Down to the last week of SSBMRank 2015! We are showcasing the players that have had several great performances and have been consistently among the top that Melee has had to offer. Share your thoughts about today’s 5 with the hashtag #SSBMRank2015.


Photo Credits to Thomas Tischio (@Tischphotos)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
15
8.273
25
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
17
9
17
13
7
Other Results
9th at Paragon 2015
7th at I’m Not Yelling!
7th at Sandstorm
3rd at Northwest Majors VII
4th at Get On My Level 2015
4th at FC Smash 15XR: Return
5th at Super Smash Con
5th at PAX Prime 2015
13th at Paragon LA
13th at HTC Throwdown
Summary
A model of consistency in 2015, McCain “MacD” LaVelle never placed lower than 17th at any of the many major tournaments he attended. His aggressive take on Peach can overwhelm opponents, as he is capable of throwing out hitboxes at a remarkable rate while simultaneously punishing his opponents attempts at aggression with his trademark down-smashes. The Mayhem Monthly TO also asserted himself into the top of SoCal as a consistent threat to take out the likes of S2J, Lucky, and Westballz at any of the region’s stacked local tournaments. In addition, MacD defeated Mango at HTC Throwdown and continues to play tough sets against Hungrybox in a matchup that some consider unwinnable. Beyond his singles success, MacD has continued to show he is one of the best teams players in the world, placing in top 8 at every tournament outside of Evo 2015 with a slew of different partners. 2015 saw MacD join Follow eSports, later rebranded as Splyce, which should allow him the means to travel in 2016 and continue his rise up the Melee ranks.
– Nick Buckman (@ngbuckman)

 


Photo Credits to Robert Paul (@tempusrob)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
14
8.384
13
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
9
9
9
N/A
N/A
Other Results
1st at Norcal Regionals
4th at I’m Not Yelling!
2nd at Northwest Majors VII
17th at Paragon LA
13th at HTC Throwdown
9th at Smash Summit
Summary
The best solo Marth main in the world continues to be Kevin “PewPewU” Toy. The #1 ranked player in the very tough NorCal region had a strong start to 2015, winning NorCal Regionals and placing 4th at I’m not Yelling, where he claimed sets off of Shroomed, Westballz, Lucky and SFAT. These successes, along with his victory over Hungrybox at Apex 2015, led to PewPewU being picked up by team Counter Logic Gaming in June. Despite the strong start and finally winning large teams tournaments with SFAT at EVO and Smash Summit, Kevin had a lackluster Summer and Fall season. Starting at CEO, PPU’s tournaments were filled with expected wins and acceptable losses, only losing once to a player ranked below him, Fiction at Paragon LA, and only once beating someone above him, Lucky at Smash Summit. While his dedication to both school and family may have caused him to miss the last majors of the year, BH5 and Dreamhack Winter, Kevin Toy was able to finish the year out strong taking second place at SSS 38 where he claimed wins against Westballz, MacD and Hugs before losing to longtime friend and new CLG teammate, SFAT.
– Nick Buckman (@ngbuckman)

 


Photo Credits to Michael Hathaway (@tl_peanuts)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
13
8.519
20
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
9
9
17
7
17
Other Results
9th at Paragon 2015
9th at I’m Not Yelling!
4th at Northwest Majors VII
5th at Press Start
13th at Paragon LA
7th at HTC Throwdown
9th at Smash Summit
Summary
NorCal’s top Fox main, Zac “SFAT” Cordoni, had a great string of placings in 2015. After failing to break in to the top 16 during the summer of 2014, it became notable when SFAT wasn’t fighting for a spot in the top 8 of tournaments this year. SFAT hit some signature milestones this year, beating Leffen at Press Start, placing first in doubles at both EVO and Smash Summit, and placing 7th at TBH5. He also won October’s Mayhem which, as the Crimson Blur noted, put SoCal in shambles as they had never before allowed a NorCal player to take one of their prestigious locals. SFAT followed up that performance at SSS 38 in December, winning the tournament over his long time Norcal partner, PewPewU. In these tournaments he was able to take sets the likes of Lucky, Westballz, S2J, MacD and MikeHaze. Shortly after this victory, SFAT was announced as the third and newest member of Counter Logic Gaming, a team fans had been hoping would pick him up ever since PewPewU joined them in June. This addition to CLG should give SFAT the means to attend more tournaments, and also gives the Melee community its first sponsored doubles pairing in CLG | PewFat.
– Nick Buckman (@ngbuckman)

 


Photo Credits to Ludwig Ahgren

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
12
8.595
12
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
13
N/A
13
9
N/A
Other Results
9th at Paragon 2015
9th at I’m Not Yelling!
1st at Super Nebulous 3
5th at Press Start
3rd at BAM 7
7th at Paragon LA
9th at HTC Throwdown
7th at Smash Summit
Summary
Joey “Lucky” Aldama had a highly active and successful 2015, helping to prove he is the best unsponsored player in the world. The famed Norwalk Fox placed 5th at Press Start in May with a notable win over Hungrybox. Then in October, he claimed victory at Smash The Record 2015 with wins over SFAT and S2J. He also placed 13th at Apex 2015, 13th at EVO 2015, and an impressive 9th place at The Big House 5, where he was eliminated by Westballz. This tough set was a runback from the Big House 4 and is yet another chapter in their regional rivalry. His most impressive win, though, was undoubtedly at Super Nebulous 3, where Lucky powered through a losers bracket run taking sets off Zanguzen, Cactuar, KirbyKaze, Hax$, and Nintendude, before taking back to back sets off of S2J to win the tournament. In 2015 we got to see Lucky’s potential, and he was a monster.
– Louis Torracinta

 


Photo Credits to itsjustatank (@itsjustatank)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
11
8.661
15
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
17
N/A
17
N/A
N/A
Other Results
1st at Northwest Majors VII
9th at Paragon LA
3rd at HTC Throwdown
Summary
One of Melee’s original techskill masters, Otto “Silent Wolf” Bisno is known for having one of, if not the most, technical Foxes on the planet. While long considered underrated by some, the green fox out of Washington underperformed at the two majors he attended this year. At Apex, Silent Wolf was quickly eliminated by Mango and The Moon after beating Shroomed to make it into top 32. He followed that performance up with another 17th place finish at EVO 2015, where an early loss at the hands of Armada sent him into ChuDat’s monster bracket run. Despite these lack luster placings, Silent Wolf claimed 3rd place at HTC throwdown with victories over Mew2King and Druggedfox. He also had the Pacific Northwest on lockdown in 2015, winning both Northwest Majors 7 and Northwest Majors: Drop Zone. At NWM7 in April, he beat MacD and claimed 2 sets of off PewPewU while only dropping 2 games in the whole tournament. Then in November, Silent Wolf double eliminated Druggedfox from NWM: Drop Zone while seemingly playing the Fox-Sheik matchup to perfection. While his strong dedication to finishing his college education may prevent Silent Wolf from attending nationals, GameCluck’s premier fox continues to show that he is a force to be reckoned with.
– Nick Buckman (@ngbuckman)

Panelists

42 Panelists

(More Panelists were asked from each region, but did not turn in a ballot in a timely manner)

Socal (6)
– HugS
– s2j
– MacD
– MikeHaze
– Kira
– Reno

Norcal (4)
– TarheelJKS
– Laudandus
– Toph
– Shroomed

Midwest (5)
– Juggleguy
– FendrickLamar
– Duck
– Webs
– DarkAtma

New England (3)
– Mafia
– MattDotZeb
– Gtown Tom

Maryland/Virginia (4)
– Nintendude
– Redd
– Chillindude
– Wife

Pacific Northwest (5)
– Silent Wolf
– Bladewise
– Vish
– eBay
– Fat Goku

Arizona (3)
– Axe
– Tai
– DarkDragoon

South (5)
– s0ft
– Flow
– Chi Wong
– Gahtzu
– Hungrybox

Tri-State (2)
– Zhu
– Swedish Delight

Canada (2)
– Idea
– n0ne

Europe (3)
– MikeHaggar (w/ Armada)
– Imperfect
– Mahie

Rest Of The List

12/21/2015 – SSBMRank #100-91
12/22/2015 – SSBMRank #90-81
12/23/2015 – SSBMRank #80-71
12/24/2015 – SSBMRank #70-61
12/25/2015 – SSBMRank #60-51

12/28/2015 – SSBMRank #50-41
12/29/2015 – SSBMRank #40-31
12/30/2015 – SSBMRank #30-26
12/31/2015 – SSBMRank #25-21
1/1/2016 – SSBMRank #20-16

1/4/2016 – SSBMRank #15-11
1/5/2016 – SSBMRank #10, #9, #8, #7
1/6/2016 – SSBMRank #6, #5, #4
1/7/2016 – SSBMRank #3, #2, #1
1/8/2016 – SSBMRank Recap

Other Information

Acknowledgements

SSBMRank is a big undertaking every year. We could have not done this without the help of HTC, who generously helped us out with this year’s production values. Nick, Darkdragoon, was a workhorse with the formatting and the graphics this year as well. We also had countless volunteers that helped out with numerous tasks.

Photographers
Robert Paul (@tempusrob)
Michael Hathaway (@tl_peanuts)
Thomas Tischio
Old Abbot (@oldAbbot)
Itsjustatank (@itsjustatank)
Ludwig Ahgren
/u/BirdUPSSBM
Big Blue eSports (@BigBlueES)
SleepyK (@sleepike)
Alex Baldwin
Meowth

Blurb Writers
Eli Schoop
Bradley Stafford (@bradcobra)
Louis Torracinta
Sawyer Frey (@ssbm_tm)
Derek Zhang (@DZhang4)
Matt Deslatte (@pantsnameguy)
Matthew Reed (@Matthew__Reed)
Jack McDonald (@KezzupReviews)
Luke Geldart (@Haksause)
Andrew Blessington (@AJawesome07)
Nick Gow (@ssbm_Song)
Anthony Bruno (@slime_machine)
Bryan Rapp (@Mithrintia)
David Tyler (@flossy_tas)
Josh Kassell (@roboticphish)
Solomon McMurphy (@HFMSmash)

Fact Finders
Eli Schoop
Bradley Stafford (@bradcobra)
Louis Torracinta
Derek Zhang (@DZhang4)
Matt Deslatte (@pantsnameguy)
Matthew Reed (@Matthew__Reed)
Jack McDonald (@KezzupReviews)
Luke Geldart (@Haksause)
Andrew Blessington (@AJawesome07)
Bryan Rapp (@Mithrintia)
David Tyler (@flossy_tas)
Solomon McMurphy  (@HFMSmash)

Editors
Sheridan Zalewski (@sheridactyls)
Louis Torracinta
Scott Zeng
Andrew Blessington (@AJawesome07)
Nick Gow (@ssbm_Song)
Andrew Nestico (@PracticalTAS)
Anthony Bruno (@slime_machine)
Bryan Rapp (@Mithrintia)
David Tyler (@flossy_tas)
Josh Kassel (@roboticphish)

Picture Finders
Bradley Stafford (@bradcobra)
Louis Torracinta
Scott Zeng
Sawyer Frey
Derek Zhang (@DZhang4)
Matthew Reed (@Matthew__Reed)
Luke Geldart (@Haksause)
Nick Buckman