By Thomas "Lyamarth" Kammerlander
Europe got to know (and fear) Jarden “Jaka” Kalkman and his Isabelle in 2021, where he achieved the best Swiss placement at a European Major in Ultimate. This feat is even more impressive considering Jaka is using what is generally considered one of the worst characters in the game. On the other hand, this also gave him the advantage of his opponents never having played an Isabelle optimized to this level, forcing them to be ready to adapt mid-set. It is notable that only a handful of players were ever able to beat him when they first met in bracket.
Jaka had a slower start into the current season, placing 25th at Glory 2.0, but followed this up with his best showing of the season at Boss Battles: For Glory, where he defeated Peli, Ogey, and SBF for a 7th place. Particularly Ogey and BeJay! managed to adapt to the Isabelle player after their previous losses and defeated him for the first time in their latest encounter, even though the overall record is still in Jaka’s favor. A similar story unfolded in Switzerland, where Destany managed to take back the first place on the Swiss PR after a dominating season.
Now it is Jaka’s turn. Can he adapt back and continue to perform to the level he has shown in the past? Well, if recent local results are any indication, after a long losing streak, he has recently started to beat Destany again…
As the pride and joy of his home nation Scotland, Marcelo ‘Mazebeans’ Russell makes his mark at 29th on the European rankings. He’s certainly a familiar face at British events too, as every penny of prize money must have financed trips to seemingly every tournament in the UK. Despite this, burnout could not claim him, as Mazebeans claimed an average of 3rd at the seven regional and national events he attended in this period.
Despite this incredible consistency, it’s safe to say his best performance this season came at Manchester Conquest 8, where he took down CurryGovernor and double eliminated eMass on his path to a 1st place finish. Among the results of his other tournaments, he’s claimed sets off OwlBBS, Peli, Luugi and Bloom4eva, proving himself as a threat to anyone on the continent at any given moment. Oh, when the beans come out the tin, you can be sure that this Steve main will send you packin', all while building…ahem, ‘art’, midway through the match.
By Alexandre “DrPuppet” Weber
Hugo “Lancelot” Hujala makes it once again onto a European ranking, landing at 28th on his first PGRU. The Finnish Chrom main had a slow start, choosing not to attend major events after VCA 2021, last year's final European major, to focus on school. Despite focusing elsewhere, he definitely made sure to stay in shape in Smash, as he hasn’t dropped a single local in 2022 according to the PGstats database.
Once the grades were locked down and Hugo could spend more time crunching frame data, he flew over to America for Genesis 8 and Pound 2022. Finishing Genesis 8 at 33rd losing to Marss and Nicko and rounding out his American run with 17th at Pound 2022 losing to Light and Ling showed everyone that he can stand a chance against the best players in the world.
After landing back in Europe, he stopped by Switzerland to take home the trophy at Exodus, beating players like Karpador64, Phonky, Jaka and finally Destany in grands. Now bringing out the Roy more often than before, Lancelot has been consistent, regularly showing you can never count him out. Despite having to travel further to attend bigger tournaments to reach a higher level, Lancelot uses every opportunity he gets to prove that he is one of the best Chroy players in the whole world.
By Thomas "Lyamarth" Kammerlander
It has been somewhat quiet around Dennis “iStudying” Kwarteng this season. Usually, the veteran Dutch Greninja main attends a few European Majors outside the Netherlands, but he decided to stay in the country this time around. Nevertheless, he attended a number of events and, with a single exception, performed to or even above his expected seeding.
Throughout the season iStudying managed to win sets against almost all of the top talent in the Netherlands, including players like Space, Azrael, Ramses, BeJay !, and Loading…. At the most stacked event in the Netherlands, The Ultimate Performance 3.5, iStudying finished in a strong 7th place, losing only to Space and foreign invader eMass.
While it is nice to see iStudying continuing to perform well in his home country, his presence is missed at international events, both as a player and person. We can only hope he will return to attending a few European Majors next season and maybe even bless the audience again with an amazing run like at last year’s Temple: Hermes Edition in France.
Mark "TriM" Wright might be one of the most understated players of the French scene, but he isn't one to make anything easy for his opponents. The best French Mega Man, TriM was very active all over Europe before the pandemic, allowing him to confront any style of play. This experience allowed him to roll through French tournaments and earn multiple notable wins on French and international top players alike, a hit list that includes PeW, Enki, Oryon, Goblin, MoDzai, Leon, and Nitox among others.
TriM has consistently posted strong results at the WANTED tournament series, such as the WANTED X ZEvent where he finished 2nd losing to Glutonny, having taken out Leon, Neeroz, and Mezcaul among others along the way. He has started to travel a little more since emerging from lockdown and is regaining his confidence, which is reflected in his 5th place finish at the Boss Battle in England and his 13th place finish at Glory 2.0 in Barcelona. Make no mistake: this is only the beginning and that he is a player to watch closely
Gregory "PeW" Chapet has long been recognized on the European scene, both for his regular attendance at tournaments and his ability to make holes in the brackets if the tournament organizers make the mistake of underseeding him. He is such a respected player in the community that having PeW in attendance has become enough to have a tournament recognized as official on a European scale.
Since entering the scene, PeW has always been solid enough to be considered a top French player, and has maintained his position as the country's top Ness player. It seems as if he always manages to add another upset or notable win to his list every time he enters a bracket. At Glory 2.0, he finished 5th with wins over Mezcaul, Emass and Neeroz. At Wanted S4C4, he finished 9th with victories over Neeroz, Mezcaul , Kingel and Raphro in notable win. And finally at Versailles Esport, he finished 5th with a win on Winder.
Despite being a mainstay in the scene for so long, PeW continues to improve, suggesting that the French Ness player has still further potential yet to realize.
A Smash 4 veteran who made the transition to Ultimate the right way by continuing to improve with his character, Cedric "Homika" C. is considered the best European Rosalina & Luma player, with methodical and solid gameplay reflected well by his tournament results.
His second place at the Artcade Open Cup with wins over Sisqui, Otakuni and Ismael shows that his level has not dropped one iota. and he even managed to send Leon to losers before falling to him in Grand Finals. Homika added strong results with his 5th place at Sunfest with wins against Neeroz and VinS and his 4th place at KRBanger, where he beat Eko, Modzai and Rehann.
Until this season, Homika was a long-time free agent looking for the right team. His recent sponsorship with Historia will allow us to see him travel even more, hopefully enabling us to see his Rosalina shine for a long time to come!
One of the most diligent players in all of France, Rayanne “Ogey” Noubli has been around since Smash 4 and has always been considered the country’s best Captain Falcon, and a French player of the highest tier. His results have been strong since the first ever WANTED tournament in Kremlin Bicètre near Paris, with high placements in tournaments (winning Wanted S2 Chapter 2) and circuits (Solary Circuit) since then. He will always be a respected top player in Smash 4 and now Ultimate, as he has racked up wins over Leon, Gluttony, Neeroz, PeW, Noxumbra, MoDzai, and his lifelong rival Flow.
Since his sponsorship at BMS, he has continued to consolidate his level in Ultimate by traveling more and more across Europe & the USA. His travels were successful, taking 4th place at E-Caribana beating Jaka and Otakuni, 3rd place at KRBanger beating Raflow, Altek and Sirknight, and 2nd place at Stunfest losing only to Leon, taking out Raflow and RyuKai along the way.
His patient, flashy and hype Captain Falcon is not stopping anytime soon, and we expect to see him for many more PGRs to come!
The young Breton Pichu main who recently joined team Oplon has continually impressed the French and European scene whenever he participates in a tournament. Starting his career with Ultimate and competing with Pichu from the start, NaetorU has climbed up the ranks and racked up win after win against Europe’s top talents, especially since his breakout performance at VCA last November.
The fact that he is on this list despite the fact that VCA was held before the ranking period tells you that he has continued to excel. Since then, he remains undefeated in his home region of Brittany, and has brilliant results outside of it. He took 1st place at NGC Esport Tour Season 2 through losers, running through PeW, Gogesta, Polinomis and resetting and defeating MoDzai in Frans Finals.
He went on to win the Thonon Gaming Fest by beating Flow and Mezcaul,and placed third at HFLAN SSBU, grabbing close wins against Homika and Pew. His great results and wins show his strong potential. Keep an eye on this young Pichu during the next season, he undoubtedly will do well!
By Maurice "yung aegi" Schweers
Describing himself as “Germany’s Demon”, Robin “DarkThunder” Kurzke shocked the world when he beat American Falco main Larry Lurr in a 3-0 fashion while three-stocking him in games two and three at Rise of PPT in Berlin. This and many other spectacular performances by the East German Bowser main earned him on the 21st spot of this ranking.
While DarkThunder has not made big moves into foreign territory just yet, he is one of the most dominant forces in his home country of Germany. At the aforementioned Rise of PPT he did not only demolish Larry Lurr but also beat quiK and Slipknot. Furthermore, he placed fourth at the other German majors RCADIA SMASH 2 and Smash Contest: DoKomi 2022 with wins over Ente, Longo, BeJay ! and Honk. If DarkThunder manages to convert his amazing performances from German tournaments onto the European level, he will soon evolve into “Europe’s Demon,” and it will be exciting to see him take on even bigger names in the next months.
Paul "Mezcaul" G. is part of the generation which started competing with Ultimate. I started competing around the same time as him, and I was able to see him improve little by little through the online tourneys I organized, slowly but surely improving his game with his main Ridley to reach the level he currently has.
His gameplay is brutal and aggressive, and just like Ridley it uses fear as a weapon, creating opportunities for opponents to make mistakes, then punishing them with devastating blows.
His victory against Leon at Ultimate Wanted 3, during the announcement of Leon’s sponsorship with Solary no less, revealed Mezcaul to the scene and earned him respect. It only backed up his high-profile win list, which also includes Flow, Mr. E, Enki, Gogesta, Neeroz or AndresFn, a list of names that proves Mezcaul's opponents are right to feel that fear.
With him finally attending his first out of country last month, it’s safe to say that Rourke "OwlBBS" Walton’s era as Smash UK’s best kept secret is finally coming to end. One thing that absolutely is NOT a secret is this: OwlBBS is one of the most fundamentally sound players on the continent. He’s not only one of the best in a competitive setting, but I’d wager him the favourite in any Smash game mode you can imagine.
OwlBBS has been doing the rounds across the country, making his way to anywhere the competition resides. Whilst a consistently potent thread trading sets with every other top player in the country, he has a couple of standout performances, including Big LAB #4, where he defeated Mazebeans and Bloom4eva on his way to a 2nd place finish.
He took 2nd again at ReUnion, making his way to the winners side of grand finals leaving Shaneak and eMass in his wake. OwlBBS has been the strongest player from the south of England for many years and that’s not different this season. We can only hope to see more of his stellar Banjo & Kazooie gameplay as he leaves the island in the future.
As we watched Adam ‘Luugi’ Jassim begin to make waves during the online era, many onlookers expected him to replicate those results once offline events returned, but not many were ready for him to completely smash those expectations and become one of the best players on the continent. When watching Luugi, there's exactly 2 things which come to mind: That he’s bursting at the seams with positive energy enjoying every second of every match, and that no matter what move starts the combo with, it ends with his opponent sitting on the angel platform, utterly bewildered at his mind boggling conversions.
As another player who had not left the country before the end of this season, Luugi has quietly been racking up an impressive resume. At Tea Party 1, Luugi finished 3rd taking out OwlBBS and eMass in the process. He also took the silver medal at Invasion: April - losing only to frequent opponent and friend Bloom4eva - with emphatic wins over Mazebeans, SBF, Peli and Tarik.
Looking into the future and the V4 season, which began in mid-June, Luugi has already smashed expectations even further with a 13th place finish at COLOSSEL (losing only to 2nd & 4th overall) and even winning Regen 2022 over Bloom4eva and Tarik (whom he now holds a 5-0 set count over). Mark my words, we’re witnessing the best Luigi on the planet on his journey to greatness.
In order to be placed this high in a continental ranking, you have to be something special. In that regard, James ‘Peli’ Hunt holds a record no other European can come close to: a 100% win rate at major events over European top dog Glutonny, with two 3-2 wins on the big stage. This accolade alone would earn him his stripes, but it would be a disservice to one of the UK’s longest reigning top players if we did not mention his other incredible performances this season.
Peli started off the season with a bang by winning Big LAB #4 and securing wins over Mazebeans and OwlBBS on the way. He also racked up a slew of podium finishes at WaveSmash Ultimate 9, OLL ‘22 & BOSS BATTLES #1 and claiming victory over eMass, Darkstalker and CurryGovernor on the way.
He even paid some visits to North America for the end of the season, when he sent BassMage to the losers bracket at Battle for BC 4. Not to forget his performance at the e-Caribana invitational just after this season's deadline too, where Peli fought through Flow, Samuuu, Mr.R and Glutonny to earn a 5th place finish. Whilst Peli has been taking a short break from competing lately - no doubt deserved after hardcore competing so many weekends in a row - we can be absolutely certain that Peli will be aiming even higher in the new season.
The first time I saw Moussa "Emass" Hafez was at Ultimate Wanted 3 in the early days before the rest of the players arrived. We’d decided to play with him as nobody knew him, nor his level of play. I have no shame in saying that he three-stocked me without me being able to do anything, because he impressed us by doing the same with the different sparring partners (top player or not) who followed one another to confront him.
I quickly understood that his seeding, at 150th reflecting his then-unknown status, would not be respected during this tournament. Indeed, Emass finished 5th with the longest loser run I have seen in my career, winning no less than 12 loser matches including seven best-of-five sets before bowing out to Noxumbra.
Since then, Emass has been busy coming to France often, always placing himself in the top 8. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he moved to England where he made his place in the PR by winning Reunion, placing 2nd at Manchester Conquest and finishing 7th at Invasion. In the process, Emass has picked up wins over some of Europe's best: Flow, Peli, RepTile, Raflow, Homika, RAMBOSS, Oryon, Neeroz just to name a few.
By Jack "Jackie Peanuts" Moore
America's top representative abroad, Eric "Mr. E" Weber's travels in France were a continued success in 2022. Mr. E was able to crash four French Top 8s in the PGRU v3 period, including a victory at Versaille Esport Smash 2022. Arguably his most impressive run came at WANTED: All Star, where he ran all the way to Winners Finals, only to fall to Sisqui and Raflow for 3rd. He also placed 7th at WANTED: Free Agent Edition, picking up wins over Homika and Superstriker along the way.
Mr. E came back to the states recently, returning to his home scene of New York. It will be fascinating to see how he is able to apply what he learned in Europe. Mr. E ranked 38th on the PGRU v1 before dropping off the PGRU v2, so you know he'll be hungry to make his return to an American ranking now that he has proven he can hang with Europe's best.
Andrés "AndresFn" Fariñas almost got to the top 10 of the European rankings thanks to his great performance this season. This legendary Shoto player struggled a bit in Europe compared to his breakout 2021, but he made up for it with some fantastic performances at home, improving his results in Spain compared to the last season. As such, the Shoryuken master was able to keep his high position in the European rankings and make another continental Top 15.
The crown jewel of AndresFn's season was his Glory 2.0 performance, where he became the champion after beating many of Europe's best, including Tarik, Flow, Vidad and Homika. He performed well in other European tournaments as well, placing 33rd at WANTED S5 C1 - ALL STAR and 17th at E- Caribana, but his journey did not end there. AndresFn had a chance to impress the world once again as he did in 2021, placing 97th at Genesis and 25th at Battle of BC4.
Despite the impressive placings, he is capable of much more. It's just a matter of time until we all see him at his best level and earning one of the highest spots in the next European rankings.
One of the most impressive newcomers to the French scene, young Scott Garman AKA Nitox was part of the Glutonny Academy generation, a group of young players who learned & improved thanks to the experience of the best French player. Nitox shows that this paid off! His signature Lucas showcases masterful gameplay both mixing up and conditioning his opponents.
Thanks to his partnership with Esprit Shonen, he has the opportunity to travel more often in France and Europe, gaining experience by battling it out against the best in the continent, and picking up wins along the way! His notable performances include beating Mr. R, Tarik and Supashemmie at Boss Battle to finish 3rd, or beating Oryon and Rehann to place 3rd place at WANTED: Free Agent Edition, or even taking down Sirove to finish 17th at KRBanger. These great performances show how far the limits of his potential are.
Looking at top French Smash 4 players who evolved, adapted and made breakthroughs in the Ultimate era, Medhi “Flow” Zidany stands out above the rest. Not only that, Flow even makes content: the unmissable Fight Night events, which showcase first-to-5 or first-to-7 grudge matches. Fight Nights allows players to throw down and settle their scores live, and have become an embodiment of Flow’s own flamboyant personality.
Since Smash 4, Flow has never stopped improving and working to overcome his weaknesses and keep improving, balancing aggression and patience depending on the matchup. His recent results (3rd at Thonon Gaming Fest, 4th at Glory 2.0, 13th at WANTED: All Star) and his notable wins over Mezcaul, Ogey, NaetorU, Nitox and Lancelot show that he remains one of the best French and European Roy players and that he fully deserves his place in the rankings.
By Thomas "Lyamarth" Kammerlander
As offline competition returned, so did Alain “Space” Balemba, a welcome sight for all Inkling mains as he is one of the few remaining top level Inkling players sticking to their character. But he too has recently been looking into a character to co-main, potentially Palutena, to combat some of Inkling's harder matchups.
Space had a bit of a slow start into the season with a 17th place at Glory 2.0 but performed to the high expectations typically placed on him for the rest of the season, namely winning The Ultimate Performance 3.5 defeating Oryon, SupahSemmie, iStudying, and others. He also managed to get a 7th place at the stacked Boss Battles: For Glory, beating Raflow and OwlBBs, on top of some tournament wins in the Netherlands.
Despite amazing performances overall, Space lost a few sets that might seem surprising, like against fellow Dutch player Azrael over whom he has a strong winning record. Even then, he was usually able to immediately get his runback and win their next set. Space also accomplished the same feat against international competition and won his second sets against both Oryon and Raflow, showing his strong adaptation skills.
With the addition of an extra character to his roster in the future he might be able to turn the tides even faster and potentially even turn the Dutch rivalry against SupahSemmie in his favor.
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