Smash Ultimate Power Rankings: Release — Genesis
The end of Genesis 6 makes for a good time to begin Smash Ultimate power rankings. The game has now had three majors in Let’s Make Moves (which I unfortunately missed!), Smash Conference United and Glitch on top of one supermajor: Genesis.
Additionally, the game has transitioned to a new patch. Patch 2.0.0 came out less than a week before Genesis, ensuring Genesis would be the last tournament with launch balance. This gives us an opportunity to look back at who fared the best from 1.0.0 to 2.0.0.
While they won’t be the only tournaments considered in the creation of these rankings, the majors will hold greater value in player placement with Genesis holding the greatest weight of all.
- MKLeo
On top of winning the biggest tournament in Ultimate’s short history, he also won Smash Conference United and finished fourth at Glitch. He switched off of Ike to Lucina for the grand finals and showed off his ability to play other Fire Emblem swordsman just as effectively as Ike. He has carried his momentum from Smash 4 into Ultimate with ease.
2. Tweek
Despite finishing ninth at Genesis, Tweek has earned the second spot through dominating much of the opening few months of Ultimate. He closed out Let’s Make Moves with a 3–0 and Glitch with a 3–1. Following his descent into losers’ after a close 3–2 set with ESAM, Tweek had to go through a gauntlet of opponents in consecutive matches. He beat Glutonny and Shuton — two of the top players from outside of North America — before finally falling to Dabuz.
3. Samsora
Three through five in these power rankings are incredibly close and ultimately I decided Samsora was the best fit for the third spot. Samsora gets marks for consistency: he has finished in the top six of all three tournaments he has participated in. In his last two tournaments — top three finishes at both SCU and Genesis — it took top-ranked MKLeo to ultimately eliminate him.
4. Dabuz
Dabuz should also be praised for his consistency as he has finished in the top six of every tournament he has entered, as well. The difference is Dabuz has had a slightly worse average finish in majors/supermajors and lost to Samsora the one time they met each other in bracket — an elimination game at SCU. It’s worth noting Dabuz’s last six matches at Genesis incredibly tough, featuring MVD, MKLeo, Tweek, Cosmos and zackray. He beat all of them but MKLeo, who ultimately double-eliminated him.
5. VoiD
With two tournament wins prior to Genesis and a second-place finish at the game’s only supermajor, there is a compelling argument to place VoiD higher in the rankings. In fact, VoiD was placed third in the first draft of these rankings. However, neither of VoiD’s wins were at majors and both tournaments lacked any other players ranked in this top 10. His lone major outside of Genesis, LMM, saw him finish ninth after being eliminated by Samsora. If VoiD replicates his Genesis performance at Frostbite, he’ll be moved up without hesitation.
6. zackray
zackray looked unbeatable after the first two days of Genesis, only losing a single game before making it to the winners’ semifinal. That was until his Wolf met VoiD’s Pichu and then Dabuz’s Olimar directly after. zackray will likely only get better with time, and while a good argument could be made that he deserves a higher placing just by virtue of how dominant he was until he lost, he will certainly rise in the rankings over time anyway.
7. Light
Light, much like Samsora and Dabuz before him, has yet to finish outside of a top six. The only reason he isn’t in the top five is because I felt it was a disservice to place VoiD and zackray any lower than they are already. However, if Light can continue to stay within the top six at actual tournaments it will be impossible to keep him outside of the top six in a rankings list.
8. Nairo
Despite a disappointing 17th-place finish at Genesis, Nairo has put up good results so far in Ultimate. A second place finish at Glitch and a fourth place finish at LMM — both tournaments Tweek won — have established Nairo is just as much of a threat in Ultimate as he was in Smash 4. He will be looking to rebound from his Genesis performance at Frostbite.
9. Shuton
Shuton has only been eliminated in tournaments by the best of the best. After winning Japan’s first Umebura, he finished second in Umebura SP2 to zackray — the tournament where the rest of the world first took notice of the young Wolf superstar. Then, at Genesis he was knocked into losers’ by VoiD (who did not lose a Genesis set until MKLeo reset the bracket in grand finals) and was later eliminated by Tweek. It takes a certain caliber of player to beat Shuton, therefore earning him a place in the top 10 despite few tournament results.
10. Glutonny
It was hard for me to pick a player for the 10th spot, but ultimately I decided on Glutonny. Despite what some may say about penguins, it’s worth noting that he won both major European tournaments he played in before crossing the Atlantic to play in Genesis. On top of that, Glutonny was making a lower bracket run before running into Tweek to end his Genesis with a 17th-place finish. He’ll need to play in more tournaments stateside to prove himself and remain in the top 10.
Honorable Mentions: Salem, Larry Lurr, ESAM, MVD, ZD and Cosmos
These players are knocking on the door of the top 10 because of consistent results, high peaks, or defining results. Salem has placed consistently at majors, Larry Lurr earned a third place finish at LMM, ESAM beat Tweek en route to a top eight at the biggest tournament in Ultimate’s lifespan, MVD finished fourth at SCU on top of 13th at Genesis, ZD earned top eights at two majors before his disappointing 33rd-place finish at Genesis and Cosmos has improved with every major to finish the ranking timeline with a top eight finish at Genesis.
With that, the first edition of the Scrub Smash Rankings (SSR) has concluded. Future power rankings will take place after notable milestones such as a major balance patch, a premier tournament or five majors have been played since the last power rankings.
