LumiRank 2024.2 | 11 - 20
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.
Quite frankly, Smash Ultimate is a better game when Kola is Kola. His electric personality and explosive playstyle mean that there’s always a story to follow, and that story is always worth watching. That can best be highlighted by his performance at The Luminosity Invitational 2, but we’ll get back to that.
Outside of that wild weekend, he notched wins over SHADIC, Snow, Doramigi and DDee, showing that he’s not a one-hit wonder, but let’s be so real here, you’re not here for all that.
You’re here for the tournament of the year.
Kola started the Luminosity Invitational 2 as the 15th seed out of 16 players, and his pool had three supermajor winners in it. His odds were objectively not great, and after a loss to Sonix in his first set, they got worse. But Kola’s superpower is very simple: if he gets hot, all bets are off, and on September 29th, 2024, Kola had the hottest hand the game has ever seen.
3-1 over ShinyMark and Light to win his pool, then 3-1 over Leo, a reverse 3-0 over Asimo ending in a 3 stock, and a 3-1 win over Shuton with both Roy and Cloud put Kola in winners side grands. He smothered his opponents, he was so deep in his bag, it just felt like he wanted it more, and that he knew what his opponents would do before they did.
His prize was a date with Sparg0, who he was 1-4 against lifetime, in grand finals, and after the worst sourspot you’ve ever seen caused him to lose the first set of grands, it felt like the run was over.
But Kola stayed hot, vanquished Sparg0, and tore down the tournament setup. He earned it. Class dismissed.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
After breaking into top 20 during the first half of the year, Snow continued writing his legacy in Smash Ultimate this season with some of the biggest victories we’ve ever seen from a Mario player. Snow showed up to play at premiers this season, meeting or beating his seed at every one, and picking up five top ten wins along the way.
A huge reason for this is Snow’s new sponsor, TEQWING e-sports, who picked him up in July and promptly sent him on his first four trips to the USA this season, where Snow and his star-spangled Mario alt quickly rewarded their faith with an astounding victory over Sonix at Supernova, including a TIMEOUT to seal the deal. If you’re not careful, Snow will take over your story and write it for you.
One of the stories of Snow’s season has been his consistent battle against fellow Mario Bros. players, with tough head-to-heads against Raru and Navy, and a close set against Nao. In a surprise plot twist, Snow has begun to solve this problem with his rapidly improving Aegis secondary, getting closer and closer to defeating Navy and taking a set from Raru. If Snow continues to improve with Pyra and Mythra, rounding out his matchup coverage, he could truly become a threat to win any tournament he enters. With strong attendance and the proven ability to show up when it counts, Snow should scare any top player because if you aren’t ready, you might just become the next footnote in his story.
— James “Doxazo” Rivers
The hardest thing to be in a game with 90 characters and tens of thousands of competitive players is consistent, and even when Yoshidora was a plucky upstart taking Smashmate by storm, he found a way to consistently beat whoever was placed in front of him. In 38 ranked tournaments since 2020, Yoshidora has made top 8 in an astounding 30 of them. That figure includes 16 tournaments that were S or P tiers, a truly inhuman level of performance when the lights are the brightest. If you play Yoshidora in losers outside of top 8, pack it up, you might as well beat the traffic on the way out.
The only hole in his game was, for a long time, his inability to beat acola, who he hadn’t beaten in a best of 5 set since the Summer of 2022. But in Yoshidora’s first-ever American tournament, the 2100 entrant Supernova, he got that monkey off his back in a wild ride to 7th as the tournament’s 18th seed.
We got to see the consistency we’re used to from Yoshidora, but this year we got to see it interspersed with wins over the absolute best players in the world, which makes it feel like there is no ceiling for how high the Yoshi can fly. He notched another win over acola, along with wins over Ryuoh, Onin, Raki and Hurt, adding multiple cherries to an already delicious season. Still young and hungry as ever, Yoshidora should be a threat to move into the top 10 every season until he finds something else to do with his time.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
Maister has long been known as one of North America’s best, with a legacy in Ultimate that goes back to release. But 2024.2 saw Maister broaden his horizons in a season that was defined by an extended trip to Japan.
While many North American invaders suffer upsets and rough brackets when they travel overseas, Maister’s trip saw him place within the top 4 of two majors and one Supermajor, getting wins over the likes of Asimo, Raru, Raki, Hurt and Snow.
But not only did this trip help Maister collect many valuable wins, it also leveled him up as a player. When he returned home, Maister continued his rise, with the most telling win being Maister defeating Dabuz’s Rosalina for the first time in four years. While many of Ultimate’s legacy talents are comfortable remaining where they are, this win is the culmination of Maister’s renewed passion for competition and improvement. And if next year is anything like the tail end of 2024… he’s only going to get better from here.
— Matthew “RisterMice” Rice
Fresh off a major win in the first half of the year and a spot in the top 10, SHADIC rolled into the late part of the year with an outstanding run at Supernova where he’d beat several international players and faltered only to Sonix and Sparg0. Taking home a third at the event and wins over Peabnut, crêpe salée, Yoshidora, and Raru, we’d see a blueprint for this season’s success.
While faltering to top fixtures like Sonix and Sparg0, SHADIC would not see any unranked losses at open bracket majors, and racked up a steady list of wins — even a couple from his invitationals. Those proved to be his sore spot this season, but loss quality remained high.
At majors like Cirque 4 ad Luminosity Makes Moves Miami, SHADIC would seal up his season with wins over some of the year’s most ascendent players, Lima and Syrup, while his win over Light at Riptide would give him top 8 appearances at both of the P tiers he attended.
A pillar of consistency, SHADIC’s only barrier moving into 2025 seems to be clutching out sets against players like Sparg0 and Sonix. With their final 2025 set going to game five, it seems everyone will have to be careful of SHADIC moving into 2015.
— Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig
At first, it seemed like Lima’s season would be a little more muted compared to what he achieved in the first half of 2024. Performances like 25th at Supernova and 13th at Riptide certainly weren’t bad — especially with wins on Onin, Chase, ChunkyKong, and Lui$ being picked up in the process — but the Texas Bayonetta maestro’s performances just weren’t as explosive as what we’d seen in the past.
That all changed one fateful weekend in Orlando. First, Lima brought the magic back with a shocking run to 2nd place at Litvitational 3. His win resume at this single event — Doramigi, Miya, Tea, and Zomba — single-handedly outperformed everything he’d achieved in the season up to that point. Perhaps even more preposterously, Lima outdid that performance just one day later at Cirque 4. After falling to the losers bracket outside of top 8, he clawed his way through six consecutive top players, including a runback win on Light and even a victory over Sparg0. Lima eventually fell to Miya in grand finals, but not before resetting the bracket.
Out of nowhere, Lima managed to assemble a top 15 case in just four days. That single weekend gave him a better resume of wins than many players on this ranking achieved in an entire year. To put the cherry on top, he followed it up with a 7th place finish at the S tier Luminosity Makes Moves Miami, beating Maister and Syrup in the process.
If Lima can keep his momentum going into 2025, he’ll reach even greater heights. He just kicked off the new season with his first major win since EVO 2018 in an entirely different Smash game, so it seems like his sudden reign of terror might just be beginning…
— Victor “AnonymousBadger” Mujat
“Syrup, whoa, what? What?” —Travis Scott, Fein
Not to glaze or anything, but Syrup might be a win. 5th at P-Tier Riptide 2024? Wins on Miya and Tweek? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
What's that? He won The Coinbox IRL, SOLO NESS? BEATING WRATH, SHINYMARK, AND SHUTON TWICE? All using Ness. Magical.
Okay, there might have been a bit of Steve in there as well. Anyway,
Syrup began the season with an emphatic win at D-Tier MBS Frontier, a passion project put together by his friends/crew. There, he would drop only a single set in the group stage to his bracket demon/coach/video editor/hype man, Han Solo-Berger.
From there on out, he had only one double-digit placement that took place at Supernova 2024, a respectable 25th, and would show incredible consistency from there on out. Notable performances include 5th at Riptide 2024, where he would become the first non-acola Steve to defeat Miya; 2nd at Knightmare at the Roundtable; 1st at Tristate Showdown; 1st at Cavalier Clash 5; and 9th at Steve-banned tournament Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2024, reminding everyone just how strong The Boy can be.
Supported by his friends, his home state of New Jersey, his new sponsor Dreams to Legends, and Travis Scott, Syrup is constantly reaching new heights as he NIL ladders up the rankings.
— Nathaniel
It’s funny when you look at a season highlighted by wins on Sparg0, Miya, Tweek, MkLeo and Light and think “it was kind of a quiet season for Gluto.” There is a level of consistent excellence that we have come to expect from Glutonny that he somehow continues to meet.
Likely the greatest European smasher since Armada, Gluto has ruled over Europe with the most despotic and dominant French hand since Napoleon. And as revolutionaries rise and fall, there remains nobody scarier in a last-stock situation than the Emperor of France.
This season we saw more of the same, with Glutonny only losing to two European players all season, finishing first and third in the continent’s two biggest tournaments of the season (Regen and UFA) and making top 8 at the third. He wasn’t the most active or consistent this season, only making it to five majors, but his win at Regen and 2nd place at LACS Rivals where he notched 4 wins against last season’s top 10 proved that Gluto hasn’t lost a step.
After being ranked 22nd last season, his lowest in Ultimate’s lifespan, Gluto returns to his rightful spot in the top 20, and the world is better for it. Glory to Glutonny, may his reign last until the end of time.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
It is truly impressive how someone who has only been at the top level of the game for 18 months, give or take, has managed to make such an impact that it feels like he’s been here for years. Hurt, despite a mild drop off from last season, remains a top 10 contender that is threatening to any top player in his path.
Some of that dip in form can certainly be ascribed to poor bracket luck. There’s a few double digit placements on his resume, but he’s only taken 2 non-top 50 losses throughout the season despite that — and his bounces back are fierce. After placing 17th at Riptide, Hurt would bounce back one week later with a 5th place finish at Umebura SP 11. After a difficult time at Cirque 4, his bounce back would be in North America at The Throne 2, defeating players like Tweek, MuteAce and SHADIC in the process.
Having already secured a major win for the 2025.1 season, it looks like his biggest comeback yet is on the horizon — and no one is safe from the world’s greatest Snake player.
— Jonas “Fortuna” Stritzinger
Doramigi is so ridiculously good at Smash Ultimate that it’s easy to forget how young he still is. Last season, he became the youngest player to win a major in any official Smash Bros. title, doing so at only fourteen years old and breaking acola’s record set two years prior. It was a fantastic achievement for a player who still seemingly has nowhere to go but up, and he followed it up valiantly this season.
Kansai’s Min Min extraordinaire didn’t win a major in the second half of 2024, but he did find numerous wins over his top-level peers that solidified his place among them. To kick off the new season, he defeated Sparg0 at the supermajor Kowloon x Kagaribi en route to 5th place. Doramigi followed that up with a 1st place finish at the superregional Maesuma’U22 #2, notching two victories over Hurt. And at UltCore 4 in Nagoya, he knocked acola out of the bracket at 4th place, resulting in the latter’s second-lowest finish of the year.
At times, it felt like the only thing standing in Doramigi’s way was fellow Kansai rising star Raru. After beating the talented Luigi player to win his first major last season, Doramigi fell to him in two major Grand Finals resets in the second half of the year, at Sumabato SP 50 and the aforementioned UltCore 4. The two have a 7-7 head-to-head record overall, so this rivalry is undoubtedly one to watch in 2025.
I’m not just excited to watch Doramigi play next year — he’s still only fifteen, so I’m excited to see what he’s up to years into the future. If we’re lucky, we might just be watching the rise of an all-time Smash Bros. great.
— Victor “AnonymousBadger” Mujat
