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Panda Global reveals Tournament Tier system for Smash 4

ozzie mejia
The PGStats team is aiming for more transparency for the next round of the PGR (Panda Global)
The PGStats team is aiming for more transparency for the next round of the PGR (Panda Global)

The PGStats team has released a list of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments for the upcoming year in an effort to provide transparency for the next Panda Global player ranking system.

The second round of Panda Global Rankings was unveiled in January, but not without some controversy. Fans, as well as some players, took some issue with how PG came up with its most recent list of top 50 Smash 4 players.

“Originally, when creating the [Tournament Tier System] we wanted to have a system that valued quality over quantity,” explains the Panda Global post. “In today’s event organization and tournament marketing meta, there has been an increase in demand to host top talent from around the world. Recently, we have seen a surge in prize support as a whole with the advent of sponsors and organizations coming together and contributing to tournaments. As a result, there has been a spike in not only the amount of tournaments that players must choose from, but also the quality of tournaments as the stakes continually rise.”


The Tournament Tier System document will be updated over the course of the year. Each tournament will be weighted according to the number of entrants, the number of top 50 players, the number of top 20 players, and the event’s singles prize pool. Only one tournament thus far has achieved the top S tier ranking: Genesis 4. March’s 2GGC: Civil War is the next event expected to reach the S tier, with hosts 2GG offering travel incentives to all top 50 PGR players.

Second-level A tier events include 2GGC: Genesis Saga, 2GGC: Midwest Mayhem Saga, and Frostbite 2017, which is set to run from February 25-26.

The PGStats team has also determined that weekly and bi-weekly tournaments would not factor into future player ranking lists.

“We simply do not believe that the tone of local environments should be affected by global pressures,” the announcement states.

The next PGR top 50 list is set to release this summer, following CEO 2017 and Smash 4’s first Sunday Evo finals.


Follow Ozzie Mejia on Twitter @Ozz_Mejia.