Panda Global Rankings Ultimate

The Panda Global Rankings Ultimate (PGRU) was a list compiled by Panda's PGStats team ranking the world's top 50 smashers in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Originally an algorithmic rankings similar to its Smash 4 incarnation, the rankings were overhauled to be panel-based, initially for the third season, but was first implemented for PGRContenders.

The first three seasons as well as PGRUContenders were headed by PracticalTAS, while after the third season the ranking was superseded by the new UltRank run by Barnard's Loop, following controversy related to the Panda Cup boycott.^[1]

General methodology and algorithm[edit]

Although the methodology has received changes with each iteration, there are several rules that remain the same. The Tournament Tier System returned, and tournaments that qualify for the PGR are given a tier based on either the number of entrants or, starting from the Fall 2019 PGRU, the number of PGR attendees present. For the latter, the higher ranked a player is, the more the player is worth. However, not all tournaments are considered when they reach the threshold: arcadians, weeklies, biweeklies, and tournaments held near another (such as pre-major locals) are excluded.

A newly-introduced mechanic was the international multiplier, which gave tournaments outside of the continental United States a higher point value. Initially, international tournaments were all given a 1.25x boost, however the multiplier was altered in the Spring 2020 season so that non-Japanese international tournaments were given an approximately 1.67x boost.

During the first two seasons, the power rankings were creating using an algorithm that factored in placements, victories and losses over PGR and non-PGR players, and outplacements to create a list of 50 players, with 5 "honorable mentions" given the Area 51 position. The subjective X-Factor survey returned as well. Starting in the cancelled Spring 2020 PGRU season, the algorithm would have been replaced with a panel that would rank the top 100 players of that season, with 5 "rising stars" chosen halfway through the season. 2021 had a pseudo-ranking in the form of a tier list decided by panelists called PGRUContenders. The third season was a panel-based ranking split by region of the top 50 players in North America and Europe and an unordered list of 50 players to watch in Japan.

Issues[edit]

A notable issue with the PGRU was its points system and strict thresholds. As values were either based on entrants count or the number of PGR attendees present, several tournaments were either undervalued or were left unranked, even with the international multipliers. The issue was most prominent in the first season, which based tournament values solely on entrants count. As a result, there were several tournaments that were either left unranked or were undervalued. Notable examples include Collision 2019 and Suplex City Smash, which despite being considered majors were only ranked as a C-tier, and EGS Cup, which despite featuring MkLeo and several notable Japanese talent did not meet the attendance requirement and was therefore left unranked. Although the issue was addressed in the second season with the addition of PGR attendee points, the issue still remained, albeit on a much smaller scale. A notable example from this season was the superregional DreamHack Winter 2019 which featured notable talent from all of Europe but was left unranked as it did not meet either requirements: Mr.R was the only player present with player points and the tournament was 2 entrants short of the C-tier threshold. Likely as a result of this, Japan (for the first season) and Europe (for both season) were underrepresented on both the TTS and the rankings. Conversely, there were rare cases where entrants count was rewarded too much, leading the TTS to tier them higher than their actual talent pool suggests. The most notable example is Syndicate 2019, which was ranked as an A-tier due to having 640 entrants and an international multiplier but only had two players ranked in the top 50: Glutonny and Mr.R.

Yet another major issue with the PGRU was its failure to account for players who became a significantly stronger player in the following season. The biggest case was Maister, who despite being a top 10 player for the second season contributed no points throughout that season due to being unranked on the first season. This also led to many tournaments to be undervalued in the second season. For example, as a result of many Japanese players contributing no points despite regularly placing well and even ranking well in the season's top 50, there were several cases where Japanese events should have be considered "majors" or "supermajors" due to the number of talent but were not tiered as such on the TTS (eg EGS Cup 2 and Sumabato SP 6 for the former and Umebura SP 5 and Umebura SP 7 for the latter).

Finally, the PGRU algorithm also gave too much reward for "empty runs", or high placements at large events that had little to no good wins. Although present in both season, the issue was greatly alleviated in the second season.

References[edit]