Blurb by Silo5000

Matteo is a longtime Captain Falcon player from Ontario, Canada who had a string of impressive tournament runs this summer. Most notably, An incredible 13th place finish at Super Smash Con. After getting DQd in round 1 pools, Matteo would win an astounding 11 sets in a row, including set wins on Darktooth, Ringler, Lunar Dusk and JJM. Not just a one run wonder, Matteo would also accrue wins over Wally, Pleeba and Kuyashi at other events this year.

The Champaign, Illinois fox main was a regional grinder this year, picking up wins on essy (2-0), Q?, Pleeba, Preeminent, Reesch, and Ringler. He ended the year super strong, winning BOPME 22 without dropping a set, over players like Michael, Blue, and Preeminent. Looking forward to seeing more of him next year.

Blurb by Silo5000

If you think the Donkey Kong revolution isn't here, then you haven't been paying attention. For a while Ringler has been quietly improving their craft, and it all came to a head at Wavedash, when Ringler would score back to back set wins against Nickemwit and KJH, finishing 17th overall. A week later Ringler would also take a set win over Bobby Big Ballz at Super Smash Con. Ringler's Donkey Kong might be a mainstay in 2023's top 64 brackets to come.

Blurb by Silo5000

For those of you who watch Verdugo and other Socal locals, you know that Nut is a force to be reckoned with. Despite only traveling out of Socal a few times this year, Nut would consistently earn impressive wins, including players like Mekk, Prince Abu, Iceman and others. No slouch on the homefront either, Nut would beat Kurv at Wavedash and Bonfire10 at Mainstage and Gooms at The New Mang over the course of the year.

Blurb by Silo5000

Despite attending a smaller number than usual of tournaments, Free Palestine still showed that he was a tough opponent. At regionals Free Palestine would beat players such as Slowking, Squid and Kuyashi. Free Palestine only found himself at a few majors this year but made the time count. At Riptide he would beat Eggy and at Big House he'd take sets over Panda, Captain G and Darkatma. Regardless of his level of activity, Free Palestine is still a force to be reckoned with.

Eggy is a Chicago peach who made a splash by beating moky at Genesis and then was pretty quiet in terms of top 100 wins after that. They did pick up a Wally win at Shine, as well as Q? and JoJo wins this year, both players who were on the ballot. If eggy can replicate that success he had against moky, he could be scary going forward.

Blurb by Silo5000

Kevin Maples was one of the fastest rising young players prior to the pandemic, and halfway through the year, he returned to competition at LAN events. He won sets against variety of players including Jflex, Juicebox, Dawson (x2), Warmmer and Reeve. If he continues this trend it's clear that Kevin Maples can surpass his previous peaks and become much higher ranked by next year.

One of the midwest's best Falcos, Iowa TO and #1 player David Fuentes had an up and down year. After making a name for himself online during the height of the pandemic, Slowking returned to action this year, attending too many regionals to count. He also attended majors like Riptide and Mainstage, picking up top 100 wins at both tournaments.

Yes, his name is Umar. That's why his tag is Umarth. A hot start to the first half of the year which culminated in a 13th at Double Down saw Umarth cool off in the second half of the year, only picking up one top 100 win in nut at Smash Camp: New Lands. Can he return to his first half of the year form in 2023?

The first time I saw JustJoe play, my first reaction was, “wow, he's so fast”. This ultra technical fox had a breakout second half of the year, with wins over Ben, Eggy, essy, Free Palestine, and more. He's taken games from players like Jmook and Fiction, so we know he can do it. Look out for one of Chicago's best in 2023.

JJM had the sickest combo of the year on Dawson at No Jawns 2. Seriously, if you didn't see it, please go look it up. Oh, he also won that event. The towering Ice Climbers main with a peach secondary is on the come up, with wins over null, 2saint, Ben, and more. His second half of the year was better than his first, watch out for him in 2023.

Logos didn't attend much, but when he did, he made his presence felt. The Utah Falco's best performance was at Edgeguard II: Fight II Fright where he double eliminated Spark to win after losing to him earlier in bracket. He was also able to pick up a null win at Mainstage a month later. If he keeps traveling and carries his momentum into 2023, he'll be scary to fight in bracket.

Essy was incredibly well traveled this year. If there was a large regional near Ohio, she probably attended it. The Sheik/Fox main, who also has secondaries of ICs and Marth (who have both been used in tournaments a lot this year), picked up a lot of wins on players like Ben, Drephen, Mad Tyro, and KJH. But, she's also missing a signature win in the top 30 range that some players around her have. However, her resume with such amazing attendance is definitely still enough to land her a spot on the top 100.

I hope Khalid doesn't threaten to sue me for his ranking position. #1 in San Diego's year was one filled with a lot of results. He's got good wins over players like Suf, Eddy Mexico, Ben, and Faceroll. He's only got one loss to a player not on the ballot, MegaXmas, but he's lacking a super signature top 30 win that many players above him have.

Formerly known as NMW, Nickemwit's falcon play has been mostly confined to west coast events (besides Sunshined 2, which was in Missouri lol). Wins on TheSWOOPER, Kalamazhu, and Aura show that he can definitely still hang with top level players after almost playing for 10 years, he's gotta clean up some losses to players like Zbert and Zeo if he wants to be higher next year, but it wouldn't be that surprising, we know he's capable of it.

A Young Link from Chile made it onto the top 100. Imagine telling someone that even two years ago. His highlight of the year was double eliminating Spark to win SPC: Rehab 2.0 while he was staying in Arizona. On top of that, pretty good performances at majors have led to Rocket being the first Young Link and only the 2nd/3rd Chilean to ever make the top 100.

Blurb by Silo5000

TheRealThing has quietly proven himself to be one of the best midwest falcos. Though he only left his native state of Ohio twice, he would earn wins against Lunar Dusk, Q?, Smashdaddy and Preeminent while staying remarkably consistent. In his home state, he kept up with the the best, and if he gets more chances to prove himself I can see him moving quite far up the rankings.

One of two samus players on the list (Sorry Morsecode762, you didn't meet attendance requirements), Wevans has been a force in the south this year. Wins over Smashdaddy, Panda, Panko and SDJ are all great. He doesn't have any losses to players ranked below him at all, but he just didn't attend enough or have any top 40 wins, so it was very hard to accurately assess his skill.

I remember seeing a tweet in the first half of the year from Edwin Budding asking: “Which Luigi's resume is better?” and it was Eddy Mexico vs Mad Tyro, anonymously. Mad Tyro handily won. However, he didn't attend enough to be put on the ballot. His first half of the year was incredibly strong, with wins over Pipsqueak, Skerzo, Grab, 2-0 on Zamu, and more. However, his second half of the year didn't live up to the first, which is why he finds himself in the 80s and not in the 40s.

Blurb by Silo5000

Voo has proven themselves to be a strong and consistent falco hailing from South Florida. Attending only a handful of majors, they made their mark every time. Beating players like Chem, Khryke and Kuya they also made a major upset at Low Tide City, beating Magi in a 2-1 set.

Siremeris is a player I didn't even have on my radar this year. You're telling me there are melee players in West Virginia? Apparently, his peach is NASTY. Picking up wins on Magi, Lunar Dusk, essy, and more, his only losses to players around his Caliber is an 0-4 record against Drephen at regionals. He's a player I'd definitely look out for in 2023.

Blurb by Silo5000

For a long while Gahtzu was a constant in the top 32 brackets of any given major. And while it appears he's taken a step back on the sheer number of Majors he's chosen to attend, it's clear that the poise and discipline to remain a top level threat never went away. At Big House alone he beat Ginger, Salt, Duck and Ringler, which on it's own would be enough to be considered for this list. But Gahtzu was also able to add SDJ (x2) Free Palestine, Wevans and Kuya before the end of the year. Anything can happen in the future of Melee, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Gahtzu is able to keep winning big sets in 2023 and remind everyone who he is.

Soy homero. Todos somos homeros. Red Bull enthusiast Chape finds himself as the highest ranked South American player. Thanks to Melee Stats, he's been able to attend a bunch of events this year, picking up wins like Mekk, Aura, and Eddy Mexico. He's really prolific at the sheik matchup, so don't be surprised to see him making a deep run the next time he's in the US if he gets the right bracket. I'm praying for a bunch of Yoshis and Dr Marios for him (that's not a joke).

Blurb by Silo5000

I won't speak for anyone else, but prior to Shine 2022 I was unfamiliar with Panko's game. Beating Magi, Eggy and KoDoRiN all in a row to make it to winners quarters as a unranked player is nothing short of an incredible feat. Before the end of the year, Panko would add a few wins against Pleeba and Voo, along with a Logan win that was actually a month prior to the incredible Shine run.

The PGH Marth and Mewtwo main had somewhat of a breakout year, especially with his performance at Super Smash Con. Wins over Ryobeat, moky, and BBatts netted him a 9th place finish at the second most entered major of the year, only losing to the brothers Rishi and lloD. Hopefully we'll see him attend more stuff next year and he should be higher.

Blurb by Silo5000

Suf is a Captain Falcon who's been steadily rising as one of Socal's premier players. He's been accruing an assortment of wins on the likes of Free Palestine, FatGoku, Shabo, Solobattle and Bimbo. When it comes to his Socal Peers, hes keeping up very well, beating players like Gooms, Franz, null and a huge win on Fiction at Smash Camp. I can't wait to see Suf's next major.

Blurb by Silo5000

Socal Sheik legend Faceroll only chose to attend one major this year, but was able to earn a ranking with a slew of strong regional performances. Most notably at Smash Camp, Faceroll would beat Logan, Azel and Zamu on the way to a 5th place finish. Faceroll's only major of the year was Big House 10, where he'd beat Null to place 33rd. His other wins at regionals include Typhoon, Casper, Franz, nut and Reesch.

How long has Drephen been playing for? And he's still this good? Wow. Drephen mostly traveled around the midwest this year, with strong performances including 1st at The Homie Round, 2nd at Show Me Your Moves, 3rd at THREEVO, and 7th at We Need Some Space. Not to mention, he got a n0ne win at Super Smash Con! I know he's got a kid on the way (or had one recently) so hopefully we'll still see him in 2023.

Blurb by Silo5000

Kalvar was an exceptionally well traveled player this year, attending 8 different majors and a slew of New England regionals. At these regionals Kalvar would win sets against players like Bonfire10, Warmmer and bobby big ballz. At majors Kalvar would bring a good deal of heat as well, winning sets against Dawson, Younger, JoJo and a few big name Spacies; Lucky and Skerzo. I wouldn't be surprised if this trend continues and we see Kalvar continue to take bigger names leading into 2023 while grinding tournaments of all sizes.

The nicest guy in the community. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Eddy Mexico, and he plays A MID TIER. A really strong first half of the year led to a 49th on the MPGR, but his second half of the year left more to be desired. At this point though, the most important thing is that he's almost undoubtedly the best Luigi of all time, and we couldn't have a better representative for a character.

Another player who's super hard to evaluate, he had a pretty good first half of the year, with the best point coming at CEO when he beat Hbox. After his two tournaments in the second half of the year, SSC and Wavedash, Kalindi has been going all Falco in practice, and it's been improving a lot, so don't be surprised to see his bird flying next year.

Nice.

Kzhu was pretty inactive this year, but his year started off great with a 7th at Genesis… and then he didn't attend anything until August. However, his second half of the year wasn't as good, with losses to Eddy Mexico, Nickemwit, and then a pair of two inactive sheiks (Duck and Shroomed, neither of which are that bad). He's been in the game for so long though that I wouldn't doubt to see him return to another major top 8 next year.

The philly puff is #2 on the power rankings there only behind SluG, which is nothing to scoff at. He's been very consistent this year. It seems like every major he went to beat one really good player and lost to a player around his caliber. He's gotta clean up his regional performances if he wants to find himself higher next year, but he can definitely do it. Never forget when some redditor asked “Who are all of these panelists?” for the MPGR in an attack piece, and included Dawson, a literal top 100 player.

If you know me, you know I LOVE Palpa. A North American puff who does all the EU puff tech? RTC rest extraordinaire? PLAYS FOX FOR THE DITTO AND BEAT HBOX ONLINE? yeah, that's Palpa. The problem is one thing: He's never left Texas. I don't doubt he'll shoot up on the rankings when he does. One last thing: Oh, he's also a popoff king just like HGod himself too. He jumped off stage when he beat SDJ at Low Tide City and got so much air he might have been able to dunk (probably not).

The highlight of Billy's year has to be Fete 2, where he beat Jah Ridin, Fat Tino, and Spark, en route to a 4th place finish at an overseas major, an amazing showing for an American who's probably jetlagged as hell. However, the second half of the year wasn't as good for him and he didn't attend any of the three supermajors this year, so it's really hard to judge his skill against a lot of the other top 100. Can straight batts harness some of his heterosexual energy and improve even more next year?

Wally was impossible to rank. How do you rank a guy whose metrics are all over the place… but he's got a Zain win? I don't know. Wally has shown us the ability to beat literally anyone (and I mean anyone) but he seems to be in a bit of a slump right now. Don't be surprised to see him shoot up the rankings next year.

Yes, this is the third New Jersey player in a row. No, I did not rig it. No, I do not know their PR and I refuse to look it up because that would seem like a bad idea to order them in that direction. Anyways, Mot$ did decently well at majors this year, but he shined at regionals, getting 1st at The Flying Knee 3, 1st at Failsafe 2022, and 1st at Starstruck. Can he make those regional performances translate to majors?

It personally hurts me to put Ben this low as a Minnesotan, but after a decent first half of the year, he couldn't get it going in the second half of the year. He may have had the worst controller luck of all time, worse than Leffen, so that's definitely a factor. After a massive 1st at HTL #7, he couldn't follow that up with any regional wins, placing 2nd at Run, Don't Walk and Honeypot 4. I have no doubt he can be back in the top 40 if not higher next year.

Chem had a great first half of the year, coming in 3rd at CEO, qualifying him for a cup we don't talk about anymore. During that run he had wins over SDJ, Krudo, and KJH, but he couldn't continue that momentum for the rest of the year. He only went to Apex, SSC, and Shine in the second half of the year and his best win at all of those combined was Eggy, someone who we saw earlier in the top 100. Hopefully we can see him return to that killer CEO form.

Choosing Pikachu as his new way forward, Ralph's passion for the game has never been higher. The man who once mained fox is now fully invested in the rat, taking sets off of SFAT and Spark at regionals and majors, but he's lacked the attendance outside of NorCal locals to be ranked higher. However, the good news for Ralph fans is that he's been absolutely killing it at NorCal locals, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him jump even 30 ranks next year.

Grab's been somewhat of a breakout star this year. Coming from a region where there's not really notable players, this Tennessee Marth has sliced and diced his way to some super solid performances. His most impressive performance was Shine where he beat Matteo, DrLobster, and Polish for a 9th place finish, only losing to Jmook and Mango in the tournament. With his new sponsorship, it seems like we'll be seeing a lot more of him.

A breakout performance at the Off-Season where he beat Ginger and SFAT was great for SDJ's resume and national name recognition. But that wasn't all, he's got wins over Salt, Skerzo, and ChuDat as well! If he can cut out the losses to players around his rank like Ben, Gahtzu, Chem, and more, he'll definitely be rising in the future.

He's back. He's finally back after over a year and a half hiatus due to COVID. The Kiwi Marth didn't lose to anyone outside of the top 30 besides 2Saint and SDJ, two Puffs. He's got great wins on n0ne, Soonsay, and Frenzy, but he just doesn't have the attendance for me to really evaluate his results hard. He told me he'll be coming back hopefully a lot next year, and I can't wait to see that.

South Carolina's most notable player, Logan has a great win over Pipsqueak, and then a bunch of good wins at Warehouse War 2 on his way to a second place: Grab, Panko, and Mad Tyro. The rest of the year, however? Panda, Ralph, and JJM are good wins too that they picked up along the way, he's got some losses to Gooms and JustJason.

A regional monster in the Northeast this year, DocLob seems to be the sheik ditto master. In Fact, I think he's only lost one to bonfire10 all year and that's it. Wins over Jflex, Bbatts, Chem, and Ben are all good, and he's only lost to 2Saint, Franz, Grab, and JoJo.

The man who owns one shirt (or many of the same shirt) has been doing what he always does: Taking names in the PNW. He's got wins on Fiction, Zuppy, and Aura, while only losing to Medz, Suf, Franz, and a non-ballot loss to Iceman. He's another person where it's very hard to judge with the lack of attendance to big tournaments.

Our second fox in a row, Aaron Thomas may be the love of so many people's lives, but damn is he hard to evaluate. He's got NO losses to players ranked below him besides a single game 5 last stock loss to Ben at GOML. But his best win is Trif, who's been relatively inactive this year so he's even harder to judge! Ugh, what a tough player to rank.

Our third fox in a row, Colin is another one of those players that barely met the activity requirement, so he was REALLY hard to rank. However, he's got wins on Krudo, Skerzo, Logan, and he's 2-0 on Grab while only having losses to Panda and Komodo at regionals, and that resume seems good enough to me for a top 60 spot.

Our fourth fox in a row, Azel's been trading sets with a lot of California's best recently. He's 1-1 Franz, Ralph, and Umarth, but has wins on Lucky, but a losing record to Kurv. It's an interesting proposition to figure out, and I can't wait to see him travel more.

Our fifth fox in a row, long time Luigi main gradually switches to fox and almost makes top 50 in his first full year with him. That bodes well for the future. 2-0 on SFAT, a Ginger win, and really good regional wins leads to a good placement for the man with the umlaut in his name.

Finally, our sixth fox in a row, he's of the best foxes vs Sheik in the world. Panda's been attending a lot of southern regionals and a few majors. He's picked up wins like Krudo, Skerzo, and Colbol along the way. However, he's just got to attend more majors and show more consistency on the loss to move him up even higher.

*Michael Buffer impersonation* Standing on the left side of the CSS screen, at 6 '6”, out of the United Kingdom, ELLLLLIOOTTTT GROSSSSMANNNNN!!!! Frenzy's North American tournament experiences have been more fruitful than many of his other European counterparts. He's been consistently beating top 40 players at every major he's been to this year, but his lackluster performances have been in Europe where he's lost to players like Lil Chief and Kingu. Traveling across to America and still doing this well is impressive nonetheless, but I'm sure he's not satisfied and we'll see him climb the ladder.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYUUUUUUUUUU UUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

He has a Mario? that he beat a Top 100 player with? Huh.

In all seriousness, Chu has a lot of great wins this year, beating Ben, Chem, Jflex, SluG, Wally, he just didn't attend enough to be ranked higher.

Fun Fact: Lunar Dusk doesn't have an accent despite the fact he grew up in Quebec because he watched so many gaming youtube videos as a young teenager. One of the nicest guys in the melee scene, Jean-Christophe Léger-Héroux (one of the best names in the scene as well), picked up some great wins on Joshman, Magi, Rishi, and more. Melee Stats has done a great job sponsoring him so we'll definitely be seeing more of him at events soon.

A Doctor Mario in Top 50? Is this 2014? Franz has had an incredible breakout year where he's beaten many great players like KoDoRiN, Polish, and FatGoku, while not having many losses. He started traveling at the end of this year, so I'm hoping to see even more of him. Shoutout to his reverse mains set vs Xela at a local where Xela double caped a stitch face.

Basically inactive throughout the first half of the year, we saw Medz's first outing at Smash Factor 9 where he beat the entire field, including Wizzrobe, before getting beaten in Grands and the reset by Wizzrobe for 2nd. The rest of the year he picked up good wins like bobby big ballz and Zamu, but really didn't attend that much.

Another player who traveled a lot is Skerzo. It felt like if you saw a tournament this year, Skerzo probably made top 32. His first half of the year was definitely really strong, but the second half had some bumps in it like a 65th at Big House with no notable wins or a 33rd at shine with a loss to Louis. However, he still finds himself high on this list, with wins like Ginger, Joshman, and Spark that are hard to ignore. Don't get it twisted, Chicago's #1 is going to keep grinding and be back with a vengeance.

One of New York's most prolific local attenders, 2Saint was a regional legend this year. He attended 6 different regionals, with his best wins being TheSwooper and Lucky, but he just couldn't make that deep run and pick up some wins at a major that he needed to move him up the rankings.

The most interesting thing to me about Aura this year is that he picked up a Sheik for some matchups. On top of a secondary, Aura has had a very consistent year with not many losses to players outside the top 60 besides Nickemwit. He's got a great moky win and a great Soonsay win, let's see if he can put more foxes in the blender in 2023.

Finishing in the top 30 of the Summer MPGR, Smashdaddy went MIA in the second half of the year besides his Smash Factor 9 appearance. His wins in the first half were great and have aged well, especially the Soonsay and Lunar Dusk wins. Hopefully he returns to active competitive play soon.

Rishi's a player who didn't show up to events outside of random locals and the Summit VIP bracket until Super Smash Con 2022, where he went on a run to 7th beating Khryke, Zuppy, and Magi, before finally bowing out to he fellow swordsman Zain. He continued to do well at Ludwig Smash Invitational and Apex before ending out the year with some more Nightclub victories, like normal.

Only using their falco secondary until October, Trif was a hard one to rank. We know how good they are, but they didn't attend much. However, they finally did it: They beat Leffen. After all these torturous years, Trif finally was able to beat the Swede at Dreamhack Rotterdam 2022. They followed a 3rd place up there with a 1st at HFLAN and a 1st at Tech Republic VI, a French regional.

The third best fox in Canada is known for his trademark aerial double shine and his TAS play, and he converted some of that to tournaments. While dominating the salt mine all year, he had great wins like Aklo, Spark, and TheSWOOPER while not really losing to many players. Only losing to two players off the ballot, one of them being 100 Grand who would suicide dair him in game 5 last stock on Dreamland 64 in winners quarters of 4M: Minnesota Melee Monthly where the entire crowd popped off and Zuppy hates that moment and refuses to talk about it. He still won that tournament anyways, reverse 3-0ing 100 Grand later in bracket and winning 6 sets over top 100 players in a crazy losers run.

Recently announcing his switch to being a Ganon main, Mekk played this entire year as a Falcon main, and he did not stop… attending events. Hell, he took Greyhound buses twice up to Minnesota just to attend the monthlies. Having two great wins in Axe and SluG on top of others is really nice to go with some amazing performances like Shine.

Jflex was a hard one for me to rank. He beat aMSa… but it's at a local. I'm gonna count the win, but much less than I would if it were a regional or major, but I'm not counting it against aMSa for losing at all. Other than that, he had a great Function 2 beating moky, but he's had some other lackluster regional performances, but he's really shined at majors.

Robert Large Testicles was back on his grind again this year. The man with the most sets played on startgg for 2 years running (can he make it a third this year?) took some names like n0ne, Krudo, and Magi. However, he also fell to players like Palpa, Ringler, and DMT. He's all over the place, just like his stream. Let's see if his 2023 is just as crazy.

Man, was Zamu everywhere. Zamu attended 16 different Majors/Regionals while making most of his locals, despite those tournaments mostly being in different states. His list of ballot wins is 23 long, one of the longest of people outside the top 8 (if not the longest). All this traveling comes with a lot of losses too, but man do I have to reward the attendance.

The highest mid-tier main not named Pikachu on this list, TheSWOOPER's first half of the year was stellar. A win on iBDW and SluG? Amazing. Second half of the year, they lacked consistency needed to be higher on this list with losses to players like dansdaman, Tommy, Blue, and GodTouch.

Mostly inactive for the second half of the year, ZIP ZIP extraordinaire Swift took a lot of names in 2022. Aklo, Magi, and Zuppy are their biggest wins, with their only losses being TheSWOOPER and BBatts, but the thing hurting their placement on this list the most is the lack of attendance and lack of top 15 wins, which I'm sure he's capable of.

Salt's electric playstyle has garnered them a bunch of fans since their appearance at Smash Summit 13, where they essentially put on a combo video in their 9th place finish. They've got great wins, but if they wanna see themselves higher on this list, they've gotta clean up the losses to players like Gahtzu and Eve.

After going to Pakistan for an extended period of time, Spark traveled all over for regionals. He visited Seattle, London, San Diego, St. Paul, Toronto, and Vegas all for events that weren't even majors. This dedication to attending regionals (and doing well at them) as well as some great wins like KoDoRiN, S2J, and Joshman has landed him in a good position.

After becoming Mango's morning streamer, Joey found new life in Melee. He looks more invigorated than ever when competing, and it shows in his play. He's beaten SluG, Ginger, and Polish, and hasn't picked up that many bad losses along the way. I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep up his momentum into 2023.

Gio's one of the most likable guys in the smash scene, and he's one of the most active too. Attending a ton of majors and what feels like almost every local in SoCal, he's picked up a laundry list of wins that includes n0ne, Ginger, Krudo, and Magi. He's got some losses like SA Nick, Ober, and Younger that are holding him back from being higher, but hey, when he attends that much he's bound to pick up some losses.

After switching to z-jump, SFAT has a bit of a rougher time this year than in the past, but he's still his consistent top 30 self. The biggest thing for me not putting him higher is his lack of a major win. His best win is S2J, who's a great player, but not near some of the wins that other players above him have. He's capable of beating anyone though (except maybe Hungrybox), so don't be surprised to see him go even with your favorite top player.

Polish has had a weird year. They overslept twice for majors that they could have possibly had good bracket paths for. They didn't play Peach for months on end (or sometimes even the game). But yet, they still had a pretty great year. A win on aMSa, a win on KoDoRiN, and a win on Fiction are three great points on their resume. Second half of the year had some low points like losing to Franz with some of the weirdest game endings you'll ever see, but they'll do amazing things in 2023.

Seemingly out of nowhere, SFOP's incredibly technical fox was incredibly consistent in a year where not many were. Sure, it's a small sample size, which lowers his rank a bit, but when your worst loss is Aklo and you've got wins over KoDoRiN, Joshman, Krudo, and SFAT? You're off to a great start as a newly minted top 30 player.

Magi's year is one of inconsistency. On one hand, she had a lot of amazing wins in the top 20 including Axe, moky, and Plup. On the other hand, she's got quite a few suspect losses, including up and comers Palpa, Panko, and Siremeris. She's got a massive army of fans, don't be surprised to see them cheering her on in 2023 as she gives the puppy the boots.

Krudo's year was marked by ups and downs. Wins on iBDW, KoDoRiN, and Joshman are all amazing, but then he had some losses in the 40-80 range: Panda (who has been beating him in region solidly), Colbol, Azel, Chem, and Akir (who isn't on the ballot, but would be with more attendance). If he can gain consistency and get a few more big wins, the man in the Xbox 360 and Faze hoodies' stock could rise.

After not attending much in the first half of the year, Soonsay had a breakout tournament at Big House, where he beat Leffen, Pipsqueak, and S2J en route to a 5th place finish. There, he qualified for Summit where he beat Leffen and Pipsqueak AGAIN as well as KoDoRiN. He's just a major upwards trajectory for 2023, let's hope he can continue that.

Ginger had a hot start to the ranking period, immediately getting 9th at Genesis with a win on Plup and then following it up with a 1st at Function 2 beating moky and SluG. He cooled down in the 2nd half of the year, gaining some less than top 30 losses to Mekk, Skerzo, Kurv, Dawson, and Gahtzu, and it felt like he needed one more major win to help move him up the ranks.

Pipsqueak's the best player in the world (according to Low Tide City 2022), and it's not up for debate. Everyone's favorite twitter interaction-farming swede started off with a few lower top 100 losses like Mad Tyro, Logan, and BBatts but he's finishing inside the top 20, which was made possible by his strong end of the year. He beat Hungrybox and Mango in back to back tournaments! Let's see if he can continue his great form into 2023.

Finally changing his tag from Sora to Joshman, Australia's representative on an international stage cemented his spot in the top 20. Beating iBDW and aMSa at GOML in route to a 4th place finish, he picked up a bunch of other great wins like KoDoRiN, lloD, and moky throughout the year. However, he's also got a few lower tier losses like Lunar Dusk, and especially JWick at Genesis 8. But hey, that was the start of the year and he's looked much better in the second half. I hope he recovers fully from his arm injury very soon.

Despite being absent for the first half of the year, Wizzrobe had 3 outings and they were all super consistent. Beating aMSa, Axe, KoDoRiN, and more, he only dropped one set to a player outside of the current top 8. That set was to Medz, at Smash Factor 9, his first tournament back that he'd go on to win and double eliminate Medz in Grand Finals. Who knows what 2023 holds with health issues holding him back, but I wish him a speedy recovery.

The only Link appearing on the list (as a secondary), Aklo's come out of his shell and finally started to travel a bit more outside of the east coast. Ludwig Smash Invitational saw him beat S2J, Fiction, and Pipsqueak (who beat him earlier). He's also got wins on iBDW at The Nightclub VIP AND Apex 2022, and doesn't really have that bad of losses. I'm hoping he travels even more in 2023.

n0ne's first half of the year was spectacular, beating Hungrybox at Genesis with the 'Stomp Heard Round the World' and having a 1-0 record on aMSa. However, his second half of the year wasn't as consistent, where he took some rough losses to bobby big ballz, Drephen, and Rishi. Yet still, his wins at the top level were too good to be ignored in favor of a few bad losses.

Johnny's year was marked by one major accomplishment: Beating Hungrybox offline for the first time EVER. He also was able to beat Zain for the first time offline since Battle of BC 3. With other wins on Axe, moky, and Hungrybox, he's shown that he can beat the players above him, but he's gotta do it consistently to make himself higher on the list.

Fiction's won 40 Verdugos. FOURTY. Put the next major in Verdugo and he's winning it. Shep's been super consistent all year, placing just about his seed if not better in almost all the tournaments he's been to this year. He's got a Mango win and a Plup win, but he's gonna need more than just consistency to end up in the top 10 next year, he's gonna need to pick up a few more top level wins and show that he can carry his Verdugo aura into majors.

One of the most technical players in the world, moky's had a great year with amazing peaks like being 2-1 on aMSa and 1-0 on iBDW (he may be the best fox ditto player in the world), but that Hungrybox LAN win has eluded him and he hasn't shown the ability to beat his Friday stream rival Zain. He got more consistent with his results towards the end of the year, , which is what he's going to need to keep rising up the ladder.

John Ko is known for being an incredibly hard worker. He streams almost every day grinding melee and trying to improve, and he's had a great year. Wins over Mang0, iBDW, and Hungrybox are great, but he's missing that consistency and wins that keep him from moving up a few spots.

Everyone's favorite Doctor (not Mario) is in at #11. Starting off the year with a super strong first half with wins over Zain and Leffen, lloD wasn't able to attend much due to, you know, being a Doctor. He's the best Peach in the world right now, and he's pushing the character to its limits in a meta where everyone says “Peach can't do it”. I hope he'll be able to find some time off from his profession to play some more of everyone's favorite children's party game.

Mr. 29 himself is no longer Mr. 29. Axe rose to the occasion the second half of the year, and showed out. Reinventing his pika play and picking up a pocket fox that's taken it to Hungrybox, Axe looks hungry. Wins on Zain, Jmook, and Leffen bodes well for his future, but that elusive Hungrybox win is still evading him. Don't be surprised to see mango be a roadblock either, even though many of their sets are nail biters. Truly one of the nicest people in the community, I'd love to see him win a major again.

When Wobbling was banned, it seemed like all the notable ICs stopped playing or dropped off massively. Now, we've got an Ice Climbers main in the top 10. He's shown ability to go toe to toe with almost anyone, having wins over Zain, Jmook, and Leffen, and bringing Hungrybox to game 5. However, he's gonna need a little bit of bracket luck if he wants to win his first major, as he needs to avoid aMSa, cody, and any really good peach.

Plup didn't attend much this year, but when he did he made his presence felt. He wasn't able to win a major this year, but we all know he's capable of it. He didn't really lose to anyone outside of the top 8 except for Fiction, Ginger, and Magi, signaling that Falco could be a problem going forward into the future. He's also going to be a serious roadblock to aMSa's path to #1 if he starts attending again, beating him 25-2 in an online event. When he's on, he looks like the best player in the world, let's see if he can end there next year.

Wumbo William took a break for much of the year to pursue Guilty Gear: Strive and take care of his new puppy (please post more pictures, Leffen), but he's a top level competitor in another game named Melee. He also showed us he's still capable of winning majors when he won Battle of BC, but he's gotta be more consistent against the top echelon of players and pick up some more major wins if he wants to end up higher.

Breaking onto the scene after getting 2nd at Genesis 8, Jmook proved that run wasn't a fluke with his performances for the rest of the year, never finishing outside of the top 8 at a major. Jmook's had incredible consistency and has proven he's capable of beating anyone in the world, even his bracket demon Hungrybox (who he's had so many painful 2-3 sets with this year). That major win is coming, and everyone knows it. The question is: When is he gonna do it?

Juan Debiedma. HGod. HChrist. HDaddy. Whatever you want to call him, Clutchbox arrives eventually. After a super large slump online in 2021, we saw Hungrybox return to his top-5 level form in 2022. He got his first major win in a while at GOML and followed it up with another win at Riptide a few months later. His H2H that sticks out is his 11-1 vs Jmook, but he's gotta figure out a way to flip the losing H2Hs against all 4 players above him if he wants to be back in pole position.

iBDW entered the year as one of the favorites for #1 and he was damn well close for the entirety of 2022. With arguably best H2Hs at the top level, his biggest reason for him not being higher on this ranking is due to his string of losses to fox mains outside of the Top 10, as well as less majors than the top guys. With all that being said, though, he's suffered some incredibly unfortunate setbacks outside of the game, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him on top next year.

Many melee fans and stats nerds (including myself) thought that aMSa's chances to win a major were less than 1/100 going into The Big House 10. He didn't care, he piloted a mid tier to win the most stacked open-bracket tournament of all time (along with two other majors this year). With his move to British Columbia this year, and his seeming willingness to attend locals in the area, we'll get to see even more of him in 2023. *Bobby Scar voice* A YOSHI!!!

Funny how we got to the "Mango/Zain" tier by the end of the year, huh? After Mango finished #11 on the Summer MPGR, TheCrimsonBlur posed a question that he was asked: "Will Mango ever win a major again?". The answer, was yes. Mango won four majors in the second half of the year, returning to the form that we all knew he was capable of, even if we doubted it for a tiny bit of time.

The prince who was promised. We all knew it was gonna be him, didn't we? It felt like destiny. After last year's tiering and him being the #1 online clearly for around a year, he was hunting for that #1 and he finally got it. After a blistering start to the year, winning Genesis and Pound back to back, he was on the hunt for more, but didn't find another major win until Shine 2022, in August. Just when people were starting to doubt if he was #1, he won the Ludwig Smash Invitational, the most stacked event of all time, to seal his second supermajor and fourth major win of the year.