Welcome to the second day of the very first PMRank! This week features long-standing veterans of the game as well as some faces more commonly associated with other Smash titles. We are taking a short break tomorrow and will be back Thursday with ranks 30-21.
PMRank is a panel-based Power Ranking of the top 50 Project M players worldwide. Players, commentators, and tournament organizers within the community had the opportunity to apply to be panelists, and we ended up with about 20 panelists by the time of the project's conclusion. Initially, 85 players were qualified to be ranked based on their placings and attendance at major Project M events throughout 2016. Only 50 highly skilled players made the final list.
With that information in mind, the panelists were given the following prompt:
Given all of the results of 2016 in Project M, if everyone on this list entered 50 tournaments, who on average would place the best?
Panelists were also tasked with rating each player on their list from 1-10, with the lowest ranking player given a 1 and the highest a 10, scaling it appropriately. For each player, the highest and lowest rating on all panelists lists were removed when averaging votes to reduce variance.
This project would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers who helped us engineer spreadsheets, track down tournament data, construct head-to-head charts, create and revise ranking ballots, write and edit player summaries, and gather photographs. A number of photographers have given us permission to use their high-quality photographs of Project M players for the purposes of this project as well.
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday with Rank 40.
Rating: 4.927
Other Notable Results: 2nd at Infinity and Beyond 108 (LTC 4 Pre-Game), 4th at BOSS 3, 7th at Clutch City Clash, 7th at Super Bit Wars 4, 9th at Salty Juans 3
Hailing from Dallas, TX and starting 2016 off as the most-improved DFW player in 2015, Michael "Luck" Provonsil had a successful year. Finally traveling out of state to multiple events, Luck showcased his skills by placing top 32 at Big Balc, Salty Juans 3, Rewired and Olympus. In-state, Luck secured top 8 placings at Low Tier City 4 and Clutch City Clash.
Backed by the support of his DFW-based crew Squander Squad, Luck used his banana-centric aggression and newfound fundamentals to secure wins on iPunchKidsz, Machiavelli, StereoKiDD, Pikmon, and many others.
Written by: Strong Bad
Rating: 4.954
Other Notable Results: 2nd at Wreck the Halls 2
Aleck “Aki” Henderson rose to fame in the Project M scene at Smash and Splash 2 after upsetting the eventual winner of the tournament, Mr Lz. After beating multiple high level Game & Watch players at that tournament, he became known as “the Game & Watch slayer”. This Ness main is the king of Washington state, earning #1 on its PR over players like Bladewise, Chevy, and Pikmon.
His most notable tournament result is a top 8 finish at the largest tournament of the year, Smash and Splash 2, and he also got 2nd at Wreck the Halls 2. In addition to his hallmark victory over Mr Lz, Aki boasts wins over Marshall, Dakpo, and Red Ranger.
Written by: Pikmon
Photo Credit: Casey “CND” Ruiz
Rating: 5.128
Other Notable Results: 3rd at Project Clash 14 (Olympus Pre-Game), 5th at Soirée du Smash, 9th at Clutch City Clash
Not only is Jason “Jason Waterfalls” Treul one of Project M's most beloved commentators, but he’s one of the most fearsome Zero Suit Samus players in the business. Jason focuses on tricky movement and platform play to navigate neutral and has used all the tricks in the book to make ZSS’s ostensibly straightforward recovery seem unlimited in potential.
Jason’s best events were towards the end of the year at Olympus and Rewired, where he claimed wins over players like Aion, Aki, Envy, and Flipp.
Written by: Maddox
Rating: 5.271Other Notable Results: 2nd at Project MSU 3, 3rd at New Fish, 5th at Shots Fired 2
While Elliot Bastien “Ally” Carroza-Oyarce has largely moved on from Project M to pursue Smash Wii U, his Ike still stands as one of the best in Project M history. Attending only a few Project M tournaments in 2016, Ally used his Brawl-born, calculated playstyle and distinctive forward-smashes to secure 5th place at Shots Fired 2 and 3rd at New Fish, where he defeated Flipp in Winner’s Semis. Ally also holds wins over Hyperflame, Marshall, and Mr Lz.
Written by: Sundark
Rating: 5.378Other Notable Results: 1st at Tussle Town, 4th at Push More Buttons, 5th at Kings of the North V, 9th at Revelation 2016
Evan “Sothe” Cunningham’s fast-paced Ivysaur exploded onto the national scene at the end of 2015 when he defeated Professor Pro at Kings of the North 4 in two high-octane Grand Finals sets. Sothe’s style is a special breed of high-damage combos into frequent Solar Beams, subverting the expectation of a defensive, calculated Ivysaur.
While he was unable to attend many national events in 2016, Sothe’s smart and technical play helped him make his way to 1st place at Midwest regional Tussle Town, and to take home wins over the likes of Ripple, Dirtboy and Marshall in tournament over the course of the year. Perhaps most notably, Sothe was able to attend the largest tournament of 2016, Smash and Splash 2, where he claimed 5th place and reminded the world that Ivysaur is still a force to be reckoned with.
Written by: Sabre
Rating: 5.530
Other Notable Results: 2nd at Tales of Jank 7, 4th at Kings of the North V, 7th at EVO 2016, 9th at Push More Buttons
Marshall “Marshall” Stock was one of the greatest surprises of 2016, rising from a genuinely unknown player outside of the Midwest to national prominence over the course of one weekend. When Wisconsin’s top ranked Game & Watch got his chance to enter a national at Smash and Splash 2, Marshall shocked the Project M scene by defeating Hungrybox, Ripple and Junebug on his way to an incredible 3rd place finish. Marshall went on to defeat Hungrybox again at Evo 2016, and would take top 4 placings at Nexus, Endgame and Kings of the North 5 in the second half of the year. Marshall easily met his fundraising goal to be flown out to the Bigger Balc in 2017, and will no doubt bring the Muk Lyfe name to yet another big stage.
Written by: Sabre
Rating: 5.721
Other Notable Results: 3rd at Clutch City Clash, 3rd at Infinity and Beyond 108 (LTC 4 Pre-Game), 5th at Gauntlet 6, 9th at Blacklisted 2
Nick “Boiko” Boiko was nothing less than solid in 2016, with consistent top 16 placings at East Coast regionals and strong performances at out of region nationals. Boiko’s strong Ness fundamentals, combined with his newly learned Meta Knight, caught players off guard and brought him victories over the likes of Machiavelli and Kycse, before his breakout tournament at Clutch City Clash.
At this Texas major, Boiko defeated Oracle and double eliminated Aero to take 3rd place at the event. While Boiko devotes additional time to the scene through TOing various NY/NJ tournaments, a commitment that may undercut his ability to compete at his best, he has certainly proven a viable threat to any opponent he meets in bracket.
Written by: Sabre
Photo Credit: Casey “CND” Ruiz
Rating: 5.756
Other Notable Results: 13th at Shots Fired 2, 13th at Clutch City Clash
Responsible for developing much of Wario’s modern metagame, Adam "Strong Bad" Oliver started 2016 off with a bang, placing 5th at FinalBOSS with a win on StereoKiDD. Strong Bad makes the most of his aggression with a devastating punish game utilizing Chomp like no other Wario player, at times stringing multiple together into a fatal chain-Chomp.
His results continued to impress throughout the year: he made top 16 at Super Bit Wars 4 and Clutch City Clash, knocked out Hero of Time and Bacon Pancakes on his way to a top 8 placing at Low Tier City 4, and defeated Silly Kyle and Envy to place 9th at Rewired. Strong Bad plans to move to Northern California soon, where he aims to sharpen his skills against the region’s best in 2017.
Written by: FlashingFire
Other Notable Results: 4th at Nebulous Prime #33, 5th at Nebulous Prime #36 (Supernova Pre-Game)
For as long as Project M has been around, Trent “Zhime” Moss has been the most consistent, creative Zelda specialist in the game. Though often unranked in NY/NJ due to inactivity, The Princess of Project M showed he still has what it takes with a stunning 5th place placing at Supernova, beating out-of-region players like iPunchKidsz and Red Ranger at one of the most stacked tournaments of the year.
He’s no slouch in his own region too, boasting victories at locals against Malachi, Zubat, Gallo, and Phresh. It’s unlikely we’ll see too much more of him in 2017, but when we do, expect to see obscenely complicated Din’s Fire setups and a whole lot of heels to the face.
Written by: Apollo Ali
Other Notable Results: 3rd at EVO 2016, 9th at Shots Fired 2, 13th at Super Smash Con 2016
Although melee veteran Arjun “lloD” Malhotra doesn’t show up too often at Project M majors, his rare appearances leave quite the impression. His Peach gave him victories over every top player in MDVA in 2016, including Junebug, Hyperflame and BaconPancakes, and he also earned national-level victories over Switch, iPunchKidsz, Kycse, and Dirtboy.
After a brief hiatus in Summer 2016, he made his comeback with a developing Lucario secondary and a resurgence in local attendance. If lloD decides to focus on Project M as much as he does in Melee, we may see a new dominant threat in 2017.
Written by: reslived
Rest of the List
Credits
PMRank Staff: Adam “Strong Bad” Oliver, Cody “Yata!” Anderson, Brennan “FlashingFire” Connolly, Devin “reslived” Gajewski, Nick “Boiko” Boiko.
Graphic Design: Eric “FingerStripes” Bohorquez, Desiree “TinyKasama” Macasieb
Editing: Adam “Strong Bad” Oliver, Ahmed “Apollo Ali” Akbar, Cody “Yata!” Anderson, Brennan “FlashingFire” Connolly, Justin "Popi" Banusing, et al.
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