To watch the full Top 50, including the reveal of the Top 10, in video form, check out the PGstats YouTube below:
If you asked Irvine players back in early 2018 whether or not John “KoDoRiN” Ko would be power ranked within SoCal by the end of the season, they might have needed a couple seconds to recall the name before chuckling and saying “I hope so!” before ranting about getting hit by one of the many up-tilts in a row that KoDoRiN would do in place.
Sure enough, KoDoRiN was simply known as a passionate grinder who would appear on the lower echelon of the SoCal PR later that year. Flash forward to today, and now KoDoRiN isn’t just the best in SoCal - he's a regular top eight contender who finished the season off with winning records over Fiction, Mango, and even iBDW. Describing his career as meteoric would be an understatement, and if the trend is anything to go by, we’ll be seeing KoDoRiN as one of the defining faces of Melee for years to come.
By Brendan “Wheat” Malone
There’s so much that can be said about Edgard “n0ne” Sheleby, but let’s start with the obvious: he is fast, and he is good. Very good.
As Melee enters its second decade, we’ve seen players push the game to a heightened level of optimization. Enter n0ne. n0ne, on paper, should not be as good as he is. In a game filled with “correct” options, the flashy and frantic style that n0ne employs feels out of place. And yet, his unflinching commitment to his full-throttle style has not only continued to find success in our current era, it’s found n0ne at the top of his game.
If you ever wanted a perfect encapsulation of the world’s most exciting Captain Falcon, look no further than Genesis 8. When he shocked the world by defeating Hungrybox, he did in a way that only he could: a breath-taking off-stage stomp to rocket him into top 8 of the year’s largest tournament.
By Brendan “Wheat” Malone
For most people, being ranked as one of the top ten players in the world for Super Smash Bros Melee is enough of an accomplishment. But not for Arjun “lloD” Malhotra. Between his top eight placings, this spring the Peach player managed to add another impressive accomplishment: becoming a doctor. When he’s not busy saving lives in his new profession, he is absolutely destroying them in Melee.
For years, lloD has stood at the forefront of the Peach metagame, but it was 2022 when he truly showed what the princess is capable of. Along with top eight placings at each of his three major events, lloD has accrued wins over Zain, Mang0, KoDoRiN and, in what was once thought of as an impossible task for the character, a 3-0 victory over Leffen, complete with a four stock. It’s unclear how often we’re going to be able to see the new doctor at 2022’s upcoming majors, but one thing that is clear is that when he shows up, every other top player better watch out.
By Anokh “EdwinBudding” Palakurthi
Since winning the Smash World Tour Championships, Justin "Plup" McGrath has raised the bar for his own excellence. Though he's frustratingly only entered three events, in them, Plup has snagged sets over Zain, Jmook, lloD, and Hungrybox, his longtime personal demon.
Speaking of which, let's talk about that last part. Sure - Plup Showdown is not the same thing as tournament, but it was definitely surprising to see Plup's Fox kick Hungrybox's Jigglypuff around to the tune of a 5-1 victory, like a man lashing out years of pent up rage on a soccer ball.
It's a far cry from a year and a half ago, we weren't even sure if he cared about competing any more. Nowadays, Plup's back to being a bonafide threat to win supermajors.
Somehow, just when you think he's done, Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto finds a new way to innovate Yoshi and bring himself higher than ever before. After the pandemic and lockdown kept aMSa away from the scene for well over a year, it was unsure how he'd hold up against everybody, but nobody should've worried. aMSa instantly solidified himself once again as a Top 10 level upon return, and somehow has posted the best results of his career.
After never making Top 3 at a major before, the red Yoshi found a way to do so twice, both with ludicrous runs. Beating out assumed demons like Zain, iBDW and even Leffen, as well as defeating Jmook, aMSa brought us all to the precipice of what was unthinkable just a few years ago, a potential major victory for Yoshi.
With aMSa fully moving to Canada very soon, can he keep up the momentum, and shock the world one more time?
By Brendan “Wheat” Malone
It’s not easy being William “Leffen” Hjelte. Between visa issues, COVID-19 and a very cute new dog, we’ve yet to see a Leffen that is completely unburdened by outside forces. However, when we do get to see the Swedish star get his hands on a GameCube controller, he is unquestionably one of the best players to ever play the game. Despite this, 2022 began questionably for the former Evo champion. After skipping Genesis 8, and his 5th place at Pound 2022 featured his first ever loss to aMSa, and his Sheik debut failed to work against eventual champion Zain.
At Smash Summit 13, however, we see it all begin to click. A 9th place finish notwithstanding, he defeated Hungrybox emphatically and showcased his new Sheik vs KoDoRiN, both leading to 3-0 set victories. This was a lead-in for his return to Canada at Battle of BC 4, and the two-time Get On My Level champ did not fail to live up to the expectations. In one of the most dominant performances of the year, Leffen took rousing sets over Hungrybox and aMSa before finally solidly double eliminating Zain with Sheik. Don’t be shocked to see Leffen repeat this in the future, and if he does, don’t be surprised to see what has always eluded him: being number one in the world.
It didn’t seem that long ago when Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma spearheaded Melee’s most prolific era as the best player in the world. However, as events slowly began to crawl back from the pandemic, Hungrybox awoke to a new era of Melee filled with eager old threats and a never ending amount of powerful new players.
As his results dropped, he had every reason to move away from the game like many of his contemporaries did. Instead, Hungrybox steadily improved his results over the course of the year, before finally winning Get On My Level 2022, his first major victory in two years. It showed that though Hungrybox may no longer be the dominant champion he once was, perhaps it is as a challenger where he, the all-time leader in major victories, could leave behind Melee’s greatest legacy.
Of all the crazy things to have occurred in 2022 for Melee, the headline is undoubtedly the meteoric rise of Jake "Jmook" Dirado. Being a hidden boss for many years in his home region of Upstate New York, Jmook was unable to travel consistently until this year, but the wait was quite clearly worth it.
It's hard to pick Jmook's standout moment from the year; from his record shattering 2nd place at GENESIS 8, to his fluke-denying Summit run, all the way to his double reverse 3-0 of Zain at GOML 2022, there's no shortage of highlights to look at already. Jmook is bringing Sheik results she's nearly never seen before as a solo main, and one can only imagine if Jmook can finally break her major winning curse. One thing's for sure, Jmook will continue wowing us with a smile on his face, a great attitude, and impeccable posture.
By Eryk “Ambisinister” Banatt
It seems like we are in a particularly chaotic era of Melee these days. The field has been blown completely open, with perhaps the most competitive top 10 the game has ever seen. For a game characterized by decades of majors won by just a handful of players, it speaks volumes that Cody "iBDW" Schwab is one of only two players who have gone the distance more than once this season.
With a dominant victory through winners at Double Down 2022 and a flawless 6-0 performance at Smash Summit 13, iBDW overcame a somewhat rocky start to the year to finish the season with a resume as competitive as anybody’s. Having continued this momentum into yet another victory at Phantom 2022, iBDW may very well accomplish something that has never been done in the game’s history - reach rank 1 in the world with solo Fox.
By Anokh “EdwinBudding” Palakurthi
As Melee fans, we set impossibly high standards for "Zain" Naghmi. When he doesn't win a tournament, we're quick to panic. When he wins a major in dominant fashion, we act like it was inevitable. We uniquely hold Zain to this standard because his brilliance over the last two years has given us reason to do so, even if he hasn't finished atop an official annual ranking.
Though Zain's last four tourneys to close the PGR season give his current rank a bittersweet undertone, his final spot is well-earned. In the context of the most volatile field in Melee history, dominant victories at Genesis 8 and Pound 2022 still remain untopped highlights of this year. From here on out is Zain's opportunity to finally show us that he can be No. 1 for a whole year - this time, for real.
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