The 20 greatest Super Smash Brothers Melee players to have never won A major (20–11).
Edit: This series of posts was inspired by Duncan “Thorin” Shields series of Articles and Videos on a similar topic.
Early 2017 version: Part 1, Part 2
Competitive Super Smash brothers melee is a game where champions of the game rule over all challengers for many years to come.
So while it’s very easy to remember those who have won the trophies and been at the summit of the competitive scene, many players have battled with the greats but were bridesmaids instead of brides.
So today I will be discussing and counting down the 20 greatest melee players to have never won a major.
While what is considered a major in competitive melee is subjective, all 20 players on this list have not won a tournament with a majority of the best players in the world.
So with all of that being said, let’s get into it.
20. Amsah “Amsah” D. Augustuszoon (The Lost Prime)
Before Armada became the end all be all of EU melee, the best player in Europe was a sheik main from the Netherlands who dethroned the previous best EU player EK, smacked an invading Captain Jack, and bodied the EU scene until Armada became #1 in the continent in early 2009.
Before and during Armada’s legendary trip and eventual runner-up performance at the original Genesis, many people wondered how well the now #2 of the continent would perform at the event, and Amsah would deliver at his first two NA majors pound 4 and pound 5, but with melee on the downswing and a lack of events Amsah’s prime would eventually fade and despite an admirable comeback during the mid-2010s, Amsah has now been inactive and is now clearly in his twilight years.
Best Chance: Pound 4 (3rd)
Amsah’s run at Pound 4 is a thing of legend at this point, beating old school greats like Tope, Jman, Zhu, and most notably of all Armada is an all-time run and while Hungrybox did brick-wall him for 3rd, Hbox was not someone who could contend for #1 at the time due to Mang0’s sheer dominance barring 2 bo3 losses to Kage.
Realistically Amsah’s best chance of winning a major was if he traveled to Pound 3 or Rom 1 due to Mang0 not being at full power just yet and Mew2king splitting his attention between Brawl and Melee.
19. Arjun “Llod” Malhotra (The Doctor’s Checked In)
In the Post-Armada era of Peach, 3 names have outlasted the rest; Polish, Trif (formerly Trifasia), and Llod.
When Armada retired in September 2018 and Peach results naturally dropped off, and with the pandemic trapping Trif in Europe, Llod being inactive and Polish not rising to the top level until near the end of the pandemic era and Kzhu being the only active top-level peach, people were on the verge of writing off Peach as a character entirely.
But when Llod started 2022 smacking everyone online and getting top 8 of every major in the first 8 months of the year, Beating Zain, Mang0 and Peach-slayer himself Leffen (3–0 at that), the days of someone championing peach now seems closer than ever.
Best Chance: Super Smash Con 2022 (3rd)
Llod was in winners finals of a major mainly due to zain getting upset early despite some resistance from Khryke in winners quarters and on the other side of the bracket is a struggling Mang0 who clutched game 5 nail-biters against Axe and Hbox to make it this far and hadn’t won a major in over a year and on top of that llod had won the previous set 4 months ago at pound 2022.
But even with a 4 stock to 2 lead, Mang0 would plot armor his way to grand finals and a red hot Hbox who finally slayed his bracket demon (Zain) would knock him out at 3rd.
18. Otto “Silent Wolf” Bisno (Fox of the Future)
Before he retired from competitive melee in 2018, Silent Wolf was a man of many talents.
Either it is his tech skill videos that have raised a generation of spacie mains, his mastery of matchups like peach and sheik, to giving nightmares to Bladewise at locals. There are many accomplishments across the Washington native’s career.
Best chance: EVO 2015 (17th).
While the obvious choice is HTC Throwdown (3rd place), with how unbeatable Leffen was at that event and how Hbox was becoming incredibly consistent around the end of 2015 (Prof Pro aside), seeing a way that Silent Wolf wins that event is a bit silly.
Let’s start from the beginning, in winners top 32 he goes to game 3 and pushes Armada to his limit in a winnable bo3, then he would play PewPewu, whom he beat 3 months ago twice to win Northwest Majors VII, then he would play against a far from championship contending Hungrybox or a shaky Leffen in a bo3 fox ditto he won the previous Evo and in winners finals, he would play against a physically and mentally crumbling PPMD who would go 0–6 in the finals of the real Evo that year, and with his big bracket demon Mang0 bustering out early, his best chance was on the cards.
17. Jeremy “Fly Amanita” Westfahi (The Ice Climbers That Could)
Before Slug turned skeptics into fans, there was one climber player who stood out from the rest, Socal’s very own Fly Amanita.
His Handoffs were crisp, his Desyncs came from the angels up above and despite not being able to wobble in his prime, his punish game and legendary sopo more than make up for it.
Set wins on Mang0, Hungrybox, PPMD, and Mew2king are incredibly impressive, and regional tourney wins like The Next Episode against a stacked west coast field still hold up today.
Best Chance: Press Start (2nd)
Fly Amanita was in the grand finals from winners side of a major tournament and with 4 of the top 5 best active players at the time and with the ice climbers buzzsaw of Armada not in attendance and Hbox (who beat him in the Round Robin pools) losing to Lucky early, the window for the climber main was opened.
As everyone knows now, losers bracket Mang0 beat the brakes out of him in grands but had Mang0 lost to Shroomed or Axe (players who beat Mang0 within a month of this event) the tourney was his.
16. Colin “Colbol” Green (Crazy Colin)
When Hbox was first breaking through on the international scale and Dashizwiz was a top 5 player in the US, colbol was the player in Florida that everyone had hyped up during the rise of Florida in the melee scene.
While initially disappointing with his first couple of out-of-region events, by the time 2013 and especially his career peak of 2014 rolled around, Colin was ballin on the best players in the world.
Despite not being as active or his peak level, Colbol beating modern top players like Skerzo and Logan in 2022 alone is proof of his longevity across 15 Years.
Best Chance: Paragon Orlando 2015 (9th)
While Colbol’s performances at Apex 2014 (5th) and Pound 2016 (7th) are great, with how unbeatable PPMD was at apex and how Hbox was eating foxes for breakfast during the first half of 2016, Colbol didn’t have much of a puncher’s chance at either of those events, the real opening was Paragon Orlando.
In Winners Quarters, Colbol would lose a heartbreaker game 3 vs Armada before losing to the fox shredder that was 2015 Westballz, had he closed it out vs Armada, he would play his good ol’ Florida pal Hbox, whom he dispatched of at a Florida monthly during late 2014 and Hbox only won Paragon due to M2k focusing on other smash titles at the time and a classic Armada choke.
Now in winners finals, he would play against a slumping M2k more focused on winning smash 4 and PM than winning melee and he would beat M2k at htc later in the year, and with Leffen having a mental block against M2k, a rematch would be very likely and a winnable one at that.
15. Jesus “Jman” Fernandez (The Six Man)
The Missing case of Jman has never been solved.
Some say he was banned in the background and never came back, and some say he went to jail and never got out, no matter how he ended his interaction with the scene, his influence on the metagame can’t be denied.
Use of lasers that everyone uses today? Check.
Innovations of fox on Pokemon Stadium? Check.
One of the few to battle against the Five Gods near their most dominant period? Check.
One of the few to not immediately fold every time to M2k in region and even took a set against mang0 during his dominant 2009 and had a brief rivalry vs PPMD.
Best Chance: Rom3 (4th place)
With Jman beating PPMD at Apex 2010, him winning the rematch from winners in Losers Semis isn’t off the table, then he would play an on-the-rise Kirbykaze who was having struggles vs Ryan Ford (formerly known as Unknown522) in region so Jman would be favored in a hypothetical Losers Finals, and in the Grand Finals, a struggling M2k awaits, having not won a major in 3 years and in good but not peak form.
14. Shephard “Fiction” Lima (Mr. Reinvention)
The evolution of Shep across his career is fascinating.
From top 10 brawl player as a Wario main to casually transitioning to melee in 2013/2014 and becoming top 20 in the world to putting the game aside and focusing on game development to getting back into the game in 2018 and picking up where he left off to switching from fox to falco and matching his results to this day, he has reinvented himself time and time again.
Best Chance: The Big House 9 (4th)
Fiction was playing lights out at Big House 9.
Taking down Plup, Ibdw and a returning M2k to top 4 was already impressive but barely losing out to the eventual champion Mang0 leaves me thinking what if.
Leffen was becoming vulnerable in the fox ditto and Zain had been known to choke in big matches and Fiction was a phantom shine away from beating Zain at genesis 6 earlier in the year.
13. David “KirbyKaze” Macdonald (Making Sheik Cool Again)
Canada has many all-time greats, from Kage the Warrior to Ryan Ford to the modern genius of Moky, but the player that turned Canada into a monster region is KirbyKaze.
Where do I start with him? his legendary Smashboards posts that are both educational and hilarious? him owning Kalamazhu and Gahtzu’s souls? the popularization of the dynasty combo? his legendary upset against Hbox at Apex 2012? His career is hall-of-fame worthy.
Best Chance: Rom3 (3rd)
KirbyKaze beating Mang0’s falcon, Vanz, and PPMD to winners finals of Rom3 is impressive enough, but to make it to grand finals of a major all he has to do is……… beat M2k in a sheik ditto…….
ok that was insane to think about doing at the time but M2k wasn’t at full capacity and with an on-fire PPMD in losers he just has to slay the king once and the tourney could have been his.
12. Edgard “n0ne” L. Sheleby (Beating The Odds)
This might be a hot take but n0ne is Canada’s greatest player and might be the most unique player to ever touch the Gamecube game.
A Nicaraguan-born and raised competitor playing in a metagame where shielding was scorned which resulted in a falcon that goes for more soft knees and reverse bairs instead of more traditional edge guards and combos moves to Canada and starts getting tons of hype for his insane playstyle and makes the top 100 for the first time in 2015 just outside the top 50.
Then 2016 happens and his Goml 2016 run is a thing of legend capped off by his all-time upset over falcon slayer M2k.
Since then despite some periods of inactivity and rust, n0ne has consistently stayed in the top 20 and peaked at #9 in the Summer of 2022.
Best Chance: Genesis 8 (4th)
N0ne’s stomp heard around the world to slay his bracket demon Hbox is well remembered for a reason but people forget that Jmook was supposed to be the “underdog” vs n0ne and while n0ne beating Jmook is unlikely, had Llod won that game 5 barnburner vs Jmook the match earlier, Llod would be a very coin toss match that could go either way.
While winners finals would be a nearly unwinnable matchup against Zain in god mode, n0ne already slayed one demon, so maybe he could slay another?
11. Kevin “PewPewu” Toy (Marth Is Back)
When marth mains were few and far between and M2k was more focused on sheik than marth, the future of the swordsman was in question and one of the few to keep the lights on was PewPewu.
Originally starting as a falco main when first starting out, eventually switching to marth and the rest is history.
from upsetting Hbox at Apex 2015, to set wins over M2k and Mang0 across his long and storied career, to his trophy list of doubles victories that ended with his retirement at the beginning of 2021.
Best Chance: Super Smash Con 2016 (7th)
Armada and Leffen have always given Kevin trouble across his career so majors like Super Smash Con 2018 (4th) and I’m Not Yelling (4th) are crossed off the list.
After upsetting M2k early on he would next play his best friend SFAT in a match where he is an underdog but a winnable match. Next, he would play Mang0 who was more focused on beating Hbox than anyone else and was there for the taking and in Winners Finals he would play a Slumping Hbox who was high off winning Evo 2016 and wasn’t in peak form.
Thank you very much for reading and Part 2 (10–1) will be coming very soon so stay on the lookout for that.
also, follow me on Twitter @ballertheking for any potential updates in the future.
