Smasher:Onin
| Onin "Pocket" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Character info | |
| Ultimate main | Steve |
| Other Ultimate characters | R.O.B., Ike, Joker |
| Retired Ultimate character | Robin |
| Team info | |
| Sponsor(s) | Calamity Esports, Michigan State University |
| Former sponsor(s) | Itani Esports, 26 Rising |
| Rankings and results info | |
| Most recent ranking |  LumiRank Half Year 2025: 9th |
| Best historical ranking | UltRank 2022: 6th |
| Best tournament result | 1st / 2,388 at Super Smash Con 2022 |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | Angel Mireles |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Michigan 
|
Onin, also known as Pocket, is a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Steve player from Michigan. Though active during the online metagame, they first found great success in the post-pandemic metagame as one of the first notable Steve players in competitive play. They eventually rose meteorically to top-level competitive play around the summer of 2022, where they won Get On My Level 2022 and, most notably, Super Smash Con 2022, becoming one of the two Steve players that spearheaded the rise in Steve's representation that summer. Onin eventually ranked in the top 10 in 2022, becoming one of the best North American players that year. Though many other Steve players have since rose to Onin's level, they are still considered one of the best Steve players in North America, remaining the only North American Steve major winner for several years after 2022. Due to their long-term success with Steve throughout competitive Ultimate, they are also considered one of the greatest Steve players of all time alongside acola.
Playstyle[edit]
Onin has a slow and patient playstyle. With Steve, they focus on building walls with blocks in order to gain materials and use these blocks to force their opponent to approach, which allows them to get an explosive punish. This playstyle is more apparent when playing on a stage with platforms like Battlefield, where the blocks help make approaching Onin even harder for the opponent. Onin makes use of Steve's combos and strings, then returns back to their gameplan of using blocks to gain materials and punish any failed approaches from their opponent. While this playstyle has proven to be quite successful for Onin, it has also received negative scrutiny from the community, especially from spectators.
Tournament history[edit]
Online beginnings[edit]
For the first few years of their career, Onin was a Wi-Fi Warrior who attended several online events per month and played a mix of several characters, most notably Joker and R.O.B., as well as Robin starting in 2021. They established themselves as a Wi-Fi Warrior during this time, placing highly at several events such as 2nd at the 256-entrants event DDee's Dreamland Brawl, where they defeated several Wi-Fi Warriors such as Br1 AV, JW, and varun; and 1st at the 294-entrants event FLAT COMBATS #3, where they took the tournament over players such as colinies and Capitancito. However, most of their tournament appearances during this time were either at online weeklies or at events that were not tiered highly on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank, and as such they did not appear on a single Wi-Fi Warrior Rank iteration.
Picking up Steve[edit]
As offline began returning in 2021, Onin began shifting their attention to offline events. However, instead of sticking to any of their online characters, Onin began using Steve, which became their main by the end of Summer 2021. During the summer, Onin saw success at tournaments and placed top 8 at several weeklies, allowing them to debut at 14th on the Michigan Ultimate Power Rankings's Summer 2021 ranking.
Despite this success, Onin was still a relatively unknown name when they attended Riptide, their first offline supermajor, where they weren't seeded to make it out of pools at #862. Onin not only outplaced this seed by a lot -- ultimately placing 49th -- but they defeated several players who was seeded above them, including #99 seed Kazma 2-1 and #94 seed Mata-Door 2-0. Although they did not go far in the main bracket, Onin established themselves as a player capable of competing at a national level. This was reflected in Onin's next two major events in the following year, Let's Make Big Moves 2022 in January and Glitch - Infinite in February, where they placed in the top 64 at both.
The meteoric rise[edit]
Despite high placements at majors and in-region, Onin still lacked any globally-ranked wins. This began to change following Glitch - Infinite, as Onin began to win almost every event they attended. These strings of wins included the superregionals Combo Breaker 2022 and COST 2022, where Onin not only won without dropping a set, but saw them defeat several notable names including Ned, MVD, and WaDi in the former and Dark Wizzy, IcyMist, and Elegant in the latter. Their dominance at a regional level, including wins over several top 50 players, helped Onin debut at 65th on the OrionRank Mid-Year 2022.
This victory streak culminated in Onin's performances in the summer, specifically at the major Get On My Level 2022 and the supermajor Super Smash Con 2022. In the former tournament, they defeated top players Kola, Riddles, and Big D twice to win the event, making them one of the youngest players to win an Ultimate major at just 16 years old, as well as the first North American Steve player to win a major, and the only one to do so for the next few years. In the latter tournament, they notoriously dominated MkLeo 3-0, which included a three-stock in the final game, and tore through the rest of the bracket, including Riddles, Glutonny, and Maister twice to win the event. These two victories established Onin as not just the best player from the Midwest region, but one of the best players from the United States as a whole. In addition, some players believed that, at the pace they were going, Onin could potentially become one of the best players in the world by the end of the year.
Unfortunately, Onin would ultimately fail to win another major for the rest of the year. Their best major wins during this time still saw them reach the top 3: they cruised through their bracket at The Big House 10 but were reverse 3-0d by Riddles before ultimately losing to Light to place 3rd. They saw another chance at winning a major event after making it to Grand Finals on Winner's side at Let's Make Moves Miami. However, they were seamlessly dispatched by fellow Steve player acola 6-0, which also notably saw Onin play other characters for three of the games. On the other hand, Onin also saw some lows, most notably at the supermajor Mainstage, where they lost to Maister and Kurama to place 9th; and at the invitational major Scuffed World Tour, where they went 2-2 after falling to Miya and Light. The lows, as well as their weak start of the season, held them back from coming close to the #1 position. However, they were ultimately still ranked top 10, ranking 6th at the half-year ranking UltRank 2022 and 10th on the OrionRank 2022.
Decline[edit]
After an explosive year, the following year saw Onin's results slowly begin to mellow out. Although they continued to dominate the Midwest region, their major results suffered a noticeable drop overall as they failed to place top 16 at most of them. This included Let's Make Big Moves 2023, where they were upset by SHADIC and enhancedpv to place 25th; and Battle of BC 5, where they lost their runback to Miya and were eliminated by Kameme at 17th. They did see a strong performance at the supermajor Crown the Third, where they defeated players such as Maister, Gackt, and Tweek but were double-eliminated by Jakal to place 4th. However, this single strong event wasn't enough to save the rest of Onin's first half of the year, and they saw a noticeable drop to 30th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.
Following continued harassment and death threats due to their choice of character, which previously had led to Onin deactivating their Twitter account, Onin decided to take a step back from competition,[1] which saw them appear at less events. As it stands, Onin remains as the best player in the Midwest due to their dominance at the Midwest events they attended, which included a victory at the superregional The Big House 11. However, their resume at larger events outside their region was not as impressive, including their mediocre 33rd at the supermajor Super Smash Con 2023 losing to Marss and Lui$ and 13th at the superregional Santa Paws losing to omega and Jakal. Due to this, Onin's slipped to 43rd on the LumiRank 2023.
Resurgence and return to the top 10[edit]
2024.1 was a better season for Onin, as they started to play in more events. After their 17th place finish at GENESIS X, they placed no lower than 5th in every event they entered, including two top 4 finishes at supermajors, placing 3rd at Collision 2024 and 4th at Get On My Level X, resulting in a rise in ranking to 21st in the world on LumiRank 2024.1. However, their results were slightly weaker in the second half of the year, where they failed to finish top 8 at both supermajor events they attended, while attending less events overall. Conversely, they still placed well at every ranked event they attended; a notable performance took place at Coinbox IRL 2, where they became the first Steve player to defeat Sonix in over two years. Due to their good performances and the season being shorter than normal, Onin only fell one spot to 22nd on the LumiRank 2024.2.
2025 initially seemed like a repeat of 2023, with Onin struggling to place well in the first few months of the season. This included underwhelming finishes at their first two supermajors as well as a 7th-place finish at the B+ tier Afterburner 2025. Though they were able to claim some good wins, they were unable to take any wins on the top 20 during this time, while their sole top 50 win was Wrath. However, Onin's season changed for the better at Battle of BC 7, where despite falling into Losers early after being reverse 3-0'd by Raki, they were able to finish the event at 7th, taking out both Tweek and Shuton along the way. Their rest of the season were reminiscent of their performances in mid-2022: they notably were able to defeat ShinyMark twice to win the superregional Diamond Dust 2 before finishing 2nd at the P tier event LVL UP EXPO 2025, being shut out of the winning position by Doramigi, the player who ended up 1st in the first half of the year. Onin's crowning achievement, however, were their performances at the Golden Week events. Though they finished respectably at Kagaribi 13, losing to Reno and Doramigi for 13th, they found their best performance in years at KOWLOON 16, where they defeated MkLeo, Miya, Tweek, Glutonny, and Sonix to take the entire event, winning their third major of their competitive career, and becoming only the third international player to win a major in Japan. Though their rest of the season was someone uneventful, either winning events over players they were better than or placing well at events with no notable wins, their performances and consistency in the latter half of the season allowed them to return to the top 10, ranking 9th on the LumiRank Half Year 2025.
Hiatus[edit]
Onin's hot streak, however, was cut short early into the second half of the year. They first finished 9th at S Factor 12, a respectable performance but came with their first-ever loss to MkLeo, who was finally able to get revenge for his loss at Super Smash Con 2022. Onin's next supermajor, Supernova 2025, eventually became their last notable supermajor for some time. Following their set against Jahzz0, where they were actively booed against, they forfeited from the event at 5th, with some reporting that they could not be found at the venue. Onin privated their Twitter account for a few hours, and upon returning, revealed that they were unhappy with how the community was treating them, and chose to go on a hiatus for the foreseeable future, only attending events as a spectator or for doubles and only registering for Citadel asks: What's the Daily Advice? to defend their home turf.[2][3] They eventually registered for Port Priority 9, but eventually dropped out due to then-ongoing investigations regarding their conduct.
Rankings[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
LumiRank[edit]
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UltRank 2022 | June 18th - December 18th, 2022 | 6th |  |
|
| LumiRank Mid-Year 2023 | December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 2023 | 30th | |
|
| LumiRank 2023 | December 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 2023 | 43rd | |
|
| LumiRank 2024.1 | December 18th, 2023 - July 15th, 2024 | 21st | |
|
| LumiRank 2024.2 | July 16th - December 16th, 2024 | 22nd |  |
|
| LumiRank Half Year 2025 | December 17th, 2024 - July 7th, 2025 | 9th |  |
Wi-Fi Warrior Rank[edit]
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v8 |
January 1st - June 30th, 2024 | 8th |  |
|
| Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v10 |
December 16th, 2024 - July 6th, 2025 | 9th | |
Primarily competed under the alternate account "Trunks". |
OrionRank Ultimate[edit]
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank Mid-Year 2022 | December 22nd, 2021 - June 26th, 2022 | 65th | |
|
| OrionRank 2022 | December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 | 10th | |
OrionRank/LumiRank North America[edit]
| Ranking | Time period | Rank | Character(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OrionRank 2022 North America | December 22nd, 2021 - December 18th, 2022 | 5th | |
|
| LumiRank 2023 North America | December 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 2023 | 19th | |
|
| LumiRank 2024 North America | December 18th, 2023 - December 16th, 2024 | 11th | |
Tournament placings[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Online Olympus II |
Januray 30th-31st, 2021 | 257th / 643 | 7th / 95 | Midnight |
| Frame Perfect Series 5: ONLINE |
April 18th, 2021 | 65th / 391 | — | — |
| Collision Online 2021 |
April 24th, 2021 | 25th / 549 | — | — |
| Back To Smash | September 4th, 2021 | 13th / 147 | — | — |
| Riptide | September 10th-12th, 2021 | 49th / 1,024 | — | — |
| Spartan Weeklies 69: The Monthly | September 18th, 2021 | 4th / 128 | 2nd / 32 | Eden |
| MIRAGE | October 2nd, 2021 | 3rd / 183 | 2nd / 35 | Eden |
| Get Clipped 17 A Holiday Special |
December 26th, 2021 | 17th / 330 | — | — |
| Let's Make Big Moves 2022 | January 7th-9th, 2022 | 25th / 687 | — | — |
| Glitch - Infinite | February 18th-20th, 2022 | 33rd / 616 | — | — |
| Spartan Sendoff | April 23rd, 2022 | 1st / 116 | 1st / 36 | BooBear |
| MIRAGE II | May 7th, 2022 | 2nd / 122 | 1st / 27 | Blueboo |
| Bamboo Battles: Smash Ultimate 67 |
May 9th, 2022 | 7th / 553 | — | — |
| Wolvarena 4 | May 21st, 2022 | 5th / 103 | 2nd / 27 | BooBear |
| Combo Breaker 2022 | May 27th-29th, 2022 | 1st / 392 | — | — |
| EMUSC Summer of Love | June 11th, 2022 | 2nd / 140 | 3rd / 24 | Kople |
| COST 2022 | June 18th-19th, 2022 | 1st / 304 | 2nd / 55 | BooBear |
| Warp Zone | June 25th, 2022 | 2nd / 328 | — | — |
| Get On My Level 2022 | July 1st-3rd, 2022 | 1st / 753 | 2nd / 126 | Demon |
| STAMPEDE II | July 23rd, 2022 | 1st / 132 | — | — |
| Black Diamond | August 6th, 2022 | 2nd / 89 | 1st / 14 | BooBear |
| Super Smash Con 2022 | August 11th-14th, 2022 | 1st / 2,388 | 13th / 488 | Demon |
| Rise 'N Grind | August 19th-21st, 2022 | 7th / 466 | — | — |
| Bahamut | September 3rd, 2022 | 1st / 133 | 1st / 17 | BooBear |
| The Arcadian Online Qualifier 2 East Coast |
September 4th, 2022 | 3rd / 631 | — | — |
| The Big House 10 | October 7th-9th, 2022 | 3rd / 636 | 4th / 111 | BooBear |
| Ludwig Smash Invitational | October 21st-23rd, 2022 | 5th / 32 | — | — |
| Let's Make Moves Miami | October 28th-30th, 2022 | 2nd / 467 | 1st / 75 | acola |
| Mainstage 2022 | December 2nd-4th, 2022 | 9th / 512 | — | — |
| Scuffed World Tour | December 18th, 2022 | 7th / 13 | — | — |
| Let's Make Big Moves 2023 | January 6th-8th, 2023 | 25th / 774 | 3rd / 132 | Riddles |
| Sweet Spot 7 | March 4th-5th, 2023 | 1st / 223 | 1st / 59 | BooBear |
| SOS 8 | March 18th, 2023 | 1st / 158 | 1st / 30 | AnthonyIsntCool |
| Phoenix Down | March 25th, 2023 | 1st / 213 | 1st / 37 | Lunges |
| Spartan Circus | April 22nd, 2023 | 1st / 124 | 2nd / 21 | Wilf |
| 26 Rising's Show Stopper Invitational | May 13th, 2023 | 1st / 32 | — | — |
| Battle of BC 5 | May 19th-21st, 2023 | 17th / 652 | 5th / 124 | Luugi |
| Crown the Third | June 3rd-4th, 2023 | 4th / 418 | 7th / 99 | ApolloKage |
| Super Smash Con 2023 | August 10th-13th, 2023 | 33rd / 2,607 | 2nd / 567 | lolyoshi |
| Back to Smash 2023 | August 26th, 2023 | 1st / 214 | — | — |
| ECLIPSE | September 16th-17th, 2023 | 1st / 154 | 2nd / 35 | Eki |
| The Big House 11 | October 20th-22nd, 2023 | 1st / 507 | 1st / 80 | Soar |
| Octobair 2023 | October 28th, 2023 | 2nd / 143 | 1st / 30 | Ludo |
| Lucid 2023 | November 4th, 2023 | 2nd / 173 | — | — |
| Port Priority 8 | November 11th-12th, 2023 | 9th / 710 | — | — |
| Santa Paws | December 8th-10th, 2023 | 13th / 181 | — | — |
| GENESIS X | February 16th-18th, 2024 | 17th / 1,506 | 1st / 302 | Ouch!? |
| Afterburner 2024 | March 9th, 2024 | 5th / 249 | — | — |
| Collision 2024 | March 15th-17th, 2024 | 3rd / 714 | 3rd / 108 | Atomic |
| Diamond Dust | April 6th-7th, 2024 | 2nd / 284 | 2nd / 48 | Riddles |
| Stride Stadium 1 |
April 22nd, 2024 | 9th / 160 | — | — |
| Get On My Level X | May 17th-19th, 2024 | 4th / 688 | 1st / 122 | Soar |
| COMBO BREAKER 2024 | May 24th-26th, 2024 | 1st / 412 | — | — |
| COST 2024 | June 21st-23rd, 2024 | 2nd / 237 | 1st / 45 | Chase |
| Out of Pocket | June 30th, 2024 | 5th / 141 | 1st / 30 | Demon |
| Aloha Beaches 2: Beach Off | July 7th, 2024 | 1st / 170 | — | — |
| Saturday Stadium 4 Golden | July 20th, 2024 | 3rd / 256 | — | — |
| SMFN Invitational | August 8th, 2024 | 9th / 20 | — | — |
| Supernova 2024 | August 8th-11th, 2024 | 9th / 2,281 | 4th / 497 | lolyoshi |
| Riptide 2024 | September 6th-8th, 2024 | 17th / 1,024 | 9th / 145 | rydra |
| PANTHEON 2024 | November 16th-17th, 2024 | 1st / 150 | — | — |
| Coinbox IRL 2 | December 7th-8th, 2024 | 4th / 16 | — | — |
| Luminosity Makes BIG Moves 2025 | January 3rd-5th, 2025 | 13th / 832 | — | — |
| Afterburner 2025 | January 11th-12th, 2025 | 7th / 304 | — | — |
| Pitt Smash Presents: The Return of Nathaniel_Sheik | February 1st, 2025 | 1st / 103 | — | — |
| GENESIS X2 | February 14th-16th, 2025 | 25th / 924 | — | — |
| Olympus | February 22nd, 2025 | 1st / 124 | — | — |
| Cavalier Clash 6 | March 1st-2nd, 2025 | 9th / 297 | 1st / 43 | lolyoshi |
| Counter Hit: A Critical Strike Tournament | March 22nd, 2025 | 1st / 191 | 1st / 47 | Candle |
| Battle of BC 7 | March 28th-30th, 2025 | 7th / 433 | 2nd / 89 | Syrup |
| Diamond Dust 2 | April 12th-13th, 2025 | 1st / 129 | — | — |
| LVL UP EXPO 2025 | April 25th-27th, 2025 | 2nd / 665 | 1st / 80 | acola |
| Kagaribi 13 | May 4th-5th, 2025 | 13th / 2,548 | — | — |
| KOWLOON 16 | May 11th, 2025 | 1st / 393 | — | — |
| CEO 2025 | June 13th-15th, 2025 | 1st / 372 | 1st / 50 | Toon |
| Comicpalooza Fight Club 2025 | June 21st-22nd, 2025 | 9th / 188 | 3rd / 36 | MuteAce |
| Get On My Level: Forever | July 4th-6th, 2025 | 5th / 751 | 1st / 127 | Soar |
| S Factor 12 | July 26th-27th, 2025 | 9th / 1,051 | — | — |
| Supernova 2025 | August 7th-10th, 2025 | 5th / 2,432 | 2nd / 434 | lolyoshi |
| Riptide 2025 | September 5th-7th, 2025 | — | 3rd / 169 | lolyoshi |
Ban[edit]
On November 1st, 2025, a document was submitted to the Michigan State University panel regarding three cases against Onin. One of these cases was later revealed in a document posted by zawg on November 17th.[4] In the allegation, a player by the name of Moka stated that she had previously dated Onin. The night after the first day of Cavalier Clash 6, Onin and Moka had edibles and eventually ended up alone in their room. While trying to sleep, Onin repeatedly groped Moka despite her not consenting, and only stopped after she cried. Moka then avoided Onin for the rest of the event and stated that Onin had tried to guilt trip her afterwards, and attached their Discord conversations after the incident took place to support her claims.
This investigation initially remained private, though Gyromight was notified of investigations, leading him to ban Onin from Port Priority 9; Onin subsequently threatened to sue Gyromight for the ban.[5] On the day zawg's document was released, Onin was banned from Michigan events for 8 months following a panel vote. However, 2/5 panelists notably voted against a ban, and alongside the knowledge that the panelists allegedly leaked the document to Onin, zawg accused the panelists for malicious intent, leading her to publish the document publicly, alongside Moka's statement. Onin was also later removed from the UltRank TTS following the publication of the document.[6]
Following the release of the document, maeve revealed herself as one of the two cases that were not in the document, and shared part of her statement. The statement mentioned that, when she dated Onin from September-October 2020, Onin had sent suggestive photos of her to a different friend without her consent. Following their breakup, Onin then lied about their relationship to Atreus, especially telling Atreus that maeve was 18 and had groomed Onin, despite maeve only being a single day older than Onin. Atreus then went public with Onin's allegation, which maeve believed was to kick her out of the community, and although she made a TwitLonger disproving Onin's claims, they went largely unnoticed, leading her to delete her Twitter. Both Onin and Atreus have not apologized to her as of that statement. Alongside the revealed statement, maeve also mentioned how her statement also included instances where Onin was emotionally abusive to her without remorse.[7]
Onin responded to Moka's allegations a few weeks later, on November 29th, where they disputed several of her claims. Specifically, they mentioned how Moka had initially performed oral sex on them in the room without their consent, which prompted Onin to touch her in a way they believed a couple would be doing; they only stopped when they realized Moka was reacting negatively. They also disputed Moka avoiding them for the rest of the event, claiming that they had watched Grand Finals together. Onin included screenshots of their conversations in the following months to counter or give more context to the screenshots Moka had posted previously. In regards to the MSU panel, Onin said that the panel gave them an opportunity to explain themselves; they also mentioned they received a recommendation for a permanent ban with no chance of appeal from the Midwest panel without the panel hearing their side.[8]
In response to Onin's accusations, Moka released another response on December 2nd, denying both the oral sex and that she had been with Onin on the final day. In addition, she accused Onin for misconstruing their private messages and claimed that the Midwest panel did in fact reach out to Onin, but Onin did not respond. She provided additional screenshots to back up her claims and to refute Onin's, and also included an audio message that she used to support her claims that she did not initiate the sexual contact that night.[9]
Trivia[edit]
- Onin is the second player, behind Larry Lurr, to double eliminate MkLeo and not win the same tournament, with their run at LVL UP EXPO 2025, where they placed 2nd.
References[edit]
- ^ Onin taking a break.
- ^ Onin after Supernova 2025.
- ^ Onin attending Citadel asks: What's the Daily Advice?.
- ^ zawg's document featuring an allegation against Onin, alongside the subsequent ban process (2025-11-17). Archived from the original on 2025-11-17.
- ^ Gyromight on Onin's ban (2025-11-17). Archived from the original on 2025-11-17.
- ^ UltRank 2025 TTS (Public) (2025-11-18).
- ^ maeve's statement regarding Onin and Atreus, alongside additional statement (archived).
- ^ Onin's response to Moka.
- ^ my response (Moka's second response).
External links[edit]
- Twitter account
- Twitter account web archive
- Old Twitter account, now ran by Buntai crew
- Twitch account
