HDRank 2024: 21-30
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.
#30: LuckyBee
LuckyBee clocks in on the 2024 HDRank as one of the most consistent players in the game. Across all her tournaments, she picked up wins on most of New England’s best, including Dew2, Trusted, Exciled, B.S, and Kumatora across events like Stick Drift 2, Granite State Grind, and Terminal Velocity. Her only losses along the way were to her rivals Kero and Kumatora.
However, it’s her performances at majors that really make her season shine. At Undertow, she showed the HDR scene that she can hang with the best by making it into top cut of the most stacked event of the year, beating Mr.Watch&Learn, Plasma, and Kicker on the way to an impressive 17th place finish. Supplemented by wins at Gigaton Hammer and Infrared over Fabiio, SolarBeam, and top Rivals player CakeAssault, as well as a flawless record against all players ranked below her, you can be sure LuckyBee will perform highly at any event she attends.
~ Kumatora
#29: TimPrater
Photo Credit: @Deven3000
St. Louis is home to many talented Smash players, and the region’s third best Ultimate player also makes his debut on this season’s HDRank. Picking up HDR much later into 2024, TimPrater makes his name known in the scene with his unique Dark Samus, being the top representative for the previously underutilized character.
TimPrater started his season strong at The Underground, where he beat HDR veteran sinbad before placing 5th place at this regional tournament. He then continued his HDR journey by attending the largest tournament of the year, Undertow 2024, where he performed strongly by beating Tristate’s Billy Schilly and Washington’s Re:Cupid before taking a game off of Frozen, Queen of HDR herself. TimPrater then took out two more of Tristate’s monsters—grandfather Mlarcin and the Falco extraordinaire Air Gordon—solidly ending his run at 17th place. TimPrater ended the year by adding an Ozma win to his belt at Smash of Titans 9, acquiring the bronze medal at the Midwest regional.
It’s exciting to see what TimPrater’s 2025 has in store for both Ultimate and HDR. He’s solidified himself as one of the best HDR players in his region, and he’ll be ready to surprise his opponents with the mysterious Dark Samus, jumpscaring them with the “circus” up-tilt, float cancel up-air ladders, and ticking time bombs.
~ Re:Cupid
#28: GatorHotFire
Landing on this season’s HDRank is Tristate’s favorite son, GatorHotFire. The heart and soul of HDR’s strongest region graduates from his role of gatekeeper and cheerleader to national threat by making his grand debut alongside his fellow Tristate natives. Conducting a masterclass in punish and demonstrating the lethality of the “Croc Bite” combination, we saw Gator take Byleth to new heights and even secure victory over the reigning number one Byleth, Ravenking, and shake up who could be the true king of the character.
While the praises of Gator’s skill can be sung for hours, you can’t overlook the fact that his rise from regional regular to national threat has been meteoric, showing he has something new to bring to the table every bracket. Anyone who has met Gator can tell you truly what a homie he is. Always on the frontline supporting his friends and region in any set, and always down to get games with anyone who asks, Gator is the shining example of who you want in your scene. Although it may seem at times he’s the “little brother” of Tristate, everyone knows that Gator or his alter ego “CrocColdWater” can strike back and secure victory at any time with ease.
~ Mr.Watch&Learn
#27: Air Gordon
Check any textbook for the definition of “grind” and chances are you’ll see a photo of Air Gordon underneath. He is one of only two players to compete in all five HDR majors in 2024, and he has some of the highest attendance for Tristate players at both HDRank events and locals.
Traveling all across the American and Canadian northeast with his friends in the trusty “AJ-mobile,” Air Gordon has trusted the process to lead the way for his success. The signs for a breakout performance were in view, with wins on Beast, JM1-3, and Abs at Tristate regionals, but it wasn’t until he hit the road for Terminal Velocity in Massachusetts where he floored the gas. No speed bumps could stop Air Gordon from racing past Exciled, Mr. Mojo Risin’, and Kumatora twice on his way to a second place finish.
Regardless of where the next HDR major is, Air Gordon will almost certainly be there with company in tow as he continues flying high on his journey.
~ Anchor
#26: Rongunshu
Photo Credit: @JOEYFIGHTING
Simply putting the word “sword” here would make everyone understand that when it comes to Rongunshu, the way of the blade is what most people think about in his Smash career. Known for his mastery of Marth in Project+ and having solid secondaries in Roy, Ike, and Link, Rongunshu demonstrates his prowess over the sword by conducting a viscous cacophony of blade masters in HDR as well. In the latest mod game, Rongunshu had powerful showings with not one, not two, but three different characters in Chrom, Cloud, and Roy. Although with a much lighter showing this year, Rongunshu continues to help lead the charge in showing that the neighbors to the north are no laughing matter when it comes to competition.
Rongunshu’s future in HDR, much like his P+ endeavors, is taking a step towards its close. However, his impact on the game cannot be stressed enough in his short time playing HDR. Pushing Chrom to heights the character has never reached before, Rongunshu meshed a perfect blend of methodical and precise neutral with a punish game capable of creating a live combo video at his leisure. Rongunshu, quite simply, one of the greatest to grace the sticks. With his sights set on the new world of Aether and the many formidable Rivals in it, the HDR scenewishes him and his new swordswoman—or is it swordscat?—the best of luck in all of Rongunshu’s journeys.
~ Mr.Watch&Learn
#25: Unknown
Tristate has far and away the deepest talent pool of any region, and nowhere is this more apparent than with Unknown. Despite being unranked in-region for the entire year, he returns to HDRank in the top 25 with some truly impressive results. Starting the year with a bang, he placed in the top 16 of Gigaton Hammer 2, beating New Englanders Exciled and Kero. For a while, this was his only notable result. Then he entered Infrared in October.
At the Massachusetts major, he would make top 8 after taking an early loss to a rising star in both HDR and Project+ essy. From there, he made a losers run through Trusted, top 5 New England player Insignia, and most impressively Kamex, before bowing out to Switch, who was on a losers run of his own. He would match this run with an even more impressive third place at Beachin’, beating both Abs and Beast before being double eliminated by Papaya. Going into 2025, we’re sure to see Unknown push Sheik to the limit at any event he enters.
~ Kumatora
#24: Switch
Photo Credit: @bluerosetori
The modded spacie menace Switch makes his mark on yet another illegal childrens party game ranking with his debut on this year's HDRank. Piloting the sworn nemesis of his Project+ main and captain of Star Fox Command, Switch showed that no matter the game, any space animal (including flaming ones) in his hands is not to be trifled with. Driven by nothing more than his love of the game and fire for competition, Switch entered HDR whenever and wherever he could, showing his support and skills for the game and community not so different from the one he calls home.
Although anyone from P+ (and even Melee) could tell you the law “thou shalt not sleep on the kid” applies to Switch, he would have to show HDR this fact with a losers run worthy of the law at Infrared. Tearing through seven straight sets, Switch took home wins over the likes of Air Gordon, Kero, and Unknown to place 5th. Switch had been a household name for one modded spacie, but now could be brought up for another in HDR Fox.
Switch is a simple gamer—you give him a controller, he plays the video game, and he plays it well. It doesn’t matter whether it’s modded or official, when Switch is on the sticks a spectacular showing always awaits.
~ Mr.Watch&Learn
#23: Ozma
The embodiment of the stylish race car driver Captain Falcon himself, Ozma was THE guy to look out for at the start of 2024. He completely retired from competing in Ultimate and transitioned to a full-time HDR player, grinding at every local near him.
The Midwest Titan mostly stayed home this season, contrary to last year where Ozma traveled out of region for more events. Ozma started off by claiming two bronze medals at a pair of regional tournaments in his Illinois home: Frosty Faustings and Super TPS III, taking some names in the process like Tristate’s grandfather Mlarcin and Nebraska’s solid snake hdk. It wasn’t until Undertow where the rockstart would perform away from home. Although he wasn’t able to reclaim the throne like he did the year before, he still had an impressive 9th place finish, beating Tristate’s Air Gordon and New England’s Kero.
Ozma unfortunately was not as present nationally this year, and with Chicago’s HDR locals coming to a halt, it is uncertain how active Ozma will be in 2025. His lack of national attendance ended up being his biggest downfall this season, but if Ozma pursues his passion and attends more HDR events, he will remind everyone that he is a force to be reckoned with and show you his moves.
~ Re:Cupid
#22: StrikeyDaBeast
Anyone who knows of StrikeyDaBeast is well aware of his history playing Smash, bearing notable success across multiple titles using Fox and Sheik. In HDR he’s all the more threatening, taking juiced versions of his two mains to great heights with his first appearance on HDRank. Despite living in the isolated region of Canada’s Manitoba province, rendering him unable to attend many events, he still had a huge impact on the brackets he attended. His first event for the year was Perfect Pivot, winning the entire event while only dropping one game to Eggnogdog. His biggest event this year was GOML’s shadow major Get Out of My Venue, beating Air Gordon, Anchor, and Kamex on the way to second place, only losing to Arhungry.
Since then, StrikeyDaBeast has moved on to playing Rivals 2, making Ranno his main character of choice. Despite in-person majors being an inconvenience given his home region, StrikeyDaBeast can still be found on the top of the ranked leaderboard and on the Top 8 graphics for online events. No matter what game you put him in, you can be sure that StrikeyDaBeast can put on a show.
~ Androos
#21: Jut
Photo Credit: @TridentSkrt
Ask any Tristate Smash player who Jut is, and they may provide a couple different answers. Perhaps it's as a former New Jersey Ultimate Power Ranked player, or the guy that makes funny Rivals 2 tweets. But nowadays, the most common answer would probably be a talented HDR player with many characters under his belt. With his focus on HDR in 2024, he’s also well-known for being one of Tristate’s bracket demons with his latest character: Ryu.
At the beginning of the year, Jut was still playing his previous main Wolf, starting off strong with a 9th place finish at Gigaton Hammer 2. Jut journeyed throughout Tristate getting solid results and taking down other Tristate names—Face, Kamex, Beast, Air Gordon, and Mr. Mojo Risin’, to name a few. However, Jut’s peak during this season was when he competed out of region in Canada for Get on My Level, in which he attended both the prelocal and the shadow major. While his performance at the shadow major was not up to his standard, Jut ended up winning the Get In Da Greenhouse prelocal without losing a set. He defeated Ontario’s Blitz, fellow Tristate invader Anchor, inactive demon Rongunshu, and finally took out a familiar Tristate competitor Kamex in Grand Finals for the gold medal.
That would be the end of Jut’s season, as he unfortunately opted to DQ out of Undertow’s HDR bracket to enjoy the Kalahari Water Resort, but we should be seeing more of Jut in 2025. Whether he’ll stick with his air-dashing Ryu or set his sights on a new character, Jut will always be a threat in whatever HDR bracket he enters.
~ Re:Cupid
Check back tomorrow for the reveal of ranks 11-20!
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