The top 100 continues with the 85-71. One thing unites nearly all of these players: you can expect them to go up in 2023.
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Foul luck and the content creator life limited Chris “WaDi” Boston’s travel this season, but whenever he did show up he consistently delivered solid, albeit quiet results. WaDi’s season started off right with a pair of major runs at Let’s Make Big Moves 2022 and Glitch – Infinite that each featured solid top 100 losses and the elimination of an obscure Michigan steve player you might have heard called Onin in losers. With Onin’s ascendance to top 10 level results later in the year, WaDi’s wins on him aged like fine wine. After missing Genesis thanks to illness, WaDi’s next major was Pound 2022, where he lost to Zomba and ApolloKage for 25th with a win on kept.
He followed this up with three of his best events of the season, placing 7th at both CEO 2022 and Smash Factor 9 as well as 25th at supermajor Super Smash Con 2022, with wins on Jahzz0, Sean, Jake, Law, Fatality, Rox, IcyMist, and Zinoto between the three. WaDi was quiet for the last third of the season, getting decent depth wins at his remaining events but no more top 100 wins, and placed a dismal 49th at his final major of the season—Let’s Make Moves Miami—to Blacktwins13 and Capitancito. Nonetheless, his solid results from the first two thirds of the year carry him to a spot comfortably within the top 100.
Though WaDi hasn’t entered an C tier or above event since late October, we can expect that once he does return, he’ll quickly resume taking names using his increasingly eccentric character roster.
Perhaps the most creative and technical Steve player of the bunch, Yonnas “NVR | yonni” Gadissa has been a pioneering figure in the character’s metagame, but in spite of solid peaks he was often overshadowed this year by other players of his character who both achieved higher peaks and did so with greater consistency. Still, the highs of his results are nothing to scoff at—but so too are the lows impossible to overlook.
yonni was off to a rough start for the year, placing 129th at A tier Let’s Make Big Moves 2022 after an early 1-2 loss to an underseeded MPg and an 0-2 loss to Beef in losers. At Glitch – Infinite, he lost to LOE1 in winners and Wal00gi in losers for 49th, but at least he scored a win on LeoN before he was forced to bow out. Collision went better for the Texas steve, as although he placed 33rd, his losses were to Tilde and Jake and took down ChocoTaco in losers.
What followed was a two month period where yonni performed like a top 30 player, placing 13th at Genesis, 17th at Low Tide City 2022, 13th at MomoCon 2022, 5th at the Gimvitational, and 13th at CEO 2022, with wins on Skyjay, Maister, Lui$, Anathema, Cosmos, Zomba, MuteAce, Riddles, Gackt, and Tweek. The problem for yonni is that this didn’t last; after an okay Double Down where he beat no notable players but also only lost top 25 players, he would average more than one loss to a player outside the top 100 each remaining event, and only obtained two more wins on top 100 players: one on Jakal at Let’s Make Moves Miami, and and one on Ouch!? at Port Priority 7, a dip in results that wasn’t helped by his local’s decision to ban his character. Despite these lows, the sheer heights of his peaks this season carry him to a top 100 position, and although he’s recently announced his retirement from competitive play, don’t be surprised if replicates his spring results in the event he returns.
Entering the year as the best Shoto player in the world, Munekin might not have held that position by the year’s end, but this was hardly due to a decline in his own results as he repeatedly upset some of Japan’s best players. A strong start to the year presented itself at Kagaribi 6, where poor seeding put Munekin up against Yoshidora in pools, a player he already had a strong record against in 2021. A repeat of history ensued as Munekin beat the top Yoshi 3-1 before taking solid losses to top 25 players in the remainder of his bracket run. Unfortunately Munekin had a disappointing follow-up during Golden Week, as he was eliminated by Rido for 33rd at Maesuma TOP 7 and 17th at Seibugeki 10 with a best win between the two events of Kaeru, and bowed out at 25th at Kagaribi 7 after poor bracket luck pitted him against Tea in winners the first round of top 48 and then a Yoshidora who had been “upset” by acola in losers. Solid regional performances at KOWLOON 1 and Jingi 1 gave him two wins on Paseriman as well as a win on Lea, but he wouldn’t have another solid major performance for the rest of the season, being eliminated outside of top 48 at WAVE 2 and Maesuma TOP 10.
He would finally have a return to form near the end of the season with solid performances at KOWLOON 3 and WAVE #3 giving him a litany of strong wins over players like Omuatsu, Shogun, Eim, Neo, Kept, Akakikusu, and sssr, but other than Akakikusu he couldn’t close out sets against top 100 players. Munekin had something of an anti-clutch factor in 2022, failing to close out last game sets against KEN, Tea, Shogun, Yaura, Abadango, T, and YOC throughout the year. Already with a strong start to his 2023 year, expect Munekin to aim once again for the title of best Shoto player in the world, and it would be foolish to count him out in that endeavor.
Although he was putting up solid in-region results even pre-quarantine, Abraham “MP | MKBigBoss” Slane Parra experienced a major level-up over lockdown and emerged a global top 100 player in 2021, a status he maintained in 2022. Although he couldn’t quite replicate the high of 4th of a major that crowned his 2021 season, he was incredibly consistent, entering eight major events and either placing in top 24 or losing only to top 100 players at all but one. Highlights of his season include 13th at Low Tide City 2022 with wins on yonni and varun; 9th at Ultimate Fighting 2022 with wins on TriM, Naskino, and Longo; and perhaps the best 49th of the year at Double Down 2022, where he defeated Niko and Raflow while losing 1-3 to KEN and 2-3 to Kurama. Even his other supermajor 49th was a solid event, with him defeating Homika and Atomsk at Super Smash Con 2022 while taking losses to Aaron 0-3 and Raflow 2-3. In fact, the only significant blemish on an otherwise stellar major record is a 33rd to ShinyMark and Leaf at Smash Factor 9. The peak of his season was a 17th place finish at Genesis 8, where he took down TriM, Jake, Anathema, and Fatality while losing only to top 20 players Kola and Glutonny.
Despite stellar major results, BigBoss had a tougher time of it at regionals; outside of a strong 5th at European superregional Tech Republic VI, his only top 100 win at any of the other 11 regional events he attended was on Goblin at Delfino Maza RETA 2022. Additionally, in spite of his consistent overall record, he failed to earn any wins on players within the top 30. With him remedying this latter problem with Kola and Sonix wins at Let’s Make Big Moves 2023 to open the new year, he seems poised to enter the top 50 in the new year.
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While it’s easy to remember the player who came out on top of the Spring 2022 debate over the best Shoto player, it would be downright neglectful to forget the player and the run that sparked the debate in the first place: Cameron “Vendetta” Garrett’s incredible run at Glitch – Infinite. Kicking off the year with one of the strongest Shoto runs of the year, Vendetta took down Axiom XL and WaDi in winners before losing 1-3 to fellow Georgian Kola. It’s in losers, however, where Vendetta really went off: 3-0ing Ikan, then winning game 5 sets against Light and Goblin to make top 8 before losing 0-3 to Glutonny, lighting a debate over who the strongest shoto player in the world that wouldn’t be resolved for over two months.
Though he wasn’t able to approach the same highs for the rest of the year, still solid performances at the rest of his majors for the year ensured he remained in the top 100—with the exception of a bad Genesis 8, where he took JoJoDaHoBo and PeW to finish 97th. With fellow Georgia Ken player Jahzz0 breaking out in the latter half of the year and his Glitch – Infinite expired from people’s memories, Vendetta will have to make lightning strike twice if he hopes to maintain a top 100 rank in the new year.
Bharat “Lima” Chintapall had a tough time of it when Ultimate released, struggling to adapt to the changes to his heavily nerfed main from Smash 4, Bayonetta. Aided by some buffs, something seemed to click for Lima over quarantine as he came out of it putting up top 50 level results at multiple majors throughout 2021, and while he didn’t quite reach those same heights in 2022, he was no slouch either. Notable results at majors for Lima include 29th at the Ludwig Smash Invitational, where he qualified from the LCQ with wins on SHADIC, Peabnut, and Ouch!?; 9th at Rise and Grind 2022 with wins on Shoe, Justice, Beast, MKBigBoss, and Scend; and 33rd at MomoCon 2022, where he defeated Regalo. His strongest results, however, came from smaller events such as Lost Tech City 2022, Royal Brawl, DreamHack Dallas, and First Attack 2022, which collectively gave him three wins on SHADIC and and additional wins on players like Maister, MuteAce, Ling, Kept, Chronos, Niko, and Shoe.
There is a disadvantage to having your best events be on the smaller side, as most players ranked above him ended up with significantly stronger peaks. Additionally, Lima attended no supermajors in 2022 outside of the Ludwig Smash Invitational. A rough start to his 2023 Let’s Make Big Moves shows that there still remain roadblocks in the way to his return to the top, but with the strength of his 2022 results, there’s little reason to think he can’t overcome them.
One of the most dramatic up-and comers in Mexico, Alan “LFG | SF | AlanDiss” Carrillo holds the distinction of being the only player to make the top 100 exclusively off of Mexican results. This was no easy feat, and AlanDiss’s results speak for themselves. AlanDiss started the season with his breakout event, the stacked Mexican invitational Delfino Maza RETA 2022, where he defeated SkyJay, Rox, and—shockingly—Glutonny, the latter in a 3-0 while losing to Chag in pools and Goblin in losers. At large regional Tijuana At War, he scored a win on MKBigBoss while losing to Sparg0 and WaKa. At Casablanca, he proved his RETA wasn’t a fluke, defeating players like Cloudy, Nair^, and Javi, and defeating Maister 3-1 in losers after losing 0-3 in winners before losing game 5 to Cosmos in Grands. Later in the year, he won Mexican superregional Viva la Smash over Javi, Cali, and MKBigBoss.
The only thing that prevented a top 50 finish for AlanDiss was a middling performance at Mexico’s sole major of the year, Smash Factor 7, where, after defeating Ling, he lost 0-3 to MkLeo and Andrik for 17th, a clear outlier against the rest of his year. Should he gain the ability to travel to the US in 2023, AlanDiss might just reveal himself to secretly be the best snake in the world.
A high level player in the midwest pre-lockdown turned top WiFi Warrior during quarantine, Tanner “605 | skittles” Jordan emerged as a fringe top 50 player with the return of offline events in mid-2021, and kept the momentum going into 2022 with numerous solid regional performances. A 4-2 record on Zomba stands as his most impressive head to head for the year, earned early on through victories in grand finals of Frosty Faustings XIV and LEVELUP ARENA 4. Other notable results for the Iowa Young Link main include 13th at Back in Blood 3 with a victory over Kurama; 2nd at SOS 7 with wins over Zinoto, Geist, and ApolloKage; and 9th at Rise ‘N Grind with wins over ChunkyKong, Brr, BassMage, and yonni.
Although he had solid results at regionals, skittles’ major results results were a mixed bag, with the aforementioned 9th at Rise ‘N Grind and a 17th place finish at Genesis 9 with wins on Atelier and Peckham being offset by 33rd at MomoCon 2022, 33rd at Glitch – Infinite, and—most damagingly—97th at Super Smash Con 2022. If he can display greater consistency in 2023, he may finally make it into the top 100.
Editor’s Note: While researching for this write-up, it was found that a data error that made it into the calculation where skittles was erroneously marked as going 0-2 at small regional FIGHTING GHOSTS: THE SHINING rather than being correctly marked as a DQ. This likely underrated him by somewhere around 5-10 spots. We are taking steps to ensure similar data errors are caught earlier for future iterations of the ranking.
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After having their best season of Ultimate of their career in 2021, Alexis “Moist | Goblin” Stennett cooled the jets a bit in 2022, still offering up a number of solid performances but with the same consistency as 2021, especially towards the end of the year. After finishing the first half of the year at 48th off of strong performances at Ultimate Summit 4, MomoCon 2022, and Delfino Maza RETA 2022 that included wins on Fatality, Tea, Zomba, AlanDiss, and Larry Lurr, Goblin started the second half of the year off promisingly with a win on Chag and losses to Glutonny and Sisqui to finish 9th at Smash Factor 9. Unfortunately, this was followed up by a rough 97th at Super Smash Con 2022, with losses to Nhan and ChunkyKong, then a merely okay 17th at Rise ‘N Grind with a win on Jonhy.
They returned to form somewhat by qualifying for the Ludwig Smash Invitational through the LCQ by defeating Mr. E, Lui$, and Ouch!?—though they went 0-3 in the main event against tough competition from Glutonny, Chag, and Quandale Dinglelingleton, then finished 4th at Dreamhack Atlanta 2022 over Fatality, Peabnut, moxi, and Jahzz0. Still, it wasn’t enough to salvage the rest of their 2nd half of the year, resulting in Goblin having one of the biggest drops from the Spring 2022 rankings to the full year. We’ve all seen what Goblin can do; it’s just a matter of doing it consistently. With a strong 17th at Let’s Make Big Moves 2023 to open the 2023 season, Goblin seems poised to to recover with yet another strong season in 2023.
One of Europe’s fastest rising stars, Adam “Luugi” Jassin had a breakout year in 2022 that included wins at some of Europe’s biggest tournaments of the year. After a solid first half of the year, Luugi ramped things up in the second half with a win at Regen 2022 over RyuKai, MazeBeans, CurryGovernor, and Tarik. At Tech Republic VI, lightning struck twice, with Luugi winning the Spanish super regional over quiK, NaetorU, and Mr.R. Other notable results for Luugi include 1st at Manchester Conquest 7 over Darkstalker, Peli, and eMass; 2nd at Invasion: April 2022 over MazeBeans, Peli, SBF, and Tarik; and 13th at one of his two majors of the year, COLOSSEL 2022, with wins on Ogey and DarkThunder.
Inconsistency has been a challenge for Luugi to overcome this year, with more than half of his 22 losses being to players outside the top 100—although part of these can be chalked up to him several tournaments over top 100 players outright. Additionally, he possesses a brutal 1-6 record against Bloom4Eva, who was also his sole top 50 win of the year. Still, these are problems he may well be on his way to solving, with all of his losses to Bloom4Eva being in the first part of the year and his consistency being noticeably improved in the 2nd half. It seems like a solid bet that he’ll rank substantially higher in 2023.
The best player in Oregon, Jared “BIB | jaredisking1” sits at the forefront of a new generation of talent in the Pacific Northwest that saw a marked increase in results this past year, owing to the region quietly becoming one of the most competitive parts of the US. Rather than one or two particularly strong peaks, Jared possesses a litany of strong results from across the 17 events he attended across the season, including 1st at Keep It Chill 2, 33rd at Genesis 8, 5th at Back in Blood 3, 9th at Back in Blood 5, and 1st at Domino Effect 21, with wins on players like Capsize, Justice, JoJoDaHoBo, Dark Wizzy, takera, LeoN, varun, JeJaJeJa, Big D, Ouch!?, and H4.
Although he possesses many strong results, his lack of a strong peak holds him back from a higher ranking, as most of his best wins came from regional level events. Additionally, he suffers the curse of being at the forefront of a rising region in that his regional competitors were hot on his tail, taking numerous sets off of him despite not quite making top 100 themselves, resulting in him having the 2nd worst top 100 loss ratio of the top 100. Nonetheless, jaredisking1’s upward trajectory is clear and unequivocal, and it seems inevitable his 2023 will take him to even greater heights.
A ubiquitous face in Kansai’s 2nd tier of regional threats post-quarantine, PNG | Jogibu has been a prolific attendee of events across Japan, and in the amassed a motley assortment of wins over Japan’s top threats that easily carry him into the top 100, though his consistency can leave something to be desired. With 21 events attended across the year, listing even all of his good events across the year is an impracticality. Among his wins in 2022: A 4-3 record on Asimo, 3-1 record on Sigma, 2-0 record on Abadango, and additional wins on players like Miya, Munekin, Rizeasu, HIKARU, DIO, alice, Noi, Taikei, and Kaninabe. In the placements category: 2nd at Karisuma SP 12, 5th at Sumabato SP 28, and 7th at Japan’s most competitive event of the year, Maesuma TOP 7.
In a game as volatile as ultimate, high attendance usually brings with it inconsistency for all but the highest echelon of competitors, and Jogibu was more inconsistent than most, failing to breach top 24 at at a full third of his events in 2022, and having half of his losses be to players outside the top 100. Jogibu has the peaks of a top 50 player, but he’s still got a ways to go in the consistency department. Even so, there’s no reason to think he doesn’t have it in him, and he’s absolutely a player to watch going into 2023.
Considered Europe’s best Inkling since Ultimate’s release, Alain “mCon | Space” Balemba added an Aegis to his repertoire in 2022 to great effect, achieving his best results so far last year. Attending 19 ranked events throughout the year, Space earned a solid major resume by placing in top 16 at all four European majors he entered, and also scored wins not just over most of Europe’s top players but also over several overseas invaders. At ULTIMATE WANTED 4, Space sent Jdizzle and RaZe to losers while losing to Asimo and Chag. At COLOSSEL 2022, he defeated Tru4 and eMass to place 13th while only taking top 100 losses to Nitox and Sisqui. At VCA 2022, he defeated Neeroz, Vidad, and American invader Fatality while losing to Glutonny and Sisqui. At UFA 2022, he defeated Mezcaul, Jake, and Homika while losing to Bloom4Eva and Glutonny. He also notably won notable and regional events Heroes of Dutch Comic Con – Spring Edition, Esports Game Arena Fight Night XL 2, LGX 2022, and The Ultimate Performance #3.5, accruing wins on players like Oryon, Loading…, Supahsemmie, Mr.R, quiK, Homika, iStudying, and Azrael.
One notable weakness for Space is a lack of top 30 wins, with a tragic game 5 loss to Glutonny at VCA 2022 and not taking more than one game in other best of 5 sets against top 30 players. This denies him the strong peaks of many other players, although it seems it’s probably only a matter of time going into 2023, with his solid loss record meaning he’s usually going to get the opportunity to face the best players at an event, even if he hasn’t been able to close the distance against them.
Tied for most well-attended player on the ranking, Thomas “GO | Oryon” Scalese attended a whopping 31 ranked events in 2022, and strong performances at them precipitated his ranking well within the top 100. In addition to solid performances in France, he also had a genuinely great outing in the US at Genesis 9, defeating Raflow, Uncivil ninja, Gackt, and skittles en route to a 13th place finish, and though his second outing at Double Down went less smoothly as he went down at 65th to jaredisking1 and AC, he nonetheless earned wins on BANG! and rising star MFA. Back home, he defeated players like Mr. R, Flow, NaetorU, PeW, Mr. E, MoDzai, Space, eMass, Tarik, Bloom4Eva, and just about every other top EU player you can think of—bar Glutonny and Sisqui, who eluded him for the duration of the year. His best win of the season came at L’Odyssée, where he defeated Tea in a surprising 2-0, though he still drowned to tiebreak rules thanks to losses to Bloom4Eva and Fatality.
Despite an entire battalion of strong results, Oryon suffered from inconsistency, with half his losses being to players outside the top 100. A 33rd place finish at COLOSSEL 2022, the aforementioned 65th at Double Down 2022, and 17th at Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022 being particularly damaging. Even so, he’s demonstrated the peaks to be placed among Europe’s best, and a more consistent 2023 would surely elevate him into the top 50.
The world’s best Jigglypuff had an explosive 2021, and Troy “BassMage” Waters didn’t let up in 2022 either, putting up solid results at major after major that showed his 2021 was no fluke. Though his best head to head was a dominant 4-0 record on Chag, he also sports winning records on Goblin (2-0), Raflow, Ned, Atelier, SHADIC, and Tilde, and an even record against jaredisking1. Highlights of his year include 13th at Rise ‘N Grind, 25th at Genesis 8, 9th at Battle of BC 4, and the four peaks that adorn his playercard.
A notable weakness in BassMage’ season is the lack of any wins on players in the top 30, in stark contrast to the peak Kola win of his 2021. 17th place finishes at the Ludwig Smash Invitational, Back in Blood 4, Back in Blood 5, and the Big House 10 also acted as barriers to a top 50 ranking, showing that while his consistency has improved from 2021, it’s still not quite where it needs to be. With a strong start to the next season at Let’s Make Big Moves, 2023 might finally be the year he breaks through into the top 50.