Another week and another 40 have been revealed. Let’s ask our panel what they thought of the top 11 – 50 players.

 1.       Which player was the most underrated?

Johnny “S2J” Kim – Eddy Mexico should have moved up at least 10-15 spots. He has wins or is capable of beating a lot of the players above him.

Dustin “Darc” Hayes – DEFINITELY DARC, but seriously I would have to go with Vwins. I know his inactivity is probably the reasoning to why he’s so low, but his performance at Apex taking out players such as Zhu and Wobbles + many other previous tournaments make him a force to be reckoned with. Too bad he plays PEACH AND I WOULD DESTROY HIM. Honorable mentions go to Darkrain and Lucien.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez – In my opinion, it would probably have to be The Moon. He has been putting in so much work in the past year that it’s hard to see him put outside of Top 50. I feel like where ever DJ Nintendo is ranked, The Moon should only be maybe 8 ranks below(at lowest), those two are extremely close in skill.

Charlie “BattleCow” Bullock – DJ Nintendo, no question. Name a Tristate tournament, and this guy placed third in it after top-10 threats mew2king and Hax$. He beat Unknown with Bowser, for christ’s sake. I’d put money on him against anyone else outside the top 25 and against a fair number of people in it. The poll, god bless it, had among its (forgivable) flaws a noted west coast bias, and it shows most clearly in DJ’s ridiculously low rank.

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee – th0rn. I thought he had a good Apex 2013 (beating SFAT) and he’s been one of the best players in the New England region, besting KDJ among other people.

 2.       Which player was most overrated?

Johnny “S2J” Kim – Vanz is easily the most overrated player on the list. I have no idea why people are popping off about Fiction/ MacD when Vanz has done nothing since he moved to shit hole ohio. I only remember him getting 3rd place in Big House 1, getting owned by me when i sucked. He has done literally nothing since then for a clean 3 years and yet the majority of people gave him at least a 7.5. That is a complete joke compared even to Fiction.

Dustin “Darc” Hayes – EVERY FOX MAIN EVER #consistency. I’d have to go with Unknown522. DUDE LOST TO BOWSER LOL. I think Unknown is a great player, but I’m going to need a bit more convincing with his next national placement to rank him that high. Also Javi might be another player I might consider overrated, but I guess only because I haven’t seen much of him. Maybe I just hate fox players.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez – Scar. In the past year, I feel like he hasn’t done much. He has gotten 4 stocked by Swedish Delight, got 187th at EVO, and overall has not had any outstanding placings to prove his place at 62 with competition such as The Moon, Stricnyn3, and Swedish Delight.

Charlie “BattleCow” Bullock – I’d say Leffen. His recent performance at an East Coast tournament, where he lost to I believe G$ and Mattdotzeb, proved what we all should have known–that you can’t get or stay at the top of the melee scene without playing melee. He has excellent johns, no doubt, of the kind that he’s famous for providing after every loss, but I have little sympathy for a player so unlikeable that he can’t find opponents despite being, for a short time after Armada’s retirement, a contender for #1 in Europe.

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee – Lord. I don’t doubt his skill, but I think this was more of a preemptive hype rating more so than anything. Lord did have an impressive string of wins at Evo, but it’s still only 1 tournament. I would have liked to see him at 1-2 more nationals/regionals before giving him that high of a rank

 3.      Which player will increase the most in skill level by the end of 2014?

Johnny “S2J” Kim – If Lord were to travel and go outside of Norcal tourneys, I think he would level up the quickest and would at least match Norcal’s/ Socal’s top players. He already does extremely well vs Norcal’s best.

Dustin “Darc” Hayes – Oh, this is a toughie. Weon-X, Fiction, Fly Amanita. Fly is already up there in rank and recognized for his greatness, and Weon-X I don’t know too much about. So let’s go with Fiction. If he keeps at what he’s doing I’m sure he can become an even better player. I always thought that Brawl experience can help out your game in Melee as long as you’re not playing both at the same time. He’s overtaken Pewpewu’s throne “Most fun to watch for Darc”. LET’S SEE WHERE HE GOES.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez – My East Coast blood tells me The Moon, but I really am impressed with Fiction. His performances at all of the SSS tournaments have been so impressive, and now beating Shroomed at Kings of Cali. I am really excited to see how he performs at Apex 2014.

Charlie “BattleCow” Bullock – I don’t know Fiction, and until relatively recently I hadn’t considered him even as a candidate for top 100, but his breakout performances remind me a little of PPU’s from not too long ago. His progression up the socal power rankings has been slow but steady, and I would be very surprised if someone with wins over every big name above him on the list and with a stacked SSS under his belt didn’t keep on creeping up.

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee – I’m riding the Fiction train. This dude goes to his first national and gets 17th at Evo, narrowly losing to Wobbles in winners. Even with all the talk about Fiction, I think he’s still underrated when people make skill level comparisons. He does struggle with some of the unusual matchups (Pikachu immediately comes into mind), but he has been improving his game so much, it’s astounding.

 4.      What would be the best dream match between two players in the 50-11 range?

Johnny “S2J” Kim -Westballz vs Silent Wolf

Dustin “Darc” Hayes – I really want to see Chudat vs Fly. Alright no my dream match would most likely be Fiction vs any player he’s never played before. I’m so excited to see how he does against the East Coast lineup. For the sake of naming someone I’ll say Fiction vs DJ Nintendo. Both have very unique playstyles and are very smart players.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez – Leffen vs Westballz would be amazing. With Westballz’s crazy pressure, I would love to see how Leffen finds a way out of it. They are both extremely intelligent players and to see a high level Fox vs Falco is always entertaining.

Charlie “BattleCow” Bullock – Chu Dat and Javi are the two players who’ve shown that they can contend even with top 5-caliber competition. Neither of them has been able to do it recently or consistently, but it’s also not inconceivable, given the paucity of recent subpar results that we have to judge from in each case, that the flash of genius that they each showed once in 2012 could re-emerge. Wouldn’t it be incredible if it did, late in bracket, in the legendarily hard-hitting fox-IC’s matchup?

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee – DJ Nintendo vs Fiction. It features many things that would bring hype. It’s WC vs EC and both regions think their player is great and underrated by other regions. They have shown great strides in their game over the past year as well.

  5.      With 4 Peach Mains so close together, who deserves the title of “2nd Best Peach”?

Johnny “S2J” Kim – I don’t care who the 2nd best peach is and nobody else should either. Armada is better than all of the other peaches combined.

Dustin “Darc” Hayes – Armada’s left hand. I would have to go with Vwins. His Apex train was only stopped by Mango in both Winners and Losers, and has impressed me greatly in both teams and singles. The other peaches aren’t that far behind I don’t think.

Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez –I personally always say Bladewise, but honestly, MacD has been impressing me so much lately. He has taken sets off of so many good West Coast players, and is also an incredible teams player. With MacD, I can actually see his improvement from last year. I felt at first it was just his usual dash attacks and down smashes, but over time he has shown that he is a Top 20 contender.

Charlie “BattleCow” Bullock –   Vwins 9th is amazing, but it’s far from clear whether it’s replicable. MacD, in his time, got top 12 at something like three straight nationals–a feat of consistency on par with what Wobbles, Shroomed, or KirbyKaze were doing at the time–but it’s not his time anymore, as the still consistent but disappointing 65th’s show. Bladewise has a few very noteable wins, but hasn’t had a real breakout performance yet, and Vanz hasn’t been showing up late on too many streams of late. I think that the only fair thing to do is to give Vwins the nod, given his recent and top-level placing, but the panel’s views with regard to him will probably never be proven correct or incorrect, more’s the pity.

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee – Vwins. His 9th place performance at Apex over Zhu, Wobbles, and Westballz is better than what the other three peaches have done at nationals.