SSBMRank Summer 2023: 50–41
Melee Stats is proud to present SSBMRank Summer 2023! Counting down the 50 best players of the year so far to determine the best player for the first half of 2023.
This year, we asked 28 panelists to rate each player based on their results so far in the year based on the following prompt:
Based on the quality of results from December 19, 2022 to July 23, 2023 rate each player on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best)
Exhibitions, online tournaments, and tournaments that did not complete are NOT to be counted
You may consider results at locals and invitationals, but understand that the environment surrounding these events may not always be the most serious in nature
If you as a panelist are a player who is on the ballot, you may give yourself a score as a placeholder, but any score you use for yourself will NOT be counted
Each panelist gives each player a score from 1 to 10. After suppressing the effect of outliers, the votes are aggregated into a single point estimate representing that player’s score. Finally, scores were rescaled to a 1–100 rating, which is displayed above each player’s blurb.
#50: mvlvchi | Rating: 17.21
As smashers, we are in search of that mythical level of skill which lets us beat all of those options and playstyles our opponents use that “shouldn’t work,” and Malachi “mvlvchi” Markos will always be there to humble us. He approaches and downsmashes too much? Ask the BEMI crowd what they thought as they watched mvlvchi storm through losers to win the runback against certified Trif Slayer Professor Pro, or the SoCal hopefuls who witnessed the returning #77 on the last pre-pandemic rankings find new motivation for the game and bring Fiction’s LACS 5 run to a shockingly early end.
Think his region will figure him out? Despite missing the MD/VA PR for inactivity, mvlvchi placed back-to-back second places at Xanadu Legends: 500 and the MD/VA Summit over a litany of rising talent including Khryke, Dawson, Prometheus, and Maelstrom. As is poetically just, the mold-breaking Peach’s summer 2023 kryptonite may have been, shockingly, Junebug’s Donkey Kong. One day, our greatest scientists will study their matches to propel society forward.
-Jacob “chroma” Robins
#49: Azel | Rating: 18.18
With mastery of just about any top tier you can imagine, Joseph “Azel” Resplandor is stronger than ever. The former NorCal prodigy’s move to Arizona has not slowed him down one bit, and his second appearance on the Top 50 ranking is no surprise to anyone who has seen the amount of skill this kid has.
Adding a Marth to his roster has proven fruitful, as it brought him a reverse 3–0 victory against Kürv at LACS 5, where Azel adapted seemingly on the fly after falling early in the set. If picking up additional wins on SDJ and Casper wasn’t enough, Azel also beat his fellow NorCal-to-Arizona rival Spark twice as the cherry on top of an already impressive résumé. The fact that Azel is out here slaying top level players with just about any character he feels like using on that day should be more than enough proof that his fundamentals carry over in any type of setting.
-Ember “Sharp” L.
#48: Khryke | Rating: 26.07
One of the more strangely prevalent trends you’ll find in the history of the game has been the whole “Pittsburgh to MD/VA” and “MD/VA to Pittsburgh” top player phenomenon. The newest member of this niche group, Jacob “Khryke” Gilbert, has certainly accomplished quite a bit to earn a spot alongside lloD and Polish. Representing both regions of the Mid-Atlantic, Khryke’s been at seemingly every venue with a local bagel, crabcake, or hoagie shop nearby.
He began the year with wins over Magi and Grab at Collision 2023, then followed it up with defeating Bbatts and CPU0 at his next two events. Khryke also had a particularly strong performance at The Scarlet Classic VIII. Here, in New Jersey, land of top players getting upset by random 2–2'rs, the PBI icon had a neat little loser’s run to third place, defeating the likes of Mot$, Dawson, and Stango to get there. In a year where Zain and KoDoRiN have defined Marth play, Khryke’s quietly built a case for himself as the third best solo Marth in the world. Not too shabby.
-Anokh “EdwinBudding” Palakurthi
#47: Matteo | Rating: 27.56
It’s tradition that whoever got ranked #100 on the previous year’s SSBMRank goes down one of two paths: fade into inactivity, or ascend by leaps and bounds. For Matteo Caglioti, his summer has clearly been a case of the latter; he exploded into 2023 with a fierce performance at the Michigan regional BODIED. Here, as the sixth seed, he took down three of the Midwest’s most established top players in KJH, Skerzo, and Ginger all in a row to punch a ticket into Grand Finals, winner’s side.
But what would happen next is ridiculous: Matteo would go to Genesis 9, defeat Medz and take down Mango…’s Dr. Mario. It’s hard to say what this set exactly means, but at the very least, it is certainly better to be the guy who beat Doc Lee rather than the guy who lost to Doc Lee.
Regardless, Matteo remains one of the best players in Ontario, a region that seemingly churns out top players every year. If Matteo decides to continue traveling and taking his ferocious Falcon game abroad, he could hold onto this Top 50 spot by the end of the year and perhaps soar even higher.
-Justin “DarkGenex” Cohen
#46: Jflex | Rating: 27.95
The Melee scene would be nothing without players like Jacob “Jflex” Pinto. The hardworking Sheik main represents the backbone of SSBM, a stalwart top player who has maintained a strong-as-steel connection to his local scene for as long as anyone can remember. These days, Jflex is a family man — replete with a marriage, a kid, a full-time job, and “three hands” — yet he still remains a consistent presence at local tournaments throughout the Tri-State area.
But in 2023, Jflex has evolved far beyond his roots as a perennial local threat. He’s traveled across the country to compete, attending tournaments in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and California this year alone. And when Jflex is at an event, nobody is safe: the New Jersey resident boasts recent wins over Franz, SDJ, Shroomed, Krudo, and Skerzo.
Still, perhaps Jflex’s most impressive trait is that he is one of his community’s most visible faces in an era in which many top players shy away from locals. Step into any New York or New Jersey tournament, and he will almost certainly be there, sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb with his burly, tattoo-bearing biceps. For the Jflexes of the scene, there’s no better place to be.
-Alex “QualitySteve” Lee
#45: Junebug | Rating: 28.91
I know what you’re thinking. Why is Arjun “Junebug” Rao playing Donkey Kong? In fact, why is anyone playing Donkey Kong and how the hell did he manage to be ranked in the Top 50? Is this a bit? Well, yes and no. The former Sheik main’s new MO is to learn obscure characters, experiment with them at tournaments and make YouTube essays dissecting their strengths and weaknesses. This trend notably lead to a 13th place finish last year at Double Down as Dr. Mario, but 2023 finds Junebug going even further down the tier list to Donkey Kong. Throughout the East Coast, Junebug has taken down players whose names are as stunning to see here as they are sincerely impressive: JJM, Dawson, Kalvar, Khryke, mvlvchi and even Polish’s Peach.
Unbelievably, Junebug has found himself leading a new wave of committed DK mains. People like himself, Akir, ckyulmiqnudaetr, and Moe have completely shifted the way we think about this once irrelevant character. DK could very well end the year with multiple players on the Top 100, but it’s Junebug who currently stands as its sole representative in the Top 50. Who could have ever guessed that simple curiosity would inspire a revolution?
-Anokh “EdwinBudding” Palakurthi
#44: Frenzy | Rating: 29.06
Among the European players, Elliot “Frenzy” Grossman stands out, and not just because he’s incredibly tall. Becoming a frequent traveler to North America, he’s no stranger to playing against the absolute top echelon of players and standing his own against them. This is why nobody was surprised when Frenzy had a stellar week in Toronto six months after his lukewarm Genesis 9, a time when Frenzy was quite vulnerable to missing the Top 50.
Starting with the Get On My Level 2023 pre-locals, he nabbed multiple huge wins over Aklo and Zuppy, winning the Wednesday event. Not content with doing well when the stakes were low, Frenzy went on to have a great performance at the major itself, where he defeated Spark en route to a great 13th place finish. But outside of North America, there’s still reason to believe Frenzy’s taken a step forward in his game. After years of almost always falling short to Professor Pro, he actually defeated the longtime ruler of UK Melee in their only encounter this season. By the end of the year, the United Kingdom may finally have a new #1.
-Ember “Sharp” L.
#43: Bbatts | Rating: 29.55
When you envision a Slippi kid, chances are you’re thinking about a fast moving Fox player or a Marth player who pushes up his glasses every time Final Destination is selected — not a Peach player like William “Bbatts” Batista. New Jersey’s very own has gone from rising underground star to solidified Top 50 player so far this year. Playing an aggressive and pressure-heavy playstyle distinguishes him from several of his peers, and it’s paid off nicely for him at the regional level.
One of Bbatts’ strongest showings came in the form of a very stacked Nightclub he won over Wally, Hax$, and Aklo. He also showed signs of brilliance out of region at Shield Drop, where he defeated two Peach slayers in bobby big ballz and Salt. The last thing Bbatts is missing: a career-defining major run. It’s only a matter of time before he ends up doing this, and in the process, making the best players in the world question how they always seem to lose their stock every time they end up offstage.
-Ember “Sharp” L.
#42: Mekk | Rating: 32.51
Yasin “Mekk” Mekki closed out last year with the incomprehensible announcement that he’d be hanging up the Captain Falcon mantle in pursuit of a year maining Ganondorf. Given how explosive his results were, the switch was stunning. Why would a player in his prime swap from a top tier to a barely relevant mid-tier? Was this a joke? Despite all of the doubts, Mekk has pushed Ganondorf to his limits. At Combo Breaker, he defended his home region of Chicago by taking down Wevans, Skerzo, and Polish — only to follow it up with defeating Franz and Hax at Tipped Off 14.
The Great King of Evil’s success is part of a shifting tide in the Melee currents. Once widely considered unviable, characters like Donkey Kong, Link, and now Ganondorf are suddenly present in major Top 32s. This is not a joke. People are starting to take these formerly discarded members of Melee’s cast far more seriously. Imagine a world where the once dead Gerudo King rises from the ashes and begins to amass a following; an army of darkness. It’s a world that’s much closer to reality than you’d think.
-Justin “DarkGenex” Cohen
#41: CPU0 | Rating: 33.08
The optimization of Jigglypuff has been more theoretical than anything throughout Melee’s history. A small group of people cry “she has so much potential;” a larger group of people yell back, “just back air,” and the much larger third group of people retort “who cares?” One player to slowly change this narrative, however, is Patrick “CPU0” Capuano. The Arizona Jigglypuff prodigy has shown significant growth during this ranking season, with a big part of it attributed to his mastery of a more new-school playstyle, where executing reaction tech chase Rests is the norm.
CPU0 has thrived at locals and regionals, notably having a back and forth rivalry against Spark. Additionally, his run at Wavedash 2023 showed that he’s not just a local threat; he took out both Eddy Mexico and fellow Arizonan Axe for a 13th place finish. He also split sets with Zamu at Daddy’s Den X Supreme, reinforcing the fact that he’s very much capable of defeating any of your favorite players when he’s playing on point. His creativity may be just what the Jigglypuff metagame needs for the future.
-Ember “Sharp” L.
The SSBMRank Summer 2023 Team
Director: Brendan “GimmeDatWheat” Malone
Editing Lead: Anokh “EdwinBudding” Palakurthi
Data Lead: Eryk “Ambisinister” Banatt
Graphics Lead: Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino
Check out start.gg/SSBMRank to follow along with the full list as it releases
