LumiRank 2024.1 | 11 - 20
Welcome to LumiRank 2024.1, the premier Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ranking for the first half of 2024. Join us this week as we reveal the 50 players who went above and beyond the competition over the past several months, from December 18th, 2023 to July 15th, 2024.
For information on LumiRank 2024.1, check out the landing page here.
When push comes to shove, one can always rely on zackray to deliver a solid season. Looking at his gameplay, it is honestly quite insane how much mileage he can extract out of a character which most people agree to be not that good. After his long stint in Pokémon Unite, there was a certain air of uncertainty around him. “How much longer would he still compete?” was a question many people were asking.
But while his attendance did slow down a lot, zackray is always there at the biggest events of the year, showing that he still 100% has it in him to compete with the best of the best. He attended only 4 events this year, the exact amount needed to qualify for rankings, and he made every one of them count. His Miya win at Genesis is obviously huge, but by far his best run came at Kagaribi #12, where he finished 4th with wins on TamaPDaifuku, Doramigi, KEN, Akakikusu, Shirayuki and M0tsunabE.
But the most impressive thing about zackray is how happy he looks while competing, something that I can’t necessarily say about other players. Whether or not he wins at these tournaments, I just hope he can keep that sense of joy for years to come
— Jonas “Fortuna” Stritzinger
History is being made all the time in Ultimate, but ShinyMark really set a new standard this season with his emphatic revival of Pikachu’s metagame. Long a talented and consistent Wi-Fi player that has shown skill offline, ShinyMark emerged not just as one of many Wi-Fi warriors turned top players, but a force all his own.
Hailing from Guatemala, his presence in Central America both made history and presented less opportunity to attend events. It did not deter him as he went as far north as Michigan to compete in — and win — Diamond Dust. The event notably missed major classification, but it would mean little within just three months.
In a sight that isn’t quite typical, the eventual grand finals would be foreshadowed by an early set in Top 32 at S Factor 11. ShinyMark would narrowly defeat Sonix in a reverse 3-0 and conquer a tricky bracket featuring titans of G&W and Ness in Maister and Gackt.
Sonix, for his part, ran it all back and even took a clean set in grand finals, but ShinyMark’s nerves proved unshakable as he won a critical last hit situation to take the event and become one of the biggest breakout stories of the year for Smash Ultimate.
— Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig
Sometimes players emerge from a haze of competition with tried & true characters. Mario — while incredibly powerful at coming back — has been a staple of competitive Smash since the Smash 4 days. Snow has become the latest star of the character, going from relative obscurity in Osaka to being a player to watch after a successful 2023 ranking debut at 71st.
He has skyrocketed, clipping much of his inconsistency and becoming a reliable deep bracket runner that has even defeated the likes of MkLeo. He is one of a near endless number of emergent Kansai players in the last year, able to compete in the increasingly difficult Sumabato series with major level talent month after month giving him the perfect training ground to grow in.
By the final week of the season at Sumabato SP 49, Snow conquered his long time demon in Miya, adding a gem of a win to his collection that neatly concludes an ascendant season. Out of the chaos of competition in his home region, he has emerged as one of the biggest winners so far this year.
— Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig
It was business as usual for MuteAce as one of the game’s most ardent grinders; the best Peach in the world attended 20 tournaments this season; an impressive feat given that the season was only 30 weeks long. Even more impressive was MuteAce’s consistency; though long regarded as one of the more inconsistent top players, he made top 8 at 17 of the tournaments that he entered, including every event A tier and below.
It wasn’t just an improvement on the losses side for MuteAce, either; he gathered impressive wins at almost every tournament he entered. He took out Jahzz0 at DreamHack Dallas to conclude a five-set losers run, defeated Peabnut twice in May, and split sets with Sonix at LVL UP EXPO. He took a winning record over MkLeo and handed DDee his first non-top 8 major performance at Collision, bowing out at 5th to a white-hot Kola. He defeated recent GENESIS champion Zomba for the first time at Cirque Du CFL 3 en route to his second major grand finals appearance, only losing there to SHADIC in a rivalry that has defined the Texan scene this year.
His hard work would all come together at the tournament series that had granted him one of his greatest tournament wins in the past: Patchwork. Met with a laundry list of familiar opponents, MuteAce dispatched Jahzz0 and Peabnut to reach winners semis, utilized his Sonic experience to clean sweep Wrath, and got his revenge on Kola to make it to grand finals winners side. Though Zomba, coming up from losers, had all the momentum on his side, MuteAce held steadfast, defeating his former demon in a tense game 5 set to secure his first major win. And with that first one down, there’s no doubt that soon, more are sure to follow.
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
One of Smash’s kings of consistency, Tea kept up the pace this season, remaining one of only a dozen players to top 8 a major in every year of Ultimate’s existence. Doing so only twice this season might not seem that impressive, until you consider that the majors Tea attended were exclusively in the Premier tier. While his win profile might not have amazing volume, the truth is that Tea beat a variety of incredible players across his five ranked tournaments, never falling to someone outside the top 150. Half of the time it took a top 10 player to beat Tea, showing the tight hold Tea still has over up-and-comers and established names alike.
The work Tea has put in to become a dual-main of his OG Pac-Man and his DLC wildcard Kazuya has continued to pay dividends this season as the Kazuya counterpick gets stronger and stronger. Tea’s run through four top 50 players at Genesis was all Pac-Man, but at Kagaribi #12 the matchups aligned and three of his four highly ranked wins were with the Iron Fist of Darkness. Sometimes you might get Tea down, with a bad loss or two making him seem vulnerable, but it is never wise to count him out, and you can bet money he’ll find his way into the top 20 at the end of the year once again.
— James “Doxazo” Rivers
Asimo, in all honesty, is one of the most inspiring stories in recent smash. While he had played before that point, Golden Week 2022 was the moment he stepped into the public consciousness. Asimo, however, had a lot of things working against him. He played a character that few people considered top tier, and his practice was limited considering he hailed from the rather isolated region of Shikoku, and the fact he wasn’t exactly a notorious Wi-Fi grinder.
Yet, against all odds, he played himself into the hearts and minds of spectators as he hit clip after clip on some of the best players in the world. And while this season wasn’t necessarily his flashiest, it might very well have been his best. His consistency massively improved, as he barely took a loss outside the top 100, a somewhat common sight for him the past few seasons. To add on to that, he still put his ability to beat the best of the best on full display. His best run came at KOWLOON #9 with Sumabato, where he beat players like Yaura, Hurt, KEN and Toriguri en route to a 3rd place finish. Add some more top 20 wins like Zomba, Raru and TamaPDaifuku to his resume and his ranking up here makes perfect sense.
Now that he has proven his ability to compete at top level again and again, there’s only one thing left to do: win a major, something I’m confident he’ll be able to do next season.
— Jonas “Fortuna” Stritzinger
I don’t think many would argue that Zomba is now the King of New York. While normally someone is all talk and no game, Zomba defies all odds and can trash-talk while competing at the highest level, on the biggest stages, and against the craziest opponents.
It’s obvious that his season was one unmatched by anyone. He won Genesis, full stop. This was by far his biggest achievement, and not really one that could be represented in a tiny blurb. He beat some of the world’s best, very dominantly, on the biggest stage in the west. He beat players he previously struggled against, and even got 4 top 10 wins in this one event, and besting international talent in Glutonny. He also got wins on some very strong in-region players like Tilde. Given the events of last year, it’s honestly poetic that he was able to win on the same stage Leo won the year prior, even if they didn’t match in the bracket.
The rest of Zomba’s season is honestly just pure dominance over his region, winning quite literally every D tier he attended, and a few B and C tiers. In total he won 14 events this season, on par with attendance demons like Miya and Tarik. Zomba also had gone to Japan twice, and won the invitational Cafeteria Cup over some very strong names.
While he quite can’t match the peak of Genesis (unless he does it again), Zomba is still one of the biggest grinders of this game, and one that is almost always going to make his goals clear. He is there to play the game, win, and talk some trash.
— Benjamin "BennyTheGreat" Schmid
If you were to ask me what a “perfect season” might realistically look like for a top Smash Ultimate player, I’d probably point you to Yaura’s resume in the first half of this year. From January to May, across 6 majors (with 5 of them being premiers), Yaura was a beacon of consistency, taking a flat zero losses to any player outside the top 50.
Though Yaura didn’t claim 1st place at any ranked events this season, his winlist reads like a bounty hunter’s guide to the strongest Japan has to offer: Raru, Snow, zackray, Kameme, Doramigi, Neo, Asimo, Hurt, and he even scored a win over NA invader Zomba at KOWLOON #9. Though at times plagued by awful bracket luck, such as a 33rd place finish at GENESIS X to SHADIC and Gackt, Yaura invariably pulled things back together, placing top 8 at Umebura SP 10, KOWLOON #9, and even making a silver medal finish at Sumabato SP 46.
Though he’s currently taken a hiatus from competing, this writer has no doubt that if and when Yaura returns to Smash Ultimate, he’ll go right back to being one of the most dangerous competitors in the strongest region in the galaxy.
— Vincent “SelfDestructGambit” Chow
Japan’s Min Min prodigy, born of Smashmate and Kansai locals, Doramigi is nothing less than a pivotal player on the world stage of Smash Ultimate. With ProtoBanham’s absence, the young Min Min has claimed his place as his character’s best player and proven it with each result he’s attained.
He demonstrates incredible consistency against international opponents. At Umebura SP 10 and Kagaribi #12, he was the one to eliminate the last North American player left in the bracket, Zomba and Maister respectively. When Doramigi went to his first out of country tournament, Battle of BC 6, he took names and didn’t disappoint. Only losing to fellow Japanese players Hurt and Yoshidora while beating top talent like Riddles and BassMage, he’s proven there are very few players who can beat him, and even less who can do so consistently.
After strong performances at Umebura and Kagaribi, he capped off his season with his greatest accomplishment. With Miya dipping out of the bracket early at major tournament Sumabato SP 49, Doramigi looked unstoppable. Defeating Ron and taking two game five sets over Raru, Doramigi won his first major tournament with solo Min Min.
With every season that goes by, it seems Doramigi is only growing stronger. He’s taking win after win, reaching every new milestone and surpassing it. It’s just a matter of time before he’s reaching every new peak there is to climb.
— Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
Many of Japan’s biggest prodigies and rising stars have come from one place: Kansai local series Maesuma’HIT. Acola, Doramigi, Snow, Karaage, Kaninabe, and more saw their rise at the same weekly. Long stuck at 9th place, just barely outside that top 8, the late bloomer of the group has finally made his rise. It’s time to welcome Raru to the highest level of the Ultimate scene.
If last season was Raru’s rise, then this season showcases Raru’s full potential. At Kowloon 9 with Sumabato, his second tournament of the season, he took down top player after top player for an incredible run that only ended at the hands of Miya.
He’d prove that run was no fluke, cementing winning records on Yoshidora and Snow and collecting top 8 finish after top 8 finish. Eventually, he’d bring it all together at Sumabato SP 47. Beating longtime rivals like Snow, taking down everyone in his way, and finally ending the tournament’s Cinderella story with a game ten Grand Finals victory over Kuroponzu, Raru would take home his first major victory.
There’s no telling where the best Luigi in the world will go from here. Attending his first overseas tournament at Supernova, it’s yet to be seen just how far this Luigi can take his momentum. Wherever he goes, it’s certain to be a spectacle.
— Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
