Arbaro's Rankings for the July 2024 Premiere Poll

It feels like everything and nothing happened this month. Many of these players only played one or two matches in June, but they were the most important matches they'll play all year. It also serves as a natural endpoint for players who want to take a short- or long-term break, and a natural jumping off point for players who want to get back in the scene.

Numbers in parentheses refer to the (Premiere Poll ranking | my ranking) for June. NR stands for "Not Ranked". Want to argue about this? Join our Discord!

1 ALEX THACH (1 | 1)
The fact that Alex T became the seventh person to lift the CTWC trophy is one thing, but he's been so dominant lately that the CTWC organizers had a kiddie pool and can of parmesan hidden away for when the moment came. He should buy his mom something nice with the prize money for cleaning up after him.

2 DOG (3 | 4)
This year's runner-up Dog has been to the semifinals in five consecutive Classic Tetris World Championships. Only one other person has ever done this.

3 BLUE SCUTI (4 | 3)
Tristop had Scuti's number during both live events he participated in this month, but becoming CTL champion says a ton about a player's consistency. His 29 is still sone of the best in the biz.

4 FRACTAL (2 | 2)
Fractal's Round 2 CTWC exit against a rampaging Tristop was the first time he has had a non-decider loss since August 2023. Signs point to him taking a well-deserved break, but it will be impossible to forget the show he put on in the first quarter of 2024.

5 SIDNEV (6 | 5)
Sidnev didn't seem subject to the same jetlag debuff as the players accross the channel when playing at CTWC, brushing Andy and Opaux aside and falling to Noah Dengler's as part of his semifinals run. In her postgame interview, she mentioned specifically that she was working on limiting her early topouts; if she's able to succeed and still put up the sort of scores we're used to seeing from her, watch out.

6 TRISTOP (13 | 17)
Pushed Alex T to a decider in CTWC. Took home a CTWC regional against stiff competition after umpteen attempts. Crashed the game. Terrifying 29. Something has clicked for Tristop, and he's arrived in a big way.

7 GERALD FREEMAN (7 | 8)
Gerald missed CTWC but got to the finals of the Philly regional before showing clear signs of exhaustion while dropping the set to Tristop. He's now finished second in CTWC, MM, and CTL this year, so you know he's got to be itching to add something to his trophy cabinet.

8 THEDENGLER (10 | 9)
While Tristop's semifinal run seemingly came out of nowhere, Dengler's seemed like a natural step up following months of great CTM and CTL play. Everyone knows about his ability to pace on 18 and 19, but pair that with a sneaky-scary 29 and you have a recipe for more deep tournament runs.

9 DANV (8 | 6)
A jetlagged Dan substantially underperformed during this year's CTWC, but over the past three months, he's had wins against Dog, Sidnev, Gerald (twice), and Scuti. His 1.7 CTM qual suggests that some more big wins will come.

10 PIXELANDY (5 | 7)
Andy's round 2 loss to Sidnev continues a rough few months, with April CTM decider victories over Scuti and Fractal being the most substantive achievements over that period. Whatever combination of controller issues and repetitive stress injuries he's facing, here's hoping he can stay healthy and get back to playing at the level we know he's capabile of.

11 MYLES (9 | 11)
Myles had a solid CTWC and almost had a rollover in his quarterfinals loss to Dog.

12 SODIUM (15 | 16)
Sheesh. Talk about DanV's underperformance has masked how well Sodium had to play to beat him, and Sodium even got a game off the eventual champ. Throw that Challengers win from last month in there, too.

13 TOMMYNTG (11 | 12)
Crickets this month, but he had an excellent CTM qual, so let's see where that takes him.

14 SVNESTRIS (15 | 16)
SV has a reputation as a very aggressive player, but his CTWC match against Lazer showed that he can also dial it back and protect a lead. Put those togher and you have a player who can deliver enough big scores to win some big sets.

15 PORTALLL (18 | 14)
Crickets this month due to the tyranny of distance.

16 IBALL (12 | 15)
Crickets this month due to non-electronic sporting engagements.

17 RAHMATIONS (16 | 10)
Rah's CTWC was over before it began, topping out early twice and getting swept by Andy in Round 1. He's still not someone top players should take lightly, but it's been a hot minute since he's had a big win.

18 HUFFULUFUGUS (14 | 13)
Huff wasn't able to put up big scores in his round 2 decider loss to DMJ, and his Illionis win is falling out of the evaluation window. Limited online play means the Huffulufugirls will have to wait another day to see their hero.

19 ALLENBOT (19 | 20)
It must be tough to be stuck in Singapore while everyone's partying in LA, but Allen was able to beat up on NeutrisicAcid a bit and take home the Singapore title, so there's that.

20 LAZER (21 | 22)
There have been enough recent Lazer sets that a pattern is emerging: his rolling skills are top-notch and he generally plays clean, but he struggles with putting up pace and often finds himself in pretty deep holes during games.

21 NEK0 (24 | 19)
Crickets this month because bright orange controllers aren't allowed at CTWC.

22 COALBUCKET (20 | 21)
Through the magic of having him fly thousands of miles over the course of the month, we've learned that Coal is better at tetris than ID Kirby and Dylan Armstrong, but not as good as Blue Scuti and Gerald Freeman.

23 CHEEZ (NR | NR)
Cheez showed some rust but looked pretty legit during this year's CTWC. If he can play consistently and make deep tournament runs, we in the Classic Tetris community are going to collectively lose our minds.

24 DAVIDMJ (NR | NR)
DMJ tends to avoid online competitions, so it's hard to get a precise gage on him, but he keeps getting impresive wins every couple months that put him back on the radar. At CTWC, he got his revenge on Huff after being beat twice by him in illinois.

25 FUR OF KITTEN (NR | 24)
Crickets this month, but Div 1 better watch out.

FIRST FIVE OUT: DILLAN, SOMALIAN, VICIOUS RHUBARB, TUGI, ERICICX