Smash Ultimate is entering its first full year of competition, and there’s lots to be excited for. Players like Light and Tweek have been carrying their momentum from Smash 4 into Ultimate successfully, winning tournaments and generally having strong showings. At the same time, there are plenty of players who haven’t competed much yet, like MKLeo and ZeRo, and because of that, we really don’t know what to expect. However, while these household names make the transition, there are many players slowly making a name for themselves that the masses may not have heard of. For this article, I won’t be including any players who were ever on the PGR, or top players from Melee or Brawl who have been trying out Ultimate. In no particular order, here are some rising stars to look out for this year.

DMG|MattyG

In Smash 4, MattyG was a decently well known Cloud main from New England. He was a member of the flashy DMG Alliance, and also a powerful competitor. His breakout was during the fourth season of the PGR, where he nearly made the list by placing 13th at Super Smash Con 2017, making top 8 at Too Hot To Handle and Super FamiCon, and scoring wins over MVD, Ned, and Kameme, among others. Despite this excellent season, Matty narrowly missed the top 50 and largely disappeared, likely because of school. He wasn’t able to travel after that season and didn’t compete in too many more tournaments.

Now in Smash Ultimate, MattyG is back with a new main (Chrom) and new tricks. At Push The Limit, New England’s first large regional, Matty put on a show. Coming from loser’s, he defeated Light 3-2 in Loser’s Finals, and then won the tournament in spectacular fashion by defeating Marss 3-0, then 3-1. Matty went on to defeat fellow Chrom main Shoyo James handily and place 13th at Let’s Make Moves, one of Ultimate’s first majors. He only lost to Tweek and Larry Lurr, two all-time top 10 Smash 4 players.

While it’s still hard to say how many tournaments MattyG will be able to make it to, he’s shown that he can hang with the best. If he can attend tournaments, there’s no doubt that he’ll continue putting up strong wins and placements.

Zomba

Zomba is an interesting case that I think people should be aware of. He was a Smash 4 Cloud main from New York, and a notable Wi-Fi player who reached 26th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Ranking. In Smash Ultimate, he used mostly Roy to win the 1,600 person Last Stock Arcadian and get a flight to Genesis 6. He played out of his mind and deserves recognition for that. He’s only 13, and that kind of tournament performance at that age is very commendable, even on Wi-Fi.

The trouble with Zomba comes with his actions online. He was banned from competing at Let’s Make Moves due to some inflammatory comments and use of racial slurs on Twitter. Here’s his Twitlonger on the situation. Because of all this, he also will not be going to Genesis. Generally, Zomba’s online behavior has been less than stellar. However, he clearly displays a lot of talent, and if he can clean up his act, I’d be very curious to see how he performs at any tournaments he can make it out to.

Demise|ZD

ZD was a decently known name in Smash 4, but failed to really break out and become a top player. The MD/VA Fox had a few strong placing at majors, most notably a 13th at CEO 2017 with wins on Ryuga, Mr. E, Ryo, and dyr. He was undoubtedly talented, but was held back by the game’s powerful defensive options that didn’t really align with his playstyle.

In Ultimate, it was a different story. ZD won VGBC’s Launch, the first big tournament that the world had its eyes on after the game’s release. He defeated WaDi convincingly with his Fox play, and there was no stopping him from there. ZD placed 7th at Let’s Make Moves, taking wins over CaptainZack and Marss. At this point, he’s possibly solidified himself as the third best Fox behind Larry and Light.

E2C|Bushi

This Bayonetta-turned-Sheik main from Chicago was a strong local competitor, ranked in various places on their Power Ranking. Despite this, Bushi fell off the PR in mid-2017 and failed to return. He notably expressed his dislike for how his main Sheik played by the end of Smash 4, and this lack of a character he enjoyed likely held him back.

This all changed when Bushi found Solid Snake in Smash Ultimate. He won his first tournament with the character, and never looked back. At the 450-person event Midwest Mayhem Ultimate, Bushi burst into top 8 with a dominant 3-0 over T. He continued by defeating Fatality’s Falcon 3-1 and narrowly losing a game 5 set with KEN, then beating T 3-0 yet again in Loser’s Finals. His run would sadly end after this 6-0 over one of the all-time top 50 Smash 4 players in the world, as Bushi lost to KEN again to place second. With this performance, Bushi solidified himself as one of the best Snake players around, alongside players like Ally and MVD.

NickC

NickC is New York’s premier Captain Falcon player. He notably took a set from ESAM at EVO 2016 and put up decent placings at plenty of tournaments, but never had a big performance to put him on the map.

That all changed at NYXL Pop-Up in Smash Ultimate, where he placed 5th, losing incredible last-game, down-to-the-wire sets against Dabuz and Tweek. With this and his 13th placing at Let’s Make Moves, NickC took wins over Venia, Sinji, UtopianRay, and Mr. E. He’s looking like one of the strongest Falcon players in this game at the moment. His creative combo game and immaculate conversions off of landing Neutral Air have already been taking him far in bracket, and I’m sure he’ll carry this momentum into 2018.

A few others:

GwJ, aka Big D*** Billy, is a ROB main from Philadelphia. He placed 9th at Let’s Make Moves, getting wins over Laid and Larry Lurr, and taking Tweek to last game.

BlazingPasta was a Ness main in Sm4sh, from Philadelphia. He now plays Peach and Inkling, and was the champion of Smashadelphia Ultimate, a nearly-200-man bracket. The tournament wasn’t particularly stacked, but wins on GwJ, Earthboundy, and a double-elimination of TheGreatGonzales are nothing to scoff at.

ADDENDUM 12/31: Right after posting this article, it came to my attention that BlazingPasta won 2 Philly locals, and just yesterday took Reality Royale IV double-eliminating Mr. E and also defeating Sandstorm. It’s already happening!

Gen was a Ryu player from New York, who now plays Palutena. He made top 8 at Let’s Make Moves and ended his run at 7th, with wins on Dark Wizzy, Laid, Venia, and GwJ.

Venia was one of the strongest Greninja players in the United States in Smash 4. He has continued to use Greninja, and notably won a Xeno weekly double-eliminating Light. He also got wins on Shoyo James and Venom to place 13th at Let’s Make Moves.

Supahsemmie was a quickly rising Mario player from the Netherlands. In Ultimate, he has quietly risen to the top of the country, winning a national convincingly with his Young Link over the country’s best players, like S1 and iStudying. Seeing how the Netherlands is largely recognized as Europe’s strongest country, and taking into the account the quality of performances we saw from other Dutch players in Smash 4, I’d keep my eye out for Supahsemmie at European tournaments.

Meru is a notable European player, from the Netherlands as well. His Peach brought him to 3rd place at the French major Wanted #1, in a run that included a dominant 3-0 against the US invitee Nakat. I would definitely pay attention to the Netherlands in this game: there’s lots of talent there.

Everyone else. The gates of Smash Ultimate are wide open. There is no way of knowing what players will break out in the future: there’s probably many people already taking names regionally that I’ve missed. This article isn’t a comprehensive list at all, as there’s always hidden talent waiting to emerge. These players could fizzle out soon, or they could continue rising and make the PGR. It’s impossible to say right now, and that’s the most exciting part.