News

Season 7 RCS Top 50 – Introduction

At the end of each season we look back on the previous competitive year and the players who influenced our scene by creating a Top 50 Players list. Season 7 brought an exciting shake up with the inclusion of community events and a partnership with start.gg that provided $20,000 in additional prizes as part of their rebranding celebration. After 8 months of fierce competition and community efforts, we racked up an astonishing 374 events around the world with 7,455 entrants earning points for three unique leagues with cash rewards and flight vouchers to our finals at Genesis 9.

The season featured brand new event tiers with the inclusion of community events: RCS Bronze, RCS Silver, RCS Gold, and RCS Premier. Premier events were developer-ran and consisted of our biggest events of the season, while the remaining classifications denoted community events – RCS Community being the smallest, and RCS Gold being the largest – the breakdown can be found here. Premier events featured each of our LANs from RCS Season 6, some of our favorite majors from before the COVID-19 pandemic, and even added some entirely new tournaments to our circuit.

RCS Season 7 was a testament to our wonderful community. The growth, and support shown across all levels of competition was staggering, and the ripple effects of the movement can be found with the revival of Grassroots League and the charge they’re leading to support local Rivals communities.

View more articles in the Season Seven NA Rankings Series:

As usual, events must meet a certain threshold of competition, attendance, and diversity to count towards Top 50. In RCS Season 7 we ran nine separate Premier events that were guaranteed to count for rankings, while the greater community put together eight of their own. Local community events that counted towards rankings required a minimum of 32 attendees with five or more previous Top 50 players in attendance, while online community events required a minimum of 100 attendees. All events were evaluated and determinations were made based on a number of factors including disqualifications and actual attendance.

Season 7 Premier Ranking Events
GoTE 4TheKids7
RCS June
Double Down
Super Smash Con 2022
Riptide 2022
The Big House 10
Heat Wave 5
RCS December
Genesis 9
Season 7 Community Ranking Events
Sunnyshore
COST
TAPS 5
Get On My Level 2022
Back In Blood 5
One Day War
The Kingpin 10
PPS

Player Qualifications

Our goal for Season 7 was to increase the number of required events to match the uptick in community events that would count for the rankings this year. It was decided that four events would be required to qualify with at least two of them being RCS Premier tier. While these guidelines were more strict than previous years, the community rose to the task as we had hoped, providing six additional LAN and 2 additional online events to our Top 50 standards.

Methodology

This year we brought back the well established panel system from Seasons 3 – 6. Players were ranked based on each of their eligible events, including consideration for their wins and losses to land them at their results. Disqualifications from the losers bracket were considered as losses for the player that DQd, while not giving their opponent an artificial bump beyond their better placement.

Events carried the same weight potential between online and offline except for the RCS Finals, which was weighted heavier due to the high stakes and the fact that it was our grand finale. While the overall weight of the premier events majors had the potential to be the same, it was clear that some events were strictly more competitively stacked than others. In addition, the community events landed in tiers of their own. The weight of events in order are as follows: Genesis 9, Riptide 2022, Heat Wave 5, The Big House 10, Super Smash Con 10, GoTE 4TheKids 7, Double Down, RCS June, RCS December, Get On My Level 2022, COST 2022, One Day War, TAPS 5, Sunnyshore, Back In Blood 5, PPS, The Kingpin 10. While events are considered in different weights, this was only a partial deciding factor. In general, the council favored consistency among events above individual peaks.

Once this ranking system was completed, the panel made additional adjustments to the order based on head-to-head results and other data. This group consisted of players and tournament organizers from across the country in order to accurately represent the various regions of North America: CyberHex, Jack Ryan, MSB, Nbad, Protagify, SBS, and Sparx21. Additional data was provided by Menace13, who had no input regarding final placements of the Top 50.

We’d like to thank all of our panelists for dedicating their time to putting this together for the community, as well as Tax1k for our beautiful Season 7 player cards.

Hidden Bosses

Players given the title of Hidden Boss were recognized by the panel as major threats to tournaments this season that just didn’t quite meet the requirements to be ranked. Each player listed placed Top 8 at a RCS Premier event.

Backpack, BioBirb, Bullets, Guard, Kodako (now Vulnita), Lattim, Protagify

Season 7 Rankings: #50-41

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:

#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.

 

 

Europe RCS Season 7 – Top 15 Power Rankings

Welcome to the seventh season of the EU RCS Power Ranking! This season Europe saw data from offline majors and locals be used on the ranking for the first time since season 4 alongside our established online majors. This opened the floodgates for a multitude of fresh talent to prove themselves and for veteran players to reclaim their spot at the top of the European PR.

Because smaller-scale locals were once again tracked for the power ranking, we decided to weigh non-major results less than those from majors and raise the bar of the minimum number of tournaments to qualify to 3 majors and 4 tournaments total, while still favouring players who entered more than others. This ensured that we had enough head-to-head data to accurately rank players who qualified, while allowing smaller tournaments to be considered for the PR, albeit with less importance.

We’d like to give a special thanks to all the offline/online TOs, production team and commentators that were able to make the past year’s ranked season in this new era of rivals as great as it was.

Panelists: arnoo, Boss Hog, Defileus, Fireicey, Lucy, Memento

Head of Writing: Boss Hog

Writing Team: Defileus, Fireicey, Kasu, Kravten, Lucy, Memento, Orticoltore, Raven, rhea, Xiphos

Project Leader: Lucy

Video Editor: Age

 

Honourable Mentions

This season we had a handful of players who had a PR-worthy performance but didn’t meet the minimum requirements or had eligible records that were just outside the level needed to make the top 15. Since these players were close to making the PR they deserve an honourable mention for this year’s ranking.

The honourable mentions for this season are:
Blark, Nion, orkanone, Slimepuffen, TheDripCollector, Transco

 

Top 15

“still cookin'”

15. Bowman

Bowman rooted himself on the PR as Europe’s premier Sylvanos main. With wins over FullMetal, Slap, Blark, orkanone and Midmol, it’s not a surprise that he was able to defend his spot on the ranking, showing our region what the character can do once again.

Last season Bowman’s record was the hallmark of consistency, not getting many major wins but being an impenetrable wall that never got upset in bracket, being reflective of his well-rounded playstyle without obvious flaws. However this year he was able to take home wins on higher ranked players, allowing him to maintain his spot on the PR and prove that he is much more than a PR-gatekeeper, while also remaining consistent by placing top 8 at almost every tournament he entered.

We’d love to see Bowman return for the three-peat on the PR next year, if he continues to improve his already solid gameplan further, it’s likely he could burrow even further up the ranking where no European Sylvanos has gone before.

 

 

“Hukon Thies Hodan real”

14. Retro

Last season Retro was the highest ranked Shovel Knight player, placed above fellow mains of the character Veapron and PiKay. This year Retro held down the fort as the best SK in Europe, while also adding Hodan to their roster as a dual main, creating a menacing pair of characters to face off against.

Even after learning an entirely new character Retro was able to keep up with some of the better players in our region, with wins on Bowman, orkanone and even an upset over Sheush.
Retro showcased what Hodan was capable of with their usage of sweat spirits, down special and the “flying gorilla” technique, abusing the character’s strengths to build a gameplan you need to prepare for.

It’s certainly clear that Hodan and SK are perfectly suited for Retro, and we’re definitely looking forward to seeing if they can push their duo of mains further with refinements to their play next year.

 

 

“arkadaşım eş, arkadaşım şek, arkadaşım eşek”

13. Slap

With the return to offline tournaments after season 6 concluded, Slap was able to travel around Europe to claim a spot on the PR once again, and earn his third appearance on the PR alongside his placements in seasons 3 and 5, as well as being an HM in season 4.

Slap is a long-standing player with a vast knowledge of the game that goes far beyond just Orcane. Even though Slap missed out an entire season, he has shown precision, flair and years of experience that have proven he is one of the best players in the European scene time and time again. Using his keen punish game and refined understanding of Orcane’s tools that Europe has never forgotten.

Despite Slap only attending offline tournaments, he was able to show good performances throughout the season, only losing to Fireicey and OliveOily in 3 of the 4 tournaments he attended, while taking sets over Bowman, Retro, and a handful of players just outside of the PR. The lack of data from not entering more events prevented Slap from reaching a more prestigious rank, but ranking this high without that data confirms that Slap has the potential to take names and obtain an even higher placement in the future.

 

 

“The evils of Lucy was all around me”

12. Orticoltore

Following his reign of terror at the top of the Italian PR for over a year, Orticoltore makes his debut on the European PR!

With impressive wins over the likes of Lucy, Midmol, arno and Bleb, Orti has shown that he is a player you should respect if you encounter him in a tournament, as he’s capable of making upsets and taking names no matter the opponent.

Orti’s playstyle is focused on an aggressive neutral with a deadly yet precise punish game that makes every neutral loss hurt, then switching to a calculated edgeguard once you get offstage, draining your resources away as he slowly but surely takes your stock. Couple that with classic dash attack tech-chases and unorthodox but effective down specials, and it stacks up to an Etalus you have to be ready for.

While he has a lot going for him in terms of wins, low attendance and a couple of losses to players below the top 15 land him at a modest but admirable 12th place. With a higher attendance and some work on particular matchups, Orti could rise to even higher techheights next season, possibly contesting Bleb for the title of best polar bear in Europe.

 

 

“enjoy therapy”

11. Lucy

Lucy dashbacks her way into 11th place this year, making her first appearance on the EU PR after being at the top of the Italian scene since it picked up speed in 2020. Despite being head TO of her regional community alongside helping with Europe’s tournaments and PR season, she still found the time to climb the rankings by entering 8 different majors throughout the season.

What defines her most as a player is her defensive, bait-and-punish style of play. By combining this playstyle with Ori’s good base stats and effective Sein usage, she infuriates her opponents, which has proven to be an effective strategy.

Despite having some unfortunate runs, she’s still a menacing player that has reached top 8 at two different majors, while also having peaks that netted her positive set records against Bleb and FullMetal in addition to wins on both arno and Orticoltore.

We hope to see more of what Lucy and her Ori can achieve on the next season’s PR, as well as more of her banger outfits on twitter.

 

 

“Transco 4ever my goat”

10. FullMetal

After an uncharacteristic absence from last year’s ranking, FullMetal returned with a newfound vengeance as a consistent top 8 contender at both online and offline tournaments. Even though he has now been on the EU PR 7 times in his career, giving him the third most appearances of any player, this veteran still plays with the same fury, aggression and unyielding confidence as always.

Vinny’s deep knowledge of matchup-specific strengths and weaknesses was shown by his successful mid-set character counter picks, which often kept his tournament runs from biting the dust. His skills resulted in impressive records against both old and new competitors alike, and in a season filled with surprising upsets performed by a new school of Orcane players, he managed to not drop any tournament sets versus the character. While on the other hand, longtime Dutch rivals in arms like Blark, Kravten and J.E.V.B barely managed to scratch the metal of the fullsteam aerial down-special fuelled train that passed both Gladius 2 & 3 with a 5th place finish, Ghent Winter at 7th place and Ghent Summer at 2nd place.

If there is one thing to take away from FullMetal’s performance this season, it would be that the recognisable clicking of his keyboard will remain a lasting warning to any player in his path in the years to come.

 

 

“Thanks to everyone who’s kept me around and supported my improvement”

9. Midmol

Making his first splash onto the PR and beating the “No fundies” allegations, this season Midmol truly proved that he isn’t mid at all. Only placing outside of the Top 8 twice, this UK player has been making a name for himself, picking up online wins on fellow Orcane main arno, Retro and also several players just outside of the top 15in the process.

However where Midmol really shined this season was in his offline runs. His most notable tournament being Rivals Odyssey Winter in Ghent, where he went on a losers run after being knocked out of winners by Fireicey, tearing through Bowman and fellow countryman PiKayMaster along his way to losers finals. Then facing off against OliveOily, he went on to have a nail-biting Game 5 set, besting her in a last stock situation and picking up his highlight win of the season.

This year Midmol put in a resolute effort to push his well-rounded play further. By utilising all of the Puddle Jumper’s tools and solidifying his persistent neutral and reliable advantage-state, he landed himself a deserving 9th place on the PR. If he continues to work on his Orcane it’s likely we’ll see him climb even further up the ranks of Europe in the seasons ahead.

 

 

“no mind to think”

8. arnoooo

arno was already making a name for herself as a focused, hard-working player who was improving quickly during the off-season, but no one was able to predict the level of play she would be bringing to the competition this year. Entering 7 tournaments this season, she only missed out on a single top 8, taking sets over Sheush, Slimepuffen and Lucy alongside recently dominating her home region of Italy, before she closed out her record with a huge upset over zonyx.

Compared to her more methodical Orcane contemporaries, arno boasts a uniquely fast-paced and technical punish game that makes her one of the scariest players to get hit by in Europe.  She has seamlessly implemented and refined many tricks specific to her character that allow her to overwhelm her opponents and turn the smallest of mistakes into stocks. If her improvement over the past year speaks at all for her trajectory as a player, who knows how early her opponents will be dying by the end of 2023.

 

 

“My two biggest improvement spikes were when I got told to look at my opponent and to wait more, imagine what will happen when someone tells me to stop playing Etalus.”

7. Bleblemlic

Bleb cements himself as one of Europe’s top-tier players this season by rising up from his previous 10th place. Now he’s only outplaced by EU veterans, successfully defending his title from the multitude of players rising to high level with wins over Midmol and arno while simultaneously climbing to a higher rank.

After the release of the workshop quartet, Bleb saw potential in Hodan as his punish-focused playstyle naturally fit the character well. He picked the character up as a secondary and showed Europe what the funny monkey could do, blessing us with three Hodan combo videos that could only be summed up as masterpieces.

Later in the season, he decided he had his work cut out for him in order to reach a higher rank, so he went back to solo-maining his tried and true Etalus, and focused his improvement on proactive play, while simultaneously implementing more patience into both his advantage and neutral game. Aided by his improvement, he achieved a breakout run at Gladius 2, placing 3rd with wins over both Sheush and zonyx.

This year only further confirmed Bleb’s potential to be a top-tier threat. If he continues to finetune his gameplan at the same rate, it’s likely we could see him break into Top 5 and become one of Europe’s legends in the near future.

 

 

“I met my girlfriend at the first event I attended this season, only attended the rest as an excuse to go on vacations with her.”

6. OliveOily

Last year OliveOily flew under the radar by being an honourable mention, some may have questioned whether she was still as dominant as in the years prior. But with the reintroduction of offline tournaments Oily makes it back to the PR at 6th place, reminding everyone why she has been a staple of Europe’s top level for multiple seasons.

Her iconic pink Wrastor, recognized worldwide for ruffling the feathers of competitors in Europe and overseas, ravaged through brackets like an unstoppable whirlwind this season, often only slowed down by Fireicey in top 8. The two players met a total of 7 times this season, with Oily keeping it close nearly every time, taking Fireicey to game 5 on multiple occasions and even resetting the bracket against him at Titans.

Oily continuously pushes her boundaries with theory crafting that’s backed by years of experience, which is especially notable in her creative punish game. However one thing that sets her apart from other competitors is her ability to keep her movement, combos and confirms on-point during high intensity situations, giving her gameplay a flair of confidence that makes her a thrill to watch.

Despite her lack of matches against other top players due to only playing offline, OliveOily was still able to end the year with a high ranking, due to the three top 3 finishes at majors and multiple 1st places at locals under her belt. Now that she has reclaimed her position as one of Europe’s best, we’re more than curious to see where the winds will take this consistent top player.

 

 

“”yo mista bad” “it’s alright jesse, you can just call me breaking””

5. Sheush

Now appearing on the 3rd PR of his career, Sheush maintains his spot as Europe’s prime Elliana, soaring to his highest placement to date at 5th, above his previous 6th and 7th places.

This year Sheush has continued to prove why he is one of the most nerve-wracking opponents to meet in bracket. Gameplay that’s spiced up by the endless tricks up his sleeve, topped off with a punish game that makes stocks magically disappear, this seasoned Elliana was able to strike fear into the hearts of Hukon, arno, Bleb and even Boss Hog, taking sets over all of them. Sheush even went toe to toe in game 5 sets against Fireicey on multiple occasions, proving that no matter the challenge, he won’t go down without a fight.

Throughout tournaments this year we’ve seen him swap to Zetterburn mid-set, while Sheush has also mentioned himself that he is considering swapping main, making the future of his Elliana uncertain. Even if Sheush does end up following through with the Zetter switch, Europe will never forget that his Elliana was one of the best to ever do it.

 

 

“I’ll be here forever and ever and I’ll live for 1000 years.”

4. Hukon

Returning to the PR at 4th, Hukon continues his streak of making it on every PR since season 1. He started this season off strong at Bifrost 4, taking sets over both OliveOily and Slimepuffen, then continued the season with wins on Orticoltore, arno and Midmol, before closing out his record with a bang by eliminating both zonyx and Sheush to claim 3rd place at the EU RCS Finals.

Effortlessly switching between rapid splashes of creative combos and patiently waiting for the right moment to find a kill, Hukon always keeps his opponents guessing on what is coming up next. He masterfully incorporates moves from Orcane’s entire kit in a way that seems to keep his combos flowing endlessly. Hukon shows that he is unmistakably the best Orcane in Europe, and will likely keep that title for quite some time.

Although beyond this amazing feat, Hukon can also be found carefully sweeping mines, delicately stacking blocks and brilliantly checkmating his way through different games. To top it all off, he also manages his hugely successful Twitter account where he shares these accomplishments for a wide audience, so be careful dear reader, lest you shall fall victim to one of Hukon’s viral Twitter clips.

 

 

“Quoicoubeh !”

3. zonyx

zonyx indisputably stakes his claim to top 3 of the PR this season. Being the only player to win a tournament with Fireicey in attendance, other than Fireicey himself, while also having a dominant 4-0 record over Sheush and a multitude of wins on players within the top 10, he makes it clear that he belongs at the top of the ranking.

From his playstyle alone, it is easy to see why zonyx is a fan favourite among both players in Europe and overseas. zonyx brings an edge of finesse to Clairen that you won’t see anywhere else, hunting for big neutral openers, leading into a punish game which is both precise with baby-dash jabs and deadly with daring combo extenders. Many European players have tried to play like him, but no one can come close to the level of confidence and creativity that zonyx brings to each set he plays.

Now that the season is over, zonyx has his sights set on other games like HDR, playing Rivals more for fun and less for competition. Even if we see less of zonyx in the future, you can guarantee from the time he has put into the game that his level of style and prowess will never decline.

 

 

“S1J, just the one”

2. Boss Hog

The Boss of Hogs. From Honourable Mentions to being ranked 8th last season, the Boss has evolved his gameplay even further and attained 2nd place on this year’s PR. With two historic wins on Fireicey, a myriad of second place finishes and complete decimation of the competition, it is of no surprise that Boss Hog is this year’s undisputed number two.

Boss Hog plays Kragg like a well-oiled Scottish machine: He be groovin’, schmoovin’ and, certainly, not losing (unless you’re named Fireicey). The Boss is incredibly consistent at punishing bad habits, dissecting gameplay styles and applying the appropriate countermeasures all the while hitting some of the cleanest combos you’ve ever seen. The Hog Lord isn’t just studious in game either, he is studying game development at University in the hopes of bringing his very own platform fighter to life so we wish him all the best in his endeavours!

As an absolute staple of the UK weekly and subsequent stream (featuring fan faves Defileus and Jack Fox; tune in every Saturday) and a pillar of the community as a whole, we can only hope that Boss Hog continues to strive for that number one spot if only to add it to his already impressive collection. Boss Hog, Europe’s best Slap City player, second best Rivals player, and we are sure that when he receives his Fraymakers backer key someday he will be highly ranked in that game too. Remember kids, Don’t Swear!

 

 

“Ek kvam, ek brigða stólar, ek sigraði”

1. Fireicey

For the 4th year in a row, Fireicey returns to his annual rank 1 spot on the European Power Ranking. This position is reserved for the best of the best, and Fireicey has clearly shown that it will be his for a while.

Fireicey’s profound understanding of the game’s mechanics comes from thousands of hours of experience, both from labbing in training mode and perpetually sparring with anyone up for a match. This knowledge is distinctly reflected in his gameplay. No matter how good you think your position is, he has already calculated the optimal way to take your stock with his next series of moves. This, combined with unparalleled composure and confidence, makes for an extremely tough beast to defeat.

The Norse Inferno dominated the entire season. Of the 11 tournaments that he entered, Fireicey placed first in 10, prevailing over strong challengers such as OliveOily, Sheush and Hukon, even managing to take 8 set wins against Boss Hog in tournaments where nobody else could defeat him. He finished the season with two thrilling sets against the Hog, taking gold after winning a hard-fought grand finals reset in the EU RCS Finals.

It seems like Fireicey has yet to find the limits of his improvement, continuing to show progress not only on Zetterburn but with the rest of the cast, despite him going nearly unchallenged for what feels like forever. With him endlessly on the grind, only time will tell what this lion flipping enthusiast will cook up next.

 

Season 7 Graphic

Graphic by kiirochii – Download in full resolution

 

Patch 2.1.5.3 – Custom Color Premium Skins

Custom colors are getting even more custom today with the release of patch 2.1.5.3. Though small in size, this patch packs a BIG feature for players who like to craft their own custom colors.

Starting today you can personalize any premium skin you own in the custom color menu. When making a new custom color, simply select the skin in one of your custom color slots and get creating.

This applies to all alternate skins from milestones like Ayala and Bradshaw, as well as free premium skins like ones from the Champion series or Early Access backing. Show off your style by pairing your favorite taunts with your favorite custom colors.

RCS S7 Store

If you’re looking to snag a few more skins (with 100% of the profits going towards Rivals esports) make sure to check out the RCS shop. It will be closing for season 7 at the end of January so pick up any of your favorites while you still can.

Rivals of Aether Balance Patch 2.1.5.0

Following of one of our biggest balance patches ever, we are back with some small adjustments and light changes to close out 2022. We’ve been hard at work putting together a small but meaningful patch with balance changes and/or bug fixes for most of the cast. Without further adieu, it is time to hop in:

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a ranked bug that would cap players scores at 2147.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that turned characters invisible if killed while armored crystallization is active on them.

Forsburn is still in an overall great place in our meta, with just a few adjustments coming his way. This patch is aimed at adding a little more risk to cape and at adding some reward to opponents that successfully parry clone up special.

  • Forward Strong: Endlag for the cape swipe increased, 14 > 16 (cancel window unchanged)
  • Up Strong: Endlag for the cape swipe increased, 14 > 16 (cancel window unchanged)
    • Adding endlag to both cape swipes while leaving the cancel window unchanged will make the moves slightly more committal in neutral without affecting his punish game too much.
  • Clone Up Special: Parrying a clone’s Up Special now causes him to disappear without leaving a smoke cloud, instead of putting the clone into parry stun.
    • Opponents parrying clone will still need to successfully follow up on the real Forsburn, but being able to parry his clone will yield a greater reward. Situations where a lingering hitbox breaking a parried clone will no longer leave behind a safe smoke cloud for the real Forsburn to take advantage of.

Clairen got some really cool changes to down special in our last balance patch, practically reworking how the move functions in every match-up. This patch includes a small change that should make stun times feel more natural at all percents.

  • Down Special: The last field hitbox plasma stun hitpause reduced, 10 + 0.7 > 8 + 0.5
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Elliana’s steam wouldn’t fully disappear from Clairen’s field, allowing Clairen to re-activate the field at the spot the steam was created.

He’s just a funny little guy trying to make his way in the world.

  • Down Strong: Hitbox heights increased by 1 pixel, which allows for break cancels when standing on rocks.
    • BREAK CANCELS! YES!

Etalus is getting some nice quality of life changes to a few of his multi-hits this patch, adding some consistency and removing some vulnerability respectively.

  • Forward Tilt 1: Hitbox moved forwards by 4 pixels.
  • Forward Tilt 1: Added a sweetspot hitbox to its center that has a higher base knockback than its counterpart (4 vs. 3)
    • These changes should allow Etalus to connect hit 1 into the rest of forward tilt more reliably.
  • Down Air 1 & 2: Hitbox active frames increased to better match animation, 2 > 3

  • Forward Strong: Trimmed the hurtbox on his arm when it’s extended before active frames of the attack.
    • This creates less vulnerability as Ranno unleashes his attack.

Kragg is getting some cool new options with rock and back air that should give him more interactions when standing on rock and elevate creativity in his combo game.

  • Down Tilt: Changed the hitbox shape to match Kragg’s arm better while also allowing the move to break cancel when standing on top of rock.
    • The new hitbox is slightly larger in all aspects.
  • Back Air: Hitbox width increased, 62 > 72
  • Back Air: Hitbox moved inwards by 4 pixels.
    • These changes should allow Kragg to use the reverse hitbox more often, opening the door to tricky DI mixups in more situations.
  • Down Strong: Performing the move on top of rock now break cancels at the beginning of the move instead of the end.
  • Down Strong: Performing the move on top of rock now send rock shards straight up
    • The new angle should give Kragg more options to use rock shards in offensive and recovery situations.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a rare bug where moves that throw Kragg’s rock wouldn’t work.

Maypul got off scot-free last patch, but unfortunately Lily doesn’t have legs so she couldn’t run out of the way. This patch aims to build off the changes Lily got in 2.1.4.0 by punishing marked players for getting bit.

  • Lily: Landing a bite no longer removes their mark. Missing a bite or wrap will still remove it.
    • This should make our last patch’s change to mark a little more forgiving to Maypul when an opponent is hit, while keeping new counterplay aspects such as air dodging or rolling through Lily.

Ori is getting a few bug fixes this patch, one for a bug introduced recently, and another that has been a visual conundrum for a long time.

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where parried Sein charge would reflect into Ori instead of inducing parry stun.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where landing during bash launch would put Ori into prat lag instead of landing lag (this change is visual as the total frames of lag have not changed).

Shovel Knight loves to collect treasure, so it was especially disturbing when a sound effect bug made the experience less fun. We’ve fixed that! For Shovelry!

  • Bug Fix: Gem collection sound effects have been fixed when in online rollback matches.

Mollo got a pretty hefty list of changes on the last go, so this time we’re keeping things simple and tuning up his jab while making bonk hitboxes a little more straightforward.

  • Jab 1: Base knockback increased, 3 > 4
  • Jab 1: Increased tilt cancel window, frame 7 > 6
    • These changes will allow Mollo to cancel into his tilts more consistently out of jab.
  • Bombs: Bonk hitboxes are now marked as Transcendent, meaning hitboxes can’t destroy them without hitting the bomb too.
    • This should make bonk hitboxes more predictable for players expecting to get hit or parry them when hitboxes from attacks like slipstream intersect bombs.

Hodan’s specials are under the microscope in this patch as we aim to fix a strange bug and knock his stalling capabilities down a peg.

  • Up Special: Grabbing a sweatwhirl will only keep Hodan from entering pratfall once per airtime.
    • Fixing the various exploits that have allowed Hodan to stall with up special has been a constant game of cat and mouse. This change should put to bed the cheesy strategies that practically gave him more air time than the air characters.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where inputting side special during the move’s cooldown would delete an active sweat whirl touching Hodan.

Olympia got a pretty cool and initially unintentional buff last patch that we decided to keep after reviewing community feedback, discussing with our beta team, and conducting an internal review. This patch aims to reign in the buff but keep the spirit of it by bringing down special cancel’s distance right between where it originally was, and where it landed in 2.1.4.0. We also noticed down tilt was active for 6 frames, so we did something about that too.

  • Down Tilt: Reduced active frames, 6 > 3
  • Down Special: Dashcancel speed adjusted to 14.
    • This adjustment to an initially unintentional change has reached a happy medium to her old dash cancel distance and the distance gained from patch 2.1.4.0.