Juiced JC's Top 12 Pre-Tournament Ranking (2025)

I wasn't planning to do this again, but a few of you have asked me about it, so here I am back for another installment for the sixth straight year. I have kept the number of participants mentioned here at 32, so it's a bit of a reduction from last year. This isn't necessarily a list of the best mystery set players, but these are the folks who have proven to be highly competitive in this tournament year after year. There are several new names in the list this year as I took a bit of a recency bias this time around and dropped some of the usual names who haven't been as strong the past couple of years. Hopefully this list is especially useful for people new to the Mystery Tournament to learn who the heavy hitters are. In addition to the top 12, I also have a list of 14 honourable mentions who I expect to be strong contenders for the top 24 as well. I have also highlighted 3 participants who struggled in last year's tournament who I think will be stronger this year and could potentially be contenders, as well as 3 participants who did not participate in last year's tournament who might have some unexpected success this year. Let's get to the list!

Juiced JC's Top 12 Ranking:
12. Match - Match followed up his semi-final appearance in 2023 with an 8th place finish and a spot in the championship round in 2024. He has an impressive .550 winning percentage in the 70's set and a .564 winning percentage in the 80's set, having made the playoffs in nearly 75% of his seasons played in those two sets. (Last year rank: none)

11. waynick - A 10th place finish last year had waynick in his 3rd championship round in the last 9 years. He's now reached at least the semi-final round 3 years in a row. He has benefitted from figuring out the 2000's set, making the playoffs in 80% of his seasons with that set and owning a .553 winning percentage. (Last year rank: none)

10. chris_s - Finishing 9th in last year's tournament marked the 3rd time in the last 5 years that chris_s has finished in the top 20. He gets stronger as the tournament goes on, with a .540 winning percentage in the 90's and 2000's, having made the playoffs two thirds of the time in all of his seasons with those two sets.(Last year rank: none)

9. taxchiefs - Participating in the tournament for the first time since 2022 (when he reached the semi-final round), taxchiefs made it all the way to the finals in the playoffs of the championship round, falling just short of a tournament championship in a 6 game series versus hallerose. That in itself deserves a spot in this list despite a smaller sample size than most. Consistency is key for taxchiefs, as he has a .519 or higher winning percentage across the 5 mystery sets, inlcuding .536 of higher in 3 of them. (Last year rank: none)

8. gritch - After falling one game short of winning it all in 2022, gritch won the 2023 tournament and made it all the way to #2 on this list a year ago. But the 2024 tournament surprised us all when gritch inexplicably fell to 101st in the standings, finishing below .500 with 3 of his 5 teams. However, his incredible short term success in the previous 2 tournaments makes him a very good bet to rebound in this tournament. (Last year rank: 2)

7. Rigged Splits - Having now placed in the top 40 seven years in a row, Rigged Splits reached the championship round for the 3rd time in 5 years with his 6th overall showing last year. Look for a strong start from Rigged Splits as he is particularly tough in the 60's and 70's. (Last year rank: none)

6. djkalle - He finished 4th overall in last year's tournament and 8th in 2023, which makes it 9 out of 11 years he's finished in the top 40. He is particulary strong in the 80's and 2000's sets. (Last year rank: none)

5. jaywalker72 - After finishing in 3rd place in the tournament standings for two stright years, jaywalker72 finished in 19th place last year and failed to reach the championship round. However, he has maintained his spot in this ranking thanks to impressive consistency across all mystery sets. He gains ground in the 2000's round where he makes the playoffs more than 80% of the time and owns a .579 winning percentage. (Last year rank: 5)

4. barrmorris - After finishing 9th in the 2023 tournament, barrmorris had an even stronger showing in 2024 when only franky35 has more points through 5 rounds. He is particulary tough in the 60's and 70's sets, where his career winning percentage is above .540. His lifetime .562 winning percentage across all 365 sets is the highest by any player ever with 300 or more teams played. (Last year rank: none)

3. sphilipp8 - With hallerose winning it all last year, sphilipp8 is now the best mystery card player who has never won the tournament championship. The 2024 tournament was the 8th time in the last 11 mystery tournaments that sphilipp8 has reached the championship round. Will this finally be his year to win it all?(Last year rank: 3)

2. hallerose - After falling to 4th in the rankings last year after failing to reach the championship round of the playoffs in 2023 for the first time ever in the history of the tournament, hallerose rebounded to win hist first ever Mystery Tournament championship last year. His tremendous track record is carried by the middle 3 decades where he has a career winning percentage higher than .568 in all 3 of the 70's, 80's and 90's, and he has made the playoffs in 76% of all seasons he's played in across those 3 decades. (Last year rank: 4)

1. franky35 - Two straight seasons without winning the tournament championship seems like a drought for a player as great as franky35 in this tournament. He lost in Game 7 of the championship playoffs semi-final round last year to eventual winner hallerose, but did finish in the top 3 of the tournament standings for an incredible 6th straight year. Amazingly, franky35 has won the champiosnhip in over 40% of the Mystery seasons he has ever played. So he remains the undisputed player to be beat in this tournament.(Last year rank: 1)

14 Honourable mentions who are likely strong contenders for the top 24 (in no particular order):

Lee300 - Former tournament champion falls out of the top 12 after finishing 53rd last year.

ed1447 - Great track record in all 5 mystery sets with a winning percentage of .528 or higher in each one.

Takanahana - Just missed out on his 3rd championship round in 6 years last year.

pushpin76 - Finishing out of the semi-finals for the second year in a row has this two-time champ out of the top 12.

daveaq31 - Another regular in the top 12 has fallen out after two consecutive tough tournaments.

Jimmy_C - Three straight years out of the top 24 after finishing in the top 15 7 of the previous 8 years.

guardman - He has reached the semi-finals 3 of the past 4 tournaments.

der geist - He made it to the championship round last year with his 4th straight top 40 finish.

stratorat - He has reached the semi-final round 3 of the past 4 years.

RICHARDGAGNON - He made it to the championship round in 2022 and as far as the semi-finals in 2024.

jmdziuban2 - He has finished in the top 24 in 5 of the past 7 tournaments.

canauscot - He has 3 straight top 24 finishes.

generationm1 - Made the championship round last year in his 4th straight top 45 finish.

davehaller - Made the championship round in 2023, and is a master of the 2000's set.


3 sleepers who will place significantly higher in the tournament than last year (in no particular order):
Rjnewman (64th last year), killermarc (79th last year), piloneus382 (104th last year)

3 Particpants who weren't in the tournament last year to look out for (in no particular order):
childsmwc, Burkey63, l.strether


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Disagree with the list? Feel like someone was "snubbed"? Leave a comment and let me know!

Juiced JC

Always enjoy your prognostications, JC! Also honored to bmake the rankings this year.

I think you "snubbed" yourself.

I think you "snubbed" yourself.

Indeed - AND he doesn’t have the Curse of the Commish this season!

Outside the top 30 in 4 of the past 5 years - I am NOT good enough to be on the list any more.