Video courtesy of VGBC
The Ultimate Tournament in Maryland
Pound 2019 was filled with many eventful moments, but had to end on Sunday, April 21. Smash Ultimate saw an exciting bracket filled with upsets, but eventually came down to the two best players of the event.
While the Smash Bros. community was still making jokes about the crab being thrown at “Hungrybox” after the Melee Grand Finals, the tournament organizers had to set the stage up for Smash Ultimate. With many upsets, already some of the strongest players were knocked out early in the bracket including MKLeo and Leffen. In the Top 6 was eUnited’s “Samsora”, Liquid’s “Dabuz”, Panda Global’s “Marss”, “Salem”, “Ally” and Armada’s “Myran.” These six were looking to close out the event as the champion.
Loser’s Bracket Recap
Ally had cemented himself as a guaranteed Top 2 finish after winning the Winner’s Finals and having a spot in Grand Finals. Samsora was making a strong run through the Loser’s Side of the bracket, beating out Salem in a Game 5 situation. Meanwhile, Marss was facing Dabuz in a matchup that was not in his favor. Marss was facing Olimar as Zero Suit Samus, a character not seen as a higher tier at the time and was projected to lose. While the set went to Game 5, Marss would take the win. It would be a long trail, but Myran would make it out of the Loser’s Bracket, to face Ally in Grand Finals with Marss finishing third and Samsora in fourth.
Image from Nintendo
Grand Finals
Grand Finals would see a close set by both competitors. Myran playing Olimar and Ally playing as Snake. Both sides were looking fearsome and were using projectiles to their advantage. One misstep or one combo would be all that would take the stocks. Myran would take the first game, but Ally would take a commanding Game 2. The two would keep trading until Game 5. Ally would take the first stock with a strong uptilt, and Myran would respond with taking a stock as well. Soon it looked like there would be another Best of Five set to be played as Myran was taking a commanding lead, 0% damage compared to Ally’s 84% damage. Ally though was not done and landed with Down Air, comboing to get Myran to the ledge and throwing out a Forward Aerial while Myran was at 35%. However, the move Ally used had a spike attribute, sending Myran straight down to the blast zone and granting Ally the 3-2 set and First Place finish.
Next Step?
For Ally, it was a dream come true. His last Grand Finals at Pound was three years prior, where he lost to Japanese player Abadongo. Myran would settle to second to finish out the event. Pound 2019 saw many upsets and exciting matches, but also changed the meta-game, propelling the competitive scene for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate further.
About the Author
Brandon Gonzales
Student - Fall 2019
Brandon is a big fan of anime and video games. Brandon is an avid esports enthusiast and is pursuing an esports career himself.
