Welcome to Day 3 of SSBMRank! SSBMRank is a yearly Top 100 list, celebrating the performances of players in 2015. Share your thoughts on Twitter with the hashtag: #SSBMRank2015.


Photo Credits to Michael Hathaway (@TL_peanuts)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
80
5.154
66
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
33
25
49
65
N/A
Summary
Well known in the Melee community for his abundance of statistics, Daniel “Tafokints” Lee is also a player of a respectable caliber. He has been to many large events this year with multiple placings in the 33rd-64th range. He is also known other content such as “Zero 2 Hero” where he works with a player to attempt to improve their skills, and “Tafo Talks” where he discusses events in the competitive scene.
– David Tyler (@flossy_tas)

 


Photo Credits to SleepyK (@sleepike)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
79
5.189
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
49
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Summary
Long-time hidden boss of SoCal, and member of Team Oxy, Sung “SUNG475” Lee is as enigmatic as you can get. The idea of having a main is ludicrous for him, as he has significant experience with many characters. He’s best noted for his Sheik and Falco, though he also plays Samus and Marth very well. Sung didn’t travel much in 2015, so we didn’t get to see him square off against other players from around the country, but Sung placed in the top 64 of large tournaments such as I’m Not Yelling and Apex 2015.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to lloD

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
78
5.200
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
97
N/A
N/A
Summary
lloD, full name Arjun Malhotra, younger brother to Smash G0D, is a Peach main located in Southern Virginia. Though he doesn’t frequently travel across the country to attend tournaments, lloD turned in a solid performance at EVO this year. But lloD really shined at Super Smash Con, where he placed 13th, defeating Chu Dat, Duck, Bladewise and very nearly beating SPY | MacD as well. lloD is an exceedingly well-rounded player. Notably, his tech chases are devastating, and he exhibits great game instinct and smart decision making. lloD is a player often slept on, and seems to be primed for further improvement in 2016.
– Andrew Blessington (@AJawesome07)

 


Photo Credits to Michael Hathaway (@TL_peanuts)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
77
5.229
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
33
Summary
In 2015, reaper cemented himself as one of the best players in Europe. While he didn’t travel to the US to compete at any point this year, he still had several fantastic placings on the European circuit. Including, but not limited to: 17th at BEAST 5, 7th at Dreamhack London, 5th at Helix, 2nd at the largest Dutch tournament of all time, Avalon M, and 2nd at German regional How Dair You, where reaper defeated long time champion of German smash, Ice. reaper is a rather unorthodox Marth main. He plays a very distinctively European style, relying on forward-air heavily for comboing, and mixing in side-b and counter at unexpected places. Overall, reaper had a great 2015, and people should expect more exciting play from him in the future.
– Andrew Blessington (@AJawesome07)

 


Photo Credits to Ralph

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
76
5.263
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Summary
You might be reading this list and not even know Ralph Arroyo and his slick Falco. Ralph is currently ranked 9th on NorCal’s most recent power rankings, and he’s probably most famous for leading UC Berkeley to an improbable Melee Games victory over University of Maryland at Super Nebulous 3, where he also commandeered an exceptional 9th place in singles, beating MattDotZeb and DJ Nintendo. At HTC Throwdown, Ralph secured an impressive 25th place, and at Final Destination 2, Ralph beat Landandus and took SFAT to game 5, proving how ready the up-and-comer is to take NorCal by the throat.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to Matt

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
75
5.327
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
65
65
N/A
Summary
Whether you know him as stabbedbyanipple, stabbedbyahippie, Stabbed, or just Matt, Matt Tafazoli has been steadily rising the ranks of the Melee community since his days as a SoCal Youtube archivist. In 2015, he did well at several SoCal local events, placing top 8 at a few Mayhem events this year. This year, Matt also beat players like Tope, A Rookie, NMW and Kira. Matt achieved an impressive 9th place finish at Press Start, and a solid 25th at Paragon Los Angeles. Matt definitely cemented himself as a respectable and quickly-improving dual spacies main.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to Michael Hathaway (@TL_peanuts)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
74
5.381
77
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
49
25
25
33
33
Summary
The always consistent Reno had another solid and highly respectable year. In 2015, Reno migrated from his long-time home of Brooklyn, New York to SoCal. Reno placed at least in the top 64 at every major he attended, including 25th at both CEO and EVO. Reno is a player with great fundamentals and he’s a veteran of the game, Reno is a well-seasoned player who absolutely still has the passion to continue to improve. In 2015, Reno and his swift yet methodical Sheik took some time to adjust to the chaos of California. Will Hsiao is a smart player who is not done competing yet – look for Reno to place solidly and hopefully improve even further in 2016.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to Miguel

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
73
5.396
N/A
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
13
Summary
The best Fox in the Netherlands, Miguel “Zgetto” Rodriguez hasn’t stepped foot outside Europe this year, but that hasn’t reduced his ability to generate great performances all over Europe this year. In 2015, Zgetto placed 7th at B.E.A.S.T. 5, 5th at Avalon 8 and 13th at both Dreamhack London and Winter. Zgetto is a technical and efficient Fox main, and he is a veteran as well, his first tournaments go back to at least 2007. Zgetto is a player often overlooked by those in North America, and hopefully Zgetto can come to a North American tournament one day to show the world what he’s made of.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to Connor

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
72
5.420
93
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
N/A
N/A
65
N/A
N/A
Summary
Known as a Scarra lookalike, Connor “CDK” Nguyen has stepped his game up from last year, jumping over 20 spots in the rankings. A long-time Fox and Peach dual main, in 2015, Connor said that he is much more comfortable with Fox, and will likely be solo maining him in the future. Connor has victories over top players like Fly Amanita, and consistently does well at local SoCal events like Mayhem and Super Smash Sundays. Connor definitely is no slouch in the hardest region in the world, and after a 2015 filled with improvement, he has the potential to improve even further in 2016.
– Eli Schoop

 


Photo Credits to Big Blue eSports (@BigBlueES)

Rank
Rating
SSBMRank 2014
71
5.428
50
Tournament Results
Apex2015 ceo2015 evo2015 bh5
65
N/A
65
49
N/A
Summary
Most know Hax$ as the originator of the infamous 20XX meme and concept, but few know that Zoso deserves just as much credit for it. Zoso is consistently one of New England’s best and has shown prowess in the region for a quite a while. He traded in his Fox for a more unorthodox Marth a few years ago. Zoso didn’t travel much in 2015, but he did place in the top 64 at The Big House 5, and he did extremely well in his very competitive region.
– Eli Schoop

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
– Fendrick Lamar
– 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