2018 Mid-Year Regional Melee Rankings

Tl;dr – This is gonna be another long article, so if you want to skip the article the ranking is at the bottom. Also, if anyone wants to see the data we've used here is the link to the google docs

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ho2xHdFxuD0qDLG0z0XvYiOJFLNBJTIOUHGG9cd3tNs/edit?usp=sharing

Well, we’re back at it. The summer rankings just came out, and we’re a little passed halfway through the year, which means we’ll be ranking the strongest Melee regions again. There was a lot of feedback from the last article, so we’ll be using more quantitative data to compare our regions this time. This time we have the head-to-head record of all 40 players. And yes, we’ll only be comparing 40 players, as compared to the 160 like last time. The summer rankings give a top 50 ranking instead of top 100, so we’ll follow the same practice and rank the top half of our regions.

For these rankings we’ll be looking at how the top 5 players from each of the 8 regions stack up against one another (we’ll compare the top 10 of all 16 regions for our end of year rankings, don’t worry). First, some things to get out of the way. SFAT, despite living in SoCal, will be playing for the NorCal team because that’s where he feels at home. N0ne is not counted on this list, because he identifies as Latin America and not Canada, and the LatAm region unfortunately doesn’t make top 8 this time. Rishi, although living in NYC now will still be playing for MDVA. When asked on the NYC Melee Facebook group he declined to respond which region he’d rather play for, so until he commits to NYC I’ll keep him on his home turf.

Before we get into the rankings, a few quick notes. For the majority of the article I use the ranks and scores provided by the MPGR. For the players who were on the ballot but didn’t make the cut, they were all assigned a rank of 51, and a score of 0. There were also 11 players originally on the ballot, who were removed before the final version, they all have the rank of 71 and a score of 0. Also, because this project was started before Evo 2018, those results won’t be included. So unfortunately Swedish Delight’s win over Armada and Rishi’s win over Mew2King will not be counted towards this rank, but will instead go to the end of year rankings.

First off, our honorable mention:

Canada (-)

Crew: Ryan Ford, Moky, Kage, Legend, Trulliam

Canadian players have had a pretty solid year so far. Many Canadian players haven’t traveled much this year, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting some good wins. Ryan Ford has taken sets over Swedish Delight, Lucky, and HugS, and Legend took a set off La Luna. The rest of the crew, while not having any amazing wins under the belts, they don’t have too many bad losses either.

8. Southwest (-)

With Bananas making some explosive upsets, and Axe being ranked in the top 10, the Southwest region is no laughing matter. Having a winning H2H regional against NorCal (5-2) the Southwest is ready to make a name for themselves in the coming months.

Crew: Axe, Syrox, Bananas, Medz, Tai

Average Rank: 34.2

Average Score: 51.76

Total Score: 258.8

Regional Head-to-Head: 1-6 (19-42)

7. MDVA (-2)

Don’t let MDVA falling two spots fool you, it’s still a monster region. All of their players have continued to do well and have all have solid wins. Zain has become a household name these last few months and has quite a few big wins, like Mango, Plup, and SFAT. Llod has also been able to make some upsets with wins over SFAT, S2J, Shroomed and La Luna. The players of MDVA continue to do well and hold their own, but that’s not just enough to keep their previous rank of 5^th. And that’s not because these guys are slacking, but because other regions are starting to pick up the pace.

Crew: Zain, Llod, Rishi, Junebug, ChuDat

Average Rank: 31.4

Average Score: 54.52

Total Score: 272.6

Regional head-to-Head: 4-3 (69-55)

6. Tristate (+1)

Tristate’s claim to fame is how deep their talent runs. Tristate often has some of the most players on a ranking ballot (this year they held the 2^nd highest spot with 8 players considered). Many players from the region will speak highly of their low or mid-level players, because of how strong they are. And as I said in the last ranking article, I’m sure if we were to do a 20v20 crew battle, Tristate would put up one hell of a fight, but we regrettably just don’t have the resources to compare 20 players from every region. That doesn’t stop Tristate from having top players of their own though. Having 5 players in the top 50 this year really puts Tristate on the map, especially after 2Saint’s performance at Smash Summit.

Crew: Swedish Delight, La Luna, Captain Smuckers, iBDW, 2Saint

Average Rank: 29.4

Average Score: 63.98

Total Score: 319.9

Regional Head-to-Head: 2-5 (43-65)

5. NorCal (-1)

The ranking between NorCal and Tristate was incredibly close. For comparison, NorCal has the 5^th highest Average Rank and Tristate has the 6^th, NorCal has the 6^th highest Average Score and Tristate has the 5^th, NorCal has the 6^th highest Total Score and Tristate has the 5^th. Where NorCal inches ahead is in their regional head-to-head. NorCal has the 4^th best head-to-head against other regions, but Tristate only has the 6^th. On top of that, NorCal has a winning head-to-head record against Tristate, which helps them give them the lead.

Crew: SFAT, PewPewU, Shroomed, Kalamazu, Dizzkidboogie

Average Rank: 29

Average Score: 57.32

Total Score: 286.6

Regional Head-to-Head: 3-4 (55-57)

4. Midwest (+2)

The Midwest has been putting on quite a show this year. With Ginger making it into Summit and Michael winning the National Arcadian, there are quite a few up and comers making waves from the Midwest. Despite only having a winning head-to-head record over Tristate and the Southwest, the Midwest is still a national threat. The placing of Tristate, NorCal, and the Midwest was a tough decision. The Midwest and NorCal both have an average rank of 29, with Tristate not far behind with an average rank of 29.4. However, this region had a much higher Average Score and a higher Total Score.

Crew: Duck, AbsentPage, KJH, Ginger, Michael

Average Rank: 29

Average Score: 65.24

Total Score: 326.2

Regional Head-to-Head: 2-5 (41-60)

3. Europe (-)

Europe stays tight and holds the number three rank again. I believe Europe may be the most top heavy region on this list. Armada and Leffen are two massive threats, and the other European players have high upset potential, but not the consistency that their top two players are known for. It is because of the inconsistency that they’re ranked below SoCal. Europe has a better head to head record, only losing against Florida, and has the winning record against SoCal. However, I believe this is because the European players and the American players don’t get a chance to compete against each other very often. For example, Professor Pro has only played against S2J in 2018, Ice has only played against HugS in 2018, and Trif has only played against S2J in 2018. If Europe’s players fought against SoCal more often, I don’t think they would maintain that head-to-head advantage.

Crew: Armada, Leffen, Trif, ice, Professor Pro

Average Rank: 23.8

Average Score: 71.5

Total Score: 357.5

Regional Head-to-Head: 6-1 (48-28)

2. SoCal (-1)

Once the Melee capital of the world, SoCal is no longer the force it was. SoCal used to be the untouchable region, but lately more and more regions and players are gunning for their spot. SoCal still has the most players on the MPGR top 50, with 9 players. Even though SoCal has the 2^nd highest average rank, average score, and total score, they have an awful regional head to head. SoCal has losing records against the Florida, Europe, NorCal, and MDVA regions.

Crew: Mang0, S2J, Lucky, HugS, Westballz

Average Rank: 13.2

Average Score: 83.92

Total Score: 419.6

Regional Head-to-Head: 3-4 (68-77)

1. Florida (+1)

What can I say, Florida is killing it. Not only does Florida have the 1^st and the 2^nd rank players, they have 2 gods and a god slayer, and 4 of the top 10 players. Florida has been a powerhouse region this year with Plup winning Genesis, Hungrybox winning Full Bloom 4 & GOML 2018, Mew2King winning Summit 6, and Wizzrobe winning OpTicArena. Florida is also the only region to have a winning record against all other regions on this list, including a 9-0 record against Tristate. This region is on a tear, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Crew: Hungrybox, Plup, Mew2King, Wizzrobe, Colbol

Average Rank: 9.2

Average Score: 88.86

Total Score: 444.3
Regional Head-to-Head: 7-0 (85-26)

How different will these rankings be at the end of year? Will Florida continue their number one streak? How will the Big House Crews shake up these rankings? Within the coming months we should have a better idea for all of those question. We will do another top 16 ranking looking at the top 10 players of each region in the beginning of 2019 so stay tuned for that.

Tl;dr

9. Canada
8. Southwest
7. MDVA
6. Tristate
5. NorCal
4. Midwest
3. Europe
2. SoCal
1. Florida