Lumirank 2023 Release Schedule and Honorable Mentions
Welcome back to LumiRank 2023. Smash Ultimate has only seen its competition grow stronger week after week in one of its busiest years yet. LumiRank is thus proud to bring you the 150 strongest players in the world, based on the period from December 19th, 2022 to December 17th, 2023.
With 1,758 tournaments held and over 50,000 unique entrants, it takes a truly dedicated sort of player to show up, tournament after tournament, and stake their claim as one of the best. We’re here to recognize and honor those that went above and beyond to set themselves apart from the pack.
LumiRank 2023 will be releasing its top 100 here on Luminosity over the next two weeks, ten per weekday culminating with a video release of the top 10. You can keep up to date with all things LumiRank, including supplementary materials outside of the top 100, at https://twitter.com/LumiRank.
#100 – #91: Monday, January 15th, 2024
#90 – #81: Tuesday, January 16th, 2024
#80 – #71: Wednesday, January 17th, 2024
#70 – #61: Thursday, January 18th, 2024
#60 – #51: Friday, January 19th, 2024
#50 – #41: Monday, January 22nd, 2024
#40 – #31: Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024
#30 – #21: Wednesday, January 24th, 2024
#20 – #11: Thursday, January 25th, 2024
#10 – #1: Friday, January 26th, 2024
Honorable Mentions
Though these players were successful across the board, they unfortunately were unable to meet attendance requirements to be properly ranked. Each of the following competitors put up top 100-level results throughout the course of 2023.
If there’s one person who understood the vibe whilst up a stock, it’s DDee. For the first time ever, the young Steve and PT scholar — equipped with two new secondaries in Pac-Man and Game & Watch — left his home of Georgia to attend the year’s largest event in Super Smash Con. Expectations for his play were high — he’d only missed a top 8 at a bracket once ever - but seeding threw him into Miya (and losers) early. DDee’s tough bracket luck would compound even further, as he had early upset Sonix first thing on Sunday for 25th place.
What would proceed would become one of the most legendary sets of Smash Ultimate. DDee would forego the usual Steve for a newly developed Pac-Man, and on a French stream, off to the side of the venue, he would set his in-game tag to “Up A Stock”. Slowly but surely, the momentum would swing in DDee’s favor. Nobody was watching at the start, but by the time that DDee has gone up 2-0 with a timeout, a massive crowd had formed. At this point, Sonix has fully locked in, committed to timing him out, and pushes DDee to the cusp of a reverse 3-0. In the final thirty seconds of Game 5, Sonix realizes that DDee has too much of a lead, and concedes. DDee had persevered past one of the most patient players in Smash history.
From there, DDee went on a losers run all the way to seventh at Smash Con, and his other results in Georgia are no joke, either. And although his out-of-state attendance will most likely remain pretty sparse, if you’re a top player coming to Georgia, you better be prepared for one of his many characters, lest he kick your ass and Fortnite dance on your grave.
— Hugh-Jay “tradewar” Yu
Among all the storylines of Smash Ultimate, few have been longer running or reached the dramatic heights as that of ProtoBanham. After a heroic introduction to western audiences in the form of a last stock last hit loss to MkLeo in 2019, his story turned legendary in 2022, when he became the first person in nearly three years to eliminate his long-time rival outside of grand finals. It is only fitting then that 2023 saw ProtoBanham’s story evolve to that of myth, as a combination of illness and rethinking his approach to the game dramatically limited his appearances throughout the year. After starting the year with a 3 month break, his return would be portended by the announcement of his invitation to Smash Ultimate Summit 6, the series where his story had reached its legendary heights.
Banham easily swept his pools his first day of the final Ultimate Summit, defeating Aaron and Tweek and effortlessly winning a runback against Big D three and a half years in the making, and on the final day he ended his bracket run at 5th, scoring a win on Riddles but losing last stock sets to acola and Tweek. Despite sporadic attendance throughout the remainder of the year, he still netted wins on top Japanese talent like Kameme, Paseriman, and Ron, and won regional Chest 2 over rising snake star Hurt.
A true titan of the Japanese smash scene across five years of competition, ProtoBanham has overcome language barriers, health issues, and a character transition to climb to the zenith of not just one of the all-time best players in his home country, but in the world. Even as his achievements reach mythical status, anyone who doubts the prowess of the player behind them is sure for a rude awakening should he decide he wants to climb even higher.
— Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
If you watched Ultimate pre-quarantine, you might have heard of Meme. As one of the premier Yoshis in the world and a terror in both Mexico and Texas, Meme was one of those players that you just knew would be top level if he went to just a bit more. But quarantine saw him instead lower his attendance even further, going to just a few notable tournaments a year. So all eyes were on Meme when he signed up for Smash Factor X. Was he still just as good as he was before?
The answer was resoundingly yes. After marching through countrymen ΩRugal and Zaul and invaders Mr.R and Machu alike, Meme’s secondary Lucina put up a fierce game 5 set against none other than Shuton before he was finally sent down to losers. There, he met none other than Maister.
A lesser competitor might have folded, but Meme proved decisively he hadn’t lost his touch, making particular use of Yoshi’s forward air to steal several early stocks and claim top 8 at Mexico’s largest event ever. Make no mistake: Meme hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s just as strong as he’s ever been.
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
No matter how you might feel about Steve, there’s nothing that brings a region together quite like standing up for their local block man. “Our Steve is different! They’ve actually got fundies! They could beat any of your top players!” But when it comes to big chungus, the Swedish community might have a point.
big chungus had already established himself as one of the Nordics’ best players, but his journey south to Tera made it clear: this isn’t just a kid farming his region, he’s the real deal. He coasted through a veritable who’s who of Europe, starting off with a huge upset over Luugi and continuing on the next day by taking out Oryon, Jaka, and crêpe salée, capping off his monster run by playing continental defense against BassMage. Sweden’s had a decorated history in Smash, and if big chungus continues on this path, he might find himself joining the likes of Armada and Leffen in his country’s Super Smash Bros. hall of fame.
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
Credits
LumiRank Staff
Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig (@LoopBarnard)
Mathew “EazyFreezie” Aliotta (@EazyFreezie)
Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth (@Stuart98SSB)
Kenny “kenniky” Wang (@kenniky1)
Writers
Vincent “SelfDestructGambit” Chow (@TheThiefOfLight)
Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton (@TrashDaySSB)
Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig (@LoopBarnard)
Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth (@Stuart98SSB)
Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode (@WeNeed2BanSonic)
Alice “Alice” Len (@AliceLen2711)
Victor “AnonymousBadger” Mujat (@AnonymousBadge3)
Matthew "RisterMice" Rice (@RisterMice)
James “Doxazo” Rivers (@Doxazo2)
Benjamin "BennyTheGreat" Schmid (@BennyTheDoc)
Tom “G-P” Scott (@GPtheTO)
Jonas “Fortuna” Stritzinger (@Fortuna2_SSBU)
Kenny “kenniky” Wang (@kenniky1)
Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu (@tradewarhj)
Production
Mathew “EazyFreezie” Aliotta (@EazyFreezie)
Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu (@tradewarhj)
Photographers
アルファ / Alfa in Japan (@alfa_gorinne)
Ramz Baltodano (@BustedDrones)
ふかせ / fukase (@yoroisan)
Victoria Hamilton (@bluerosetori)
Théo Lalanne (@thlalanne)
Darrell McCready (@RellFGC)
Gauthier Mercier (@Myrdwin)
限界社会人ナナミ / Genkai Syakaijin Nanami (@takatou0711)
Ellie Pinheiro (@EllieJellieeee)
Poncho (@poncho_tuiteo)
Brandon Prudencio (@TridentSkrt)
Dylan Revezzo (@RedShirt__)
Jacob Revezzo (@IcefireDee)
さきょう / sakyo (@sakyooooou)
うってぃー / Utthi (@kamera_k_rool)
Joran Vallecchio (@Akyhiro)
Bekah Wong (@alonelychime)
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