kevin tenacity
Hi everyone, I hope you’re all having a great summer and ready to see the Act 1 2026 PR! Only a little late…
First off, some housekeeping: PR qualification changed this season to make it so that any player with 8 local events attended and a top 25 placement on CLM stats makes the ballot. dz also took over CLM stats this season, and we’re so grateful for his contributions to the site. Thanks of course always to mattpopa, for continuing to create this amazing page.
Fun stats:
Most events attended: 1st: Fry & Monarc (Tied with 25!) 3rd: Lemmanade (24), 4th: Box & Pleeba (Tied with 22).
Silver Surfers: There were 10 unique Silver Bracket champions in Midlane’s final season. They were:
Yuunia, Yolk (2x), Grunker (2x), Carter, Sunshine (2x), influenza, FeelinGood, greg, Easy, Rocks.
Congrats everyone! Esp our repeat winners
Now let’s kick off the PR for Act 1 of 2026!
#15: Orotis | Average: 16.00
After a season off the PR, Orotis is back in Act 1 to return as CLM’s certified gatekeeper once again wreaking havoc across all types of metallurgic brackets. Throughout the season, he managed to defeat the likes of Killablue, Basil, FeelinGood, Sambone, and more! Will he continue to make Gold week over week? Or will his reign of terror over Silver Brackets return? Find out in Act 2 of CLM.
#14: Mase | Average: 13.93
Back again in Act 1 of 2026, mase returns with a bang, defeating several top 10 players including GUESS MONSTER, and Jisp, in addition to inactive player CLM Punk. In between fielding grounders in softball, and hitting one taps in CS2, Mase has remained on point in CLM throughout this season.
#13: WattPheasant | Average: 13.06
The ever studious WattPheasant slashed her way onto the Act 1 PR in 2026, taking down such talents as GUESS MONSTER, Fry, Rocks, mase, and Orotis. These wins and an impressive performance at Out of the Blue 5 helped earn her place among Chicago’s elite again.
#12: Umma | Average: 11.5
After rounding off the last spot on the PR in 2022’s summer season, Umma has had a relatively quiet few years, but bursted back onto the CLM PR this season with a slew of impressive wins. He came out of nowhere to defeat GUESS MONSTER, dz, Arpy, Fry, Rocks, and more across his 8 attended events.
#11: Rocks | Average: 11.29
After a debut appearance on the CLM PR to close out 2025, Rocks kept up the pace and returned in 2026’s Act 1. With wins against xenien, mase, greg, Umma, Fry, and carpool teammate Raymond, Rocks once again showed why they’re the region’s new top Puff.
#10: Im sorry women. | Average: 10.64
Much has been said about Grr Rahhh >:), 8th grade six, Im sorry women, and the many other monikers that kick has gone by. For now, we’ll say this: kick’s inimitable Sheik play helped earn them another spot on the CLM PR through set wins on Ferocitii, dz, Raymond, Frost, Fasthands, Fry, and many more, repeating her performance from the end of the 2025 season at 10th.
#9: Fry | Average: 9
In 2026, it would feel wrong for a CLM PR to not have one Chris P. Fry make an appearance. Thank goodness things are all right, with Fry’s 9th place finish in Act 1. This season, Fry managed to take down GUESS MONSTER, Scooby, dz, Arpy, Raymond, GI0STAR, Im sorry women., and Pleeba, among many others, across his region leading 25 events.
#8: Jisp | Average: 7.71
Almost a year after their PR debut, Jisp has become a mainstay of the Chicagoland power rankings. Once again, Milwaukee’s #1 invader has taken down some of Chicago’s top talent, including but not limited to GUESS MONSTER, dz, Raymond, ReLaxn, Fasthands, and Fry. With an incredible 2nd place finish at Midlane 212, Jisp has proven time and time again they’re among the region’s best.
#7: Raymond | Average: 7.00
In 2025, Raymond started to terrorize the suburban scene of TPS, and in 2026 he continued this spree with tear after tear down Milwaukee ave. Thanks to a rampage at Out of the Blue 5, where he would place 57th thanks to the waterfall format, Raymond now has a top 64 placement at a major under his belt, with a Top 100 win to boot. A break in Act 2 may see him return refreshed and ready to break into the top 5, but his absence has left us waiting to see what mayhem his Fox will cause next.
#6: dz | Average: 5.14
Chicagoland would hurt greatly without a season full of our favorite dinosaur’s presence at events, and luckily, Act 1 brought us that in spades with dz’s 6 place appearance on the PR. The freshly minted top 100 talent took down the likes of GUESS MONSTER, Forest, Arpy, Eggy, and many more, forcing the region to continually brush up on their matchup knowledge thanks to the midwest’s best Yoshi.
#5: Ferocitii | Average: 5.07
Ferocitii has caused headache after headache again for the region’s best in Act 1 of 2026 with his technical Peach defeating some CLM’s favorites in Unsure, dz, Jisp, Fry and more. This season he’s helped to remind the city folk what the suburbs are made of, and looks to do it again with a return to regular competition downtown on the horizon.
#4: Forest | Average: 4.50
Chicagoland missed out on Forest last season as he took a step back from frequent competition to close out 2025. The wait for his return has been worthwhile, as he achieved a new peak rank to kick off the new year. Coming in at 4th place, Forest’s best season came with a slew of strong wins, such as Ober, Pleeba, DannyPhanton, Scooby, dz, Arpy, and many many more. We’re excited to welcome back one of the city’s strongest swordsmen.
#3: GUESS MONSTER | Average: 3.93
In 2025, Stella Harmon dropped her longtime tag, and made her debut on the CLM PR after her move to the city earlier in the year. In 2026, she picked up the GUESS MONSTER name once again, alongside a slew of incredible set wins. Pleeba, Unsure, Forest, Ferocitii, Scooby, Arpy, GI0STAR, and many others fell in the wake of her merciless gameplay. In ORLY’s absence she has filled his shoes and more as the only PR’d Captain Falcon, driving the character to Chicago’s top 3 for the first time this decade.
#2: Pleeba | Average: 1.94
Mr. 90 has done it again, with a 151-20 win-loss record across 22 events, and a handful of local wins, Pleeba’s stellar Sheik impressed once again in Act 1 2026. Despite focusing on Fox going into next season, Pleeba dominated the region once again in this year’s first act, with winning records on almost everyone he faced on the PR, including GUESS MONSTER, Latin, Forest, Ferocitii, dz, Arpy, Raymond, and many others. The key word unfortunately for Pleeba is “almost”, with one player being barely out of reach this season, and one that he has maintained an incredible rivalry with.
#1: Ober | Average: 1.06
That one player is of course Ober, the once again Queen of Chicago. Of her 4 losing records on the newly re-made CLM Stats, 3 of them are from Out of the Blue, and are from a single set. The rest of her season, barring an unfortunate set against Arpy, is represented by a dominant sea of blue positive set counts. Ober won the head to head war against Pleeba to claim the top spot this season, and managed to crush the rest of the competition, with undefeated set records against the rest of the PR, except for Forest, who she defeated 3 times to his 1. With Pleeba looking to focus on Fox, and the suburban scene attending more and more frequently, new challenges await Ober in Act 2. Will she continue to reign as Chicago’s number one competitor? Will she be brought back down to Earth? Or will she reach new heights over invaders and city newcomers alike? All will be revealed in Act 2 and beyond.
Thank you for checking out the 2026 Act 1 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.
