Super Smash Bros. Melee saw a renaissance of young players making waves in 2018. Here, we’ll look at some of the biggest movers, and those who fell to them this year. For a recap of the gods of the game including players who gained that status, check out Super Smash Bros. Melee: The Gods of 2018.
Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallet and Zain “Zain” Naghmi added impressive tournament victories to their resumes. Each achieved top-ten placements in the 2018 Summer Rankings as well, with Wizzrobe at seventh and Zain at ninth.
Wizzrobe got his big win at Optic Arena. This tournament fell just short of 100 attendees, but it was packed with top-tier talent. Among them was the No. 1 player in the world and the heavy favorite to win the event: Juan “Hungrybox” Dibiedma. Wizzrobe made it into winners final relatively uncontested. He beat the up-and-coming Fox main Charlie “Absentpage” McKinley and fellow Falcon main Johnny “S2J” Kim.
He then faced off against Hungrybox, but lost a nail-biting five-game set. Wizzrobe made it back to the rematch in grand finals but like most events, it seemed nearly impossible for someone to double-eliminate the oppressive Puff main.
Against all odds, Wizzrobe did just that. In an exhausting five-game set that followed a 3-0 in Wizzrobe’s favor, the young Falcon main won his first event with a god in attendance.
Courtesy of Red Bull esports
Zain’s tournament victory also featured two wins over Hungrybox plus a number of other notable wins. En route to top-eight, the Marth main earned two more wins against top-20 players. He followed up with additional victories, including another defeat of crowd-favorite Joseph “Mango” Marquez.
In Grand Finals, Hungrybox got another shot at Zain, but the Marth prodigy was too much to overcome. Zain now has the most prestigious victory by someone ranked outside of the top-six in the Gods Era. Zain has ascended faster than any player in the modern era of Melee. He’ll have an outside shot at the No. 1 spot in 2019 if he can continue to innovate with Marth.
With the rise of young players like Zain and Wizzrobe, some players have to fall to make room. This year, most of the falling players were veterans of the scene. From the Summer 2017 Rankings to the most recent rankings this past summer, a number of mainstays of the game have fallen.
Zach “SFAT” Cordoni, Weston “Westballz” Dennis, and DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel were consistently making top-eight and deep runs in tournaments just a few years ago. In the span of the two summer rankings, they’ve fallen a collective 20 spots.
SFAT fell the least and his drop was mainly due to being edged out by those ranked around him. He went 6-15 in sets against players ranked seven through ten and only held a positive record against Masaya “Amsa” Chikamoto. If he can regain an advantage over these players SFAT has a clear path back into the good graces of the rankings.
Westballz and Shroomed have more work to do. Both have been outclassed by younger, hungrier players looking to make waves in the Melee scene.
From the SSBM Rank 2017 (which was released in January of 2018) to the 2018 Summer Rankings, many players earned their first rank. A total of 26 players made their debut on either ranking.
Absentpage was the highest ranked newcomer in the Summer Rankings, coming in at 22nd. Using Fox with Sheik and Marth as secondaries, Absentpage put together a number of good outings including placing in the top-eight at Low Tier City 6. His year culminated by winning the entirety of Dreamhack Atlanta. Here, he bested S2J and Daniel “Chudat” Rodriguez to take home gold. Anything ranking outside of top-20 from the 2018 rankings would be criminal.
Avery “Ginger” Wilson was a successful competitor, but also a rising professional. Ginger attended Summit 6 as a competitor and got time on the commentary couch. Just before this, he was signed by Balance Gaming.
He returned to the Summit House as a commentator for Summit 7. He was a natural on the couch, seamlessly blending his knowledge with entertainment. Ginger streams regularly at twitch.tv/ssbmginger where he just eclipsed 8,000 followers.
The Melee rookie who is likely to start 2019 with the highest rank is Connor “Bananas” Lamb. His run at Summit 7 was nothing short of spectacular.
Courtesy of Beyond the Summit
Bananas kicked off Summit with an upset over Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman. He abused Mew2King’s pocket-Peach and showed off a far deeper understanding of the matchup in the 3-0 affair.
Bananas lost his first game to Mango. He then rattled off three quick wins to best the god (Ginger adds his brilliant commentary to this game).
Despite losing the set, Bananas took William “Leffen” Hjelte to game-five, completing a reverse four-stock in the process. With multiple god wins, Bananas earned himself Melee Rookie of the Year.
The 2018 Melee season was one of change and uncertainty. New players were rising faster than ever before. Many of those newcomers were taking sets off of the game’s best players regularly. Expect to see even more young players pushing to be among the world best in 2019.
Featured image courtesy of Red Bull esports.
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Bananas is so lowkey nasty, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s the IC that stays on top or if Ally can get some more W’s
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