PGStats has revealed the first half of PGRv4's Top 20, and it's certainly a surprising one, with fresh new faces, former top 10 players, and a rising star or two.
Starting off the Top 20 is Jason "ANTi" Bates. While he wasn't as dominant in 2017 as in 2016, he certainly had some impressive results in the latter half of the year, including Top 8 finishes at Dreamhack Atlanta, PAX Arena West, and GameTyrant Expo and an impressive record against fellow top players throughout the season. At Dreamhack Atlanta, he eliminated Nicholas "Ned" Dovel, Zack "CaptainZack" Lauth, Jamaal "Samsora" Morris Jr. and Ramin "Mr.R" Delshad in an impressive losers bracket run. At Shine 2017, while he failed to make it into Top 16, he scored a win against fellow New Yorker Eric "Mr.E" Weber in pools. At PAX Arena West, he not only beat Leo "MkLeo" Lopez Perez but scored a second win against CaptainZack. He also scored early wins against both Griffin "Fatality" Miller and Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey at GT-X.
At 19th place is Tyler "Marss" Martins. While he's had a drop in results at majors since the first half of 2017, he's still had some strong showings. While he only placed 13th at Shine and 17th at GT-X, he beat Justise "MVD" Negron at the former and James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson at the latter. He also had an impressive losers run at The Big House 7, scoring wins against CaptainZack, VoiD, Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce, MVD, and even Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios before beating Brian "Cosmos" Kalu in losers finals and finishing in 2nd place after his loss to Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby in grand finals.
Coming in at 18th is Zack "CaptainZack" Lauth. While he had an incredibly strong showing in the first half of 2017, placing 7th on PGRv3, his results in the latter half of the year have suffered a noticeable decline, placing top 8 at only a single major. That said, he still had plenty of wins against other top players. He beat ANTi at EVO 2017, and while he didn't have any notable wins at Dreamhack Atlanta or Super Smash Con, he would go on to have his strongest performance of the season at 2GGC SCR Saga. There, he not only beat fellow Bayonetta main Saleem "Salem" Young, but eliminated both Ally and Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada" before losing to MkLeo in top 8 of losers bracket. His results throughout the rest of the season were also fairly, with wins against Marss, MkLeo and Komorikiri, two wins against Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura and a second win against Nairo.
Brian "Cosmos" Kalu makes his PGR debut at 17th place. He's had strong results throughout late 2017, with consistent top 32 placements at majors throughout the season and ninth place finishes at both 2GGC ARMS Saga and Shine, though his real breakout performance came at The Big House 7, where he beat ZeRo, VoiD, and Salem in winners bracket before losing to Dabuz in winners finals and Marss in losers finals, finishing in 3rd place. He also beat both Abadango and Rich Brown at 2GGC Fire Emblem Saga.
16th place goes to Rei "Komorikiri" Furukawa, who's had somewhat mixed results throughout the season. He started off the season strong at ARMS Saga, where he beat Matt "Elegant" Fitzpatrick and Larry "Larry Lurr" Holland before finishing in 5th place, then beat Mr.R at EVO, where he finished in 13th place. His performance at Super Smash Con and SCR Saga was a bit lackluster, finishing 17th at the former and 9th at the latter without any notable set wins against other top players. He placed 7th at Shine, with set wins against Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Julian "Zinoto" Carrington and Chris "WaDi" Boston. Komorikiri then went on to beat Cosmos at GT-X and Larry Lurr at The Big House, where he placed 17th and ninth, respectively. He placed 3rd at Fire Emblem Saga, where he beat Tyrell "NAKAT" Coleman, MkLeo and Manny Medina before losing to Salem in winners finals and Nairo in losers finals. He also beat Mr.E at IBP Masters Showdown before finishing in 4th place, before finishing off the season with a 16th place finish at the 2GG Championship, where he beat CaptainZack in the group stage.
At 15th place is Yuta "Abadango" Kawamura, placing below top 10 for the first time in PGR's history. While he started and ended the season strong, with 13th and ninth place finishes at ARMS Saga and EVO, respectively, and seventh place finishes at both MKLeo Saga and the 2GG Championship, his results in the middle of the season were a bit more lackluster, only making top 32 at SCR Saga, GT-X, The Big House and FE Saga and failing to make it even that far at Super Smash Con. Nevertheless, he's had some strong results against other top players, including wins against MVD, fellow Japanese player Tetsuya "Raito" Ishiguro and fellow Mewtwo main WaDi at EVO. He also scored a win against Eric "ESAM" Lew at The Big House 7 and wins against Salem and fellow Mewtwo main Rich Brown and a second win against ESAM a MkLeo Saga. He finished off the season with a strong performance at the 2GG Championship, where he beat Komorikiri, Nairo and CaptainZack.
Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce takes 14th place. Formerly top 10 on previous iterations of the PGR, placing as high as 2nd place on PGRv2, Ally has had something of a rough season. His results at S+ tier tournaments have been lackluster, placing 49th at EVO and failing to attend MkLeo Saga at all. He did, however, have a strong showing at A and S tier events throughout the season. He beat both Mason "Locus" Charlton and ANTi at SCR Saga and took sets off Tweek and Komorikiri at Shine before finishing in 5th place. He also beat Calib "Konga" Byers, Larry Lurr and VoiD and took a second set off Tweek in group phase at PAX Arena West before taking a set off ANTi and eliminating VoiD during the final bracket, taking 4th place. At GT-X, he took sets off Marss, Mr.E and Komorikiri before finishing in 7th place. He finished off the season with a strong performance at the 2GG Championship, beating WaDi and taking yet another set off Tweek in the group stage before taking a set off Nairo in the playoff group.
At 13th place is Tamim "Mistake" Omary, making his PGR debut. While he started off his season well enough, with wins against Noriyuki "Kirihara" Kirihara and Fatality and a 17th place finish at EVO, his real breakout performances came at Super Smash Con and SCR Saga. Super Smash Con, he upset ESAM in Phase 2 pools before getting knocked into losers bracket by WaDi. He then eliminated both Chris "Falln" Rugg and Salem before he was eliminated by Mr.R, coming in 5th. At SCR Saga, he had an impressive losers run, eliminating Takuto "Kameme" Ono, Komorikiri, Salem, and VoiD from bracket before being eliminated himself by MkLeo, finishing 4th. He also finished 9th at Shine 2017, where he double-eliminated Locus and took a set off Marss. Some of his strongest set wins came from B and C tier events, including wins against ZeRo, Larry Lurr, ANTi, Samsora, and fellow Bayonetta main CaptainZack.
Coming in at 12th is Chris "WaDi" Boston, making a huge jump from his previous ranking of 46. While he didn't attend many majors in late 2017, his results at the ones he did attend certainly stand out. At EVO, he took sets off Tomoyasu "Earth" Yamakawa, Samsora, Yuya "9B" Araki, and Ryuto "Ranai" Hayashi, finishing 13th. He took sets off both CaptainZack and Mistake at Super Smash Con before finishing 5th. He also beat Zinoto and ESAM at Shine and took sets off Samsora, Cosmos and Mistake at Fire Emblem Saga. At MkLeo Saga, he beat both ZeRo and Bharat "Lima" Chintapalli before finishing in 5th place. He finished the season off with a fairly strong showing at the 2GG Championship, taking sets off Tweek and VoiD.
And topping off this batch of rankings is Matt "Elegant" Fitzpatrick. While he was already an established name in the scene, with wins against top players like Mr.R, he showed off the full extent of what he and his Luigi are capable of at GT-X and the 2GG Championship. He gave an unprecedented performance at GT-X, taking sets off Ally, NAKAT, Samsora and Ally before beating MkLeo in winners finals and nearly beating him again in one of the most intense grand finals sets of 2017. While his performances at FE Saga and MkLeo Saga were nothing to write home about, he did beat Konga and take another set off Mr.R at the latter. He finished off the season with another astounding performance at the 2GG Championships, taking sets off Larry Lurr and Fatality in the group stage, followed by wins against Nairo, Salem and Ally in the playoff group and a win against Kengo "KEN" Suzuki in the final championship bracket.
Author's Note: What are your thoughts on what's been revealed so far? Who do you think will make Top 10? Let us know in the comments.
