Welcome everyone to another year of PMRank! This year, we are highlighting players from not only North America, but from across the world! We have coordinated with representatives of Australia, Europe, and Japan to make rankings for each of their regions. The rankings themselves are done by the representatives of each region, while the PMRank team handles the graphic design and publishing portions of each ranking.
European Project M continued to shine throughout the last year, with consistent tournament presence in several national scenes. Despite an ongoing version divide, there was a substantial amount of international crossover and even some intercontinental invasions, including past and present NA PMRank players! There were four major international tournaments in Europe during the ranking period, one for each of the largest national scenes and evenly split between versions:
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Get Stomped On! #28 (December 2022, 3.6)
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Project Friendship 2 (July 2023, 3.6)
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Not Fête: International Waters (July 2023, P+)
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Arcamelee #4 (November 2023, P+)
- attend 2 of the 4 major international tournaments
- attend 1 of the 4 major international tournaments, and have significant local attendance
With that said, let us get started with the first players on Europe's PMRank!
Photo Credit: N/A
Jaime "MetaFalo" Aguado almost made the list last year, but he ended up being edged out by other players in a very contested field. While his situation this year is not much different due to inconsistency in local results, which may be credited to his relatively recent switch to solo Diddy Kong play, he's had some stellar runs in his home region of Spain, beating players like PauldeCap, Ukelele and Glenco, which have finally allowed him to make the rankings as this year's inaugural player.
MetaFalo boasts a technical and unpredictable Diddy, with no shortage of unconventional plays that always make him a joy to watch and play. Along with his almost 10 years of experience playing and traveling for both Melee and Project M, MetaFalo is no stranger to competing with the titans of the old continent and is known to be one of its most loyal travelers. This year however, he did not attend any events outside his national borders, as was the case for many European players. That said, he is already signed up for the star French tournament of 2024, The Truce, and everyone in Europe is dying to see the fan favorite ape get up to his antics once more.
Written By: Melody
Photo Credit: Titibandit
Coen "Satan™️" van Wieringen is a returning figure in the European Power Rankings you might remember from before the pandemic. While the Meta Knight player took a break from the game as many others have done and didn't make last year's ranking, he's picked up his game, as well as a new character in Wolf, and returned to tournaments where he's made up for his absence by scoring very astounding results in his home region of the Netherlands. While never placing outside a Top 8 is impressive on its own, one has to point out the feat that edged him into this year's rankings: his Top 8 finish at GSO 28, where he went on a tear and beat players such as Jonsch, Neyroe, and Ace, keeping the Dutch titan away from the Top 8er image. We don't know how well Satan will perform in 2024, but if he keeps his pace up, we might see him climb the ranks like he did in the years before.
Written By: Melody
Photo Credit: N/A
Kenneth "Kenmak" Makaya, active since 2016, has made visible progress since the end of the pandemic, with a stunning entry at 5th place in the 2022 French rankings.
Known for his close-to-the-ground game, the CC Master finished on the doorstep of the Top 8 at GSO 28 in what was to be his last tournament with his iconic Meta Knight. He won in Losers against Lafungo (2-1) before falling to skullbro (1-2). He then played all year with his new character, Wolf. Furthermore, he placed a strong 5th at Arcamelee 4, winning against VERD (3-0) and losing (1-3) to Kazeol. This new character gives him more versatility, particularly in his punishes, to compliment his always-solid neutral.
Reaching the European ranking for the first time at 18th confirms that Kenmak is on an upward slope, and we can't wait to see what the CC Master will come up with in 2024.
Written By: Adray
Photo Credit: N/A
Sietse "Kemphaan" Joop, previously known under the tag "S23", is not a new face in the European scene at all. The veteran Dutch player has been playing for a very long time, but he never shone over the other talented players in the country and was usually relegated to the very last places in every national PR. However, the post-quarantine landscape in the Netherlands is quite different to what it once was. With a bunch of veterans leaving the scene and new blood joining the scene, the Meta Knight master from Wageningen has seen himself improve and surpass almost every one of his peers, now sitting at a comfortable 4th place in the latest Dutch rankings thanks to his stellar results this year.
Technical and patient, Kemphaan never gives up and dissects every interaction like a surgeon. Whether it is styling out of his mind with footstool setups or cape cancels, he's a joy to watch and one hell of a crowd favorite. He has won regional tournaments, and bested the best of the best in the land of the pancakes, such as Fout NL, Satan™️, Ace, and epikfaal thrice. These are incredible wins on their own, but knowing his results in previous years, it seems absolutely impossible that a player could climb the ranks this fast. We cannot foresee where Kemphaan will stand after next year is over, but we now know there's a new star to watch in 2024, one who has taught us that an old dog can indeed learn as many tricks as it takes to get the job done.
Written By: Melody
After slumbering for years, the UK's scene is in the midst of a revival and its figurehead is none other than Jack "VERD" Verduyn.
Piloting Europe's favorite online character, VERD has successfully made the transition from netplay warrior to tournament powerhouse. While he doesn't quite have an iron grip over the competition, he does consistently outperform all but one of his compatriots. It comes as no surprise to see VERD appear both as #2 in the UK's first ever PR published last fall, and now as the second-ever British player in the European rankings.
VERD also had solid showings at both international events that he attended, with a pair of 9th places at Not Fête: International Waters and Arcamelee #4. These placings were backed up by wins over epikfaal at Not Fête and Neyroe at Arcamelee, showing that he is more than ready to tussle with the continentals.
With a prime position to make the most of a revitalized UK scene, we look forward to seeing how much higher VERD can climb.
Written By: Lafungo
Photo Credit: N/A
Huub "epikfaal" Spekman is a very old school name one might recognize if you're familiarized with the European Melee scene. Making his first appearance in the European Power Rankings, this old-school Sheik player has been playing for a while, but what some might not know is that he often enters PM tournaments whenever he can, regardless of whether they are in his home region of the Netherlands or abroad, and he does pretty well at them.
With a calm and collected approach and great analysis of the game, epikfaal is able to dismantle his rivals as Sheik does best: methodically and leaving a sense of hopelessness on his stumped opponents as they watch their character get tossed around the screen. However, even with his impressive performances over the years, epikfaal was not formally ranked in the Netherlands until 2022, largely due to insufficient attendance.
However, after the quarantine hit the continent, epikfaal managed to sneak into the Top 5 of the last two Dutch Power Rankings, and this year he has finally cracked the European PR barrier with a phenomenal record beating players like Jonsch, Lafungo, Hausi and placing 5th at the second Not Fête with one of the biggest upsets of the year over Professor Pro.
One does not often hear from epikfaal in the usual social circles of the community, but when you do, you can always count on it being something that will leave you very pleasantly surprised. So, as he opens the door for the rest of the top 15, we hope to hear more from him this year as well.
Written By: Melody
Photo Credit: N/A
Luis "Glenco" López is a man of many nicks and names, almost as many as the amount of characters he flourishes on a weekly basis. Nonetheless, the Spanish trend-setter has one-upped himself this year, quite literally placing one spot above his 2022 placement, by perfecting his Zero Suit Samus to a highly perilous degree.
Known for his brutal punish game, big presence and love for welcoming new players into the scene, Glen has dominated and gatekept the Spanish scene by regularly placing in the top spots of every tournament he's attended, failing only to upset the best of the best in a very strong region. Out of his tournament placements, one can be highlighted as his best accomplishment this year, and it's his astonishing 5th place at Project Friendship 2 where he upset the French Zelda Neyroe before falling to his compatriot PauldeCap.
In the middle of a Donkey Kong phase after sporting Diddy Kong and currently eyeing up Ike, Glen is no stranger to practicing all sorts of characters and getting them acclimated to tournament play. We might get to see them this year as he tries to surpass his previous year's accomplishments, finally crack the top of the Spanish scene, and make big waves internationally.
Written By: Melody
Photo Credit: N/A
Jumping into the scene as a new face from the COVID pandemic, Théo "Neyroe" Bareilles is the biggest surprise of this year's European rankings. Neyroe sports a creative and innovative style of Zelda that people are rarely prepared for, and has the technical expertise to perform it to the highest level in the continent.
Being one of the biggest lab monsters in today's Europe, as well as a capable modder himself, nothing can be said about Neyroe that doesn't include the word passionate in it. This has shown in his travels as well, as he's been one of only 4 French players to have competed in 3 different countries this season (France, Netherlands and Spain twice), eager to jump into any tournament regardless of which PM version was ran. Zelda might change like day and night from purple to green, but Neyroe gets the job done no matter the stadium.
From his adventures, both an incredible 5th place at La Calçotada and an astonishing 7th place at Project Friendship 2 can be highlighted. With both tournaments held past his southern border and in a version of the game foreign to his character of choice, Neyroe wasted no time tackling the Spanish gauntlet with wins left and right on most of their national power ranking, including MetaFalo, Glenco, Loost, Kayx, Lafungo, and even taking a set off Melody! Neyroe's local results are no joke either: he also has wins over French titans Smash_Falco3 and Kazeol, as well as EU Melee superstar Solobattle.
Time will tell whether Neyroe can keep the streak going and improve by leaps and bounds yet again in 2024. Until then, the young Frenchman has earned his number 13 slot.
Written By: Melody
Photo Credit: N/A
Axel "Kine." Calixte began to make a name for himself in 2019-2020, when he and his friend Squallou were pulverizing online Arcadian-style tournaments organized by the French community, and we wondered how an unknown person not from the Melee community could be so good.
Then we learned that he'd been playing the game since 2014, and that he was a competitive Ultimate player in his home region of Troyes up to that point. It was after the release of P+ that the Coeurlequin (resident of Creney-près-Troyes) decided to get a little more involved in the game. From good performance to good performance with both Lucas and Pit, whether in France or in Spain and regardless of version, Axel became more and more integrated into the PM community, increasingly relegating competitive Ultimate to the background. His notable results include a 7th place at Arcamelee 4 beating Neyroe and Kenmak but losing to Smash_Falco3 and IuDKing (0-3 and 1-3 respectively), and a 4th place at Crónicas de Castilla with a win against Ukelele (Spain's current #3, 3-2) and losing twice to PaulDeCap (2-3).
Appearing in this ranking for the first time at 12th, we can't wait to see what Kine. can come up with in 2024 now that he's dropped Ultimate completely.
Written By: Adray
Amidst a sea of "hard to rank" players in a continent whose data set in any given year is sparse at best, one name rises above the rest: Johannes "JohsyJam" Kristensen. Much could be said about the peculiarities of his local Norwegian scene, not just for Project M but across the entire Smash series, but one thing is clear: in PM, JohsyJam is its dominant force.
Undefeated in his home region and isolated from the rest of Europe in the northern reaches of Norway far beyond the Arctic Circle, JohsyJam just barely met the PR's eligibility requirements by entering Not Fête for the second year in a row. In 2022, he had fought his way to a 3rd place finish, falling only to Melody. However, this hadn't been enough for a spot on the EU PR because his run didn't contain a single ranked win and thus there was no real way to measure his performance on a continental scale. That would change in 2023, as JohsyJam settled for a 4th place finish at the hands of Smash_Falco3 and Aklo, but in the process racked up not one but two ranked wins: IuDKing in Winners, and epikfaal in Losers, the latter of which was hot off one of the biggest upsets of the year in the form of a 3-0 on Professor Pro.
With a loss profile of the highest caliber and some strong international wins under his belt, the only possible doubts as to JohsyJam's appearance in the rankings were about where he'd end up. Held back only by his lack of attendance, a conservative placement leaves Scandinavia's first ever representative on the European Project M rankings at 11th.
Written By: Lafungo
If you're reading these articles as they release, a large EU Project M tournament, The Truce, is this weekend! Check the bracket here and catch them live over the weekend here.
Other PMRank 2023 Articles
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: The Edge of Glory
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
Credits
PMRank Staff:
- Che “Che” Woodson
- Brennan “FlashingFire” Connolly
- Paul “Motobug” Canavan
- Peter “Pikmon” Woodworth
Graphic Design and Character Renders:
- Paul "Motobug" Canavan
- Cosmetic Standardization Project (CSProject) & the Project+ Development Team
EU PMRank Panel:
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Dan "Adray" Nacache
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Luis "Glenco" López
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Jonathan "Lafungo" Toole-Charignon
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Antonio "Melody" Oliva
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