LumiRank Summer 2025 | 41 - 50
Hello everyone! Welcome to LumiRank 2025 Summer, the premier Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ranking, this time covering the first half of 2025. Join us leading up to Supernova as we unveil the order of the best players of the last several months.
For information on LumiRank 2025.1, check out the landing page here.
I met Umeki at a train station once. No, this isn’t a Hungrybox copypasta.
I was on my way to the Osaka regional tournament OH-BAI-TOH-RI 0 during my semester in Japan last year. As a silly American, I naturally took the wrong train once or twice and ended up waiting a bit for the correct one. I spot Umeki, waiting for the same train to attend the regional. I go up to him to talk, when I realize I’m wearing an Umebura shirt. Yes, the guy who made the trip from Kanto to Kansai for a regional also hosts one of Japan’s premier majors, and I got to meet him while casually wearing his own merch.
Anyone who’s attended or watched an Umebura can see how much work goes into an event of that caliber. Umeki, at the head of it all, is able to balance his talents as a TO and a player miraculously. This season, he took the trip to Genesis X2 where he would take sets over Onin and Sonix, two of NA’s powerhouses. Another trip to Kansai would bring him a stellar result at one of the rare S-Tier Sumabatos, placing 5th with wins over Asimo and Neo at the event’s 55th installment.
The world of Smash has countless roles, each with their own unique challenges. Umeki’s ability to host one of the largest tournaments in the world, while maintaining his status as a top 50 player demonstrates his love and dedication for the game and community.
— Nathaniel Starr
Little by little, Monte has grown from a Wi-Fi grinder, to a local demon, to a national threat, and finally, to the highest ranked Game & Watch player in North America. Coming off of two straight seasons in the top 100 but outside of the top 70, Monte made a statement this season, cementing himself in the top 50 by beating some of the biggest names in the scene and handling his business at home.
Monte became the first player in Ultimate’s history to hold the sacred title of #1 on the SoCal PR four seasons in a row. And while this would be an impressive reign in any region, SoCal has long since been one of the most competitive regions in the history of Smash Bros, and wins at five ranked SoCal events helped to stamp him as the reigning Governor of California.
But regional wins do not build a top 50 résumé on their own, what really helped Monte set himself apart this season was leveling up against the game’s best players. He was able to nab a win on Sparg0 at Worst of the West #04, and had a legacy performance at Battle of BC 7. After a game 5 loss to Tweek at the supermajor, Monte rattled off upset wins against Riddles, Raki, Light and #1 seed Hurt to eliminate him from the tournament.
Monte’s consistent growth is an anomaly, but his best season likely is not. If he stays active, be prepared to see him on the year-end list just as high.
— Jack “Trash Day!” Clifton
At the time of this article’s release, if you were to sort through all 2400 of MKBigBoss’s offline career opponents by winrate, you’ll find that he has his best record by win % (11-0) against me. As such, I consider myself uniquely qualified to label him as one of the most talented, frightening, and consistent players that you could ever match up against.
As a competitor, it hurts to be outclassed so dramatically, but as a friend and fan of MKBigBoss who wants him to be the best player in the world, I — strangely enough — hope I never get my one. He’s been a consistent top 100 threat for years, but watching him refuse to become complacent and instead constantly push himself to improve has been an awe-inspiring experience. Furthermore, he carries himself with one of the most pleasant and approachable demeanors of any competitor, top player or not, which leads me to believe that he’s equally beloved in every region he steps foot into, a claim that may not seem that impressive until you realize just how much he travels.
Attending ranked events in seven different countries in just this half-year, MKBigBoss avoided the common pitfalls of competing overseas, playing with a high degree of consistency without sacrificing his ability to attain strong peaks. After his attendance helped push gamescom LAN x CGN Open into major status, granting Germany its first event of such caliber, MKBigBoss seized the opportunity and earned his first career win over his countryman Sparg0. At Kagaribi #13, the most stacked Smash tournament of all time, MKBigBoss fell victim to a minor upset, then went on one of the more underappreciated losers runs of the year thus far, in the end collecting wins on Mild na H.O, Tsuna, and former Kagaribi champion zackray.
Untethered by mentality, opportunity, or raw talent, time can only tell what heights MKBigBoss will rise to next, and what corners of the world he’ll conquer throughout the rest of the year.
— David “Chowder” Nazarian
Many careers in competition start slowly and humbly, but such ideas do not apply to Kansai’s Hero champion Shion. He cast these ideas aside the moment he began attending events offline in early 2024, quickly propelling himself to top 100 status by the year’s end.
It’s only fitting a character such as Hero would be his choice of main, his menu options as chaotic as Shion’s gameplay and twitter posts. When the wheels took off, they never stopped, with him managing to average nearly an event every week the last year with some of the most consistent attendance of any top player in the world.
As with most most players with records like this, Shion’s depths of wins reach far and wide, holding off North America at both KOWLOON #16 with a win over Cosmos and an extremely narrow win over Dabuz at Kagaribi #13. Homebound, universal threats like Asimo, Akakikusu, and even Hurt were shut out across his vast well of events. Hurt — already one of the country’s strongest players — found a wall against Shion, going 2-2 against him at ranked events during the season.
Shion’s achievements started this season at Sumabato SP 54, rolling over a cavalcade of top players to achieve third, and continued with him defeating Chubu’s top talent at Karisuma SP 22 and making two more top 8 appearances at major events Sumabato SP 56 and Grand Slum 17.
Shion’s an enigma of a player in his speed and energy, but one thing seems to be consistent: he’s rising in the rankings from season to season at a pace that honors his chaotic place in Japan’s unpredictable metagame.
— Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig
It’s so easy to talk about Jakal’s achievements. There are simply too many. So I would like to use this space to tell a story of an event that I believe symbolizes Jakal’s history in smash. Dan’s Wedding Bash, a celebratory tournament for the upcoming wedding of longtime community member DanTheMan, took place this season.
Jakal, always a great friend of both the NJ and wider regional scene, showed his support by making the multi-hour trip to Central Pennsylvania, consistent with his history of supporting the community and their events. There, he would lose his very first match to Citadel, a local Ridley main from Northeast Pennsylvania. Jakal, having played these games before, did not let that phase him. He would go on to make a losers run of 13 sets to win the entire event, beating players he had lost to in the past such as Rivers, Free KayFlock, Gen, and Geist.
This event was not Jakal’s most prestigious achievement, having taken names such as Tweek, Syrup, Zomba, and Peabnut. He also placed 3rd at major Patchwork 2025, securing another great win in Kola. But this event is emblematic of Jakal’s love for his community and his perseverance in the face of defeat, traits he has shown consistently throughout his career.
— Nathaniel Starr
In the modern meta of touch-of-death playstyles, it’s almost unfathomable to suggest that the primary victim for training room combos, Donkey Kong, can find consistent success. Nevertheless, Mild na H.O equalizes bad matchups seemingly through brute force, abusing DK’s devastating punish game while tactfully mitigating his weaknesses.
Not only was Mild able to top 8 multiple major tournaments and win a few regionals, but he almost gave Donkey Kong his first ever major win, placing 2nd at OH-BAI-TOH-RI 2 on an insane run as the 15th seed. On that day, it was Maister’s turn to play a +3 matchup in grands and earn his long-overdue major win, but perhaps in the near future, Mild na is ready to earn the first major victory for both himself and his character.
Maybe some are still willing to write him off as a matchup check that will eventually be figured out, but Mild na H.O has been Top 150 since 2024, and his rank has genuinely only risen since he first made the list. It paints a scary picture of his trajectory as a player, and as much as we feel like DK has been in a renaissance as of late, we may look back and realize it was only the beginning.
— David “Chowder” Nazarian
Despite the region’s strength, Georgia has not brought too many new top 50 players to the scene. Except for Jahzz0, every top 50 player in the state has been around since pre-covid or even Smash 4. It’s not to say that the region does not have other strong players, with people like DDee and the aforementioned Jahzz0 having breakout performances post-covid, but this time, a player that was always seemingly just a bit behind would put together multiple incredible performances to culminate the best tournament runs of his career to date.
omega put up four runs that had us all in shock, including making top 8 at a major for the first time, then doing it again just a month later. These were not easy runs either; omega had to tear through some of his demons to make these runs possible, beating BeastModePaul, Riddles, Miya, Light, MuteAce, and Wrath all for the first time after having lost sets to them. Focusing on the latter half of the season, omega’s best performance took place at his returning home state’s major, MomoCon 2025. As the twelfth seed, he would climb his way to second, beating MuteAce and Wrath in some of the closest sets we have ever seen, and in two extremely intense showings against Light. While already stunning everyone with this incredibly exciting performance, omega shocked everyone when he made top 8 at yet another major, this time in the neighboring state’s Patchwork.
omega has finally found himself in the place where some of the all-time best players stand, and if going from 104th to top 50 is telling of anything, this is just the start for one of the scene’s most exciting players.
— Benjamin "GOOMBA!" Schmid
It’s a warm Spring evening in Shibuya, and I’m sitting alone on the balcony of the Cafeteria Cup 2 venue whilst grand finals is playing inside. I feel glad, of course, that the event went swimmingly, but the emotion is overwhelmed by a rush of pure exhaustion and I slump into my chair. At that moment, a dull, albeit familiar thought wanders into my brain — if I’m doing all this, and the only thing I have to say for it is that I’m tired, what am I even doing this for?
My question is answered almost immediately, as the stream setup I was half peering into through the window projects Reno hitting a Byleth up B into footstool dair kill setup on MkLeo from the ledge, consequentially setting the entire venue ablaze.
A true multi-character specialist that usually takes the form of a Byleth/Sephiroth co-main, Reno has very quickly become a regular name you see in result graphics for events in the Kanto region, especially over the past few months. 9th place finishes at both KOWLOON #15 with Sumabato and DELTA #10 alongside a 5th place at Kurobra were highlights, but claiming victory at B tier Shibuya BeeSmash BIG 3 with a reverse 3-0 from his Greninja of all characters set the bar at a new standard.
With the bar now raised, Reno wasn’t stopping — after making a name for himself globally with second at Cafeteria Cup, he managed to outdo himself on the biggest of stages at Kagaribi #13 on a run to 17th place with wins over Onin, Tarik and crêpe salée, all with Byleth, a Byleth that hasn’t moved with this level of elegance at the top level since… well, you know who.
An incredible 2025 for Reno so far has labelled him as one of LumiRank’s brightest new stars this season — and it couldn’t have been a cooler player to have burst onto the scene.
— Sean from somewhere
A common sentiment about competition is that strong results act as justification for a protagonist mentality, and that one must show themselves capable of strong performances before they display a high degree of confidence, lest they come across as egotistical. ApolloKage stands as proof that the inverse can be true — his mentality isn’t informed by his results, it is the source of them. AK is one of the best players in the world because he carries himself with a positive, growth mentality, and the wholehearted belief that he can accomplish whatever he sets his mind to, topped off with the propensity to enthusiastically inspire that same belief in others.
After his meteoric rise to the top of the competitive world across 2022-2023, the following year was a quiet one for ApolloKage. When combined with the rise of Hurt as the world’s best Snake main, many were quick to write off AK as having had his time in the limelight. The funny thing about AK, though, is that he relishes in his unranked status, and thrives when thought of as the underdog. Now, it’s clear that if we had believed in ApolloKage half as much as he believes in himself, we would have seen this coming.
ApolloKage is back to the Top 50, due in part to his admirable consistency both at regionals and the season’s biggest events, as well as statistical highlights like his 2nd place finish at CEO 2025, or his wins on Akakikusu and MKBigBoss at Japanese invitational Cafeteria Cup: Honey Pot. As we all sit back in delight watching ApolloKage rise the ranks of competitive Ultimate yet again, we would both honor his legacy and better ourselves by taking to heart his motto: Make sure you improve today!
— David “Chowder” Nazarian
After reaching 88th on LumiRank 2023 with wins on household Smash names like Lima, Zomba, and Peabnut, Kiyarash has remained on the edge of the radar. He’s been the kind of explosive character and player that someone with their eyes on top 8 would prefer not to meet coming out of pools. Fortunately, many top players have been spared this anxiety as Kiyarash has remained firmly on the West Coast, almost entirely within his home region of SoCal.
This year, the world came to him at LVL UP EXPO in Las Vegas, and he stood his ground, crushing Dabuz, Ludo, Glutonny, and ShinyMark all in a row, grappling his way into the winners side top 8.
As he fought tooth and nail against Doramigi, spectators looked at his bracket and wondered if he might be able to ride the momentum all the way into grand finals. With how hot Kiyarash was playing, some wondered if this humble #43 seed might win the whole premier, completing one of Smash’s greatest Cinderella runs. Unfortunately for Kiyarash, their back-and-forth set ended in a last-stock game 5 loss, and his night ended in the losers bracket at the hands of the eventual silver medalist, Onin.
Kiyarash’s career arc follows some of Smash’s most popular players. There are players who attend locally but travel to majors very little, there are players who lack consistency but have demonstrated the capacity to explode for performances that are only seen from the highest echelon, and there are players that burst into the public eye. If he continues down this path of improvement, Kiyarash has the potential to become one of America’s darlings for years to come.
— James “Doxazo” Rivers
