Matthew “mattpopa” Popa
10 spots. You read that right, the power rankings just got that more exclusive. By a majority, 8 balloters out of 15 total decided that only 10 players make the cut this time around. With the fewer wins that unranked players are getting on their ranked opponents, it seems that the level of competition is getting more fierce even with Chicago’s prince, Skerzo, saying sayonara to his hometown in favor of moving to Japan.
We’re making improvements to the ballot each time, and I want to thank each member that submitted a ballot because it literally wouldn’t be possible without you. I also want to thank our blurb writers that help put out great content in such a short time: tenacity, Dr. Hunk, lovestory4a, and a first time writer for us, Latin (who also made the rankings this Act). Congratulations are in order to our top 10 and everyone else that attends our locals; thanks for making Melee in Chicago a wonderful thing.
If you haven’t already, check out the interactive PR graphic. Without further ado here are your top 10 players for CLM’s 2024 Act 2 Power Rankings.
#10: Forest | Average: 10.13
The summer of 2024 saw the return of Chicago Melee staple Thomas “Forest” Zhang to the PR. Despite sparser attendance later in the season, he managed to collect a number of impressive wins that propelled his resume just beyond the field. Sets on Ober, Unsure, and Josh proved Forest’s ability to contend with the upper echelon of CLM, while strong records against a number of PR prospectives underscored his role as a staunch barrier for rising talent.
A highlight of his Act II came with Out of the Blue 3, where he punched his ticket to a respectable 17th by defeating invading talent such as Acid and Balloon Day. Exercising slick movement and a well-curated gameplan, Forest can be found at the occasional Tripoint or Midlane, dishing out a special brand of sword-wielding finesse.
Rocco “Latin” M.
#9: Peanutphobia | Average: 8.93
Since his move from MD/VA, Mike “Peanutphobia” O’Mailey has remained a consistent powerhouse at the top of Chicago Melee, with this summer being no exception. While his attendance wasn’t quite as strong as that of his peers, he made sure to show up when it counted; at larger tournaments across the Midwest, he quietly scored wins on heavy-hitters like 3HUNA, Joka, and Boyd. Locally, he maintained dominance over similarly-tiered players by finishing the season with positive records against Killablue and Forest, while also sniping a set on Unsure.
With a deft understanding of Yoshi’s toolkit, funky skills in Super Monkey Ball, and a sportsmanlike composure, Peanutphobia looks poised to continue adding notches to the belt of his long and storied Melee career.
Rocco “Latin” M.
#8: Killablue | Average: 7.60
For three years now Killablue has remained a Chicago Falco mainstay and in Act II of 2024, he demonstrated why through a series of quality wins and bracket runs including stealing a Midlane win away from Michael and Unsure. This season, Killablue had many flashes of brilliance, especially when it came to Chicago’s top level, winning sets against Blue (2-4), Michael (1-3), Unsure (2-4), and Pleeba (1-1). Additionally, he was able to compete well against players around his rank and those on the ballot including Forest (1-0) and ORLY, who he went undefeated against in 3 sets.
Killablue did rise a few ranks between Acts 1 and 2 despite falling to a few players ranked below him such as Frost (1-1), bigoldchub (1-1), and Phalanx (4-1), but he has overall had another consistent season against those below him. Despite some minor setbacks, Killablue still managed to make progress and improve his rank, with his wins against Blue, Michael, and Unsure acting as reminders of how lethal he can be.
Kevin “tenacity” Donnelly
#7: GI0GOAT | Average: 7.53
When they aren’t discussing the subtleties of their city’s architecture on national television, GI0GOAT is a regular sight in the top cut of both of Chicago’s Melee weeklies.
Access to two tournaments a week seems to have helped the player this past season, as they’ve jumped from 15th to 7th on the CLM rankings. While struggling with some of CLM’s upper echelon, namely Ober, Blue, Michael and Unsure, GI0GOAT is, perhaps more than ever, a force to be reckoned with in Chicagoland. Against the twin Yoshis of Dz and Peanutphobia, they held down the fort with a 1-0 record over both. Against the formidable Falco of Killablue, they managed to take three sets unanswered.
Gi0’s biggest rivalry this past season, besides their simmering blood feud with Bigoldchub (1-1), was with Latin. The Marth and Fox traded a remarkable ten sets this past season, ending in a split 5-5 record. At RPM #4, GI0GOAT lost to the Marth player in Winners Finals 1-3 before clawing back the tournament in a Grand Finals Reset with two consecutive 3-1 wins over her. One week later, Latin returned the favor at RPM #5, losing to the fox in Winners Finals and taking the tournament over them in a bracket reset of her own.
GI0GOAT made their name by and large at locals this past season, but this doesn’t mean their powers only work against Chicagoans. At the July 31st installment of Midlane Melee, they shook off a loss to Grompy00 in pools to go on an ambitious losers run, taking out Binary Clone, natebug01, dz, Unsure, Massachussetts’ #3 player Electroman, and a former CLM #1 player, Smash Papi, on their way to Grand Finals, where they would finally be taken down by Ohio legend essy.
Matthew “Dr. Hunk” Koester
#6: Latin | Average: 6.80
Indiana’s invasion of Chicago continued this season with a new challenger at Midlane and RPM. Latin makes her debut at 6th on the Chicagoland Melee PR after several standout performances including a pair of first places at Chicago’s new local, RPM. In her first win at RPM #5, Latin kicked off her rivalry with GI0GOAT, who she ended up 5-5 with on the season, taking the tournament after 14 games against the Fox between winners and grand finals. In her second win at RPM #10, she notably won through losers again, beating Yuunia, Fry, Eggy, and Ober twice after 9 games in grands. In her former home of Indiana, Latin managed a 7th place finish at We Need Some Space 4, as the 22nd seed, thanks to a strong losers run. After losing to Ober, Latin defeated Bard, Dalbull, HPR, Seal, and Majersk consecutively before falling at the hands of Slowking.
Latin has described herself as consistently inconsistent, but her peaks have demonstrated she can hang with Chicago’s best and beyond. As she settles into her new home in the windy city, the consistency and more nail-biter local wins will hopefully come along for Chicago’s new top Marth.
Kevin “tenacity” Donnelly
#5: dz | Average: 4.67
The Pink Dread continues his rise, securing back-to-back top 10 power rankings, climbing from 6th to 5th. This marks DZ’s third time on the Chicago PR and his first time making consecutive appearances, moving up in rank each season. Notably, Mitch is the only player this season with a winning head-to-head record against Blue (2-1), the undisputed number one player in Chicago. He also holds positive records against Latin (1-0), Killablue (2-0), and the best Dr. Mario in town, Q? (2-0).
In addition, Mitch went even against both Unsure (2-2), a potential 2023 Top 100 player, and the Ice Climbers main Fluid (2-2), who remains a dominant force at Midlane despite being inactive. Throughout the 8 tournaments he competed in, DZ’s consistency shone through. His only placement outside the top 8 was a 9th-place finish, largely due to a controller malfunction, forcing him to switch to Falco for the remainder of the event.
Even with that setback, the premier Yoshi main took home three championships during Act 2, triumphing in grand finals against notable competitors like Blue, Q?, and Mase. Despite planning to take a break for the rest of the year to focus on using his exquisite coding skills to make some cash money (hire this man), DZ remains a tournament threat, ready to combo anyone to death. His steady improvement season after season has cemented him as the best Yoshi in Chicago and a rising star with the potential to shine when competing out of region.
It’s possible that we’ll soon see his Falco stepping into the spotlight as well.
lovestory4a
#4: Unsure | Average: 3.87
Following up on a stellar Act I performance, Andrew “Unsure” Bisciglia found himself reaching new heights in Chicago Melee this summer. Excelling both in and out of region, Unsure utilized his methodical, practical approach to the game to garner a hefty resume over the course of the season. His accomplishments within Chicagoland include 1st placings at stacked locals like Super TPS III and the inaugural RPM, as well as steady victories against a significant majority of the ballot. Particularly of note were his hard-earned 5-2 and 2-2 records against Michael and dz respectively.
Furthermore, Unsure’s list of wins over national talent grew as he snagged sets at regionals and majors versus the likes of Jude, 2saint, and Dawson—have I seen this movie before? I’d also like to highlight his continued contributions to the local scene despite focusing on top-level competition, whether it be through regular assistance at Midlanes or his dedication to communal improvement resources. With a warm smile and a friendly “good luck” before he 3-0’s you, Unsure will surely remain a perennial fixture of CLM.
Rocco “Latin” M.
#3: Michael | Average: 3.47
Nearly every season, it’s easy to trot out the old script about Michael being Chicago’s most reliable player. The top dog turned gatekeeper who kept the gate so well that from time to time he would find himself back in the top spot through what seemed like inertia. No doubt, Michael remains the kingpin of Tripoint Smash — he won the weekly a whopping ten times in Act II — but Michael is not invincible.
While holding positive records over most of the field, albeit with the occasional loss to ORLY (10-2), Anwarrior (2-1), and Killablue (3-1), Michael increasingly has had trouble against CLM’s Top 5. He failed to beat Blue or Ober this season, and Unsure, who this year has made a national name for himself by beating multiple Top 100 Jigglypuffs, has shown similar strength on home turf. Michael holds a 2-5 record against the Fox player.
Tripoint Smash may be Michael’s home turf, but he remains a threat across the midwest. While an uncharacteristic loss to Indiana Fox Lunar helped set in motion a disappointing 33rd place finish for the Puff player at Out of the Blue 3, Michael clearly has more juice left in the tank. When he makes it to a Midlane, he’s just as hard to beat as at TPS, and at regionals and majors he remains a fearsome force no matter who you are. Besides the CLM PR, he also found wins this season over Top 100 level out-of-region talents like Coffee and essy.
Matthew “Dr. Hunk” Koester
#2: Ober | Average: 1.87
By his standards, Ober had a quiet Act II. Ober’s standards, however, are pretty high.
While the spot of top player in Chicagoland has, for the second season in a row, eluded his grasp, CLM’s premiere Falco has managed to do something pretty impressive regardless — he finished Act II with either even or winning records against his entire region. His record was even against Blue (3-3), Latin (2-2) and that, but the only other player in the region who beat Ober at all was Josh, who the Falco player still held a 2-1 record against.
Some of this may be chalked up to a lower attendance on the Falco player’s part than that of some of his peers. Ober went to fewer than ten CLM PR-eligible events over the course of Act II, but with a solid 2-0 record against Chicago legend Michael and a 3-0 record over GI0GOAT, it’s not as if other players weren’t given the chance to beat him.
These strong head to head records naturally translate to strong placements. At Midlane 128, Ober shook off a loss to Forest to go on a run through the losers bracket, taking out Frost and GI0GOAT, winning the runback against Forest, and then resetting the bracket against Blue before winning the tournament outright.
Ober has managed to do well at bigger events too in this time period, most notably at Combo Breaker 2024, where he finished 13th.
Matthew “Dr. Hunk” Koester
#1: Blue | Average: 1.13
With 11 in-region events, about a billion regionals and majors, and over 20 CLM PR wins, Blue returns to first place in Act 2 of 2024. Last season, he was the only player able to take on Zamu, and this season he saw similar success with a set win against Ben at Combo Breaker, which has significantly helped to bolster his resume on his quest for top 100.
In region, Blue only had a negative record against one PR eligible player, dz, who he went 1-2 against. Next closest was Ober who he went even with at 3-3 (in region), and Larfen, who split sets with Blue 1-1. Other than those three players, Blue went positive across the board against everyone in Chicago, solidifying his rank 1 performance from Act 1 of this year, and earning the title once again.
Only one player has held the crown as Chicago’s number one for a full year before, but with looming threats such as Ober, Michael, and dz, we’ll have to wait and see if Blue can stave off competition, and become the second full-year champion.
Will Blue lock in and complete the three-peat? Or will he crash out and let new challengers take the top spot? Find out in Act 3 of 2024.
Kevin “tenacity” Donnelly
Thank you for checking out the 2024 Act 2 Power Rankings for Chicagoland Melee. Once again thank you to all those involved in making this possible. Join our Discord for updates and if you still haven’t seen it, check out the interactive PR graphic.
