Genesis 8 was this weekend and it turned out to be a real return to form for Smash Ultimate in more ways than one. It was a huge tournament with nearly 2000 entrants including some of the best talent worldwide. There was a noticeable lack of Japanese talent which Genesis is usually known for, but the lasting ramifications of the pandemic seemed to have prevented many Japanese players from attending.
The biggest takeaway from this weekend was MkLeo’s run. There were doubts about Leo’s number 1 title ever since the week period in which Summit 4, the G4 invitational, and Collision happened. Leo placed outside of the top 2 at all of these events, while his fellow Mexican Spargo won them all. Leo came back hard at the Delfino Maza RETA invitational, putting a pause on Spargo’s ascension to number 1, and Genesis was seen as the next chapter in this story.
Well, MkLeo won. He didn’t just win, it was dominating. With a run back on Light where he won 3-1, he’s now beaten all but 2 of the people he lost to this year in the run back, the remaining players being Protobanham and Tweek. He also got another win on Glutonny and Spargo, further cementing his record on them. We hear a lot about gods in eSports, and Leo is making a good case for being the singular god of Smash Ultimate. I want to put this idea out instead though. MkLeo can lose. He can get hurt, but he heals from these injuries and becomes much stronger than before. What makes Leo so strong is that he rarely loses to someone twice in a row. That is what makes Leo so hard to overcome. You can beat him once, but can you do it twice? Once we see someone establish a consistent record over Leo, it will be hard to crown a new king for Smash Ultimate.
Glutonny would surprise everyone and meet Leo in the grand finals. The Wario main wasn’t seeded to get top 8, but he well outplaced his seeding. In winners, he beat Cosmos who he was seeded to lose to, and then found himself against Leo who beat him 3-0. In losers, he fought Sisqui for top 8. Sisqui is another European player from Spain who’s Dark Samus has been tearing up the meta in Europe. Gluttony won in a dominant 3-0, being the only European to make it to top 8. On Sunday, Gluto fought through all of top 8 from the losers side culminating in his first win on Kola, a dominating 3-0 on Zomba, another win on Light, and a 3-1 on the second-best player in the world, Spargo in losers finals. Gluttony had spent a few weeks grinding with Leo before Genesis and it showed. His dominance over everyone else showed that he was easily the second strongest player in the building.
Spargo final got sponsored!
We knew a sponsor was coming, but I don’t know if anyone expected Faze clan. If Faze Clan wants to dip its toes in Smash, there are few players better to put your name behind.
People will talk about the Sponsor curse. When a player gets a sponsor, it’s common to see some less than stellar performances immediately afterward. You might be able to claim that for Spargo. He got 3rd, and you can argue that is an upsetting performance for him. The kid was in talks to take the whole tournament, so if 3rd is what he gets on a bad day, I think Faze Clan invested wisely.
One of the huge upsets this weekend was Tweek getting 33rd. Tweek got second at Collision, the last major before Genesis, and was seeming to comfortably settle into his top 3 spot in the world. Tweek would lose to AC, the Meta Knight/Snake, and then to Esam 0-3 in losers. Esam isn’t a horrible loss, but Tweek was expected to go much further in the tournament.
Cosmos also had a rough go. He lost to Gluttony which in retrospect, isn’t unexpected, but he then immediately ran into Ikan, the Ryu who possibly made the most upsets that weekend. Ikan won 3-2, and Cosmos ended his run at 17th.
With all the talk about Andres and Vendetta and who is the best Shoto main, Ikan was the one to put up the results this weekend with Ryu. With a top 64 run including wins on Leon, Kurama, Esam fresh off his win on Tweek, Cosmos, and ending with Yonnie, Ikan disrupted the seeding more than any other player. Yonnie was probably second, but he also fell to Ikan. Yonnie himself would eliminate Skyjay, Maister, and Lui$, once again giving people a reason to hate on his main, Steve.
Genesis 8 was awesome. So many upsets, but also MkLeo’s dominant run. The meta is healthy. Aside from a lot of ROB’s, we are seeing a ton of character diversity. Next weekend is Pound where we will see the continuation of the Smash Ultimate storyline. Thanks for reading and come back next week for the Pound wrap-up.
Bernard Lamar Rice 