It’s been an interesting week with the unveiling of the the SSBM Ranks for 2013. We have seen the first 50 (51-100) along with people who missed the cut. A lot of discussion has happened recently. Let’s talk with some players to see what they thought so far.

 1.       Outside of the people who were excluded from being rated (List below), who was the biggest surprise to not make the list (ranks 51-100)?

Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – I don’t think any of the exclusions are surprising. I’d have trouble removing anyone on that list in order to include someone else. Ken being #100, even as one of the best players of all time, makes things difficult.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato –I was surprised that Milkman didn’t make the cut. His performance at nationals is admittedly lackluster, but 25th at Zenith and 49th at Evo is still respectable no matter how you look at it. He also has some big wins recently in his home region, including a pair of victories against Chillin.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – Tomber. He has attended EVO this year, placing 25th and defeating Scar, DEHF and Redd (losing to S2J and Westballz). Tomber also attended two local tournaments in California while on a roadtrip with other danish players, placing 1st in a little SoCal event (defeating OkamiBW in grand finals) and 9th at a Norcal event (defeating Phil among others).

Andre “Choknater” Felix – I can’t answer this. I feel 100 is a very large list so it’s more surprising to see who does make it rather than who doesn’t.

 2.       Who was the most overrated player so far?

Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – I feel Amsa is the most overrated. While he is good, and may perform well in the future, the expectations for him are just not sound. There are people claiming he can place top 8, even top 3 at Apex, and with no other top 100 wins, and just a match off M2k, I’m not sure his placement is warranted.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato – aMSa may have a big fanbase, but I’m not a believer that this Japanese Yoshi prodigy will be repeating his placement at Evo any time soon. Oh wait, who did he beat again besides Mr. F? Sorry folks, but friendlies still don’t count. I just don’t see how anyone can justify ranking him so highly until he gets some stronger wins in a major tournament bracket. That said, aMSa still has my utmost respect, and I hope that he proves me wrong at Apex.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – I think StriCNYN3 is bit inconsistent and has a few fundamental flaws. His play is almost fully centered on his high technical ability, so when he’s sloppy it surely leads to disaster. He can also be stubborn and do the same mistakes over and over again in some matches, which is mostly due to his overly aggressive playstyle. He could become a very dangerous player if he smartened up his gameplay or played slower.

Andre “Choknater” Felix – Toph gets a lot of publicity because he is a commentator and he travels to many majors in all regions. He’s a technical Fox player and has flashy moments, which get nice youtube comments, but his fundamentals are not really that great

 3.      Who’s the most underrated player so far?

Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – The most underrated player so far might have to be The Moon. He’s been doing a lot of work on the East Coast so far, and I feel like he’ll have more breakthrough performances soon.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato – Everyone’s sleeping on ESAM. This guy has the smarts and the experience to do some major damage at major tournaments. His victory over Javi was no fluke either – despite being better known as a top Brawl player, ESAM’s recent wins vs. Chillin and myself demonstrate his continued ability to play in the same league as his Melee peers.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – Bam is a pretty smart Falco player who just doesn’t attend enough tournaments to show the world how good he really is. His fundamentals are extremely solid. There’s not that much to say aside from that.

Andre “Choknater” Felix – I never realized Reno had such a notable win record. We might not have seen him make top 8 at majors, but to be ranked so low on this list is unfair to him

 4.      Similarly, who is the person on the list that stands to improve the most in the next year?

Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – The players I feel are set to improve the most are Sung and The Moon. Sung has a great mentality for the game, and is putting everything together very nicely. The Moon just placed very highly at ROM6, and being a hometown hero won’t hurt his confidence.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato –  I gotta show my former region some love on this one. No player ranked 51-100 is improving faster than The Moon. His breakout as an EC star reminds me of PewPewU’s rise to prominence on the WC over the past couple years, and he has a fantastic mentor in DJ Nintendo. While his current ranking may be a tad too high for my tastes, I think he’ll soon prove it’s justified. I predict that he’ll even crack the top-40 by the end of next year.

Julius Vissing –  aMSa has gotten good enough in 6 months to place 25th at EVO and take a round off Mew2King. It is safe to say that I have high hopes for his rate of improvement in the future.

Andre “Choknater” Felix – The Moon has a slow and adaptive playstyle that leaves a lot of room for creativity. His great spacing and confident decisions remind me of Azen. If he ups his speed a little bit, I could see him making many more upsets than just beating Chillindude.

  5.      What is the most interesting dream match you can see from the list?

Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – As a Samus main, I would love to see Darrell vs Duck. I got a chance to play Darrell very recently, and he’s managed to mix his strong punish game in with some solid decision making. The heaviest pressure game I’ve seen from a Samus.

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato –I’m a big fan of EC vs. WC matchups, and I also like watching my own region perform out of state, so I’m going to go with Redd vs. SilentSpectre on this one. Redd has been leveling up rapidly these days and I think it’d be interesting to see him face off against one of the old WC greats.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – Gucci vs Darrell Gucci is a solid Falcon player with a strong punish game while Darrell has a mean and lean Samus. As random as this matchup may sound, I think that those two players could provide us with a pretty entertaining experience

Andre “Choknater” Felix – Bizzarro Flame vs Trail. Bizz was my hometown rival, and I have a little personal pride in helping Bizz learn this matchup. I am confident he can do it because he’s beaten Wobbles and Fly in tournament before. But everyone on the other side of the country seems to believe in Trail… This matchup is in Ganon’s favor and I think it would be a slaughter, but it would be great to see everyone’s pride on the line! All the regional bias in the facebook thread shows just how much effect this list is having on the community.