With thousands of competitors in the Smash Ultimate scene, cutting down everything to highlight the Top 50 leaves out many a player from the spotlight.
These are the honorable mentions for the PGRU Season 2 that just missed the mark -- Area 51.
We do not consider the differences between these players to be statistically significant, so they are collectively referred to as Area 51.
Written by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth & Robert "BobbyWasabi" Wilson
Seima “Eim” Tomonoh
Region: Japan (Kanto)
Main(s): Joker
Team: N/A
Twitter: @eim09ssbu
Though the former Smash Wii U Sheik star had a rocky start in Ultimate, picking up Joker in the latter half of 2019 signaled a rebound that almost landed Seima “Eim” Tomonoh a spot on the PGRU.
The highlights of Eim’s season include 3rd at Uprising 2019, 4th at Sumabato SP 7, and 17th at Umebura SP 5 and Umebura SP 7. However, lows like a 49th at 2GG: Kongo Saga and 65th at Umebura SP 6 prevent him from making the top 50. Even so, he boasts an impressive win resume, taking sets off of Gackt, Ken, Kome, Raito, T and Tea. There is little doubt that he can earn a PGR spot should he overcome his inconsistency in 2020.
William “Leffen” Hjelte
Region: Sweden
Main(s): Pokemon Trainer
Team: Team SoloMid
Twitter: @TSM_Leffen
With another fantastic year of Super Smash Bros. Melee under his belt, it’s easy to forget William “Leffen” Hjelte had a pretty stellar first year for Ultimate. He managed to make quite a few heads turn this year, delivering some show-stopping performances with Pokémon Trainer.
Leffen hit some pretty good highs this season, placing 9th at Summit 2 with a win on Tweek, 17th at Mainstage, and 1st at Dreamhack Winter 2019. Despite these highs, what many will remember him for this year was his set with Salem at Super Smash Con 2019. At the event, he proved it takes more than “years of research” to succeed in Smash. While he’s been a vocal critic of the game, there’s little doubt that Leffen will continue to find success if he sticks with it.
Robert “Myran” Herrin
Region: Florida (SFL)
Main(s): Olimar
Team: Armada Esports
Twitter: @MyranSSB
Though Myran never achieved the same highs in the second half of the year as he did in the first, he still had a quietly successful season. 4th at Paradigm Shift, 17th at Mainstage and a trio of 25ths at EVO 2019, Shine 2019 and Super Smash Con 2019 demonstrate an impressive consistency that fell just short by the barest of margins of securing Myran a PGR spot.
The dropoff in results may be due in part to nerfs to Olimar that Myran has vocally criticized. Even so, with wins on Zackray, Pandarian, Elegant, Wishes and Suarez, Myran showed that Southwest Florida’s best player remains a force to be reckoned with.
Carrington “Wrath” Osborne
Region: Southeast (GA)
Main(s): Sonic
Team: N/A
Twitter: @WrathFGC
The best Sonic in the US -- Carrington “Wrath” Osborne -- had an impressive second half of 2019 and almost made it to the PGRU. This feat is all the more impressive considering that he only attended three tournaments and placed outside of the top 24 at two of them.
Wrath’s crowning achievement was a run to 7th at Dreamhack Atlanta 2019 that saw him take down the likes of Tweek, RFang, and Ned. He also was able to defeat Mr. E and quiK to place 25th at 2GG: Kongo Saga and obtained a win on Wishes en route to a 33rd place finish at Super Smash Con 2019. While there’s little doubt that higher attendance and consistency would see Wrath place within the top 50 for sure, for now he will have to reside in Area 51 for now.
Yatiyaña “yeti” Schaper
Region: Midwest (MN)
Main(s): Mega Man
Team: Down B Collaborations
Twitter: @yetiyana
Despite dropping from #34 to Area 51 this season, Yeti still managed to have some standout placements. Starting off strong with a 3rd place finish at Paradigm Shift, his results would begin to dip slightly at Super Smash Con 2019 and Shine 2019, where he placed 25th at both.
Yeti would soon pick himself back up though, with 3rd place finishes at Port Priority 5 and Standoff 2019. He also finished the year strong with 1st place finishes at Dakno Gaming eSports Day and Smash Out 2019. With the competition in Ultimate only heating up, it’ll be interesting to see if this Megaman from Minnesota will be able to keep his newfound win-streak going in 2020.
Stay tuned to PGstats on Twitter for the latest updates on the #PGRU reveal!