Daily Esports is proud to partner with Liam “Cloudhead” Estes, Mitch “Tacos” Blake, and “Dexy” to bring you the WWRv4! The Wi-fi Warrior Rank rates 50 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players based on their performances at online tournaments. Check out the Wi-fi Warrior Rank Discord to find out more about Smash Ultimate‘s competitive online scene.
Today, the WWRv4 comes to its exciting conclusion as we recognize the top 10 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Wi-fi Warriors. These players have worked hard all season to put up the best results possible in online tournaments. Now, we can finally see which 10 players made the cut.
WWRv4: 10-1
After finishing 2018 with a blistering upward trajectory, Mason “Frawg” Ray entered Ultimate in the same predicament as many former top tier mains. With Bayonetta nerfed, he spent the beginning of the year experimenting with several different characters. However, none suited him quite as well, and he missed the WWR for the first time since its inception. By the start of the WWRv4 season, however, something had clicked with his tried and true blue Bayonetta. Truly, that dedication paid off in spades.
He began on the right foot, placing 2nd at JMSF #7, taking wins over Conway, enhancedpv, and Sword. Standout placings at A-tiers weren’t far off, as he defeated Bloom4Eva on the way to 5th at SL’s Anniversary tournament. He finished just as strong as he’d begun at Relaxing Station, as he took down Jakamu, BattlePuP, and Sparg0 en route to 4th place at the final A-tier of the season.
Utilizing Bayo to her full potential, Frawg’s success flies in the face of those who wrote her off as an unsalvageable low tier. His dedication earned him the #10 spot, his highest on any iteration of the WWR so far. He shows no signs of slowing down amidst a rapidly shifting metagame. Not only remembering his roots but wielding them to perfection, Frawg doesn’t need a top tier to send his opponents flying every witch way.
The longer you’ve been in the online scene, the more familiar you’re sure to be with Markus “ShinyMark” Florido, and the less surprised you’ll be to see him at #9 on the WWRv4. He has been one of the scene’s strongest players since the earliest days of Naifu Wars. ShinyMark returns for a second bout in the top 10 after finishing Smash 4 in 7th place.
The first result of his season also ended up as one of his biggest at SOS: Hardcover Volume 1. There, he got 3rd place, defeating MarktheSDKing, TheMightyDialga, and RobinGG. He also took a key tournament win at Lag Spike: Spikesgiving. ShinyMark went from inexplicably unseeded to decidedly victorious, with wins over Sharp, Frawg, and king_chris. He used his wide character pool to his advantage, turning opponents on their head with Pit, Pikachu, and even the midseason-released Banjo. Notably, ShinyMark used Banjo & Kazooie to 3-0 king_chris in their aforementioned set.
As one of the legends of the Wi-fi scene, ShinyMark has his sights set much further than just online competition. He hopes to travel and represent Guatemala across a much wider scale. With the reputation he’s built, a big break seems to be a question of when, not if. But along the way, ShinyMark looks to remain a contender for the WWR’s top 10, season in and season out.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. After being unranked in the first season of Ultimate, a Mr. Game & Watch main becomes one of the best in his respective scene and debuts in the top 10 for the next season. That was the story for “sebayeeeee”, whose rise to the top in no time flat brings him to #8.
Few players made themselves at home in any one place as sebayeeeee did at the Straight Outta Smashville series. After a solid 13th place finish at their first Hardcover, he showed up big at Volume 2. There, sebayeeeee won the whole event, taking out Pokelam and chase and double-eliminating Sharp. While he would be outdueled at the next Volume, he still made it all the way to grands. He defeated SuperStriker and enhancedpv, and he reset the bracket against Sword before finally falling in 2nd place.
Perhaps all sebayeeeee missed this season was a stellar A-tier showing. Despite a strong record of three 9ths and a 13th at A-tiers, he never broke into top 8. With what will likely be a greatly expanded WWRv5 season in terms of tournaments, he seems poised for a deep run at one of the big events. For now, sebayeeeee stands as one of the most improved players between seasons. He heads into the next as the most terrifying denizen of the second dimension.
Some matches just seem made in heaven. Peanut butter and jelly. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. The WWR’s write-ups and god-awful puns. Though it took a while for them to find each other after Ultimate‘s release, George “Sword” Ramos and his trusty Chrom have certainly earned their way onto that list, as well as into the #7 spot on the WWRv4.
Sword’s accolades this season include a victory at the B-tier SOS: Hardcover Volume 3. At that event, he defeated TR teammates Hydra and sebayeeeee, the latter in double-elimination fashion. His season was littered with similar high finishes at B-tiers. Among them were 3rd place at JMSF #9 and ECLIPSE: Homecoming, plus 4th at JMSF #7 and The Harmony 2. Players like chase, enhancedpv, king_chris, and more filled out his win list across his wide array of events this season.
Now one of the most well-known players in the online scene and the definitive best Chrom, Sword has taken his game to never-before-seen heights this year. Ending 2019 solidly within the top 10, it’s up to him to see how much higher he can climb. Despite the magnitude of the challenge, with his ever-growing skill and his ever-potent character in Chrom, it’s safe to say he’s ready to take a stab at it.
For Brent “enhancedpv” Davis, this season was notably different from the last. He was no longer the upstart Cloud, stepping into the spotlight with a meteoric rise to the top echelon. Instead, he was in that spotlight from the beginning, fighting to stay there. Luckily for him, one thing that didn’t change this season was his incredible skill. He proved he’s far from a one-ranking wonder, keeping his momentum going into the #6 spot on the WWRv4.
First impressions are always important, and 2nd place at the first A-tier of the season is certainly a big one. On the way to silver at TLT: Take The Throne Edition, enhancedpv defeated Conway and Riley and double-eliminated Pokelam. He only fell in two sets to the event’s winner, RobinGG. He continued by taking The Harmony over Urameshi in grands, winning his sole B-tier of the season. Other highlights included 3rd place at B-tier Lag Spike: Merry Smashmas and a 1st-place finish at C-tier ROSS 6. Largely, this is because he took one set over king_chris at each.
Thanks to the addition of a secondary Wolf and help here and there from his old main Diddy, enhancedpv is growing more versatile and more dangerous. With a #15 rank in his home region of MD/VA and an academy sponsorship from Nevermore, he’s quickly building a strong reputation across the board. There are only so many spots left to climb on the WWR. But you can bet enhancedpv has his sights set at the very top. He’s one of the best candidates to get there in due time.
With a metagame as volatile as Ultimate‘s, and a playerbase as shifting as Wi-fi’s, there’s bound to be more turnover on the rankings here than anywhere else. Few players can claim to have returned to the top 50 this season from the last. Fewer still can boast of being on all four editions of the WWR. And only one holds the distinction of rising up the ranks through every single iteration. From 24th to 11th to 8th, and now finally to 5th place on the WWRv4, Noah “Sharp” M. rides to the top 5 on the back of an outstanding season.
He took his biggest tournament win at ECLIPSE: Homecoming. At this B-tier, he defeated sebayeeeee and Sword and double-eliminate Hydra to take the crown. Later, at the final A-tier of the season, he turned in another standout performance with a 2nd place finish at Relaxing Station. There, he took out Rinku, sebayeeeee, Frawg, and finally king_chris. Only his fellow New Englander Raffi-X was able to best him. Earning a host of strong results and wins with his duo of blonde bombshells, Sharp’s #5 standing should come as a surprise to no one.
As the calendar turns its pages to 2020, Sharp has expanded his already-wide character pool. He is pivoting to focus more on Joker, a move that has already earned him early success. No matter which character he chooses, though, his talent is undeniable. Sharp is one of the few players who is truly a threat to win any event he enters. Whenever we next see New England’s #9 player, chances are he’ll make his way straight to the top once again.
Robin “RobinGG” Gronau may have floated under your radar this season, with a surprisingly low tournament count of three. But if he did, chances are it’s because you didn’t come to any of them. One of only two players this season to win two A-tier tournaments, he takes #4 on the WWRv4. In addition, RobinGG stands as the highest-placing member of the WWR’s perfect attendance club.
At the beginning of the season, things looked nothing short of peachy for Robin. His two A-tier wins came at the first two of the season. At TLT: Take The Throne Edition, he defeated Bloom4Eva and twice bested enhancedpv in Winners and Grand Finals. One month later, at Straight Outta Smashville: Hardcover Volume 1, he mowed down Slay, Atticus, and Middy; defeated enhancedpv once more; and twice more took down Bloom4Eva to win with a lengthy losers run. However, his pace would soon slow down, not in quality but in quantity. A silver medal at B-tier JMSF #9 two months later was his only other event of the season.
While his 1st-place-bound trajectory eventually leveled out, #4 is hardly a ranking one has to settle for. A daunting opponent both online and off, RobinGG continues to build a legacy that already seems to scrape the sky. If he makes the best of what looks like a big v5 season in the works, the sky’s the limit. As Wi-fi’s best Peach four seasons running, he’s always prepared to take the crown.
There are times when trying to plan for character matchups just doesn’t work anymore. In general, finding out Oliver “Bloom4Eva” Alexander is in your path is probably one of those times. A master of more characters than we have room for on our playercards, Bloom4Eva rode all the way to #3 on the WWRv4. He clocks in as the highest-ranked newcomer on a ranking chock-full of them.
His results seemed to pick up toward the end of last season, but few could have predicted the ones he garnered this time around. Top 3 finishes at A-tier tournaments like SOS: Hardcover Volume 1 and Smash Legends #3 are major reasons for his high finish. Across those two tournaments, he took sets over Middy, ShinyMark, Slay, and many more. The cherry on top came in the final days of the WWRv4 season, at The Harmony 2. With primarily Rosalina, he defeated Sword and IcyMist, and most notably double-eliminated both king_chris and Atticus back-to-back. In doing so, Bloom4Eva won the B-tier event from losers.
The term “rising star” is easy to overuse, but with Bloom4Eva’s meteoric rise, perhaps “shooting star” is the proper term. This quintessential master of diversity will aim to climb the few spots he has left in the coming seasons. While the challenge will be great, it’s hard to prepare for someone like him. If he can keep balancing his runs through bracket with his wide cast of characters, he’ll remain one of the deadliest names the scene has to offer.
Iconic Smash Twitter personality. Founder of his very own online weekly. Perhaps one of the best Shulk players in the world. All these accolades and more belong to Nick “Dusty_Carpet” V., and with this final reveal, he adds one more. He is now the #2 player on the WWRv4.
Dusty_Carpet is of only two players who can fill up his entire player card with 1st place finishes. Dominating nearly every event he attended, he took first at four different B-tier events: SCS Circuit Championship, Merry Smashmas, SnR’s Charity Monthly, and the Zenith Online Monthly. Over the course of the season, he took sets over Bloom4Eva, enhancedpv, Sparg0, Sword, and several more. Perhaps most notably, he double-eliminated king_chris at the SnR Charity Monthly.
Nothing demonstrates Dusty_Carpet’s skill better than his 21-3 win-loss record versus the top 50. Not only is that 88% win rate tied with Raffi-X’s for the highest on the WWR – and arguably tie-broken by virtue of more total sets – two of his losses are against players he still has winning records on. Only one player, Slay, was able to take a set against Dusty_Carpet this season without him getting revenge in the runback. And for what it’s worth, chances are Dusty_Carpet will be eager to fix that upon learning this fact.
By now, most people in the Smash scene at large know Dusty_Carpet’s name. This is only natural for someone with as varied a resume as his. With scattered upsets at majors and even a PGR win to his name, he looks on his way to a big kind of breakout in the new year. From the WWR’s perspective, it’s hard to predict the fate of players like Dusty_Carpet, who are good enough to have already started making a name for themselves offline. But one thing is for sure. as long as he stays to defend it, anyone looking to usurp Dusty_Carpet’s top 2 WWRv4 spot will have to go through his Monado to do it. Or, more likely, the Monado will go through them.
Unlike most offline rankings, the WWR represents such a rapidly changing player base that consistency is relatively rare. This season’s top 10 features only three players who were there the previous season. For the top 20, it’s only nine. Most dedicated players in the scene know that by now, and take unpredictable rises and falls with grains of salt. So it spoke to this player’s incredible skill when he became the first person in WWR history to take the top spot two seasons in a row. Even more, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single soul who didn’t expect it. For the first time ever, the WWRv4’s returning champion is none other than Chris “king_chris” B.
His season picked up right where his last one left off, with incredible dominance at every turn. He was one of two players to win multiple A-tier tournaments, doing so at SL’s 2 Year Anniversary and Ultimate Naifu Wars #6. These were the two highest-tiered events of the season. His nine tournament wins are as many as the rest of the top five combined. His 50 wins versus the WWR top 50 – an average of just over one win against every other player – are twice as many as the next closest competitor. It isn’t easy to follow up a #1 season, much less to improve on it. However, king_chris’s past six months make it a convincing argument to say he did just that.
With a multi-season streak finally intact, no longer are there questions of whether or not someone’s good enough to hold onto the #1 spot. It turns out king_chris is the epitome of good enough. So long as there are prizes to be won, he’ll be there to claim them, with his impenetrable Zero Suit Samus always at the ready. For all his accomplishments, he’s not without challengers. There are those with winning records over him in the WWRv4 season, and more still who have taken a set or even multiple from him. However, to dethrone a king, you need to keep winning consistently. And in a scene where consistency is among the rarest qualities of all, king_chris has figured it out to a T. All reigns come to an end someday, but for king_chris, that day doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon.
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On behalf of the WWR team, I’d like to thank Dylan “Dilly-Jo” Tate and www.dailyesports.gg for bringing us on and hosting us on this outstanding website. Extra thanks to Dilly-Jo for co-writing and editing these WWRv4 reveals! For all the stress that making player cards and write-ups brings, I’ve never looked forward to reveals more than this season. Hope we can do this again in six months!
While there were definitely some bumps in the road this season, and many things we wish we’d done better, there’s no such thing as a bad season when we have a scene full of this many great people. I said it once before, but I’d like to repeat it here: thank you to everyone who supported us, everyone who criticized us, and above all, everyone who did both this season. The wonderful people I’ve gotten to meet through this ranking continue to remind me why we started this ranking in the first place: because this is an amazing community that deserves the best. And though I don’t think we can claim to be the best just yet, I’d like to believe we’re on our way. Thank you to everyone who believes in us, too. We really, genuinely couldn’t do any of this without you.
From the kid-turned-technically-adult who still can’t go to his locals, thank you to Wi-fi for being my home region.
Here’s to the WWRv5 being the best one yet.
– Cloudhead
Published: Jan 31, 2020 01:35 am