Welcome everyone to another year of PMRank! PMRank is a panel-based Power Ranking of the Top 50 Project+ players in North America. We're excited to put together another list of the best performers throughout the 30+ eligible events this year, covering Game 5 in the D #1 through Condo of Blood 2. Initially, 78 players were qualified to be ranked based on their placings and attendance at major Project+ events throughout 2023. Panelists were tasked with reviewing this data and ranking each player in order, from #1 to #78. For each player, the highest and lowest rankings on all panelists’ lists were removed when averaging votes to reduce variance. After an initial ballot, panelists were given time to discuss the aggregated results and move closer to consensus in the case of players with high standard deviations. Then, panelists submitted a second and final ballot to determine the placement of our PMRank Top 50.
This project would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers who helped us engineer spreadsheets, track down tournament data, construct head-to-head charts, create and revise ranking ballots, write and edit player summaries, and gather photographs. A number of photographers have given us permission to use their high-quality photographs of Project M/+ players for the purposes of this project as well.
2024's edition of PMRank begins today with a mix of new and old faces - some making their long awaited debuts.
Some things in life are inevitable: death, taxes, and Ripple nerfing your main and buffing your least favorite character. While he had a somewhat late start to the year, the King Dedede, Samus, and Ganondorf trimain successfully piloted his characters to a fourth place finish at Super TPS III. A few months later, Ripple made a rare out of region appearance at Game 5 in the D #4 where he picked up wins over fellow IL Ganondorf main Che, as well as Krumpberry in a decisive 3-0. Ripple ended the 2024 season with a fourth place finish at Show Me Your Moves 24 to round out the year. After a five year absence from PMRank, Ripple has proven that Dedede and Samus can still “do it” at the highest levels, despite where others (and himself!) may place his mains on their tier lists.
Written By: ilikepizza107
New Jersey’s hidden boss is not so hidden anymore. The mono-blue card draw bird (or fish if you think about it), Mulldrifter flutters his way onto PMRank taking his place at #49. Having inspired legends telling of “BBBBB” and a Penguin King on the East Coast, Mulldrifter Jet Hammered his way through the competition on a national level this year. One of his most powerful showings was New Jersey’s Garden Brawl, where he used his Waddle Dee army to secure victory over Freezus, Wombat, and LiteralFraud to secure fifth place at the stacked event. At his most prominent appearance of the year, Mully unleashed the Gordos at Undertow 2024. He was knocked into Losers bracket early by SoulOfficer, but he was not out yet as he would inhale his upcoming competition. He only dropped one game as he made his way through Ravenking, Kendrick, and ilikepizza107 to make it into the top cut. There, he had a tense game five against flatline and then bowed out at 17th against another fellow PMRank player, Jagz$. No longer paying the evoke cost, Mulldrifter is being hardcast to take the spot of #49 on the rankings.
Written By: Artemis
Photo Credit: Yung Quaff
If there’s a single run on the regional scale this year to be categorized as a “historic breakout,” there’s no doubt it’d be for Prince Fluff at Smashing Grounds’ 10th Anniversary. With plenty of current and former locally and nationally ranked players from New England in attendance, the royalty of Massachusetts had a lot to prove. He did so in spades, though, winning a reverse 3-0 over PMRank mainstay Flarp, defeating another in Twisty without dropping a game, and ending the run of harrow on her breakout performance at fifth place. He was eliminated at fourth place by ~CP9~, but not before taking him down to the wire in a set that could’ve ended in either player’s favor. Prince Fluff’s remaining season may not have been as explosive as his debut event, but he was able to achieve top 32 at Undertow 2024 over PMRank hopefuls Wombat, ilikepizza107, and Nave. Even though Prince Fluff may have backed off from competition for now, if that fire to win ever returns, his patient neutral and deadly confirms will have you scared for your (bracket) life.
Written By: Motobug
Photo Credit: bad bully
As a longtime student, mentor, and historian of generations of Project M/Project+ Lucario, TRai joins the pantheon of iPunchKidsz, Fearless, $wift, Rongunshu, altan, Poilu, Boat, and SipMastah to have represented the Aura Pokémon on PMRank. As a scholar of OHC, ASC, aMSa climb, B-tech, A-reverse, CASH, the Connrad, Roncopter, and any other tech he can learn and implement in his gameplay, perhaps no other Lucario player has embodied the culmination of the character’s gameplay history more than TRai. TRai has developed an accomplished combo game as seen across combo contests, multiple combo videos, Clips of the Week, and countless “gfydogs.” While TRai’s awe-inspiring combo game and tech skill have been on display for years, his tournament results were still charging up, but competitors beheld the power of TRai’s aura in 2024. TRai attended two regionals in his home region of Arizona, Metal Tavern and Five Nights at Fingy’s 2, placing seventh and fifth, respectively, and he collected wins from PMRank 2019’s #44 Ca$ino Wolf and 2024 breakout star SoulOfficer. The peak of TRai’s 2024 came appropriately at The Bigger Mile High Club in Colorado, where the higher elevations seemed to attune TRai to his competitive aura. TRai finished 17th place out of 134 entrants with stunning wins including PMRank 2023’s #30 Motobug and #41 Star. While following in the footsteps of powerful fellow Aura Guardians, TRai has pushed, developed, and supported the Lucario meta for years and in doing so has thoroughly imprinted his aura on the identity of PM/P+ Lucario.
Written By: Che & CND
Twister Nation, assemble! After a year of inactivity focusing on other ventures, Twisty returns to PMRank at #46. His first event of the season, Vortex Gallery @ Frosty Faustings, showed that Twisty hadn’t missed a beat in his time away. PMRank’s lone remaining solo Wario clapped Joey, Mar, and Che before losing out to former New England residents Rise and Yung Quaff to earn the bronze medal. His in-region events saw him earn a win over Serb in a traditionally tough matchup, though his greatest success came at Infrared 2024. With a doubling up of last game wins versus essy and JSalt, Twisty both earned top eight at the stacked regional and locked his spot on PMRank. While the GOAT of Smashing Grounds (59 weekly wins all-time!) may not have been as active as previous seasons, we’ve seen Twisty lock in and reach peaks only a select few in the world have - and the Twister Nation will have his back when he does it again.
Written By: Motobug
Photo Credit: N/A
Being a gamer of many tags, harrow may not be a name you know at first glance - and not leaving her home region of Massachusetts much, outside of an occasional venture to Wisconsin, makes her a bit of an uncommon sight. While this may be her first time appearing on PMRank, she’s been a staple in both competing in and organizing tournaments at Smashing Grounds ever since its inception back in 2014. With her trusty Zelda that has been her primary character since 2021, harrow put her name on the map with an incredible run at the 10th anniversary of her home tournament series. Despite an early loss to another Massachusetts mainstay, Kumatora, harrow tore through the Losers bracket, Lightning Kicking SocKuh, Brimley, and clutching game five nail-biters from both Imogen Heat and Comb. She then had another game five set with another player on the run of their life, Prince Fluff, but harrow fell to his Marth and Sheik for fifth place. The rest of harrow’s season was quiet as she took to competing in a more casual and less frequent manner, but her run through a series of New England’s best players proved that she has the raw talent to hang with the best of both the region and the world.
Written By: Motobug
Photo Credit: bad bully
Arizona is a state with a long and storied history with Project M — from the crew battles, to their love of Smashville, to its titans in Blue, Cloudburst, and ilovebagelz, they’ve firmly planted themselves as one of the most iconic regions in the scene. Who better to shine for the Valley of the Sun than a player with the state’s initials in his tag, AZ_r0cky? While his debut at Metal Tavern saw a lone win on ilovebagelz, losing out to fellow AZ player Ca$ino Wolf and SoCal invader Dumshiny, The Bigger Mile High Club is where he had his big break. As the 75th seed of the tournament, AZ_r0cky wasn’t expected to make it out of pools - understandable for many players at the most stacked event of the year. Instead, the Southwestern Fox made three straight upsets over MachineDynamics, Blitz, and Jagz$, one-upping the up-and-comers right into the Winners side of top 32. While he bowed out at 17th to top 8 finisher Jodeci Joestar and PMRank mainstay Ellipsis, AZ_r0cky shone a light on AZPM again in a big way. If we’re able to watch this seldom-seen Fox at more major events in the next year, don’t sleep on him - he just might have another Mile High run in the tank.
Written By: Motobug
Ever since the days of Project M 3.02, the Tennessee scene has been one of the hotbeds of PM/Project+, but for a myriad of reasons, the region has never had representation on a national stage. This ends now with our own Jayson “Moist” Rice. You may have seen clips of him from years past footstooling people with his Ike, 0-to-deathing off any stray hit with his DK, and debuting after the latest big balance patch...a Yoshi? He started off the year with a couple of respectable 17th place finishes at Full Bloom and Warehouse War, snagging some nice wins on the likes of Jisp and Karma. He then followed this up with a 25th placement at another big event, Undertow, where he utilized his Ness and Snake matchup experience from fellow Tennessee PR players to take out Ntire and LiteralFraud. The biggest capstone to his season, though, was cardd’s basement. There, the Yoshi seemed to shake off the new main jitters and ran all the way to second place beating essy 3-1, Av 3-2, and then Av again in a commanding 3-0 in Losers Finals, only to fall twice to fellow Southeast titan, Dingo. Over the winter, he has dedicated himself to becoming a lab monster with his new Yoshi, so look out on his socials and in 2025 brackets for all sorts of disgusting footstool combos and weird tech coming from Moist in the future.
Written By: Rooster
If you’ve been lucky enough to be at an event with Krumpberry, you’ll know he’s one of the most eccentric yet lovable personalities in the scene. A cheerful demeanor isn’t all he brings to tournaments, though - he’s also got a mean Meta Knight. Despite an uneventful performance at The Bigger Mile High Club compared to his Canadian compatriots, Krumpberry committed to venturing further outside of his home country this year. At Game 5 in the D #4, Krumpberry rode with - and unfortunately had to teamkill - many of his northern brethren, defeating Shadrake, Pnut, and Blitz with one of the craziest stocks of the year to make his way to seventh place at the Michigan regional. Krump carried this momentum into Undertow 2024, where two landmark wins over Midwest powerhouses, metroid and essy, solidified his place on the national stage, bowing out to the tournament’s eventual winner, Ellipsis, as well as evil lesbian for 13th place. His last event of the season, Condo of Blood 2, took place in his home of Ontario, allowing him to earn wins on both LiteralFraud and Erg to bolster his résumé for the season. As the lone primary Meta Knight main left on PMRank, Krumpberry carries a historic torch; for both the fans of his character and the fans of Krumpberry, we’re excited to see him do so again in 2025.
Written By: Motobug
Photo Credit: N/A
Make no mistake; while you might see “SLiP~” as Che’s in-game tag, this Ganondorf main had no intentions of losing his grip on his spot in the Top 50. Instead, Che makes his third consecutive appearance on PMRank and climbs to a new height of #41. Unfortunately, the Buttery Slick King of Slips and Clips wasn’t able to attend quite as many tournaments as he did in years past, but that didn’t stop him from making waves at the events he did attend, including taking a career first win on his bracket demon, local hero and fellow Midwest staple Chris “ORLY” at Frosty Faustings XVI, where Che earned a respectable fourth place. Not one to let good momentum go to waste, Che grabbed an impressive seventh place finish at Full Bloom 2024 via wins over mawwwk, Tavi, and the preeminent contemporary Roy main Veka hot off of her 3-0 finish over SoulOfficer. While competition at major events took a backseat for Che in the second half of 2024, one can only imagine him sitting in his lair, biding his time by concocting new devious ways to make soul reads and slaughter innocent Project+ players with Ganondorf back throw in preparation for the 2025 season.
Written By: evil lesbian
Other PMRank 2024 Articles
1/27/2025 - PMRank 2024: The Edge of Glory
1/28/2025 - PMRank 2024: 50-41
1/29/2025 - PMRank 2024: 40-31
1/30/2025 - PMRank 2024: 30-21
1/31/2025 - PMRank 2024: 20-11
2/3/2025 - PMRank 2024: 10-7
2/4/2025 - PMRank 2024: 6-4
2/5/2025 - PMRank 2024: 3-1
2/6/2025 - PMRank 2024: Recap
1/28/2025 - PMRank 2024: 50-41
1/29/2025 - PMRank 2024: 40-31
1/30/2025 - PMRank 2024: 30-21
1/31/2025 - PMRank 2024: 20-11
2/3/2025 - PMRank 2024: 10-7
2/4/2025 - PMRank 2024: 6-4
2/5/2025 - PMRank 2024: 3-1
2/6/2025 - PMRank 2024: Recap
Last Year's Rankings
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: The Edge of Glory
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
1/29/2024 - PMRank 2023: In The Margins
1/30/2024 - PMRank 2023: 50-41
1/31/2024 - PMRank 2023: 40-31
2/1/2024 - PMRank 2023: 30-21
2/2/2024 - PMRank 2023: 20-11
2/5/2024 - PMRank 2023: 10-7
2/6/2024 - PMRank 2023: 6-4
2/7/2024 - PMRank 2023: 3-1
Credits
PMRank Staff:
- Che “Che” Woodson
- Brennan “FlashingFire” Connolly
- Paul “Motobug” Canavan
- Peter “Pikmon” Woodworth
Graphic Design and Character Renders:
- Paul "Motobug" Canavan
- Cosmetic Standardization Project (CSProject) & the Project+ Development Team
Editors:
- “CND”
- Paul "Motobug" Canavan
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