News

Welcome to the North American RCS Season 7 Top 50! Each year we look back on the previous competitive season and the players who influenced our scene by creating a Top 50 Players list. The rankings are created by a community panel that considers data from across the season to construct a comprehensive list that highlights our top players and their accomplishments.

View more articles in the Season Seven NA Rankings Series:

• • Introduction & Methodology
  • #50-41
  • #40-31
  • #30-21
  • #20-11 (You are here.)
  • #10-1

#20 – 11

“Wrastor Sucks” – Big Mike

20. MattyIce

MattyIce is a titan of Rivals history, holding onto one of the longest active local Top 8 streaks and seemingly returning to the game at any time without skipping a beat. MattyIce was able to attend the first Premier event of Season 7 with a 5th place finish while taking down Kodako, MSB, and Backpack on the way. Following GoTE 4The Kids 7, MattyIce made his presence known as an online threat, placing 9th and 7th respectively at both RCS Gold events. Outside of Rivals, MattyIce works for the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays as a Major League Baseball employee. Fittingly, he also competes at a top level in the Mario Superstar Baseball community and holds the world record for the game’s Any % category.

“Mash smarter, not harder.”

19. Codek

Leaping into 19th this season is a Ranno main who originally aimed to crack the top 20 next season. Little did he know that his accomplishments this season would land him comfortably in this goal a year early. Codek secured 3rd place at The Kingpin 10 with big time wins over Seggo, darai, and Sawtooth before having his run extinguished by the #1 and #2 frontrunners of Season 7. After multiple seasons of primarily online events, Codek aims to travel to more LAN events and take a shot at earning his place as the world’s best Ranno.

“It’s ride or get rode.”

18. Gizmo

Gizmo is an old school Rivals player that has been playing and competing online for eight years. Season 7 marks Gizmo’s first appearance on the Top 50 Rankings at an incredible #18 while finally experiencing the thrill of traveling to offline tournaments. Gizmo picked up multiple top 10 wins along the way, proving to be a menace with a deep character pool, ready to counterpick opponents with Zetterburn or Wrastor in the rare occasions his Maypul wasn’t cutting it. Gizmo is now in college and is using his time studying computer science and jazz studies while maintaining a love of the outdoors and weight lifting lifestyles. If you do see him at majors during Season 8, you can expect him to be enjoying his time as a spectator or exploring whatever city he may be in with friends.

“Do you seriously think that I’m going to give you more advice after that blunder you just did?”

17. Giga

Giga comes in at 17, marking the highest placing Sylvanos and Hodan of the Top 50 rankings! He had an extremely active Season 7, traveling to five of the seven LAN Premier events, both RCS Silver, and a RCS Bronze event. During this time, Giga spent a good chunk of the season figuring out how to make his new Hodan co-main work in matchup spreads, starting off Season 7 with a massive 2nd place finish at TAPS 5 and recognizing that Sylvanos could help him make those adjustments to punch even higher above the belt than ever before. This formula looks to boil over into Season 8 as Giga plans to make a run at the top 10 to cement himself even deeper in Rivals history.

“All this McDonalds is finally paying off.”

16. Nbad

Nbad is a veteran Canadian player who has been a community leader and T.O. for the online RCS for several years. While always a top level threat, he had his breakout tournament this year at Heat Wave 5, where his cinderella losers run capped out with seven straight sets to earn a remarkable 4th place at the event. Nbad’s Heat Wave 5 victories consisted of seven unique current and former Top 50 players, including a 3-0 over top 10 mainstay, ZeeBee. Beyond his Heat Wave 5, Nbad had a solid online presence with a 9th place finish at The Kingpin 10 and 13th place at RCS June. Looking to Season 8, Nbad looks forward to helping out with events through T.O. duties at weeklies and seeding for majors.

15. Bagel

As if there was a theme for Canadian players with cinderella stories, coming in at 15 is Bagel, who had been a beacon for consistency up until his grueling losers run at Genesis 9. After giving up on his dream of reaching the big stage at the RCS Finals, Bagel went on the run of a lifetime to take out multiple top 10 players back to back to stun the Rivals world with a 5th place finish. Bagel was incredibly active this season, attending Premier and community events left and right, while also acting as the driving force to bringing Rivals to GOML 2022. As a competitor, and a community leader, Bagel has been batting a thousand, with his eyes set on the return of GOML in 2023, where he hopes to blow the previous year’s event out of the water.

“Please sub to my YouTube.”

14. Sparx21

After breaking into the top 10 in Season 4, Sparx21 felt like he had met his goal of being a threat to any player in the game. After the pandemic hit and locals slowly returned in Season 6, Sparx21 realized that he wanted to remain an active obstacle to anyone trying to make a run, while also spreading himself out to other hobbies and games. He has placed within the top 15 for two seasons in a row and has been able to place in the Top 6 of two separate events in Season 7, soundly accomplishing that goal. Sparx21 is looking forward to entering more traditional FGC games this year while attempting to continue his balancing act at COST 2023 and various other Grassroots League events in Season 8.

“Hydraulics Pumping.”

13. MSB

What can we say about MSB that hasn’t been said since RCS Season 1? The Kragg specialist and legendary competitor attended 14 of the 17 eligible events in Season 7, besting several top 10 players with his signature flair along the way. Despite his exceedingly active lifestyle, MSB has been focusing on content creation, game development, and picking up a new secondary in the few hours he isn’t in a bracket. Since Season 7 has concluded, MSB has already made waves in Season 8 with a 2nd place finish at Major Upset after a thrilling Grand Finals reset, and a trip to Arizona for Smash Camp, where he has been both terrorizing and teaching their local scene the ways of the turnaround rock-shine. Since he has already signed up for GoTE 4TheKids 8, we think it is safe to say that you should expect to see a lot more of the wonder Kragg and his trusty sidekick, Sylvanos at a slew of events throughout the year.

“Que sera, sera.”

12. Tapscott

In his first real season of maining Wrastor, Tapscott has seemingly skyrocketed up the Top 50 with a volley of top level wins and excruciatingly close sets against Rivals legends like CakeAssault and Penguin. Tapscott was able to place in the Top 8 at two Premier events and 5th at TAPS 5, turning heads with his safe and deliberate neutral and his ability to turn a single opening into a stock. Tapscott expects to travel to events less frequently next season, but we can be certain that his intensity and determination to win will put fear into his opponents wherever he appears.

“There’s nothing to it but to do it.”

11. Wai

Wai first came out to an offline major at Genesis 7, where he was able to upset several top level players in a vision of things to come. Fast forward to RCS Season 7 and Wai made a name for himself with a 2nd place finish at Sunnyshore and a shocking run to place 3rd at The Big House 10. Wai became one of the most consistent players in the community with snapshots of glory, including wins over the likes of Penguin, ZeeBee, and many more. He hopes to collect this energy and focus on improving to win a major with Ranno in Season 8. Don’t be surprised with the world’s best fall one by one as Wai continues his journey.

Welcome to the North American RCS Season 7 Top 50! Each year we look back on the previous competitive season and the players who influenced our scene by creating a Top 50 Players list. The rankings are created by a community panel that considers data from across the season to construct a comprehensive list that highlights our top players and their accomplishments.

View more articles in the Season Seven NA Rankings Series:

• • Introduction & Methodology
  • #50-41
    
  • #40-31
  • #30-21 (You are here.)
    
  • #20-11
  • #10-1

#30 – 21

“Vince”

30. Kyb

Kyb has made a name for himself, joining the Rivals community shortly after trying Pomme out at PAX West before her release and immediately hitting the grind. As the premier Pomme main in the community, Kyb has quickly made a name for himself as a character specialist and nightmare bracket opponent, bringing a slew of top players to game 5s while collecting his best results at the tail end of Season 7. If what we’ve seen so far is any indication, the rise of Kyb seems imminent, and we better be ready when it happens.

“huh?”

29. Plastic Dinos

Coming off a breakneck Season 6, Plastic Dinos put competitive Rivals on the backburner in Season 7 and has really dug into his position as a community leader. As League Director of Grassroots League in its revival season, Plastic Dinos has been balancing self-improvement with curating one of the most ambitious community-lead projects to date.  Keep an eye on Grassroots League over the course of Season 8, as the first event, Major Upset, was already a MAJOR success!

“That thing’s green!”

28. Chompers

Chompers takes one of the most analytical approaches to improvement in the scene, offering knowledge of the game and in-depth VOD reviews to anyone looking to get an edge on their opponents. Season 7 was a particularly interesting time for Chompers, collecting a wide variety of wins and strong placements both offline and online after deciding to branch out more to the world of online brackets. We’re not sure where the famed Etalus main will pop up next, but we do know his drive to improve and explore knowledge gaps makes him a constant threat to top players wherever that may be.

27. Danzello

Another old school player returns to the Top 50 list! Danzello was able to take down top players such as elkiies and Squanto on his path to jump up 16 spots from his last ranking in Season 5. With eyes set on cracking the top 20 in Season 8, we don’t expect Danzello to slow down anytime soon as he has expanded his aura of fear beyond the bounds of Tri-State Rivals all the way to the West Coast after his Genesis 9 run where he was finally extinguished at 13th.

“VIBE”

26. HKP

With a simple goal of collecting all of the Premium Skins Rivals has to offer, HKP did so much more in Season 7. HKP went on the losers bracket run of a lifetime, taking down former top 10 players and making it look easy to place 9th at Riptide 2022. HKP’s Zetterburn left a lasting impression as a potential run killer to even the best competitors, utilizing patience and quick reactions to end stocks in a heartbeat.

“Love what you’ll never see twice.”

25. Subserial

What if we told you that coming in at number 25 is a player that dedicated his entire Season 7 to choosing his character each game using a six-sided die? Well call us liars if you want, but Subserial made WAVES after his unique character selection and incredible roster depth landed him in the Top 8 at one of the most stacked brackets of the year. As a veteran who has played Rivals since day 1 of Early Access, Subserial is on a high horse and cannot wait to see what lady luck has in store for him in Season 8.

“God please stop making me play against Etalus I am not your strongest soldier.”

24. OoDa

OoDa has one of the best attendance records you’ll see in Season 7, making an appearance at all seven RCS Premier LANs, both RCS Silver events, and even an RCS Bronze LAN. Over the course of the season, OoDa was able to collect some big-time wins over the likes of Xaro, darai, Giga, Wai, MSB, and MANY more. OoDa had originally planned on grinding the game even harder in Season 7, but you know what they say about best laid plans. Despite this, OoDa believes that taking the time at events to hang out with friends and worrying less about results actually helped him stay composed and play better

“In the darkest times, hope is something that you give yourself… That is the meaning of inner strength” – Iroh (ATLA)

23. PlushyPanic!

PlushyPanic! made a splash in Season 7 with solo Hodan, piloting the flying monkey to heights no one else could. Everything came to a crescendo at Genesis 9, where PlushyPanic! was able to take down MSB in an absolute stunner of a game 5 and followed that up with a revenge 3-0 on Giga to place 9th at the Season 7 Finals. Since then, PlushyPanic! has firmly established herself as a top player and absolute monster with what some consider a low tier. Her Season 8 is already shaping up to be a sight to see, as she took home the 3rd place Medal at Major Upset with wins on elkiies, Plastic Dinos, Kyb, and more.

“Hi Top 50, I’m Mom”

22. Bookworm

One of the best Elliana mains and one of the organizers of One Day War, Bookworm, lands at number 22! While attending three MidWest events and RCS June, Bookworm had exceedingly impressive results, with Top 8 finishes at both regionals and a 13th place finish at Riptide 2022. Known for her punish game and ability to prepare for anything, Bookworm has been able to defeat top players piloting a spectrum of characters at the drop of a hat. Despite the big names she’s taken down, Bookworm wants to take a more casual approach to the game in Season 8 while helping with more event organization for the WIL scene.

“not enough water pressure…”

21. elkiies

Coming in at 21 is a player who is a multi-level threat, both in Singles and Workshop. Elkiies has historically been one of the most exciting and unpredictable players to spectate, choosing in-game options that catch even the most seasoned competitors off guard. During Season 7, elkiies placed 2nd at BackIn Blood 5, 7th at Riptide Singles, and 1st in the extremely competitive Riptide Workshop bracket.We’ve seen just a glimpse of what elkiies is capable of while being, in her own words, “out of practice.” Now with her eyes set on breaking into the top 10 in Season 8, we’re excited and frankly a little afraid of what comes next.

Welcome to the North American RCS Season 7 Top 50! Each year we look back on the previous competitive season and the players who influenced our scene by creating a Top 50 Players list. The rankings are created by a community panel that considers data from across the season to construct a comprehensive list that highlights our top players and their accomplishments.

View more articles in the Season Seven NA Rankings Series:

• • Introduction & Methodology
  • #50-41
    
  • #40-31 (You are here.)
  • #30-21
  • #20-11
  • #10-1

#40 – 31

“I don’t know any quotes!!!!”

40. Haze

Leading off the next ten spots on this season’s list with her first Top 50 appearance is Haze! Residing in Oregon, Haze focused on attending west coast events in Season 7 such as Genesis 9 and Back in Blood 5 where she scored wins on Ahntye and AZCards. Haze hopes to ramp up her attendance and get to play the game with even more people in Season 8.

39. Mr. Mutton

With a mic in one hand and a knife in the other, Mr. Mutton locks in his second appearance on Top 50. Mr. Mutton worked on fine tuning his character pool and showed some incredible performances with 9th place finishes at the online PPS and at both Midwest regionals, COST 2022 and One Day War. As Season 8 kicks off, Mr. Mutton aims to take a more relaxed approach to competition, playing more for fun than for glory.

“Honka Honka.”

38. SBS

Hey gang, SBS here with another self-made write-up! I just wanted to convey how special RCS Season 7 was for me, as it really felt like for the first time since 2019, that offline Rivals of Aether was truly back in full force. I used this year to focus my effort on making sure events ran smoothly for everyone involved and on my first-ever club season of Ultimate (Frisbee), a sport that I’ve been playing since 8th grade. I’m excited to try the balancing act again going into Season 8 but I also would like to check out some Grassroots League events where I can chase that feeling of competition as a player just like I did in 2019. I’m not sure how the season will pan out but I’ve been pretty happy playing Clairen again in Arizona after darai convinced me to bring her out at Sunnyshore 2. Here’s to another great season of Rivals of Aether, and even more Ultimate (Frisbee)!

37. Brunch

Brunch bursts onto the Top 50 for the first time with sets over players such as SBS, elpe, Tanko and more over the course of five brackets. His hunger for improvement is driven by his goal to establish himself as the best Sylvanos in Season 8. This goal may very well manifest itself as Brunch has been on the grind. He has entered countless online brackets ran by the community and stacked up even more impressive victories, including at least one set on every single Top 50 Kragg. We cannot wait to see what Brunch brings to the table next season!

36. Vecho

Vecho is a Canadian Forsburn main who started playing Rivals in 2021 and entered his first event at Get On My Level 2022, where he earned a stunning Top 50 win against Nbad and a Top 8 finish. Since his appearance on the RCS circuit, Vecho has taken down a variety of veterans such as MattyIce and Zora as he aims to establish himself as one of the best Forsburn’s to touch the sticks.

“Ladies, don’t let anyone tell you, you are past your prime, Never Give up.” – Michelle Yeoh

35. Lucius

Tri-State Ranno and aspiring voice actor, Lucius, hops his way to #35! Over the course of Season 7, Lucius attended a staggering 9 Top 50 eligible events, netting impressive wins over players such as darai and OoDa, all while balancing a full-time job and his education path in Healthcare Management. Next season, Lucius aims to crack the top 30 and bring out what he calls “Lucius 2.0” in 2024.

“It’s me Onesy in the onesie!”

34. Onesy

Coming in at 34 is a player whose tag certainly does not lie. You can catch Onsey at majors repping the Oklahoma Rivals scene, scaring top 10 players in pools, and wearing various onesies while doing so. Making it out to LAN events was a highlight for Onesy as he was able to meet a slew of players and friends in person where he made a name for himself with a nail-biter set against ZeeBee and a huge upset against OoDa at Riptide. As if a sleeping giant had awoken, Onesy went on to collect at least one Top 50 win at each event he attended, cracking top 32 at three of his four tournaments.

“Howdy, gamers.”

33. Sawtooth

Sawtooth is a Sylvanos that recently took a position as a community figurehead in the Arizona Rivals local scene, running brackets and helping run the community one day at a time. Season 7 treated Sawtooth exceptionally well, with heart-pounding sets against MSB and ZeeBee and outstanding upsets against players such as Sparx21 and Bagel. Sawtooth seems to have finally had his “breakout” event and is ready to continue studying and crafting his mentality  to push the Sylvanos meta as far as he can before Rivals 2 comes out in 2024.

32. Pity

Pity is an old-school Zetterburn main hailing from Florida with roots to the Rivals Early Access days in 2015. He’s been playing the game competitively for years and has enjoyed the social aspect of tournaments as of late, taking opportunities to travel to places such as Cedar Point after brackets conclude for the day. Despite his relaxed demeanor, Pity is one of the most deadly Zetterburns to ever do it, with the ability to take down opponents such as Nbad, Kobra, and Sawtooth. Pity’s fundamental knowledge of the game has proven to translate well to Doubles as well, with electric sets at Riptide propelling him and his partner, Adi, past Squanto and CakeAssault to earn a 4th place finish at Riptide this year.

“The keyboard Ori that could is now the now the Ori that did.”

31. Games & Flames

Coming in at 31 is an Ori and Sein main known for his online play. Games & Flames attended three of the four online events this season, netting a 9th place finish at RCS December and taking down four different Top 50 competitors on the way. While online may be Games & Flames’ comfort zone, he was able to make it out to his first ever offline event at Riptide 2022. Games & Flames wants to ensure that his appearance in a LAN setting was no rarity as he plans of using his momentum form RCS to prove his skill offline in Season 8.

Welcome to the North American RCS Season 7 Top 50! Each year we look back on the previous competitive season and the players who influenced our scene by creating a Top 50 Players list. The rankings are created by a community panel that considers data from across the season to construct a comprehensive list that highlights our top players and their accomplishments.

View more articles in the Season Seven NA Rankings Series:

• • Introduction & Methodology
  • #50-41 (You are here.)
  • #40-31
  • #30-21
  • #20-11
  • #10-1

#50 – 41

“…you lost to wowellz” – ZeeBee

50. w0wells

Kicking off our list this year is a Wrastor main from Missouri that has been around for several years but really hit his stride in Season 7. W0wells made it out of pools at a major for the first time this year and soon after found the motivation to aim for his first Top 50 appearance with a subsequent Top 12 finish at The Big House 10. W0wells hopes to ride the momentum from Season 7 and continue the grind with the St. Louis scene into Season 8.

“swaggin on em”

49. Jenova

Next up is another first timer to the Rivals Top 50. Jenova was a curious case who shocked the scene several times in Season 7 with wins on Penguin, Seggo, and the last minute RCS Gold event put together to help secure Top 50 qualifications for several NA players. Jenova began competing during the COVID-19 pandemic and has already created quite a splash in the competitive scene.

“I’ve been eating nothing but food” – Nbad

48. CyberHex

CyberHex is a community figurehead, known for her role as head of Rivals Recess and her frequent commentary blocks at majors. This season, CyberHex achieved an incredible feat by rallying the community to create the first community RCS Gold event of Season 7, The Kingpin 10. On the competitive side of things, CyberHex has been gradually making a name for herself as a serious Clairen threat in the U.S., with a heart-pounding set against Akashi at Genesis 9 and increasingly impressive results in community brackets. CyberHex could be a dark horse coming into Season 8.

“hapkragg” – kragg

47. Whimby

Our first Kragg on the Season 7 Top 50 list comes in as a pillar of consistency with impressive results and victories over veteran players such as Ahntye and Lucius at some of the biggest events of season. Whimby is proud of their consistency and is hoping to travel to as many tournaments as possible and branch into Doubles more frequently in Season 8.

“Sometimes, ya just gotta go with the flow.”

46. Ateozc

The head T.O. of the Chicago Rivals scene bursts onto the Top 50 as community figure heads continue to eat well in Season 7. Ateozc is an incredibly active T.O., helping prop up the Midwest as one of the most active and fierce regions in the world. His Olympia and Absa combination helped him secure consistent placements and impressive victories over veterans such as Zora, Geez, Renzo and more.

“True ballers never miss their shot”

45. Olsen

Olsen had an extremely strong showing at the start of Season 7, placing 13th at two RCS events in a row before taking a break to focus on his work as a band director and clarinet player until the final two online events, where he placed 33rd and 49th respectively. Olsen tries to enter events near him when he can and has remained a local threat in the Florida region, ready to defend his home turf when the moment presents itself.

“Per ardua ad astra”

44. Rift

Rift is a satellite engineer and is once again the highest placing solo main to pilot Shovel Knight in North America. His accomplishments on Shovel Knight and his influence on the Georgia scene has helped propel the region into the spotlight on several occasions in Season 7. Rift, similar to Olsen, attended one local event at GoTE 4TheKids 7 and three online brackets where he secured victories over the likes of Brunch, Zora, Mr. Mutton and more.

“PINBALL WIZARD!”

43. Zora

Zora is a community leader in the Arizona scene with long standing roots in the community. He’s known for his expert analytical approach to Maypul and recently for his shared role of Grassroots League leadership. Season 7 marked one of Zora’s most active seasons ever, attending five LAN events and an online bracket where he managed to take down Kobra. Keep an eye on Zora in Season 8, as he plans on helping the Grassroots League blossom into something truly special.

“What DI did you want from me Dan?!”

42. Ahntye

Keeping with the trend of community leaders holding down the first day of Top 50, Ahntye is another Grassroots League leader and a SoCal veteran. Their season consisted of some strong peaks, with two Top 8 placements at RCS Bronze LANS and a 9th place finish at Double Down. Ahntye proves to be one of the toughest players to upset, dropping just two sets to players ranked below them in the whopping 7 Top 50 events they attended. Once again, keep an eye on Ahntye and the Grassroots League in Season 8, as we expect the community to provide an incredible experience to players across the country.

“Vibe”

41. elpe

While elpe took a step back from competitive Rivals this season to focus on the gym, rock climbing, and school, he has returned to the Top 50 for the third time in a row! Elpe may not have achieved the peak performances that shaped his Season 6, however he proved to be an immovable stone for players trying to achieve their dream runs. Going into Season 8, you can expect to see elpe at Riptide and several other events as he aims to crack the rankings for a fourth time.