LumiRank 2024.1 | 41 - 50
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.
New Jersey’s pride and joy returns to the global Top 50 as the best Wolf in the world. A true student of the game, Jakal is one of the hardest workers out there in the face of the more volatile characters we see present in today’s meta. At majors, he fends against the world with wins that include DDee, Lima, and Bloom4Eva, while showing his regional dominance at more local brackets, grabbing wins on Syrup, Light, and Zomba.
Following an explosive season of excellence as a low and “Wow, fair-bair is an issue!” as a high, Jakal has remained relatively consistent at the top level this year with back-to-back 17th placings at Genesis X and Collision 2024, rounding out his major runs in Toronto with a respectable 25th at Get On My Level X after facing a demonic superheavy monkey and a -5 matchup he can only win for so long. As an avid local supporter though, Jakal’s continued activity in the New Jersey Hyperbolic Time Chamber will undoubtedly prepare him to be invincible to these threats in due time.
While he may move quietly, Jakal is here. He’s always been here and he will continue to be here. And it is an absolute spectacle when we get the chance to see it.
— Nathaniel Starr
This season has been a rollercoaster of tournaments for Steve, Luigi, and Roy player Yamanaction. In the turbulent sea of Japanese Smash, it seems Yamanaction has been swept up and cast adrift.
But on this voyage, Yamanaction has found islands of success. At Kurobra 41, he found the highlight of his season. Using all three of his characters to full effect, he took down Umeki, used his Roy to defeat TamaPDaifuku in a clutch game five, and achieved a 2nd place that only ended with losses to Shuton.
No matter his lows, Yamanaction’s certainly not out of it. Far from it, in fact, as he took down international talent like MkLeo, BassMage, and Kinaji at Kagaribi 12 for a strong 17th place finish. That tournament seemed to be a jumpstart for Yamanaction as he ended the season with another high at UltCore Third. There, he’d beat Ryuoh, Yone_pi, and karaage in an arduous seven-set losers run that brought him all the way back from an early upset.
With momentum behind him and with his character roster stronger than ever, Yamanaction is sure to take his journey far into the unknown as the year continues. Whether it’s Steve carrying MkLeo across the stage, Roy sending TamaPDaifuku flying into the blastzone, or Luigi touch of deaths, the last thing you should do is count Yamanaction out.
— Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
Despite having an impressive victory over zackray all the way back in 2022 under his belt, Kuroponzu was more known as a Wi-Fi Warrior until this year. As one of the few people to ever break the 2500 milestone on Japanese matchmaking site Smashmate, Kuroponzu’s 2544 peak rating stands as the 6th highest achieved by an individual player ever.
For a long time, Kuroponzu was considered the odd one out amongst his Smashmate peers. For reference, he is the only player in the top 9 peaks to not have won a major, with Yaura at #10 being the next highest. While he failed to match the success he had online like his peers for a while, everything changed on a Sunday in May.
At major event Sumabato SP 47, Kuroponzu ended up being upset in pools by Japan’s best Wii Fit Trainer Injelly. Despite finding himself in losers before top 64, the R.O.B. main was undeterred and went on an almost record breaking 12 set losers run all the way to Grand Finals. Running through karaage, Tsuna and Yoshidora to even make it to top 8, Kuroponzu was not willing to let his best event ever end there. Impressive victories over Rarikkusu, Snow, Eik and even Asimo saw him make Grand Finals vs. Raru. While he managed to reset the bracket, he finally ended up falling to his fellow Wi-Fi titan in a 10 game series that will be remembered for a long time.
While Kuroponzu’s major winning dream ended up falling just short this time, if he keeps up his hard work on Smashmate he will without a doubt join the pantheon of Japan sooner rather than later.
— Alice “Alice” Len
‘Tis the season to be Peabin’, as the Carolinas’ strongest soldier put together another strong season. It’s no coincidence that Peabnut’s most successful season came on the heels of “travel[ing] for smash more than ever before [&] tak[ing] care of [him]self more than ever before”, as the man with a plan traveled to 8 separate regions in search of more names to vanquish with his calculated approach.
Peabnut served as a beacon of consistency in one of the most tumultuous seasons we’ve seen, only missing top 8 at 4/15 ranked events he entered, and not placing lower than 4th at any event smaller than a national. Peabnut’s brightest run of the season came on one of these interregional escapades, at Cirque Du CFL 3. There, he tore through the likes of Goblin, Shuton, Miya, and Zomba to cement himself as a top international threat, for whatever few doubters remained after his Dreamhack ATL victory to close out last season.
Despite his newly heavy travel schedule and long bracket runs, Peabnut still found a way to pursue his academic career in conjunction with Smash, as a full time student at Winthrop University. There, he pursued his studies and helped the powerhouse collegiate program capture their first national championship in Smash, defeating the likes of Fisher College to do so. Whether book smart or matchup smart, Peabnut will only continue to foster his reputation as one of the scene’s most intelligent players, as he attempts to continue his run of success into next season.
— Ritual
After a relatively busy 2023, Big D returned to his original status as a sleeping giant — a player that, despite low attendance, was sure to cause ripples in any bracket he attended. Partially due to the conclusion of several key Vancouver tournament series, the world’s premier Ice Climbers only attended seven tournaments this season, but he made the most of his travels and left his mark in four separate countries.
Let’s address the obvious — it’s hard to talk about Big D’s season without mentioning his Kagaribi. Ice Climbers are not commonplace in North America, but in Japan they’re a dime a dozen, and Icies counterplay is significantly more developed as a result. Instead of surprising his opponents, this time Big D was the one getting matchup checked, finishing with a result that would have doomed most seasons instantly. But, armed with a greater understanding of Icies counter-counterplay, he returned to NA stronger than ever, immediately taking out Light, Sisqui, and MkLeo to make top 8 winners at Get On My Level 2024. S Factor 11 saw him make another strong run, this time through losers where he took out Zomba alongside regional titans sebayee, Moe ඞ, and Nair^ in consecutive last game sets to finish ninth. It’s clear that he’s as strong as ever; who knows what heights this new and improved Big D will reach from here?
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
For years, the Western community viewed Japanese players as quiet and respectful, a view that has persisted even to this day. But no population is a monolith, and M0tsunabE is putting in overtime to break this stereotype. Between posting incendiary tier lists, dunking on NA, and getting his original account banned for angry salt tweeting, M0tsunabE is one of Smash Twitter’s premier personalities, even among the foreign audience that needs to rely on machine translation to read most of his work.
But M0tsunabE isn’t just a keyboard warrior — he’s seized the title of best Falco in the world as the character’s representation continues to grow, backed up not just by overall results but a spotless record in the mirror against top Japanese Falcos MASA, Shupi, Rarikkusu, and DEAR. He stayed largely consistent despite a staggering 17 tournaments entered and notably bookended his season with major top 8s at DELTA #7 and Seibugeki #17. In his first foray overseas at Get On My Level 2024, M0tsunabE held down the fort as the only Japanese representative in top 32, taking MkLeo to the brink and defeating players such as Candle and BeastModePaul. Expect M0tsunabE to continue rising up the ranks in the years to come — and turn around and trash talk everyone he’s passed in the meantime.
— Kenny “kenniky” Wang
When he lands the stomp, you’ll see the purple spark and red flash before his opponent catapults into the blastzone. With an electrifying advantage state and all-or-nothing aggression, Falcon main karaage has climbed the ranks of Japan’s best with lightning speed. Although he’s had a somewhat inconsistent season, he’s more than made up for it with high peaks.
For karaage, all his best runs came at Sumabato tournaments. At premier tournament KOWLOON #9 with Sumabato, karaage dismantled fellow Falcon main Jogibu in the ditto with a dominant 3-0 en route to 13th place. He followed it up with a red-hot 2nd place at Sumabato SP 44, taking down Doramigi, MASA, and Rizeasu, only losing in an epic game ten Grand Finals with Snow.
He’d keep the momentum going at Sumabato SP 48, beating Asimo, Kome, and Gorioka and even taking Hurt’s Snake to a tense game five. At all three tournaments, karaage was able to outperform his seed by three or even four placings. It’s clear — this Falcon is on the brink of greatness, and it’s yet to be seen just how far he can go. When he’s on his game, he’ll outpace even the best players and leave them in the dust.
— Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
Japan’s combo queen carved up the competition in the first half of 2024. Known for his electrifying combos and success with a technically demanding character, this season was a rollercoaster of ups and downs for Umeki. Never once placing his seed at ranked events this season, Umeki still found himself floating towards fantastic highs. He opened the season with his own tournament series, the premier Umebura SP 10. There, he placed 9th/1167 and picked up a game five win on Yoshidora, avenging his prior loss to the Yoshi at Umebura SP 9.
Remarkably, his best run of the season was at one of the smallest ranked events he would attend: national ITSUKUSHIMA #3. There, Umeki would take down Taikei, Asimo, Yaura, and Yaura again, only falling to acola in a 2nd place finish. He followed this up a month later at Sumabato SP 46, taking names like Doramigi, Lv.1, and Tsuna, en route to 4th place, his lone top 8 at a major this season.
Moving into the back half of the year, Umeki looks to replicate his highs across a wider number of events. In a volatile region like Japan, nothing is for certain. But, if anyone can solve the elusive riddle of consistency, it is one of Japanese Smash’s most important members, seeking to cement himself as the world’s most dangerous TO on the sticks.
— Ritual and Rose “Rosebloom” Kermode
Though considered a shoo-in for top-tier in the earliest days of Ultimate, Inkling has suffered a long hiatus from Western majors, with their last top 8 appearance coming at Glitch 8 in the pre-quarantine era at the hands of Cosmos. In Japan, though, Inkling is alive and thriving in the competitive meta, and pushing the character farther than anyone else is Shirayuki.
For most of the season, Shirayuki was a quiet but steady presence, turning in respectable but largely understated performances. Across the ranking period, he attended 13 majors, and made top 32 at 11 of them, with his highlight event for most of the season being a 7th place finish at Sumabato SP 46 with wins over Lv.1, Ryuoh, and alice. But as any Splatoon player knows, everything can change in the last moments of a match, and things were no different for Shirayuki. In the final month of the season, the Inkling main caught fire, scoring 5th place at UltCore Third and Sumabato SP 49, and going on a dynamite run to 2nd place at Sumabato SP 48. Along the way, Shirayuki defeated titans of Japanese smash like Shuton and Yoshidora, cementing this season as one of his best on record.
— Vincent “SelfDestructGambit” Chow
Having long been the best Roy in Japan and one of the best in the world, alice finally makes his debut in the global top 50. Being one of the only players in the world with wins on both acola and Sonix, alice showed on several occasions in years prior that he could hang with the top.
2024 proves to be his breakout year in many ways though. The Kansai native only left his home region to attend the Kanto P tiers this season, but got more than enough mileage out of his few trips with a 13th place at Umebura SP 10. After an early upset to top Simon Belmont TRIGGER in pools, alice fell to the shark tank of loser’s bracket earlier than anyone would wish to do at an event with depth of this caliber, but managed to defeat Gorioka, Ryuoh, Taikei and even TamaPDaifuku en route to day 3.
However, most of his season was spent in his home region, attending Sumabatos. While he had varying success at the series of majors, his performance at Sumabato SP 48 stood head and shoulders above the rest. After a hard fought win over Rarikkusu in round 1 of top 64, alice would defeat both defending champion Raru and champ in the making Doramigi, winners of Sumabato SP 47 and 49 respectively, to qualify for top 8 winner’s side.
While 5th was alice’s peak placement at a major this season, his victories over 3 unique major winners show the potential to take one for himself if given the right bracket. Until that day comes, we’ll watch alice’s next move with bated breath as the Roy/Kazuya dual main started off next season strong with a win on Hurt. alice does not seem to be going anywhere, and we’re more than grateful for it.
— Alice “Alice” Len
