HDRank 2024: 11-20
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.
#20: Rice
If there’s one character you see the most in the Tristate region, it’s Falco. The area’s overflowing with them, with players like Air Gordon, Fabiio, Papaya, all showing off what the blue bird’s capable of. But the region also has a fourth Falco that’s hidden in the shadows, that being Rice.
Due to his job being late at night, Rice’s bracket appearances are sparse but still amazing. Starting off the year at Gigaton Hammer 2, Rice beat Rex, Unknown, and Jut to earn himself 7th place at this season’s biggest event. Just two weeks later, Rice would score a 3rd place finish at Failsafe Winter 2024, beating JM1-3 and Abs in the process. His last event of the year would be Aftershock, earning 7th at another major while taking out Mlarcin and fellow Falco Fabiio in the process, ending his season.
Having outstanding performances at the start of the year, one could only wonder how many more top 8’s Rice could’ve made throughout the rest of the season had he traveled to more events. But with those three tournaments early in 2024, Rice has cemented himself as one of this season’s most notable cameo appearances.
~ Androos
#19: Ant
Making his first appearance on the HDRank is Jacksonville’s very own Ant! After starting the year by winning Blocked the Schmix over Kryu and Sinbad, the Caniac made the switch from his viral Hbox-owning Mewtwo to Isabelle. The bell-headed dog reeled in wins over Anchor, Ravenking, and Face, all happening at his first out-of-region event earning him 2nd place at Supernova’s shadow major The Underground. At the same event he also earned top 8 for Rivals 2, telling everyone that he knows ball across the platfighter genre.
Since Supernova, Ant has since put all of his eggs into the Rivals 2 basket, initially using Fleet but later dropping her for Ranno to earn some amazing results while patiently waiting for Absa’s release. It comes to nobody’s surprise that Ant’s flexibility with different characters shines again in another platform fighter. Despite his shift to Rivals, there’s no doubt he’ll still be seen in the HDR corner at Rivals majors in the future.
~ Androos
#18: JM1-3
Photo Credit: @th3italianpanda
It’s not a surprise that Tristate warrior JM1-3 made his way back onto the rankings this year, especially after finishing last year with a 9th place finish at Undertow 2023. Despite his greater passion for Rivals Workshop and his recent pursuit in Rivals 2, JM1-3 was very active in attending eight HDR events this season.
JM1-3 had an uncharacteristic weak performance at the start of the year with Isabelle compared to the end of last year, but it led to a “Cinderella” glow up with a full character swap to Pokemon Trainer, or for JM1-3, Solo Squirtle! Immediately following the change, JM1-3 ended the month with two back-to-back silver medals at Failsafe and Showtime with the water type Pokemon. Travelling through the different corners of Tristate, his Squirtle continued placing well at regionals. JM1-3 ended his season with another solid Undertow performance, where he not only won the Rivals Workshop bracket, but also placed 17th in HDR, defeating Midwest’s Tyroy and TimPrater and Washington’s Re:Cupid in the process.
It seems that the Pennsylvania resident intends to continue his platform fighter passions—the question is which game he will focus on. No matter the answer, it’s clear that JM1-3 will be a competitive threat in any video game he has his sights on.
~ Re:Cupid
#17: Ravenking
Photo Credit: @JOEYFIGHTING
Ravenking follows up his world tour of dominance we saw in 2023 with a much more modest season this time around. With his focus on Smash Ultimate for 2024, his activity at HDR tournaments is on the shorter side. However, despite not being the HDR bracket fiend many watched last season, Ravenking still had a great competitive season when compared to the field. Starting off his year at Gigaton Hammer 2 with a win on Rex, one of 2024’s stand out stars, he continued his solid quarter with a top 8 finish at Frosty Faustings XVI.
After February, the Joker main took a long break from major tournaments until his return at The Underground, Supernova’s HDR shadow tournament. Despite the gap on his resume, Ravenking was able to still crack the top 4 and while getting a win on TimPrater in the process. Ravenking then closed out his season with some major wins at one of the most stacked events of the year, Undertow 2024. In Ohio, he was able to get his runback on two Tristate mainstays who had his number in the year prior, Mr. Mojo Risin’ and Beast. With clean victories against Mangachu and Billy Schilly during this run as well, adding to his case for still being one of HDR’s best.
~ 22james
#16: Kero
New England is well-known for their seafood, and for good reason: two squids have been at the top of the region’s HDR food chain throughout 2024, and Kero is one half of that deadly pair. As the current number one player on the region’s power rankings, alongside a winning record on fellow New Englanders Kumatora and LuckyBee, Kero remains the person to beat in the northeast. Winning three regionals at home in a single year is a difficult task, especially in a region with some of HDR’s most talented players.
His most impressive tournament run, however, happened in foreign waters—specifically at the Kalahari Waterpark for Undertow. It’s only fitting that the Hatsune Miku Inkling plunged deep into the bracket as Kero earned wins on Mlarcin, JM1-3, and Ravenking on his way to a 9th place finish at the biggest event of the year.
Always keeping a keen eye on HDR’s changing meta, Kero has more than a few characters in his pockets, including Zero Suit Samus and Cloud picks that have earned him much success in-region. Anyone who sits down with him for some games will quickly learn Inkling is only a drop in the bucket for his character pool. Kero will casually farm a rotation while explaining which characters he thinks are the strongest and giving a real time demonstration each match. His knowledge about the cast is just like many of the characters he plays: top tier.
~ Anchor
#15: Face
Once again taking care of business both on and off the sticks, Face finds himself inside the top 20 of this season’s HDRank. The longtime tournament organizer and mod game competitor started the year off strong with a 5th place finish at the biggest tournament of the year Gigaton Hammer 2, taking down Unknown and a trio of the game’s best Falcos including Papaya and rice. Attending a whopping seven events in the first quarter of the year, Face was normally found at any Tristate event with an HDR bracket, even providing some necessary setups for another Tristate major in Aftershock. While his attendance dwindled as regionals in Tristate became more rare, his focus shifted towards working behind the scenes at some of Smash’s biggest events.
In fact, it wasn’t until the day of GOML’s shadow major that Face found out there was an HDR bracket in the venue, as he was solely focused on his production duties for the event. Finding the time to dip in front of the curtain, Face defeated Riz, Switch, and NadiA on his way to another 5th place finish at a major. He would once again repeat this success while working double time at The Underground, claiming wins on Ant and Ravenking while running the event out of his hotel room and during Supernova’s final brackets.
No matter the circumstances, Face can overcome some of HDR’s best players while maintaining a level of consistency rarely seen at HDR’s top level. That consistency carries over to his doubles performances as well, where he and Mr. Mojo Risin’ take the crown at just about any doubles bracket they enter. With all of his accomplishments in 2024, Face had just one thing to say: “I Love Teams <3”.
~ Anchor
#14: Tyroy
One of Smash’s most seasoned competitors across multiple titles, Tyroy has been quietly stacking wins throughout the last couple years in HewDraw Remix. The Meta Knight and Piranha Plant main landed just outside of the top 50 in the 2023 HDRank season, making his season one of the biggest glow ups of 2024. He’s also been a dominant threat to his local scene of Chicago, ending many seasons in the top 3 of their PR when hitting activity requirements.
Tyroy’s 2024 season started off with a modest top 8 finish at Frosty Faustings XVI, with losses to Tristate invader Mlarcin and fellow Chicago competitor Terrion. However, Tyroy finally got the respect hedeserves in HDR at Undertow 2024, when he landed in the top 8 of one of the most stacked events of all time. Waterfall pools gave Tyroy a whopping 16 sets played total, with a laundry list of wins on HDR’s finest: SoftAsSilque, Papaya, Birthdayninja, Ozma, Chrismus, and stingers. This insane run wouldn’t have made it out of pools in a typical bracket style, but waterfall gave Tyroy a chance to face off and win against some of the greatest players in the scene. Tyroy’s cinderella run ended at fourth place, capping off one of the craziest runs of the year and potentially the history of competitive HDR.
To end off the season, Tyroy secured 2nd place at Smash of the Titans 9 against other Midwest staples, only losing to the region’s best player in Frosty. Despite not entering many tournaments in the last two years, he’s still got one of the best resumes of wins in the competitive scene. It’s been a real rollercoaster to keep up with this Midwest Smash legend in HDR, but 2024 proved he needs to be given his flowers.
~ 22james
#13: Chrismus
The days of being Tristate’s hidden boss are long gone as Chrismus made himself known at some of HDR’s biggest events in 2024. Even before his meteoric rise this past year, any Tristate player would quickly tell you how Chrismus’ Fox presses every possible advantage with some of the best tech skill the game has to offer. However, with Chrismus unable to compete at many events due to his job, he had few opportunities to prove himself in the past. After a 17th place finish at Gigaton Hammer 2 in January, it would take eight months before Chrismus competed again, this time showing his full potential.
At Undertow, Chrismus would torch a path to top 8 by defeating JM1-3, TimPrater, Kamex, and Asashi, becoming one of the four Tristate representatives to make the final bracket stage. The other three players? Frozen, Rex, and Arhungry. As if that wasn’t enough to cement himself in the record books, Chrismus would travel to Massachusetts for Infrared a month later, where he earned another Kamex win and defeated Kumatora on his way to a 4th place finish.
Despite only having a few opportunities to attend tournaments, Chrismus is always lurking in the shadows grinding HDR. If Chrismus is given the chance to attend more events in the future, he’ll always be a threat to make a deep run while beating some of the best along the way.
~ Anchor
#12: Mlarcin
Photo Credit: @RellFGC
There's an old saying that goes that “you can't teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, the appointed “gramps” of New Jersey and Lucario main Mlarcin has a thing to say about that. With an impressive jump from his 35th place debut on 2023’s HDRank, Mlarcin continues to make a name for himself and raise the bar when it comes to Pokemon’s Master of Aura. Due to the early development life of HDR, characters are ever changing and Lucario is among those characters that has seen a few iterations as the year progressed. Despite his furry friend going through multiple reworks, Mlarcin not only maintained a level of consistency in his tournament showings, he excelled. One such bracket was his highlight event of Frosty Faustings . Mlarcin as the sole Tristate invader would demonstrate the might of the northeast and make easy work of the midwest defenders, including #3 on 2023’s HDRank Ozma, causing a shake up early on to the freshly unveiled rankings.
Mlarcin is one of the core members of the Tristate HDR community, often assembling a squad of Tristate’s best to descend upon New Jersey’s local on any given Monday.Keeping competition fresh and fierce with a flare of friendly banter and always looking to improve his gameplay, Mlarcin constantly strives to take his place upon the throne as the King of New Jersey. Mlarcin and his Lucario, alongside his polished Kirby and Pichu, looks to make 2025 an even stronger year for himself. Whether you’re sitting down to face him bracket or turning up the heat in one of his famous Hot Sauce matches, you best be ready to take your best shot.
~ Mr.Watch&Learn
#11: stingers
With a character pool akin to a Mario Kart item box, anyone who’s played against stingers knows he can pick up and play nearly any character at a tournament level. Making his second appearance on HDRank, stingers started the year with Samus, taking sets over Kero and Papaya at Gigaton Hammer 2 to secure his first supermajor top 8 appearance in 2024. He later revealed more of his bag of tricks at Undertow in September, with his run consisting of Robin, Ice Climbers, and Yoshi to beat Mr. Watch&Learn, Papaya, and Rex. Earning himself a 5th place finish, he joined Frozen as the only other player to make top 8 at this season’s only two supermajors.
Now with a newborn baby to take care of, stingers has put HDR on the backburner, only making appearances at the occasional local or monthly after his performance at Undertow. It’s unknown if he’ll make another major appearance in the future, but one thing’s for certain: you won’t know who his next character pick will be.
~ Androos
Check back on Monday for the reveal of ranks 6-10!
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