Fight Pitt 10 has to be one of my favorite events of this year. Not only did I spend most of my evening watching its top eight – I had the tournament stream (and the quad) on for my entire day. In general, I have an extreme fondness for regionals that feature a ton of mid-level talent, hidden bosses, Top 100 players, and people right under the top level. The send-off to the event from TO Jonny Gumball – “thank you – actually, no! Fuck you for not attending this tournament!” was the cherry on top. I think we need more of that energy in Melee.
With that said, there was something pretty cool that happened at this tournament. I am, of course, referencing one of the coolest things about this event, which would be the French sisters – i4 and Fecfec – winning in doubles. While Fight Pitt had flown them out to this tournament for that specific purpose, it’s worth noting whom they beat here: Free Palestine and Polish, the team that ended the Hungrybox/Plup win-streak, and Zuppy and Mot$.
I think most of you reading this know (and some of you dread) where this is going. Today’s Monday Morning Marth is going to be all about doubles. In fact, I’m going to rank the Top 10 doubles teams in the game today, as well as split them into tiers.
Methodology:
The first step is to figure out who counts as a doubles team. To determine doubles eligibility, I decided to examine doubles results from the following tournaments, most of which are officially classified majors, but generally determined, by myself, to be worthy of inclusion within this column due to convenience. Is there a real ‘scientific’ methodology here? No, not really. These are just the events that I want to count out of convenience (AKA giving more data).
- Fight Pitt 10
- Genesis X2
- DPOTG 2024
- LMMM 2024
- SAPF
- Wavelength 2024
- Riptide 2024
- Supernova 2024
- Tipped Off 15
- GOML X
- Pat’s House 4
- Battle of BC 6
- Collision 2024
- Full Bloom 2024
- Genesis X
Keep in mind that there aren’t actually that many static doubles teams. As a result, for my final list, I have chosen to include teams that have appeared at least three times across all these combined tournaments. Still, even with this loose stipulation, you’re going to see a lot of people missing from the below list.
If you’re reading this, and you see that I haven’t listed your favorite team, please don’t yell at me. It’s not necessarily because I think the team isn’t good; it’s because they haven’t gone to enough big events for me to make a judgment call on their results. In similar fashion, you might even notice specific players missing from the list. My last note for qualifications: I deliberately chose to make sure that players were only represented by one duo on the list. I think it’s better for doubles that people have static partners, and I’d rather have a ranking be less “accurate” if it means reflecting this value.
| Rank | Team | Recent Notable Placements |
| 10 | Nut & Vavez | 9th at Genesis X2
1st at Pat’s House 4 7th at Genesis X |
| 9 | Preeminent & essy | 13th at Tipped Off 15
7th at GOML X 2nd at Full Bloom 2024 5th at Genesis X |
The legend of Nut & Vavez extends far before 2024.In fact, to their previous standards of literally defeating Cody Schwab/Armada, this has been a relatively slow period for them. Nonetheless, they made top eight at Genesis last year and won Pat’s House 4. Despite underperforming at Genesis X2, their previous performances were good enough to secure them a 10 spot. In addition to winning both of their sets against SDJ/Kurv, these two also currently have a standout win on their head-to-head resume in the only set they played against Krudo/Panda.
I guess I realized that I slept under a rock for most of 2024, because the ninth ranked team here is one that I didn’t even remember having this caliber of results and activity. Preeminent/essy was a very good team that happened to qualify for activity within the period of time I covered. They most notably defeated each of Nut/Vavez, Aura/Stiv, and Hungrybox/Zamu at Genesis X in a surprise run to Top 6 before then coming close to winning Full Bloom 2024, where they took a set from Polish/Free Palestine. Since then though, they had two underperformance and haven’t teamed since. To my understanding, I think essy is basically done with Melee, and Preeminent now seems to team with Slowking and Soonsay. For what it’s worth, he’s seen success with both, with Preeminent/Slowking sending Hungrybox/Plup back to the retirement home, and Preeminent/Soonsay outright winning Let’s Make Moves Miami 2024. If I do this column again in 12 months, I’ll probably pick one of those teams.
| Rank | Team | Recent Notable Placements |
| 8 | Polish & Free Palestine | 3rd at Fight Pitt 10
2nd at Riptide 2024 1st at Full Bloom 2024 |
| 7 | I4 & Fecfec | 1st at Fight Pitt 10
1st at SAPF 9th at Genesis X |
| 6 | Aklo & Foxy Grandpa | 7th at Genesis X2
2nd at Wavelength 2024 5th at Tipped Off 15 2nd at Collision 2024 7th at Genesis X |
| 5 | Zuppy & Mot$ | 2nd at Fight Pitt 10
3rd at Supernova 2024 13th at Collision 2024 |
Polish/Free Palestine is the most common variant of the “Polish and a top Sheik/Fox” team you’ll find in the scene today. In addition to winning last year’s Full Bloom over Preeminent/essy, the two notably eliminated Hungrybox/Plup from Riptide 2024, becoming the first team to do that since Mango/S2J beat them at Smash Summit 3 (though this is mostly because Hungrybox/Plup rarely teamed for a bit after that, but I digress). In addition to this win, they’ve also beaten Zuppy/Medz and Wizzrobe/Axe.
We then get into last weekend’s doubles champions of Fight Pitt in i4/Fecfec, whom I’ve admittedly fudged the numbers on counting events in order to include them as eligible on this list. No, it’s not necessarily fair, and no, I don’t care, because they never get to travel. Anyway, I think beating Zuppy/Mot$ (twice!) and Polish/Free Palestine is clearly insane, and that’s without accounting for how these two women run doubles in Europe. I haven’t put them higher because they technically have a “low” on their resume in falling out of top eight at last year’s Genesis, where they lost to Hungrybox/Zamu and aMSa/Axe. At the same time though, that was a long time ago, and they beat Wizzrobe/Gahtzu and Aura/Stiv at the same tourney.
Aklo/Foxy Grandpa is all over the place in their placements with highs as high as defeating each of Krudo/Panda, lloD/Rishi, and SDJ/MOF, but lows as low as losing to sinbad/ADMJ and MOF/htwa (relatively for their skill level). However, they consistently attend a ton of big events together and are basically always in top eight even when they lose early. Though it’s debatable as to which of these performances carry the most predictive weight for how they’ll perform in the future, I think they’re the clear number five team given activity, and their best achievements. Even taking a set from SFOP/Joshman, the one-time all-star duo that won Wavelength, is fairly impressive in my opinion.
It may seem strange to put the team that i4/Fecfec beat right above them, but together, Zuppy/Mot$ have one of the most extraordinary achievements in doubles by defeating Cody Schwab/Jmook at Supernova 2024. Though they ended up not winning that event together, they also split sets with Krudo/Panda there. Admittedly, their Collision performance was pretty awful, but by beating Polish/Free Palestine last weekend, the two Foxes at least proved that the norm for them is defeating another top echelon team. As it stands, I think they’re the closest thing to the best active double Fox team.
| Rank | Team | Recent Notable Placements |
| 4 | Krudo & Panda | 9th at Genesis X2
2nd at LMMM 2024 2nd at Supernova 2024 2nd at Tipped Off 15 4th at Collision 2024 13th at Genesis X |
| 3 | Azel & Rocky | 3rd at Genesis X2
3rd at DPOTG 2024 1st at Genesis X |
In yet another installment of a Sheik/Fox team comes Krudo/Panda, a duo that surprisingly hasn’t won a doubles major since taking home Shine 2022 together. Like Aklo/Foxy Grandpa, this team has had extreme highs (like winning their only set against Cody/Jmook and defeating Hungrybox/Zamu) while having some uncanny off-performances, both of which happened to come at the largest event of the year twice. They are practically always in the mix of winning big double events, but have so far either fallen short of winning one or confusingly placed well beneath their seed.
While they aren’t as active as Krudo/Panda, the fact that Azel/Rocky are Genesis champions basically skyrockets them to the No. 3 spot on this list. Though they did have the fortune of avoiding Cody/Jmook, I think the winning point for them was that Krudo/Panda were at the same tournament and didn’t do nearly as well. Furthermore, these two still had to defeat aMSa/Axe, as well as Hungrybox/Zamu. Add in a recent win over all-time great duo S2J/Shroomed, and they are a very justifiable number three.
| Rank | Team | Recent Notable Placements |
| 2 | aMSa & Axe | 2nd at Genesis X2
4th at DPOTG 2024 1st at Tipped Off 15 1st at GOML X 2nd at BOBC 6 2nd at Genesis X |
| 1 | Cody Schwab & Jmook | 1st at Genesis X2
1st at DPOTG 2024 1st at Riptide 2024 4th at Supernova 2024 2nd at GOML X 1st at BOBC 6 1st at Collision 2024 |
These are two all-time great doubles teams with very different journeys to where they are right now in the scene, and what’s on the line for them in the current climate. I’ll begin with aMSa/Axe, a duo that used to always come close to taking home the gold during the FUSE era, yet always seemed to collapse right before the finish line. That’s obviously changed today, as they took home two first places in 2024 and are just fresh off a second place at Genesis X2. While they suffer the occasional upset (like dropping a set to Plup/Oaty) and are not immune to losing to a one-time top player duo (like Darkatma/lloD, Swedish Delight/Zuppy, or Hungrybox/Zamu), their activity, consistency, and hardware stands out, as does the fact that they’re the only team in this period to have multiple wins over the number one team. On a bigger picture, this is arguably a Top 10 doubles team ever, though they might be right at the border or outside of it by a hair.
Cody Schwab/Jmook are now on a three-major win streak for doubles teams. Zooming out beyond their current performances, they boast eleven doubles major victories, tying them with Mew2King/Plup for the fourth most of all-time. They sit behind only Armada/Mew2King (17), Ken/Isai (18), and SFAT/PewPewU (22) for major wins. Not only are these two the best doubles team in the world; they’re arguably a top five duo of all-time. Though they are very far right now – and are not totally impervious, as their Supernova performance shows – each event they attend together brings them one step closer to entering the discussion for greatest doubles team ever.
Notable Inactives:
- Hungrybox & Plup
- Mang0 & Plup
- SFOP & Joshman
- S2J & Shroomed
- SFAT & Shroomed
- Zain & ZODD-01
- ZODD-01 & DannyPhantom
- Slowking & Preeminent
- Soonsay & Preeminent
- Fizzwiggle & DSJ (or any random Colorado pairing)
- lloD and anyone (like Rishi or Darkatma)
Appendix:
| Doubles Team | Winning H2Hs | Even H2Hs | Losing H2Hs |
| Jmook/Cody | 4-3 vs aMSa/Axe
2-0 vs Rocky/Azel 1-0 vs Phazon/Fizzwiggle 1-0 vs Reno/SFAT 2-0 vs Darkatma/lloD 1-0 vs Shroomed/S2J 1-0 vs Hbox/Plup 1-0 vs FP/Polish 1-0 vs Zuppy/Medz 1-0 vs mayb/Preeminent 1-0 vs Faust/Pipsqueak 1-0 vs Zuppy/jon 2-0 vs Drephen/Boyd 1-0 vs Zain/Milkman 1-0 vs Zuppy/Matteo 2-0 vs lloD/Rishi 1-0 vs Aklo/Foxy Grandpa |
0-1 vs Zuppy/Mot$
0-1 vs Krudo/Panda |
|
| aMSa/Axe | 1-0 vs Hbox/Plup
1-0 vs Salt/Justus 1-0 vs Hbox/Junebug 1-0 vs Joshman/Aura 1-0 vs Shroomed/S2J 1-0 vs Akir/Ossify 1-0 vs Aklo/Foxy Grandpa 1-0 vs Hbox/XIF 1-0 vs SDJ/MOF 1-0 vs Zain/Milkman 1-0 vs SFAT/Shroomed 2-0 vs Krudo/Panda 2-0 vs Aklo/Maher |
1-1 vs Rocky/Azel | 3-4 vs Jmook/Cody 1-1 vs Plup/Oaty 0-1 vs Hbox/Zamu0-1 vs Darkatma/lloD0-1 vs Swedish/Zuppy |
| Krudo/Panda | 1-0 vs DSJ/Conman
1-0 vs salami/MOJOE 1-0 vs Zain/Aklo 1-0 vs Jmook/Cody 1-0 vs mayb/Preeminent 1-0 vs Aklo/Maher 1-0 vs Drephen/Boyd 1-0 vs Hbox/Zamu 1-0 vs Plup/Oaty 1-0 vs Hbox/XIF 1-0 vs SDJ/MOF 1-0 vs Dr. Lame/EduPorp 1-0 vs Kwyet/WatchingTime 1-0 vs Matteo/Nix 1-0 vs Swedish/Project 1-0 vs Drephen/DannyPhantom |
1-1 vs Zuppy/Mot$ | 1-2 vs Soonsay/Preeminent 0-2 vs aMSa/Axe0-1 vs SFOP/bobby big ballz0-1 vs Shroomed/S2J0-1 vs nut/Vavez 0-1 vs Aklo/Foxy Grandpa 0-1 vs lloD/Faust 0-1 vs Mang0/Plup 0-1 vs Maelstrom/Khryke |
| Rocky/Azel | 1-0 vs Slowking/Preeminent
1-0 vs S2J/Shroomed 1-0 vs lloD/Faust 1-0 vs DSJ/Conman 1-0 vs Maher/Aklo 1-0 vs Swedish/Zuppy 1-0 vs Fizzwiggle/Phazon 1-0 vs essy/Preeminent 1-0 vs Zoey/Phrigid |
1-1 vs aMSa/Axe 1-1 vs Hbox/Zamu |
0-2 vs Jmook/Cody
0-1 vs Darkatma/lloD |
| Aklo/Foxy Grandpa | 1-0 vs Slowking/Preeminent
1-0 vs CPU0/Megaman 1-0 vs Kalvar/Tartox 1-0 vs Mot$/Project 1-0 vs essy/Preeminent 1-0 vs WatchingTime/JigChu 1-0 vs Kwyet/WatchingTime 1-0 vs SDJ/MOF 1-0 vs Nicki/bonfire10 1-0 vs Krudo/Panda 1-0 vs SFOP/bobby big ballz 1-0 vs lloD/Rishi |
1-2 vs SFOP/Joshman
0-2 vs aMSa/Axe 0-1 vs Jmook/Cody 0-1 vs Shroomed/S2J 0-1 vs Zamu/Hungrybox 0-1 vs sinbad/ADMJ 0-1 vs MOF/htwa |
|
| Polish/FP | 1-0 vs Boyd/Drephen
1-0 vs Artan/TheAsianOne 1-0 vs Zuppy/Medz 1-0 vs Drephen/DannyPhantom 1-0 vs max/Happymealz 1-0 vs Ossify/Prince F. Abu 1-0 vs coffee/Lord English 2-1 vs essy/Preeminent |
1-1 vs Hbox/Plup | 0-1 vs i4/Fecfec
0-1 vs Zuppy/Mot$ |
| i4/Fecfec | 2-0 vs Zuppy/Mot$
1-0 vs Polish/FP 2-0 vs Fuzzyness/Nuckels 1-0 vs FP/Polish 1-0 vs irfan/Sharp 2-0 vs Astar/Rikzz 2-0 vs Unhaven/Fuzzyness 2-0 vs irfan/Blaze |
0-1 vs Hungrybox/Zamu
0-1 vs aMSa/Axe |
|
| Zuppy/Mot$ | 1-0 vs Polish/FP 1-0 vs JCAM/Chem 1-0 vs Jmook/Cody |
1-1 vs Krudo/Panda | 0-1 vs Mang0/Plup
0-1 vs Kevin Maples/eve 0-1 vs Swedish/Project 0-2 vs i4/Fecfec |
| Nut/Vavez | 1-0 vs Darkatma/Light
2-0 vs SDJ/Kurv 1-0 vs Medz/Babaganoush 1-0 vs Zeo/Gooms 1-0 vs Drephen/DannyPhantom 1-0 vs Krudo/Panda 2-1 vs Venelox/Noire |
0-1 vs lloD/Faust
0-1 vs SFAT/Shroomed 0-1 vs Shroomed/S2J 0-1 vs Preeminent/essy |
|
| Preeminent/essy | 1-0 vs Aura/Stiv
1-0 vs Nut/Vavez 1-0 vs Hbox/Zamu 1-0 vs Ossify/Prince F. Abu 1-0 vs coffee/Lord English 1-0 vs Bbatts/bonfire10 1-0 vs SDJ/MOF |
1-2 vs Polish/FP
0-1 vs Azel/Rocky 0-1 vs SFAT/Shroomed 0-1 vs Matteo/Travioli 0-1 vs Mot$/mgmg 0-1 vs Aklo/Foxy Grandpa 0-1 vs Ossify/Akir |