LumiRank 2024.2 | 1 - 10
It’s that time of the year again. Welcome to LumiRank 2024.2, the definitive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ranking for the second half of 2024. Join us in celebrating the 50 players who set themselves apart from the field as some of the strongest in the game right now.
For information on LumiRank 2024.1, check out the landing page here.
I wrote Tweek’s LumiRank blurb for the first half of 2024. There, I said the exact phrase: “If I had a nickel for every EMG supermajor that Tweek won over Sonix in grand finals this season, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.”
Guess who just got another nickel!
New Jersey’s pride and joy remains in the Top 10 with yet another supermajor win under his belt, all too familiar with facing Sonix to close out EMG tournaments, having completed the trifecta of Big Moves, GOML, and Miami. There, he showed the world one of the greatest comebacks of all time. With his back against the wall, Tweek would pull off a reverse three-stock in game 5 of winners finals against Sonix on Final Destination, monkey-flipping into grand finals and setting him up to win the tournament.
That wasn’t all Tweek did this season though, as he overcame some of his past demons. In the last few months, Tweek found his first ever win on Miya at Litvitational 3, as well as racking up two wins on Zomba at Litvitational 3 and Knightmare at the Roundtable, his first wins on his fellow Tristate rival since The Big House 10 in fall of 2022. As the meta evolves, Tweek evolves with it, no matter how long it may take.
Tweek makes it his mission to work with the characters he enjoys, regardless of how well they stack up against the new-age powerhouses, and this season is yet another instance of him accomplishing just that.
— Nathaniel
Every writer, myself included, has been telling you how amazing each of these players is. They’re all honest, hardworking, upstanding players competing in the spectacle we all enjoy, trying to write their own stories and climb to the peak of the competitive scene…
But let’s be real here, Asimo is THE protagonist.
We’ve seen mid-tier mains come and go from season to season. But Asimo continues to win improbable sets against the many characters faster or longer-ranged than Ryu, hanging on to his position among Ultimate’s greatest players every year. Finishing 2nd to acola at Kagaribi #7 kicked off his career with a result we would see time and again. Dozens of times Asimo has pushed into the winners side top 8, only to fall to acola, Miya, Raru, Shuton, Yoshidora, or one of Japan’s many other deadly talents, ending somewhere between 2nd and 5th. Despite his negative records, those who watch Asimo have always had full confidence that he will one day solve the matchup and get a win.
Every time he climbs into top 8 again, one looks at his bracket path and wonders if today he’ll finally put it all together and claim his major victory. After characteristically wild runs to 4th at Supernova and Japan West earlier this season, everyone knew the day was coming soon. September 22nd at Sumabato SP51 was that day at last. After beating Rarikkusu (prev. 1-1 set record), Kome (prev. 3-2), Snow (3-3), Yoshidora (4-7), and Akakikusu (3-0), Asimo faced his ultimate test once again, the player who defeated him in grand finals of their joint entrance onto the world stage, someone he’d only beaten once across 12 sets starting then, losing or being eliminated within sight of victory time and again. In a hard-fought game 5, Asimo finally made it happen, beating acola a second time to claim a supermajor win without dropping a set as he etched his name into Smash history.
— James “Doxazo” Rivers
Coming off of 2023 and 2024.1, MkLeo faced multiple setbacks, but also beacons of light that suggested that a comeback was possible… that it wasn’t MkOver.
And, oh boy, was the comeback glorious.
Aside from an unlucky bracket path at Supernova, MkLeo did not place outside of the Top 6 at a ranked event all season. On top of amazing performances at regionals and smaller-sized majors, MkLeo also made top 8 at a Japanese major for the first time in his entire Ultimate career, a feat that’s debatably harder now than it was during 2019. And when Leo returned home from Japan, he became incredibly consistent at North American tournaments. But the crowning jewel in MkLeo’s resurgence was indubitably his win over Sparg0, a set that truly stole the hearts of spectators around the world.
From this new level of consistency, upsets over some of the world’s best, and accomplishments not seen even during his era of uncontested dominance, I think it’s safe to say… we’re officially MkBack.
— Matthew “RisterMice” Rice
In the morning the sun comes up. In the evening the sun goes down. And at the end of the ranking season Shuton finds himself ranked in the top 10 once again.
As Smash Ultimate enters the 6th year of its lifespan, Shuton is a name that has become almost synonymous with consistency. While the level of competition continues to rise, and it has become commonplace to look at a bracket and see upset after upset on the top seeds, Shuton’s ability to filter out the noise and make it deep into every bracket he attends is more impressive than ever. Over the 11 tournaments he entered, he only took 3 unranked losses, all of them at Tokyo Invitational event Togenkyo.
One of the most interesting things about Shuton’s season is his head to heads vs the top Sonic players. He won major event DELTA #8.5 and B+ tier SIRIUS each over KEN twice both times, amounting to most of the sets in their 5-0 record. At both of the Japanese premiers, he fought and defeated Taikei for 13th place, and he defeated Wrath at Supernova 2024. Perhaps most impressive though is his 3-0 set count on Sonix, breaking the latter’s second place streak that had lasted all year at Riptide 2024. His 11-0 dominance over the four Top 50 ranked Sonics included fighting one of them at 8 of the 11 events he competed at, and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to call him the best player in the world vs the controversial blue hedgehog.
Over the several years this game has been played, Shuton has felt like a constant. A beacon of consistency in even the most turbulent of seasons, making top 8 after top 8, as if to say that no matter what happens, everything will be alright. When all else fails, you can rely on Shuton.
— Alice “AliceLen” Len
Piloting the purple plumber’s robust combo game to victory, Raru has arrived at Smash’s uppermost echelon.
If Raru’s last season was a journey to his first major win, this season saw him reach even higher and prove he’s cut from a different cloth. At Supernova, he took down Shuton, Kola, and ApolloKage in consecutive five game sets, then defeated Snow to reach Winners Top 8 of his first tournament outside of Japan, showing he’s no weaker when he’s far from home. Just two weeks later, he’d knock down another Japanese major win at Sumabato SP 50, then defeat Miya for the first time at Maesuma’JAPAN West 24, only building more and more momentum.
At DELTA 9, an early loss seemed like a stumble in the Luigi’s path, but it only gave him one of his greatest losers runs, taking down top players old and new: Paseriman, Lea, Shuton, Glutonny, TamaPDaifuku, only stopped by Miya after an 11 set streak of losers side victories.
Everything culminated with his peak at UltCore 4th, where he’d defeat Shirayuki and Snow, then take down Hurt and Yoshidora in consecutive 3-0 sweeps to reach Grand Finals. After a chaotic grand finals with Doramigi, it was Raru who came out on top to win his first supermajor. With the results he’s putting up, you can be certain that it won’t be his last.
— Mira “Rosebloom” Kermode
Ever since Sonix emerged as one of the four horsemen, he’s always been the king of consistency. The least vulnerable to upsets, the most likely to have a strong winner’s bracket run, the one most likely to reach grand finals. But no one can be perfect forever, and as 2024.2 saw Sonix run into several problematic player matchups, he became the king of something else… the King of the Losers Run.
Sonix’s losers run at Supernova was the greatest loser’s run of the entire year, if not the greatest in modern Smash History. He tore through FIVE of 2024.1’s top 10 in the world, quite literally HALF of the top 10 seeds of the entire tournament, to make it to grand finals.
This tournament defined Sonix’s season as Riptide 2024 saw him enter the loser's bracket early yet again. But just like he had previously, Sonix locked in and tore through loser’s to still place within the top 3. Factor in smaller losers runs at Luminosity Makes Moves Miami and Coinbox IRL 2, and you can see that the new King of Loser’s Runs is emerging. While cracks have started to show in his invincibility, you can’t knock his resilience. And with just a little more progress to conquer these emerging problem matchups, Sonix can continue his journey to becoming the best player in the world. Heck, with how much time this guy spends in the lab, it’s more a question of “when” than “if”.
— Matthew “RisterMice” Rice
For a guy who loves to call himself washed, Light’s gameplay this season has continued to clean up the competition. The Connecticut Fox continued to put up another remarkable season of consistency. His name was omnipresent atop regional competition within both New England and neighboring Tristate, where he won all 14 of the brackets he entered. These included C tiers Ultra HOG 3 and Defend The North as well as B+ tier Wavelength, finding victories over top in-region talent such as Gen, Just Blue, DM, Pelca, Zomba, Marss, Ling, and Mr E.
Out of region, Light found the best success anywhere warm and sunny, finding top 3 placings at Cirque 4, Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2024, The Throne 2, and LACS Rivals 2024. In addition to these was his performance at A+ tier Litvitational 3, an invitational bracket where he successively defeated Peabnut, Tea, Hurt, Kola, Tweek, and Lima 2x in order to claim victory.
With his placing this season, he becomes one of two players all time to place within the global top 10 every ranking season of Ultimate’s lifespan. His “worst" placings of the year came with a 9th finish at Riptide with wins over Peabnut and Miya and a 17th finish at Supernova with a win over Syrup. The protagonist of Ultimate continues to weave one of the game's most captivating storylines as he prepares for his next training arc. Entering the game's 7th year, there is nobody more exciting to watch when he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.
— Ritual
Do you remember what the world was like the last time acola was ranked below first?
acola has been the best player in the world since December 19th, 2022. For the past 743 days, he has been the final challenge for every player with hopeful thoughts about rising to the throne. Not only has he and his play shaped and defined an era of Smash, but he truly is the emotional center of Smash Ultimate — its greatest success story, how a 16 year old kid playing Wi-Fi during the global lockdown honed his talents offline and remained atop the throne with a clutch factor so absurd it’s become a mythology of its own.
But that opener makes it seem like he’s retiring or washed or something. He’s still literally number 3. Let’s get one thing straight — nothing about acola’s play this season indicates a falloff; his competition simply caught up. You might recall that out of those 746 days where acola was atop the world, 197 of them were spent with a near-spotless record with losses to nobody besides Sparg0 — the one problem he simply couldn’t figure out how to overcome. Since that period, though, rivals old and new have found ways to convert those game 5 heartbreakers into game 5 clutches. With every set that passes, it seems that acola’s peers at the top of the meta have Steve figured out more and more.
That’s why acola, exemplary competitor that he is, has started to trust in his secondary Aegis more and more. Pyra and Mythra might be legendary Blades, but acola’s been honing them like a scalpel — using them to lock in on his problem opponents and surgically dismantle their weaknesses. Against Doramigi, it seems like his Mythra is always in the perfect offstage position to steal his jump. Against Miya, it seems like his aerials are always immaculately spaced around up-b out of shield.
And against Sparg0, his greatest rival and foil, a player who seemed like an L was a foregone conclusion?
He took two years and seven straight sets of frustrating, dominant losses, and converted his knowledge of Sparg0’s habits into a punish game yet unseen, making Sparg0 second guess every single back air he swung in neutral, every recovery to ledge. acola went into that set not thinking about how to beat Cloud, but how to beat Sparg0.
It’s that hunger, that tireless work ethic and determination that kept acola atop of the world for two straight years. But heavy is the crown atop the throne, and his school schedule has kept his time internationally pretty restricted this past season. But make no mistake — acola is at the core of the story of Smash Ultimate, and as new challengers step up to challenge him, he’ll have solutions ready to dismantle them, too.
— Hugh-Jay “trade war” Yu
Don’t get carried away! Fishbowls, puffs of air, chairs, turtles, Miya makes use of every part of Mr. Game & Watch’s moveset to perfection.
This season, the paper protagonist dueled his adversaries in a back and forth performance! Trading sets with acola’s Steve and Aegis, he came out on top and won hotly contested two-set Grand Finals at both Kowloon x Kagaribi and Umebura SP 11, his biggest wins of the season. Another highlight came at Litvitational 3, where he was able to defeat Sparg0 for the first time.
Despite underperformances internationally at Supernova and Riptide, Miya dominated on his home turf. He won every single Japanese tournament he attended this season, beating more of Japan’s best than most people can even name. He even found some success overseas, as he snagged a big international major win at Cirque 4, then capped off his season by winning LACS Rivals.
It seems Miya has found his footing in North America once again, and it would be no surprise to see the paper-thin titan extend his dominance in Japan to the rest of the globe.
— Mira “Rosebloom” Kermode
Is it enough?
Let's rewind.
The date is May 21st, 2023. Sparg0 just took home his 2nd P tier in 2 weeks, closing out his second consecutive dominant grand finals over acola. Twitter is erupting: A new king is crowned. Sparg0 is, without a shadow of a doubt, at that very moment, the #1 player in the world.
Unfortunately, however, the ranking season spans beyond a 2 week period. While it's clear Sparg0 has been the best player in the world at MANY given points in time, it has yet to amount to a season consistently dominant enough to secure #1 in the rankings.
Until now.
Sparg0 has asked the very same question, season after season: is this enough? And now, we finally have the answer. The third ever #1 Smash Ultimate has arrived. Sparg0 started off his season with a respectable 3rd place at P tier Kowloon x Kagaribi. Then he turned on the gears, taking P tiers Supernova 2024 and Riptide 2024 without dropping a single set. If that isn't enough, I don't know what is.
But in true Sparg0 fashion, it didn't stop there. 2nd at A+ tier The Luminosity Invitational, with his starting line on the loser's side only giving him opportunities for more and more wins. He then defended his crown at The Throne 2024, only to take Don't Park on the Grass 2024 right after. His season was so dominant that this ranking won’t come as a surprise to many people, with the answer ever-so clear:
Yes, it was indeed enough. In one of the most competitive seasons we’ve seen of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sparg0 is your new king.
(and he did it with his favorite character!)
— Nathaniel
