Hello to everyone who reads this blog. Unfortunately due to my schedule being a lot busier with me deciding to partake in many more local tournaments, I will be unable to update what is going on on this blog as much as I normally would. I am fine, my life is fine. Everything is doing well. The only thing that is going on is that I am falling behind compared to other competitors and in order to catch up I need to dedicate more time to training and getting good. Thanks for reading and maybe I will add to this blog in the future.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHoaIDC1d1E&t=1378s around 20 minutes in

    Mkleo immediately runs back fair then runs up and shields. He nairs out of shield and gets a hit since Maister decided to attempt to jump and nair, but got stuck out before he could get into nair hitboxes out. Leo decides to do a run back back air and it hits. I think the reason why he threw out the move was because he adapted to Maisters playstyle and knew that Maister would attempt to nair instead of sit in shield or roll. This can be seen when Mkleo throws out down tilts to bait out approaches and shields after so he can punish what Maister does afterward. He up bs and follows it with a fast fall back air. He did this since side b would not have connected do to Maisters di.

    Maister is now off stage. Leo baits out the bucket by starting up a neutral b and then cancelling it. He chooses to not edge guard and instead ledge traps by spamming aerials outside of the get up attack range. After hitting Maister’s shield he immediately rolls to avoid getting punished. He attempts to punish Maisters nair with nair out of shield, but it works out since Maister decided to spot dodge. He gets Maister off stage after landing a nair to dash attack combo. He starts to get comboed by Maister by whiffing a fair punish. To get out of disadvantage he fast falls with nair. He shields the instant he lands on the platform to prevent Maister from doing a falling aerial.

    He jumps above the platform above Maister to bait out an attack from Maister and drifts back fairs Maister to get him off stage. He throws out aerials and gets the kill with a well spaced bair.

    Maister up bs to get out of the ledge and Mkleo catches it with Up B weak spot bair. He forces an up b with forward air and chases him with up air. To avoid the key he jumps backwards. Uses bow when off stage when Maister was on the other side of the stage. Side b to punish misspaced bair. Run away bairs a lot.

    Nairs out of shield a lot, but it’s punishable so he gets up bed by g and watch. They trade a few pokes and then mkleo gets an up b after Maister jumps from ledge. Since he went for a di away read the previous 2 times, he goes for a di read inward this time and it pays off. He falling back airs for ledge trapping and gives up too much space. He hits Maister off stage with a dash attack. For his ledge trap he does an empty hop facing the other direction since he had conditioned Maister to expect a back air every time. He then goes for a ftilt after the empty hop.

Things are going nuts in the Super Smash Bros Ultimate major tournament Frostbite in Detroit. What’s going on is a major change in the meta of Smash Ultimate. There are so many things going on that should not be going on that it is extremely hard to explain.

    First let’s talk about seeding and upsets. People seed tournaments by putting players against someone they are expected to win against. Players are expected to perform their seed and when they go against a player with a higher seed than them, they are expected to lose. What’s going on in Frostbite is nothing but a chaotic mess. Players considered better than other players by nearly anyone prior to the event are getting upset like crazy. 

    For every Californian, let’s talk about Prodigy. Prodigy is the best player in Northern California, a Mario main, and young talent coming into the scene. In Spring 2019, he was ranked 37th of the PGRU. In the Frostbite, he had to fight against Mkleo, the undisputed best player in the entire world. Much to everyone’s surprise, he beat Mkleo 3-0 in a best of 5. This is actually insane, that the undisputed best player lost to Prodigy. This is just one of the many upsets that occurred.

    Another major upset that occurred was Hungrybox beating RFang. Hungrybox is the best player in Super Smash Bros Melee, but has never done that well in Super Smash Bros Ultimate yet. He beat a top 50 player in the world and the best player in South Carolina. This is an amazing upset as Hungrybox was expected to get 293rd place and RFang was expected to get 37th.

    Every major tournament will have its own upsets. That is inevitable. But to have hundreds of upsets so that nearly 25% of each set will be an upset is insane. To the normal smash tournament, 25% upsets would be nuts in a local setting where there is a lower skill ceiling. At a major tournament where the skill level is already high, upsets are wild by themself. 

    Some of the characters and people making upsets are wild. Ganondorfs have done surprisingly well in the tournament. Ganondorf has been considered a low tier by many people, even people I compete with. It’s no surprise that people think he is a low tier character since he has a hard time getting in and gets combod easily. However, he has the ability to punish characters harshly for their mistakes and get early knock outs due to his huge strength. 

    With the huge amount of upsets, something else that may be surprising is the amount of close sets. Top players have almost lost sets against complete randoms, players not known at a top level and may not even be the best in their region. In this tournament, ranking does not matter, anyone can beat anyone.

    The amount of upsets at this tournament is honestly extremely surprising and tells me that lots of players are adapting and getting better at the game. I honestly admire Prodigy for beating Mkleo and hope that it’s a start for Northern California to become a stronger region.

This article talks about Kobe Bryant and how that even though he may not be a sports fan, Kobe has made a tremendous impact on the world. The first time I heard of Kobe was not through sports, but instead through Counter Strike. In that game, whenever someone gets a grenade kill, it is called a Kobe. Thus, even though I have never watched a single game of basketball on Tv, Kobe has still impacted my life. 

He then talks about Kobe having influenced society a lot even though he was just a professional athlete. He states “the greats of each sport are uplifted as if they were gods/goddesses. Millions of dollars are invested in them. Big athletic brands also invest in them. It’s crazy to think about how seriously sports are now taken these days.” It is insane how athletes are treated like they are beyond human, but nowadays, I find the same thing happening to professional video game players.

Throughout the history of Super Smash Bros, some players were treated as gods. There were the gods of Super Smash Bros Melee who constantly dominated tournaments for years. There was Nairo, the undisputed best player in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Currently in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, there is Mkleo. However, out of all these games, there is one man who dominated a game. For an entire year, no one could beat him. He had the longest streak of consecutive tournament wins in Super Smash Bros history and even now, no one has come close.

ZeRo had a 56 consecutive win rate in Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3ds and as a result has tremendously impacted the Smash community. Whether the changes as a result of his winstreak were for the better or worse, he has had a lasting impact on Esports. With his multiple wins, he created a dynasty. However, in the recent game Super Smash Bros Ultimate, ZeRo has admitted that he is scared to compete again as he believes he would disappoint his fans and lose his legacy of being the undisputedly best player for the game.

A case of this can be seen in the League of Legends community. While I do not play at a high level in that game, I can constantly see why top players would be stressed. Top League of Legends player Faker is someone I can see as someone who may struggle similarly to ZeRo. Although he still competes at a top level, I constantly hear many people call him “washed” or that his time has gone. This bewilders me as he still is better than 99% of players, yet people still think he is no longer a great. 

Some of my knowledge about Faker may be wrong, but I am speaking about my own experiences there. Overall, the lesson to be learned here is that while yes, these athletes are amazing and their accomplishments are amazing, don’t expect them to be beyond human and still celebrate them. These are real human beings who will do human things. Kobe may have passed, but his legacy will still live and most people will look at him as a perfect human being. I don’t think one should think of him as such, but that may just be my thoughts on him due to my lack of knowledge.

Link to blog post that started off this thought process: https://timetraveler1920.travel.blog/blog-feed/

After making a blog post about my journey to get 25th out of 85, some drama was stirred in the Northern California Super Smash Bros Ultimate community. The issue raised was, who is the best Little Mac in Northern California.

The reason why this question was raised was because IceFlames5, the person who was thought to be the best Little Mac and my friend, placed 25th compared to @D_Arkay who got 17th.

Was about to take a nap and saw this lmao. @D_Arkay thoughts? Would love to play you man, though win or lose I don’t think this won’t prove much.
That and I honestly believe Roo is a much better mac than the both of us. pic.twitter.com/PmYG0nIzb1

— Ryze | iceflames5 (@IceFlames5SSB) February 13, 2020

The picture linked in this twitter post by IceFlames5 is the what started the drama. People flocked to comment in the facebook group when the best Smash Ultimate player in North California stated

People in my region really be fighting for the title of #1 little mac. I just dont know what to say anymore 🤢

— Louie No Consequencs Money@ CHAEsing the bag💰 (@LouieMoney98) February 13, 2020

The end result is a lot of drama for a lackluster title when the players themselves don’t even care. IceFlames5 understands that he is not the best and that Roo, another Little Mac, is better than both of them. Its the people on the sidelines who want to see drama who care this time.

The end result is that North California has gained a bit of attention from more people around the world in this interesting event.

I was quite successful in my previous tournament experience at Wednesday Night Fight, a pretty prestigious local around where I live. On my round one opponent, I lost to a top 20 player in North California. I was then immediately in the losers bracket.

My first opponent was relatively simple as he seemed like a newer player than me. All I did was play safe and punish the unsafe options he took against me. The plan was simple and my execution was good enough to win that best of 3 with ease.

My second opponent was more unorthodox. Prior to the set occuring, my friend Iceflame5 whispered into my ear “He plays wolf….” After hearing that statement, I expected to see him choose Wolf in the character select screen. He did not choose wolf and instead chose Game and Watch. I was surprised, but played well and won the first game. The second game, I played less safe and got punished for doing so. As a result, I lost the second game. In the third match of the best of three, I was losing. It was obvious that I was losing. My opponent made one crucial mistake and lost one of his three lives early, resulting in my win. This was the first of many lucky events.

My next opponent was a Mega-man player. I won the first match by playing safely. The second match was closer, but I managed to clutch it out as he also lost one of his stocks early.

The opponent after that played Terry, a character I had less experience with. To my surprise, I won the first match solidly. The second match ended up with my demise as he adapted to my playstyle. The third match was fierce with both of us adapting to each other. He ended up losing after accidentally killing himself.

My last opponent was a result of me using up all my luck. Going into the match I was feeling confident in myself. I felt as if I had a solid chance of winning. My controller, however, was feeling something else. After taking a stock solidly, I felt that something was off as if my shield wasn’t coming out. I soon realized my shield button was not working and got tilted. My opponent soon made a comeback and I got thrashed. I then continued having a bad mentality into the next match and lost the set.

Overall, I did well at the tournament through a combination of both luck and skill. It was unfortunate that my shield button was not working at the end, but it also possible that he would have beaten me regardless.

One thing to remember in a tournament, is that it is a tournament and that each victory is a victory. If one feels bad for one’s opponent, understand that sympathy may lead to a loss. Someone can always come back and your duty as a competitor is to punish them for making their mistake. If you see a punishable window during a match, you should punish it. There is no reason to not profit off their lost, especially if one is competing for money.

Ally has played in Montreal Gaming Center recently and afterwards, EE, a Super Smash Bros Ultimate competitor and commentator has recently interviewed the infamous Ally.

After Ally encountered his troubles, Ally claimed that he tried to forget everything that happened and just remove himself from the scene. In the interview he reaches the topic that he competed in a local tournament. He has communicated with the tournament organizer who agreed to let him show up as he believed that Ally was not dangerous. He also claims that every player at the tournament was not worried about their health and safety when he was there. When asked to explain himself he states “If no one thinks I’m dangerous, …, I just went to the weekly.”

It is then revealed that Ally won the tournament. He claims that he started going to weekly tournaments recently in order to help people learn how to play against Snake (as many people still consider him to be the best Snake player in the world).

Ally’s take on competitive play is that he will only go back to the Smash scene if people accept him and gain more knowledge on what happened with him. He does seem to understand if people hate him forever.

A blogger under the name Seto has created a post about the PGRU, an unofficial ranking system for the top Super Smash Bros Ultimate players in the world, a few weeks ago. Although it is unofficial, it has been used as basically an official ranking system since 2015 during the says of Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS, which from now on will be called Smash 4. It can impact whether or not someone can get a sponsorship from an organization. 

Seto goes over the tournament tier system relatively well. Although, something he fails to mention is that the amount of players a tournament has has impacted the placings of such tournaments in the past. The more players a tournament had, the higher the placing. This is part of the reason why during PGRU Season 1 of Smash Ultimate, many players complained about the low placing of international players. The United States has a larger number of competitive Smash Ultimate players compared to each international region. Whether that be due to China’s lack of a competitive Smash scene and lower populations in areas interested in Smash, it is what it is. This resulted in low placings as international tournaments could not get enough players for the tournament to count towards PGR. This resulted in many top players from the PGR not traveling to international tournaments as the tournament would only hurt their placing. This led to many great players to not even have a PGR ranking.

An extremely notable difference between PGRU season 1 and PGRU season 2 was the influx of Japanese players. In PGRU season 1, the first Japanese player was Zackray at 12th place. Then it would go to 19th, 20th, 23rd, 30th, then a few players in the 40s. In season 2, Zackray placed 7th. The next group of players from Japan took 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th ,16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st, etc. There was a huge influx in Japanese players. Did Japanese players really improve that much in comparison to the other players? The answer to that is probably not. While Japanese players are known for their grind sessions where players will wake up, grind Smash bros, sleep, and repeat, they still did not take all just dominate in the US. What happened was, there was an obvious shift in how the PGR Stats team compiled their data. 

While PGRU has tried their best in placing players, many players are not satisfied. Some players have created their own ranking systems. OrionRank is one such alternative. Some advantages of OrionRank over PGRU is that it ranks 100 players. Due to the wider spectrum of rankings, OrionRank also showcases new and upcoming players. Another advantage of OrionRank is that the group is completely separate from another organization. Panda Global has the best Pikachu player in the world Eric “Esam” Lew as a member. There is nothing stopping the organization from bumping the players up a few spots even if a different team is making the ranking.

The blog post by Seto is here: https://setosmind.art.blog/2020/01/24/season-2-pgru/

Recently, a new character for Super Smash Bros Ultimate has come out. Their name is Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses and can be considered the most controversial DLC Fighter so far. Byleth’s release video is by far the most disliked Smash video for a character release. Many people complain that “Another Fire Emblem character?” combined with their own complaints. They blame the character for being boring and how no one wanted them. To understand why people complain about another Fire Emblem character instead of another Pokemon character, some backstory is necessary.

First of all, prior to Byleth’s announcement, the characters that came from the first character pack were all third party characters (meaning they were not Nintendo characters). For example, Banjo and Kazooie came from Microsoft and Joker came from Atlus. As a result, the majority of the Smash community expected the next DLC character to be from a non-Nintendo game. Although they expected a DLC character to be a third party character, Nintendo has never stated that it would be a third party DLC character. This created some disappointment among the playerbase,

Players have always had a dislike towards Fire Emblem characters in Super Smash Bros. Even in Super Smash Bros Melee, most of the Smash community did not know who they were. The introduction of the characters in Smash was done as nothing more than an attempt to introduce the series to the west. This would be further exemplified in the previous game, Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS, as it introduced Corrin as a DLC character before their game even came out. Another issue with Super Smash Bros Ultimate is that there are 3 characters coming from the same game with 2 of them being echo fighters from other characters. In other words, a large percentage of the Fire Emblem cast are not even unique fighters.

One reason for the large amount of character representation for Fire Emblem comes from popular Youtuber Alpharad. He brings up a comparison of character, stage, and item representation in Smash. He says “Fire Emblem is a game about characters … Legend of Zelda is a game about items and using those items for your advantage, therefore there is a ton of item representation in Smash.” He essentially claims that as the game is about characters, there is character representation in Smash. This is a fair point that people rarely look at, especially in the competitive scene as items are not allowed to be used.

My thoughts on some people’s actions. In response to this character, some people have made death threats and that is just immature. In response to these, the Fire Emblem fanbase edited the “Hoes Mad” meme to include the character instead. I thought that those who were mad, were overreacting and should not have been so mad.

To those who think that the entirety of the Smash community was mad, that is simply not true. Many fans were happy that their favorite character got in and that a majority of people were neutral to the entire event. It just happened that this time, more people were vocal and extreme about their opinion.

In the previous day, the infamous Smash player known as Ally has started competing in tournaments again. For those unaware of who I am talking about, look at my previous blogs. There is a lot of controversy over this, but it is good to see that the majority of people discussing the issue seem to agree that he should not come back to the scene. This can also be seen by the tournament stream’s chat. While this may be a one time thing, I will try to stay updated on this issue.