Sunday 29 December 2019

Polish Ultimate Power Rankings Winter 2019

Methodology 

This season's PR was discussed and agreed on by 4 people within the PR panel, who examined all resumees in terms of peaks, consistency and attendance. The ranks are purely based on data from national tournaments. The X-Factor is meant to showcase the difference between this season's results and the community's opinion on actual abilities. 
We are looking to extend the panel to 8 members for the next ranking season.

Honourable Mentions:

Spyder, Avalon, pies

The HMs are slightly different this time around, as we didn't just choose the 3 players who were the closest to making Top 10 proper. Instead, we chose to award players who had solid results, combined with a high attendance, consistency, upwards trending results and a general display of improvement. Spyder makes it, despite only being active in the second part of the season, as he attended 6 tournaments in the span of 6 months. His results have also been really solid and he's the most unfortunate player to miss out on the Top 10.
Avalon had a consistent season domestically, usually placing 4th at Floating Destination tournaments. It isn't the reason he deserves this spot, however, as it's his excessive travel, that made us highlight him this season. He attended 4 out of region tournaments, a number only Drayv and J.J surpass, while also placing consistently. His results have also improved towards the end of the season, as he outplaced his demon Kuskus at the last two Szczecin locals, finally beating him at the last tournament of the year. He also took a set off Kandif's Diddy at Tilt'N'Salt 6, finally getting his first win over one of the historically dominant players in Poland.
Pies is the last honourable mention, mostly for his great consistency and good set counts. He hasn't lost to a player below his tier since SmashOn 6, the very first tournament of the season and he displayed a big improvement from last season, culminating in a 9th place finish at Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback.

10. Zychuu

Last Season: HMs


X-Factor: 0

Placings:
3/16 SmashOn 6
7/20 SPB House 2
3/12 SmashOn 7
3/16 SmashOn 8
3/11 SmashOn 9
7/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
2/14 SmashOn 10
4/27 KOP-alnioki vol.6
3/15 SmashOn 11

Top 10 wins: Drayv x1, J.J x1
Non Top 10 losses: otis x2, pies x2, Kuro x1, Spyder x2
Non Top 10 losing records: otis, pies

Vs. 6-10: 1-3
Vs. Top 5: 1-9

Zychuu is the first player to make this season's Top 10. Zychuu's season has been one of incredible consistency, as he placed 7th at both majors he attended, and he hasn't dropped below 3rd at SmashOn tournaments. He also has a 4th place finish at KOP-alnioki, a stacked national, where he met his seed. Just like last season, he managed to take a set off Drayv, but the set count is still 6-1 in Drayv's favour. His other Top 10 win is J.J, he closely loses this H2H 2-1. He is mostly being held back by losing records to otis and pies, who outplaced him at SmashOn 6 and 7 respectively. Kuro and Spyder losses aren't as bad, as he still wins those H2Hs, but they did also hinder him slightly. Despite all of this, Zychuu has been very consistent all season and he still deserves a spot in the Top 10. 
We shall see how far he'll push his unorthodox ICs pick and if he can reach new heights in the future.

9. KingKirbek 

Last Season: unranked

X-Factor: 0 

Placings:
2/10 Tilt'N'Salt
2/11 Tilt'N'Salt 2
5/17 Super Smash Bros. Wratislavia Summer 2019
2/8 Tilt'N'Salt 3
2/9 Tilt'N'Salt 5
1/14 Tilt'N'Salt 6

Top 10 wins: Kandif x1
Non Top 10 losses: none
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 0-1
Vs. Top 5: 1-9

The King of Wifi, Smaszowanko champ and the creator of Poland's best Smash montages, Kirbek breaks into the top 10 for the first time at 9th. Wrocław started out with their biweekly tournament series this season and Kirbek has been very consistent at all of them. He placed 2nd at every installement except the 6th one, where he finally overcame all odds and won his first offline tournament, defeating Kandif and double eliminating Spyder. Other than that, he placed at a respectable 5th at the Summer edition of Smash Wratislavia, losing to J.J, another new top 10 member, and Kandif. He hasn't dropped a set to anyone below him, which is quite remarkable, despite being done in a comparably weaker region. 9 out of his 10 losses came against Kandif, which shows just how big this one roadblock is for him.

8. Megaban

Last Season: 8th

X-Factor: +1

Placings:
3/12 HackRoom Smash 5
2/11 HackRoom Smash 6

Top 10 wins: Drayv x3, Gumanku x1
Non Top 10 losses: none
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 0-0
Vs. Top 5: 4-4

A very controversial entry on this PR, Megaban takes 8th spot once again. Megaban suffers very badly from a massive lack of data, as he only attended 2 tournaments this season. The end of Warsaw's locals saw him miss his only opportunity to get the attendance and results he needs, as he's unable to travel. If we were to expand his results to more tournaments, he would easily have the results of a top 5 player. 8 out of his 10 sets played this season were against Drayv and Gumanku. This means that he hasn't played any other top 10 or borderline top 10 players. He has to be ranked, however, as no requirements in regards to a minimal amount of tournaments have been decided prior to the season. The PR panel ultimately decided to rank him at 8th, at the last spot of the highest tier of Polish players, mostly because of his legacy. 
Warsaw's revival next season will most likely see his rise to a more deserved spot.

7. J.J

Last Season: HMs

X-Factor: -1

Placings:
7/20 SPB House 2
4/12 HackRoom Smash 5
5/11 HackRoom Smash 6
4/17 Super Smash Bros. Wratislavia Summer 2019
3/27 KOP-alnioki vol.6
5/14 Tilt'N'Salt 6
1/15 SmashOn 11

Top 10 wins: Drayv x2, Kirbek x1, Zychuu x2
Non Top 10 losses: Tac'O'Cat x1, Jeje x1
Non Top 10 losing records: Tac'O'Cat, Jeje

Vs. 6-10: 3-1
Vs. Top 5: 2-9

J.J ranks 7th on this season's PR after a great breakout season. Deciding the 6 and 7 spots was probably the hardest decision for the panel so far. It took us a long time, but we finally decided to put J.J at 7th, but he's extremely close to Anikai. His first tournament of the season was a respectable 7th place finish at SPB House 2, where he only lost to Kandif and Gumanku. His next two tournaments, Hackroom 5 and 6 were a little underwhelming, as he placed 4th and 5th, dropping a set to Tac'O'Cat at Hackroom 6. He then went on to place 4th at Wratislavia, beating Kirbek, who wasn't considered an outstanding win at the time, but is currently ranked 9th, and only losing to Gumanku and Kandif once again. J.J then had a break, but he came back stronger for KOP-alnioki, where he beat Spyder, getting his first big win, and only lost to Zychuu(defeating him later) and Klopsiak for 3rd. He then had a rather poor tournament at Tilt'N'Salt 6, taking a bad loss to Jeje and losing to Kandif for 5th. It was at the next tournament, however, that he established himself as a solid Top 10 player, as he beat Zychuu, Spyder and Drayv twice to win SmashOn 11, his first offline tournament.

6. Anikai

Last Season: 7th

X-Factor: 0

Placings:
1/9 Super Smash Bros. Szczecin #12
2/7 Floating Destination #13
3/12 Floating Destination #14
5/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
2/15 Floating Destination #15: Melee Saga

Top 10 wins: Aggrise x4, Zychuu x1
Non Top 10 losses: Kuskus x1
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 1-0
Vs. Top 5: 4-7

Anikai improves on his summer rank, placing 6th on this season's PR, just barely outranking J.J. He achieves it mostly because of his better consistency, only dropping one set to a non Top 5 player in Kuskus, while still being up 3-1 on him for the year. There isn't much to say about his season, other than the fact, that he placed 3rd once, 2nd twice and 1st once at Szczecin tournaments, and got 5th at Ruczaj Rumble beating Zychuu and losing to Kandif and Drayv. He generally lacks set counts too, but because he's competed at a out of region tournament, it's just enough to put him in this spot.

5. Kandif

Last Season: 6th



X-Factor: 0

Placings:
5/20 SPB House 2
1/10 Tilt'N'Salt
1/11 Tilt'N'Salt 2
3/17 Super Smash Bros. Wratislavia Summer 2019
1/8 Tilt'N'Salt 3
3/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
1/5 Tilt'N'Salt 4
1/9 Tilt'N'Salt 5
4/14 Tilt'N'Salt 6

Top 10 wins: Kirbek x9, J.J x3, Anikai x1, Drayv x1
Non Top 10 losses: Avalon x1
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 13-1
Vs. Top 5: 1-7

Kandif finally returns to the Top 5 after another very consistent season. He started this season by placing 5th at SPB House 2 after a win on J.J, a loss to Klopsiak and two losses to Aggrise. He won all Tilt'N'Salt tournaments except the last iteration, where he lost to Kirbek and Avalon while going full Diddy Kong in bracket. Kandif got 3rd at Smash Wratislavia Summer after being double eliminated by Drayv and ended up meeting his seed. His Ruczaj Rumble run was the highlight of his season, with a win on Anikai, Spyder and Drayv and two losses to Klopsiak for 3rd.
Kandif acts as a gatekeeper, beating players below him and losing to players ranked above him most of the time.

4. Gumanku

Last Season: 1st
X-Factor: +3

Placings:
2/20 SPB House 2
1/12 HackRoom Smash 5
1/11 HackRoom Smash 6
2/17 Super Smash Bros. Wratislavia Summer 2019

Top 10 wins: Zychuu x1, Megaban x3, J.J x3, Drayv x2, Aggrise x2
Non Top 10 losses: none
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 7-1
Vs. Top 5: 4-4

Alright, I know what you're thinking. Gumanku is the most successful internationally and his run at Syndicate, where he most notably beat Loading... and BluB, more than proves that. He has mostly fallen off on the PR, due to inactivity. The premise of this rankings is to rank players within the country itself, to get our storylines and events going and to reward players for competing at polish tournaments. Gumanku is very talented and will only improve and get even better european results in the future. He only attended one actually stacked event in Poland, however, so he lacks a lot of data compared to the players above him. He has a winning set count against Aggrise, but he's losing against Klopsiak and even in sets against Drayv, which holds him back from the Top 3 this season.
He will most certainly claim back his spot next season, as Warsaw's locals are said to return.

3. Drayv

Last Season: 2nd

X-Factor: -1

Placings:
1/16 SmashOn 6
4/20 SPB House 2
1/12 SmashOn 7
2/12 HackRoom Smash 5
3/11 HackRoom Smash 6
1/16 SmashOn 8
1/17 Super Smash Bros. Wratislavia Summer 2019
1/11 SmashOn 9
4/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
1/14 SmashOn 10
1/27 KOP-alnioki vol.6
2/15 SmashOn 11

Top 10 wins: Zychuu x6, Megaban x1, J.J x2, Anikai x1, Kandif x2, Klopsiak x2, Gumanku x2
Non Top 10 losses: Kuro x1, Spyder x1
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 10-6
Vs. Top 5: 6-7

Drayv makes top 3 for yet another season, this time at 3rd. He once again attended the most tournaments out of any polish player, with 12, always performing at a consistent level. He barely gets this spot over Gumanku, partly because of his attendance, but also thanks to his KOP-alnioki win, which resulted in his winning 2-1 set count against Klopsiak. He placed 4th at both major tournaments he attended, losing to Aggrise twice and to Klopsiak once at SPB House and to Aggrise and Kandif at Ruczaj Rumble. Drayv won all SmashOn tournaments this season, except the last one, where he was double eliminated by J.J. He placed 2nd and 3rd at Hackroom 5 and 6 respectively, going 3-1 in sets against Megaban at these tournaments. Another highlight of his season was Smash Wratislavia Summer, where he double eliminated Kandif, and won the tournament by double eliminating Gumanku in Grand Finals. His resumee hasn't been the cleanest this season, but his high attendance and a generally high consistency is what gives him this spot over Gumanku.

2. Klopsiak

Last Season: 4th

X-Factor: -1

Placings:
1/20 SPB House 2
2/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
2/27 KOP-alnioki vol.6

Top 10 wins: Zychuu x2, J.J x1, Kandif x3, Gumanku x2, Drayv x1
Non Top 10 losses: none
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 3-0
Vs. Top 5: 6-4

Klopsiak improves on last season's rank with great performances at the 3 biggest tournaments of the season. He started out by winning SPB House, taking sets off Kandif and Drayv, as well as double eliminating Gumanku. His next tournament was Ruczaj Rumble, the biggest polish tournament ever, and he also performed very well, beating Zychuu and double eliminating Kandif to place 2nd behind Aggrise. Klopsiak finished the season with a, for his standards, disappointing 2nd place behind Drayv, he still won a set against both Zychuu and J.J at that tournament, which confirms his incredible consistency against non Top 4 players. Despite actually attending fewer events than Gumanku, he did attend the biggest tournaments this season, which is why he doesn't lack data against the highest tier of polish players.

1. Aggrise

Last Season: 3rd



X-Factor: -1

Placings:
3/20 SPB House 2
2/9 Super Smash Bros. Szczecin #12
1/7 Floating Destination #13
1/12 Floating Destination #14
1/43 Ruczaj Rumble: The Runback
1/15 Floating Destination #15: Melee Saga
1/11 Floating Destination #16

Top 10 wins: Anikai x5, Kandif x2, Drayv x3, Klopsiak x2
Non Top 10 losses: none
Non Top 10 losing records: none

Vs. 6-10: 5-4
Vs. Top 5: 7-2

Formerly known for his dair spotdodge uptilts as Smash 4 ZSS, Aggrise takes the top spot in this season's PR. His start to the season was alright, as he placed 3rd at his second major tournament after Smash Phoenix last season. Along with losing to Anikai at Smash Szczecin #2, it seemed like a rather mediocre season was on the way. But then Aggrise turned it on. Following Floating Destination #13, he hasn't lost a tournament and only lost one set to Anikai at Floating Destination #15 along the way. His biggest achievement was winning Ruczaj Rumble, while defeating Drayv once and Klopsiak twice. Along with set wins on Kandif and a close, yet winning set count against Anikai, Aggrise has a winning set count on everyone, except Gumanku.
Aggrise will try to defend his rank next season and his rematch against Gumanku is one of the most anticipated storylines of 2020. 

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