to meet expectations established in years past, but with that came a turning point in his esports career: in September, he announced on Twitter that he was taking a break from competing regularly in order to dedicate more of his time and energy to pursuing a full-time career in the esports industry. In the meantime, he’s found other ways to contribute to the community, such as through providing insightful and engaging commentary at several major events, including Royal Flush and The Big House 7.

Fortunately for him, Chillin has shifted his reputation beyond “My B” and his infamous 0-5 money match loss to Leffen back at Apex 2015, although such notoriety has almost undoubtedly helped him grow the substantial Twitch following he has today. He even had an impressive bracket run at Smash ‘N’ Splash 3, where he finished in 13th, defeating Trulliam, Nightmare, MacD and dizzkidboogie — his experience with ChuDat, who he also took a set off of this year, definitely contributed to that last win. In short, one thing’s for sure: whether he decides to return to regular competitive play or not, Chillin has undoubtedly made his presence known in the Melee community in a decidedly positive way and he’ll continue to do so, through commentary or gameplay going into 2018.

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

SSBMRank No. 56: Abate © @tischphotos

Rating: 53.8 | SSBMRank2016: 40

Although Stephen Abate’s participation in the competitive scene has been somewhat inconsistent over the last twelve months, Pittsburgh’s champion still made waves at the few tournaments he attended in 2017. This year, the Luigi main proved himself a Canadian slayer, defeating n0ne (at Genesis 4), KirbyKaze (at Get On My Level 2017), Ryan Ford and Trulliam (both at Smash Valley VI). Kage remains the only top Canadian to avoid doom at the hands of the world’s best Luigi; in fact, the two mid-tier heroes have never played a tournament set. Abate’s impressive wins haven’t been limited to the north, either — this year, he’s taken sets off of Colbol and King Momo, two of Florida’s best.

Despite racking up these impressive wins, Abate has notably struggled this year as well. His most recent major was The Big House 7 — the same major where he famously made Top 8 in 2015 — and he drowned in round 2 pools, dropping a close set to Mayb and failing to make top 32 at a major for the first time in years. Even then, things are looking up for the Luigi legend: in December, he was signed by his local esports organization, the Pittsburgh Knights. Now that Abate’s backed by a professional team, his fans have plenty of reason to believe that he’ll be able to climb his way back to the height of his former glory.

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

SSBMRank No. 55: Medz © @MedzSSBM

Rating: 55.1 | SSBMRank2016: 89

Juan "Medz" Garcia continues to go under the radar outside of Arizona not because of a lack of skill, but because of his inability to travel to most majors. His Fox has all the key components of an up and coming top player — it is incredibly fast, and he uses the speed to not just overwhelm his opponents with shield pressure, but to force whiffs and tough decisions from his opponents. It’s quite difficult to find consistent openings on Medz because of how quickly he mixes up his neutral game. The years of playing with Axe have especially taught him how to temper his aggression with smart movement.

In Arizona, Medz has seen a high degree of success, taking sets off of Bladewise, Syrox and Squid at Runback 2017 and splitting sets against "La Luna" at Boss Rush: The Moon. The highlight of his year comes at Evo 2017 where he defeated Wobbles, Ka-Master and Amsah to finish in 17th. Hopefully in 2018, Medz shows the wider world of Melee the answer to the question “Who is Medz?”

Written by: Daniel Lee | Edited by: Jonah Fritz

SSBMRank No. 54: Junebug © @msealjr

Rating: 55.3 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Arjun "Junebug" Rao followed a circuitous road to get to where he is today. He began his Super Smash Bros. career with Brawl, where he was once considered the game's best Lucario player. With the rise of Project M, he redirected his focus toward the popular Brawl mod, where he leapt to the top of the metagame, becoming one of Project M's all-time greats by dominating the scene for over a year. Not satisfied with leaving his mark on merely two Smash games, Junebug once again shifted his attention — and considerable talent — the world of Melee, where he has already claimed several top-level wins.

Junebug made Top 64 or better at every Melee major he attended this year, scoring wins over notable players such as four percent, Colbol, Syrox, Ka-Master and Zain. Furthermore, the MD/VA Sheik main exhibited impressive consistency; Junebug's worst loss at any major tournament this year was to Darktooth, an up-and-coming player in his own right. Junebug has clearly maintained his strong fundamentals and deep understanding of Smash from game to game, and it is no surprise that his results have steadily improved as he has grown increasingly comfortable with Melee's unique movement and physics.

Written by: Alex Lee | Edited by: Jonah Fritz

SSBMRank No. 53: ARMY © @msealjr

Rating: 57.3 | SSBMRank2016: n/a

Before this year, he was just known as a local wobbler, but in 2017, Armand “ARMY” Del Duca transcended expectations. At the beginning of this year, he defeated Ryan Ford and Darrell in his round 2 pool at Genesis 4 to make it out into the winners bracket. He then carried this momentum to defeat Ice, and eventually finished at 17th. Although he wasn’t able to repeat such an explosive performance at the other super-majors he attended this year, 33rd at Evo 2017 and GameTyrant Expo and 25th at The Big House 7 are nothing to sneeze at.

His execution is impeccable, and he continues to add incremental improvements to his neutral game every week as he grinds out sets against other skilled players at SoCal locals. Like many other Ice Climbers mains, he is amazingly friendly to others, but he is exceedingly tough on himself — but his drive to keep competing and improving has only served to benefit him, given the incredible rate at which he improved this year.

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

SSBMRank No. 52: Captain Faceroll © @msealjr

Rating: 57.4 | SSBMRank2016: 45

One of the scariest things that can happen to you in Melee is getting grabbed by Griffin “Captain Faceroll” Williams as a Fox or Falco. Although he’s not perfect at executing every reaction tech-chase by any stretch of the imagination, he is amazingly consistent, to the point where watching some of his sets makes a pretty convincing case for Sheik’s grab itself being a zero-to-death combo. Some may say his gameplay is only made up of boring flowcharts, but his ever-growing game knowledge empowers him to regularly execute flashy combos, one example being when he incorporated Sheik’s up-B in the corner to extend a tech chase.

Captain Faceroll also gets the added advantage of living in two absolutely solid regions: SoCal during the school year and the Midwest on his time off. This experience has given him a well-rounded portfolio of high-level matchup experience. Against top-100-level players, his record has been consistently solid, even if he does notably struggle against his nemesis ARMY. At major events, he’s been on the unfortunate end of bracket luck, often playing against other top-level players who suffered early upsets in winners. Although he can make quick work of any player outside of the Top 50, the biggest question awaiting him in 2018 is whether he can pull together more top 30 wins to his resumé.

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

SSBMRank No. 51: Kels © Joey Hogan

Rating: 57.6 | SSBMRank2016: 55

Among the decade-old debates between the East and West Coast smash scenes, the Midwest has always consistently been mocked as the weakest region. However, the Midwest was never truly without talent, and amidst the jeers, a number of players over time emerged from the once quiet states to turn the world on its head. In the post-2010 era, one of those players was Kelly “Kels” Smith, and it wasn’t long before his name garnered respect in even the furthest reaches of the community.

2015 and onward had seen a different chapter of Kelly’s life; he became a father. On one hand, he finally had his chance to become a family man, but on the other hand, it meant less time devoted to Smash. It isn’t hard to see what path Kels eventually chose, and his results slightly wavered over the years; it was, of course, not at the cost of his happiness.

None of any of this is to say that his glory days are over, and 2017 is proof of that. After starting the year with a victory over Top 20 player n0ne, Kels has stopped the likes of many regional powerhouses such as Abate, Rishi and Zain. His success culminated in a 47th placing on the Summer 2017 SSBMRank, but Kels’ second half of the year was unfortunately far more quiet, having only attended The Big House 7. Kels is one of the many Melee veterans that have persisted into 2018, and it’s hard to say when we might see the Midwest Fox finally wrap up his controller for good. However, whether that be tomorrow or in the climax of Melee’s competitive lifetime, the community will always know the man, the myth, the legend as the beloved Chicago Fox with a heart of gold.

Written by: Glenn "KayB" Kim | Edited by: Jonah Fritz

Credits

Graphics: Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino

Statistician: Andrew “PracticalTAS” Nestico