Japan’s first Super Sash Ultimate supermajor, Kagaribi 4, was held in Tokyo this past weekend, June 26-27. The tournament was rescheduled twice due to COVID-19. The roster was stacked with most of Japan’s top players in attendance (excluding Isami “T” Ikeda, Noriyuku “Kirihara” Kirihara and “Ron”) such as Sota “Zachray” Okada, Shuto “Shuton” Moriya, “ProtoBanham, Takuma “Tea” Hirooka to name a few. Each set was the best of five and had over 386 players in attendance. The tournament was hard-fought, but Zachray and ProtoBanham faced off in Grand Finals, with ProtoBanham taking the Tournament.
Here is a look at the Grand Finals and how Zachray and ProtoBanham got there.
Depiction of R.O.B., Zackray’s main in Smash Ultimate
Zachray, a top PGR player, opted to play Joker for the majority of the tournament unless he felt like he was being countered or his tournament life was on the line. In these circumstances, he would play R.O.B. He had an outstanding first two games on the winner’s side. His first opponent was “Yamanaction.” Zachray swept the set against Yamanaction 3-0, moving on to face Ishiguro “Raito” Tetsuya in winners round two.
In the set against Raito, Zachray used Joker against Raito’s Duck Hunt. Zachray dominated the set 3-1, moving on to face ProtoBanham in winners round three. Zackray used R.O.B. against ProtoBanham’s Lucina, winning the first round but losing in the second. This loss made Zackray change his strategy, going with Joker for the remainder of the set.
However, this did not stop PorotoBanham from taking round two. Zackray counter picked to Pokemon Stadium 2 for the third match of the set. This counter pick helped Zackray as he took the third match tying the set 2-2. ProtoBanham countered to Battlefield and was able to take the set 3-2, sending Zackray to the loser’s side, where he faced “Atelier” in round six of loser’s.
Picture of Zackray by Dexerto.com
With Zackray’s tournament life on the line, he turned up, taking his sets against Atelier, “Lea,” Seisuke “Kome” Komeda and “HERO” 3-0, quickly getting him into Losers finals, where he faced off against Tea. The winner of this set would go on to face ProtoBanham, the player who sent Zackray to the loser’s side earlier in the tournament in Grand Finals.
Zackray opted to play Joker against Tea’s Pac-Man in Losers Finals. He took the first two games, but Tea was not going to get swept like the others Zackray faced in losers, taking the third game in the set, making it 2-1. With this loss, Zackray changed his strategy and switched to R.O.B. This proved to be a success as Zackray took the set 3-1 against Tea. Zackray’s run to Grand Finals was a dominant performance. Zackray won 20 of the 28 games he played on his way to the Grand Finals.
Picture of Protobanham with his main Lucina
ProtoBanham is a Lucina and Min-Min main. He played Lucina for the majority of the tournament, opting to switch to Min-Min when he was being countered as Lucina. While his run was not as “clean” as Zackray’s, he was able to stay on the winner’s side for the entirety of the tournament until Grand Finals.
His first set of the tournament was against Shuton. ProtoBanham used Min-Min against Shuton for most of the set except for the second match where he played as Lucina to counter Shuton’s Olimar; however, this proved unsuccessful. Still, ProtoBanham was able to take the set 3-1, allowing him to move on to round two of the winner’s side.
ProtoBanham fought against “Sigma’s” Toon Link in round two. He took the first game with Min-Min, but Sigma was able to adapt, forcing ProtoBanham to switch to Lucina, allowing him to take the set 3-2.
After ProtoBanham’s win against Zackray on the winner’s side, he faced Yoshidora’s Yoshi. ProtoBanham chose to stick with Lucina for the entirety of the set even after losing the third game. He was still able to come out on top with a 3-1 win against Yoshidora. ProtoBanham’s next opponent was Tea and his Pac-Man. He was able to take the set 3-1 against Tea using mostly Min-Min until the fourth round, where he switched to Lucian and then went back to Min-Min in the fourth. Finally, ProtoBanham was able to take the set 3-1 over Tea, giving him the winner’s side of Grand Finals. In his run to Grand Finals, ProtoBanham won 15 of the 22 games he played on his way to Grand Finals.
Grand Finals were between ProtoBanham coming from Winner’s side and Zackray coming from Loser’s side. For the first set of Grand, Finals ProtoBanham played Lucian for the majority of the set while Zackray opted to go Joker. Zackray had a dominant first set in Grand Finals as Joker, taking the first two games. However, when ProtoBanham switched to Min-Min in the third game, Zackray lost the set to 2-1 in Zackray’s favor. However, the switch to Min-Min was brief as ProtoBanham was most likely holding Min-Min back for the inevitable second set. Zackray took the first set of Grand FInals 3-1, resetting the bracket.
For the second set, both players opted to switch their gameplay up. Zackray opted to go R.O.B. for the entirety of the set, whereas ProtoBanham chose to go with Min-Min. ProtoBanham was right not to use Min-Min in the first set as Zackray could not keep up with his Min-Min. ProtoBanham took the first match of the second set but lost the second. However, he did not switch to Lucina and kept with his Min-Min. ProtoBanham was able to sweep the remainder of the set against Zackray, taking the set 3-1, giving him the tournament.
Depiction of the top of Kagaribi 4’s top 8 seeds
Both Zackray and ProtoBanham had outstanding runs in the tournament. However, ProtoBanham was able to come out on top. It is exciting to see live Supermajors return to Japan. Since the Olympics will be held in Tokyo in the coming weeks. Things may have to be put on another hiatus as that big of a venue may spark COVID-19 cases again. Only time will tell if the Olympics will have an effect on the Japanese Smash scene. Never the less Kagaribi 4 was a huge success, and the Smash scene is excited to see more live tournaments coming in the future.
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