By Daniel “Tafokints” Lee

Genesis 4 kicks off this weekend. Per tournament tradition, the anticipated Smash event will play host to a single elimination SSBM tourney consisting of eight five-player crews. The team captains selected their crews and one substitute earlier this week.

Unlike last year, this year’s teams are much more evenly matched. The crews can reasonably compete with one another, and many of these matches will likely come down to a specific stock or a counterpick. How do the teams stack up?

8. Team Chillindude



Kashan “Chillindude” Khan – Fox

William “Leffen” Hjelte – Fox

Edgard “N0ne” Sheleby – Captain Falcon

David “KirbyKaze” MacDonald – Sheik

Daiki “Rudolph” Ideoka – Marth/Fox

Chillindude turned heads by selecting his former rival, Leffen, with his first round pick. This crew features three fast fallers in Chillindude, Leffen, and n0ne. They all have the potential to hard carry the crew. Leffen is a nuisance to deal with for many players, and n0ne could go off and take six to seven stocks alone. KirbyKaze provides some variety as he can handle the floatie and mid-tier characters from other teams. Rudolph is also another wild card that can do good work, but his recent performance at Don’t Park On the Grass should make fans of this crew a bit nervous. The team has potential, but their outcome is up in the air.

7. Team Nintendude

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato – Ice Climbers

Justin “Plup” McGrath – Sheik/Samus

Johnny “s2j” Kim – Captain Falcon

Michael “MikeHaze” Pulido – Fox

Aaron “Professor Pro” Thomas – Fox

The roster shakeup has led to an unfavorable position for Team Nintendude, who swaps out Axe for s2j. The loss of Axe means they lose a strong counterpick on Final Destination to take out a Fox, Falco, or Captain Falcon. Though s2j is an explosive player, he will need to repeat his performance from The Big House 6 if this team wants to move deep into the bracket. MikeHaze and Professor Pro have improved considerably in 2016, and hopefully that carries over into this crew battle. Plup and Nintendude have the potential to build minor leads, but everyone will need to be on point for this team to move up.

6. Team Duck

James “Duck” Ma – Samus

Weston “Westballz” Dennis – Falco

Mustafa “Ice” Akcakaya – Fox

Kalinidi “KJH” Henderson – Fox

Abhishek “Prince Abu” Prabhu – Jigglypuff

Duck’s team provides an interesting mix of top 15 level players and friends from the Midwest region. KJH comes off a recent win at Apollo and is one of the biggest wildcards of the tournament. He is competent against Samus, Fox, and Sheik, so hopefully the team can slot him against these characters. Westballz, Ice, and Duck are also very matchup dependent, but they shine when they’re comfortable. However, a recent finger injury may hamper Westballz’ ability to play at full capacity. With a bit of a handicap, each player will have to play to their max potential to make it out of the first round.





5. Team SFAT

Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni – Fox

Kevin “PewPewU” Toy – Marth

Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel – Sheik

Austin “Azusa” Demmon – Peach

Justin “Syrox” Burroughs – Fox

SFAT drafted a core group of NorCal pros in PewPewU, Shroomed, and Azusa. PewPewU and SFAT have proven themselves in past crew battles, but the big question mark on this crew is Shroomed, who has historically struggled in crew battles. Azusa is not well known nationally, but has a wealth of experience in almost all of the top tier matchups and can stock trade to wear down better players. Syrox is the rising star in this group, and though he’s a bit of a gamble, he can provide some explosiveness, particularly against other fast fallers.

4. Team Zhu

Julian “Zhu” Zhu – Falco/Fox

Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman – Marth/Sheik/Fox

Sami “DruggedFox” Muhanna – Fox

McCain “MacD” LaVelle – Peach

Santiago “Santi (El Fuego)” Pinon – Falco

With the recent roster shakeup, Zhu has a fairly diverse team that revolves around Mew2King getting a hard counterpick against a Fox or Falco. Druggedfox slots nicely here as a stable pick against several matchups, and MacD is a safe choice against unorthodox matchups such as Ice Climbers. Santi is a little risky given his relative lack of experience, but he has gone toe-to-toe against SoCal’s top players at recent locals. The crew will rely on starting strong and allowing Mew2King’s strong counterpick to extend a lead.

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