As day two of Riptide has come to a close, only one day remains. Having gone for nearly 12 hours and spanning across four games with over 3000 total competitors, the finals are set to take place tomorrow, and here’s how things are looking for Ultimate.

There were a total of 1024 entrants for Ultimate which were broken down into 64 total pools. The top three of each pool moved on to the second round. The second round consisted of 4 pools, the top 6 players in each pool moved on to the top 24. Of those 24 we have our eight finalists ready for Sunday. Each of them played well and fought hard today, here’s a list of the top 8 in no particular order.

Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez

This is not MkLeo’s first rodeo and it certainly won’t be his last. No surprise that mister #1 has made it to the top eight. Through most of the matches he’d switch between Pyra/Mythra and Byleth. Most of his matches he had a decent lead, although it’ll be interesting to see if him and Tweek face off again. Sponsored by T1, MkLeo’s first match on Sunday will be against Maister.

Enrique “Maister” Hernández Solís

Maister has remained relatively under the radar for most of this weekend. He played his matches and did relatively well. Using Game and Watch for the majority of the matches. When he wasn’t playing he didn’t do or say too much, so fans and spectators are eager to see how he does come finals. Maister will be facing off against MkLeo in his first match on Sunday.

Alex “Goblin” Stennett

Goblin is considered one of the two best Roy players in the world alongside Kola. He is ranked 8th on the Central Florida Power Rankings. He has taken sets off of players such as Ryo, Fwed, quiK, and Z. Goblin took down Yonnie in the top 24 bracket. He had established a 2-0  lead, but Yonnie evened it out. It was a very close match, but Goblin ended up taking the victory and moving on. Goblin’s first match on Sunday will be against Dabuz.

Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey

Having recently picked up Diddy Kong at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tweek seems to have him down pretty well. In an interview with him on Friday, he stated that picking up a new character has “made the game more fun that it’s been in a long time.” Tweek recently won first place at Summit in August, fans are eager to see how he does in the finals. His first match on Sunday is against Elegant.

Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby

Dabuz had some close matches this weekend. Just Barely Beating Natiosharp for the top eight spot this weekend. Dabuz mainly used Alf and would occasionally switch to Rosalina. He has a very jumpy play style and tends to stay on the stage except for when he’s using his recovery to fly under the stage. Sponsored by Liquid, Dabuz brought his A-game and will be facing Goblin during his first match on Sunday.

Matt “Elegant” Fitzpatrick

Like Sparg0, Elegant’s qualifying match was also a close one against LingLing. Being one of if not the best Luigi main in Smash 4 and Ultimate, Elegant powered through and put his skills to the test. Many fans have speculated that he’s “fallen off” recently. It’s good to see him still showing his strength. Elegant’s first Match on Sunday will be against Tweek.

Luis “Lui$” Oceguera

Not only is Lui$ moving into the top 8, but he and his partner won doubles on the first night of Riptide. Lui$ plays a mean Palutena and took down WaDi’s ROB to qualify for the top 8. He initially took a 2-0 lead against WaDi, but then the match evened out to 2-2. The fifth match was close but Lui$ came out on top, and boy was he excited. Lui$ will be facing off against Sparg0 on Sunday.

Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez

Sparg0 has taken many by surprise in recent tournaments and especially this weekend. At only 15, he’s both one of the youngest pro players and one of the youngest at Riptide. Mainly using Pyra/Mythra, Sparg0 has played some great matches and some close ones. His qualifying round was against LingLing, it was a very close match but Sparg0 came out on top. On Sunday his first match will be against Lui$.

Predictions

With any tournament like this, there are always going to be predictions. Whether it be fans gambling on who will win, or systematic predictions based on stats, everyone always thinks they know who’s going to win. Riptide’s Smash.gg has it’s own prediction as to who they think will win.

It seems that Riptide (or at least their Smash.gg) has MkLeo as the projected winner of singles. Upon looking further, these predictions seem to be based on overall rankings. This is their opinion, and it’ll be interesting to see how accurate it may or may not be. For more Riptide coverage, as well as all things Smash, keep it here at The Game Haus.

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