Super Smash Con is the family friendly Smash Melee and Smash Ultimate event that encourages newcomers and veterans to compete and delve into the artist alley area, the arcade area, and take part in multiple events during the tournament such as the cosplay contest and the Smashies awards. This year in particular saw some interesting upsets, matches that the crowds have been dying to see, such as Salem vs. Leffen and an unusual top eight which missed a few of our regular top eight players in Melee. With this, Smash Con also added security that was deemed a little controversial despite its good intentions. Lucky and HugS give their input into this spectacular event.

Super Smash Con really upgraded their production this year! With multiple streams, circular staging, more games in the arcade and so on, the professionalism really bumped up this year. Did you enjoy the event as a whole? What were your favourite parts of the event?

Lucky: Personally, I enjoyed it a lot. It definitely has the feel of an actual con. I know from experience from going to Anime Expo and Comic Con and stuff like that. You walk in there and you have one side of the venue that's dedicated to the tournament with all kinds of setups but there's the other side that has the stage, the arcades and all kinds of art vendors. It really has the feel of a con for just all things Super Smash Bros. It's just a really fun event to be at regardless of the tournament.



HugS: For me, I used to hate the experience outside of the tournament but the city now has gotten a lot of cool spots. This year was probably my favourite Smash Con of all of them. Also, the weather wasn't crap.





Lucky made 13th losing to two top eight placers, iBDW and the current world number one, Liquid Hungrybox. HugS got 33rd after losing to Rishi and Bones. Super Smash Con was full of upsets and unusual character matchups. Can you both talk us through both your matches against iBDW, Bones, Rishi and Hungrybox?

Lucky: For me, I lost to Hungrybox in winners. I grew up playing against Mang0 when he was the world's best Jigglypuff player. The meta game has changed so much that you would imagine that the matchup has changed over the years, but it actually hasn't changed that much from when I was a kid, training with Mang0. It's just a lot faster paced and decisions matter so much more than before so if I can just get into a good groove and a good sound, I really have a fun time playing that guy as it's pretty much just everything I was used to as a kid, but amped up by ten. Playing against Hungrybox is always fun and it was a fun set overall. Then IBDW has actually been helping me a lot in the Fox ditto matchup. Especially since the beginning of the year. Everytime I play him, I feel like I'm getting closer to beating him which is funny, because he's the one helping me get better at the matchup in general. All things considered, every time I play that guy, I feel like I'm learning a lot about that matchup. I can't say I'm happy about losing but I'm always happy to play him as I'm always learning something.

HugS: As for me, with EVO happening the week before and travelling to SoCal before that, it was kind of hard to practice leading into that event. I definitely have taken it as a learning experience. Everybody in the community is getting a whole lot better and everyone's 'Uncle Punch'ed out of their minds. Keeping up is always going to take more and more. I see that just fixing itself in the next coming weeks.

How did you feel you were both playing on the day and do you wish you had done anything differently to prepare?

Lucky: I personally feel like I was playing fantastic. Throughout the year, I've been putting a lot of stress on myself and stress outside of competition and when I go into the competition, I just am not really playing like myself, especially at the beginning of the year. This tournament was 110% the most comfortable and the most like myself I've felt in tournament in a long time. Thanks to some people helping me just focus on breathing and relaxing. Thanks to just outside factors in life getting a lot easier with family. I just felt really comfortable this tournament and I think my game play showed it so I felt good about it. Even though I unfortunately lost.

HugS: I felt like I was playing much better the day before. I realised a lot of what I was lacking on the day of the tournament was tournament composure and a mental fortitude that helps you get through tough situations like when you're behind or in a deficit. I've been working on it since. The next day, I ran a bunch of money matches against any comers to be able to get back into the mindset of playing with something on the line or where matches matter as opposed to practising friendlies. It really got me back into the groove of how I would operate in tournaments and I did the same thing at Shine. I played a whole lot better at the tournament by doing so. That's how I'm going to get that to come together or go to local events to practice that tournament composure.





Which sets did you enjoy playing the most and which sets did you enjoy watching the most?

Lucky: I think for me personally, it was the two matches that I lost. Like I said, Hungrybox is a really fun player for me to play against since I like the matchup. Depending on how I do, it's really an indication of how prepared I am for it. When I feel like I'm prepared for it, win or lose, I jut have a lot of fun with that matchup, against Hungrybox specifically. With IBDW, like I said, I've been learning a lot about the Fox dittos. All things considered, I never got to practice that matchup too much at high level, since my training partner is Mang0. His Fox plays really moronic, so he's never really wanted to train with me in that matchup. Instead, I've always loved playing against Falco because of that. This year, I've been trying to learn the ins and outs of the Fox ditto. Playing IBDW, one of the best at the Fox ditto players in the world, makes it a really fun matchup for me.

Watching, it was 110% Mang0 vs aMSa! He went Falco and got washed. In my head, I've been thinking that Falco gets slapped by Yoshi, I don't think Falco does that good. Maybe there's something I'm missing, but watching Mang0 do it, it doesn't look like it's an easy thing to do at all. He keeps implying that that it's going to work eventually, and it just doesn't look that hot. Then he went Fox. You could see that he went Fox out of frustration. He literally played the matchup like an idiot. He ran at him with neutral air. If you see aMSa play against Fox players who don't know the matchup, they just neutral air at him a lot. They get three stocked. That happened to me last year at Smash Con. I didn't know the matchup that well and he destroyed me for neutral airing at him too much. Mang0 did it so well that it somehow worked and he got to the last game on last stock. He still lost but seeing him play whatever playstyle he wants with Fox and just make it works because he has the reactions, the fundamentals, the overall knowledge of spacing and so on. Seeing him play that kind of style against a character that counters that and still make it look like it could work, was just really fun to watch for me.

HugS: I can't say that there were any matches that I played that I particularly enjoyed. I find the East Coast style likes to not engage whatsoever. They were not the most pleasant matchups I've had. That'll get fine as I get better and I can annoy them back by also not engaging. My favourite match to watch was definitely Leffen vs. Salem just because there was so much on the line. All the community gathered around just cheering like idiots the whole time. It was a lot of fun to watch, Leffen ended up winning and Salem threw his controller so it was just a lot of hype.

There were so many upsets taking out the likes of Axe, Plup and SFAT early on in the tournament. Mango didn’t make Top 8 and we had a mix of up and comers and old veterans steal some wins such as PudgyPanda, Kage and Kevin Maples. Do you think these upsets make the tournament more interesting or do you feel spectators prefer their favourites slaughtering through the brackets?

Lucky: I think there's pros and cons to it. At first when you have the upset, it's really hype and it's sick to talk about. People go crazy about it on Twitter and Reddit. Then you get to top eight and the matches just aren't as enjoyable. It's no one's fault necessarily, but the best are the best because they play to their closest potential when it matters the most, like in the final moments of top eight bracket. They usually provide the most amazing sets to watch. So when they get upset, yeah, they didn't clutch it out when it mattered beforehand but when it comes to the finals day, they're usually the ones who give the best entertainment. When it gets to top eight, it just doesn't feel the same, for me at least. I know a lot of people feel that way too, but the upset is always hype to see, at first.

HugS: Yeah, I totally agree. The people who cause the upsets are definitely good and they're getting there. Sometimes when you put them on the mainstage, some of those matches end up being a wash. They end up running into a top eight day Zain or a top eight day Leffen. I think there were a lot of 3-0's in the top eight, I think.

Lucky: There were a lot.

HugS: Leading up to the top eight probably also had a few wash matches. I still think upsets are better than the same old people winning. However, if people are rooting for the 'classic winners' of the game, like everyone has their heroes and all that. Though, if they keep winning, people get bored and move on so they upsets are definitely good. You never want the same people winning all the time and you don't want people upsetting players all the time. I think we're in a good place where it's going back and forth with each tournament.

Lucky: I agree with that.

Finally, one of the main talking points of Super Smash Con was the security at the entrance of the building. What were your thoughts and perspective on the security?

Lucky: I think it's a good thing overall. I do think they need to have a bigger emphasis on having two separate lines for people with and without bags. It's really cool seeing security step up at events but when you have to get to your tournament and it's an hour wait to get into the venue just because you have a backpack on. You can't go any faster when you don't have a backpack because what's taking up the time are people with bags being checked. It's counterproductive. People are there to compete as well as enjoy the event. If you can't get in because you don't have a bag but you have to wait for everyone's bag to be checked is pretty annoying. I know they fixed it on one of the days. If hey switch that all around, I think overall, it can be a good thing.

HugS: For me, I think they guys that they hired at security; they were a bunch of a**holes. They actually treated some of the players very poorly; I think they threw Nairo's controller on the floor after sliding it off the table. They then got mad at him for trying to check to see if it was okay. I think, when you hire security that is completely unfamiliar with Smash, they look at them as just a bunch of gamers that they have to treat like a**holes, in order for them to abide by the rules. In reality, you can just be a professional and everything will be fine. For example, the people at Shine were professional, they had metal detectors too and everyone got along. At Smash Con, there was a lack of those metal detectors too. Only having two lanes made the lines so slow and bottleneck. This was to the point where you could show up an hour late to pools and they wouldn't disqualify you because they knew the line was that terrible.

If you'd like to follow the careers and daily updates of Lucky, you can follow him on Twitch and Twitter and you can also follow HugS on Twitch and Twitter too!

Check out the Energy Pro Dignitas gaming chair for a whole new realm of design and comfort!