After this tournament I think I have a new Melee tier list. Also included are some of the top players who I think are pushing each character to their limit. These impressions are based on the highest level of play currently possible, and my opinion with regards to what the future may hold for each character as the game continues to develop.
Keep in mind this is based on the current competitive meta game. For example, I know Sheik beats Bowser and bunch of other characters 10-0 but since no one fucking uses Bowser in tournaments I'm more concerned with how she performs against the top tier characters.
ELDER GOD TIER:
Fox (Mango, Leffen, Armada)
Melee in 2015 is a Fox dominated game. While it's not 20XX quite yet, after seeing Armada pull out what is essentially a pocket Fox and go on to beat the two best Fox players in the world, I do believe we are on that path. The order of my tier list is strongly dependent on the Fox matchup. The better you can hang against him, the higher you are likely on the list. It's hard to deny that Fox is the best character in the game right now, especially since three of what I consider the top four players now maining the character (not to mention many, MANY other high ranked Foxes). There is no character more fully explored than Fox, and unfortunately for us, no character with more potential than Fox. The depth of this character knows no bounds. They're only going to get faster and more technical and time goes on... until the players physically can't control him anymore.
Marth (PPMD, M2K, PPU)
I believe Marth has the best matchup against Fox in the entire game: 50:50 on most stages, and 60:40 in his advantage on Final Destination. The two top Marths, PPMD and M2K, show just how devastating his punish game is. Being played ideally, a grab at 0% should result in death against any Fox or Falco, or at the very least an edge guard situation. Perhaps even more interestingly was PPUs victory over Hungrybox this last weekend. A matchup that seemed unwinnable for years (not even M2K would dare use Marth against Puff) has finally been advanced to a point where careful spacing can result in the W. Its close between Marth and Falco for #2, but after this weekend, I had to give Marth the nod.
Falco (PPMD, Mango, Westballz)
Falco is still a fantastic character that absolutely wrecks most of the characters below, but in this Fox dominated and Marth One grab and youre dead metagame, its starting to feel like Falco is just a step too slow. Mango has seen little success with his Falco, needing to bring out the Fox to keep up with the other gods. PPMD felt more like a Marth main than a Falco main this past weekend, and once again, this was mainly due to his struggles with Falco against other top Foxes and Marths. Westballz flashy gameplay hasnt resulted in wins at the bigger tournaments. If Falco wants to reclaim his spot at #2, I think hes going to have to win some big tournaments. Marth and Fox have just seen way too much success lately for me to believe otherwise.
GOD TIER:
Jigglypuff (Hungrybox)
Amazingly, after all this time, Hungrybox remains as the only elite Jigglypuff. He continues to make the Fox matchup look free against most players
until you reach the gods. Leffen, Mango and Armada seem to have finally figured out the matchup, and Hungrybox has struggled. Is it because Hungrybox is playing less due to school, or has the Jigglypuff metagame reached its peak? Puff is still a fantastic character and pretty much beats the crap out of everyone else on this list, but like I said, that Fox matchup is crucial. Id like to see more Puff players in the future push the character further, and in different ways. Perhaps a return to the character by a certain #1 ranked player
?
Peach (Armada)
While Armada feels that Peach struggles against Puff and to an extent the space animals, he has shown a punish game with this character over the last 5 years that no other Peach players have even come CLOSE to reaching. Peachs combo and punish game against space animals is almost as brutal as Marths, as Armada has shown. Unlike Marth, she can actually close out the stock with her quick, powerful kill moves when the Fox is no longer in combo percent. While I believe Armada pushed Peach close to her limit as a character in this game, that level of Peach play is absolutely capable of hanging with the best of the best in this game, and I hope that not only Armada keeps playing her, but other Peach mains are able to reach that level someday.
Sheik (M2K, Shroomed, KK)
Sheik is still the easiest character to pick up and play in the game. However, I feel a bit of the Falco syndrome here with Sheik. She looks a bit slow at the top level. Her punish game doesnt come close to any of the above characters now that players are so good at DIing out of what were easy kill combos in 2006. Most of Sheiks extended combos and punish game comes from reading tech rolls, and preferably, reading platform tech rolls with a perfectly placed down air or two. While its hype as hell when M2K lands these, it aint easy. Its also rare that he doesnt drop the first game of the set against a top player with Sheik, and immediately counterpick to Marth on FD or FoD. Shroomed continues to develop his Sheik after dropping Doc, and KirbyKaze had a great showing though still lacks some of that polish that he had a few years ago, but neither player can hang with the gods it seems. Unfortunately, at the highest level in 2015, Sheik feels somewhat limited, especially against the top Foxes.
HIGH TIER:
Ice Climbers (Wobbles, Fly Amanita, Nintendude)
Wobbles at Evo 2013 showed the potential of Ice Climbers. Grab. Wobble. Dead. Repeat. Grab. Wobble. Dead. Repeat. He was able to take sets off PPMDs Falco and Mangos Fox with his Ice Climbers. Unfortunately, his pseudo-retirement has clearly hurt his play, and while Fly Amanita and Nintendude continue to improve and place very well at huge tournaments, neither of them have been able to take sets off the god space animals like Wobbles has. I think Ice Climbers have a ton of potential, and I can see them jumping up a tier if the top Iceys players continue to improve and polish their grab game.
Captain Falcon (S2J)
Poor Cap. While still probably the most hype character in the game to watch (and the most fun to play), the results just havent been there for him since the days of Isai. As Fox and Falco play continues to be perfected, it becomes more and more painful to watch favourites like S2J seem helpless in the matchup. Falcons recovery is just so terrible and Foxs shine and Falcos dair just completely shut him down. At the top level, Cap needs to be perfect. Get SOMETHING out of every grab, if not a solid combo. Get EVERY edgeguard, and punish the hell out of laggy recoveries. S2J is far and away the best Falcon at the moment, and he doesnt really do either of those things, at least in tournament. Either S2J needs to patch those holes in his game, or Falcon needs a savior, like Axe or Amsa have done for their characters, to bring Falcon to the next level. I believe Falcon does have potential, even in this Fox dominated metagame, but it's not going to be easy, or pretty.
Pikachu (Axe)
What Axe has managed to do with Pikachu, once considered a low tier character, is nothing short of remarkable. At this point, players need to start being a lot more scared of Pikachu. A great, unpredictable recovery, a chain grab against heavy characters, the strongest uncharged up smash in the game (yes, even stronger than Fox!) and a tail spike that seems like Sakurai put in the game specifically to gimp space animals means Pikachu has one of the better matchups against Fox and Falco in the game. So far, only Axe has been able to push the character to the speeds and precision needed to take out the best of the best, but it is indeed possible. Not easy, but possible.
Yoshi (Amsa)
Pretty much read the above and replace Axe with Amsa and Pikachu with Yoshi. Never in a million years did I think a Yoshi would place 5th at a Melee tournament, let alone in 2015. Like Axe and Pikachu, this is the result of Amsas incredible character dedication, pushing the character from obscurity and irrelevance to its absolute limit. Not only is Yoshi now relevant, he's viable. I think at this point its hard to deny that Yoshi is a good character. Some of his aerials hit hard as hell. Others are great combo moves, especially off jab resets or grabs. His smash attacks kill at decent percents. Most importantly, his insane speed (if you can get the double jump cancels and wavelands down perfectly) and invincibility on his double jump allows him to actually keep up with the best Foxes and Falcos in the world. Just when you think the character has hit its peak, Amsa somehow improves at every tournament he attends, this time almost taking a set off Mangos Fox. I hope in the future that some tech skill heavy players give the space animals a break and try to swag out with Yoshi, because hes an awesome character that can hang with Fox and Falco surprisingly well.
Samus (Plup, Hugs, Duck)
Samus is a character that has been pretty constant on the tier list over the years. While her position doesnt change, the character has clearly improved, especially in the space animals matchups. Samus are faster than ever, able to consistently punish tech rolls in any direction, and gimp recoveries in a multitude of different ways. In an era where Foxes are catching the best Marths and space animals with shine spikes at 0%, Samus incredible recovery is a solid asset. I dont know how much potential this character has at this point (she still seems too slow to keep with the faster characters and players), the evolution of her matchup against Fox and Falco, which has resulted in sets like Plup over Leffen recently, gives me hope that Samus will continue to be a high placing character at big tournaments in the future.
STILL VIABLE TIER:
Luigi (Eddy Mexico, Abate)
Almost like Yoshi, Luigi players have learned to play the game so quickly that theyre managing wins off speed alone. With the best wave dash in the game, Luigi can punish tech rolls in a way no other character really can. He also has solid combo and kill moves. The success of Eddy Mexico and Abate have definitely caught me by surprise, and I think this unorthodox character definitely has the potential to be pushed further in the current metagame. Also, misfires continue to be the most hype thing in Melee.
Dr. Mario (Formerly Shroomed)
Unfortunately, with Shroomed seemingly moving on from the character for good, there are simply no great Doc players to look up to. For that reason, Luigi has slid ahead on the tier list and is now the best Mario brother in the game. Shroomed proved with his Doc play that this character kicks ass at high levels and can punish space animals super hard. Unfortunately, it will be hard to justify this position as time goes on and there are no Docs entering tournaments, let alone placing high.
Ganondorf (Kage, Bizzarro Flame)
Hype as hell to watch and hits like a beast. Three or four hits will probably kill your opponent. That sounds easy enough
in theory. In practice, the chances of Ganon landing those three clean hits before Fox can combo you 0 to 100 real quick and easily edge guard Ganons god awful recovery are slim
Everyone else is irrelevant at this point. But who knows, maybe Armada will have a change of heart and main Young Link and start bodying everyone. Maybe a Game and Watch player will come from out of nowhere and start killing everyone, like Amsa did with Yoshi. This game continues to surprise!
Let me know what you think. Is Falco #3? Does Pikachu and Yoshi deserve to be that high?
) that uses her, but PPMD's marth would have to deal with mew2king's sheik (if he played only marth).
