HDRank 2024: 6-10
HDRank 2024 is a list of North America's best HewDraw Remix players in the year 2024. From February 17th to February 26th, the top 50 HDR players will be revealed as we celebrate their accomplishments this past season.
#10: Beast
Photo Credit: @YoStayFun
Barely missing the top 10 of HDRank in 2023 left a scar on Beast, but that motivated him to reach the goal that he fell short of last season. The solo Charizard main had a statement to make as, just like in Ultimate, Beast doesn’t need any badges for his Charizard to listen to his commands.
Beast had an explosive start with an impressive 9th at Gigaton Hammer 2 with wins on Ultimate player Epic_Gabriel, Chrismus, and Mlarcin. Beast kept that momentum as Flamethrower torched his opponents on his way to a clean sweep victory at Failsafe Winter 2024 beating GatorHotFire, Solarbeam, rice, and JM1-3 without dropping a set. Although there are no Pokémon Leagues in the real world, Collision’s HDR shadow major Aftershock might as well be one. With his eyes set on first Beast took down Elite 4 members Rex, Papaya, Mlarcin in their respective Pokémon battles. This led to a showdown between Beast and reigning champion from 2023, Frozen. Although Beast was up 2-0 during the set, Frozen decided to showcase the HDR champion difference and won the set 3-2. Although Beast’s run ended at 4th place, he was happy with his performance, calling it “a good ass day.”
With more determination than ever Beast knew what his next goal was: winning Supernova 2024’s shadow major The Underground, the same event he placed 2nd at in 2023. With perfect IVs, Beast’s Charizard took down TimPrater, Anchor, Face, and Ant to take home the gold. On that day Beast was both a Pokémon Master and a champion. Rounding off the year with more impressive results, Beast showed us that one thing is for certain—he wants to be the very best, like no one ever was.
~ GatorHotFire
#9: Kamex
With the meta of HDR constantly changing, the era of Duck Hunt was long ago. Even Kamex, who was loyal to man’s best friend, knew he had to make a change if he wanted to continue competing with the best. With a new main for most of 2024, Kamex was one of two people who competed in all five HDR majors of 2024 and showed he had something to prove.
Struggling to adjust to the Duck Hunt changes, Kamex decided it was time to focus on his secondary Jigglypuff. With a new duo in hand Kamex placed well at the start of the year, but nothing compared to his previous success in 2023. Win or lose, Kamex normally wears a straight face, but after suffering a loss to Kumatora for top eight at [bae], an unknown sight appeared—Kamex, motionless at the setup, put his hands on his face with distraught. At that moment, a fire ignited inside of him that no one was ready for.
At the following event Creed III, Kamex defeated Face before losing to Arhungry early on in bracket. This loss led to Kamex to go on a generational loser’s run, taking down Abs, Jut, GatorHotFire, and Anchor before losing to Arhungry again for third place. Kamex didn’t stop there, as he traveled across the border to attend GOML’s shadow major, where he took down the king of Ontario Rongunshu for another podium finish, yet it was not enough to satisfy Kamex. Finally, at the end of the year, everything came together at Beachin. Taking down Project+ veteran Nogh, as well as Abs, Beast, and Papaya twice, Kamex finally secured a victory that eluded him all year, popping off loud enough that everyone in the venue had to take notice of him. No longer does Kamex need to hide his face in distraught as that person is long gone—instead a new winner who leaves everything on the table, whether it's his gameplay or his emotions, was born.
~ GatorHotFire
#8: Kumatora
Photo Credit: @breathlessx22
Completing the second half of New England’s squid duo, Kumatora ascended to new heights this past year. She immediately started the year strong at Gigaton Hammer 2, earning wins on Kamex and Air Gordon on her way to a 13th place finish. Kumatora continued her success at home by winning Stick Drift 2 and 3, the latter of which included a 15 game battle against Juanpi before ultimately taking home the crown, before capping off 2024’s first quarter by defeating Rex and Kamex at [bae]. It seemed improbable for Kumatora to keep up with her early year results, but she would prove to do just that.
Some of HDR’s strongest players would fall to the best Inkling in the world as Kumatora defeated essy, LuckyBee, Air Gordon, Anchor, and Arhungry during her runs at Undertow and Infrared. Kumatora’s commitment to HDR goes far beyond simply playing the game—she offers a place to stay for players traveling to New England events, while also streaming events live and posting matches to YouTube under the New England HDR social media accounts. It doesn’t take long to find something Kumatora has worked on when involved with the competitive HDR scene, helping bring awareness to the game in New England and beyond.
While her past shines bright, Kumatora’s future looks even brighter after her 3rd place finish at this year’s Gigaton Hammer 3 in January. If this is a sign of what’s to come in 2025, expect to see Kumatora near the top of this list yet again.
~ Anchor
#7: Anchor
Photo Credit: @EllieJellieeee
Improvement is one of the many terms that describes Anchor in the year 2024. This applies in many different ways for the Captain Falcon specialist—whether it’s slowly accumulating national attendance in Melee or figuring out more P+ gimmicks,nabbing some solid wins in both games. When it comes to HDR, Anchor evolved and reached a new level. He started the year off strong at Gigaton Hammer 2, getting 4th place while defeating familiar Tristate monsters Air Gordon, Beast, and Jut, as well as Louisiana’s C. Falcon.
Traveling all over Tristate, New England, and even a visit to Ohio and Ontario, Anchor solidified himself as one of the best in the nation, despite a few off days. At his last tournament of the year, Infrared, he zipped past GatorHotFire and Arhungry before losing to the Beast in winners semis. Not wanting to end his run there, Anchor put Douglas to work and climbed through Switch and Chrismus, conquered Beast in the runback in losers finals, before taking Papaya to the grand finals reset and acquiring the silver medal.
There’s no question Anchor proved his strength as a player, but another aspect of Anchor’s improvement aside from his competitive Smash career is as an outstanding community leader and TO. He has been a beacon of light for the Smash community as a whole, especially HDR. The New Jersey resident would be at almost every Tristate major tournament, running an HDR side bracket that would become a HDRank event. His contributions not only helped to enrich Tristate’s attendance, but also HDR’s overall competitive scene.
When looking at HDR in the upcoming year, the trustworthy diva community leader will continue carrying HDR’s competitive legacy, improving and dominating as the Ace Captain Falcon.
~ Re:Cupid
#6: Mr. Mojo Risin'
A master of many characters and a titan of HDRank’s inaugural rankings makes his return this year in Mr. Mojo Risin’. After solidifying himself as a major threat last year with an amazing #2 ranking on the 2023 HDRank, the Prince of New York looked a bit more human this time around. While Mojo still held strong results early in the year, the established Cloud god bled more and more as the season progressed. In the ever changing landscape of HDR, each character’s viability and how they function are always up in the air. With Cloud and Ganondorf receiving big changes to their tools, Mojo did some soul searching for other characters and saw other legendary swordsmen step out in Link and Sora, as well as another foray into the cosmos with Wolf. Despite his efforts, the heights Mojo reached last season would not be the same in 2024.
While some might be fooled by these setbacks, he is still a lethal competitor and is not to be taken lightly. With an ever expanding army of characters and new tricks every bracket he enters, who knows what he will do next. HDR is a volatile game and scene, with new names and faces finding their way into brackets at every event. It can be hard to keep up, especially when many characters are constantly altered. Mojo is already showing that he isn’t letting these fallings affect him at all in 2025 with his win on Frozen at Gigaton Hammer 3, and we can expect to see him live up to his tag and rise back to the top.
~ Mr.Watch&Learn
Check back tomorrow for the reveal of ranks 1-5!
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