When Counter Logic Gaming signed Zac "SFAT" Cordoni last December, they knowingly reopened a lane that many felt hadn't been fully explored. Kevin "PewPewU" Toy had been on the team since June, and after pairing up with Cordoni, the duo made waves in a segment of Smash that some felt was underappreciated. So, five months after winning the doubles side event at EVO 2015, the team of SFAT and PewPewU, affectionately nicknamed "PewFat," tossed the doors open for a resurgence in teams play in Smash.

Ten years ago, back when the pair was in sixth grade, Cordoni and Toy met for the first time. They argued over whether it was in physical education or math class, but both agreed that they weren't really paying much attention to each other at first.

"We didn't mingle too much with one another until we found out through mutual friends that we both played Super Smash Bros Melee," Cordoni stated. "After that, we spent a lot of time together." Editor's Picks After the Dorm: Artosis weighs in on collegiate esports and what's next

Renegades replace Spartan and StelluR with Commonly and Penguin for Halo

Big Ten enters esports: Spartans and Buckeyes set to clash in BTN Invitational 2 Related

The school week would go by with excitement as they anticipated the upcoming training session on Friday evening. More often than not, the set-ups would be packed for teams instead of singles. Cordoni would make his way to tournament action first, and Toy would follow when he was able to get parental consent.

Neither one could tell you about the first time they teamed up, but both felt like they became a threat as a duo at different points in their careers: Toy felt that they had promise the instant they took a win over Alan and TheCheese; Cordoni pointed to their upset over a pairing from the legendary DBR squad, Germ and Hella.

"Our accomplishments came in steps," Cordoni explained. "At first, it was making that initial upset against the DBR crew. Then, sweeping a local SFSU tournament over Oscar 'Lovage' Nilsson and Johnny 'S2J' Kim, who were one of the top teams at the time. Then defeating Mango and Lucky at one of the large NorCal regionals. Next, winning the Evo teams event, followed by winning the Smash Summit teams event. However, I know for a fact we aren't satisfied yet. We won't be until we are by far the best team in the world."

Their success would simultaneously carry over into singles, where Cordoni and Toy were voted to be the 13th and 14th best players in the world earlier this year by their peers. The duo, along with Dajuan "Shroomed" McDaniel, would carry the standard for NorCal in singles events. Even with a second place finish in doubles at Pound 2016, both were concerned that with singles at the forefront, doubles would continue to regress in the mind of the public.

"EVO is like the final stage of the year for singles, but teams doesn't quite have that final stage feeling," Toy added. "Teams isn't celebrated the same way as singles because viewers don't see two players teaming together as representing one entity. They see two players separately representing themselves, who happen to be allies fighting the same opponents."

"For one, teams is more chaotic to the untrained eye and people get overwhelmed too easily," Cordoni continued. "I think people don't yet have a full grasp on where they need to position themselves in teams for optimal space control. Also, I believe people are just selfish. They don't want to have the 'burden' of working with someone else, or depending on anybody's skills other than their own.

However, what most of these people don't understand is a euphoria that comes when you team up with someone to become something bigger than your individual sums. That's why I play teams."

"A real bond and true trust is what separates PewFat from the rest." Kevin "PewPewU" Toy

The amount of communication taking place between the duo during a game is daunting, especially compared to most teams that remain stone-faced until the game is over.

"We like to talk a lot during teams," Cordoni continued. "When we know that it's not really worth the energy to try and fight in the one versus two situation, we often recap the match and ask each other things such as 'How'd you feel that set? Did you have troubles with anything in particular? What do you think we should do a little differently?' Instead of waiting until after the match to discuss things, we like to discuss them right on the spot while we're still playing. It helps keep us calm while we play. Instead of delegating a time to talk about strategy, we would rather just have a continuous conversation."

"Zac is offense, I am defense. Zac pushes for space, I hold the space," Toy pointed out. "In our verbal exchanges I am generally the more vocal one, and the one who tries to bring out the most determined, motivated, and focused Zac. I can do this best when I let my natural attitude take form as a teammate. To me, this means being supportive and reassuring, but doing it my way. I try to give my teammate an honest expression of myself. So if we're communicating, I'm talking like I normally do--even if that means yelling if I'm excited, walls of swear words in joy, my own analysis, or calling out opponents.

"I do a lot less fighting than Zac since I am the support. I can see the stage, assess the situation and form some kind of call. Zac is also the best player in the world at following those quick instructions and executing them on a whim with me."

Zac "SFAT" Cordoni (left) and Kevin "PewPewU" Toy (right) are Super Smash Bros Melee players for Counter Logic Gaming. Together ("PewFat"), they are widely regarded as one of the US's best doubles teams. Robert Paul

For many people, even fans of the game, doubles action is just as PewFat described: a duo of loosely connected players trying to chip away away at their opponents, usually through a pair of one-on-one matches instead of a true team mindset. There are missed calls, communication breakdowns, and often a lack of structure, even among recurring pairings. However, the pair from Counter Logic Gaming is looking to expand on their run with the first lesson in the book: solid teamwork.

"A real bond and true trust is what separates PewFat from the rest," Toy went on. "Other static teams lack honest communication with one another and usually do the strategy where they have a basic gameplan and just hope they play well enough to execute it. Few teams are able to simultaneously make a transition mid-match together. Zac and I did plenty of that at Pound. Also, Zac and I have hit the lab for hours, working on optimizing every little thing we can in our team combos, formation, and mindset."

The duo point to the venerated pairing of Groom Blue as their biggest influence, and hope to revolutionize teams such as Marth and Fox the same way that Azen and Chillin did before them.

"My hope is that PewFat can become meta defining, in that the team focuses a lot on team synergy," Toy explained. "[When you watch most modern teams] there isn't much teamwork when it comes to trapping and combos. Lots of solo kills and cherry picking, but very limited teamwork."

With Smash Summit 2 beginning on April 21st in SoCal, 16 players will be vying for singles gold again. For PewFat, it'll be more than just a big opportunity for their careers in singles. They hope to return to winning ways at an event that helped cement them among the elite pairings in the game. Pairings such as Hungrybox and Plup, the squad that took them down at Pound 2016, as well as Armada and Mew2King, are expected to be their main competition.

Yet, with this being an event mostly designed for singles, many wonder what will happen if the bracket should line up so that Cordoni and Toy have to play each other.

"Playing Zac in a set...is awful and amazing. Our styles, at the core, are made to counter one another, so to battle one another in tournament for elimination with no rematch...is so exciting! A gruesome experience with lots of emotion, but ultimately an amazing experience that no other player could give me," Toy explained.

Even if it does happen, they'll play their matches, emotions will overflow, and they'll undoubtedly be back to the same friends from sixth grade shortly after.

"It always is unfortunate to see our names meet each other in bracket earlier than we would've liked, but such is the nature of a tournament. So, instead of feeling pity for ourselves, we make sure to give it 120% and put our entire heart into the set. That's the only way to show your opponent the utmost respect," Cordoni went on. He smiled, looking forward to their next meeting, not caring if it was in bracket, in teams, or even on the couch practicing like they had ten years prior. "[Being with CLG] with the one person who I have known the longest in the community, and could easily call my brother--well, it really does feel like something out of a storybook."