El Glenntxo
Smash Rookie
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2022
- Messages
- 1
Introduction
Now almost 3 years since the last European Power Rankings and after the biggest drought in tournaments the game has ever seen, the European Project M Backroom finally feels capable of confidently listing and ranking the best players of the continent. Even though the pandemic hit organizers hard, slowly but surely the scene has been healing and in 2022 we have had almost 1600 tournament sets to extract data from. These spell out a very different picture from what we showed pre-pandemic, and even though no ranked players have begun playing during the COVID pandemic, you will find plenty of new (although old) faces joining the rankings for the first time.
Ranking specifics
Spanning from HFLAN 2021 in November to HFLAN 2022 also in November, 34 tournaments have been considered for the rankings, from the 3 most active countries in Europe being Spain, France and the Netherlands, as well as the international British tournament Not Fête. Tournaments from regions which had no player crossover with the main tournaments throughout the whole year were discarded since they were unfeasible to merge with the ranking players.
While some tournaments have been run in 3.6 (Netherlands and Spain) and some have been run in P+ (France), we have decided to include both in a mixed ranking since the top players from each game performed very well in either version, with very respectable placings from French players in 3.6 tournaments as well as tournament wins in P+ tournaments from 3.6 region players, and thus we believe it is possible for both versions to be ranked under the same rankings so as to not split the continent on this topic.
The Panel
The panel consisted of figureheads from all 3 main regions, with some of the most representative personalities from each region being included. These are:
Graphic design credits
Once again Santieur52 was the one who stepped up to the task of producing these amazing slides for the players you will see below. Without further ado, here's the best of Europe!
Starting off this list is the Spanish PM guru El Glenntxo. Dwelling in the capital, be it the Spanish or the French one, Glenntxo is one of the most enthusiastic people in the community regarding PM. He's always watching vods, podcasts and scouting tournament results all around the globe to stay updated on the status of every scene he can lay his eyes on. And what is all that effort for? Improving! Glenn has played more PM this last pandemic than probably any other. What used to be a consistent 1-2er in Spanish brackets is now a national threat ranked 5th in the country, with some fairly respectable French wins to boot! Unsatisfied with the way GaW was handled in P+, he has since become a dual main adding ZSS to his roster and switching between the two depending on the version. The contrast between the two characters may have played a role in Glenn's rapid learning of the game lately, and his results have carried him to 15th in this year's European Rankings. Whether it is TOing, commentating, creating content or competing, Glenn gives always his best at whatever he's doing, and you can bet he will be taking some names next year!
There is no doubt that you have seen an ¿Punch clip on Twitter; either screaming his lungs out at the screen or performing the sexiest combos you´ve ever seen with his space cat. ¿Punch is one of the pillars of the French Project M scene. Deep in this commentator´s heart there is a competitive fighter that should never be overlooked. His Mewtwo is technical, precise, modern, innovative and renown player worldwide, just like Nezergy said: "his Mewtwo is very enjoyable to watch”. His slight lack of constancy, having losses to Kine, Sabreur and WWS make him stand as 14th on this EUPR. However he ends the year with a bang with a top 4 placement in HFLAN 2022, taking a set from Ukelele and two from Kenmak. This tournament (commentated and TO´d by him) shows he can have a strong-as-steel mental game doing the craziest comebacks known to man. We hope to see more of ¿Punch in 2023, both as a meta-pushing Mewtwo and as a likable, extremely hype and charismatic commentator and streamer.
The beloved Bowser main from the Netherlands almost needs no introduction anymore for the average PM enjoyer in EU. His fast movement, hard reads and strong ledge / edgeguard game, always make Knullebibs a treat to watch. Unlike his explosive playstyle, Knullebibs has had a very consistent season overall up until Djoekenborg PM #2, where he managed to best Jonsch and Jules to place 3rd. A dutch PM tournament is unimaginable without the local friendly Bowser player in top 8, and we're sure he will surpass himself soon enough. Worth noticing is that Knullebibs has become a "dual main" using mainly Toon Link besides his trusted character. Maybe it is to cover some of his more rough matchups, or he just likes the character and his plethora of tech skill and options to be creative with. Regardless of which, if he manages to make it work, this might give him the final push to become a consistent top threat in Europe!
Coming in at number 12 is one of the most recognizable faces in the European Project M sphere. Content creator, TO, gymrat and musician all-in-one Miniboulet snatches 12th place after forever claiming he's retired thanks to a number of stellar performances in ArtsCade Open Cup and HFLAN 2021 with an impressive 4-0 record over Smash_Falco3 showing he clearly has the Ike player's number. As low as Mini's trust issues with his main character of Ivysaur may be, his creativity and ingenius are inversely proportional. We usually see Mini do all sorts of crazy windbox and seed bomb setups that wow even the most veteran spectators of the game. Nowadays you may not see Mini in bracket as much, as he's taken a step back to commentate and TO over competing, but he still is a beast crawling on netplay and who knows, maybe some day he will be back for more. This does not mean that he's given up on PM. Hardly so! He is currently the most successful PM streamer in Europe, carrying the Project M France twitch stream on his back with over 450 followers and multiple recurring subs, and may have single-handedly kept the PM flame alive during quarantine thanks to his unceasing efforts TOing big and generously prized events like European Titans, as well as being the current director and co-host of the exhibition match show European Challengers, which has a large following of European spectators that come together to watch him commentate some of the best in the continent duke it out. It is hard to fully contain in words how beloved Miniboulet is in the scene, but we can never be truly thankful for all the love and care he has put into our game. For now however, this very well deserved 12th place will have to do!
Now veterans of the European scene might find this an odd placement for the best Lucario player in the continent, dropping from 4th on last ranking's list down to 11th, but this year has not been so hot for Dom. After a stellar 2021 that saw him be arguably the best player in the Netherlands, he clearly has taken a step back and focused on other things than the game, dropping sets to players ranked much lower than the top's level. However and statistically unfortunate as it may be, everybody knows that Dom is a top threat and he has shown it with impressive wins such as FoutNL and Ukelele, to manage a very strong 3rd place finish at GSO27, defending the podium from a second international entry. Be it with Marth, Yoshi or his trusty Lucario, you can count on Dom to show you some of the most creative and out of the box thinking play out there, as well as a devastating punish game. If you see Dom on screen, keep your eyes peeled because it is a spectacle to behold and we can't wait to see what he does next year in 2023!
From the lovely city of Aachen, Jonsch takes the 10th spot in this iteration of the EUPM power ranking. Even if this time around he stands alone as the sole German representative, don’t let that dissuade from the man´s accomplishments. Having only participated in out of region events this season, he has stood his ground against the local favourites proving Germany is not done for. With a calculated but freeform new-school Marth he slays anybody who dares to @netplay on the EUPM discord. This hooded yet elegant prince has managed to take sets from Europe's best such as ¿Punch, Knullebibs or Dom gracefully taking down enemy lines like the tactician he is. He has not placed below 5th place at any event this year. However, travelling to every event has also gotten him some rough losses to knights trying to take his throne having dropped sets notably to Fourze and epikfaal. Because of this, he has become more and more accustomed to playing his secondary Ganondorf also known as “Jonschdorf” for matchups that in theory may be harder than for Marth, but with his uncanny game-sense and quick decision-making he makes them work anyway. No matter where or what character he´s playing, keep an eye on Jonny because he might be causing a ruckus in your local scene.
From the downtrodden streets of Madrid we can always expect to see PauldeCap tearing a hole through bracket. Those that have went to his tournaments will tell you how much fun they´ve had, but those that have fought him will also tell you of the nightmares they’ve had after they have been tap-danced on for the whole world to see. During the pandemic, the prodigy took a break from the game focusing on improving at other games and other endeavours outside of the dark painful world of buffer 8 Lucas practice and it almost looked like he would pass on the torch to other, even younger Spanish Lucas players. But all worries would be for naught as he continued what he once started before the pandemic establishing himself among Spain´s best. With his elegant, surgically precise and patient Lucas he has served as a road block for those trying to cause upsets on the teenager. He has had strong results during the season, but now being both a competitor and a TO, one would expect him to just keep performing according to seed. However, PauldeCap does not care about what is expected of him, and at that faithful day 2 of BlastOff he managed to take a set from the French juggernaut Smash_Falco3 ending in a respectable fourth place finish. All fans want to see from him is more out of region tournaments as he has not travelled abroad this year, like he once did last ranking season. Is it his stunning gameplay? Is it the outfits he sports at every bracket? Is it the roaring fans at every event he goes to chanting his name? We don´t know what it is, but we can´t get enough of this crowd-favourite Lucas superstar.
As an officially hybrid Melee and Project M player, FoutNL has been a gigantic presence in the European Project M scene this year. He has been the second biggest traveler in the community, traveling to all sorts of Dutch and French tournaments, as well as started TOing exclusive Project M events for the Dutch community as the solo organizer. The best official solo Peach main in the world has been as solid as ever this 2022, only dropping a single set to someone ranked below him on this list, and being a constant presence in podiums and Top 8s at every single event he entered. He sports one of the most technical Peach play you have ever seen, with creative use of subfloats and insane turnip management, you are always surprised by what play he does next. Watching Fout at the reins of his box is truly mesmerizing. Fout was recently ranked 2nd in his home country of the Netherlands, and he takes a well deserved (8th) place on the European leaderboard.
Ukelele might be the biggest splash into the rankings despite what you might find in #2. With a single international performance pre-pandemic drowning in pools at High Roller, no one in Europe but in Spain expected the hurricane that would take over the COVID times, and eventually snatch 7th in this year's rankings. Europe's favorite mechanical menace is a master of all playstyles, in a character usually seen as pretty straight forward. Switching from projectile zoning to extremely aggressive and opressive offense depending on what's needed, Ukelele is polite, is efficient, and has a plan to beat everyone he meets in bracket. He is also notably the youngest among the top 7 players by at least 5 years, signaling a very bright future awaiting the ROB player. While his national results might not reflect such a high ranking, that can be attributed to the relative strength of his home region of Spain. The moment he was let loose onto Europe, very few could stop him.
Those that have fought him only have one thing to say: “he is fast”, therefore he was renamed "RapideZeol" on the French PM discord. Playing Fox after years of playing Falco for a long portion of his career, Kazeol is now a scary player in bracket and netplay. He also has a huge arsenal of heavy hitting secondaries such as Diddy Kong, Sheik, Peach, Marth and Captain Falcon just to name a few. 2022 has not been a pleasant year for him due to a thumb injury forcing him to the switch to SmashBox. Nowadays he goes back and forth between GCC and SmashBox (since he has not yet mastered the rectangle) with the purpose of hurting himself no more. With the power of the R-Wing, he dances all over his opponents, using his wall of hitboxes and baits to punish mistakes immediately. He now stands as the second strongest French player losing only to *Zen, but he hasn’t had the chance to travel around Europe and has only been able to attend a handful of events where he has had stellar placements. Although we all remember the first iteration of European Challengers how he took a 5-0 loss to Spain’s tyrant: DNL, even if it was a netplay showmatch. We only have one request, watching Kazeol pair up against EUPM’s finest in order to see his speed and precision are contested or, like in France, he steamrolls all over the competition.
The first of the previous Top 3, Smash_Falco3 makes his appearance with a solid 5th place on this year's ranking. By far being the most well-traveled French player, with attendance both in the UK and Spain, SF3 has gone to everything he could this summer to prove his Ike still can kick serious rear after COVID put a halt to his stellar performance in 2019. Refreshed and energized, he has taken sets off the titan *Zen, a first in his career, and kept the gate closed for Ukelele and PauldeCap at BlastOff. While the French transition to P+ has brought plenty of headaches to the veteran swordsman, he has still managed to remain at the top with plenty of solid performances with his explosive yet methodic Ike. However, a rough comeback has not been the only thing the pandemic brought to S_F3. Sonic has now joined his roster of tournament characters to deal with problematic matchups he encounters at top European level such as Lucas and Charizard. While this may be a complete one-eighty from the generally slow Ike, he very impressively manages to make both work shifting playstyles on the fly mid set if he needs the switch. One can only wonder what next surprises Smash_Falco3 will bring next year. Maybe tackle on the title of the best in France? Maybe aim for the top of the continent like in 2019? No one knows, but we surely can't wait to find out!
The most veteran Dutch player has shown to be more than just to be alive and kicking this year. With a stellar season that has seen him drop no sets to his tulip loving brethren, as well as beaten his old nemesis Dom twice to none in a reversal of expectations, not much can be argued against Ace's inclusion as the best Dutch player on this list, and neither can be said about other players who didn't place above him. With his usual main duo of Wario and Ganondorf, expanded post pandemic with a Wolf inclusion, he has shown to have the perfect arsenal to combat whatever his opponents throw at him. Ace has dominated the Dutch scene, taking 1st place in their national rankings as well, and while he didn't have to contend with much pressure from abroad, as he has not traveled out of country, his results more than speak for himself, granting him a well deserved 4th best player in Europe in 2022.
An emblematic figure of the European Project M scene with his explosive and speedy Charizard, *Zen shows what´s needed to challenge the highest calibre of players. Even if he plays less at the moment (which is surely linked to Poilu moving to Canada), he stayed undefeated in France during the first half of the season with a 40-0 seasonal set count. It was only until the second half where he actually started dropping sets (notably to Kazeol and Smash_Falco3) and started to distance himself further from the game. We all remember his loss in the first iteration of European Challengers against Melody in a stunning 5-0. Even if it was a showmatch and there were no stakes, nowadays we know he is as not unbeatable as he was years prior. That being said, *Zen is still an anomaly in the competitive European Project M scene, having his timid appearance hiding a roaring with wild, unpredictable (HE FOOTSTOOLS WITH THE D-PAD), and elegant gameplay that is a treat to watch. There is no doubt there is more *Zen to come for the coming years and he will never stop turning heads with the Dracaufeu that once dominated Europe.
Oh boy, where to begin? This number and honor medal have a legend behind it, a myth, a folklore tale passed on by European veterans of the old man who didn't know how to L-Cancel or ledgehog and grew to take over Europe in less than 5 years. DNL's journey to the top is a total motivational story. As a long, and we mean long, time fan of the series, DNL had been mostly confined to playing with his brother and close friends for almost two decades. His eventual breakout at a small regional in Seville in 2017 beating everybody out of nowhere including some recognizable Spanish names while not doing any of the traditional advanced techniques people were used to call standard brought many eyes over the continent to witness a miracle run. How did he do it? Insanely good fundamentals and game-sense. DNL having played Smash for 20 years was not just for show of experience points, he understood the game very, very well. And even if he didn't know the technical aspects he was lacking, he would constantly outplay his opponents to grant him his first tournament win, at his very first Project M tournament.
But that was a fluke, right? He just beat mid level players, right? Oh how wrong everybody would be. Over the next several years DNL eventually learned the "standard" game and climbed the Spanish Power Rankings faster than anybody. His brutal punish game tied to brilliant game-sense and tight execution pushed many to the limits of their sanity, as he constantly 0 to death'd people with the most evil basketball dribbler to be born in the Gerudo Valley. Post-pandemic, DNL has been the scariest force dwelling in the Spanish tournaments. He hasn't gone out of country, but within it, he has won every single tournament he has attended, including 4 this year, while dropping no sets. Yes, that's right. He has a perfect record this year. The only real argument standing between him and the #1 spot is that he hasn't really competed against the great players from outside his home region of Spain, remaining instead as an unproven dormant giant.
However, while he was busy taking over Spain, the international scene grew scared of the King. Calling Spain a subpar region for "losing to a 3.6 Ganon" was a mere ticking time bomb for the inevitable. As soon as DNL got called to play a foreign player in Kazeol, ranked #2 in France at the time, in an exhibition match, he wasted no time demolishing him taking 5 games in less than 20 minutes, dropping none. This finally seemed to solidarize DNL's place within the European community, as a true titan and not a mere mythological entity. He is very real, and he will make you look like a fool as he runs you over in some of the fastest sets you've ever played. We have yet to see him perform against the other foreign titans, but one can only wait for his travels to come in 2023, where the rest of the old continent will pull all their courage to try to defeat the man with the power.
Finally and rounding out the list, we ironically have the player who has travelled around the world to do some good old Spanish Lucas damage. Melody, the artist formerly known as Trucker Hat is well known within and outside Europe for his APM, immaculate game-sense, and determination to succeed no matter the foe. The Lucas player has had an interesting couple of years since the last PR. Before the pandemic there were talks of him potentially being the strongest player in Europe, with his win at High Roller 2. Unfortuately, that speculation would all be for nothing when COVID hit and he would remain trapped at number 3 in Europe for 3 years straight. During this time he became one of the strongest Toph players in NASB, opened a successful Metafy, and further perfected his craft at Netherlands locals with wins over the top dogs. That said, all that would be nothing but a secondary venture going into 2022.
This lightning fast juggernaut took over bracket like it was his job. With the wins at Samus Lair, GSO27 and many more events all over the continent and having FoutNL, Mahie, Ukelele, Smash_Falco3, Knullebibs and Ace as only some of the names he has taken throughout the year, we can confidently say his year was nothing short of number-one-material. He even took a set off Kycse when he was invited to the first ever Project M Theatre, putting Europe on the map for the all non-knowers.
However not all was sun and roses for the Spaniard, being double eliminated by the Chicago-based Falcon Mekk at Not Fête to stop him from winning tournaments in every region and DNL keeping the biggest Spanish tournament away from his hands, Melody has set an example of how a competitor must tackle shortcomings: getting back in his feet and going to the next major. The man that inspired a generation of fellow Spanish Lucas players has not stopped going to events all over Europe and after winning tournaments in both 3.6 and P+, he's proved he's a force to be reckoned with no matter the played version.
Now, there is a necessary question to ask: but how long will it last? Will DNL dethrone him showing up to more international events? Will it be *Zen, longing for past glories? That will all be answered next year. For now, Melody is the new king of Europe.
Summary
1.- Melody
2.- DNL
3.- *Zen
4.- Ace
5.- Smash_Falco3
6.- Kazeol
7.- Ukelele
8.- FoutNL
9.- PauldeCap
10.- Jonsch
11.- Dom
12.- Miniboulet
13.- Knullebibs
14.- ¿Punch
15.- El Glenntxo
Thank you for reading. See you next year!
Now almost 3 years since the last European Power Rankings and after the biggest drought in tournaments the game has ever seen, the European Project M Backroom finally feels capable of confidently listing and ranking the best players of the continent. Even though the pandemic hit organizers hard, slowly but surely the scene has been healing and in 2022 we have had almost 1600 tournament sets to extract data from. These spell out a very different picture from what we showed pre-pandemic, and even though no ranked players have begun playing during the COVID pandemic, you will find plenty of new (although old) faces joining the rankings for the first time.
Ranking specifics
Spanning from HFLAN 2021 in November to HFLAN 2022 also in November, 34 tournaments have been considered for the rankings, from the 3 most active countries in Europe being Spain, France and the Netherlands, as well as the international British tournament Not Fête. Tournaments from regions which had no player crossover with the main tournaments throughout the whole year were discarded since they were unfeasible to merge with the ranking players.
While some tournaments have been run in 3.6 (Netherlands and Spain) and some have been run in P+ (France), we have decided to include both in a mixed ranking since the top players from each game performed very well in either version, with very respectable placings from French players in 3.6 tournaments as well as tournament wins in P+ tournaments from 3.6 region players, and thus we believe it is possible for both versions to be ranked under the same rankings so as to not split the continent on this topic.
The Panel
The panel consisted of figureheads from all 3 main regions, with some of the most representative personalities from each region being included. These are:
- Miniboulet. France, main French tournament organizer and content creator
- El Glenntxo. Spain, tournament organizer
- FoutNL. Netherlands, tournament organizer
Graphic design credits
Once again Santieur52 was the one who stepped up to the task of producing these amazing slides for the players you will see below. Without further ado, here's the best of Europe!
Starting off this list is the Spanish PM guru El Glenntxo. Dwelling in the capital, be it the Spanish or the French one, Glenntxo is one of the most enthusiastic people in the community regarding PM. He's always watching vods, podcasts and scouting tournament results all around the globe to stay updated on the status of every scene he can lay his eyes on. And what is all that effort for? Improving! Glenn has played more PM this last pandemic than probably any other. What used to be a consistent 1-2er in Spanish brackets is now a national threat ranked 5th in the country, with some fairly respectable French wins to boot! Unsatisfied with the way GaW was handled in P+, he has since become a dual main adding ZSS to his roster and switching between the two depending on the version. The contrast between the two characters may have played a role in Glenn's rapid learning of the game lately, and his results have carried him to 15th in this year's European Rankings. Whether it is TOing, commentating, creating content or competing, Glenn gives always his best at whatever he's doing, and you can bet he will be taking some names next year!
There is no doubt that you have seen an ¿Punch clip on Twitter; either screaming his lungs out at the screen or performing the sexiest combos you´ve ever seen with his space cat. ¿Punch is one of the pillars of the French Project M scene. Deep in this commentator´s heart there is a competitive fighter that should never be overlooked. His Mewtwo is technical, precise, modern, innovative and renown player worldwide, just like Nezergy said: "his Mewtwo is very enjoyable to watch”. His slight lack of constancy, having losses to Kine, Sabreur and WWS make him stand as 14th on this EUPR. However he ends the year with a bang with a top 4 placement in HFLAN 2022, taking a set from Ukelele and two from Kenmak. This tournament (commentated and TO´d by him) shows he can have a strong-as-steel mental game doing the craziest comebacks known to man. We hope to see more of ¿Punch in 2023, both as a meta-pushing Mewtwo and as a likable, extremely hype and charismatic commentator and streamer.
Coming in at number 12 is one of the most recognizable faces in the European Project M sphere. Content creator, TO, gymrat and musician all-in-one Miniboulet snatches 12th place after forever claiming he's retired thanks to a number of stellar performances in ArtsCade Open Cup and HFLAN 2021 with an impressive 4-0 record over Smash_Falco3 showing he clearly has the Ike player's number. As low as Mini's trust issues with his main character of Ivysaur may be, his creativity and ingenius are inversely proportional. We usually see Mini do all sorts of crazy windbox and seed bomb setups that wow even the most veteran spectators of the game. Nowadays you may not see Mini in bracket as much, as he's taken a step back to commentate and TO over competing, but he still is a beast crawling on netplay and who knows, maybe some day he will be back for more. This does not mean that he's given up on PM. Hardly so! He is currently the most successful PM streamer in Europe, carrying the Project M France twitch stream on his back with over 450 followers and multiple recurring subs, and may have single-handedly kept the PM flame alive during quarantine thanks to his unceasing efforts TOing big and generously prized events like European Titans, as well as being the current director and co-host of the exhibition match show European Challengers, which has a large following of European spectators that come together to watch him commentate some of the best in the continent duke it out. It is hard to fully contain in words how beloved Miniboulet is in the scene, but we can never be truly thankful for all the love and care he has put into our game. For now however, this very well deserved 12th place will have to do!
Now veterans of the European scene might find this an odd placement for the best Lucario player in the continent, dropping from 4th on last ranking's list down to 11th, but this year has not been so hot for Dom. After a stellar 2021 that saw him be arguably the best player in the Netherlands, he clearly has taken a step back and focused on other things than the game, dropping sets to players ranked much lower than the top's level. However and statistically unfortunate as it may be, everybody knows that Dom is a top threat and he has shown it with impressive wins such as FoutNL and Ukelele, to manage a very strong 3rd place finish at GSO27, defending the podium from a second international entry. Be it with Marth, Yoshi or his trusty Lucario, you can count on Dom to show you some of the most creative and out of the box thinking play out there, as well as a devastating punish game. If you see Dom on screen, keep your eyes peeled because it is a spectacle to behold and we can't wait to see what he does next year in 2023!
As an officially hybrid Melee and Project M player, FoutNL has been a gigantic presence in the European Project M scene this year. He has been the second biggest traveler in the community, traveling to all sorts of Dutch and French tournaments, as well as started TOing exclusive Project M events for the Dutch community as the solo organizer. The best official solo Peach main in the world has been as solid as ever this 2022, only dropping a single set to someone ranked below him on this list, and being a constant presence in podiums and Top 8s at every single event he entered. He sports one of the most technical Peach play you have ever seen, with creative use of subfloats and insane turnip management, you are always surprised by what play he does next. Watching Fout at the reins of his box is truly mesmerizing. Fout was recently ranked 2nd in his home country of the Netherlands, and he takes a well deserved (8th) place on the European leaderboard.
But that was a fluke, right? He just beat mid level players, right? Oh how wrong everybody would be. Over the next several years DNL eventually learned the "standard" game and climbed the Spanish Power Rankings faster than anybody. His brutal punish game tied to brilliant game-sense and tight execution pushed many to the limits of their sanity, as he constantly 0 to death'd people with the most evil basketball dribbler to be born in the Gerudo Valley. Post-pandemic, DNL has been the scariest force dwelling in the Spanish tournaments. He hasn't gone out of country, but within it, he has won every single tournament he has attended, including 4 this year, while dropping no sets. Yes, that's right. He has a perfect record this year. The only real argument standing between him and the #1 spot is that he hasn't really competed against the great players from outside his home region of Spain, remaining instead as an unproven dormant giant.
However, while he was busy taking over Spain, the international scene grew scared of the King. Calling Spain a subpar region for "losing to a 3.6 Ganon" was a mere ticking time bomb for the inevitable. As soon as DNL got called to play a foreign player in Kazeol, ranked #2 in France at the time, in an exhibition match, he wasted no time demolishing him taking 5 games in less than 20 minutes, dropping none. This finally seemed to solidarize DNL's place within the European community, as a true titan and not a mere mythological entity. He is very real, and he will make you look like a fool as he runs you over in some of the fastest sets you've ever played. We have yet to see him perform against the other foreign titans, but one can only wait for his travels to come in 2023, where the rest of the old continent will pull all their courage to try to defeat the man with the power.
This lightning fast juggernaut took over bracket like it was his job. With the wins at Samus Lair, GSO27 and many more events all over the continent and having FoutNL, Mahie, Ukelele, Smash_Falco3, Knullebibs and Ace as only some of the names he has taken throughout the year, we can confidently say his year was nothing short of number-one-material. He even took a set off Kycse when he was invited to the first ever Project M Theatre, putting Europe on the map for the all non-knowers.
However not all was sun and roses for the Spaniard, being double eliminated by the Chicago-based Falcon Mekk at Not Fête to stop him from winning tournaments in every region and DNL keeping the biggest Spanish tournament away from his hands, Melody has set an example of how a competitor must tackle shortcomings: getting back in his feet and going to the next major. The man that inspired a generation of fellow Spanish Lucas players has not stopped going to events all over Europe and after winning tournaments in both 3.6 and P+, he's proved he's a force to be reckoned with no matter the played version.
Now, there is a necessary question to ask: but how long will it last? Will DNL dethrone him showing up to more international events? Will it be *Zen, longing for past glories? That will all be answered next year. For now, Melody is the new king of Europe.
Summary
1.- Melody
2.- DNL
3.- *Zen
4.- Ace
5.- Smash_Falco3
6.- Kazeol
7.- Ukelele
8.- FoutNL
9.- PauldeCap
10.- Jonsch
11.- Dom
12.- Miniboulet
13.- Knullebibs
14.- ¿Punch
15.- El Glenntxo
Thank you for reading. See you next year!
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