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:
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- Introduction & Methodology
- #50-41
- #40-31
- #30-21
- #20-11
- #10-1 (You are here.)
“How to tell if your washing machine is from Japan.”
10. darai
Kicking off our top 10 is the Sunnyshore tournament organizer, event photographer, and highest ranked player on the West Coast. Darai has been playing Rivals since 2017, but only started competing seriously at the start of 2020. Darai’s Season 7 propelled him to new heights as he placed in the Top 8 at five different tournaments, three of which were Premier tier, and won Back In Blood 5 after an intense eight game Grand Finals. Make sure you keep an eye on him as he’s already won the first event of Season 8, and enter his next Sunnyshore event when registration goes live as part of Grassroots League.
“Try to do good, recklessly.” – Alsnapz
9. Akashi
The player most likely to mess up our commentary schedule jumps up from 33rd in Season 6 to 9 in Season 7! Akashi approached this season with a goal of broadening his comfort level with competition, focusing on entering every event with a small goal, and leaving with a new one. As it turns out, this approach complemented his playstyle extremely well, as he was able to gradually upset player after player while securing 3rd place at Heat Wave 5 over ZeeBee and 4th place at The Big House 10 over Penguin. Akashi’s climb throughout Season 7 was nothing short of meteoric as he continuously struck down opponents as the underdog all the way up to Genesis 9, where he placed 7th and then commentated Top 6 on the mainstage the next morning. As Season 8 revs up, you can catch Akashi helping with events, commentating, and even doing voiceover work and writing for Stats of Aether.
“Hey it’s me, your washing machine. I’m from Japan.”
8. CheesyPotato
CheesyPotato is another top 10 player who has actively created amazing experiences outside of the game. CheesyPotato has worked on everything from start.gg web extensions, to an entire website dedicated to the history of Rivals Esports, all while finding niche and experimental in-game advanced techniques to attempt to push the meta. CheesyPotato only missed Top 8 twice in Season 7 out of the the 10 brackets she attended, never placing below 9th and even winning Sunnyshore over the likes of darai, Wai, and Plastic Dinos. Despite the impressive results and unwavering consistency, CheesyPotato feels that she did not improve as much as she had hoped this season and she hopes to focus on active thinking and dealing with pressure while on the big stage.
“YES I DO ACTUALLY WORK AT MCDONALDS ITS AWESOME”
7. Kusi
Coming in at seven is the best Ori & Sein main in the world. Kusi placed 5th at five of his six events, placing 4th at GOML 2022. His consistency in Season 7 was immaculate, only dropping a single set to someone ranked below him and one more to a former hidden boss known as Halite. School and work has been a main priority for Kusi as the season dragged on, but that did not stop him from making the top 10 rankings and shutting the door on countless competitors trying to break through to the Sunday stage. Next season, Kusi wants to aim for #1 but has the specific goal of defeating the elusive ZeeBee Mollo.
6. Xaro
Xaro lands at number six this Season after placing Top 3 in all three offline events he attended and Top 8 in both Online Premier events. Xaro held an impressive 6-0 game count over ZeeBee in offline events and was one of only two players to take multiple sets off of Seggo in Season 7. As Season 8 kicks off, Xaro has his eyes set on an ambitious goal that not many have achieved over the years, winning an offline major.
“My friends are awesome :)”
5. Penguin
Penguin is a legend in the Rivals community, known for his nearly perfect doubles record and his ability to push the best player in the world to his breaking point like no one else ever has. During Season 7, Penguin moved out for college and is using the opportunity to see friends and enjoy the social aspect of events more. Season 7 may not have been up to the competitive standards a titan like Penguin normally holds himself to, but he was one of only three players to take a set off of CakeAssault, one of three players to beat Soulrifle211, and still placed in the Top 8 of each of the eight offline tournaments he attended.
“Corruption’s such an old song that we can sing along in harmony, and nowhere is it stronger than in Albany.” – Hamilton (Nonstop)
4. ZeeBee
Moving up two spots from Season 6, ZeeBee became an entirely new threat in Season 7 as he balanced his character pool around a new main – Mollo. ZeeBee put down the Kragg partially through the season and began to really refine a character that seemed like a counterpick at first. Before long, ZeeBee was able to take a set off of CakeAssault, get consistent wins over Kusi and Penguin, and placed 2nd at The Big House 10 and 4th at Genesis 9.
“Please for the love of god nerf Forsburn.”
3. Soulrifle211
One of the youngest and most passionate competitors in the game took his electric popoffs to every stage possible, placing in the Top 3 at every Premier event he attended. Soulrifle211 was able to take at least one set off of every player he played this season other than CakeAssault, and only lost to three players in his seven events. We have yet to see Soulrifle211 take first at a major, but at this rate it is only a matter of time until he breaks through the seemingly unbreakable wall set up by CakeAssault.
“#3MSWEEP”
2. Seggo
Seggo made history at Heat Wave 5, becoming a part of an exclusive club consisting of a handful of players that have won an offline RCS Major. Seggo has long proven himself to be a top player threat and even won three different community events in Season 7, but there was something different about his magical run at Heat Wave 5. This event not only cemented Seggo in history due to his win, but also spoiled the #CakeSweep movement that had seen CakeAssault nearly demoralizing any and all competition as he ruled over Season 7 with an iron fist. Following up his magical run, Seggo was out to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no fluke involved in his victory, beating CakeAssault at PPS and taking another set against the king of Rivals before finishing 2nd at the Genesis 9 Finals.
1. CakeAssault
CakeAssault, the king of Rivals is once again here to defend his throne in what seemed like a sure thing up until his fall at Heat Wave 5. Immediately after the Heat Wave 5 loss, CakeAssault dominated the December RCS and proceeded to trade the RCS Gold online brackets with Seggo, putting all eyes on what would happen at the Genesis 9 finals. CakeAssault entered the Genesis Top 6 from the winners side for the first time ever, where he would meet and fall to Seggo in a shocking Winners Finals before coming back with a vengeance to take the finals and once again cement himself as the best player in the world.
CakeAssault entered 12 different brackets, placing first place in 10 of them, and 2nd in the remaining two. His domination is hard to comprehend as even his most fierce opponent could not hold a candle to the pure fire pumping through his veins. CakeAssault’s 1st place in Season 7 marks the fourth time he has topped our rankings.
Thank you everyone for a phenomenal Season 7. We cannot wait to see what comes next.
❤️
Nice
Yep, I´m clearly there