HDRank 2024: 41-50
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.
#50: Trusted
If you’re not a dedicated viewer of the New England HDR Youtube channel, it’s likely you are not familiar with Trusted. However, anyone who’s been on the defense against any of the characters in his arsenal can attest to his skill. In New England, he’s found success with Dark Pit, Daisy, Mewtwo, Ganondorf, Link, and even Incineroar. However, it’s Meta Knight who he’s found the most success with.
At Infrared, New England’s HDR major, he finished with an impressive top 16 placement, beating Pennsylvania's GatorHotFire and Maine’s best player iPat. Peppered with wins across New England regionals against B.S, ShampooMaster, Exciled, and B O A T, all of whom are ranked in the region, Trusted proves he is not a player to be slept on.
~ Kumatora
#49: Gamerdog
A celebrity in the Midwest Ultimate scene, Gamerdog tries his hand at HDR and makes his way onto the rankings this season. He’s the captain for Wichita State eSports and ranked first on the Southern Kansas Ultimate Power Rankings.Travelling out of region for various Ultimate tournaments, he also entered HDR side brackets whenever he was able to.
While he is a ROB main in Ultimate, Gamerdog went a different direction in HDR and picked up Roy, playing him with a very aggressive and combo-based playstyle. Gamerdog attended several HDR tournaments near his region and he even won a bracket over fellow Midwest demon Birthdayninja at Gotta Touch Grass #4. With his solid experience, he traveled to Undertow 2024 where he beat a variety of strong players, placing 33rd at the largest tournament of the year.
Gamerdog’s priority lies with Ultimate but he has a lot of potential with his HDR career, which will depend on if there is an HDR bracket available for him at any given Ultimate tournament. As long as there’s an HDR bracket for him to attend, he’ll be there to take some more names and hit more sick combos on his opponents.
~ Re:Cupid
#48: Billy Schilly
Photo Credit: @LostScrapbook
Just like his HDR main, Billy Schilly is an angel whose bright presence leaves many Tristate players in awe. Continuing from a strong end of 2023 where Billy Schilly placed top 8 at Undertow, he came to New Jersey for Meteor 4 where he placed 9th and took down fellow Tristate player Air Gordon, only losing to Beast and Mr. Mojo Risin’. With a strong wave of momentum to start 2024 the future looked bright for him. However, life had other plans.
Besides raining down arrows on his opponent’s recoveries, Billy Schilly also has another passion which is his love for acting. Going out of his way to volunteer and act for local plays and shows, Billy got cast for a show, which ultimately led him to decide to take a step back from HDR and put his all into the show. After months of preparation and with Long Island HDR players in attendance, he did exactly that with a great performance.
Now once again able to focus on HDR, Billy came back to the scene and continued his other passion of competing. This included a trip to the Midwest for one of the biggest HDR brackets, Undertow. Although Billy claimed to be out of practice, he was still a formidable opponent: Gamerdog, Cresso, and Kits learned as much first hand. One thing is for certain—for the love of the game, whether it’s on the stage or on the sticks, Billy Schilly will always put his heart into it.
~ GatorHotFire
#47: Mooch
Making his way onto HDRank for the second year in a row, Mooch continues to show his skills with Lucas whenever he competes. He started the year at Showtime where he defeated GatorHotFire on his way to a top 8 finish. His next event would be another regional in his home state of Pennsylvania, as Mooch had another strong showing at PA’s largest event of the year, [bae].
At this shockingly stacked bracket for its size, Mooch took another win over Gator while also picking up wins on dna and Mr.Watch&Learn on his way to a 9th place finish. While Mooch defended his home state from some of New York’s invaders, he would eventually fall to two of Long Island’s top talents—Mr. Mojo Risin’ and Face—on the way to his best performance of the season. At the end of the year, Mooch would travel alongside the rest of his state down to Florida, where he would match this placement at Beachin’ with another 9th place, beating fellow Ultimate player Epic_Gabriel. With an impressive top 16 finish at Gigaton Hammer 3 to start off 2025, you can be sure Mooch will continue to be a mainstay on HDRank moving forward.
~ Kumatora
#46: Nibbs
When it comes to Nibbs, he’s known for infamously sending “@netplay” on a daily basis, as he is by far the #1 HDR emulator netplay grinder. Nibbs haunts the halls of the GrindCord Server matchmaking channel, and when there isn’t a response, he floats his way to local HDR severs, finding new victims to infuriate with his “cheesy” Yellow Kirby by swallowing up and gimping his opponents.
The Texas resident was most active online, but he’d start to make some moves during the latter half of the season, especially at Shenanigames 4, the only tournament he travelled out of region for. Nibbs would end up winning the Oklahoma tournament over 2023’s #19 HDRank monster, Mr. Quick. Nibbs would attend two more events near his home, acquiring the silver medal in both of them, only losing to Texan Smash Legend hamyojo and the Oklahoman OG Ben L in close game five sets.
With the year coming to an end, Nibbs is still online searching for more netplay victims, and he doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. The only thing keeping Nibbs from being ranked higher was his lack of offline attendance, so hopefully he’ll make some trips out of region in the year to come to take some more names. It’d be a delight to see the online netplay grinder at more HDRank events in the future and make his opponents rage at his frustratingly difficult and signature playstyle.
~ Re:Cupid
#45: Truthsinger
Chances are if you’re in the HDR scene, you’ve heard the tag Truthsinger once or twice. Whether you know them as one of HDR’s three Corrin Musketeers, the leader of the Nebraska HDR scene, or the founder of the HDR Netplay GrindCord Discord Server, there is now a new title to know them by: HDRank Top 50 player.
Truthsinger has always been a constant threat in the Nebraska scene, but this season is when they leveled up nationally, especially at Undertow. Amidst Truthsinger’s contributions to the event as a commentator and shilling the tournament on social media, Truthsinger shocked the venue by causing the largest upset of the event-defeating Tristate’s elderly veteran Lucario player Mlarcin.
Towards the end of the year, Nebraska has unfortunately lost the passion they used to have with HDR, with the region shifting their focus to Rivals 2. Truthsinger has also followed suit, passing off the HDR Netplay GrindCord server and converting to a Rivals 2 TO, but they are still a significant HDR figure behind the scenes. While it appears unlikely to see Truthsinger at future HDR events, they have fulfilled their legacy and made their name known in 2024’s HDRank.
~ Re:Cupid
#44: Ben L
Ben L is the absolute epitome of a gamer. Many refer to him as “Mr. Gamer” when it comes to anything video games—whether it’s streaming a variety of games on TVOEsport’s Switch, developing his own platform fighter video game called Sentinels, or organizing competitive tournaments for multiple titles. He even competes at a top level in several different video games, ranking top 50 in Rivals of Aether and now HDR, yet this only scratches the surface of Ben L’s resume.
When exploring this busy individual’s HDR career, it’s certainly nothing to scoff at. He started the year off at his own event, Shenanigames 3, placing 2nd over Midwest’s strongest soldiers Sand_Veil, Gamerdog, and Birthdayninja, only losing to Mr. Quick. Ben L’s HDR engine stalled a while, not starting back up until five months later at Shenanigames 5, leaving with another silver medal around his neck. He left his home of Oklahoma for two events—Undertow and Lexyloo’s Holiday Special—doing solidly well at the former with a win on Tristate’s Fabiio and winning the latter over the Texan Kirby Nibbs.
The gaming fanatic has continued being busy, and there’s a strong chance this keeps up in 2025 with the recent release of Rivals 2. Of course, like the god gamer he is, Ben L is already getting results. Amidst his busy schedule, hopefully Ben L stays active with HDR moving forward, being a constant threat no matter what bracket he’s in!
~ Re:Cupid
#43: Fabiio
If one were to ask who the heart and soul of Long Island HDR was, the whole scene would unanimously agree on Fabiio. The loudest and most cheerful person in the venue, Fabiio is just as capable of shocking competitors on the sticks.
After a respectable Gigaton Hammer 2 performance, it wasn’t until Aftershock where Fabiio began to spread his wings, earning 9th place by beating Project+ veteran Vaporeon, shotgunraptorjesus, and eviL. Despite being out of the bracket, Fabiio knew his job was not done yet, cheering on his close friend and fellow Long Island player Mr. Mojo Risin’. It was during grand finals vs Frozen where everyone in the venue truly learned who Fabiio was as his cheers were heard in every corner of the room.
While Fabiio did not have the greatest performance at Undertow singles, the highlight of the event for him was in doubles. Alongside his Long Island teammate Billy Schilly in one of the most stacked doubles brackets, the two went on a magical losers bracket run to secure a top 8 finish. To Fabiio, making top 8 with one of his friends meant everything as the two celebrated their achievement. However, Fabiio’s year didn’t end here as he secured 13th place at Infrared, beating Project+ legend Switch in the process.
With the iconic “let’s go Blackbird” chant, Fabiio has shown everyone why he’s the embodiment of the Long Island scene. Whether he climbs higher in the ranking or cheers at a higher volume, Fabiio is set on soaring to new heights in 2025.
~ GatorHotFire
#42: SolarBeam
Ah, SolarBeam! One of Tristate’s most important TOs and advocates in the early days of HDR has once again proven he can compete with some of the game’s best. While his iconic Ridley has always been a staple of his character rotation, SolarBeam’s competitive focus in 2024 switched to Rivals 2, and with that came a switch to Mewtwo as his HDR main. The legendary Pokemon helped him capture some equally legendary results, as SolarBeam earned wins on JM1-3 and Kamex early in the year. The former win happened at the fourth and final Meteor regional SolarBeam ran, cementing his HDR legacy before picking up the axe and claiming new territory with Loxodont in Rivals 2.
Although he remains dedicated to the latest game in the platfighter genre, the foundation for the Tristate HDR scene was built thanks in part to SolarBeam. Rivals 2 has already established a strong offline scene with the game’s release this past October, and SolarBeam is once again helping set the groundwork in Tristate. Given that HDR is usually lurking in the walls of any given Rivals 2 event, it wouldn’t be a surprise for SolarBeam to be slinging catchphrases and reminiscing about his Falco at any major HDR event in the future.
~ Anchor
#41: Birthdayninja
Getting his chance to shine in the 2024 ranking period, Birthdayninja breaks into the top 50 as one of the strongest representatives of the Midwest. The Sora and Chrom main has always been a notable player in the Kansas competitive HDR scene but didn’t make a major tournament debut until the end of 2023 with a top 8 finish at Honeypot 6. This season, Birthdayninja was able to travel to many of the South’s and Midwest’s largest events to help put Kansas on the map.
Birthdayninja started the year with a top 3 finish at Shenanigames 3 in Oklahoma, taking a set off Ben L before heading home. This tournament series would be a staple on their 2024 resume, placing 5th out of 36 and 4th out of 22 at the following two Shenanigames events. Filling out the rest of his year was a 5th place finish at the Midwest showdown Sweet Spot 8 and an appearance in grand finals at Gotta Touch Grass #4 in his backyard. However, the crown jewel of Birthdayninja’s performances this season was his 13th place at one of the most stacked tournaments in HDR history, Undertow 2024. He took out Ben L and Star in close game five sets while only suffering losses to some of the strongest performers of the event, Rex and Tyroy. Kansas and the rest of the Midwest should be proud of the work Birthdayninja put in to land on the 2024 HDRank.
~ 22james
Check back tomorrow for the reveal of ranks 31-40!
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