Delfino Maza RETA 2022. Is the King back?

Delfino Maza RETA was this weekend and this Mexican invitational featured some of the best players from all over Mexico and abroad. Mexico as a region is being talked about a lot recently. It’s home to the top 2 players in the world for Ultimate, MkLeo and Spargo, as well as some of the strongest players outside of the Top 2 like Maister and Chag. All of these players were in attendance as well as some of the hidden bosses/lesser-known Mexican talent. Gluttony, Goblin, and Larry Lurr were all invited as out-of-country representatives, and with Larry’s 2 sets on Leo at the G4 invitational and Glutonny’s dominance recently, there were bound to be some shake-ups. 

Here is the amazing art that was done for all of the competitors. 

The big question going into the tournament was “Will MkLeo lose another event to Spargo?”, and while it was answered, the highlight wasn’t MkLeo taking the event over Spargo, which he did. It was who he did it with. Leo used his Byleth, which we have seen for over a year now, but he also used Corrin!? And he specifically used Corrin against Larry Lurr, who double eliminated him last time they attended the same event, and against Spargo. Those who consume a lot of Smash content might have known that Leo has been playing a lot of Corrin recently, but I don’t think anyone could have expected it to be this clean. Leo won the event and only lost one game. That single game was to Spargo in grand finals. He dominated everyone else, getting multiple 3 stocks, and 3-0ing everyone on his path to grand finals. Spargo might be getting closer to number 1, but Leo has said he won’t make it easy for him. This weekend showed that it won’t be. Leo is one of the most dominant players Smash has ever seen and it won’t be easy to take him down. 

So Spargo took a loss to Leo in grands, but he also took a loss to Glutonny in winners. Gluttony also beat Maister before Spargo, taking out Mexico’s 2nd and 3rd best players on his way to winner’s finals against Leo. He lost to Spargo in the runback during loser’s finals, but 3rd as a foreigner in such a top-heavy region like Mexico is extremely impressive. 

Another foreigner, Larry Lurr lost 0-3 in his run back against MkLeo, losing to his Corrin. Larry then found himself against Goblin, a foreigner as well, who he also lost to 0-3. After Larry’s last appearance where he got 2nd at the G4 invitational, it was an underwhelming performance for the Spacie expert, but it might have just been horrible luck because Goblin had an amazing run that Larry found himself in the middle of. Goblin started in losers on the final bracket and fought his way to Spargo. He lost, but ended up at 5th place. An impressive run considering he started as one of the bottom seeds after pools, but that loser’s run was nothing compared to Skyjay’s. 

Skyjay is an Inciniroar player who saw a lot of success last year. He’s another rising Mexican star who pioneers the meta for his character. Maining Inciniroar means that he doesn’t always perform amazing and that showed with him ending up in losers after pools. Inciniroar has some borderline impossible matchups and sometimes Skyjay can’t pull through, but on the final day, he made magic happen. With 3 3-0’s on his way to Chag, he was looking unstoppable. Chag’s Palutena put up a real fight, but even he would fall 2-3 to Skyjay’s fire cat in a nail-biting last hit last stock scenario. He then ran into Spargo, losing 0-3, but what a run to get all the way to 4th place! And with Inciniroar no less! 

Reta was an awesome invitational. It really helped showcase some of the Mexican players we don’t see top 8ing in America often, and it gave the MkLeo vs. Spargo plot some progression. We’ll all be watching to see what happens to them and all of the Mexican talents that attend Genesis 8 in 2 weeks. I’m sure excited to cover it.