By Jamie “JAMJAR” Jacobs and Jason “Nardwell” Mani

Every week we will be posting a look back at the previous week in Smash. This week we recap one of the most anticipated events in 64 history, a fun and different type of event in Baltimore and some of the other events of this week in Smash.

SNOSA II Recap

A truly epic event in Smash 64 history has come and gone, and what an event it was! Snosa II was the culmination of the efforts of the LA Smash team to bring together the best of the best for a massive 64 exclusive event. This tournament was the largest 64 exclusive event held on North American soil, boasting just over 100 entrants. Competitors came from far and wide to throw down with the elites of North America, as the likes of SuPeRbOoMfAn, Isai, Tacos, Mariguas and more waged war on the peaceful fields of Dreamland.

Snosa II would play host to the continuation of many of the story lines that make our scene so great. While Boom had been proving himself in Isai’s absence the last few years, many still doubted if he was truly the best player in North America. This could be his first chance to undoubtedly claim that title. On the other hand, Isai looked to prove he was still a great player. While he had competed well at Genesis 3, a disappointing suicide ended a run that was looking promising. Tacos and Mariguas also wanted a piece of Isai, as they had been eliminated by the solitary master in matches that included some truly “posterizing” moments. KeroKeroppi yearned to reassert himself after his recent loss to Tacos at Pound 2016. This defeat, having contradicted his vow to never lose to someone he had previously beaten, put him on the horns.

While these were the primary threads to follow, the numerous smaller stories are what makes our scene so colorful. Los Angeles and Baltimore have had a cross country rivalry that arose as a result of their sizes. Despite this, their two top players had never faced off in bracket. BarkSanchez and Heropie were keen to settle the debate of which scene had the better elite representative. Apparently SoCal is good at starting rivalries, as they goaded their neighboring region of NorCal into vying for dominance of the state.

The bracket did not disappoint, as many of these narratives saw the fulfillment we so desired. Bark and Heropie faced off early in bracket in their much anticipated set. The former mountain man of Baltimore managed to clutch out a close 2-1 victory, though it is doubtful SoCal will admit this ends their chase for the title of strongest scene. The expected top players all made it through to the later rounds, setting us up for some storied matches.

In Winners Quarterfinals, KeroKeroppi would have his shot at redemption against Tacos. He managed a tight victory in Game 1 with his famed blue Kirby. However, a switch to Captain Falcon proved erroneous, as he was stomped by Tacos’s Yoshi. Two split Pikachu dittos later, we saw a repeat of the Game 2 matchup and the same result, as Kero was sent to losers. The leader of the Koroshiyo was once again defeated by Tacos. In that same round, Isai and Mariguas won easily to set up a rematch from Genesis 3. Isai had been playing a wide variety of characters throughout the tournament, so no one knew what to expect as he went into the final rounds. As he had managed to beat JaimeHR in the previous round with Samus, he once again started with the space warrior. This was a fatal mistake, as Mariguas was keen to show he was an opponent to be taken seriously and easily won Game 1. For the rest of the set, Isai changed to Yoshi. Despite a rather unorthodox style, not centered around the horizontal combos or parries we typically see, Isai managed three close wins to emerge victorious.

SuPeRbOoMfAn had been breezing through his competition the entire tournament. He did not drop a single game through all of his sets, as he once again earned a sweep over Tacos in Winners Semifinals. Winners Finals finally gave us the set we had all been waiting for. SuPeRbOoMfAn versus Isai, two longtime opponents and masters of the game. Unfortunately, the matchup did not live up to the billing. Despite a tight Game 1 which some may argue Isai threw away, Boom handily won the following two games allowing him to earn yet another sweep and await his opponent in Grand Finals.

Losers Semifinals produced a battle of the top two Mexican players and granted a ticket to face Isai in Losers Finals. Tacos and Mariguas faced off in a set that went the distance and was the best of the night. Mariguas took the first two games in close battles, as his Pikachu was just quick enough to overcome the impressive parries Tacos likes to brandish. However, the next two games were complete reversals, as Tacos earned a pair of strong 3 stock victories. Game 5 saw Mariguas change to a rarely seen Kirby which Tacos dismantled and earned an impressive reverse 3-0 victory.

As his countryman was unable to earn revenge against Isai, Tacos now had his own chance to defeat the old master and repair his ego after a drubbing at Genesis. Isai broke out his signature Link to start and earned a victory in Game 1, though the Mexican Yoshi turned it around for his own close win in Game 2. In what seemed to be a pattern, Isai switched off his character after a loss and changed to Mario. In a tight battle that came down to last stock, Tacos once against managed a clutch victory. Game 4 saw Isai break out his Donkey Kong, a move he claimed was due to him not playing the character all day. This proved foolish as Tacos breezed to a victory and earned some measure of revenge. Some will surely not count the loss against Isai, as he seemed to be playing more for fun as shown by his character choices, but no one can discount how well Tacos played in his victories. He displayed some of the quickest and most frequent parries ever seen and truly earned a prestigious win.

Grand Finals was a repeat of a matchup in Winners Semifinals. It was also a repeat of that result, as SuPeRbOoMfAn easily swept Tacos to earn an unbelievably strong victory at Snosa II. Boom went Kirby the entire set as Tacos switched from Captain Falcon to Jigglypuff to Donkey Kong. None of these characters could come even close to penetrating the wall of perfectly spaced aerials and uptilts Booom was executing, as the Canadian won each game with at least 3 stocks remaining. This result, and the result of the tournament as whole, surely proved that SuPeRbOoMfAn is currently the greatest Smash 64 player in North America. Though there are many who aim to take that crown away, failing to drop a game at this incredibly stacked event has cemented that title.

The Rest

One More Stock

One More Stock is a Minnesota is a Smash 64 exclusive event led by the tenacious Sugaaku. One More Stock is standing in as the Minnesota monthly due to the difficulties of organizing the UMN Monthly over the summer. The first edition of this tournament of passion garnered 16 of the Midwest’s finest Smashers to the battlefield. With players from Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri this monthly morphed into a mini regional. As dLens plowed through to Winners Finals with his Pikachu and Kirby, two impressive runs were being made on the losers side. Sugaaku and House, who were both sent to losers in round one of winners, were punching well above their weight classes. House, the 16 seed, pulled off three big upsets over the 8, 6, and 13 seeds to make his way to Losers Quarterfinals, exceeding all expectations. Sugaaku, the 7 seed, also took down a titan in the form of the 5 seed Bre in one of the three matches she won on her impressive tear through losers. Snowstorm and Weegro, fresh off losses in Winners Quarterfinals, would prove too much for the two underdogs, who would end their nights with impressive 5th place finishes. dLens was able to knock the low tier hero DK/Link dual main in Annex into Losers Finals. As the dust blew over in Losers Semifinals, Snowstorm and his Fox emerged victorious over Weegro in a 2-0 sweep. The tide turned for Annex and his motley cast of characters in Loser Finals and he earned his chance at a rematch with dLens with a 3-1 victory over Snowstorm. Unfortunately for Annex, Grand Finals was a mirror of Winners Finals and dLens took home the gold with a 3-1 win. The full bracket can be found on Challonge and replays are currently available on the Minnesota Smash Twitch channel.

Baltimore SSBL Club Low Tier

The Baltimore Club of the Super Smash Bros. League has been enjoying some down time in the weeks before the start of the second season of the SSBL. That time has been spent with some more relaxed and fun game formats created by the Smash 64 community over the years. This week they held a low tier tournament, coincidentally following an intense low-tier tournament in LA a few days earlier, which featured many of Snosa’s top seeded players. In a low tier tournament players are only allowed to use characters that have been determined to be less effective by the community. This format bans the use of Pikachu, Kirby, Captain Falcon, Yoshi, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Mario, allowing only Samus, Donkey Kong, Link, Luigi, and Ness to be used. This forces players out of their comfort zones and gives the fans new and interesting matchups they would not normally see in competitive play. This tournament came on the heels of boasts from Daniel, of his mastery of Ness, as well as from LD in regards to his mysterious Link. Daniel made good of his word early, upsetting Darkhorse’s DK in their first match played, prompting a potentially premature prediction from Darkhorse. LD’s claims didn’t hold up quite as well, as Daniel defeated him 2-0 the following round. On the other side of winners, MHJ’s Link showed signs of vast improvement, although Shears’s Luigi was too much to handle. BarkSanchez and his adept control of low tier characters sauntered into Winner’s Finals, taking down Shears in the process. He was able to manipulate the strengths of Ness, Luigi, and Donkey Kong, although his Samus replaced his former low tier main, DK, in handling most of the dirty work. His brother Darkhorse was not afforded such an easy path. Darkhorse being one of the few proponents of DK in true competitive play decided to lock him in for the whole tournament. Unfortunately, after his defeat at the hands of Daniel, the perennial Low Tier threat was left staring down a long, yet familiar losers run to Grand Finals. He was able to defeat V, Shears, and LD in his impressive run to earn a trip to losers Finals and a rematch against Daniel, who was sent to losers by the lumbering hulk that was Bark’s Samus. Darkhorse and his trusty ape fought hard and took Daniel and his boy the limit, but he was unable to close out the set and Daniel advanced, for another shot at Bark, with a 2-1 victory. After a 2-0 sweep Daniel looked to do better this time around. This time around, Daniel opted for the Samus ditto, reclaiming his former low tier main. The move proved genius, as he took game 1, forcing Bark back to his trusty monkey. The dong was too strong, as Bark took game 2, but opted for the femme fatale again for game 3, to avoid the matchup that sealed his brother’s fate. Daniel couldn’t hold on, as Bark once again claimed low tier victory. Could we see a pocket Samus develop for Bark if he ever gets bored with Pikachu? Tune in and find out during the Baltimore Club’s next season. The full bracket for this exciting romp can be found on Advancedbrackets.com.

Flaoc 18

This past Saturday saw the return of one of the top monthlies in Canada following a near 3-month hiatus. The Toronto based Flaoc made its triumphant comeback with its 18th iteration. Twenty players from around the Commonwealth showed up to challenge each other for the ultimate prizes of cash and bragging rights. With Revan in attendance the man to beat was obvious, although YBOMBB was expected to give him a run for his money. Revan imposed his will on the bracket early on,as he cruised into Winners Finals without dropping a game. Despite this, the biggest surprise of the tournament was The Big D. After being sent to losers bracket after the first match, he played an intricate game of chess, staying one step ahead of his opponents with masterful counterpicks. He utilized the Terrorsome Triad of Pikachu, Kirby, and Captain Falcon, alongside his knowledge of counter picks to win four sets and make it all the way back to Losers Quarterfinals. This would earn him 5th place, after falling to Fck Vwls, solidly outpacing his No. 9 seeding. Vwls and his Falcon then went on to upset Sextc and his Fox 2-1. The Revan show was on point as he and YBOMBB met in Winners Finals. Revan swept YBOMBB away and the stage was set for the another edition of the increasingly intense Toronto rivalry. After a one stock win in game one for Vwls Falcon over YBOMBB’s Jigglypuff the two agreed to go to Hyrule for a Captain Falcon ditto in game two. The five stock victory for Vwls was punctuated by a stunning tent combo that ended with a Falcon Punch. YBOMBB dialed it in and took games three and four with his Jigglypuff. Game five Vwls regained his composure and won with a decisive two stock. The stage was set for a Revan versus Fck Vwls Grand Finals. The one seed against a surprising five seed. The Kirby was too much for Vwls’ Falcon in games one and two as he was subsequently three and four stocked. Game three saw a Donkey Kong counter pick by Vwls that did not help much and Revan took the tournament without dropping a game. The full bracket can be found on Challonge and replays are currently available on Vanilla Rin’s Twitch channel.

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