Genesis 6 gifted the Smash community the biggest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament to date. It brought a stacked lineup that entertained the masses for three days and brought a highlight reel like no other. There were many upsets and even more surprises. From the Japanese player “Zackray” gathering support to the Penguins looking to prove themselves, and finally James “VoiD” Makekau-Tyson climbing winners to give us an amazing grand finals set.
The Fall of the Penguins
The original seeding for Genesis 6 gathered major consensus over its underwhelming placings. While trying to justify how poorly Europeans were seeded, the seeders, compared the players with penguins. Twitter instantly erupted and the topic was trending in the community. Europeans took on the nickname of “Penguins” and decided to prove themselves with actions, not words. They had their sights set on taking it all, proving that their region was no joke.
However, when the time arrived, the Penguins fell short of the victory. Both William “Leffen” Hjelte, and “Gluttony” placing 17th leaving their region without any representation in the top eight. The top Melee player Adam “Armada” Lindgren fell earlier in bracket placing in between 97 and 128th. The Penguins couldn’t prove themselves to the word but they will get many more opportunities in the future. This was the most stacked tournament to date, and the other regions just prevailed.
Zackray
Zackray was the young powerhouse of Genesis 6. Sporting Wolf, he made top eight through the winner’s side and had the crowd going nuts.
As a player from Japan, he racked up many wins to make top eight, and somewhere along the way gathered loads of support. Only being 15, he performed at a top level and managed to give a hard time to even the best players Ultimate can offer. In Japan, he managed to win seven different tournaments, and establish himself as one of the best the region has to offer. Through this tournament, he managed to prove that he was more than that.
His real struggle began when he met VoiD in winners and barely fell to the talented Socal native. In loser’s, Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby proved himself by clutching the set on a game five situation. Dabuz is known for his extensive research of his opponents and this time, it paid off.
Zackray may not have taken the tournament, but his performance with Wolf spoke volumes. Hopefully, this will serve to inspire many players to follow his suit, and aim for the top. In the future, Zackray will be a player to watch out for as he still has a lot of room to grow and carries the potential to take it all.
MKLeo
Leonardo “MKLeo” Lopez tore this tournament apart. He managed to take it all, only dropping a set to Jamal “Samsora” Morris, the talented Peach player from Louisiana.
During most games he mostly utilized Ike, but in some sets, we got to see his Lucina. While in the loser’s bracket, he got to have a run back against Samsora and managed to close out the set in a tight game five.
In the past two years, MKLeo has proven to be one of the most consistent players in Smash Bros. While playing Smash 4, he took a substantial amount of tournaments, and in Ultimate, he is looking to follow the same path.
In grand finals, he managed to take two sets away from VoiD and take the Genesis 6 crown. MKLeo showed to be able to adapt and take down even the tech monster that is VoiD. The set gave an amazing performance from both players, but in the end, it was clear that MKLeo was the better of the two. It was no easy feat as this marks his third Genesis crown. The past two while playing Smash 4, and this one in Ultimate.
It has felt like a lifetime since we saw him take that set away from Ramin “Mr.R” Delshad in Smash 4. As a community, we got to see a glimpse of his talent and eventually, he proved to live up to those expectations. Now he takes Genesis 6 – one of the most stacked tournaments Ultimate has to offer – and keeps surprising everyone.
A Trend of Upsets
In this tournaments, many top players like Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey, Jason “ANTi” Bates, Nicholas “Ned” Dovel, and more got taken down before they could secure a top 32 placing. Some by top players, but there were new talented faces that managed to leave their mark in the board of upsets.
Closing Out
Genesis 6 was a top tier tournament that left a mark in the community. It gifted us a view into the talent that Zackray possesses and gave us an amazing top eight. VGBC managed to pull off this amazing feat while keeping an amazing production.
Featured image provided by Genesis 6
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