Sonic's Rankings for the December 2024 Premiere Poll (Open + DAS)

We're proud to feature Sonic's Open and DAS Premiere Poll rankings for the month of December. Sonic has been a prolific contributor to This Week in Tetris, often writing the bulk of the match writeups in a given post, has also been a part of the statkeeping project for CTWC regionals. She was added to the Premiere Poll panel in November in recognition of her efforts, and was kind enough to give us insight into her rankings for this month's ballot.

Numbers in parentheses refer to the (Premiere Poll ranking | Sonic's ranking) for November. NR stands for "Not Ranked". These rankings do not include any matches that have been played since December 1. If you're a Premiere Pollster and want to share your reasoning for your rankings on this blog, or if you're a reader who just wants to pitch in your two cents, feel free to join our Discord.

Open Ranking

1 BLUE SCUTI (1 | 1)
It's impossible to put anybody else up in first place. Scuti's dominance across Masters and CTL in the last three months is unmistakable, and at least at the time of submitting this poll, it didn't seem like anyone was close to touching him.

2 DOG (3 | 2)
Dog had some controller struggles in his No Cap November qual and earlier in the month, but he's looked good since. He faced some significant challenges in some of his CTL matches, but the Masters matches were mostly decent showings for him, as he might be one of the players benefitting the most from the no cap format. Plus, rebirth still adds extra kudos for him, so he stays in second place for now.

3 MEME (8 | 8)
Meme is a real threat to taking out the first and second place on this poll as she's risen meteorically through the ranks of the Tetris world. Huge wins in CTL and making the semifinals of No Cap November are definitely signs of greater things to come.

4 MYLES (5 | 4)
Myles' surprise first round exit to Neko in No Cap November and other recent inconsistencies did hurt him a bit, but his successes in September and October still leave him relatively high on the poll for now.

5 TRISTOP (4 | 3)
Running into Scuti in the Top 8 of Masters might continue to be Tristop's downfall, but he's also been less consistent mechanically than before. We also haven't seen much of Tristop's playing in the past month since he didn't play in CTL, so for now he remains here.

6 IBALL (9 | 9)
iBall swept his way throughout CTL (at least before the poll deadline), and he's looked incredibly good in most of his sets. He hasn't played Dog, Meme or Myles due to being in a different division, so it's a bit hard to compare their performances, but I was definitely tempted to put him higher on the poll.

7 ALEX THACH (2 | 5)
Alex's return to competition has been plagued by controller issues in November. It was bad enough that he had to switch to tapping halfway through a CTL match with Jerpi -- a set that he just managed to win by the skin of his teeth. There's no doubt that he'll go back up when he gets the controller fixed; it just has to happen. (December update: it did get fixed!)

8 SIDNEV (6 | 7)
Sidnev took a break after September and returned this month to play in No Cap. Her performance in No Cap November was enough to get her past Huff and SV, but for now it's hard to tell where she is at with the linecap on.

9 THEDENGLER (7 | 6)
Dengler missed out on qualifying for No Cap November and instead took a break from Tetris for the month of November, so for now here's where he stands.

10 SVNESTRIS (16 | 18)
SV's back into contention! In the last few months he's been consistently plagued by controller issues, but with a functioning controller he's been playing well. The no-linecap format of Masters did hurt him as a normally aggressive player, but he's had good performances in CTL, which are enough for him to overtake a good number of players on this list.

11 SODIUM (13 | 16)
The old fable that Sodium was a pre-29 pace player and could only line out on 29 is gone. Sodium's killscreen game has improved a lot in recent months; his strong CTL showing this season, including a decider loss to iBall and wins over Alex and Rahmations, is plenty of evidence of that.

12 TOMMYNTG (15 | 14)
Tommy's back for No Cap November, and he had a pretty strong showing versus Scuti. His sample size is so small that it's hard to tell where he is, but a rough eye test puts him here.

13 NEK0 (11 | 10)
Neko's ceiling is sky high, but his consistency is still a cause of concern. For a player who's consistently putting up Es, Fs and even rollovers, he tops out on 18 and 19 a bit too often for him to go higher.

14 DANV (12 | 13)
Dan is really consistent pre-29, but isn't known to play much past 29. This consistency, though, is usually able to get him past a good number of opponents, including Allenbot this November. A lower scoring ceiling, perhaps, but the consistency has always been his calling card.

15 COBRA (20 | 17)
Cobra's win over Coal in their CTL match, as well as a good showing in Challengers (although the finals were not played before the end of the poll deadline), cemented his place in the middle of the poll this month. He's got some serious scoring potential once he gets into a groove, and I'm excited to see more from him in the coming year.

16 COALBUCKET (14 | 12)
Coal had a really great October, with strong showings against Neko and Meme in Masters, but his absence from CTM in November and underperformance in CTL has dropped him a few spots in the rankings. Similarly to Cobra, he's got a whole lot of potential once he gets back into the groove, so here's hoping we'll see more of him soon!

17 TETRISTIME (NR | NR)
TetrisTime fans, it's time to rise up. Finally mastering rolling has given TTime a huge buff in the last month. On paper he got swept by players like Dog in CTL, which seemed like a predictable result, but the games themselves were incredibly close. He also got a PB of 2.3 million in another CTL match! He definitely has the potential to get even better and I'm sure he'll have a great showing in the next year.

18 FRACTAL (10 | 11)
We haven't seen Fractal play this month since he's sitting out No Cap November, but inconsistencies in his last Masters outing leave him down at 18th place.

19 ALLENBOT (19 | 15)
Allenbot's early Masters exits didn't come to an end this month, even when he was facing DanV instead of Tristop. A middling performance of a 19 topout and a failed 29 chasedown place him here.

20 RAHMATIONS (18 | 19)
Rahmations announced his retirement from competitive Tetris before the poll was cut off, so I debated whether I'd keep him on the poll. But he is still eligible -- he played out a whole season of CTL, as well as a Masters run in October, so he'll stick around here for a little longer. I'll definitely miss watching him play and wish him all the best in the future!

21 REDSHURT (NR | NR)
Another player who's shooting up the rankings really fast, Redshurt's performance in CTL has been a sight to behold. He's been putting up solid paces pre-29 and has some aggressive playability on the killscreen as well, so I'm expecting him to go even further up soon.

22 HUFFULUFUGUS (17 | 20)
As one of the original proponents of lineout play, Huff actually benefits hugely from the no-cap format, but a string of two failed chasedowns in his games against Sidnev sent him out of the tournament.

23 LAZER (21 | 21)
Lazer didn't play this month, but is still eligible due to his October Masters appearance. Certain players have moved up past him, but his pre-29 pace is not to be underestimated.

24 O (NR | NR)
It's a real treat to see him back. O made the semifinals of Challengers this month, which included a nail biting decider victory against Chiller and a sweep against Jerpi.

25 KUNFUSINGPOKE (NR | 23)
Poke didn't play in November, but his Challengers' run last month included him reverse sweeping O and then sweeping TetrisTime, so he's still a player to contend with.

FIRST FIVE OUT: CHILLER, DUZYK, VICIOUS RHUBARB, PIXELANDY, NIGHT

DAS Ranking

1 PIXELANDY (1 | 1)
Andy is on top of the competitive DAS scene right now. His DAS control, especially on 29, is actually insane, and couple that with (perhaps more importantly) good mental, at least when he's playing at home -- you've got yourself an absolute machine. Most recently this month, he finished first in DCL's league phase and won his third DAS Masters title out of four events held. Need I say more?

2 FRACTAL (2 | 2)
Fractal has only been playing in DAS Masters, so his game sample is much smaller, but in that sample he's looked pretty good. He made the semifinals of October's DAS Masters, going out to Lio, and his Jonas Cup win was a championship run of all time.

3 LIOLIO (6 | 4)
Lio has always been one of my favorite players of any playstyle to watch; his stacking is incredibly creative and unique. He also has good results to boot, making DAS Masters finals two months in a row, and this month having to defeat players such as Dog, AvGeek and Fractal on his way there.

4 DOG (3 | 3)
Dog is coming off a win at Stillwater's DAS tournament and only dropped a single match in DCL (to his brother Andy), finishing in third place. Although he might have taken an early exit in DAS Masters this month thanks to Lio handily beating him in the top 16, he's still one of the best players around, and DAS is no exception to that.

5 GIOVANNI (4 | 6)
Gio has had to withdraw from DCL and DAS Masters recently, so we haven't seen much of him in competition in the last month or so. However, whenever he's played before that, he's been very good with putting up consistent high scores in competition. Plus, I'm pretty sure he'll break the DAS 19 start record with the way he's been putting up crazy paces so frequently.

6 NENU (11 | 9)
Nenu's strength is consistency. Despite often having to play at strange hours of the day, he's put up consistent games time and time again. He played well in his recent matches across Masters and DCL; more importantly for me, I enjoy watching him stack, and he has great results with it too.

7 SHARKY (5 | 7)
Sharky had a rough couple of months competitively since taking a surprise early exit at the Jonas Cup. He also left DAS Masters early due to Matt Martin having a really good day, but things are looking up, as he had had a lot of good games in DCL recently, including a win over Liolio in the playoffs.

8 TOMMYNTG (NR | NR)
Probably my hottest take of the whole rankings as most people might not have Tommy on their radar, but the numbers don't lie; he's currently ranked third in 2024 FMS behind Fractal and Andy. Tommy has played extremely well in DCL in the past two months, culminating in him getting to the Top 8 in the playoffs. He's a rock solid DAS player, rarely having early topouts, and can often come back from behind on 19.

9 ROBIN (10 | 8)
Robin is also another player who's been really consistent with getting to the 19 transition, but has suffered a decent amount of early topouts once she's gotten to 19 speeds. Still, no performance has made me want to drop her significantly in the rankings yet, and she stays at 10th for now.

10 TEGAMECH (14 | 14)
TegaMech's second place finish in DCL might have been a bit of a surprise for some, but his consistency is not to be underestimated; he might not put up insane high scores in his matches, but his strategy of staying alive, making transition and putting up some decent post has worked perfectly.

11 BENDY1 (13 | 12)
Also known for haivng good DAS 29 ability, Bendy is a good all-around player in the DAS competition circuit. There aren't any particular areas (eg consistency, 18 pace, 19 pace) that he's weak in; he does have a fair share of topouts that were maybe a bit early on 19, but on the whole he's pretty consistent.

12 STORM957 (NR | NR)
Storm's debut in DAS Masters was certainly impressive; taking out SaltedSofa and Meme was no mean feat at all. It's made all the more impressive that he plays on a wireless controller on emulator- one must wonder what he can do on a console setup without lag.

13 NGC MAN (7 | 10)
On a good day, NGC is capable of putting out some insane paces, but a worse day might see some 18 topouts. Despite a bit of inconsistency, NGC Man finished in the Top 8 of DCL's league phase, and he's definitely still a tough opponent to play.

14 AVGEEK (16 | 17)
Most of the players in this range have variable performances due to occasional early top tendencies, and AvGeek is no different. She's improved a lot in recent months, coming off a great performance at the Jonas Cup and making it to the Top 8 of DAS Masters, but consistency is what will get her further up the rankings.

15 BLUE SCUTI (9 | 11)
Top roller Scuti is also really good at DAS. He made the finals of Jonas Cup in September and is definitely capable of putting up big scores, but he also had a fair share of early topouts, particularly in DCL.

16 TRISTOP (15 | 15)
Tristop sometimes suffers from early topouts and some shaky DAS control that bring his overall performance down, but whenever he gets far, he's incredibly good.

17 SCOTTOBOZO (NR | 20)
Scotto's performances are slightly less volatile than the players surrounding him in the rankings, but there are still some topouts that are a bit too early on 19, placing him in this part of the poll. In the last month he's made it into the Top 8 of DAS Masters, where he played some pretty good sets.

18 MEME (12 | 13)
Although she made the top 4 at Jonas Cup, Meme's consistency in DCL has been somewhat variable. A relatively large number of early topouts continue to be a barrier, but when she's on a roll, she's also able to put up pretty good scores.

19 ELIAS (18 | 18)
Elias has generally paced very well on 18, but making it to 19 is sometimes a concern. He's had some pretty good scores on good days though, so the scoring potential is definitely there. He does have some competition success, finishing middle-of-the-pack in DCL and Top 8 in DAS Masters.

20 MATT MARTIN (17 | NR)
Matt's performance really depends on the day -- it can either be multiple early topouts or multiple maxouts and 1.1s in a set -- but making the semifinals of the first expanded DAS Masters deserves kudos.