Biri has become the definition of a hidden boss in Europe. He used to be a very active community member, but since then his presence has largely faded. His skill however, has not. Over the course of the season he only entered a few tournaments, but when he does, he comes out of nowhere to punish those who forgot about him.
His playstyle isn’t very flashy but it is clean and consistent. He makes sure to keep the stage frozen and uses quick tricky movement to constantly keep you feeling pressured. He’s one of those players where you don’t feel like you’re losing, but suddenly you’re 2-0 behind and have no idea how that happened. Underestimating him will be your downfall.
Biri is a multi-game threat. He maintains his ranking at the top of Europe for Rivals while also moving up in his current focus, Smash Ultimate. His strong fundamentals and grasp of neutral allows him to do well in both games, a magnificent feat to say the least. We wish him the best of luck going into 2020 in both games, and hope to see him continue giving Rivals some love whenever he can.
Unfortunately, LzgPom had to step back a bit from competing this year and only found time to enter a few times. However, when he did find time to participate he showed us that he still has what it takes to compete at Europe’s highest level. He entered the least tournaments out of anyone on this list, but he still clawed his way to a win over OliveOily. If he becomes able to compete actively again, you’re sure to find him back higher up in the rankings.
LzgPom has always been one of Europe’s most technical Zetterburns. His combos are both smooth and incredibly precise, leaving no room for his opponent to escape. He approaches neutral in a safe but still somehow oppressive way. You’ll never catch him overextending, but he’s always right there to make you pay for any mistake you make. He racks up damage quickly, before skillfully confirming into a strong attack or a deep off-stage aerial to finish you off.
We hope to see LzgPom return to the top of the rankings in season 5, to assist Fireicey with restoring the glory of Zetterburn in Europe. Until then, he’ll have to settle for a 14th place on the Season 4 rankings.
The staple production God of Europe, Readek, comes in with a rise to 13th from last season’s 22nd. Still sporting the dual rodent main lifestyle Readek has been as active as ever online. While he unfortunately missed out on the online RCS tournaments due to handling production, he did a stellar job providing the world with high-level European Rivals content, and simultaneously got to show off his fashionable overlays.
Not only did Readek provide production for the online RCS but he also, for the first time ever, got to handle production for an offline RCS event! It was the most hyped up European event of the year, Traction 5, where he even netted himself an impressive 9th place at his first offline showing. He also has splendid wins online such as OliveOily, Slimepuffen and CyberStorm, having a positive win rate over the latter 2.
In Season 5 we are hoping to see more of Readek’s participation in RCS events as a player since he resigned himself from production duties, leaving behind his own custom made overlay program for anyone to use! Handling tournament streams has never been this easy!
FullMetal shows us once again that he’s here to stay, making it onto the RCS PR for the third time and netting his highest placement yet. He’s one of the most old school players in Europe, having been actively competing since 2015. Fullmetal turns his overwhelming experience into a rocky weapon letting him smash all PR newcomers with a clean record. He was a consistent threat throughout the season, playing a total of 16 tournaments and never placing lower than 9th. He made it out to 6 offline events, spiking fear into the hearts of his opponents. If you hear the clicking of his keyboard, your stock is already gone.
Stocks suddenly going missing in action is not uncommon when facing FullMetal. His aggressive, fearless playstyle runs you over and deletes your stock with the deepest dunk in the west. Last year FullMetal was a fearsome Kragg/Wrastor duo-main. This year he added not only Zetterburn, but a whole slew of characters to his line-up. Perhaps it is to expand his options going into season 5. It already feels impossible to be prepared for his explosive playstyle, and his ever-expanding cast of characters will only make it harder.
Pat forward airs his way back into the PR for his fourth season in a row. Many of our top players consider his back-to-basics Kragg to be one of the scariest opponents to run into in bracket. His consistent top-level fundamentals leave no obvious openings and just leave you wondering, “What am I doing wrong?” His playstyle can best be described as efficient. He doesn’t do anything he doesn’t need to. Because of this he never seems to make any punishable mistakes.
After last season, Pat took a break from competitive play. He returned just in time for the season start when the first Zetterbrand happened, less than a month before our first online RCS. At this event he showed us what it means to kill two birds with one stone, taking out both FullMetal and OliveOily at this off-season event. During the season he proved this not to be a fluke, by taking another Zetterbrand over OliveOily, getting the double elimination this time. He also made it out to 3 of our RCS events, placing in top 6 for two of them. You would expect someone to be rusty after a break, but Pat came back stronger than before.
Before his break he still played secondaries, most notably Orcane and Zetterburn. After his return to Rivals however, he decided to pursue a solo Kragg lifestyle. This paid off, in making every aspect of his already terrifyingly precise Kragg just a little better. Cleaner edgeguards, more patient neutral, longer stagecarries, and most importantly, more fairs than ever before.
Hermoise is without a doubt the most improved player this season. He graduated from the Rivals Amateur Series just one day before the season started, and then went on to climb all the way to top 10. He hasn’t forgotten his roots at all. He still gives his all to help out in Novicecord, the server that raised him to become the top player he is today. There he helps out new players, runs tournaments for them, and is a moderator on the server.
He’s a busy man. Aside from his work in Novicecord, he regularly attends and wins the Rivals of Glasgow monthly, runs a crew dedicated to either Rivals or worshipping the Lizard God (we’re honestly not sure), continues to innovate Sein usage, and still finds time to regularly drink packets of juice at the local train station.
He plays the fastest and flashiest Ori you’ll find in Europe. Previously, Europe’s top Oris didn’t care much for Sein. Hermoise is a different breed, showing Europe what the orb can do with his expert usage of Charge Flame in combos and by, most importantly, slowly but surely mastering the Sein up strong. His fast and oppressive neutral runs you over, and before you know it your stock is gone. There’s never any time to sit back and think about your next move before Ori comes flying at you, carries you across the stage and finishes you off with deadly precision.
Near the end of the season he was making a case for breaking into even higher ranks with wins over Slimepuffen and Hukon. If he keeps improving at this rate, don’t be surprised to see him coming for the top of the list next season.
Arriving on his first PR with an impressive 9th place, Japal has been on a twitch grind over the past year. So much so that he has become EU’s most active rivals streamer by a substantial margin, broadcasting most days of the week. When watching Japals streams you can expect to see his clean clairen bodying players with great viewer interaction and production value.
But of course, twitch isn’t the only thing he’s been grinding, as is evident in his play. Japals advantage employs an excellent edgeguard, as well as a tipper centric combo game that racks up percent without giving his opponent a chance to reset to neutral. Not that they’d see much more success even if they did manage to accomplish this. As anyone who has played Japal will tell you; his superb stage control makes it a challenging endeavour to get past his sword.
The effect of his playstyle shines through in his results, as one of the most consistent players EU has to offer. Japal has exceedingly few upsets against him, and (with the notable exception of rko) has a track record of never dropping a set to players he has a win on. It was with this consistency Japal earned a 7th place finish at EU’s most competitive tournament Traction 5. We hope to see Japal continue to dair out the competition as he strives to reach the peak of streaming and rivals.
CyberStorm returns to the PR for the first time since season 1 with a complete transformation from a keyboard Kragg to a controller Ori. While Cyber wasn’t terribly active in season 4 only entering a total of 5 tournaments, he made use of his solid fundamentals and a swift hit and run style to perform well when he did appear. He only missed out on a single top 8 with plenty of upsets to make up for it, and an impressive 5th place at Traction 5 over Hukon helped secure him the #8 rank this season
Whenever a tournament stream is brewing and CyberStorm isn’t busy with his studies or enhancing his own Ori prowess, you can often find him on the mic together with his trusty comrades in commentary, Raven, Zakip and whoever else dares step up to the booth.
CyberStorm rise back to the top has only just begun, and with great determination and a will to bash the competition, we’re sure to see him take a strong turn in Season 5.
Jimbenator started off the season strong with wins on both Slime and Hukon at RCS June and kept going with several stunning performances. He rarely placed outside top 3 and when he did you could be sure there were some bracket enders in his path. Jim’s biggest accomplishment as a player in season 4 was taking a tournament over Fireicey, a feat only one other player managed to pull off.
Jimbenator often shows that he is inspired by the top Kragg’s from across the world, Transco’s combos, MSB’s recoveries and Zeebee’s jank, to mention a few. Yet he is able to meld them all into a style that is uniquely his own. If you’re not careful he’ll hit you with a charged strong attack from an offscreen pillar, or after a crafty down special. Aside from his Kragg, Jim also developed a very formidable Ori secondary to help him out on the rare occasion where his Kragg doesn’t cut it. As a true connoisseur of difficult tech, he tries to optimize every part of his play, and he believes that with enough optimization we could reach 20KK, a future where Kragg is the best character.
He ended up taking an extended break towards the end of the season, but you can expect the Jimbenator to be back better than ever in season 5. Maybe he can show us that Kragg is truly top tier after all.
After placing 8th on last year’s PR, Slimepuffen claims his fated 6th place for the third time. These devilishly good placements are thanks to his constant motivation to keep improving and unbelievable ability to adapt to the meta. This season saw a wider spread of characters than Europe has ever had, but Slime stayed just as consistent as ever.
Aside from the meta, Slimepuffen also has to constantly adapt to himself. He’s known for frequently switching mains and mastering every character in the cast. This year, he mained three characters. He started out on Forsburn, after using him to win our biggest off-season event over Hukon and Fireicey. Soon thereafter he made the swap to Shovel Knight to pursue the Chalice of Champions at Super Smash Con 2019. After he returned from his venture to America he settled on a main for the rest of the season. It was shocking to see Slimepuffen commit to a single character for so long. He played Maypul from Bifrost to Genesis, not even playing secondaries for his newborn local scene. Shovel Knight was not fully retired though. Slime kept him around to punish those who neglected to learn the match-up. This paid off greatly as Slime’s Shovel dug up two beautiful reverse 3-0’s versus Pat, and even scored a win versus Forrest at Genesis 7.
Slime was one of the most active travellers this season. He made it out to 4 European RCS events, only missing out on Awakening, and placed top 4 in all of them. Most notable is his third place finish at Traction 5, upsetting Hukon and Transco on his path to Winners Finals. On top of these RCS events, he also made it out to America twice, and won Zetterbrand 3 in The Netherlands over OliveOily. For the next season we hope to see his willingness to travel continue.
Hukon makes it into the EU top 10 for his fourth year in a row, making him one of only three people to not have missed the top 10 even a single time. Once again he brought his incredible Orcane to the battlefield and proved to Europe that there is still more the character can do. Last year Hukon said, “If you ever see me nair bounce, it’s a misinput.” This year however, he mastered the art of nair bouncing. This made his already hard to catch Orcane even trickier to hit. Along with this he returned to the droplet heavy neutral ways of his past, making his Orcane feel impossible to approach.
Throughout the season Hukon consistently entered all the biggest tournaments, and made a run to top 3 in almost all of them. Most notably, he placed 2nd at Albion and 3rd at Bifrost. We suspect the source of his success to be his unfaltering trust in his character. For the next season we hope to see him prove his claims, and show us that Orcane really is busted.
Junkyards, ruler of the trash heap, rock and rolled the competition over the course of this season. This forward specialist is known for his signature usage of his favourite Kragg move, the side-b. Our French genius is on his path to optimize every aspect of the defense ball, whether it be its impenetrable armor, cancelling capabilities, or most notoriously, its tricky turnarounds. When this cobblestone connoisseur comes rolling at you, panic is bound to ensue.
Throughout the season the brilliant boulder boy showed us tournament results as consistent as his flawless fspecial cancels. His tournament runs come with no surprises, aside from his marvelous rolling techniques. He placed his exact seed in every bracket he played, not letting himself get upset even once.
Sadly, the start of our season suffered a severe lack of ferocious fspecialing. As the season went on however, Junkyards master of math and rocks alike returned to his old ways of terrorizing the European online scene. We hope this continues into the next season, as Junkyards continues rolling his rock up hills even greater than ever before.
OliveOily did the impossible this season, by attending every European offline RCS event despite not having any money. Not only that, he made it to the grand finals of every single one of them. Winning Albion and Awakening, and getting many second places to the unstoppable Fireicey. His biggest achievement may have been Traction 5, where he placed second, taking out Transco. OliveOily’s improvement was massive this season, going from the arguable best Dutch player to the absolute best Dutch player.
It was a busy season for the leader of the Set crew. He started his own local tournament series called Zetterbrand, with the help of taxi driver Blark and the awesome venue guy. Every two months ten to fifteen Dutch and German players travel to Venlo for a great day of Rivals. He has also stepped up his importance in the discord, taking up a moderating role and hosting weekly online tournaments.
At the end of the season, OliveOily participated in Genesis 7, doing Europe proud with an incredible 7th place. OliveOily’s addition to the EU rivals scene is very appreciated, and we hope he can keep this up in the coming seasons. He also beat Fullmetal.
An EU Rivals staple, Transco has been top 3 on every PR since the game’s release. Transco has taken a step back from the game this season, logging only 40 hours in the calendar year 2019 according to himself. That did not stop him from winning all 3 online RCS tournaments. He also attended Traction 5 in the Netherlands, where he had to settle for a 4th place, losing to strong showings from OliveOily and Slimepuffen. He did however win a lot of stroopwafels.
Legends tell that Transco’s consistent high placings are made possible by the harsh life in northern Sweden. Here he has to parry moose every day to keep going. This practice gives him his uncanny parry game in rivals, which gets followed up by his strong and unconventional punish game. If you have never been hit by Kragg’s falling upair, you have never played Transco before.
We hope to see Transco back for the next RCS season with more strong performances. As for now, he still contributes to the scene by posting top tier pepe emojis in discord :widepeepoHappy:
One of the first events we met Fireicey at was Traction 4, back in 2018. We already knew he was a very strong and dedicated Rivals player. What we did not know was that he would walk around in shorts and a t-shirt in freezing temperatures. Fireicey placed 5th this tournament which was a good result, but not good enough for him.
The number of Zetterburns in the traditionally Zetterburn-populous region has rapidly been declining. However, what has not been declining is the skill of the number 1 Zetterburn. Fireicey showed massive improvement leading up to last year’s PR, and he hasn’t stopped this year. He attended 3 European offline RCS tournaments, and won all of them. At Genesis 7 he gave a great performance with 9th place, losing in a tough bracket to Penguin and Windows. To top it all off, he won Europe’s most stacked event, Traction 5, without dropping a single game. This while once again wearing shorts.
Fireicey is a labmonster, spending many hours in practice mode trying out new things. This has led to an insanely deadly punish game, where he can often kill his opponent from just a few neutral interactions. He has also started playing secondary characters, and has become one of the best at almost all characters in the roster, not just Zetterburn. Additionally, we get a daily dose of awesome gfys in discord because of this. We expect Fireicey to continue his improvement and dedication, and to be one of the best around for a long time to come.
