- Not to be confused with Smasher:Deer or Smasher:DEAR
| acola "Dear" "あcola" "ディア" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Character info | |
| Ultimate main | Steve |
| Other Ultimate characters | Pyra, Mythra |
| Retired Ultimate characters | Luigi, Kazuya |
| Team info | |
| Sponsor(s) | ZETA DIVISION |
| Former sponsor(s) | flat-gaming |
| Crew(s) | SumaChuDoku, Arpeggio |
| Rankings and results info | |
| Most recent ranking |  LumiRank Mid-Year 2023: 1st |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | Mashita Hayato |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Hyōgo Prefecture, Kansai 
|
| Miscellaneous info | |
| Skill | Top level |
acola (あcola) is a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Steve player from Japan who is considered to be the best player in the world in 2023, ranking 1st on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023, and is one of Ultimate's Four Horsemen. acola gained a worldwide spotlight due to his impressive consistency as a player, arguably on par with the likes of MkLeo; up until Maesuma Offline (Shikoku), he made grand finals at every offline tournament he attended, including winning his first major at Maesuma TOP 7, his first supermajor at Kagaribi 7, and his first invitational major and overseas tournament at The Gimvitational. His victory at Maesuma TOP 7 made him the youngest Ultimate player to win a major, at the age of 15 years old. He is also the only Ultimate player to win the first major and supermajor that they attended.
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
Tournament history
Smashmate beginnings
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 Luigi and Donkey Kong, however he found greater success playing 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 Top 50 Smashmate Players of All Time, which ranked Smashmate players up to the 22nd season.
Offline debut and meteoric rise
Despite his strong results online, acola had little impact on the offline scene in his first year, with his only attendance being a small event in November. That changed in 2022, when acola was invited to 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 Hero, Kome, and most notably Shuton, whom he reset the bracket against. Following this event was 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 Abadango and 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 Maesuma TOP 7 and the supermajor 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 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 MkLeo and 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 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 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 Marss 3-0, fellow Japanese invitee Asimo 3-1, Canada's best player Riddles 3-1, and finally the United States's best player Light 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 Otori at 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 Let's Make Moves Miami despite losing to MuteAce; and his performance at the supermajor invitational Ludwig Smash Invitational, where despite losing to Zomba in the Swiss bracket and MkLeo twice in the main bracket, he notably defeated Sparg0 3-2 to place 2nd.
On the other hand, players also noted how acola had a few statistics that did not favor his case, especially a few questionable losses to unranked Japanese players such as Kashiya at Maesuma Offline (Shikoku) and Meido at Sumabato SP 29; acola's performance at the former tournament also notably broke his streak of top 2 finishes, as he placed 4th after losing to alice. Further hurting his case was his performances at Smash Ultimate Summit 5 and Seibugeki 12. In the former tournament, it seemed like American players were beginning to adapt to his playstyle, as he barely made it out of his Round Robin pools due to his loss to Dabuz -- which led to a string of tiebreakers between him, Dabuz, and Cosmos that ultimately went to best of 1 stock -- before losing his runbacks against Kola and Light to place 4th. In the latter tournament, acola was upset by Repo and Kameme to place 9th, the first time acola placed outside of the top 8. Finally, his run at Scuffed World Tour was also relatively lukewarm: although he evened his record against Light, he fell to Sparg0 and Shuton for 4th, giving him yet another major where he finished outside the top 2.
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.
Claiming the throne
With acola's strong performances in the previous year, all he needed was to clean up a few unfortunate statistics in order to take the throne. The first half of LumiRank 2023 saw just that, as acola saw a string of performances that many had compared to MkLeo's performances in early Ultimate. During this period, acola won nearly every event he attended and placed no lower than 7th at any event considered for the ranking. Most notable among these events include the supermajors Umebura SP 9 and Kagaribi 10, two of the largest events in Japan for the Mid-Year season, and the major Smash Ultimate Summit 6, where after losing to Big D, he tore through the entire tournament, defeating everyone in his path -- including dominating MkLeo 3-0 in the runback -- to claim his first Summit victory. Further helping him was his loss record: only six players managed to take a set over acola, and all of them were ranked in the top 30 for the Mid-Year season; conversely acola only had one negative record against a player outside the top 10: MuteAce (#16), who has a 0-1 record against acola. Finally, acola's overall record was impressive, as he held a 90-10 record against players who qualified for the rankings, which included a 64-10 record against the entire top 50.
However, there were a few things working against acola that challenged his path for #1, all of which was due to his new bracket demon, Sparg0. During this period, acola took a total of 2 games off of Sparg0, leaving acola with a 0-5 record against Sparg0. In addition, acola failed to win any tournament that was ranked premier on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 -- the highest tier on the rankings -- as at all three events he was ultimately eliminated by Sparg0. This was most notable at the premiers Kagaribi 10 and Battle of BC 5, where despite making it to Grand Finals, acola lost to Sparg0 to place 2nd. Due to all of this, many players believed Sparg0 would come out on top for the Mid-Year ranking. However despite a close race, Sparg0's worse overall record and a couple of questionable major placements held him back, and acola was able to ascend to the throne, becoming the first Japanese player to be ranked #1 for a game released after Smash 64 since 9B on the SSBBRank 2014.
The rest of the year effectively solidified acola as the best player in the world, especially following his premier-tier victory at Super Smash Con 2023, which also saw Sparg0 drastically underperforming. acola continued to win almost every event he entered, and made top 4 at the events he did not win. He notably had only one loss to a player outside the top 10 during this half of the year -- Hurt. In addition, many players took note of how acola frequently won sets that went to game 5, with a statistic showing that acola had won 87% of game 5 sets that year, earning him the nickname "Game 5 acola".[1]
On the other hand, this period was not completely spotless, as acola began to develop a few new problematic opponents. The first was fellow Smashmate rival Miya, who at that point was also a contender for the best player in the world. Although acola had a strong record against Miya, this record began to shrink in the fall, notably after Miya blocked acola from winning another premier event by double-eliminating him at Kagaribi 11. The second was Sonix, who finally fought acola at Port Priority 8 in a highly yet ironically anticipated matchup. The set ended in a devastating 3-0 from Sonix, and acola ultimately fell to Miya for 3rd, failing to win yet another premier event. Although these performances did little to hurt acola's overall standing, they also showcased how he was not as invincible as many players had assumed. This was the most apparent at acola's final event of the season, Watch The Throne, where he lost to Sparg0 and Sonix for 4th, albeit with better performances against both players. As such, although acola's record against almost everyone remained close to spotless, his record against the rest of the top 4, especially against Sparg0 and Sonix, was less than exemplary.
Rankings
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Smashmate
| Season | Ranking | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 7th | 2,485 | |
| 14 | 2nd | 2,304 | |
| 16 | 1st | 2,400 | |
| 17 | 1st | 2,404 | |
| 18 | 1st | 2,420 | |
| 20 | 1st | 2,502 | |
| 21 | 3rd | 2,485 |
Panda Global Rankings Ultimate
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGRU v3: Japan Top 50 Players to Watch | March 1st - June 13th, 2022 | Featured Player (Top 10) |   |
LumiRank
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UltRank 2022 | June 18th - December 18th, 2022 | 2nd | |
|
| LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 | December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 2023 | 1st |  |
OrionRank Ultimate
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank Mid-Year 2022 | December 22nd, 2021 - June 26th, 2022 | 4th | |
|
| OrionRank 2022 | December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 | 2nd |  |
OrionRank Japan
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank 2022 Japan | December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 | 1st | |
Tournament placings
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tamisuma SP #219 |
January 18th, 2021 | 9th | — | — |
| Maesuma #190 |
February 7th, 2021 | 2nd | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #229 |
February 16th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Tamisuma Championship 1 |
February 17th, 2021 | 33rd | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #233 |
February 27th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma #198 |
March 7th, 2021 | 9th | — | — |
| Maesuma #200 |
March 14th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #238 |
March 13th, 2021 | 5th | — | — |
| Maesuma #201 |
March 19th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #241 |
March 22nd, 2021 | 9th | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #242 |
March 25th, 2021 | 17th | — | — |
| Maesuma Champion Series 3 |
April 10th, 2021 | 4th | — | — |
| Tamisuma Championship 3 |
April 22nd, 2021 | 9th | — | — |
| Maesuma Champion Series 4 |
May 8th, 2021 | 7th | — | — |
| Tamisuma Championship 5 |
July 29th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| MaeTami Summer Festival Qualifier A |
August 14th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| MaeTami Summer Festival |
August 15th, 2021 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma Champion Series 9 |
October 9th, 2021 | 2nd | — | — |
| SenjinByakko Mononofu Cup #52 | November 13th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma Champion Series 11 |
December 15th, 2021 | 1st | — | — |
| Tamisuma SP #351 |
January 3rd, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Hozuki #5 | January 10th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma Offline | February 26th, 2022 | 2nd | — | — |
| Sumabato SP 24 | March 20th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma #316 |
March 22nd, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Shinosuma #124 | March 26th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Ignite 1 | March 27th, 2022 | — | 3rd | Sunea |
| Maesuma Champion Series 15 |
April 6th, 2022 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma Offline 2 | April 16th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Hozuki × acOlaSia 2 | April 29th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 7 | May 1st, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Kagaribi 7 | May 4th-5th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Sumabato SP 26 | May 29th, 2022 | 2nd | — | — |
| Kamisuma 13 | June 5th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| The Gimvitational | June 19th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma Offline (Shikoku) | July 9th, 2022 | 4th | — | — |
| SenjinByakko -RAN- #58 | July 21st, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT #28 | July 21st, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT Champion Series 2 | July 23rd, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Sumabato SP 28 | July 24th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT #30 | August 11th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Sumabato SP 29 | August 14th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| MaeTami Summer Festival 2022 |
August 19th, 2022 | 3rd | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 9 | August 27th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Smash Ultimate Summit 5 | September 15th-18th, 2022 | 4th | — | — |
| Maesuma Champion Series 19 |
September 28th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 10 | October 15th-16th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Ludwig Smash Invitational | October 21st-23rd, 2022 | 2nd | — | — |
| Let's Make Moves Miami | October 28th-30th, 2022 | 1st | 1st | Onin |
| MaesumaHIT Champion Series 3 | November 12th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Seibugeki 12 | December 3rd, 2022 | 9th | — | — |
| Scuffed World Tour | December 18th, 2022 | 4th | — | — |
| JAPAN 24 | December 24th-25th, 2022 | 1st | — | — |
| Umebura SP 9 | January 7th-8th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| GENESIS 9 | January 20th-22nd, 2023 | 7th | 65th | fuku |
| Kagaribi 9 | February 4th-5th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT Champion Series 4 | February 25th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 11 | March 5th, 2023 | 3rd | — | — |
| Karisuma SP 15 | March 18th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| Smash Ultimate Summit 6 | March 23rd-26th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| tamasuma kyokkan 2 | April 15th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 12 | April 30th, 2023 | 1st | — | — |
| TOKYO SMASH BOOT CAMP | May 3rd, 2023 | 9th | — | — |
| Kagaribi 10 | May 6th-7th, 2023 | 2nd | — | — |
| MaesumaHIT Champion Series 5 | May 13th, 2023 | 5th | — | — |
| Battle of BC 5 | May 19th-21st, 2023 | 2nd | 4th | Miya |
| Seibugeki 14 | July 1st, 2023 | 1st / 272 | — | — |
| Super Smash Con 2023 | August 10th-13th, 2023 | 1st / 2,607 | 1st / 567 | Miya |
| Sumabato SP Ultimate | September 16th-17th, 2023 | 1st / 291 | — | — |
| DELTA 5 | September 23rd-24th, 2023 | 1st / 292 | — | — |
| Kagaribi 11 | October 7th-8th, 2023 | 2nd / 1,472 | — | — |
| Maesuma TOP 14.5 "in Hyogo" | October 29th, 2023 | 1st / 284 | — | — |
| Port Priority 8 | November 11th-12th, 2023 | 3rd / 710 | — | — |
| Watch The Throne | December 8th-10th, 2023 | 4th / 16 | — | — |
| JOHSUMA 18 | December 16th, 2023 | 1st / 60 | — | — |
| Umebura SP 10 | January 6th-8th, 2024 | 1st / 1,275 | — | — |
Trivia
- The only players that acola holds negative records against in offline Ultimate tournaments are Sparg0 (1-7), MkLeo (1-2), MuteAce (1-2), TamaPDaifuku (1-2), Sonix (0-2), Kameme (0-1), and Kashiya (0-1).
- acola is one of five players to win an Ultimate major while being seeded outside of the top 16, alongside ProtoBanham (won Kagaribi 4 as the 25th seed), Quidd (won Let's Make Big Moves 2022 as the 32nd seed), Kuro (won Umebura SP 6 as the 37th seed) and Miya (won 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 Yoshidora's record of 638 wins.[2][3]
- acola's signature look is his white disposable face mask that he wears at all tournaments. He is often depicted with it on fanarts of him.
- acola is a fan of the indie 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 Port Priority 8.