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Central America Regional Final Preview

By Joshua "Barnard's Loop" Craig | 08/20/21

Months ago, competitors in Mexico and “Central America South” (a mesh of Central America and the Caribbean) played in lengthy online qualifiers for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The stakes were high: The top six of each won the chance to go to a combined finals events, while the top two in a massive last chance qualifier bracket for each region also qualified.

After delays due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the regional final is finally set to occur offline this weekend. While the exact structure of the event isn’t known, we know Saturday will feature a group stage, and Sunday will feature a final bracket. 
The top six will go on to compete in the December Championship Bracket of 32 players, giving Mexico, the Caribbean, & Central America a share of 18.8% of the final bracket.

The Caribbean 

The Caribbean, a wider area consisting of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, is one of Smash Ultimate’s less understood areas. While many small scenes exist throughout the oceanic superregion, very few attended the Online Qualifier or were eligible.
The primary two in contention for spots were the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. 
The Dominican Republic has long hosted good players since Smash Bros. for Wii U. Carlos Perez
Sonic
, the country’s best Sonic player, was a favorite to win the Central America South qualifier. Ranked 2nd on the Latin American-heavy Wifi Warrior Ranking v7, Sonix has recently been to Las Vegas to compete in offline events, his first appearance in North America since 2GG: Kongo Saga in 2019. 
His Kongo Saga run featured a win against Guillermo Martinez Jr.
Greninja
Roy
with losses to Enrique Solis
Mr. Game and Watch
and
Greninja
. In Las Vegas, Sonix has a 2-0 record on Jestise Negron
Snake
and a 5-2 record over Vegas titan Freddie Williams
Ness
Sonix should be considered a favorite to qualify for the December Finals.With Kengo Suzuki
Sonic
and Carrington Osbourne
Sonic
Joker
also established as international top Sonic mains, Sonix could cause the speedy blue hedgehog to emerge as one of the most prominent characters in the event. 
Kevin Rossell
Mii Gunner
follows Sonix on the Dominican rankings.. The winner of the Central America South qualifier, Capitancito is ranked 11th on the Wifi Warrior Rankings and is one of the Dominican Republic’s consistent top three players across Smash Ultimate’s lifetime. 
A Wolf main offline, Capitancito’s exposure to North America is limited to the final Pre-Quarantine major, CEO Dreamland 2020. There, he outpaced his seeding, defeating Hunter Rogers
Diddy Kong
and
Roy
Min Min
.
Despite an early loss to
Captain Falcon
, it took Kolawole Aideyan
Roy
to end his nine set win streak in the losers bracket. 
Likely to attain a high seed due to winning the main bracket, Capitancito could be a major wildcard going into the final bracket. 
Omar Mateo
Snake
is the last of the Dominican Republic’s top three. Originally placing third in the Last Chance Qualifier, he was able to attend offline due to the absence of Yariel Collado
Robin
and Diego Zelaya
Ness
A Snake main, 0mart is fairly well traveled among players from the Caribbean, with five North American majors under his belt.  While his wins are largely regional, the bulk of his bracket-ending losses are of high quality. Despite this, he has a back and forth record against Sonix in-region. As things stand, it is 9-6 offline in 0mart’s favor, demonstrating his strength as a player; however, Sonix has won 5 of the past 7 times they have fought, and the pair hasn't faced off in person since 2019.
0mart vs. Sonix head-to-head. Click to expand.

Central America 

Central America proper has been the subject of much discussion since mid-late Smash Wii U. During wifi events, they frequently entered and achieved strong results, much like the Caribbean above, peaking with El Salvador’s Luis Orellana
Cloud
on the Wifi Warrior Ranking v1. In Ultimate, their presence at events has increased, anchored by Mexico as a close location with large events to attend. 
Markus Florido
Pikachu
has never travelled to events beyond North America until now. His first outing - a collection of the best talent in northern Latin America - could further prove Pikachu’s oft-discussed potential as a character and put further spotlight on the subcontinent. 
He is generally dominant in Guatemala and was the runner-up of the Central America South online qualifier. His main losses are to Mario Martinez
Roy
Link
in-country, who is the second best Guatemalan and placed top 64 at Mexico major event Smash Factor 8. 
His main calling, however, has been as an extremely strong Wifi player. Recently ranked 16th on the WWRv7, he is known for using a variety of characters in the bracket and a long list of wins, including wins over most of the best Wifi players. While this event is offline, his dominance in Guatemala combined with his consistent presence since 2018 as a dedicated top wifi player suggests he is another major wildcard.
Jason Valverde Mora
Meta Knight
is widely understood as Central America’s best active player. Beginning with an iron grip over Costa Rica that lasted for several years, Yei extended his dominance to Central America as a whole and later began to occasionally make appearances in Mexico. This culminated with Smash Vertex, an invitational where Yei defeated top players Maister and Hector Cardenas
Yoshi
, ultimately placing second.
His main is Meta Knight, but his ssbwiki page lists eighteen other characters, many of whom have made successful appearances in tournaments. Most prominently, these include Chrom, Joker, and Robin. 
Long considered a player with immense potential from the late Smash Wii U period, Yei will have a good opportunity to nab offline sets during Saturday and Sunday. Walking into the event, he notably boasts a 538-81 game record offline, a 86.91% win rate of games. While Costa Rica’s overall skill level is unknown - where many of these games are from -  most indicators seem to suggest he will be one of the top players to watch at the event. 
Roberto Flores
Banjo & Kazooie
Wolf
Kazuya
is the lone El Salvadoran player in attendance. Currently ranked 4th in El Salvador, he is a Banjo and Wolf player with recent offline successes in-country. While Luisfer is generally dominant, Wolfen recently scored significant in-region wins at Smash Legend 2.5, an invitational event held in Santa Tecla. 
Weeks later, he won the small regional “10 Hit Combo” over Salvador Hernandez, who is ranked third in the country, with solo Kazuya. Wolfen’s earlier online journey to attend this event was marked by a second place finish at the Central American Last Chance Qualifier, where he lost to Yei twice. His other two losses in the normal bracket -  Sonix and Esteban Vargas
Palutena
- are also at this event. 
Mtkat, a Palutena player from Costa Rica, is largely unknown offline. His first two offline events recorded were recent regionals in Costa Rica, where he placed 2nd and 7th, most notably taking three losses to fellow Wifi Warrior
Wolf
and defeating
R.O.B.
.
Mtkat lacks enough offline data to make hard calls on. Wolfen is a bonafide depth player offering interesting matchup dynamics as the best Banjo & Kazooie player in Central America, as well as the potential to bring out Kazuya or Sephiroth.

Mexico 

Months ago, the circuit began with an online qualifier for Mexico. There, five of Mexico’s regions duked it out, leaving six players from the main bracket and two from the Last Chance Qualifier. With the absence of both Echofire and Tuitt, Mario Cervantes
Luigi
Duck Hunt
was a replacement, having placed third at the Last Chance Qualifier. 
Mexico, an incredibly strong area in North America, has gotten substantial attention since the beginning of the Quarantine Era . With Leonardo Perez
Joker
Byleth
and Maister holding things down internationally as top ten players offline, the Wifi world immediately saw Edgar Valdez
Cloud
Pyra/Mythra
as a top Wifi Warrior. As the Quarantine Era waned, more top Mexican talent emerged, including Santiago Perez
Palutena
.
Starting off with an unexpected attendee, we have Gonzales
Captain Falcon
. Uniquely,  he is the only Northwest Mexican attendee not from Tijuana - he is in Mexicali, a more eastern city within Baja California. He is the best Captain Falcon player in Mexico and on the Western side of North America, generally performing well in Mexico abroad and dominating his city. 
One recent notable offline win includes fellow attendee Alan Carrillo
Snake
, a potentially relevant fact given he is another wildcard attendee. A Snake main, he - like much of Tijuana - has been active through the XTR Ultimate League series. Able to play offline frequently since the Online Qualifier, AlanDiss has racked up a variety of wins in Tijuana, one of Mexico’s best subregions. 
Diego Sanchez
Ridley
Hero
is the best Ridley player in the world, and the top Mexican Hero player. Ranked 27th on the WWRv7, he managed to recently win the incredibly large Maruchan Gaming Series, a 2,000 attendee Mexican Wifi event. In the Pre-Quarantine era, he was a frequent top threat, managing to take a set off of eventual top 10 contender Rasheen "" Rose
Mario
at Mexican Gaming Championship and place 5th at near-major event Smash Fest to the Sky. 
Lacking a visa during the Pre-Qurantine Era, Nair^’s opportunities for interactions with USA players remained limited. However, with the expanded skill pool in Mexico, he has been able to better demonstrate his potential as a top player.
Rodrigo Arias
Pyra/Mythra
Joker
Cloud
is a Ciudad de México (CDMX) Pyra/Mythra main well known for his arsenal of sword-based characters, stretching as far back as at least 2016. At the Central Mexican invitational “Warlock in The Multiverse of Hex”, Cloudy notably drew Maister to game 5, ultimately placing 4th. 
At Smash Vertex, he also defeated fellow sword aficionado Sparg0 twice in the final bracket with Byleth, a character he has since dropped. His history as a top Mexican player is extensive, and his brief international interactions have seen him manage to defeat players like Takuto Ono
Megaman
Wario
Sheik
in Smash Wii U. With potential rematches in store at the Central American Finals, Cloudy may slip into a top six spot and qualify for the December Finals. 
WaKa, as mentioned prior, qualified alongside 0mart through the absence of two players. Despite this, WaKa’s run was among the most grueling in all of the online qualifiers, with him winning eleven sets in bracket across the main event and last chance qualifier. Tijuana’s best Luigi among many, he is also a formidable Duck Hunt player.
As of last week, he placed second at XTR ULtimate League 7, losing twice to Sparg0. The month prior, he won the regional event Promanco Grand Prix, winning two sets over former Smash Wii U PGR player Armando Villalobos
Snake
Meta Knight
. Notably, across Pre-Qurantine, he has a mixed record against fellow Tijuana attendee AlanDiss. 
Chag is a recently sponsored Palutena main from CDMX. Active since 2015, Chag is now a longtime veteran of the post-Melee Smash scene. Early in Smash Wii U, he opted for Sheik, quickly becoming one of the top Sheik mains in Mexico. Later, he opted for Bayonetta, and eventually stacked up enough wins to be ranked Area 51 on the PGRv5. 
In Smash Ultimate, he was an early Inkling main that kept the character’s results afloat. After enough time, however, he opted to go full time into Palutena, and he is likely the best Palutena main at the event and a contender for best active Palutena worldwide. 
As of August 2021, he defeated Maister in bracket at Warlock in the Multiverse of Hex, though he retains a negative record against Sparg0 in the Post-Quarantine period, winning two out of five sets. Despite this, his contention as a top level player in Mexico and his near-top ten position on the WWRv7 makes him a major threat and likely top six candidate at this event.
Maister, the world’s premier Mr. G&W player, doesn’t require much introduction. While not overtly dominant, his most recent major outing was a second placing at Frostbite 2020 and near universally good performances within Mexico, consistently taking sets off of top five-ten players within the country. 
With a shutout run at the offline MUERTE AL ONLINE invitational and solid performances at the following Warlock invitational, Maister is a favorite to make the December Finals barring multiple major upsets. He is a top ten player and likely the second or third most formidable foe at the event. 
Sparg0, the king of the wifi era, has become an active travelling offline player. While hardly shy of attending events before the pandemic, he has went to six events since April, winning all but one, Abierto Puerto Vallarta, where he dropped two sets to Chag. 
While some questions have been posed as to how useless Wifi is as a predictor of offline skill, Sparg0 has already managed two accrue two set wins over Maister at Cherry’s Glasmine 001, a Central Mexican regional event. In addition, he avenged his losses at Vallarta by defeating Chag twice. 
At the nearby Southern California local series Mega Smash Mondays, Sparg0 shut out SoCal talent twice at MSM 233 and MSM 238, defeating Matt Fitzpatrick
Luigi
, Charlie Antoun
Wolf
, James Makekau-Tyson
Sheik
Pichu
, Bonilla
Shulk
, and Larry Holland
Wolf
Falco
Collectively, his pile up of consistent events and set wins frame him as dramatically improved from the Pre-Quarantine period, and a player that could potentially become top twenty or better offline. While his reputation stems largely from online events, his recent offline outings leave little doubt that he will succeed at the qualifiers.
MKLeo is the final player to discuss. After eventual success in the online realm, MKLeo is poised to return to his offline throne, having last performed one of the greatest losers bracket runs in modern Smash history at Frostbite 2020. It is presumed that MkLeo will still primarily use Joker offline, but we'll have to see if the Byleth or Pyra/Mythra he used so often in online runs make any appearances in bracket.
His competition is stiff and full of unknowns with the emergence of Central America and the Caribbean, but he’s still heavily favored to win, and almost certain to qualify for the December finals. A win at this event would be a statement of minimal rust in an era where players are shaking off inactivity or wifi adaptation, and would signal his era as #1 never truly ended. 

Conclusion 

While interactions between these areas is normal, this is by far the most stacked invitational Latin America has seen, dwarfing prior regionals. The stakes are incredibly high for two fundamentally underrated regions that have grown substantially in the last few years, and this tournament will set some things straight and give us an outline for how future events might look. 
Saturday will likely feature numerous rare matchups between Mexican and Central American players, giving opportunity for spectators to view sets we aren’t likely to see again soon, meaning this event is worth watching from the outset. At the end of the line, six players will be moving on, and this piece has outlined some of the most likely people to manage it.
Joshua “Barnard’s Loop” Craig is an amateur data collector & analyst involved in Super Smash Bros. statistics since late 2015. His most notable work is his co-ran algorithm, OrionRank. Follow him on Twitter @LoopBarnard.