Day 1
We’re back! While there have been some big offline tournaments since the pandemic started, the Smash World Tour Central American Finals felt like a return to form. With Players masked up, commentators commentating remotely, and no live audience, it was a safe return. The players get to play in person and we at home get some awesome Smash to watch.
Going into the event, there are a few players that stand out. In the era of online, a lot of new players rose to prominence. Spargo dominated during the online era and while he was known pre-pandemic, he’s now in talks for being a top 10 player. Spargo is also a premier representative for the recent DLC characters Pyra/Mythra.
Another big name in Sonix. Sonix mains Sonic, imagine that. Sonix is a controversial player because of his playstyle and main. He’s not above timing his opponents out. Many people will scream “Carried by Wifi” and this weekend gave him an opportunity to prove people wrong.
Chag is another rising star. Chag is a personal favorite of mine. He’s probably the strongest Palutena player at the moment so I’m always trying to keep up with him. Chag in the months following up to this event had been winning a lot of high-profile Mexican locals so he had a lot of eyes on him.
Along with these rising stars we have two of the old guard. Ironically, they’re not too old at all. Both MKleo and Maister we’re attending. On the last Panda Global Ranking Ultimate, MKleo was ranked number 1 in the world, and Maister number 6. These two were titans pre-pandemic and many wanted to see how much the scene had changed within this last year or so, and if these 2 could keep up their dominance.
Day 1 was all round-robin pools. 4 groups of 4 players. These round-robin pools would decide your seeding in the day 2 bracket. The bottom-performing players in pools would start off in losers in the bracket and top performers in winners. The people who end up in the top 6 of the bracket would then qualify for the Smash World Tour Championship, representing Central America.
Starting off with Group A Spargo was the favorite to win and win he did. He had 2 game 5’s against BigBoss, a ROB, and Nair, a Ridley. Speaking of Nair, wow. This guy really surprised with Ridley. Ridley is a very under-represented character at top level but Nair showed everyone that this Dragon is to be feared. He made it out of Group A in Winners along with Spargo while BigBoss and MtKat started in losers.
Group B was interesting. Chag is the most recognizable name but Capitancito, a Mii Gunner main, was the favorite to win. With Chag rising to real prominence during the pandemic, it was a shock to see his performance. Chag didn’t take a single set. While the mysterious Mii Gunner took names. Cloudy, a Pyra/Mythra player also showed some dominance during the pool. The finals of the pool came down to these two. Both hadn’t lost a single set the whole time and in an exciting game 5 last stock last hit, Capitancito won 2-3. A Mii Gunner to watch. Yei, a Metaknight, and Chag both made it out in losers while Capitancito and Cloudy made it out on the winners’ side.
Mkleo is the easy favorite for Group C. Leo is the King of Smash Ultimate and the Prince of Smash. This prodigy had all eyes on him to see if he could still dominate in offline Smash Ultimate. The Prince was ready. Leo didn’t lose a set. While that might not surprise most, a lot has changed with Leo since quarantine. Leo was rocking Byleth online this last year and even before the pandemic he was playing around with Byleth, but the amount of Byleth we saw here surprised many. In fact, the player cards had Joker as his main Day one and Byleth/ Pyra/Mythra as his secondaries but later on day 2, they changed it to Byleth as his main. For good reason, I’ll say. Leo went Byleth vs most players but did switch to Joker versus Alandiss a Snake main, and never even tried Byleth versus Sonix opting for Mythra/Pyra. Sonix is the other stand-out in this pool. He only lost to Leo and made it out of pools on winner’s side along with the Prince. Waka, a Luigi, and Alandiss came out in losers.
Maister, 6th in the world shared a pool with Shinymark, easily one of the most recognizable Pikachu players aside from the Pika master himself, Esam. Also in the pool were Omart, another Snake main, and Andrik a Captain Falcon. Maister, like Leo, showed his pool what was up. He made a clean run. 3-0s for everyone. In fact, cleaner than Leo’s run surprisingly. Omart came in second only losing to Maister. Shinymark just barely lost to Omart game 5 making him start in losers along with Andrik.
Day 2
Day 2 starts and what a day it was. We were ready to see if the Prince could keep his title of King in Smash Ultimate after the grueling online error and if the new blood could show that online or offline, they were to be respected.
The big deal round 1 was Maister getting sent immediately to losers by Sonix. Having the 6th best player pre-pandemic in losers so early is nothing anyone in losers wanted to see. Capitancito fell to Spargo and Omart to Leo setting up a match many wanted to see. Spargo versus Leo. Round 1 in winners actually was to qualify. You only needed to win the one set to guarantee a spot in the Championship and Leo, Spargo, Cloudy, and Sonix all made it. Cloudy is a big surprise to me personally. I hadn’t heard of him before this event and he brought a super clean Pyra/Mythra and that’s impressive when in the same event as Spargo. In losers, Chag lost to BigBoss, knocking out my dreams but also a real threat early in the tournament.
Round 2 of losers would see the start of Maister’s reign of terror, taking out Big Boss 3-0. Shiny Mark would take out Nair, an upset considering Day 1’s performances from Nair. Omart and Waka were also both eliminated.
Round 3 of losers was for qualification. We saw Maister claim another victim in ShinyMark and Yei taking out Capitancito. Capitancito was definitely a standout this weekend. Dominating Day 1 but just barely not making it to the Championship.
Back up to winners, we see Winners semi-finals, Cloudy versus Sonix, and Leo versus Spargo. Sonix is on fire after beating Maister and beat Cloudy 3-1. Leo versus Spargo was a treat for me. Leo kept up Byleth the whole set and at points looked like he could pull it off, but Leo… That’s about all that can be said. Byleth seems like a really decent fit for Leo. He’s an explosive, precise player. Byleth’s super strong tipper hitboxes and explosive potential with shield breaks and early kill’s with the ax moves… this character somehow combines Leo’s old Smash 4 main, Marth, and aspects of his last Smash Ultimate main, Joker into one character. A way slower character than those two, but Leo makes it work. I wonder if that’s why he has a Mythra in the secondary pocket so when he needs the speed, he has it. Leo rant aside, this set was something to witness. Spargo is so good with Pyra/Mythra. He kept Leo on his toes, but Leo found the win game 5.
With everyone left qualified for the Championship, the stakes weren’t as high but player’s performances still counted towards seeding of the Championship. Spargo went from Leo straight to Maister. Rough luck. He made it close, but Maister’s reign of terror couldn’t be stopped. Spargo definitely made an impression this weekend. He showed he’s just as big of a threat on the big stage as online and nobody can deny that. Taking two of the game’s finest to game 5 and qualifying for the Smash World Tour Championships, he’s for sure going to be a threat going forwards. On the other side of the bracket, we saw Cloudy take out Yei. Yei was a surprise for most. 5th at an event like this will make him a person to watch in the future as well.
In Losers Semis we saw Maister vs Cloudy and the Maister reign of terror didn’t spare Cloudy. 3-1 Maister, knocking Cloudy out at 4th. Cloudy was a player I didn’t know before this weekend and I’m so excited to watch him in the future. I love Pyra/Mythra and he made them look so good. Can’t wait to see Cloudy along with Spargo at the Championship’s repping the girls.
In the Winners finals, we saw Leo versus Sonix again, and Leo took it again 3-1. That knocked Sonix into another rematch versus the reign of terror he created and I’d be surprised if he didn’t regret it. Well, he qualified, so no he probably doesn’t but Maister let Sonix know what he really felt. 3-1 knocking Sonix out at 3rd. Sonix got 3rd to two top 10 players in the world. This man isn’t carried, he’s amazing. Sonix silenced the haters and solidified he’s a top threat. Taking a set off Maister isn’t easy for anyone and he did it. Can’t wait to see him in the Championship.
Leo versus Maister grandfinals. This isn’t a rare match-up pre-pandemic. Frostbite 2019, one of the last big tournaments before the pandemic, this was grand finals as well. Leo took it then and actually used a freshly released Byleth to win the final game of the tournament. Now, a year and a half later, Leo starts with Byleth, and Maister couldn’t figure it out still. Leo got a shield break in game 3 and took Maister’s last stock winning 3-0 and finally putting Maisters reign of terror to an end. Maister getting second to Leo isn’t a bad tourney run at all, and considering his loser’s run, he had a good tournament. Maister showed he was 6th for a reason and has no intention to be lower when rankings come back.
Leo took the whole tournament. He was the safe pick for this but with the events of the last year or so, many of us didn’t know if he’d come back dominate, but Leo did, and in a way different way. Leo was mostly Joker before quarantine and now he’s using so much Byleth and secondly Pyra/Mythra. Joker has taken a back seat apparently and Leo is just as dominant as he always has been if this tournament is any indication.
Here’s the almost completed bracket from VGBC.
It was a great tournament. Smash is coming back big. We have more World Tour regional finals coming and Summit next weekend. I love this community and it was great watching another great Smash Tournament. These online players are showing up and I love it. New blood is ONLY good for the scene and community. Congrats to the up and comers and congrats to the old guard.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the World Tour so far and check out VGBC on Youtube and Twitch to watch the VODs and live when the events happen!
Bernard Lamar Rice 