My rankings for the April 2024 Premiere Poll

 I am part of the panel that determines the Premiere Poll, a ranking of the top 25 Classic Tetris players currently doing their thing. Here's my submission of the April version of the poll, with a little blurb explaining my reasoning for each.

The numbers in parentheses are a player's position in (the March 2024 Premiere poll overall | my ranking for March). NR stands for "Not Ranked". The names are the ones used in the Classic Tetris Match Database and Elo Spreadsheet.

1 FRACTAL (1 | 1)

Fractal is the back-to-back CTM champion and hasn't dropped an Elo set yet in 2024. He's 100 Elo points clear of the #2 player. Both Alex and Andy pushed Fractal to a decider this MM, but he keeps showing everyone what he's made of.

2 ALEX THACH (3 | 3)

Obviously the world record is huge, but Alex T has also has had some big comp Ws lately -- he was runner-up to Fractal in Feb Masters and put together a near-flawless game record in a very tough CTL div. And the rematch with Fractal in the MM semifinals was one of the most fire matchups we've seen in a while.

3 PIXELANDY (2 | 2)

After losing to Alex T in Feb Masters semifinals, Andy put together a businesslike dismantling of his unranked Mega Masters bracketmates before laying down a 1.8 to seal the deal against iBall. I feel weird putting him third but, y'know, that's Tetris in 2024, I guess. 

4 BLUE SCUTI (5 | 5)

Scuti's December to Remember may be in the rear view mirror now, but he continues to impress, bringing home the Desert Regional and CTLT titles. He has the clearest shot at the MM semifinals out of anyone in the top 16 (update: he got there, though not without some scares), so let's see if that translates to even more silverware.

5 DOG (4 | 4)

Dog v Scuti was one of the best-ever CTL regular season sets, with both players putting up numbers as Dog came back from a 2-0 defecit to take it. I think this is going to develop into a fan-favorite matchup.

6 SIDNEV (7 | 7)

When Sidnev is on her game, like she was this month when she took home the trophy in Austria and won her MM bracket, her games can take on a Fractal-like air of inevitablity -- she will win and there's nothing you can really do about it. MM proved she's one of the select few people who can go toe-to-toe with Fractal and play 29 speeds like DAS players play 18.

7 GERALD FREEMAN (6 | 6)

Gerald was on cruise control through March, not dropping a single game, but it was all against opponents that aren't really in his neighborhood. He's set himself up for some top 7 matchups in MM and the CTL playoffs, so it's going to be fun watching him in April.

8 HUFFULUFUGUS (13 | 10)

Huff's back with a vengance after taking a couple months off, bringing silverware back home with him from Illinois and taking down Myles on the way to win his MM bracket.

9 SVNESTRIS (9 | 12)

SV fell to a very good iBall and got swept out of the CTL playoffs by Blue Scuti, but he put in a strong second-place showing in Austria.

10 IBALL (16 | 11)

iBall got another big win this month, sweeping ninth-ranked SV in MM. Although it resulted in an L, he also rolled over the score in a classic game against Andy. Early topouts are a concern but all the ingredients are clearly there.

11 DANV (10 | 13)

Mr. Vinki got swept by SV in both Austria and CTL, and he wasn't much of a speedbump in Portal's deep MM run. But winning against Gerald Freeman and pushing Fractal to a decider in February still count for a lot.

12 RAHMATIONS (15 | 17)

Rahm has had some very good results lately. He won against a stubborn Sunny in MM and his Feb Masters campaign was excellent, beating Myles and pushing Alex T to a decider. He has excellent 29 play, but might have leaned on it a bit too much in MM.

13 MYLES (8 | 9)

Myles has been winning the matches he absolutely should be winning, but also seems like he's on the losing side of a lot of statement wins. Granted, his obvious talent is why those wins are a statement in the first place.

14 THEDENGLER (12 | 8)

Noah stumbled out of the block a bit this month in MM, almost losing to AtKoster. He also lost against Gerald Freeman in the CTL playoffs, but that kinda just shows the gap between the top seven and everyone else. He did score well enough to push Huff a bit, but still got swept.

15 TRISTOP (17 | 19)

Tristop put in a classic performance in the first round of MM, with death-defying digs and a 1.7 in level 35. Only real problem? How many of those digs he's getting into in the first place.

16 SODIUM (18 | NR)

Sodium has had an impressive March, going 3-2 in CTL (including wins against Rhubarb and Wallbant) and getting past a red-hot DMJ in the MM mint bracket.

17 TOMMYTNG (11 | 16)

Tommy showed he can bring some pressure in game 3 of his MM match against Dog, beating the two-time champ by rolling over into 39. The set also included a pair of early topouts, but he can make the top players very uncomfortable. 

18 PORTALLL (NR | NR)

Portal had a bonkers good MM qual and won the pink bracket over O, didn't look half-bad in his 3-1 semifinals loss to Blue Scuti, and the 1-4 CTL record is misleading. He's done enough that leaving him outside the top 25 feels wrong.

19 VICIOUS RHUBARB (21 | 20)

I have no idea how to evaluate Rhubarb pushing pushing Scuti to a decider and then topping out after nine lines. Illinois a mixed bag, too, with him beating Wallbant but losing to DMJ and Coal. Both those players are on the rise, though, so I guess it's not that bad?

20 O (19 | 15)

O's MM campaign looks a lot better watching the vod, and besides, it was 4 AM for him, so, y'know. Doesn't have a lot of other material to be judged by, though.

21 COAL (23 | 24)

Coal had some weird navy bracket games, but he secured promotion into CTL div 1 and put on a strong showing in Illinois.

22 ALLENBOT (14 | 18)

Allen swept Dog in January, but since then he hasn't been able to gain much traction. Granted, he's faced some absolutely brutal opponents, but if he wanted to show his stuff he could be playing CTL or something.

23 DAVIDMJ (NR | NR)

DMJ put himself on the radar this month, with a great MM qual, strong MM bracket showing, and finishing runner-up to Huff in Illinois. Maybe he should stop setting up for tetrises on 29 when he doesn't have to, though.

24 WALLBANT (24 | 22)

Wallbant has had a brutal month in online comp, being upset by Kitten in Mega Masters and going 1-4 in an addmitedly very tough CTL div. He's had more success in in-person tournaments, bringing home the trophy in Canada and only losing to Rhubarb and eventual second-place finisher DMJ in Illinois. 

25 SUNNY (NR | 21)

Sunny had another strong showing in Masters this month, this time falling to Rahm, but as his December Challengers win fades into the background, he needs to do more than lose impressively at some point.

First five out: DOGE, COBRA, SOMALIAN, FUR OF KITTEN, PEEKARYIC