We are down to the final 10. To celebrate each of the players, we have given them their own page to celebrate 2015. Rest assured, we will release #7 today as well. Share your thoughts about today with the hashtag #SSBMRank2015.


Photo Credits to Thomas Tischio (@Tischphotos)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
8
8.967
9
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
33
4
13
5
4
Other Results
4th at Paragon 2015
5th at I’m Not Yelling!
2nd at Sandstorm
5th at FC Smash 15XR: Return
4th at Super Smash Con
3rd at PAX Prime 2015
4th at Paragon LA
2nd at DreamHack London
9th at Smash Summit
2nd at Forte 3
Summary
Weston “Westballz” Dennis has made major strides in his results this year. He continues to be one of the most active top players in Melee, and his ability to maintain elite placements and attend so many events is astounding. However, Westballz was recognized for his dedication this year, as Tempo Storm sponsored him alongside Axe. Winter was interesting for Westballz. He began 2015 with a great 4th place finish at Paragon Orlando, where he outplaced Armada. Then, he ran into one of his worst tournaments of 2015. Westballz placed 33rd at Apex 2015, where he was eliminated by Eddy Mexico. Though he underperformed at Apex 2015, he did extremely well at MVG Sandstorm. Westballz was an absolute monster at Sandstorm, placing 2nd. MacD put Westballz into loser’s bracket, and Westballz then went on one of the greatest loser’s bracket runs of his career. He beat Forward, Tai, Gahtzu, S2J, Mango, Hungrybox and Axe before losing to Armada in Grand Finals after an unfortunate loss of power in the middle of the set. Westballz continued his great play into the summer, and the rest of the year. In 2015, Westballz seems to have improved his neutral game and optimized his punish game. Westballz began to not rush in as often as he did before, and instead opt to shoot more lasers and wait for his opponent to leave him an opening, where he can then hit the opponent with one of his well-known Westballz punishes. As Westballz was already a player who was considered only a step away from the level of the Top 6, Westballz has only made that gap smaller with his work in 2015. He beat Hungrybox and Leffen for the first time in 2015, and beat Mango several times. Westballz showed great improvement in 2015, and if he continues to improve in 2016, the era of the gods could be ending sooner than we think.
– Solomon McMurphy (@HFMSmash)
Top 10 H2H Stats
Player
2015 Sets
Set Wins
Set Losses
%
vs. Mango
10
4
6
40
vs. Leffen
4
1
3
25
vs. Mew2King
3
0
3
0
vs. PPMD
1
0
1
0
vs. Armada
5
0
5
0
vs. Hungrybox
3
1
2
34
vs. Top 1-6
26
6
20
23
vs. Axe
14
7
7
50
vs. Plup
7
2
5
29
vs. Shroomed
6
4
2
67
vs. Westballz
0
0
0
0
vs. Top 7-10
27
13
14
48
Total
53
19
34
36

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