PGRU V2 Predictions: #40-26

I don’t feel like writing an intro just pretend i said a bunch of swears and a crude joke

Part 1

Let’s get into it then.

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#40: Choco

We closed out the last part with a Japanese ZSS, so why not start this one with another? Choco was famous in Smash 4 for making PGR three times straight without travelling to the States, and he has yet to travel for Ultimate. While only attending Umeburas, he’s made the most of his resources, making top 24 at all four. He’s had a good set of names to pair along with them too, namely Kameme, Shuton, and Tea. The Japanese Zero Suits are nothing to sleep on, 2020 is when they’ll be waking up.

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#39: Gen

Bacc at it again with Tristate. Barely missing PGR in early 2019, he showed what he can really do in the second half. He made it known especially well with his first tournament of the summer, Defend the North, where he conquered his demon in Light to finish at 4th place. Fast-forward to Glitch 7, making another impressive run that ended in eliminating Salem to graze just outside of top 8. As “the other Tristate Palu”, 2020 will be the year Gen tries to escape from Nairo’s shadow, and no one doubts he can.

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#38: Nietono

Aaaaand we’re back in Japan. A lot of people were saying this Japanese rat was underranked last season and he came out right away to prove it. Evo was spectacular for him, upsetting Marss and Salem early on before falling at 9th place. That, along with his two top 8 finishes at Umebura SP 6 and 7, makes Nietono worthy of being a top 40 player, and likely even higher next season.

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#37: RFang

Randall “Roach” Fang is cooking something up and it smells like a rat. A lot of people called him the meme pick of Summit, not winning a single game in the singles bracket, but his results outside of that are stellar. The pre-summit blowup was there, making top 8 at The Big House with sets off of WaDi and Light. The post-summit was there too, making top 4 at Tristate Showdown with sets off LeoN and Jakal. The future looks bright for this Georgian Pichu, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to make top 20 when 2020 rolls up.

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#36: Leffen

I assure you, this man is still anything but lawful. Despite having his gripes with the game, the Melee anti-god has committed to Ultimate for the better. One of his prime appearances was at Super Smash Con, sending Maister to losers and holding his world famous square-off against Salem. He ended up just short of top 16 at that tournamnent but made a statement about his ability. Even more so when he beat Tweek at Summit in one of the biggest upsets in Smash . history. The question of how Leff manages to juggle two games at the same time is a great one, and it’ll be questioned hard next year.

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#35: Lea

Let’s keep it running with the Japan streak. Season 2 of Ultimate looked bleak for this frog at the start, but his fate was reversed through some clutch runs. His most justifying result is definitely his top 8 finish at Kongo Saga, eliminating Shuton, Goblin, and Dabuz. Lea is already the best Greninja in Japan, next year he’ll be shooting for best Greninja in the world.

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#34: Larry Lurr

Finally, the return of the Lurr. The spacie technician had a bit of a struggle at the start of Ultimate he’s managed to get back on his feet. He’s been average all around, with some slight peaks at Thunder Smash 3, Switchfest, and Super Smashed Fest. What puts him ahead are the names he’s taken: Marss, Cosmos, and VoiD just to name a few. Larry is creeping his way back to his Smash 4 prime and sooner or later, someone will try to knock him off his throne.

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#33: Jakal

The primary Tristate Wolf, Jakal was what you could call a tossup this season. His low Super Smash Con placing might make heads turn, but they’ll swerve right back around after seeing he landed barely outside of top 8 at both Shine and Glitch. Put that up with his set victories over the two SoCal legends and Jakal makes a great case for PGR. (It’s been confirmed he won’t make it though, system is rigged as hell.)

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#32: Stroder

Stroder is the jack of all trades. The characters he has on his resume are just a few of the ones he could pull out and win a set or two, reality is he mains the whole cast. He primarily uses Roy and Greninja but does spectacular with all his characters; note his 9th place at Mainstage by sending Cosmos and Samsora to losers with Roy, taking 5th at Standoff using Luigi, and consistently great Ascension placings from his Greninja. To be able to use so many characters so well is an amazing feat, 2020 looks like the year Stroder will master them all.

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#31: Elegant

The only Luigi on the map has made his long awaited return in Ultimate, and he’s burning with ion. Elegant had a rough start with Ultimate, but made sure he wasn’t forgotten quickly this season. He surprised the world right out the gates with his 4th place at Low Tier City, steamrolling Cosmos and double eliminating Samsora from the tournament. To top it off, he’s won two of the more stacked C tier tournaments in Standoff and Overextend. The year of Luigi might’ve already ed, but we might just get a sequel soon.

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#30: MuteAce

Commonly known as “The Florida Peach that isn’t Samsora”, MuteAce has made a great effort this season to differentiate himself. The start of the season looked a bit shaky for Mute, but it turned around at Mainstage. By making a scary losers run to eliminate Cosmos, Pandarian, and Dabuz, MuteAce qualified for the second Ultimate Summit, where he would beat ESAM to secure 9th place. With just a bit more time, MuteAce can surely sur Samsora and become the Peach of the South.

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#29: VoiD

A household name at this point, VoiD makes an appearance much lower than usual this season. He’s spent the majority of this season soul searching after his decision to no longer main Pichu; he first Pikachu, then Joker but didn’t stick with either. But halfway through the season, VoiD rekindled his love for his Smash 4 main, switching to a combination of Sheik and Pichu. The switch bore good fruit too, taking sets off Salem and MuteAce to take 5th at Mainstage and eliminating LeoN for a 9th place finish at Glitch. With a fresh start in 2020, VoiD is going to look to take back his spot in the top 10, and it’s a not a good idea to try and stop him.

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#28: Raito

Dog and bird, bear and bird, Raito is the animal duo master. Even though he’s sacrificed some solid results to learn Banjo and Kazooie, he’s still managed to achieve some great placings. Take his Evo run, for instance; he sent Maister, Shuton, and Dabuz to losers to make his second Evo top 8 showing in a row. Even at the end of the season, he made it all the way to third place at the final Umebura of the year with Banjo. Impressive. Raito is able to plow through brackets with an unexpected character and in 2020 he’ll have two unexpected characters to clap some ass with.

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#27: Raffi-X

On the topic of unexpected, no one expected this New England ROB to come up as hard as he did. By only attending three tournament, Raffi has cemented himself of one of the best ROBs to roll up on. At Super Smash Con, he sent Dabuz to a very early losers and almost making top 8 himself. Two weeks ed, and he did what he failed to do at SSC at Shine, placing 7th with great run to boot. With just three tournaments, Raffi is going to secure a high spot this PGR, once he starts attending more, he’ll shoot up. Hard.

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#26: KEN

The best Japanese player in the Smash 4 days, KEN is making his resurgence. He’s only gotten one opportunity to attend a tournament overseas, but he’s held up extremely well for someone who’s juggling a day job with Smash. He won Sumabato SP 6, the very first tournament of the season, over Tea to start. Next came the Umeburas, where he only placed outside of top 4 once, and almost taking one for himself. At those three, he collected some valuable names; Kome at the 4, ProtoBanham and Lea at 5, and rounding out his collection with T, Raito, and Shuton. People have slept on Sonic a lot longer than we’d like to it, and KEN is here to show the true power of the blue blur.

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A song.

Best Wishes, Draco M.