LumiRank 2024.1 | 31 - 40
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.
Bomb forward air, uptilt up air, boomerang bomb up special, this Toon Link main used his arsenal to its utmost to hack and slash his way to the top levels of Japanese Ultimate. Long overshadowed by Brawl legend Sigma’s Toon Link, Lv.1 has claimed the crown as Toon Link’s brightest star.
His season started out slow, but it was DELTA #8 that would make his name known. Benefiting from upsets, he defeats Rarikkusu to make it out of pools. After a loss to Snow, he’s far from finished.
Facing him in losers is Tea, on a lengthy losers run after an upset in pools. Lv.1 won’t be deterred, and takes down the Pac-Man in an arduous five-game set. Now it’s time for Lv.1’s greatest challenge. Sparg0 meets the Toon Link in the next set. The loser gets 13th.
Lv.1 is ready. Stringing together combos and confirming stock after stock, he comes out on top, defeating Sparg0. Lv.1’s next opponent is the best Snake in the world Hurt. But even Hurt can’t stop Lv.1. Three to one, Lv.1 makes top 8 at a premier tournament against all odds.
Gathering strong wins throughout the season, Lv.1 has made a name for himself. Keep this Toon Link on your radar, or he might win out when you least expect it.
— Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
It’s pretty obvious how strong Corrin is in this meta, even before this season, however it wasn’t until Genesis top 8 that people realized truly how powerful this character could be. In the first set of top 8 stood SHADIC and Neo, the two best reps for the character. Somehow, in a last hit game 5 scenario, after a very tough losers run, Neo would come out on top. While his incredible Genesis run did end right after this at 5th, Neo ended up gaining wins on not only SHADIC, but KEN, Onin, and zackray, and finished the biggest North American tournament as the highest placing Japanese player.
Neo continued tearing through tournaments all over the world, getting 5th at King Con in France, 9th at KOWLOON #9, and winning The Game Expo in Australia. During his time traveling between February and April, Neo was able to attain wins on international talents in Onin, Jdizzle, Tarik, and SHADIC. When he went back to Japan in May, Neo seemed to have hit a rough patch, but after a stellar performance back on North American soil at Out of Pocket, it’s clear the flashiest Corrin player is back just as strong as ever.
— Benjamin "BennyTheGreat" Schmid
The problem with greatness is that it’s fleeting.
The easiest thing in the world to do as a player who is great is to become a player who was great, but Dabuz looks in the mirror every day and continues to be great. Dabuz has been ranked in the top 50 on every PGR and LumiRank in both Sm4sh and Ultimate; only a handful of others can say the same.
Dabuz piled up wins on some of the world’s best at The Luminosity Invitational, Low Tide City and Genesis. The level to which he’s pushed Rosalina is something that we never thought would happen in Ultimate’s lifetime, and a first-place finish at the nearly 500-entrant Low Tide City was the crown jewel of another strong season for the king of New York.
There might be a day when Dabuz hangs it up. There might come a day when people forget the execution and ice cold nerves that make Dabuz a legend. But that day isn’t today. Hopefully it isn’t soon.
Greatness abandons so many, it will never leave Dabuz. It’s who he is.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
After sporadic activity in his early Ultimate career, Lima has become a fixture of post-quarantine Ultimate, following up an impressive top thirty finish in 2023 with consistent and strong performances across North America.
His majors are one story; his run to 9th at Collision 2024 saw him take big wins over Tristate talent, and his run to 4th at the Litvitational 2 had him going from a rough pools phase to defeating two of Japan’s strongest invaders and eliminating a re-ignited Kola.
But his true crown jewel are the myriad of deep, consistent runs at regionals stretching from his newfound home in the Carolinas to the far west. There’s too many to mention here — though many involve sets against MuteAce — so it’s best to zero in on his run at COST 2024.
A career highlight, Lima went from an early loss to up and coming Kentucky player Wildz to rolling through nine sets in losers to win one of Ohio’s most prestigious events. Despite having gone back and forth with Dabuz in Texas just a month earlier, Lima would defeat him in 3-0 fashion and deny Onin the opportunity to defend the Midwest. All of this & more has sealed Lima as one of North America’s best.
— Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig
It shouldn’t matter, but Kola is the easiest player to root for in the entire world. He’s been a fan favorite for years, his aggressiveness and passion ooze through the screen and make you want to run through a wall. If you have rooted against Kola more times than you can count on your fingers, they should put you on a list.
This season is a return to form for Roy’s strongest soldier. His run to fourth at Collision this year was a classic, with wins over MkLeo, Light and MuteAce. But that wasn’t his only performance. MomoCon, the Litvitational and Genesis X showed audiences what Kola has been showing them for years: be afraid of The Young Lion.
Kola isn’t going to win every set, but when he’s playing well, he can beat anyone and everyone. He’s fun, he’s fast, he’s electric, and he’s a certifiable winner.
When history books are written about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this won’t be the season that defines Kola’s story. It’ll be the one that cements him as a legend of the game; one of the best to ever do it.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
Returning to defend his title as the world’s highest ranked Palutena, Raflow made waves this year both in-region and abroad, cementing himself as yet another example of the European scene’s incredible growth in the post-quarantine era. Raflow certainly displayed his dominance in his home continent, scoring wins on fellow frenchmen Glutonny and crêpe salée at KRBanger 4 and becoming the highest placing European at the continent’s sole major of the season, King Con. But Raflow’s most impressive accomplishments would come against his opponents from abroad, especially competitors hailing from Japan.
At 95 Kings of Fields #4, Raflow helped defend against Gackt en route to a 5th place finish. At Japanese premier Umebura SP 10, Raflow would take a win over fast-rising Japanese Bayonetta TamaPDaifuku. And, most famously, at GENESIS X, the West’s largest event of the season, Raflow would upset Miya in Winners’ Top 64, joining Glutonny as the 2nd European to ever take a ranked set off of one of the strongest players Ultimate has ever seen. Raflow is a player mid-ascent, striving for success at the highest level, and this season he’s proven that he has what it takes to stand tall on the global stage.
— Vincent “SelfDestructGambit” Chow
Wrath is one of those players that tends to stay in the back, mostly getting top 8 in Coinbox and attending locals whether he be in Las Vegas or Georgia. Despite this, his season was a very impressive one, showing very strong placements making up arguably his best season tournament-wise.
Like past seasons, his presence is always known at an event, even if it’s few and far between. This season was no different. At his 4 ranked events this season, he did not place below his seed a single time. In fact, he placed above his seed at three of these events. Included in those placements are three top 4s and a 9th. On top of this, Wrath found himself defending one of the two big Georgia tournaments for the first time ever, winning MomoCon 2024 over fellow Georgian Jahzz0.
Wrath did only attend a single major this season, being Patchwork. Surprising everyone, he ended up winning a last hit scenario against Zomba in Winners Top 16, giving him his best win of the season. He finished here at 4th place, and guaranteed his spot in the top 50.
Seeing Wrath at a tournament nowadays is not common, but it seems every season he keeps building and improving. If he were to choose to compete at even more ranked events, he would easily climb higher.
— Benjamin "BennyTheGreat" Schmid
The King of New Jersey, Syrup is nothing short of a genius. Whether it’s goofing off with his friends in randubs or scrapping with the best of the best at majors, Syrup can’t stop winning.
Attendance was strong this season, and with that came success. He won all five D tiers he entered, as well as two C tiers. In total, he attended 21 ranked events this season. Syrup achieved 5th at both Cirque Du CFL 3 and Get On My Level X, showing that this lone wolf is no stranger to the big stage.
His massive resume included wins on Tweek, Zomba, Asimo, SHADIC, and Dabuz, achievements that would make Talking Ben go “Ho Ho Ho!” Syrup and his generational rise with Steve has been a long time coming, and it seems as if that big major win is inevitable. Until then, the fits stay drippy, the NILs stay rizzy and the alpha grindset continues.
Oh, and in true sigma fashion, Syrup nonchalantly attended Steve-banned events Luminosity Makes Big Moves 2024 and Patchwork 2024, placing 25th and 13th respectively with his secondary Ness. That’s gotta add some aura points.
— Nathaniel Starr
After nearly six years of Glutonny being the uncontested king of Europe, he has finally been dethroned. By who, one might ask? Of course that would be none other than crêpe salée, the 16 year old Wario/Steve dual main that took Europe by storm over the past year.
The first time crêpe left his mark on the scene was at Tera last year, where he defeated Zomba in a massive upset that resulted in him sneaking into the top 100 at 99th. It should come to no surprise to observant viewers of the European scene that he has crushed that ranking since, shooting deep into the top 50 only months after.
crêpe did not attend King Con, Europe’s only major this season, but more than made up for it with his 2nd and 3rd place finishes at 95 Kings of Fields #4 and Game is Game respectively. Besides scoring several wins over players like Gackt, Sisqui and Raflow this season, maybe the most impressive thing about crêpe’s season is his 5-2 record over the man himself: Glutonny.
While ranked #1 in Europe, crêpe is not the highest ranked European on the global rankings. The reason for this is his lack of international feats.
At Genesis X, his sole event outside of France this season, he underperformed and placed 65th. This is a tale we’ve seen countless times before, though — a young prodigy takes over his home region, but falters at his first few international performances. An equally countless amount of times have we seen the young prodigies move past this, and if history is anything to go by, the sky's the limit for young crêpe. The new king of Europe is only just getting started!
— Alice “Alice” Len
I played Akakikusu at Genesis; in fact, I was his first ranked set outside of Japan. In game 2, he selected Kamikazee at 3%, granting me a free stock lead right off the bat. Clearly, this early mishap locked him in for the rest of the tournament; as he progressed to face stronger opponents who would actually capitalize off mistakes like these, Akakikusu tore a hole through the bracket, taking out tough matchups and top players in the likes of Raflow, Dabuz, Kiyarash, Longo, and Colorondo8 to finish 13th at his first overseas event.
Now imagine that same Akakikusu, but playing in the language he’s spoken his whole life, with the menu he’s used his entire career, and you’ll understand how strong this mid-tier hero can be. This season, he notched the biggest tournament win of his — and Hero’s — career, claiming victory at the 190-man LEADD+2. He stayed consistent at the largest events of the season, never finishing below 17th throughout his perfect-premier attendance record, with a highlight run at DELTA#8 where he defeated Yaura, alice, Lv.1, and three separate MkLeo characters to take 5th. It’s been a while since Akakikusu first burst onto the scene, Hatchet Manning zackray on his way to consecutive top eights at his first three majors, and if recent trends are anything to go by, Akakikusu’s looking to repeat that streak — and maybe surpass it — very, very soon.
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
