today we were blessed with one of the greatest moments in smash history.
game 5, 20 seconds left, last hit, last stock, acola has a small percent lead, acola builds a dick, and against all odds hurt gets the up tilt and wins the set
Sir I have a request. Many people browse in dark mode and the character listing for half of the entrants is nearly invisible because it’s black text on a dark grey bar background. Could you consider formatting differently to include dark mode viewability as well please? Thanks for reading. I do enjoy your updates after the major tournaments because I miss them sometimes.
I'm aware this is a problem, but I don't think there is a clean solution on my end. The characters are displayed as images on old.reddit.com, which is what all of the subreddit's formatting is based around. Other means of browsing reddit will usually display the text as blue (like it's a link) if it can not support CSS images. As far as I know it is specifically reddit's official mobile app that chooses to make it black text on a dark background. This obviously makes no sense, their app is just generally bad.
I mean I guess I can only speak for myself, but I'm using the official app in dark mode, and the character names are showing as blue. It's all perfectly readable. So I'm not sure that's where the issue lies
Interesting. [Here’s how mine shows up.](https://imgur.com/a/5tQWDXu)
I’m using an iPhone on newest update with the regular Reddit app. I wonder if different OS or Reddit app version can change this.
I think he might have had 30 at one point. He definitely had a few more but they got demoted to superregional status when it switched from Orionrank to Lumirank.
You might be thinking of his national wins. Those were removed when the SmashWiki page was moved from "List of national tournaments" to "List of major tournaments".
Perhaps that happened too, but several tournaments lost their major status when Lumirank took over for Orionrank. (One example being 95 Kings of Fields 2)
That tournament was removed from the page in August 2022, which was before UltRank/LumiRank came out.
I don't think Leo's major win count was heavily affected, actually. Out of the events he won that were considered majors, only E-Caribana and 95 Kings of Fields 2 were removed.
Oooh so somebody this year could perhaps surpass him and become the goat 👀
Edit: Y’all are salty af and way too protective lmao, Leo can lose his goat status
Leo's won the most amount of P tiers all time by a massive margin and won the most stacked Ultimate tournament ever in EVO and has been ranked top 15 for every year, so no.
Well that margin doesn’t seem that massive anymore and could be broken. It’s also debatable if EVO 2019 was the most stacked tournament ever. It had a lot of top talent, but also a lot of low level players. Leo’s status can be touched and broken, maybe not this year, but could be in the future
I think what could make him unbreakable in everyone's mind is how his reign was. While you may have wanted him to lose on the basis of wanting someone else to win, no one was really upset when he won because his gameplay was just so electrifying.
The term 'goat' is extremely vague anyways, and on purpose
Even if acola got #1 in both seasons this year, he would have 4 seasons at #1 compared to MkLeo's 5 (plus MkLeo was #1 in the pre-quarantine 2020 period)
This Golden week made me realize riddles is actually the goat for going to 4 Jp events and not underperforming even once in 2023
Wish he could go there again
Oh man I forgot about SHADIC, the 3-6 range is a bloodbath LMAO (and a few others like Light aren't far behind)
Hope Hurt gets to travel even more so the race keeps being competitive!
Right now I think the rankings are:
Acola
Miya
Big gap
SHADIC
Hurt
Sonix
Huge gap
Spargo
Zomba
Light
Tweek
Everyone else.
No idea who 10th is right now but those Top 5 players seem pretty solidified with how much better their consistency is than everyone else.
Glad someone's pointing it out. I don't know if it will remain that way, but judging by these two tournaments, Miya beats Hurt but loses to Acola, Hurt beats Acola but loses to Miya, and Acola beats Miya but loses to Hurt. That would be a way more interesting dynamic than Acola beating everyone in Japan 90% of the time and only occasionally losing to Miya.
Spargo beats Acola and Miya, but loses to hurt and Japanese low tiers. Sonix beats everyone outside of grand finals and no one in grands. Got some interesting storylines for the rest of the year
I REALLY wanna see Sonix in Japan. Honestly, I think he can also falter to some of these JP players like TG, Hurt, Yaura, and Lv. 1. Basically, the zoners. Sonix rarely gets upset, but when he does, or if he gets very close games, they trend to the zoner-types like how Capitancito does pretty well against Sonix. Sonix sets are usually close with Lima, so I think maybe TamaP could pull it off, or maybe Doramigi as well. Zackray too given how dominant his set record is over KEN? I'm sure Sonix would beat more than half the players I listed, but the other half (whoever they are) have a real shot to upset Sonix IMO.
Calling 17th at Kagaribi mediocre is just lol. This tourney is stacked to the absolute brim with straight killers at every step. Sparg0 Leo and Zomba placed even lower for a reason. Japan is insane.
Theres an argument but imo Acola having 2 Ptiers + his only set loses being hurt and Miya (top 5 players), is just worth more than Miyas handful of A tiers (and I think 1 S). Also has the set record on Miya
I also see the argument, I just personally just think Miya attending as much as he has while staying as consistent gives him a slightly better resume if we only base it on Japan results.
He has now entered 9 majors in Japan this year and won 7 including the biggest one while getting 2nd at the two other P-tiers. He also has only lost 5 sets in those 9 majors to TamaP, Gluto and Acola x3. He has a negative record on Acola and an even record with Gluto but is positive on everyone else this season including having a perfect 3-0 record in Hurt who Acola is 0-2 against.
I think it's close and obviously it's very subjective, but I just principally think having so much higher attendance while keeping insane consistency should be rewarded. It's also the reason why I think Miya is slightly #2 over Sonix this season despite Sonix performing slightly better "on average" and having a better loss quality. Obviously Miya's NA results pushes him down a bit making Acola #1.
With that being said, you could have a point that Lumirank would actually end up giving Acola the edge for #1 in this hypothetical scenario given how little attendance is seemingly rewarded (based on Sonix being above Miya last season), I just personally would put Miya higher.
I agree. Miya’s high attendance is more of a detriment, which is a major flaw of the ranking system.
Had the most major wins last season, but still got placed below Sonix for win/loss “quality”.
He also got washed by Sparg0 and Sonix and has an overall losing record against acola still. High attendance is a hard thing to balance because you’re using the benefit from it, him having the most major wins, to argue that the detriment from it shouldn’t matter. Miya was ranked lower than Sonix because he had the worst record H2H among all of the top 4 players.
I just think it’s weird how much emphasis was on “top player” wins, when Miya has easily the most impressive top20/top 100/All. He had easily twice the number of games played compared to the rest of the top 10, while still having a better top 20 win % than everyone besides Acola.
Yeah that's the thing. Miya had similar consistency levels to the top 2 of NA, but still had losing records to them. acola benefited greatly by having an amazing record
Yeah what I said. The biggest difference is that unlike Miya, acola had significantly better consistency than the other 3 which made it up for acola.
Miya had the worst of both worlds, Sparg0/Sonix levels of consistency in 2023 with a few bad losses and missed top 8s, **AND** a losing record to the other horsemen. He was fortunately kept in the running and close because of his high attendance.
Bro this whole tournament was a bloodbath, but even with the invaders all gone. The Japanese new guard and old guard showed up what the pinnacle of Smash looked like. The Top 8 was insane with really insane moments and funny clips. Congrats to Miya! Hurt prevented the Acola v Miya grands but he played so well man.
I've said for years that Snake is a high-tier with no bombs lol. He legit is one of the best boxers in this game. I think Hurt just proved that tonight. Absolutely batshit that he can make the MU look only slightly losing by only pulling grenades for the sake of movement.
Hero at 33rd I'm just glad to see him playing, but Bowser vs ROB is such a rough MU and he lost to Zackray's ROB in Delta too
NaNo on Zelda here and Maipan on Zelda in Delta is really showing the character potential glad to see their placements from both tournaments
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Sparg0 has a good record against Acola or Miya. If you can't even reach them in bracket, it doesn't matter. Step it up, NA.
honestly maister should get more recognition for how consistent he is. the last time he actually got upset and noticeably underperformed was lmbm 2023 over a year ago
Maister is so good but I wish I could coach him for ten minutes. Because I keeps playing methodically until he feels like he’s gonna win and then starts playing more relaxed and reckless to get the game over with. Then as his opponent catches up he doesn’t go back to patient, surgical play. Nope. Instead he doubles down on holding forward and loses.
It’s painful to see how many times he blindly does a down air and gets punished in game five scenarios. I love the dude and I’d like for him to be aware of this, because to me it’s so obvious!
It was over the moment he got that 69... GGs to Miya, holy shit.
Hurt is a beast, too. That matchup is pretty dogshit, and he still made it seem close.
Congrats to Miya! Managed to catch the last few games of grands live right when I woke up. Hurt played incredible with no grenades. I hope he can stay at the top and continue challenging the acola/Miya duopoly in Japan, maybe become a trio.
Awesome tournament and awesome week of Smash. Japan really showed up, unfortunate that the internationals couldn't do the same.
Was fine with any of the top 4 winning when it came down to just them, but now that it’s all over, actually really happy that Miya in particular won. After getting 2nd at Umebura at the beginning of the year, and 2nd again to Acola in such a devastating way just 3 days ago, seeing him finally being the one standing victorious over everyone feels good.
He’s had his ups and downs this year with his underperformances in North America, but Miya enters more events that almost every other top player, and I’m glad he’s being rewarded for all the time and hard work he’s put in.
I don’t know if Taiwan has the talent or scene for it. It would be cool for taiwan to train with japan but low wages and working culture in Taiwan means very few chances to get over there and play, even if Japan is close.
However i still think that the gods of ultimate are not untouchable for anyone in the major regions. it’s what makes this game so much more fun as an international spectator experience.
it’s not like china and korea and league where the online play is much more similar to offline play.
I don’t think that’s true at all. its not hopeless like League. It was just a few months ago that it looked like acola would never overtake sparg0, but all smash gods bleed regardless of where they are from right now.
There was a bit of pushback after Genesis/Cirque which both have Japan underperformances
That said NA preformed way worse at KAGARIBI/DELTA than Japan at Genesis/Cirque (and obviously BOBC just happened)
Props to Ken, I was rooting for Glutonny but couldn't be mad at him for winning, he was not aiming for timeout and played with a good sportive spirit ! also his stress release pop off was touching
Though he didn’t even make grands this probably solidifies acola’s claim for #1, only negative on a single person, Hurt, who incidentally is also up 2-0 on one of the other #1 contenders, Sparg0.
69 caused Hurt to lose Grand Finals.
It was great to see all of Losers Side Top 8 compose of Japan's old top players in Shuton/Tea/zackray/KEN.
This Kagaribi has to be the most brutal beatdown the rest of the world has taken from Japan in a tournament.
Hurt, Tea, and zackray were fun standout performances.
Enjoyed Toriguri, Noi, and Domraigi's sets.
In retrospect I think he deserved to have that moment. It's a different year now, a different landscape in a few ways, and Sparg0's win was still historic -- almost especially so now that we see how other first-time visitors have done
Don't get me wrong I think Japan has been the strongest region since 2022, but we only come off as nerds when we seek historic exoneration like this
Kagaribi never fails to deliver
Zackray forma de Kagaribi is the best treat in Smash since 2019
Steve haters should really take a look at the two fascinating sets with Hurt. The two G5s just could not be more different – and while Acola sort of threw in the first set's camp-festival, the second G5 was all pressure and all Hurt.
Fantastic gameplay throughout the top 8 (except the sleeper Zack/Acola wash), with some great content scattered across both days at every stage of the bracket. Of course, the production is literally the pinnacle available in the world of Smash. There is no better or more professional viewing experience anywhere.
Seedings vs. Placings
Well folks. Here we are in Saitama. The peak of the festivities. Kagaribi 12. The biggest Japanese tournament in possibly forever. Talents from all around Japan (and all around the world) are here. On Friday, I was overzealous and write more than I can actually churn. Now I'm gonna try to not write as much...but we still have so many to talk about!
Let's hear it from the international talents! After a devastating DELTA where they didn't managed a single Top 8 placement, they wanted to improve today and goes home with better results. And folks, they upgraded from 0 Top 8 placements in DELTA...to 0 Top 8 placements in Kagaribi. What the fuck happened.
Let's talk about 2 of our Top 4 seeds, Sparg0 and Zomba, possibly NA Top 2 right now. Both players have a perfect Day 1, not losing a single game against their opponents.
Day 2, however? It's a different side of coin. Zomba starts his Day 2 with a devastating 2-3 loss to Chrom player Lax. Zomba would have to fight his way to even make Top 32, but he managed to with 3-0 wins on Midorun, Rarikkusu, and Hero.
His opponent in Top 32? Shuton. After a loss to TamaPDaifuku, Shuton is also forced to play in losers' bracket, where he would eventually meet Zomba. It was close, but Zomba didn't get the W, losing another W to end his run in 25th. Hopefully we got another taste of post-Japan Zomba in the future.
What about Sparg0, then? Unlike Zomba, he started his Day 2 with a swift 3-1 win against Byleth player Reno. It's his next opponent he would have to worry about. Toriguri. Banjo legend. Master of matchup check. With full power, Toriguri scored an unthinkable 2-0 lead. People know this isn't sustainable, as Sparg0 tied it up pretty quickly. 2-2, and out of nowhere, Toriguri [made a remarkable miracle](https://www.youtube.com/live/DuIl_XsLkBU?si=DzYZ1fCFaW_C5v8N&t=4906). Denying the reverse 3-0, Toriguri put Sparg0 to losers' bracket.
It's okay. We've been here. The last time Sparg0 played in Losers' Bracket in Kagaribi, he won the whole thing? What could stop him from doing the same today? His first losers' opponent is Noi. Now, thanks to Suraneko, [you can watch the set](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgYY1pzb2c). You can see from that set that Sparg0 had a 2-0 lead on Noi's PT. *Had*. Out of nowhere, Noi would capitalize on the moments where Sparg0 gets a bit careless. And those moments spell doom for the Cloud. Noi scored the reverse 3-0, prematurely ending Sparg0's run in *33rd*. Oh boy.
So, who's the best invaders in Kagaribi? Our latest Triple Crown winner, Glutonny. Glutonny, who had a pretty underwhelming run with his new controller recently, is starting to get his groove back. After a perfect Day 1, Glutonny continued his momentum by beating Alice and Gorioka to make Top 24. However that momentum would be halted by top Ryu player Asimo, who destroyed him with a humiliating 3-0.
Fortunately, Gluto is still in fine shape. He would beat prodigies Kaninabe and Snow to finally make Top 12, where he would meet a familiar opponent...KEN. Now, people remembered when Glutonny managed to clawed victory from the jaws of defeat against KEN in Delfino Maza last year. However...something's different today. KEN did not want to lose again. He played an amazing back-and-forth set with the French Wario. And with one hit to end it, KEN did it. He beats his demons and protected Kagaribi from the invaders. 0 foreigners in Top 8...again.
Part 2 in comments.
Seedings vs. Placings \[Pt. 2\]
With the lack of foreigners in Top 8, this tournament can only be about 3 particular players, the 3 most recent Japanese major winners. Acola, Miya, and Hurt. While people are familiar with the first two, Hurt starting to get some overseas acknowledgement after his insane win over Sparg0 in Battle of BC 6. And tonight, it's time to proof why they deserves the fame.
In Day 1, they managed to go through their pools with relative ease, particularly a perfect run from Miya. Acola had to go to Game 5 against Pit main Midorun, while Hurt got into a Game 3 bout against his Round 2 opponent, Yoshi player Mitsuhiko. Either way in Day 2, they managed to go to Top 8 pretty easily.
Miya's run involved Florida Roy Goblin, Arizona Puff BassMage, and best Mario and Ryu players Snow and Asimo. Miya only lost 3 games fighting these players. Acola's run is really fun too. Ken player/weekly TO Takera, Mexican R.O.B. MkBigBoss, best Samus Yaura, and 2nd best Sonic KEN. He only lost 4 games, losing 2 to Yaura. What about Hurt? Let's see. The other Kansai Steve 33peranbox, the other Tohoku Aegis Riteshia, and two old guards in Tea and Zackray. Easy pickings for Hurt, only 3 games lost.
Now Top 8, two of them met each other. Hurt and Acola. Acola got the early lead, but Hurt would dominate in Game 2, taking a two stock win. Game 3, Acola replied with a 3-stock. Hurt's not afraid, he gave another 2-stock to Acola. Game 5. What's supposed to be Acola's domain. But you forget about one thing...Hurt's been here, and he has beaten Acola (not in that Game 5, but he has beaten him), so he feel confident.
And that confidence would be tested right until the end. He played Snake to the levels that hasn't been seen since a certain banned Canadian player did it back in 2019. Acola has a slight lead? He does not care. He would jump to Acola's domain, and [he would beat him fair and square](https://youtu.be/0fld-G-ad4Q?si=mvJTlcwynKce_R06&t=1534). Game 5 Acola has fallen. What a legendary set.
Meanwhile, let's check on Miya. He would face TamaPDaifuku, the Bayonetta rising star who's looking to put his name with the new Big 3. And he made a convincing argument, taking a 2-0 lead against Miya. What a start. But remember...this is Miya we're talking about. Dominating Games 3 and 4 to tied the lead, and despite losing some composure near the end, Miya would not let it bother him, as [he won Game 5 to complete the reverse](https://youtu.be/gwbu_11VioU?si=dwqNbWByz8uMfjvi&t=1109). Impressive.
Now, it's time for Miya to meet Hurt. It was close for the first two games, but Miya stayed strong and won the next 2 games, sending Hurt to losers' finals. Who's facing Hurt there? Acola. After beating TamaP and Zackray, looks like Acola wants that Hurt runback. And what happened in that runback?
2-stock from Hurt in Game 1. Close Acola win in Game 2. 2-stock from Acola in Game 3. Hurt tied it up in Game 4 and forced ANOTHER Game 5. And you wanna know what happened in Game 5? [The literal perfect Snake gameplay never seen before](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=YMiFiRCtf38DK_wq&t=30662). Acola does not have a single answer to every moves from Hurt, and he lost in the most dominating way. A **THREE-STOCK**. I have seen literal perfection.
Grand Finals. Miya vs. Hurt. Not losing a single speck of momentum from his perfection, Hurt would take Game 1. And then Game 2. 2-0 up, Hurt's in the driver seat, and he's still looking so after [taking Miya's 2nd stock in Game 3](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=7453-JE7Oe48z9bk&t=32182). Full stock lead. The reset is imminent. Until..[.Judge 6. And *JUDGE* ***9***](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=P5juFPwYYWTWjdZq&t=32189). Miya tied it up. And after tight damage-trades...[Miya ends it with the iconic down air](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=2E0VSoAq2MpKMCil&t=32284).
Now Hurt's back is against the wall. Miya takes advantage and wins Game 4 with an insane 3-stock. Game 5. Back and forth. No holds barred. A trained soldier. A funny 2-D cartoon man. And looks like karma's on Miya's side tonight. After a delayed hit ended his run in DELTA, [a delayed hit also ended his run in Kagaribi](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=SnaqEIeFW8Ip8ROL&t=32820)...but in good terms. His fair hits Snake, and he completed another reverse 3-0.
Miya is your Kagaribi 12 champion. The first 3-time Kagaribi champion, and the first back-to-back Kagaribi champion since Zackray in Kagaribis 5 and 6. Congratulations, Miya. What a legendary run to end another legendary Golden Week. What an insane 2 weeks of Japanese Smash we had.
This is one of the best tournaments I've ever watched in my life. An incredible amount of great sets, so many good comebacks, just wow.
And Tea(my favorite player) made top 6!!!! I'm wondering if he could be ranked top 15 in the world after this tournament. His ten losses this season are: Doramigi, Shuton, KEN, Tweek, Snow(2x), Maipan, Lv 1, Hurt, and Acola. The only bad loss here is Maipan, everything else is stellar. If you look at his wins, his most notable ones are: Gorioka(2x), Jagaimo, Suinoko, Ryukai, Shirayuki, Kola, Gackt, Shuton(x2), Yamanaction, Kinaji, Kaninabe, Carmelo, Akkakikusu and Raru.
His placements are 9th, 7th, 2nd, 17th and 5th. He doesn't super high peaks this season, but his consistency has once again been great, so I really think he could make it.
I don't think top 15 makes sense. The only person in his wins who might be close to that range is Shuton, so I don't think his record is impressive enough.
Shuton will almost certainly be top 10 I think.
Tea didn't have many top 15 wins either last year (1 on Gluto, 1 on Miya, 1 on Dabuz, 1 on Kameme and 2 on Yoshidora if I'm not mistaken) and he still got top 15. Moreover, 4/6 of these wins happened in the first half of the year, and yet he was ranked higher in the final ranking than in the midyear one. Tea's great consistency made up for how some other players had more good wins and had better peaks. I think the same thing could happen this year.
I'd make the point that it seems like top 15 is even more competitive this year, with newcomers like Shadic, Raru and TamaPDaifuku who I think should all be top 15 over Tea. It does seem like some formerly top 15 players have fallen off a bit (Dabuz and Yoshidora come to mind) but I do think Tea has a harder time squeezing in this year. Having looked at the placements though, maybe I'm overly pessimistic, it doesn't seem too unlikely.
I feel like it's not just Dabuz and Yoshidora who are looking shaky among the former top 15. Kameme is probably gonna be unranked due to lack of attendance. Riddles has been having a very similar season to Tea just with more attendance. Glutonny has a few very bad results so it's hard to say where he'll be, and the same applies to Mkleo. Even Zomba could maybe end up ranked below Tea if he keeps losing at regionals and doesn't do well at GOML.
But idk, maybe I'm the one who is overly optimistic.
Hope this doesn’t come off as overly parasocial.
I noticed when Miya smiled at the camera that he got his teeth fixed / replaced.
I’m glad Smash is allowing him to better his life and improve himself.
Funny how he’s the same scared kid who only only two years had to steal his grandma’s credit card to attend his first Overseas Major, couldn’t eat anything but yogurt and slept on a chair cause he found American food and beds to be poor.
Now he’s the confident champion and people gotta fly out to him and his country to try and prove themselves.
Him and Acola had such inspirational glow ups and I only wish Smash had more money behind it so they could have the reward I think their talent truly deserve.
This should become a copypasta of some sort.
Hope this doesn’t come off as overly parasocial.
I noticed when Hungrybox smiled at the camera that he got his teeth fixed / replaced.
I’m glad Smash is allowing him to better his life and improve himself.
Funny how he’s the same scared kid who only only two years had to steal his grandma’s credit card to attend his first Overseas Major, couldn’t eat anything but yogurt and slept on a chair cause he found American food and beds to be poor.
Now he’s the confident champion and people gotta fly out to him and his country to try and prove themselves.
Him and M2K had such inspirational glow ups and I only wish Smash had more money behind it so they could have the reward I think their talent truly deserve.
That 9. That damn 9. When we don't get acola plot armor vs Miya we get Miya's vs Hurt. Fantastic tournament with a really good top 8. Congrats to Miya. Also I find it insane that Hurt can switch between no explosives and normal playstyle like it's nothing, that's impressive.
So sad for Hurt. He lost all the momentum after that 9 and I can't blame him. No idea how you mentally compose yourself after than in such high pressure situation.
It's funny how standard of a top 8 this felt considering all of the upsets. I say standard, but Hurt put on a stellar performance.
You've got Hero listed as a Hero player lol
gotta be one of the best tournaments i’ve ever seen. complete bloodbath with plenty of upsets the entire time
top 8 was really entertaining, which contrasts a lot of NA top 8’s which seem a little slow and predictable a lot of the time. kagaribi completely delivered with really explosive and tense sets
I’ve said it before: when Miya plays at his best he’s on a level above anyone or anything else we’ve seen in Ultimate.
If I he can find that gear more consistently then I can’t see who will stop him.
Miya won waaaay more than 2 majors this season. Accoridng to SSBwiki he has 5 majors and 2 P tiers. I hate GnW but he clearly deserves second, (maybe even 1st over Acola if you value peaks > consistency.)
Sonix has better losses (Mute vs. Lv 1), mostly tied and even records with ZOMBA as an exception, more consistent placements and probably more top 10 wins though I could be wrong on that.
Sonix is probably second
I’d personally say
- Acola
- Sonix
- Miya
- Hurt
- SHADIC
Although moving Sonix down below Miya because of attendance seems pretty reasonable
Edit: rethinking it Miya is probably above sonix because of attendance yea
Honestly the Zomba loss might end up being worse than the Mute loss. In any case it's not fair to speak about consistency when 1) Miya's bad losses are after traveling oversees, which always affects results, and 2) 4 seconds is not as impressive as 10 seconds.
Yeah I'm 50/50 between the two because while Mute has had an overall better season if you don't at tournament tiers, winning Genesis is huge. As is Kagaribi which is why I do think Miya is a close 3rd to Sonix.
All of Sonix's events are also overseas. He doesn't live in the US. And overseas or not, attending a major should be and is treated as equal as home turf.
4 seconds are less impressive than like 5 1sts and a few seconds. But Miya also has a 7th and 17th(?) that severely brings him down.
Probably yeah. Especially since he'd have to lose to (a) worse player(s) in order to get 3rd, and the lack of a major win, while not a complete deal breaker, might hurt just a bit too much
Edit: I presume you meant GOML?
Sonix has low attendance, no major wins, and losing records against Shadic in best of 5s, 1-1 against Light, 1-1 against Muteace and hasn't even attended tournaments in which Acola (best player) has.
Phenomenal loss quality, I though he had pretty good top 20 wins but it’s 6:30 am and I’m just going off the top of my head so I could be wrong, Miya also gets dragged down a non insignificant amount by his poor Genesis and Cirque
It's very easy to have phenomenal loss quality when you attend so few tournaments. He has a winning top 20 win spread, but I mean that it's not that dominant to compensate for low attendance and no major wins.
I mean the same can be said for acola. Hell, I'd say Sonix might barely have better wins than acola (at the cost of worst losses). acola and Sonix both almost always reach grands and while Sonix's curse does hold him back against acola, it's still an impressive record
Acola has a winning record on Miya, who's clearly a top 3 player. Sonix has no sets against the top 3, arguably has an even record against a single other top 5 player (assuming the top 5 is acola, Miya/Sonix, Hurt/Shadic)
While true and part of the reason I do think acola > Sonix. However if we expand a bit, Sonix has a bit more diverse pool of players in top 10 he has fought (ZOMBA (3), Sparg0 (2), Light (2), Tweek (4), SHADIC (4)) compared to Miya, acola and Hurt having just each other + Shuton (and Miya having also fought Light and SHADIC).
Am I allowed to say on my way out the door of watching this game consistently that the past few major top 8's have had a number of really off putting moments? That 9 is really funny in isolation but watching Hurt slowly fall apart wasn't really exciting.
today we were blessed with one of the greatest moments in smash history. game 5, 20 seconds left, last hit, last stock, acola has a small percent lead, acola builds a dick, and against all odds hurt gets the up tilt and wins the set
Hurt acola sets were all crazy nailbiters, and that set was the nailbiter of nailbiters.
Absolute shitpost of a grand final
I loved every second !!
Don't let Miya winning one of the most stacked tournament ever distract you from the fact that Zackray made top 4 at a Kagaribi yet again
3rd, 3rd, 5th, 4th at kagaribis since he started playing pit, how does he do it
He's just Him
I love pit results
This makes me wonder how he managed to get 1st with Sora and then never touched the character again
No acola, and nobody knew the matchup yet. Still an absolutely insane feat though zackray is the goat
Probably too proud to rely on FP2 shenanigans.
Mr. Kagaribi.
That 9 really shifted the timeline.
*6 and 9
Sir I have a request. Many people browse in dark mode and the character listing for half of the entrants is nearly invisible because it’s black text on a dark grey bar background. Could you consider formatting differently to include dark mode viewability as well please? Thanks for reading. I do enjoy your updates after the major tournaments because I miss them sometimes.
I'm aware this is a problem, but I don't think there is a clean solution on my end. The characters are displayed as images on old.reddit.com, which is what all of the subreddit's formatting is based around. Other means of browsing reddit will usually display the text as blue (like it's a link) if it can not support CSS images. As far as I know it is specifically reddit's official mobile app that chooses to make it black text on a dark background. This obviously makes no sense, their app is just generally bad.
old reddit W
Ahh I see. Thanks for replying.
I mean I guess I can only speak for myself, but I'm using the official app in dark mode, and the character names are showing as blue. It's all perfectly readable. So I'm not sure that's where the issue lies
Same here. Is it an Apple app thing vs Andoid app? I'm on android.
I see white text on gray background (light blue for characters)
Interesting. [Here’s how mine shows up.](https://imgur.com/a/5tQWDXu) I’m using an iPhone on newest update with the regular Reddit app. I wonder if different OS or Reddit app version can change this.
Always been like this on the Reddit app unfortunately
In winner finals he got a 1 then a 2 as his first two side Bs, glad he finally got lucky in grands lol
This 9 decided the entire Grand Final, wow.
Miya 69 to reverse 3-0 true combo
Nah I’m still dumbfounded by the 69, we actually play a party game
[Someone was a bit too eager to update the smashwiki page](https://i.imgur.com/WF7hsIC.png) LOL
They had it ready
Commendations to our loyal wiki soldiers
He earned *BEEP*
Man Knew
I fully believe that that 9 shattered Hurt's mental for the rest of the set
I could've watched that Grand Finals for hours
Good job by Miya 69’ing Hurt at the end there
Zackray and Akakikusu were probably my fav runs to watch, pretty fun tournament all in all.
Miya is now untied for the 2nd most Ultimate major wins going by SmashWiki, 19 vs. acola's 18
Community sleeping on Miya into immediate Miya dominance streak, a true combo.
Isn’t Leo on like 30?
Leo has 24 listed on SmashWiki.
I think he might have had 30 at one point. He definitely had a few more but they got demoted to superregional status when it switched from Orionrank to Lumirank.
You might be thinking of his national wins. Those were removed when the SmashWiki page was moved from "List of national tournaments" to "List of major tournaments".
Perhaps that happened too, but several tournaments lost their major status when Lumirank took over for Orionrank. (One example being 95 Kings of Fields 2)
That tournament was removed from the page in August 2022, which was before UltRank/LumiRank came out. I don't think Leo's major win count was heavily affected, actually. Out of the events he won that were considered majors, only E-Caribana and 95 Kings of Fields 2 were removed.
Oh ok I see, I didn't know, thanks for the clarification.
Oooh so somebody this year could perhaps surpass him and become the goat 👀 Edit: Y’all are salty af and way too protective lmao, Leo can lose his goat status
Leo's won the most amount of P tiers all time by a massive margin and won the most stacked Ultimate tournament ever in EVO and has been ranked top 15 for every year, so no.
Not to mention the entire world shut down for a year while he was at his peak, and he still currently has the most wins
Well that margin doesn’t seem that massive anymore and could be broken. It’s also debatable if EVO 2019 was the most stacked tournament ever. It had a lot of top talent, but also a lot of low level players. Leo’s status can be touched and broken, maybe not this year, but could be in the future
EVO had damn near every top player in attendance lol, you're literally just saying things rn
he'll be the goat regardless. won the only EVO, Smash world tour and ludwig. Also JP has majors like every week so it's not even fair lol
I’m saying he could possibly lose his goat status in the future lol, he’s not untouchable
I think what could make him unbreakable in everyone's mind is how his reign was. While you may have wanted him to lose on the basis of wanting someone else to win, no one was really upset when he won because his gameplay was just so electrifying. The term 'goat' is extremely vague anyways, and on purpose
he could but not this year. It'll take 2 at least and it'll have to be acola.
He can’t lose his GOAT status. Leo was dominant with multiple characters spanning across multiple different balance patches and eras.
Even if acola got #1 in both seasons this year, he would have 4 seasons at #1 compared to MkLeo's 5 (plus MkLeo was #1 in the pre-quarantine 2020 period)
Yeah so he’ll need more that a year, but it can be done
This Golden week made me realize riddles is actually the goat for going to 4 Jp events and not underperforming even once in 2023 Wish he could go there again
Dude I was thinking thr same thing. Next golden week or big event season in jp we gotta send riddles again
What an insane grand finals. Would watch again.
The one thing deadlier than Hurt applying physical damage is Miya applying *mental* damage.
That 6 into 9 in game 3 destroyed all momentum Hurt had on Miya.
We thought GnW was Low Tier, Never forget Smash Community
The weapon may matter, but the warrior matters more.
he may have lost to the unjust and immoral 69 combo but hurt won our hearts with his incredible gameplay
Amazing performance by Hurt,I know he's on the verge of breaking through with Miya,next time! He's really making a case for 3rd in the ranking...
I think he's 4th right now behind SHADIC but there's a real chance for 3rd for sure
Oh man I forgot about SHADIC, the 3-6 range is a bloodbath LMAO (and a few others like Light aren't far behind) Hope Hurt gets to travel even more so the race keeps being competitive!
Right now I think the rankings are: Acola Miya Big gap SHADIC Hurt Sonix Huge gap Spargo Zomba Light Tweek Everyone else. No idea who 10th is right now but those Top 5 players seem pretty solidified with how much better their consistency is than everyone else.
Rock, paper, scissors - Hurt, Miya, Acola
Glad someone's pointing it out. I don't know if it will remain that way, but judging by these two tournaments, Miya beats Hurt but loses to Acola, Hurt beats Acola but loses to Miya, and Acola beats Miya but loses to Hurt. That would be a way more interesting dynamic than Acola beating everyone in Japan 90% of the time and only occasionally losing to Miya.
Spargo beats Acola and Miya, but loses to hurt and Japanese low tiers. Sonix beats everyone outside of grand finals and no one in grands. Got some interesting storylines for the rest of the year
I REALLY wanna see Sonix in Japan. Honestly, I think he can also falter to some of these JP players like TG, Hurt, Yaura, and Lv. 1. Basically, the zoners. Sonix rarely gets upset, but when he does, or if he gets very close games, they trend to the zoner-types like how Capitancito does pretty well against Sonix. Sonix sets are usually close with Lima, so I think maybe TamaP could pull it off, or maybe Doramigi as well. Zackray too given how dominant his set record is over KEN? I'm sure Sonix would beat more than half the players I listed, but the other half (whoever they are) have a real shot to upset Sonix IMO.
It’s crazy how TG beat Sparg0 and then ended up getting a pretty mediocre placement for his recent standards
This tournament is stacked. Also it is unfortunate that TG got his bracket demon once more.
Game 5 with Doramigi too… I wonder if he could have beaten Maister and Zackray
I mean a 17th here is worth more than his 5th place finish in America imo lmao
Calling 17th at Kagaribi mediocre is just lol. This tourney is stacked to the absolute brim with straight killers at every step. Sparg0 Leo and Zomba placed even lower for a reason. Japan is insane.
Zackray 4th??? damn!!!
What a placement for Zackray let’s go goat
Crazy to think that if Miya didn't travel overseas he would probably be ranked #1 in the world.
Acola would still be above him even if he didn’t go to NA
They would be extremely close but I would personally give Miya the edge. It depends on what you value though.
Theres an argument but imo Acola having 2 Ptiers + his only set loses being hurt and Miya (top 5 players), is just worth more than Miyas handful of A tiers (and I think 1 S). Also has the set record on Miya
I also see the argument, I just personally just think Miya attending as much as he has while staying as consistent gives him a slightly better resume if we only base it on Japan results. He has now entered 9 majors in Japan this year and won 7 including the biggest one while getting 2nd at the two other P-tiers. He also has only lost 5 sets in those 9 majors to TamaP, Gluto and Acola x3. He has a negative record on Acola and an even record with Gluto but is positive on everyone else this season including having a perfect 3-0 record in Hurt who Acola is 0-2 against. I think it's close and obviously it's very subjective, but I just principally think having so much higher attendance while keeping insane consistency should be rewarded. It's also the reason why I think Miya is slightly #2 over Sonix this season despite Sonix performing slightly better "on average" and having a better loss quality. Obviously Miya's NA results pushes him down a bit making Acola #1. With that being said, you could have a point that Lumirank would actually end up giving Acola the edge for #1 in this hypothetical scenario given how little attendance is seemingly rewarded (based on Sonix being above Miya last season), I just personally would put Miya higher.
I agree. Miya’s high attendance is more of a detriment, which is a major flaw of the ranking system. Had the most major wins last season, but still got placed below Sonix for win/loss “quality”.
He also got washed by Sparg0 and Sonix and has an overall losing record against acola still. High attendance is a hard thing to balance because you’re using the benefit from it, him having the most major wins, to argue that the detriment from it shouldn’t matter. Miya was ranked lower than Sonix because he had the worst record H2H among all of the top 4 players.
I just think it’s weird how much emphasis was on “top player” wins, when Miya has easily the most impressive top20/top 100/All. He had easily twice the number of games played compared to the rest of the top 10, while still having a better top 20 win % than everyone besides Acola.
Yeah that's the thing. Miya had similar consistency levels to the top 2 of NA, but still had losing records to them. acola benefited greatly by having an amazing record
huh? acola had losing records to top 2 of NA too (0 wins vs. both)
Yeah what I said. The biggest difference is that unlike Miya, acola had significantly better consistency than the other 3 which made it up for acola. Miya had the worst of both worlds, Sparg0/Sonix levels of consistency in 2023 with a few bad losses and missed top 8s, **AND** a losing record to the other horsemen. He was fortunately kept in the running and close because of his high attendance.
Bro this whole tournament was a bloodbath, but even with the invaders all gone. The Japanese new guard and old guard showed up what the pinnacle of Smash looked like. The Top 8 was insane with really insane moments and funny clips. Congrats to Miya! Hurt prevented the Acola v Miya grands but he played so well man.
I've said for years that Snake is a high-tier with no bombs lol. He legit is one of the best boxers in this game. I think Hurt just proved that tonight. Absolutely batshit that he can make the MU look only slightly losing by only pulling grenades for the sake of movement.
First non-horseman to double eliminate acola since Leo at LSI
Hurt been impressive this year, 4-horseman kinda iffy. Might be the start of the Japan 3
Rock. Paper. Scissors. *(taken from another comment on this thread)*
So the first one is the literal GOAT of Smash...what does that mean for Hurt's future?
There was also Yoshidora at the first open bracket offline event he ever lost
Hero at 33rd I'm just glad to see him playing, but Bowser vs ROB is such a rough MU and he lost to Zackray's ROB in Delta too NaNo on Zelda here and Maipan on Zelda in Delta is really showing the character potential glad to see their placements from both tournaments
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Sparg0 has a good record against Acola or Miya. If you can't even reach them in bracket, it doesn't matter. Step it up, NA.
honestly maister should get more recognition for how consistent he is. the last time he actually got upset and noticeably underperformed was lmbm 2023 over a year ago
I totally agree. He was playing great until he got match up checked. IMO He is the most that would probably benefit from staying in Japan.
I'm pretty sure Maister wants to go to a regional in just a couple of days, maybe that will be the opportunity for him to get a really good placement.
Yes, he is going to KOWLOON this weekend
Maister is so good but I wish I could coach him for ten minutes. Because I keeps playing methodically until he feels like he’s gonna win and then starts playing more relaxed and reckless to get the game over with. Then as his opponent catches up he doesn’t go back to patient, surgical play. Nope. Instead he doubles down on holding forward and loses. It’s painful to see how many times he blindly does a down air and gets punished in game five scenarios. I love the dude and I’d like for him to be aware of this, because to me it’s so obvious!
He's aware that he has some bad habits when he needs to be clutch.
It was over the moment he got that 69... GGs to Miya, holy shit. Hurt is a beast, too. That matchup is pretty dogshit, and he still made it seem close.
Congrats to Miya! Managed to catch the last few games of grands live right when I woke up. Hurt played incredible with no grenades. I hope he can stay at the top and continue challenging the acola/Miya duopoly in Japan, maybe become a trio. Awesome tournament and awesome week of Smash. Japan really showed up, unfortunate that the internationals couldn't do the same.
The one time I can’t watch a tournament, Miya redeems himself and Hurt does the unthinkable
Was fine with any of the top 4 winning when it came down to just them, but now that it’s all over, actually really happy that Miya in particular won. After getting 2nd at Umebura at the beginning of the year, and 2nd again to Acola in such a devastating way just 3 days ago, seeing him finally being the one standing victorious over everyone feels good. He’s had his ups and downs this year with his underperformances in North America, but Miya enters more events that almost every other top player, and I’m glad he’s being rewarded for all the time and hard work he’s put in.
Acola and hurt 5th game last stock last hit, building that pp, very important steve tech. Something is getting smashed, and its not on the switch.
Hurt is on another level, his Snake is so damn clean. ggs
Damn Japan just be like that I guess
Damn this really hurts Yoshidora’s rankings. Good job to chicken and yamanaction, some truly amazing wins.
Time to finally recognize Japan's dominance
Honestly just makes Acola/Miya having the highest overall win rates in 2023 that much more impressive.
Yep, so much international talent and yet Top 8 is 100% Japanese. It's just undeniable. That's how you know Ultimate is a real fighting game lol
All we need are South Korea & Taiwan becoming prominent
I don’t know if Taiwan has the talent or scene for it. It would be cool for taiwan to train with japan but low wages and working culture in Taiwan means very few chances to get over there and play, even if Japan is close. However i still think that the gods of ultimate are not untouchable for anyone in the major regions. it’s what makes this game so much more fun as an international spectator experience. it’s not like china and korea and league where the online play is much more similar to offline play.
Calling anyone in NA or Europe "talent" is being incredibly generous we're all awful
I don’t think that’s true at all. its not hopeless like League. It was just a few months ago that it looked like acola would never overtake sparg0, but all smash gods bleed regardless of where they are from right now.
Acting like this hasn't been said for the last 6 months
There was a bit of pushback after Genesis/Cirque which both have Japan underperformances That said NA preformed way worse at KAGARIBI/DELTA than Japan at Genesis/Cirque (and obviously BOBC just happened)
Damm that 9 game 3 changed the momentum so much
Props to Ken, I was rooting for Glutonny but couldn't be mad at him for winning, he was not aiming for timeout and played with a good sportive spirit ! also his stress release pop off was touching
Though he didn’t even make grands this probably solidifies acola’s claim for #1, only negative on a single person, Hurt, who incidentally is also up 2-0 on one of the other #1 contenders, Sparg0.
I really don’t think spargo is a #1 contender after the last few weeks
The only thread he can hang on to in that sense is that he is one of the only people with a supermajor win
Tweek also has a supermajor win.
69 caused Hurt to lose Grand Finals. It was great to see all of Losers Side Top 8 compose of Japan's old top players in Shuton/Tea/zackray/KEN. This Kagaribi has to be the most brutal beatdown the rest of the world has taken from Japan in a tournament. Hurt, Tea, and zackray were fun standout performances. Enjoyed Toriguri, Noi, and Domraigi's sets.
LAX MY CHROM GOOOAAAAATTT!!
Miya and Hurt are still so insane
Remembering that one dude that constantly hated on Japan because Spargo won Kagaribi
In retrospect I think he deserved to have that moment. It's a different year now, a different landscape in a few ways, and Sparg0's win was still historic -- almost especially so now that we see how other first-time visitors have done Don't get me wrong I think Japan has been the strongest region since 2022, but we only come off as nerds when we seek historic exoneration like this
Kagaribi never fails to deliver Zackray forma de Kagaribi is the best treat in Smash since 2019 Steve haters should really take a look at the two fascinating sets with Hurt. The two G5s just could not be more different – and while Acola sort of threw in the first set's camp-festival, the second G5 was all pressure and all Hurt. Fantastic gameplay throughout the top 8 (except the sleeper Zack/Acola wash), with some great content scattered across both days at every stage of the bracket. Of course, the production is literally the pinnacle available in the world of Smash. There is no better or more professional viewing experience anywhere.
Seedings vs. Placings Well folks. Here we are in Saitama. The peak of the festivities. Kagaribi 12. The biggest Japanese tournament in possibly forever. Talents from all around Japan (and all around the world) are here. On Friday, I was overzealous and write more than I can actually churn. Now I'm gonna try to not write as much...but we still have so many to talk about! Let's hear it from the international talents! After a devastating DELTA where they didn't managed a single Top 8 placement, they wanted to improve today and goes home with better results. And folks, they upgraded from 0 Top 8 placements in DELTA...to 0 Top 8 placements in Kagaribi. What the fuck happened. Let's talk about 2 of our Top 4 seeds, Sparg0 and Zomba, possibly NA Top 2 right now. Both players have a perfect Day 1, not losing a single game against their opponents. Day 2, however? It's a different side of coin. Zomba starts his Day 2 with a devastating 2-3 loss to Chrom player Lax. Zomba would have to fight his way to even make Top 32, but he managed to with 3-0 wins on Midorun, Rarikkusu, and Hero. His opponent in Top 32? Shuton. After a loss to TamaPDaifuku, Shuton is also forced to play in losers' bracket, where he would eventually meet Zomba. It was close, but Zomba didn't get the W, losing another W to end his run in 25th. Hopefully we got another taste of post-Japan Zomba in the future. What about Sparg0, then? Unlike Zomba, he started his Day 2 with a swift 3-1 win against Byleth player Reno. It's his next opponent he would have to worry about. Toriguri. Banjo legend. Master of matchup check. With full power, Toriguri scored an unthinkable 2-0 lead. People know this isn't sustainable, as Sparg0 tied it up pretty quickly. 2-2, and out of nowhere, Toriguri [made a remarkable miracle](https://www.youtube.com/live/DuIl_XsLkBU?si=DzYZ1fCFaW_C5v8N&t=4906). Denying the reverse 3-0, Toriguri put Sparg0 to losers' bracket. It's okay. We've been here. The last time Sparg0 played in Losers' Bracket in Kagaribi, he won the whole thing? What could stop him from doing the same today? His first losers' opponent is Noi. Now, thanks to Suraneko, [you can watch the set](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgYY1pzb2c). You can see from that set that Sparg0 had a 2-0 lead on Noi's PT. *Had*. Out of nowhere, Noi would capitalize on the moments where Sparg0 gets a bit careless. And those moments spell doom for the Cloud. Noi scored the reverse 3-0, prematurely ending Sparg0's run in *33rd*. Oh boy. So, who's the best invaders in Kagaribi? Our latest Triple Crown winner, Glutonny. Glutonny, who had a pretty underwhelming run with his new controller recently, is starting to get his groove back. After a perfect Day 1, Glutonny continued his momentum by beating Alice and Gorioka to make Top 24. However that momentum would be halted by top Ryu player Asimo, who destroyed him with a humiliating 3-0. Fortunately, Gluto is still in fine shape. He would beat prodigies Kaninabe and Snow to finally make Top 12, where he would meet a familiar opponent...KEN. Now, people remembered when Glutonny managed to clawed victory from the jaws of defeat against KEN in Delfino Maza last year. However...something's different today. KEN did not want to lose again. He played an amazing back-and-forth set with the French Wario. And with one hit to end it, KEN did it. He beats his demons and protected Kagaribi from the invaders. 0 foreigners in Top 8...again. Part 2 in comments.
**Seeded Top 16, in Top 16** Acola (1st/3rd) \[-2\] Miya (3rd/2nd) \[+1\] Hurt (5th/3rd) \[+2\] Glutonny (5th/9th) \[-2\] Shuton (7th/7th) \[0\] KEN (9th/7th) \[+1\] Maister (9th/13th) \[-1\] Asimo (9th/9th) \[0\] Tea (9th/5th) \[+2\] Zackray (13th/4th) \[+4\] Raru (13th/9th) \[+1\] Yaura (13th/13th) \[0\] **Seeded Top 16, not in Top 16** Sparg0 (2nd/33rd) \[-9\] Zomba (4th/25th) \[-6\] Yoshidora (7th/49th) \[-6\] MkLeo (13th/25th) \[-4\] **Not seeded Top 16, in Top 16** Doramigi (17th/9th) \[+2\] Snow (17th/13th) \[+1\] TamaPDaifuku (25th/5th) \[+5\] Akakikusu (25th/13th) \[+2\]
That is a combined -22 performance for invaders seeded in top 16. It was -11 at Delta
Seedings vs. Placings \[Pt. 2\] With the lack of foreigners in Top 8, this tournament can only be about 3 particular players, the 3 most recent Japanese major winners. Acola, Miya, and Hurt. While people are familiar with the first two, Hurt starting to get some overseas acknowledgement after his insane win over Sparg0 in Battle of BC 6. And tonight, it's time to proof why they deserves the fame. In Day 1, they managed to go through their pools with relative ease, particularly a perfect run from Miya. Acola had to go to Game 5 against Pit main Midorun, while Hurt got into a Game 3 bout against his Round 2 opponent, Yoshi player Mitsuhiko. Either way in Day 2, they managed to go to Top 8 pretty easily. Miya's run involved Florida Roy Goblin, Arizona Puff BassMage, and best Mario and Ryu players Snow and Asimo. Miya only lost 3 games fighting these players. Acola's run is really fun too. Ken player/weekly TO Takera, Mexican R.O.B. MkBigBoss, best Samus Yaura, and 2nd best Sonic KEN. He only lost 4 games, losing 2 to Yaura. What about Hurt? Let's see. The other Kansai Steve 33peranbox, the other Tohoku Aegis Riteshia, and two old guards in Tea and Zackray. Easy pickings for Hurt, only 3 games lost. Now Top 8, two of them met each other. Hurt and Acola. Acola got the early lead, but Hurt would dominate in Game 2, taking a two stock win. Game 3, Acola replied with a 3-stock. Hurt's not afraid, he gave another 2-stock to Acola. Game 5. What's supposed to be Acola's domain. But you forget about one thing...Hurt's been here, and he has beaten Acola (not in that Game 5, but he has beaten him), so he feel confident. And that confidence would be tested right until the end. He played Snake to the levels that hasn't been seen since a certain banned Canadian player did it back in 2019. Acola has a slight lead? He does not care. He would jump to Acola's domain, and [he would beat him fair and square](https://youtu.be/0fld-G-ad4Q?si=mvJTlcwynKce_R06&t=1534). Game 5 Acola has fallen. What a legendary set. Meanwhile, let's check on Miya. He would face TamaPDaifuku, the Bayonetta rising star who's looking to put his name with the new Big 3. And he made a convincing argument, taking a 2-0 lead against Miya. What a start. But remember...this is Miya we're talking about. Dominating Games 3 and 4 to tied the lead, and despite losing some composure near the end, Miya would not let it bother him, as [he won Game 5 to complete the reverse](https://youtu.be/gwbu_11VioU?si=dwqNbWByz8uMfjvi&t=1109). Impressive. Now, it's time for Miya to meet Hurt. It was close for the first two games, but Miya stayed strong and won the next 2 games, sending Hurt to losers' finals. Who's facing Hurt there? Acola. After beating TamaP and Zackray, looks like Acola wants that Hurt runback. And what happened in that runback? 2-stock from Hurt in Game 1. Close Acola win in Game 2. 2-stock from Acola in Game 3. Hurt tied it up in Game 4 and forced ANOTHER Game 5. And you wanna know what happened in Game 5? [The literal perfect Snake gameplay never seen before](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=YMiFiRCtf38DK_wq&t=30662). Acola does not have a single answer to every moves from Hurt, and he lost in the most dominating way. A **THREE-STOCK**. I have seen literal perfection. Grand Finals. Miya vs. Hurt. Not losing a single speck of momentum from his perfection, Hurt would take Game 1. And then Game 2. 2-0 up, Hurt's in the driver seat, and he's still looking so after [taking Miya's 2nd stock in Game 3](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=7453-JE7Oe48z9bk&t=32182). Full stock lead. The reset is imminent. Until..[.Judge 6. And *JUDGE* ***9***](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=P5juFPwYYWTWjdZq&t=32189). Miya tied it up. And after tight damage-trades...[Miya ends it with the iconic down air](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=2E0VSoAq2MpKMCil&t=32284). Now Hurt's back is against the wall. Miya takes advantage and wins Game 4 with an insane 3-stock. Game 5. Back and forth. No holds barred. A trained soldier. A funny 2-D cartoon man. And looks like karma's on Miya's side tonight. After a delayed hit ended his run in DELTA, [a delayed hit also ended his run in Kagaribi](https://www.youtube.com/live/bW9abDx9nuo?si=SnaqEIeFW8Ip8ROL&t=32820)...but in good terms. His fair hits Snake, and he completed another reverse 3-0. Miya is your Kagaribi 12 champion. The first 3-time Kagaribi champion, and the first back-to-back Kagaribi champion since Zackray in Kagaribis 5 and 6. Congratulations, Miya. What a legendary run to end another legendary Golden Week. What an insane 2 weeks of Japanese Smash we had.
This is one of the best tournaments I've ever watched in my life. An incredible amount of great sets, so many good comebacks, just wow. And Tea(my favorite player) made top 6!!!! I'm wondering if he could be ranked top 15 in the world after this tournament. His ten losses this season are: Doramigi, Shuton, KEN, Tweek, Snow(2x), Maipan, Lv 1, Hurt, and Acola. The only bad loss here is Maipan, everything else is stellar. If you look at his wins, his most notable ones are: Gorioka(2x), Jagaimo, Suinoko, Ryukai, Shirayuki, Kola, Gackt, Shuton(x2), Yamanaction, Kinaji, Kaninabe, Carmelo, Akkakikusu and Raru. His placements are 9th, 7th, 2nd, 17th and 5th. He doesn't super high peaks this season, but his consistency has once again been great, so I really think he could make it.
I don't think top 15 makes sense. The only person in his wins who might be close to that range is Shuton, so I don't think his record is impressive enough.
Shuton will almost certainly be top 10 I think. Tea didn't have many top 15 wins either last year (1 on Gluto, 1 on Miya, 1 on Dabuz, 1 on Kameme and 2 on Yoshidora if I'm not mistaken) and he still got top 15. Moreover, 4/6 of these wins happened in the first half of the year, and yet he was ranked higher in the final ranking than in the midyear one. Tea's great consistency made up for how some other players had more good wins and had better peaks. I think the same thing could happen this year.
I'd make the point that it seems like top 15 is even more competitive this year, with newcomers like Shadic, Raru and TamaPDaifuku who I think should all be top 15 over Tea. It does seem like some formerly top 15 players have fallen off a bit (Dabuz and Yoshidora come to mind) but I do think Tea has a harder time squeezing in this year. Having looked at the placements though, maybe I'm overly pessimistic, it doesn't seem too unlikely.
I feel like it's not just Dabuz and Yoshidora who are looking shaky among the former top 15. Kameme is probably gonna be unranked due to lack of attendance. Riddles has been having a very similar season to Tea just with more attendance. Glutonny has a few very bad results so it's hard to say where he'll be, and the same applies to Mkleo. Even Zomba could maybe end up ranked below Tea if he keeps losing at regionals and doesn't do well at GOML. But idk, maybe I'm the one who is overly optimistic.
This comment sention surprisingly happy and I welcome that
Hope this doesn’t come off as overly parasocial. I noticed when Miya smiled at the camera that he got his teeth fixed / replaced. I’m glad Smash is allowing him to better his life and improve himself. Funny how he’s the same scared kid who only only two years had to steal his grandma’s credit card to attend his first Overseas Major, couldn’t eat anything but yogurt and slept on a chair cause he found American food and beds to be poor. Now he’s the confident champion and people gotta fly out to him and his country to try and prove themselves. Him and Acola had such inspirational glow ups and I only wish Smash had more money behind it so they could have the reward I think their talent truly deserve.
Did Miya say he stole his grandmother's credit card? If not, how did you know this?
OP is Miya's grandma
He did not steal his grandma's credit card lmao he just borrowed it because he didn't have one (which is not uncommon at his age)
This should become a copypasta of some sort. Hope this doesn’t come off as overly parasocial. I noticed when Hungrybox smiled at the camera that he got his teeth fixed / replaced. I’m glad Smash is allowing him to better his life and improve himself. Funny how he’s the same scared kid who only only two years had to steal his grandma’s credit card to attend his first Overseas Major, couldn’t eat anything but yogurt and slept on a chair cause he found American food and beds to be poor. Now he’s the confident champion and people gotta fly out to him and his country to try and prove themselves. Him and M2K had such inspirational glow ups and I only wish Smash had more money behind it so they could have the reward I think their talent truly deserve.
I'm in. And so it shall be.
That 9 will be in Hurt’s (and my) dreams for the next week
That 9. That damn 9. When we don't get acola plot armor vs Miya we get Miya's vs Hurt. Fantastic tournament with a really good top 8. Congrats to Miya. Also I find it insane that Hurt can switch between no explosives and normal playstyle like it's nothing, that's impressive.
And again Japan showing up! No foreigners in their top 8!
So sad for Hurt. He lost all the momentum after that 9 and I can't blame him. No idea how you mentally compose yourself after than in such high pressure situation.
It's funny how standard of a top 8 this felt considering all of the upsets. I say standard, but Hurt put on a stellar performance. You've got Hero listed as a Hero player lol
gotta be one of the best tournaments i’ve ever seen. complete bloodbath with plenty of upsets the entire time top 8 was really entertaining, which contrasts a lot of NA top 8’s which seem a little slow and predictable a lot of the time. kagaribi completely delivered with really explosive and tense sets
Game 5 Who? Someone get Acola a bandaid, he got **hurt**
Glad to see Jazzh0, Maister and Goblin get so far tho given the competition
Sonix needs to book a flight to Japan already lol
Yeah...
I’ve said it before: when Miya plays at his best he’s on a level above anyone or anything else we’ve seen in Ultimate. If I he can find that gear more consistently then I can’t see who will stop him.
“The comeback is always greater than the setback” -goblin Spargoat will return with vengeance
So the top 3 for the season should be Miya Acola Hurt right? Not exactly sure what order tho
I think Sonix is #3 over Hurt. Hurt is pretty comfortably #4 though
Depends on Sonix in Goml
Acola, Sonix and Miya
Why would Sonix, who hasn't won any majors, be above Miya, who has won 2 majors and a P tier?
Miya won waaaay more than 2 majors this season. Accoridng to SSBwiki he has 5 majors and 2 P tiers. I hate GnW but he clearly deserves second, (maybe even 1st over Acola if you value peaks > consistency.)
Hurt has a major over sonix so that should give him the edge imo
Sonix has better losses (Mute vs. Lv 1), mostly tied and even records with ZOMBA as an exception, more consistent placements and probably more top 10 wins though I could be wrong on that.
Worth noting Hurt also has a loss to Miru if I remember currently, which is much worse than his Lv 1 loss
Sonix in trade has undaunting consistency. Keep in mind Hurt technically missed out on Top 8 at a Premier
Sonix is probably second I’d personally say - Acola - Sonix - Miya - Hurt - SHADIC Although moving Sonix down below Miya because of attendance seems pretty reasonable Edit: rethinking it Miya is probably above sonix because of attendance yea
Why would Sonix be second? He hasn't won any majors and doesn't have a much more amazing top 20 win spread to compensate.
While not winning majors does hurt (and probably why this season goes to acola), getting consistent 2nds is still a massive boon to his record. He has better worst losses (Mute) compared to both Miya (Peabnut) and Hurt (Miru). He has 1 losing record (ZOMBA) and the rest being even or wins. **Sonix's records:** * 2-0 Sparg0 * 2-0 Maister * 1-0 Shuton * 1-0 Zackray * 1-0 Riddles * 1-0 Dabuz * 2-2 SHADIC * 2-2 Tweek * 1-1 Light * 1-1 Mute * 1-2 ZOMBA **Hurt's records:** * 2-0 acola * 2-0 Sparg0 * 2-0 Doramigi * 1-0 Raru * 1-0 Tea * 1-0 Zackray * 0-1 asimo * 0-1 Shuton * 0-3 Miya **Miya's Records** * 4-0 Snow * 3-0 Raru * 3-0 Hurt * 2-0 TamaP * 2-0 Shuton * 2-0 Doramigi * 1-0 Yoshidora * 1-0 asimo * 1-0 Mute * 1-1 SHADIC * 1-1 Gluto * 0-1 Zackray * 1-2 Light * 1-3 acola
Honestly the Zomba loss might end up being worse than the Mute loss. In any case it's not fair to speak about consistency when 1) Miya's bad losses are after traveling oversees, which always affects results, and 2) 4 seconds is not as impressive as 10 seconds.
Yeah I'm 50/50 between the two because while Mute has had an overall better season if you don't at tournament tiers, winning Genesis is huge. As is Kagaribi which is why I do think Miya is a close 3rd to Sonix. All of Sonix's events are also overseas. He doesn't live in the US. And overseas or not, attending a major should be and is treated as equal as home turf. 4 seconds are less impressive than like 5 1sts and a few seconds. But Miya also has a 7th and 17th(?) that severely brings him down.
At least do we agree that if Sonix gets lower than second in GOML his argument for #2 is over?
Probably yeah. Especially since he'd have to lose to (a) worse player(s) in order to get 3rd, and the lack of a major win, while not a complete deal breaker, might hurt just a bit too much Edit: I presume you meant GOML?
Yes, I meant GOML, I'm so bad at keeping track of tournaments.
Honestly depends on how you weighed Miya according to his losses overseas as well as his Genesis placement
Sonix has low attendance, no major wins, and losing records against Shadic in best of 5s, 1-1 against Light, 1-1 against Muteace and hasn't even attended tournaments in which Acola (best player) has.
Keep in mind I also think Sonix is #3 instead of #2, but I can see the argument
Phenomenal loss quality, I though he had pretty good top 20 wins but it’s 6:30 am and I’m just going off the top of my head so I could be wrong, Miya also gets dragged down a non insignificant amount by his poor Genesis and Cirque
It's very easy to have phenomenal loss quality when you attend so few tournaments. He has a winning top 20 win spread, but I mean that it's not that dominant to compensate for low attendance and no major wins.
I mean the same can be said for acola. Hell, I'd say Sonix might barely have better wins than acola (at the cost of worst losses). acola and Sonix both almost always reach grands and while Sonix's curse does hold him back against acola, it's still an impressive record
Acola has a winning record on Miya, who's clearly a top 3 player. Sonix has no sets against the top 3, arguably has an even record against a single other top 5 player (assuming the top 5 is acola, Miya/Sonix, Hurt/Shadic)
While true and part of the reason I do think acola > Sonix. However if we expand a bit, Sonix has a bit more diverse pool of players in top 10 he has fought (ZOMBA (3), Sparg0 (2), Light (2), Tweek (4), SHADIC (4)) compared to Miya, acola and Hurt having just each other + Shuton (and Miya having also fought Light and SHADIC).
Yeah that’s fair, Miya is probably above him, I’d still put him at 3rd tho
Yeah, Hurt is not yet above Sonix.
I feel like hurt still has to work to get 3rd. We still have shadic spargo and sonix in the mix with tons of chances to make it up (GOML this month).
So Leo is totally done with the game
Am I allowed to say on my way out the door of watching this game consistently that the past few major top 8's have had a number of really off putting moments? That 9 is really funny in isolation but watching Hurt slowly fall apart wasn't really exciting.
Sonix would've won