Daniel Mickelson won four tournaments in eleven weeks this spring
Every one of his six career wins came at Northstar, four of them between March and May 2026. He is nineteenth in the state with the lowest world ranking of anybody in the top 25.
·3 min read·Tilt Stats
Between March 7 and May 30 this year, Daniel Mickelson won four tournaments.
- NPC Monthly Matchplay, 34 players, March 7
- NPC Friday Matchplay, 15 players, May 8
- NPC Friday Bounty Strikes, 17 players, May 15
- Stern Army NPC Friday Matchplay, 24 players, May 29
Four wins in eleven weeks, from a player whose entire tracked career to that point held one. He added a fifth in August at NPC Sunday Strikes out of eight.
That run is the whole reason he is nineteenth in the 2026 Minnesota standings on 131.03 points.
The lowest rank in the list
Mickelson's IFPA world rank is 2606, the lowest of anybody in this year's top 25. His game win rate of 34.8% sits in the 68th percentile of the 285 ranked players, and his average finish in the 67th.
By raw ability metrics he is the least accomplished player here. By NACS points he is ahead of six people with better records, because he played twenty events and won five of them in a single season.
That is what a state championship series is designed to reward. The number measures a year of results, and Mickelson had the year.
Northstar, and almost nothing else
| Venue | Events | Games | Average finish | Firsts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northstar | 59 | 466 | 2.13 | 158 |
| Blainbrook | 17 | 122 | 2.28 | 36 |
| Broken Clock | 4 | 21 | 2.48 | 6 |
| LITT Pinball Bar | 3 | 19 | 2.47 | 7 |
| 56 Brewing | 2 | 13 | 2.62 | 1 |
Fifty-nine of his 85 tracked events at Northstar, and all six of his outright wins there. His average finish of 2.13 in that room is his best reading anywhere by a clear margin.
The away numbers are stark: 2.48 at Broken Clock, 2.47 at LITT, 2.62 at 56 Brewing. A single first place from 13 games at 56 Brewing.
The 101-game rivalry
Against Luke Mutchler, ranked fourteen places above him, Mickelson is 46-51 with four ties across 101 games. That is 47.5%, near enough a coin flip after a hundred games.
His other deep records, all with Northstar regulars:
| Opponent | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Tvedt | 35-31-4 | 70 |
| Jeff Stenzel | 25-27-4 | 56 |
| Brian Spencer | 30-26 | 56 |
| Elvira Khanaveral | 19-15 | 35 |
| Dave Prosen | 14-18-2 | 34 |
Five rivalries, none of them further than nine games from level. That is a player who has found his exact tier and lives in it.
The costs: Luke Nahorniak at 9-35-2 over 46 games, Nathan Reardon at 3-11-1, David Marcis at 4-12-1, Bryan Moen at 6-16.
He is well ahead of Jessica Anderson at 30-8-2 over 40 games and Nate Robertson at 25-7-2 over 34.
Machines
| Machine | Score | Win rate | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro-Football | 0.735 | 78.3% | 11 |
| The Walking Dead | 0.723 | 78.6% | 8 |
| Demolition Man | 0.689 | 75.0% | 10 |
| Joker Poker | 0.684 | 78.3% | 8 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 0.643 | 71.7% | 12 |
| Mustang (LE) | 0.629 | 66.7% | 20 |
Mustang (LE) at 20 games is the deepest entry: eleven firsts, four seconds, three thirds, two fourths. Pro-Football, a 1973 Gottlieb, is his best score at 0.735 over eleven games.
His weak list is all 1980s:
- The Getaway: High Speed II, 0.356 over 8 games
- Jokerz!, 0.358 over 12 games, a 31% win rate
- Comet, 0.363 over 12 games
- Meteor, 0.399 over 9 games
Twelve games each of Jokerz! and Comet, both around 31%, are the two picks. Curiously Joker Poker is near the top of his list and Jokerz! near the bottom, which is a good reminder that two games sharing a name share nothing else.
Form
Hot: 70% over the last ten games against a 55% baseline, a 15-point gap. His last tracked result was the NPC Sunday Strikes win on August 16.
If you draw him
Late-80s Williams and Bally. Jokerz!, Comet, The Getaway or Meteor, all of which sit under 0.40 with samples between eight and twelve games.
And if you can, draw him somewhere other than Northstar. Outside Blaine, every away venue on his sheet costs him a third of a finishing position or more.
The scouting report will do the comparison against the actual lineup. The rest of the 2026 top 25 is here.