However, for every 13th at MAESUMA #8 or 17th at Pound 2022, there lies an equally underwhelming result, such as 65th at Kagaribi #7 or 49th at GENESIS 8. Tsubotsubo is one of many Japanese players who was eligible for both the North America and Japanese lists. Check back next week to see how he did in the Japanese rankings.
If Toriano “Toast” Warren had just a little more time, we easily could have seen a Young Link on the PGRU this go around. Just 8 days after the close of the season, Toast went on a ridiculous run at CEO 2022, claiming 3rd place while beating Sonix, Aaron, and Tweek in the process.
Unfortunately, we can only accept what he accomplished within the given timeframe, and although still impressive, it doesn’t hold up as well under the microscope. 7th at SOS 7, 17th at Collision 2022, and 33rd at MomoCon 2022 are decent results, though, and Kola wins don’t grow on trees. Toast needed just one good run to confirm his spot on the PGRU for the first time. With CEO under his belt already for Season 4, his future is looking bright.
One of the best Samus players in the world and a well-known up-and-comer, Michael “Teaser” Rice took his game to new heights after moving from Texas to Georgia, quickly becoming one of the best Samus players in the country post-quarantine. The fruit of his labor nearly culminated in a PGRU placement, but a tough field of play bumped him ever so slightly out of the top 50 despite his impressive body of work.
While 4th place at Keep It REAL: Collegiate with a win on Peabnut, 17th at GENESIS 8, and 25th at MomoCon 2022 are great results to have on a resume, Teaser didn’t really get to have a breakout performance at a qualified event in early 2022. At the rate he’s going, however, it seems inevitable that more than a few high profile players will end up on the wrong side of a Teaser tournament run, giving him the boost he needs to attain ranked status.
The second of the Area 51 bounty hunters, Willow “IcyMist” Bartow was also a few steps shy of making the PGRU for Early 2022. She was able to take sets over Axiom XL at Collision 2022 and Jordan at Pound 2022, but most of IcyMist’s damage was done at unqualified events like EMUSC Summer of Love, where she placed 1st by double eliminating Onin, or BAE 100, where she beat Beast and Jakal en route to 5th.
Translating that success over to qualified events will be key for her bringing Samus onto the PGRU this upcoming season, and there shouldn’t be any doubt whether a longtime veteran such as herself is capable of doing so.
John “Axiom XL” Smith, one of Kazuya’s best reps stateside and one of New England’s strongest soldiers, was nearly the 4th player from his region to make the Early 2022 PGRU, narrowly missing out due to a small sample size of qualified events. He did parlay his two S Tier appearances into matching 25th place finishes, complete with wins on Tsubotsubo at Pound 2022 and Beast at Collision 2022, but he was ultimately upended by stronger resumes near the end of the list.
Axiom XL has opted to stay close to home and compete within his home region since Pound weekend, possibly gearing up for another national appearance sometime over the Summer- and when the time comes, expect some heads to turn.
And now, on to the Top 50!
Wins over MuteAce and Kuro at CEO Dreamland 2020 were only signs of the things to come for Steven “Anathema” Acosta. Despite shying away from online tournaments throughout the rest of that year, he exploded onto the scene as a top player once offline events resumed in mid-2021. Now, Anathema’s results have landed him at No. 50 in North America on the PGRU.
What Anathema lacked in shocking upsets this season, he made up for with his consistency. Across the three majors he entered, Anathema did not lose a single set to a player ranked outside of the top 50. His dearth of poor losses alone made him an easy pick to round out the top 50 for the season.
In addition, Anathema won sets over Tsubotsubo, PkChris, Legit, and Kazma. He closed out the season with a 2nd-place finish at Florida regional InfinityCon Tally 2022. While only dropping two sets to Goblin, Anathema defeated omega, Mystearica, Uncivil ninja, Myran, and Jahzz0 at InfinityCon. With his proven consistency against the field, Anathema’s R.O.B. is poised to fly even higher in the coming seasons.
Dawson “Big D” Perron has been one of the best (and more often than not, THE best) players British Columbia has to offer for over a decade, but it wasn’t until Ultimate that he began to make a major impact outside of the Pacific Northwest and Canada.
The switch from King Dedede to Ice Climbers early on in Ultimate’s lifespan came with a bit of risk, yet the potential reward of said switch has been fully realized as of late. Big D achieved 25th at GENESIS 8 with a win on Maister and 13th at Battle of BC 4 whilst defeating LeoN with the help of the dynamic duo of Nana and Popo, and even managed to finish 2nd at Get On My Level 2022 with solo Ice Climbers.
Unfortunately, this last feat came a few weeks after the PGRU v3 season deadline. Regardless, the talent has been flashed time and time again, and the world’s top Ice Climbers main has a great head start for the rest of 2022.
More on Big D from the PGstats YouTube:
Despite not spending as much time in the spotlight as we’re accustomed to, David “LeoN” Leon still went on to throw together a rather impressive season. In addition to a 13th place finish on his home turf at Collision 2022, North America’s #1 Bowser did a good bit of traveling as well in early 2022, finishing 4th at Back in Blood 3, 5th at SOS 7, and 17th at Pound 2022.
LeoN’s hit list includes names such as Toast, Axiom XL, skittles, and Tilde, at the very least showing that he still has the necessary tools to bring Bowser back to prominence in the current meta. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to see LeoN string together some vintage pre-quarantine performances as the year continues, and if that ends up being the case, him being ranked 48th for a season will likely be seen as an aberration.
Rasheen “Dark Wizzy” Rose was one of the strongest holdouts of the wifi era, which when coupled with a slow return to his form pre-quarantine, resulted in a bit of a dropoff in production. Still, Dark Wizzy managed to return to the PGRU for the 3rd straight season, rocking the Mario as per usual, as well as being the only one ranked on this edition of the PGRU.
The peaks of the season were able to propel Dark Wizzy onto the list: 9th at Low Tide City 2022 and 17th at MomoCon 2022 served as crowning achievements, with the former coming with wins on BigBoss and BassMage. At his current trajectory, Ultimate’s best Mario will be back to his old ways sooner rather than later, and it will be up to the rest of the field to keep up.
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
It’s impossible to talk about Skyjay without first talking about the character he helped to popularize, Incineroar.
In March of 2021, ESAM released his tier list for patch 11.0, and put Incineroar as the 7th worst character in the game, and in his most recent list, he calls Incineroar a high tier, almost solely based off of what Skyjay was able to do to people.
What you don’t see if you only look at his major results is how he’s destroyed regionals in Mexico and the Southwest of the United States. Such results include 4th at Delfino Maza RETA 2022, 3rd at Houston’s Limit Break, and 1st at Wizard’s Fest.
Skyjay’s brutal punishes and ability to stay out of trouble as the slowest character in the game are baffling, and his wins over players like Chag and MVD are indications that this isn’t a gimmick. Skyjay is a legitimate threat, and he has a chance to beat anyone in the world.
More on Skyjay from the PGstats YouTube:
After months of quietly solid performances at majors, South Carolina’s best player, Christian “Peabnut” Londono, has earned a spot on the PGRU for the very first time. Before the beginning of the season, he placed 2nd at his eponymous regional, The Peabnut Formal in North Carolina. There, he upset moxi, Goblin, and Teaser before falling to Kola in a pair of grand finals sets.
Peabnut’s momentum carried over once the PGR season began, as he placed in the top 48 of every major he attended. He peaked with a 17th-place finish at Collision, where he also happened to incur his worst loss of the season against John Numbers.
Meanwhile, Peabnut defeated opponents like Cosmos, MVD, Anathema, and Colorondo8. He also kept up his hot streak after the season ended, beating Jahzz0 and Luma en route to 13th place at CEO. With his solid line-up of wins and overall lack of bad losses, Peabnut has staked his claim for the title of best Mega Man in North America.
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
What makes Jake a top player is simple. He can beat anybody - unless they play ROB, a character he has lost to 7 times since the start of the PGR season. No matter how far down he is, as soon as he gets diamonds, the game is even.
By his own admission, he isn’t the most technical player, but his understanding of Steve’s neutral and his lightning fast diamond collecting make him terrifying to play against regardless of what your character should be able to do against Steve.
Jake continues to demonstrate that he is a real danger to beat anyone on the PGR, and he proves that all you need to become a PGR player is some fundies, six dollars, and a dream.
More on Jake from the PGstats YouTube:
Perhaps no one had a busier PGR season than “Sean” Bergeron. The Ultimate vagabond has traveled all around the United States while living in his car in order to compete at local tournaments in every major Smash region in the country. Across his numerous local appearances, he has overcome Zomba, Jakal, Ikan, Anathema, and many, many more.
Amid his local escapades, Sean had a mixed bag of major performances. He placed 25th at DreamHack Dallas and 65th at MomoCon, incurring losses to unranked players like mold, Tispai, and maze along the way. However, Sean’s breakout performance at Pound was more than enough to secure him a spot in the top 50.
After months of excelling at locals and regionals, Sean put himself on the map with a Top 8 finish at Pound, defeating Cosmos, Tilde, ApolloKage, Suarez, takera, and more. With a win over Marss at CEO and his recent dominance at SoCal locals, Sean has made it clear that he’ll continue to drop viewers’ jaws with his fiery punish game and devastating reads.
More on Sean from the PGstats YouTube:
By Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
One of Smash Twitter’s favorite bits is that Tanner “skittles” Jordan is the best player in the world at a Midwest regional. At LEVELUP Arena 4, he slew Shoe, Stroder, loaf, Scend, and Zomba twice to take the crown - and with it, the title of “Largest Tournament Win with Young Link in Ultimate.” At SOS7, he’d take wins on Jin, Zinoto, Geist, and ApolloKage. If there’s one thing the Iowa and Nebraska Yink is known for, it’s showing off at a regional.
But the bigger question is: can he replicate this power at an out-of-region event? Well, just ask Atelier or Peckham at Genesis, or Kurama at Back in Blood. The future’s looking bright for the Midwest’s premier off-stage bomb staller, and if there’s one thing both Nebraska and Iowa Smash agree on, it’s that the global scene better get ready to taste the rainbow.
The Matt “Elegant” Fitzpatrick who placed in the top 4 of three majors last year has yet to make an appearance this year. Yet, the fact that Elegant has still landed in the top 50 even after an off season speaks to the improvements he has made as a player since Ultimate first came out.
Elegant peaked toward the beginning of the season with a 7th-place finish at Smash Ultimate Summit 4. He triumphed over Maister, Fatality, NAKAT, and Lavish, while only dropping sets to top 20-level players. Elegant followed it up with solid placements throughout the rest of the season, like 17th at Collision, 13th at Low Tide City, and 4th at the Oregon regional Back in Blood 4. All the while, the only major stain on his resume was a 97th-place finish at Genesis.
Over the course of the season, Elegant earned another win over Fatality, along with beating the likes of Goblin, IcyMist, and varun. However, losses to unranked players like Fizzmint, Monte, Johny, and Stocktaker69 held him back. Still, Elegant has proven his ability to accrue high-level wins time and time again; there’s no doubt that last year’s A-tier player could make a comeback any time.
By Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
It’s easy to look at the effortlessly memeable Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland and sleep on him. I mean, him opening up this PGR season by beating MKLeo-twice!-was so unheard of, people were willing to consider Leo’s Corrin a form of sandbagging. Now, since that Corrin has gone on to win majors, we have to acknowledge Larry’s well-earned wins.
After that, the Brawl vet spent this re-invigorated season traveling, from Mexico’s Delfino Raza to Hawai’i’s Kawaii Kon, to Canada’s BoBC, to even Europe. While out and about, he picked up some high quality wins - Chag, Javi, VoiD, Marss, and Ouch!?, to name a few. Larry’s been playing since 2007, and if this season is any indication of things, we’ll be right back here in 2037, writing blurbs about how Larry Lurr beat half the PGR.
More on Larry Lurr from the PGstats YouTube:
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
"Aaron" Wilhite is very very very good at Smash Brothers. His Genesis 8 run shows as much, with 4 PGRU wins (including ModZai who is ranked in Europe) and wins over Monte, Sonido and Felix who are all regional threats. His run was stopped at 9th by Marss, but that doesn’t mean it was anything other than mesmerizing.
The thing that often holds Aaron back is Aaron. During the season he was a different player day-to-day, and if his confidence was shaken he wasn’t the player that he, and everyone in any venue, knows that he is. He had a character crisis, but eventually fell back in love with his trusty Diddy Kong, and personal crises of confidence, but coming into this next season, it seems like everything is coming together.
Since Genesis 8, Aaron has 4 Top 24 finishes at tournaments of more than 550 entrants, which matches his number of top 24 finishes at such tournaments up to and including Genesis 8. He is finally taking the step that his fans have been waiting for, and he’s doing it with a consistency that we haven’t seen from the Florida native. Aaron has broken through his own personal barriers, and it’s up to the rest of the smash world to stop him from reaching the top.
By Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
There’s a lot that we could talk about Anik “Ikan” S that may have already been touched on. Many know him for his career defining run at Genesis 8, where he took down Nito, Leon, ESAM, Kurama, Cosmos, and Yonni en route to 9th. Some might know him as Chicago’s #1, with strong placings throughout the Midwest at events like LUA4 and Combo Breaker. And many might know him from Chicago Smash Ultimate’s indomitable presence on Twitter.
But I want to talk about one part about Ikan that rarely gets touched on - his selfies. Any time he’s at an event, he takes as many selfies with people there as possible. From Top 10 players to 0-2ers that get the opportunity to write PGRU blurbs, he brings an effervescent positive energy as he asks for a quick photo with you.
And I think that’s one of the most powerful things that any top player can do - help continually perpetuate positivity throughout the Smash Ultimate scene. Ikan’s career is just starting, and although he’s in pursuit of the consistency needed to recreate that Genesis magic, nobody can deny that he embodies the magic of competitive Smash.
More on Ikan from the PGstats YouTube:
Griffin “Fatality” Miller’s flashy Captain Falcon put up consistently solid results this season, enabling him to comfortably secure a spot in North America’s top 50. He started the season with a mixed performance at Smash Ultimate Summit 4. While he only won one set out of five over the course of the invitational tournament, it also happened to be his best win of the year so far: ProtoBanham.
Afterward, Fatality firmly established himself as a gatekeeper. While he didn’t upset any other higher-ranked players at majors, he also didn’t drop a single set to anyone outside of the top 50. His best major performance came close to home at MomoCon, where he defeated fellow Georgians ScAtt and Wrath to place 13th.
Throughout this season, Fatality failed to piece together a deep bracket run like the one he made last year at CEO 2021. Nevertheless, his consistent record against the field suggests Fatality is likely to rise even higher as time goes on.
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
Abraham "BigBoss" Slane Parra was one of the players that benefited most from the quarantine period, going from a strong Mexican threat, being ranked 16 in the country in 2019, to a top international threat, terrorizing North American majors and picking up wins on players like Yonni, Goblin and Fatality.
He also has become a SoCal staple, being ranked number 0 on their last 2 power rankings above players like Elegant, Chase and Nicko.
Players in SoCal and Mexico talk about BigBoss like his 36th place finish is just the beginning for him. His unique use of ROB’s movement and strong punish game means that he’s never out of any set, and he even took a set off of MkLeo at a local this season.
BigBoss has proved he can consistently be among the best players in the world, only losing one set at a major to a player not ranked on the PGR, but if he can get just a few more big wins he can cement himself as a top 20 player along with Mexico’s big 4.
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
Eric "ESAM" Lew was only able to get one PGR win this season, but it was a big one, a 3-0 sweep over Tweek that knocked him out of Genesis 8 at 33rd. ESAM has mostly been making content recently, and his 35th place finish on this year’s PGR is his lowest ranking in a current smash game since he missed the RetroSSB Smash Bros Brawl top 25 in 2009, when he was 17 years old.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t still amazing though. He is still the best Pikachu in the world, and he picked up Mii Brawler and has been performing well with him, using MiiSam to pick up solid wins both on and offline. He does a good job of making both characters look unbelievably hard. He pushes them to their limits with lightning fast inputs to get every single percent out of every combo and it shows.
Since he only went to 3 tournaments during the season, it’s hard to gauge exactly the level he’s playing, but two 9th place finishes and a 25th place finish at large events are nothing to scoff at. If he comes back next season with a drive to compete, it wouldn’t be hard to see him being one of the 15 best players in the world again. He won a major over MkLeo less than a year ago, and has more tech skill than pretty much anyone on earth. If anyone looks past ESAM, their stocks will be leaving, just like his hair.
By Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
One critically important thing to know about Dylan “ApolloKage” J. is that he is insanely funny. Decked out in a green hoodie while cracking a perpetual smile, it’d be easy to underestimate him. I mean, there’s no way that this goofy dude from Missouri could be in the conversation for best Snake in the world, right?
Then you watch him sit at a setup and get into focus mode, and everything about him shifts. He sits up confidently, and you get to watch him - or for one poor soul, experience him - turn Pokémon Stadium 2 into a fireworks show. Between regularly duking it out with the Midwest’s best at regionals - this season alone, ApolloKage earned wins over Deathspade, The6Master, Ned, Doorstop, Skar, Toast, Zinoto, Geist, Panda Bair, Comet, and big_mak to name a few - or taking big names at events out of region such as Blacktwins, WaDi, DM, Shoe, Kazma, ATATA, Johny, Fatality, Lui$, and Jordan - ApolloKage nades, Nikitas, and C4s his way to success.
This season is only the start for STL’s golden boy, and make no mistake: going forward, the rest of the world is going to learn that they Dooberted when they should have Scooberted.
By Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
Michael "Tilde" Tedesco truly came out of nowhere after lockdown. He’d never finished better than 7th at any tournament with 100 or more entrants and had only been to one event with more than 150 players before 2020, but he used the Wifi era to propel him to top level status.
Tilde’s style of Falco is uniquely defensive, using lasers, Falco’s high jumps and retreating aerials to keep away from his opponents until they over-extend, and Tilde can capitalize with his plethora of patented up-tilt into imagination combos.
He was only able to notch 2 wins on the NA PGR this season at 5 tournaments of more than 100 players, but he had few bad losses, with only three coming to players outside the top 50.
Tilde’s quasi-camping style is brutal to play against, and it makes his Falco unique and deadly as he slices through brackets and moves up the ranks of New York’s best players.
By Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
Anyone that watched Japanese tournaments through 2021 would tell you one thing about Towa “Atelier” Kuriyama: he was on the come-up. In 2021, he tore through most of Japan’s talent, both new and old: sets on Zackray, Tea, KEN, Kome, Yoshidora, and Paseriman to name a few.
And it’s not like he was only doing this at small scale events - 4th at Kagaribi 5 is an insane placement to have on your resume. Prior to April 2022, he had only attended two American events - EVO 2019 and SSC 2019 - placing 49th and 97th respectively. But so much had changed since then, and fresh with a Team Liquid sponsorship, he landed in the States ready for Genesis and Pound.
Although he was only here for a short time, he made the most of it. At Genesis 8, the comparatively “worse” showing, he placed 33rd and took out jaredisking1, MuteAce, and NoTag. At Pound, he’d find his way to 9th, taking out Sean, IcyMist, and fellow countryman KEN. No matter which 2019 meta pick he’s piloting, we’re looking forward to seeing Atelier stateside again - he’s proven that he’s a threat to watch out for.
By Dara “Daramgar” M. Gar
Spencer “Scend” Garner returns to the PGRU with a 31st place finish. You are truly never safe fighting against Scend. One second you think you’re winning, the next you find yourself getting hit with an electricity-coated screaming child who kills you because you had just one poor airdodge (GGs, by the way).
Scend wins a lot. So much so that, of the 29 events he has entered this season, he has won an astounding 25 of them. Aside from one unfortunate performance at Genesis 8 and its prelocal, Scend has either met or outplaced his seed at every other event. Most notably, he placed 9th at MomoCon 2022, 1st at both Back in Blood 3 and 4, and 3rd at LEVELUP Arena 4. Wins against players like ApolloKage, AndresFn, Elegant, Dark Wizzy, loaf, Lui$, and Ling all solidify his well-earned and highest-yet PGR placement.
While Scend has had some excellent bracket runs, he has not yet broken into the next echelon of players, with players like Muteace, Zomba, and Dabuz keeping him down. Whether with his Ness or perhaps through greater reliance on Steve, Scend just needs more opportunities to prove himself.
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