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Path to the PGR: MPGR Contenders NA, Part 2

By PGstats.com | 02/03/22

The Path to the PGR: Contenders Tier List continues today with part 2 of our Melee NA series.

Part 1 covered the 19 players who were voted in to the B and C tiers of the North American PGRU Contenders Tier List. These are among the top threats our assembled panel of experts expects to compete for high rankings on the next PGRU. Today, the Melee NA rankings conclude with the 11 players voted in to the S+, S and A tiers.
If you would like to know more about the methodology and process behind these rankings, check out this post. Placement within tiers is unordered, with the exception of S+ tier, for which only the top placement is ordered.

A Tier

By Brent "Brentos" Vickers
The title of Michigan’s best Falco player isn’t enough for Ginger -- his eyes are on being named best Falco in the world. Ginger has made a name off his optimal use of lasers and stunning pressure-play, vacillating between extreme patience and balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face scraps; this year has been no exception.
Ginger came out of the gates swinging this autumn, snagging a win over Axe at Low Tide City in Texas to take first at the tournament. Excelling at overwhelming his opponent with a playstyle that seemingly changes on the fly, Ginger’s practice regimen with players like Magi, FatGoku, and KJH has given him a consistency that would make anyone hard-pressed to bet against his ascension in the coming year. Heck, even in the coming months. Keep your eyes out for how high he’s going to climb.
By Anokh "Edwin" Palakurthi
Hungrybox showed many moments of promise in 2021. In the first in-person Melee major of the year, he quickly silenced anyone who counted him out, beating iBDW, aMSa, KoDoRiN, 2saint, and moky. Immediately afterward, he stunned everybody at Riptide by taking a set from Wizzrobe, a recent personal demon. It’s not the same Hungrybox we’ve come to know over the last decade, but he’s still capable of beating anyone in the world when he’s fully dialed in.
Moving forward, he will need to find a consistent way through an increasingly difficult top echelon of play. Gone are the days of Hungrybox eating Fox players for breakfast and effortlessly stomping everyone else. If the former world No. 1 wants to recapture his former greatness, he’ll have to overcome Zain’s Marth, aMSa’s Yoshi, Wizzrobe’s Captain Falcon, Plup’s Sheik, and a long line of harder Fox players than ever before. It’s going to be a grueling climb back to the top of the mountain, but it certainly would be a hell of a story.
By Anokh "Edwin" Palakurthi
Over the last few months, KoDoRiN has become a familiar face in major top eights. His placings were no fluke either–he beat iBDW, S2J, Gahtzu, and SFAT, and even spoiled Mew2King’s return to a major. But one underrated accomplishment is becoming the sixth person to ever be ranked No. 1 in Southern California. By doing so, he joins Mango, Ken, S2J, Westballz, and Fly Amanita as the only players to ever finish atop the region’s local power rankings.
In 2022, KoDoRiN will no longer be just “the second best Marth player.” He’ll have a target on his back, and it won’t only be within the confines of the world’s most stacked Melee scene. At nationals, KoDoRiN will have to fend off an ever-growing mid-level playing field of dangerous players not too far from where he was a year ago. Top players won’t be caught off guard by KoDoRiN either; if anything, they’ll start preparing specifically for him. With everybody watching, will KoDoRiN shy away from the spotlight or will he shine even brighter?
By Brent "Brentos" Vickers
Some may have thoughtthat Polish’s first major win at Super Smash Con: Fall Edition was a fluke given the relatively poor Melee attendance in the Melee bracket for that tournament. However, Polish managed to snag a 3rd place finish at both SWT Finals and SWT East, shocking spectators, those in attendance, and Peach haters around the world.
As if that wasn’t enough, they also beat Hungrybox at both events, a feat many thought was impossible for Peach during Armada’s tenure, and snagged an impressive win over iBDW at SWT East. Additionally, Polish absolutely trounced Trif at SWT Finals on their way to 3rd place, and they boast an entirely lopsided win rate over fellow Peach main, lloD, proving their dominance in the Peach ditto. They’ve shown themselves to be a massive threat to fast-fallers and floaties alike.
Having established themselves as the current best Peach in the world, one thing is for sure: Polish isn’t going anywhere. Sure there hasn’t been a top Peach player that has given many upper echelon players trouble in quite a while, but there’s no doubt Polish is striking fear in the hearts of those who took a break from their Peach practice. A word to the wise: time to dust off that old “Peach notes” journal and study up before you become another victim to Polish.
By Zane "Epengu" Bhansali
You could define someone as an optimist or pessimist based on how they view SFAT’s consistency. Is top 4 at two separate majors a sign that he'll stay off the podium or a good omen for things to come?
Those who knew where to look saw inspiration in SFAT’s play this year. You could see it in the surprise birthday upset he gifted Mang0 at Summit 12, or when he nearly four-stocked KoDoRin to finish their Losers Semis set at Mainstage. Of course, KoDoRin made an unreal comeback, continuing SFAT’s woes against Marth and consigning him to the same 4th place he’d finished at Riptide a few months earlier.
But at this point, it’s getting a bit old defining SFAT by his losses instead of his wins. What other player could run over Fiction, Faceroll, S2J, and Plup at the same event and have it taken for granted?
In the past, SFAT has been known for his ability to fend off contenders while struggling to make an impact against the top dogs. In 2021, where the upper ranks have sometimes looked untouchable, SFAT’s done an admirable job of punching above his weight. Summit 12 makes him the only player on these rankings below S Tier with an offline win on Mang0 this year, and he’s also the only player outside the top 3 to take a LAN set off Plup. Melee’s greatest player to have never won a major continues his hunt, swimming against the current like he always has.

S Tier

By Zane "Epengu" Bhansali
According to the “Swiss cheese model” of risk management, any prevention against risk can be imagined as a piece of Swiss cheese. Each layer might have holes, but it’s unlikely for them all to line up at once. You can think of aMSa’s chances to win a major like this - and these days, it feels like those holes are getting closer to perfect alignment.
You’d be forgiven for thinking a year away from international competition would set aMSa back. But at this point, we should know that no odds slow him down. At his first tournament back, aMSa trounced Mang0 and n0ne and took Hungrybox and Zain to the brink before an unfortunate bracket draw resulted in a deceptively modest ninth-place finish. For those watching carefully, it was clear that aMSa hadn’t taken a single step back - a fact he proved by sweeping the East Asia Smash World Tour regionals without dropping a game.
When aMSa returned for Summit 12, he proved that he was only moving forward, dispatching Mang0 again and absolutely obliterating Hungrybox. By the end of Saturday, you could hear the whispers that maybe this was aMSa’s tournament to win.
Fate wouldn’t have it that way - aMSa finished an impressive fifth place at both Summit and the Smash World Tour Finals, stymied by familiar roadblocks such as iBDW, Plup, Wizzrobe, and Trif. But aMSa’s work ethic has a habit of turning today’s obstacle into tomorrow’s triumph. In the same tour of the states, he finally notched a win on lloD, who had previously proven to be a brick wall. We could wait for the holes to line up - but every day, aMSa’s working to widen those gaps. Soon there won’t be any way to arrange a bracket that doesn’t leave a dinosaur-shaped path.
By "Hank" Strandberg
In July of 2021, before he even entered his first post-lockdown offline tournament, Plup hosted his own exhibition event, Plup Showdown. There, he crossed controllers with some of Florida’s finest in the form of Mew2King, Wizzrobe, and Gahtzu, and completely decimated them, almost with relative ease. He first defeated Gahtzu 5-0, then Mew2King 5-2, and then, finally, Wizzrobe 5-1.
This strong start forecasted how well Plup’s return to offline competition would play out, as he managed to place very well at the first three tournaments he attended: fourth at Smash Summit 11, second at Riptide, and first at SWT: NA West Melee Regional Finals. He also garnered wins over the likes of iBDW, Mang0, Wizzrobe, and Hungrybox.
 
Plup’s consistency was also immaculate in 2021. His worst loss was to Socal’s decorated vegan Fox player, SFAT (a player well versed in the Sheik matchup) at SWT: NA West Melee Regional Finals - a loss he would go on to avenge in grand finals of the same tournament.
While these accolades certainly make for a commendable year, the Plup Club patriarch needed to make an emphatic statement to reassert himself as a contender on the world stage.
That statement came in the form of a first place finish at the fourth and final tournament he entered in 2021, The Smash World Tour Championship. Not only did Plup capture the title of "world champion,” he also was able to achieve his first national-level tournament win in nearly four years; the last one he claimed victory at was Genesis 5 back in 2018.
By Brent "Brentos" Vickers
Hailing from Central Florida, the headquarters of the 20GX movement, Wizzrobe has made a career of implementing 20GX’s philosophy and manifesto. The so-called “optimal” Falcon player has continued to climb the rankings ever since his debut, and this past year has been no exception. With wins over every player you can think of including Hungrybox, Mango, and any other bracket demon he’s faced, Wizzy continues to shock and awe Melee die-hards with his patented techchase-to-death combos.
Wizzy finished no worse than fifth at six major tournaments in 2021. His most notable accomplishment this year was a first place finish at Mainstage, the largest in-person tournament of the year by entrant count, complete with a unique controller-lasso pop-off after he defeated Hungrybox. Despite a hiccup at Riptide, Wizzrobe is looking dominant against the Puff master, carrying a 4-1 offline record against Hungrybox through 2021.
After his impressive showing this season, one thing is clear: the sky’s the limit for this young Captain Falcon player.

S+ Tier

By Zane "Epengu" Bhansali
iBDW’s no stranger to being underrated. By the time someone deigns to undercut one of his accomplishments, iBDW has already leapfrogged to the next milestone. In a Melee career spanning only six years, he’s recorded what is inarguably the second-fastest rise to top ten of any player in the modern era, bested only by fellow prodigy Zain.
In September, iBDW joined an exclusive club of only 16 other players in Melee history by winning his first major at Riptide. And yet - take to Twitter or Reddit afterward, and you’d see the discussion that maybe this major shouldn’t count as much given the absence of iBDW’s biggest obstacles, Zain and Mang0. Those misgivings only grew louder after iBDW faltered at Mainstage against lower-ranked emissaries of the same characters in KoDoRin and Ginger.
How poetic, then, that Cody Schwab would silence the doubters by taking his first victory over Zain en route to a Summit 12 victory whose prestige leaves zero room for discussion. What’s more, he did it his way, counterpicking Zain to Final Destination in a swaggering display of bravura before swiftly 3-0ing Mang0.
The last and only other time iBDW beat Mang0 was ten sets and two years prior, at Smash Summit 8. At that tournament, his breakout run seemed fueled by spite, stubbornness, and a wee bit of alcohol after a disastrous group stage.
Compare that to the winner’s interview at Summit 12, where iBDW couldn’t stop smiling and repeatedly emphasized that his main aim had been to have fun. The question marks that followed iBDW were never due to his skill or work ethic - as he’d admit himself, the only thing holding back iBDW was iBDW. Mentality reforged and happier than ever, the last shackles on his potential have finally been broken.
By "Hank" Strandberg
Going into 2020, Zain was on top of the Melee world: he won Genesis 7 without dropping a set in January, and not even two weeks later, he got picked up by Golden Guardians as their first Melee player. Although Zain’s momentum in 2020 was halted by the burgeoning coronavirus pandemic, many in the Melee community believed 2021 was going to be the year where Zain cemented his place at the top of Melee’s most elite echelon.
For the most part, Zain succeeded in this endeavor: over the course of 2021, he didn’t drop below third place at the three tournaments he attended (all of which were invitationals). He also took sets over a murderers’ row of players such as Mang0, iBDW, Plup, and Hungrybox, establishing a winning record over every player in the world except Mang0, against whom Zain would end the year with a negative set record of 1-3.
Zain’s resume for the year was, by all means, astounding, and he certainly made a strong argument for the title of the best player in the world. However, it was his trilogy of set losses to Mang0 that just barely took him out of contention for the number one spot. He also suffered an uncharacteristic loss to iBDW (a player Zain had never lost to in their previous seven offline sets).
 
Zain may have been unable to fully capitalize on the hype that was surrounding him in 2021, but if he can clean up his consistency, 2022 could be the year in which the Golden Swordsman begins his reign as the world’s greatest.

S+ Tier (#1)

By Anokh "Edwin" Palakurthi
If you were a Mango fan in 2018, things were looking hopeless. Mango was struggling against his toughest rivals and there was always a chance he’d lose before top eight. His glory days were gradually beginning to feel like a fading memory and he failed to win a major for that entire year.
Recent history has made 2021 so much sweeter for Mango. He’s fresh off the best year he’s had since 2014, the last time he finished No. 1 in the world. The peak of it–winning Smash Summit 11–involved a wildly cascading series of possible "greatests.” In a single tournament, Mango might have had the greatest loser's bracket run of all-time, the greatest reverse 3-0 of all-time, and the greatest grand finals performance of all-time. Maybe you don’t agree, but what you can’t argue with is cold, hard cash: the largest first place payout of all-time.
There’s nothing to say about Mango that hasn’t already been said. But when you examine the ebbs and flows of his career, it’s obvious that what defines him is an unparalleled dedication to the game. Above all else, it’s this timeless persistence which led the now-official "GOAT" of Melee back to his throne.
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