Smash Ultimate Summit 4 was a ride. The talent pool was deep, and the upsets were plentiful. Here are some of the storylines and big moments from this weekend.
This tournament marked the first time since Get On My Level 2019 that MkLeo hasn’t been in the grand finals of a major tournament that he’s attended. In the group stage, Leo lost to Light 3-0 and to Glutonny in an intense reverse 3-0. This led to Leo ending at 3rd in his group and having to make his way through the gauntlet. He beat both Fatality and Tea in the gauntlet phase, earning him a spot in winners for the final bracket on Sunday. He ended up falling to Spargo 3-1 in Winners Semis when Spargo created one of the most iconic moments in Smash Ultimate’s history. Using a cross slash to survive a fatal edge guard from Leo, Spargo then rode that momentum into a back air to forward air that took MkLeo’s final stock, winning game 4 and the set for Spargo, 3-1.
After a win on Glutonny in the losers’ quarter-finals, Leo ran into Protobanham. Proto was switching from his Min Min to Lucina after winning games and later explained that it was in an attempt to confuse Leo. It worked, and Proto beat Leo 3-1. Leo never got the download on the Min Min, and Proto actually won game 4 with his Lucina. Leo ended his run at 4th place. Impressive for anyone else, but for someone who hasn’t placed below second at a tourney in over 2 years, it was very unexpected, and a huge moment in Smash Ultimate’s history.
Another story from this weekend was Glutonny’s evolution as a player. Glutonny started strong Friday with the two reverse 3-0’s on Leo and Light. It was soon clear from the conversations on streams and Twitter that Glutonny was on another level coming into Summit. Glutonny was strong last year, but there was definitely a sense that Gluto was struggling with the advancing Ultimate meta. Being from France, and dealing with travel restrictions from Covid, it was hard for Glutonny to compete with the talent in North America for a while. It was clear that when Glutonny did finally get here, while he took a few losses, he learned a ton. It showed in the main bracket, where he only lost to Tweek’s Diddy Kong, something he hasn’t played against before, and MkLeo’s Pyra/Mythra. A loss to the number 1 player in the world isn’t that bad considering he beat him earlier that weekend, and he hasn’t played a Pyra/Mythra on the level of Leo’s before. His run ended at 5th in the final bracket, but his accomplishments this weekend have shown he is easily still a top 10 threat.
Aside from the winner of the tournament, Light was the best player competing this weekend. He got the 3-0 on Leo on day 1. He also beat Maister for the 2nd time ever during round one in the main bracket. He 3-2ed Tweek as well! He ended Protobanham’s amazing losers run in a dominating 3-0. He dropped sets to only 2 people the entire weekend and ended his run at 2nd place. He was playing super dominate, showing shades of the Light that won Smash Con last year over Spargo. Speaking of Spargo…
At the last Smash Ultimate Summit, MkLeo said that Spargo would be the best player in the world in 6 months. Well, it’s been just over 6 months since then, and Spargo just won an event with some of the most talented players in the world. Spargo has been a bride’s maid for a while now, and it was about time he became the bride. At Smash Con Fall Fest, he lost to Light in a reset after seeming like the obvious victor, and at Main Stage, he came from losers to take a set from Leo in grand finals, but couldn’t finish the job, losing the reset 3-2 in an iconic moment that will be remembered for years. This weekend, he beat both of them to take his first major tournament win. He used Cloud for the majority of the tournament as well. Cloud is a character largely considered worse than his other main, Pyra/Mythra, but Spargo said that he felt like his Cloud was better, and with the results he got this weekend, I don’t think anyone can deny that.
While it’s only a single tournament, Spargo was considered the second-best player in the world coming into this year, and we can’t help but wonder if this is the crowning of a new king. With Collision and Genesis on the near horizon, we will all be watching Spargo to see if his victory here becomes the reign of a new king. Is this the era of SparGOAT?
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Bernard Lamar Rice 