LA_Smash, the players who brought you the primary side stream for SSB64 at Apex 2015, have stepped up and are hosting the premiere 64-only tournament of the summer: Smash of Ages 64 Edition. Located in Panorama City, CA at the Ultimate Gaming Center, Smash of Ages will feature both singles and doubles and boast high-level competition from all of North America. Confirmed attendants include Apex 2012/2015 champion SuPeRbOoMbAn, Apex 2015 runner-up tacos, and Mariguas with back to back 4th place finishes at Apex 2014/2015.
Also appearing will be the East Coast’s top player KeroKeroppi (5th place finish at Apex 2015). He emerged victorious from the New Hampshire-based tournament Beast of the East after a close 3-2 Grand Finals set against Ottawa’s Revan, securing a first place plane ticket prize to California. Maryland’s Shears, Bark Sanchez, and Darkhorse, three VGBC Xanadu regulars, will be flying out along with Karajan, TO of Beast of the East and developer of the keyboard adapter.
KeroKeroppi vs Revan, Winners Finals of BotE
As for the hometown heroes of SoCal, the LA Smash gang will have their hands full protecting the integrity of their home turf. Kyle tree, Sotoh, Wookie, Near, Madrush, Eggmode, and Hero Pie all placed between 17th and 65th at Apex. The LA crew is very proud of its young yet highly competitive scene, and they will attempt to make Smash of Ages a West Coast-only top 8.
Predictions
In contrast to this year’s Apex unpredictable results (except for SuPeRbOoMfAn in 1st place), top 8 predictions for Smash of Ages have been fairly consistent across the board. Due to the lack of Japanese representation at Apex last January, the top North American smashers finally had the opportunity to duke it out against each other and establish a concrete hierarchy of players, both from the online and console scenes, that was not present before.
Apex 2015 top 17 featured mostly NA representation
After Boom, who everyone is predicting to win the tournament, most players predict 2nd through 4th places to go to tacos, Mariguas, and Kero. Even though Mariguas is likely to be Boom’s toughest competition at the head to head matchup, he would have to go through tacos first, the player who knocked him into losers at Apex. “Tacos’ Yoshi proved to be way too much for him to handle. If he comes in without that particular matchup practice again, he’s going to be at a severe disadvantage,” Cobrevolution says. Assuming that Boom beats Kero in winners, most players are predicting another Apex repeat: Mariguas over Kero in losers. Fireblaster explains that “Kero went 3 – 2 against Revan, and Mariguas beat Gerson. That’s my reasoning for Mariguas over Kero.” Although Mariguas won his set against Gerson, the world-class Pika extraordinaire, by playing Falcon dittos, this recent win is still very impressive and another strong reason to place Mariguas over Kero. However, if Mariguas were to take the set against tacos in winners, we would get to enjoy tacos and Kero facing off in a tournament set for the very first time. In Kero’s own words, “I think that tacos would beat Mariguas, but I wouldn’t lose to tacos.”
Tacos’ creative punishes vs Mariguas at Apex 2015
The predictions for 5th through 8th place have been slightly more varied. Near, an online warrior, is a favorite to get 5th place, but as Mr. Marbles explained, he is an “amazing online player but his results have been shaky on console.” Near has had a terrible history of adapter issues mid-tournament and has been unable to use his preferred method of input (xbox 360 controller) many times. At Apex 2015, he was forced to switch to a Hori mini-pad mid set against Cobrevolution, which is what he attributes to him losing that set. Regardless, Near continues to out-place every player in the LA crew in local tournaments, some of whom are projected to end up in top 8. If he is able to perform at a consistent level, a 5th place finish would not be a surprise.
The rest of top 8 will most likely be decided by a few nail-biting sets. Han Solo, the Fox main from Illinois, is expected to attend. He hasn’t participated in anything outside local events since Zenith 2014, but nobody has predicted him to place below 13th place. Similarly, Kabal, the online Samus main from Nevada, will also be attending and is a strong contender for 7th/9th place. Shears, Sanchez, and Darkhorse are expected to perform well at this tournament after months of competing against LD aka Fox (5th place at Apex) weekly at Xanadu. Everyone has been practicing, and no one wants to lose.
There have been talks of Isai traveling down from San Jose to compete, which would be a treat for all those who severely missed his usual awe-inspiring play at Apex, and now that Karajan’s keyboard adapters have become more common at bigger tournaments, Bane making the trip up from San Diego is also on the table. Bane is often a featured player on Isai’s Tuesday night streams, notable for being a keyboard player and one of the only few remaining top online smashers to have never competed in a console tournament. As of now, Bane holds the best online record against Isai on his ClashTournament stream sessions, so needless to say, all of these predictions could go out the window if they attend.
Bane’s Pikachu vs Isai’s Kirby
Although not all of North America’s best players will be in attendance, Smash of Ages is still a great follow-up to Apex 2015, and it will allow our players to come together and compete one more time before Smash Con later this year. Once Smash of Ages is over, every player will know where they stand.
—This article was co-written by Sedda and Cobrevolution.
Streaming will be handled by LA_ Smash, and a secondary stream may be availabe on Darkhorse’s channel, twitch.tv/thatsadarkhorse
Online registration is currently available for Smash of Ages but not required to enter the event.
Links:
Stream: twitch.tv/LA_Smash
Registration Thread: http://smashboards.com/threads/smash-of-ages-64-registration-is-now-open.403087/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1570072043268899/
http://smashboards.com/threads/jun-6-2015-smash-of-ages-ssb64-national-ft-boom-tacos-and-panorama-city-california.392174/
You didn’t mention alberta in scenes with increased n64 activity :/ We have arguably the best player in NA (superboomfan) and have weekly n64 tourneys.
Great article!!!