Daily Esports is proud to partner with the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank team once again to present the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5 (WWRv5)! The Wi-Fi Warrior Rank rates 75 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.
As we approach the end of the rankings, we come across some of online Smash Ultimate’s best players. Some of them have already made names for themselves as the game’s greatest competitors offline. For others, Wi-Fi has proven to be the best avenue for proving their talent.
WWRv5: 20-11
Contrary to what his name suggests, you don’t have to think very hard to see why Michael “EMG | Riddles” Kim has returned to the WWR top 20 this season. Ranked 19th on the WWRv3 with the Belmonts one year ago, Riddles made a full transition offline in the second half of 2019. He even got a fancy new PGRU ranking to show for it. Like many other offline giants, he moved back to Wi-Fi during quarantine. With his trusty new main, Terry, Riddles picked up right where he left off.
Riddles’ first major result was a big one, as he snagged the bronze medal at the Mazer Gaming 1k Tournament. He defeated titans BestNess and Kola on the way. As the season went on, he accrued solid result after solid result. In the process, Riddles picked up wins over the likes of Sword, Mekos, and more. And at the tail end of the season, he ended things with a bang by placing 4th at the S-tier UNW #12. He took a whopping six set wins over WWRv5 ranked players, busting through Cosmos, LeoN, Angel, Middy, and Sharp. Riddles even defeated Kola a second time at this event.
As the first and so far only player to first make the WWR, and then go on to reach the PGR, Riddles has already etched his name in the history books of the ranking. It’s probably safe to say that once the world returns to where it left off, so will Riddles return to offline competition. Moreover, he’ll likely rise to greater heights than ever before. But as long as he competes online—even if it takes a global pandemic to get him to do it—you can count on him standing tall as one of the best.
Written by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes | Edited by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
Shadow Sneaking his way into the top 20 is Canada’s finest—Jonathan “JW” Woldu. Despite attending a below average amount, his season was filled with very impressive peaks. These peaks included top 8 finishes at two of the biggest events of the season. His first such event was Pound Online, where he took 7th place. In the process, JW took out Sparg0, Jakal, and Haven, and beat RatedRudy in the ditto for good measure. He matched that placing at The Box, where he bested Urameshi and Pandarian, and picked up his second career win over MkLeo for another strong 7th place finish. Across his other events, he took top 3 at multiple lower-tiered events, and picked up wins over the likes of MiLe, holopup, and Pokelam. These performances solidified him as one of the top incoming threats from offline to online.
With a strong season all around, a low number of wins over the rest of the top 20 is the only thing one could argue keeps JW from rising even higher. Despite this, he still managed to place well at tournaments of all tiers with a wide variety of good wins. All of this added to the extensive legacy of the best solo Greninja in North America. As he competes for the title of world’s best with the likes of Tarik, Stroder, and Lea, his impressive WWRv5 season might become the momentum he needs to take that title once the scene returns offline.
Written by: Mitch “TacosBrick” Blake | Edited by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes
The WWR introduced the Players of the Month recognition this season, and the Breakout Player award along with it. Few could have predicted just how far the first Breakout Player would go, but “EDM | Sytonix” took his early-season momentum and didn’t slow down for anybody. For his efforts, Wi-Fi’s best Ken finds himself in the No. 18 spot on the WWRv5.
It all started when he earned himself a spot in Straight Outta Smashville’s Anthology 5, a 16-man finale after a whole season of qualifier tournaments. The rest is history, as he defeated sebayee, Sword, and enhancedpv twice, all of whom were coming off top 10 seasons on the WWRv4. In doing so, Sytonix took 1st place and put himself on the map in a big way. That was enough to earn him January’s breakout honor, but he was far from finished. He continued with a 7th place finish at the A-tier Every Joe For Himself. Sytonix added to his perfect record against enhancedpv on the way. In perhaps his biggest win of the season, he defeated Benny&thejets, Sharp, and Lights to win the B-tier Straight Outta Smashville: Hardcover Vol. 4.
Sytonix rode that wave to the finish, picking up strong results at S-tiers. In addition, he accrued few, if any, bad losses in the WWRv5 season’s final months. Though wins on the highest echelon of players mostly eluded him, Sytonix dominated nearly everyone who had the misfortune to face him this season. Going from just another Ken in the crowd, to one of the most feared names in the scene, all in the span of six months? There’s no one more fitting to be the WWR’s first Breakout Player. Nor is there anyone more deserving of No. 18 this season.
Written by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes | Edited by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
Many players talk about their dedication to the grind, but it’s hard to find someone that matches that of Ricky “16-Bit | LingLing” Gorritz. As one of the best Peach players on the planet since Smash 4, and a master of zero-to-death clips, LingLing has been entering more Wi-Fi tournaments than you thought existed, and excelling at them. Amongst the S-tier events this season, he has placed 7th at Pound Online, 9th at the Quarantine Series Major, and 13th at the Soaked Series Invitational. In particular, the Soaked Series Invitational gave him a phenomenal start to the season.
During his runs, LingLing picked up wins on elite players such as Kola, Wrath, Lui$, and Ned. Major events weren’t his only moments of brilliance. LingLing also won many smaller scale events, most notably the Self Quarantine Birthday Clash. He also landed in 5th place at the Mazer Gaming 1k Tournament, netting wins on Br1 AV, Goblin, and JW.
Even before the quarantine, LingLing was known as a tournament fiend, traveling wherever possible. His prolific attendance this WWR season—and the major success that came with it—comes as no surprise to those who know him. LingLing is never shy of a challenge. Rest assured he will step up to the plate at any opportunity he finds.
Written by: Cyrus “Cagt” Gharakhanian | Edited by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes
If this WWR season was twice as tough as any before it, then “sebayee” didn’t skip a beat in moving from No. 8 last season to No. 16 on the WWRv5. Florida’s own two-dimensional terror returns with another stellar placing on the WWR. Not only was he unfazed by the explosion of competition, but he was flat-out dominant in the face of it. A negative X-Factor shows that sebayee might have flown under the radar. However, his performances this season were as successful as ever.
He made relatively few appearances at majors this season, but performed exceptionally well when he did show up. The best example of this came at Rev It Up 2020. There, sebayee hammered out wins on ChunkyKong, TonyZTank, ShinyMark, and Middy on the way to 5th place. However, many of his most impressive results this season came from C-tiers, of which he won an impressive four. Collectively, these events saw him defeat Mr. E twice, Sharp three times, and KirbyKid four times, among many other impressive wins.
Notably, sebayee owns some of the best win percentages in his range. This is especially true considering only three of his losses this season came to unranked opponents. With a hard-to-handle character and the skill to make it work, sebayee is one of the last players that most want to see in their bracket. Whatever the future has in store for him, he’ll be taking down his opponents in no time flat.
Written by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes | Edited by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
The online environment makes it hard for some characters to truly prosper. However, that didn’t stop Noah “NEST | Sharp” McCulley from landing at the No. 15 rank of the WWRv5. Armed with some of the cleanest fundamentals in the scene, Sharp has climbed his way to the top of many events. Such tournaments included both Steal The Show #1 and Battle Bolt Monthlies 4, where he ended the night with a gold medal.
Sharp also had a formidable 4th place finish at Collision Online, a 2nd place finish at Every Joe for Himself, and a 5th place finish at UNW #12. At these tournaments, he impressively triumphed over Sonix twice. Sharp also racked up wins against Sparg0, MiLe, Pokelam, Raffi-X, Benny&thejets, and more. Perhaps most notably, over the span of three tournaments in four days, he accrued five set wins over the WWRv4’s No. 1 player, Lights. This performance earned him the Player of the Month honor for February. It also made him one of the top contenders for the WWRv5 pre-quarantine.
Eighteen unranked losses slowed Sharp down from what looked like a blistering start. Nevertheless, he always found a way to bring himself back up and perform well at even more online events. As the highest-ranked player in Rhode Island and one of the top representatives of New England, expect to see more of Sharp’s amazing gameplay as the months continue to unfold. We can especially expect Sharp to show up big when major offline events make a return in the community.
Written by: Cyrus “Cagt” Gharakhanian | Edited by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes
The world’s best Pikachu player, Eric “PG | ESAM” Lew has made his way onto the WWRv5 at No. 14. Coincidentally, this matches his season two ranking on the PGRU. Despite only attending three tournaments, he made the most of his few performances. In fact, ESAM is the highest-ranked player on the WWRv5 with fewer than five qualified events.
ESAM started off his season at the Quarantine Series Minor tournament, where he took home a 9th place finish. In the process, he scored wins over Wisdom, Myran, and Kola. He continued his consistency at the Quarantine Series Major, again finishing at 9th. There, ESAM earned hard-fought wins against Aikota, LeoN, Samsora, and Epic_Gabriel, with all but the latter going to game five. He finished his season strong at The Box. Though he lost early to Daybreak, ESAM set out on an eight set long losers run to place 4th. On the way, he took wins over notable players such as Sparg0, Pandarian, LingLing, Gen, BluStriker, Yez, and Epic_Gabriel.
Aside from a single anomalous loss to Daybreak, ESAM never lost to anyone outside of the top 10. Such consistency is impressive for any competitor. With more attendance, it’s hard to imagine that he couldn’t find himself even higher come next season with his new secondary Min Min. Online or offline, ESAM continues to prove that he and his signature Pikachu are indeed godlike.
Written by: “Dexy” | Edited by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
Hey! Listen! The hero of time, No. 1 in Nebraska, Tanner “unkind | SKITTLES!!” Jordan makes his colorful return to the WWR! After placing 24th on the WWRv3, his burning passion has earned him a meteoric rise to 13th this season. If you ever watched the top 8 stream of a tournament, you most likely saw SKITTLES!! tearing through opponents to secure victory. The earliest instance of this was in January, at A-tier ECLIPSE: Dusty_Carpet Edition. Starting his year off right, SKITTLES!! defeated Superstriker, Br1 AV, and RobinGG twice to claim his prize. A few months later in April, he took home another gold medal at C-tier Bakery Brawl. This time, he defeated Hungrybox, Rinku, and Sonix twice. In both of these events, SKITTLES!! lost the first set of Grand Finals, but both times clutched it out in the reset to put away his opponents for good.
However, his best results seemed to congregate in the month of May. SKITTLES!! pulled off a solid 13th place finish at the S-tier Quarantine Series Major. With wins on C-, Gen, and Br1 AV, this set his momentum in stone for the rest of the month. The following day, at B-tier TVSeries: The Legend of Hydra, he outshone Hydra as the crown player that day. During his monstrous run, SKITTLES!! defeated LazyZach, FatNess, TonyZTank, TheMightyDialga, and enhancedpv. On the last day of the month, SKITTLES!! made his biggest splash at the A-tier The Online Olympus. SKITTLES!! climbed to the summit that day, with wins on Yei, Varun, and Maister. He also double-eliminated Wrath, marking one of his most impressive bracket runs this season.
With no shortage of consistent showings at huge events, the next step for SKITTLES!! is making the 5-5 record against the top 20 in his favor. If he keeps up the momentum that’s seen the Juice Box become his personal playground, we might see him improve even further coming into the WWRv6. If SKITTLES!! continues this dominant presence next season, he just might make his way into the top 10. At the moment, 13th is a perfect place for one of the fastest rising stars we have in the game today.
Written by: Michael “Deathyrus” Garcia | Edited by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes
Despite his sponsor, this R.O.B. player’s placing is no illusion. Gabriel “IluZ | Epic_Gabriel” Romero burner boosts his way up to No. 12 on the WWRv5. Epic_Gabriel had an incredibly solid season, and an even more impeccable one if you consider his performances at ineligible tournaments. Even so, he entered 14 WWRv5 eligible tournaments and placed in the top 8 at six of them. He also accrued wins on nearly all of Wi-Fi’s best players along the way.
Epic_Gabriel’s peak performance of this WWR season came at Mazer Gaming Gives Gives Back, where he took home the gold. At the event, he beat Sparg0, Wrath, Kola, and Sonix all in a row, with his only loss being a bracket reset by Sonix in Grand Finals. Also of note was his best major performance at Collision Online, where he placed 2nd. There, Epic_Gabriel beat Ravenking, Sharp, Peabnut, Myran, and Br1 AV. In addition, he took out Raffi-X in the R.O.B. ditto. He also boasts 5th place at The Box, where he defeated Rickles, JW, and LingLing.
With plenty of gas still left in this robot’s tank, Epic_Gabriel had immaculate performances at many other tournaments this season. He collected wins on players like Wrath, Ned, colinies, SKITTLES!!, and BestNess in the process. Though he finished off the season with negative win rates versus the top 20 and top 10 and also took two losses to players outside of the top 200, his peaks were more than impressive enough to bring him up to 12th place. As the best R.O.B. in the business, any player in Epic_Gabriel’s bracket path is in for an epic beatdown.
Written by: Mitch “TacosBrick” Blake | Edited by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth
Indisputably Smash Ultimate’s best player in the world offline, Leonardo “T1 | MkLeo” Lopez Perez slashes in at No. 11. Though he may not have quite reached the same level of achievement online that he’s demonstrated offline, he nonetheless had a very impressive season. Using a combination of Cloud, Greninja, Wolf, and even Byleth, MkLeo attended six WWRv5 events. He managed to make top 8 at three of them.
MkLeo started the WWRv5 season off at the back foot at the Quarantine Series Minor. There, he took a surprising early loss to rat with his briefly-returning Lucina. MkLeo proceeded to win 10 sets in losers, defeating WWR players like GamingHI9x9, colinies, Aikota, and Snormanda. Ultimately, he fell to Kola for a 17th place finish. His next run at Pound Online ended in the same placement at the hands of the same player. Still, the improvement was there. MkLeo took a more than respectable loss to 8BitMan in winners, and beat MVD, Laid, and NickRiddle in losers.
A week later, MkLeo had his season defining run at the Quarantine Series Major. At the event, he picked up two wins on Maister along with victories over Dabuz, Sparg0, and BestNess. Though he ultimately fell twice to Sonix in Winners and Grand Finals, his 2nd place finish at an S-tier event was much closer to the high-level success that’s become synonymous with his name.
MkLeo experienced another brief blip at The Box. There, JW and Prodigy continued their already positive records against him to eliminate him at 33rd place. However, the rest of the season was as good as gold for MkLeo. He placed 5th at UNW #12, losing to Fatality and Sonix, but beating Grayson and using his elusive Byleth to net a win on Angel. Finally, MkLeo ended the season by placing 4th at Playing for Pride. Using his new Greninja, MkLeo beat LingLing and double-eliminated Cosmos.
A 7-7 record against the top 10 points to Leo’s impressive skill and consistency. However, even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Every WWRv5 event MkLeo attended except for The Box saw him eliminated by either Sonix or Kola. As a result, he ended the season with an 0-6 record to the two of them. If he can turn his records around against those two demons, and add them to what’s otherwise a 7-1 record versus the WWR’s best, he’s one of the safest bets to rise into the top 10 he hasn’t left offline since 2016. Even online, MkLeo remains one of the most threatening players in the game. This player is sure to set fear into the hearts of every player he faces in bracket.
Written by: Stuart “Stuart98” Hepworth | Edited by: Liam “Cloudhead” Estes
Make sure to check back on Friday, July 31, as the WWRv5 rankings conclude with the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5: 10-1!
