Editing Smasher:Acola

:''"Smasher:Dear" redirects here. Not to be confused with [[Smasher:Deer]] or [[Smasher:DEAR]].''

| alias          =  あcola

| otherssbu     = Pyra

| 2ndotherssbu   = Mythra

| crew            = SumaChuDoku, Arpeggio

| rankingssbu    = [[LumiRank 2024.1]]: 1st

| bestrankingssbu = [[LumiRank 2024.1]]: 1st

| location        = Hyōgo Prefecture, Kansai

'''acola''' ('''あcola''') is a ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' {{SSBU|Steve}} player with an {{SSBU|Aegis}} secondary from Japan who is considered to be the best Steve player of all time and the second-best ''Ultimate'' player of all-time, having been the best player in the game since 2023. acola gained a worldwide spotlight due to his impressive consistency as a player, arguably on par with the likes of {{Sm|MkLeo}}; up until {{Trn|Maesuma Offline (Shikoku)}}, he made grand finals at every offline tournament he attended, including winning his first major at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 7}}, his first supermajor at {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}, and his first invitational major and overseas tournament at {{Trn|The Gimvitational}}. His victory at Maesuma TOP 7 made him one of the youngest ''Ultimate'' players to win a major alongside {{Sm|Doramigi}}, at the age of 15 years old. He is also the only ''Ultimate'' player to win the first major and supermajor that they attended, and is one of two players to be #1 in the world throughout ''Ultimate'' alongside MkLeo.

He frequently enters single-elimination live tournaments on [[Smashmate]]. He was ranked 1st on the Smashmate SP ranking from the 15th season to the 20th season, and is the first player to achieve a 2,500 rating.

 

acola began his ''Smash'' career during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] on the Japanese ladder [[Smashmate]] under the tag Dear (ディア), which he played under until mid-2021. He began playing characters such as {{SSBU|Luigi}} and {{SSBU|Donkey Kong}}, however he found greater success playing {{SSBU|Steve}}, debuting on the [[Smashmate Rankings]] at 7th for the 13th season with mostly Steve. Since then, he began dominating the ladder, reaching 1st by the 15th season and maintaining that placement for the next several seasons. Due to his dominance during this period, acola was considered one of the best players in Japan's online metagame, with him placing 4th on kenniky's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN66zf8M644 Top 50 Smashmate Players of All Time], which ranked Smashmate players up to the 22nd season.

 

Despite his strong results online, acola had little impact on the offline scene in his first year, with his only attendance being a [https://challonge.com/x0homigo small event in November]. That changed in 2022, when acola was invited to {{Trn|Maesuma Offline}}. Despite being his first offline event with top players in attendance, acola surprised everyone by placing 2nd, defeating several established players along the way including {{Sm|Hero|p=Japan}}, {{Sm|Kome}}, and most notably {{Sm|Shuton}}, whom he reset the bracket against. Following this event was {{Trn|Sumabato SP 24}}, acola's first notable open bracket event. Coming in as the 14th seed, acola once again shocked players by taking the tournament over even more established players such as {{Sm|Abadango}} and {{Sm|HIKARU}}, marking his first superregional victory. These two events established acola as Japan's premier rising star and marked the start of acola's dominance in Japan, with him placing no lower than 2nd at several events afterwards.

 

These "several events" also included the Golden Week events, specifically the major {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 7}} and the supermajor {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}. Both events featured many of Japan's best players, and both events also seeded acola outside of the top 8, with Kagaribi 7's algorithmic seeding notoriously seeding acola at 57th. Despite these challenges, acola blew both seeds out of the water by winning both events, defeating every single player that was in his path aside from a single set loss to {{Sm|Yoshidora}} at Maesuma. In addition, with his victory at Kagaribi, acola became the lowest-seeded player to ever win an ''Ultimate'' supermajor. These performances not only established acola as the new best player in Japan, but also made him known overseas, with players comparing his dominance to {{Sm|MkLeo}} and {{Sm|Sparg0}}, ''Ultimate''{{'}}s best two players at that time. Many players began anticipating a potential match between MkLeo and Sparg0, while other players dismissed acola as being yet another player in the wave of Steve players who saw strong performances that year. Nonetheless, many players began looking forward to how acola would fare against North America's best players.

 

acola would be given that chance in June: thanks to his victory at Kagaribi 7, he was given an invitation to {{Trn|The Gimvitational}}, an invitational that featured several of ''Ultimate''{{'}}s best players. acola's first notable match at the invitational was in his Round Robin pools, where he faced {{Sm|Kola}}. After a rather back-and-forth match, acola defeated Kola in the fifth game, claiming his first notable North American win. acola ultimately placed 1st in his Round Robin pools, sending him to the Winner's side of the final bracket, where he tore through the bracket, defeating {{Sm|Marss}} 3-0, fellow Japanese invitee {{Sm|Asimo}} 3-1, Canada's best player {{Sm|Riddles}} 3-1, and finally the United States's best player {{Sm|Light|p=Connecticut}} 3-1, winning his first international tournament. With that victory, acola became the first non-American player to win the first international major they attended since {{Sm|Otori}} at {{Trn|Apex 2012}}. The victory also established acola as one of the best players in the world, and he was ranked 4th on the [[OrionRank Mid-Year 2022]].

 

Due to his performance and sudden rise to the top, players also began wondering whether acola could be the definitive best player in the world, especially with MkLeo's declining results, Sparg0's hiatus following The Gimvitational, and Steve's perceived dominance in the metagame. In addition, acola continued to dominate the Japanese scene with several major titles and saw some strong performances in the United States, including winning the supermajor {{Trn|Let's Make Moves Miami}} despite losing to {{Sm|MuteAce}}; and his performance at the supermajor invitational {{Trn|Ludwig Smash Invitational}}, where despite losing to {{Sm|Zomba}} in the Swiss bracket and MkLeo twice in the main bracket, he notably defeated Sparg0 3-2 to place 2nd.

 

 

These few statistics ultimately kept acola away from being the best player in the world, and he was ultimately ranked 2nd on the [[OrionRank 2022]] and the [[UltRank 2022]].

 

 

 

 

 

Going into 2024, acola had a lot to prove after receiving somewhat disappointing results towards the end of 2023, with Miya being regarded by some players as the best player for the second half of 2023. He almost immediately fired back after an impressive run at {{Trn|Umebura SP 10}}, a Premier tier event, repeating victories against fellow top 5 player Glutonny and notably claiming victory over Miya in grand finals, the first time he had beat one of the other horsemen since {{Trn|DELTA 5}}. However, the next couple of months would see Acola not attending many events of note, but during this time acola saw a spotless record on every player he fought, and remained the only top player without a loss going into April. In addition, acola began to work more on his Aegis, using it to defeat Doramigi in two games in grands of {{Trn|Kamisuma 22}}, as well as defeating Asimo using Aegis in the final game of grand finals at {{Trn|KOWLOON 10}}. He notably reached a Smashmate rating of 2,500 with just Aegis, one of the few players to reach that rating with more than one character.

 

 

Moving on to the second half of 2024, and after coming out of the first half of 2024 with great success, acola would continue his success in his next supermajor {{Trn|Kowloon 12 with Kagaribi}}, where acola would sweep through his bracket near flawlessly before losing to Miya 1-3 in Winners Finals. He would be sent down to losers to face his next opponent. Unfortunately, after an insane losers run, Sparg0 would make it to losers finals, this meant that acola would once again face off against his biggest bracket demon. However, in a shocking upset that surprised many, acola finally overcame his bracket demon and defeated Sparg0 3-1 with his Aegis, a victory that left him popping off like he never did before and caused the Japenese commentators and some of the audience in the venue to cry. He would then win the runback against Miya 3-0 in grands but would not win the tournament as Miya would clutch it in a close game 5 set. Despite finishing 2nd, this was still a remarkable run for acola because of his victory over Sparg0, as this was a player that had constantly stood in his way and denied him massive supermajor wins in the past two years that would've made him the definitive best player in the world. This further convinced players that acola showed no signs of giving up and would take this ranking under his belt as well. However, this is where things started to take a turn for the worse with his next supermajor presence, {{Trn|Supernova 2024}}; His first North American tournament since {{Trn|Watch The Throne}}. Despite high expectations for acola given his decisive victory last year, he would be upsetted by {{Sm|Yoshidora}} 2-3 right outside of Top 24 winners, acola would then be sent to losers and would just barely make it to top 8 after surviving close game 5 sets against {{Sm|Marss}}, {{Sm|Dabuz}} and {{Sm|MkLeo}}, with acola notably taking his mask off in the latter set after being down 2-0. Once in top 8, acola would lose to Sonix 0-3 to finish 7th, his worst placement of the year and an underwhelming loss at an important event that could spell disastrous for acola's number 1 spot.

 

However, there was still hope left with acola's next tournament, {{Trn|Umebura SP 11}}, where despite falling into losers early yet again after losing to {{Sm|Snow}} 2-3, he would make it to grands after a clean losers run including winning the runback to Snow in losers finals. Unfortunately, acola would once again fall short to Miya after winning the bracket reset, giving Miya yet another supermajor win. Later at {{Trn|Sumabato SP 51}}, acola would suffer a devastating blow right outside of top 8 after losing to {{Sm|Akakikusu}} 1-3, giving acola his first sub-top 30 loss in over a year, and despite another clean losers run and winning the runback to both Yoshidora and Akakikusu, acola would be upsetted once again in grands after losing to Asimo 2-3 to finish 2nd, yet another major slipping away from acola. To make matters worse, acola's number 1 position was once again threatened by his former bracket demon, Sparg0, as his results began to improve dramatically as he started to win big supermajors with minimum games dropped, and with [[LumiRank 2024.2]] no longer factoring in the first half year rankings. Acola didn't even manage to get a single major win until {{Trn|Sumabato SP 52}}, and with Miya and Sparg0 having won multiple supermajors and P-tiers, players wrote off Acola as a contender, instead perceiving the race to be between Sparg0 and Miya.

 

===''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''===

====[[Panda Global Rankings Ultimate]]====

|[[PGRU v3#Japan Top 50 Players to Watch|PGRU v3: Japan Top 50 Players to Watch]]||March 1st - June 13th, 2022||Featured Player (Top 10)||{{Head|Steve|g=SSBU|s=20px}}{{Head|Kazuya|g=SSBU|s=20px}}||

 

|[[LumiRank 2024.1]]||December 18th, 2023 - July 15th, 2024||1st||{{Head|Steve|g=SSBU|s=20px}}{{Head|PyraMythra|g=SSBU|s=20px}}||

 

 

 

|{{Trn|Tamisuma Championship 1|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||February 17th, 2021||33rd||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Champion Series 3|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||April 10th, 2021||4th||—||—

|{{Trn|Tamisuma Championship 3|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||April 22nd, 2021||9th||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Champion Series 4|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||May 8th, 2021||7th||—||—

|{{Trn|Tamisuma Championship 5|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||July 29th, 2021||3rd||—||—

|{{Trn|MaeTami Summer Festival Qualifier A|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||August 14th, 2021||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|MaeTami Summer Festival|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||August 15th, 2021||3rd||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Champion Series 9|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||October 9th, 2021||2nd||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Champion Series 11|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||December 15th, 2021||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Offline|g=SSBU}}||February 26th, 2022||2nd||—||—

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP 24|g=SSBU}}||March 20th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Ignite 1|g=SSBU}}||March 27th, 2022||—||3rd||{{Sm|Sunea}}

|{{Trn|Maesuma Champion Series 15|g=SSBU}}{{OnlineIcon}}||April 6th, 2022||3rd||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Offline 2|g=SSBU}}||April 16th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Hozuki × acOlaSia 2|g=SSBU}}||April 29th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma TOP 7|g=SSBU}}||May 1st, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Kagaribi 7|g=SSBU}}||May 4th-5th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP 26|g=SSBU}}||May 29th, 2022||2nd||—||—

|{{Trn|Kamisuma 13|g=SSBU}}||June 5th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|The Gimvitational|g=SSBU}}||June 19th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma Offline (Shikoku)|g=SSBU}}||July 9th, 2022||4th||—||—

|{{Trn|MaesumaHIT Champion Series 2|g=SSBU}}||July 23rd, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP 28|g=SSBU}}||July 24th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP 29|g=SSBU}}||August 14th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|JAPAN 24|g=SSBU}}||December 24th-25th, 2022||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Umebura SP 9|g=SSBU}}||January 7th-8th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|GENESIS 9|g=SSBU}}||January 20th-22nd, 2023||7th||65th||{{Sm|fuku|p=Kansai}}

|{{Trn|Kagaribi 9|g=SSBU}}||February 4th-5th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|MaesumaHIT Champion Series 4|g=SSBU}}||February 25th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma TOP 11|g=SSBU}}||March 5th, 2023||3rd||—||—

|{{Trn|Karisuma SP 15|g=SSBU}}||March 18th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Smash Ultimate Summit 6|g=SSBU}}||March 23rd-26th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|tamasuma kyokkan 2|g=SSBU}}||April 15th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma TOP 12|g=SSBU}}||April 30th, 2023||1st||—||—

|{{Trn|TOKYO SMASH BOOT CAMP|g=SSBU}}||May 3rd, 2023||9th||—||—

|{{Trn|Kagaribi 10|g=SSBU}}||May 6th-7th, 2023||2nd||—||—

|{{Trn|MaesumaHIT Champion Series 5|g=SSBU}}||May 13th, 2023||5th||—||—

|{{Trn|Battle of BC 5|g=SSBU}}||May 19th-21st, 2023||2nd||4th||{{Sm|Miya|p=Honshu}}

|{{Trn|Seibugeki 14|g=SSBU}}||July 1st, 2023||1st / 272||—||—

|{{Trn|Super Smash Con 2023|g=SSBU}}||August 10th-13th, 2023||1st / 2,607||1st / 567||{{Sm|Miya|p=Honshu}}

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP Ultimate|g=SSBU}}||September 16th-17th, 2023||1st / 291||—||—

|{{Trn|DELTA 5|g=SSBU}}||September 23rd-24th, 2023||1st / 292||—||—

|{{Trn|Kagaribi 11|g=SSBU}}||October 7th-8th, 2023||2nd / 1,472||—||—

|{{Trn|Maesuma TOP 14.5 "in Hyogo"|g=SSBU}}||October 29th, 2023||1st / 284||—||—

|{{Trn|Port Priority 8|g=SSBU}}||November 11th-12th, 2023||3rd / 710||—||—

|{{Trn|Watch The Throne|g=SSBU}}||December 8th-10th, 2023||4th / 16||—||—

|{{Trn|Sumabato SP 52|g=SSBU}}||October 20th, 2024||1st / 337||—||—

*acola is one of five players to win an ''Ultimate'' major while being seeded outside of the top 16, alongside {{Sm|ProtoBanham}} (won {{Trn|Kagaribi 4}} as the 25th seed), {{Sm|Quidd}} (won {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2022}} as the 32nd seed), {{Sm|Kuro}} (won {{Trn|Umebura SP 6}} as the 37th seed) and {{Sm|Miya|p=Honshu}} (won {{Trn|Kagaribi 8}} as the 17th seed).

*acola holds the known record for the longest [[Elite Smash]] win streak without rematching opponents at 740 wins, beating {{Sm|Yoshidora}}'s record of 638 wins.<ref>[https://clips.twitch.tv/AliveMoralHamKappaClaus-sgfZpYJheWQa7e8m acola breaks the longest Elite Smash win streak record]</ref><ref>[https://clips.twitch.tv/ToughOpenRabbitOSsloth-XPRy7rQGt1gby98k acola's record Elite Smash win streak ends]</ref>

*acola is a fan of the indie game ''[[wikipedia:Omori (video game)|Omori]]'', and regularly uses in-game tags that reference the game, including "Whitespace" and "Miserable". The latter raised some concern online when acola used it at {{Trn|Port Priority 8}}.

*acola is a fan of the Japanese pop group Tuyu, and many fanart often depict him together with one of the female characters in the group's MVs.

*[https://smashmate.net/user/74512/ Smashmate profile]

*[https://twitter.com/acola_lui Twitter account]

*[https://www.twitch.tv/acola_lui Twitch channel]