2024 has been a great year for Project+ so far, as tournaments have steadily increased in attendees throughout the past 9 months. Undertow 2024 is no exception, as the waterpark major has locked in 122 entrants for PM, making it the third major this year breaking 120 attendees. The entirety of 2023 only peaked at 113 entrants with Mile High Club. So going into the stacked event this weekend, who of these 122 players should we look out for?
If you watched our video about the first half of the year, you’ll know Morsecode has quietly snuck his way into top 2 contention. He only entered the Michigan regional Game 5 in the D, and Canadian GOML shadow major Get Out of My Venue, but he emerged victorious at both events. He’s taken out last year’s top talent like Techboy and Rongunshu already, and his attendance at Undertow officially qualifies him for the end of the year rankings. It will be incredibly difficult for him to overtake SipMastah for number 1 at this point, but we wouldn’t be surprised if he gets put in the conversation with a solid performance here.
Signing up at literally the last minute, Techboy makes his return in 2024 here at Undertow. After falling to the aforementioned Morsecode at Game 5 in the D, we haven’t seen the Icies master enter a major event until now. The biggest thing we are all looking to see from Tech is how he performs with the newly nerfed Ice Climbers, as we haven’t seen a performance from him in the new patch. His secondaries reaching new heights last year might have to make some appearances to pick up for the less powerful climbers.
If last year was Zubat’s breakout into the top level of competition, this year has cemented him as one of the best players competing at the moment. Dominating essentially the entire East Coast, the only event Zubat entered and didn’t win was The Bigger Mile High, where he placed 3rd at the stacked major. While he has not faced off against the rarely seen Techboy or Morsecode, his positive record against every other player attending could help add a major tournament trophy to his slew of regional wins.
If there was a hall of fame for Project M, then Dirtboy certainly has earned being on the list. After nearly a decade of competing at the top with his trusty Squirtle, 2024 is probably looking like his strongest year of competition in the post-covid era. Already emerging with first place victories at Full Bloom 2024 and Smash Camp, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll see Dirt showing up in top 8 at Undertow 2024. But a little known fact about Dirtboy is that he managed to earn a victory over Techboy this year, but it was at the smaller Game 5 in the D #2. Dirtboy’s Peach made an appearance to best the Ice Climbers, and if they run into each other again this weekend, the Peach will likely show up on the big stage.
Switch has had an incredibly interesting year in 2024. He only made a few brief appearances last year, and landed a respectable 20th on last year’s rankings. He’s been focusing a lot of his attention on Rivals 2, in which he’s unsurprisingly seeing a lot of success at the top level. But as Rivals nears its proper release, we’ve actually seen a large increase in attendance from the quintessential Wolf. Snagging a regional win at Creed 3, and very impressive Top 8 performances at Warehouse War and Garden Brawl have thrown Switch back into a top 10 talent in the game that’s been with Switch from the start.
The fan favorite Marth has stepped into a whole new level recently. After breaking out at last year’s Undertow, it’s clear that Jagz is looking to be seen as a top level talent this year by showing up to more majors. Most impressively was his recent performance at Warehouse War, where he placed 2nd to SipMastah, taking out Switch and Chaloopy on the way there. Now, back at the tournament where he first performed so well, another top placement could help solidify Jagz in the top 10.
There are many other talented players that are absolutely worth looking out for this weekend, such as Blitz, Comb, Motobug, ORLY, and metroid, so be sure to follow along on projectmnexus, or the bracket on start.gg!