I don’t think my heart can take much more of these tournaments. CEO set the pace for the summer of Smash and Evo 2016 has only raised the bar higher, as we saw top level matches from players from around the world. Despite there being some big complaints from players about the running of Smash 4, the game is only going to get bigger and the quality of play even better so expect even more excitement from Super Smash Con in August. For now, let’s all take a look back and marvel at the weekend that was Evo 2016.

Kamemushi Leads the Japanese Charge

Tipping him as one of the players to watch at this year’s competition, the Megaman god Kamemushi did not disappoint, shredding through the bracket with his patented red Megaman and crowd-pleasing ‘Kamecombos’. While his prowess in Japan is proven, it was questionable whether Kamemushi would perform in the USA, as Japan is known for its inconsistency once it travels abroad. These thoughts were quickly put to rest as Megaman stormed through the bracket, with Kamemushi dispatching players like False, Shaky, Mr-R, Earth and CLG VoiD to make his way into Winner’s Side of Top 8. Megaman must have some special power over Sheik players, as Kamemushi was able to get both Mr-R and VoiD to miraculously SD and put the Super Fighting Robot a simple Z-drop away from victory. While Kamemushi is known for those brutal footstool combos, his pivot grabs and back-air edgeguards were lethal, making getting back to stage a nightmare for anyone who lost stage control. While Ally did hand Kamemushi a convincing loss in Winners’ Finals, he must have downed an E-Tank and souped up the Mega Buster as he proceeded to 3-0 world number 1 TSM ZeRo in a dominating set all on Final Destination.

His DI was phenomenal, surviving hits to around 150% to then get back on stage to set up an edgeguard of his own. The momentum looked on his side going into his fight versus Ally, switching to Yoshi for the first game after Megaman failed to put a dent in Ally’s Mario. The counterpick did not go to plan, forcing Kamemushi back onto his trademark main and a battle of the company mascots, with Mario facing off against Megaman for Evo 2016 champion. Kamemushi did fire back in game 3, getting on the board but he could not overcome Ally’s unrelenting pressure and punish game. For his first venture outside of Japan, Kamemushi made the world sit up and reconsider just how good Megaman actually is as a character and I hope that he sticks around for Super Smash Con in August.

While most eyes were on Kamemushi, Japan had a big presence in Top 16 with 5 players making it to the last stages. Earth put on the performance of his career with Pit, defeating rising US talent like Tweek, Z, Pugwest and Xaltis before being teamkilled by Kamemushi and then eliminated by ZeRo. The sleeping giant Ranai showed us all why he should not be forgotten about, displaying his masterful use of the Lloid Rocket and the Slingshot to control space and rack up constant damage. His usage of the Axe as a surprise kill option was another way to apply pressure and his victory over Dream Team’s Dabuz in a matchup which is awful for Villager is certainly something. Like with Earth, he was also sent to Losers by another Japanese player, being the actual Mewtwo king Abadango, who had just come off a dominating set against Team eLevate’s Larry Lurr. Falling to Ally, Abandango eventually went out at the hands of ZeRo, achieving 5th place along with Ranai. Further down the scale, KEN proved to be the best Sonic with a 13th place finish, with Komorikiri not far behind at 17th while Rain, HIKARU and Kirihara all tied for 33rd place. More Japanese players are confirmed for Super Smash Con and with the announcement of Evo Japan, expect to see even more Japanese representation at the top level of Smash 4 in the very near future.

Pools of Lava

If you thought the CEO pools were dangerous, they were like the kiddy pool compared to the carnage going on in Evo pools. There was upset on upset in the race to top 32, with champions and top level picks failing to make competition on Saturday. Panda Global’s ESAM lost to Nick C’s Falcon, a match up that Pikachu should win no problem while team mate MVD joined him after losing to NotLast’s Peach. Zinoto, a player many people picked to do well after his CEO performance was knocked out by DOOM’s Rosalina before going out to Tyrant’s Meta Knight while CEO champion, Dream Team’s ANTi was eliminated by Robin main Dath after being sent to Losers’ by Xaltis. It seems that Mario mains must swap positions at majors, with ANTi achieving 33rd while Ally went onto win the whole event. New England’s Pugwest eliminated Tweek, one of the USA’s top Clouds while Vegas resident FOW was sent out by Rich Brown’s Mewtwo, making a marked difference from last year’s Evo where FOW successfully made top 8. Mr E also managed to knock ZeRo into Losers’ during pools, making the climb to his eventual 3rd position a living hell for anyone that stood in his way. While Smash 4 is already super volatile, 2/3 sets made mistakes all the more painful so it was no wonder that so many good players reach lower than expectation. With 3/5s coming in earlier at Super Smash Con, some of this inconsistency should be ironed out somewhat. We hope.

Canada Takes the Gold

After winning on home turf at Get On My Level and a less than stellar performance at CEO, Ally had quite a lot to prove going into Evo as another Mario main was looking to steal his crown. Only dropping 2 games during the course of top 32, Ally keeps proving that Mario should be considered a top 10 or even a top 5 character based on his high placings. He looked untouchable in some matches, especially the Winners’ Final set against Kamemushi where he actually forced Kamemushi to switch off Megaman and make a panic Cloud pick, which promptly got steamrolled. Kamemushi did look like he was learning how to tackle Ally during game 4 of Grand Finals but the Canadian just proved too strong. Ally’s victory earns him the record of the highest single payout in Super Smash Bros history, as well as the only Canadian to ever win an Evo title. The supposed counterpick meta isn’t looking so true now, as Ally’s Mario was able to up smash through every obstacle in his way.

Diversity’s Still King

Evo Top 8 had each of its 8 contenders playing different characters, a first in any Top 8 in Smash 4’s history. From Mewtwo to Megaman to Mario to Sheik, character diversity is still very much alive and considerations for top tier will always be changing. There were no Cloud mains in Top 8 which further proves the point that Cloud is not the best character in the game and guarantees an easy win, whereas Sheik continues to place in top 3 and appear repeatedly in top 16. Marth got his time in the sun, with Mr E and Pugwest placing in top 32, with Lucario squeaking in at 13th, thanks to Day. Zero Suit Samus continues to be inconsistent, with both Nairo and Marss placing outside of top 8 while Earth’s Pit showed that the most vanilla character in Smash 4 can actually place well. Still no signs of Ganondorf or Zelda surging up the table but the top 15 characters keeps on changing.

And It’s Still All To Play For!

For all the fanfare and celebration, I can tell you right now that these placements will look radically different come the end of Super Smash Con. While Ally is looking dominant at the moment, all it takes is another death pool or an unknown player to come out of nowhere to send him into Losers’ and put his position in jeopardy. While ZeRo went into Losers’, his amazing run to 3rd proved that you cannot count him out despite his lower placings as of late while newer players like VoiD are only snowballing in terms of skill. VoiD got 49th at Evo last year and now he has placed 4th; improvement of that scale is happening constantly as people practice harder and harder. Moreover, there is the likely chance of someone like Kamemushi coming out of the Japanese cohort and making a massive first impression and further shaking up the top placements. Smash 4 continues to be the biggest game of ‘who could it be’ in the FGC at the moment and I wouldn’t have it any other way.