Over the weekend, Smash N Splash 5, our next major of the year, wrapped up, and what a historic weekend it was. We witnessed something that people thought we’d never see happen again. We counted out the possibility, the mere notion was absurd. And yet…he did it. The man did it. Against all odds, Drephen found his way into Smash Summit 8 with a run we haven’t seen from him in over a decade. It was a moment that will live on forever, and inspired me to begin an article on Drephen’s career. Look out for it the week before Summit. Truly, nothing could be greater than the accomplishment Drephen earned.
Oh, and a Captain Falcon won a major for the first time in 14 years with Wizzrobe, but that’s not super important.
1.The Era of Hungrybox is over
I personally predicted for Hungrybox to win this major and re-establish himself as #1 in the world. While I would say he is still the best in Melee right now, it is very precarious, and the consistent losses in the past month or so are really looking to end this run he’s had going. Mango, Leffen and Wizzrobe are all hot on his heels for that spot at #1, and Hungrybox is really going to need to win Summit to prove himself, perhaps his last chance to snag the top of the summer ranking.
The others in contention, as mentioned above, are two regular contenders and one new face. Mango has won GOML and has solid victories of Leffen, Hungrybox, Plup and Axe, though with clear cracks in the armor with his 0-2 record against aMSa and a loss to Magi. Wizzrobe has astonished everybody with his impressive performance in both Melee and Ultimate this weekend, and with GOML, has wins on Leffen and aMSa, as well as a dominant 3-0 record on Hungrybox. Leffen has not won a major, but with wins on Hungrybox, Plup and Mango, as well as a 2-0 record on Zain, his spread looks mighty impressive. The only thing going against Wizzy and Leffen are relative inactivity, but after Summit that should be more than sufficient.
2.The Final Summit Spot
There is one more spot left, to be determined at The Kid, The Goat and The Mango next weekend. It has steadily become a very stacked event, and should be a joy to watch. My prediction for the spot this weekend would have come true if it weren’t for an unfortunately timed wedding that SFAT was attending, though with Drephen getting in instead I’m hardly upset. Anybody could take the next spot, it’s a wide open field, and I don’t even want to guess. I’m just going to watch and enjoy, these next few weeks should be great.
3.Smash N Splash 5 Was Amazing!
Quite honestly, I believe SnS was the best tournament of the year by far, at the very least from a spectator perspective. There were initial troubles with the swiss format in early pools, and while the handling of those pools did greatly disappoint me, the amazing sets we got all weekend were more than enough to satiate my needs. I think this was the best Top 8 in a long while, with every set but one (Hungrybox vs. Plup) being worth a watch, as well as many Top 64 sets and the Summit Qualifiers being absolutely great. My personal set of the tournament is probably Drephen vs. KJH for the Summit spot, though all of Drephen’s major sets, as well as Leffen vs. Plup, Mango vs. aMSa, Hungrybox vs. iBDW, PewPewU vs. iBDW, Leffen vs. Zain, ChuDat vs. PewPewU, Westballz vs. Fiction, Zain vs. SFAT, Hungrybox vs. Leffen and of course Wizzrobe vs. Hungrybox all had me going absolutely insane, which just goes to show how amazing the tournament was. I even left out some sets there that you might’ve enjoyed, which is just…crazy to imagine. All in all, this might be the tournament I now recommend to people who would want to get into Smash. Just a fun ride all the way through.
Apologies, no mailbag today! However, next week’s feature I plan to have a super big mailbag, so send me any question you can think of!
And let’s not forget…
I saved the tournament.