COLOSSEL 2022 recap Ft. MkLeo, Maister, Chag, Bloom4Eva, Luugi
Lyon, France welcomed 1,024 players for the biggest European tournament in Smash Ultimate’s history this past weekend at COLOSSEL 2022. The Mexican invasion was the highlight of the tournament, but there were deep bracket runs, big upsets and as much drama as you would expect from a nearly 1000-person bracket, and we’ll take you through it all in our COLOSSEL 2022 recap.
Lyon, France welcomed 1,024 players for the biggest European tournament in Smash Ultimate’s history this past weekend at COLOSSEL 2022. The Mexican invasion was the highlight of the tournament, but there were deep bracket runs, big upsets and as much drama as you would expect from a nearly 1000-person bracket, and we’ll take you through it all in our COLOSSEL 2022 recap.
MkLeaux
As if there was any doubt. MkLeo 
won all three European majors he attended in his month on the continent, and closed his tour at COLOSSEL with 12 set wins and only four game losses. MkLeo actually lost a set to Maister 
, but other than that, he dropped just a single game all weekend.
Using Byleth, Corrin and bringing back the Aegis, he notched wins on Ramses 
, whom he beat 3-1, and Tarik 
, sisqui 
and Leon 
all in sweeps. He lost a 3-2 set to Maister, Maister’s first ever win after 17 tries, teaching us all an important lesson: Nobody beats Maister 18 times in a row.
Leo quickly rebounded and beat Chag 
3-0, then 6-0’ed Maister in grands, looking to start another 18 set streak against his countryman. He did so with ease, finishing off a tournament that had all three Mexican players in the top 3. Maister pulled out an emergency Sora in grand finals, which couldn't take a game, giving some ammo to our ever vigilant brethren in analysis at the Sora Stats Twitter account.
Leo leaned on his secondaries heavily in top 8, only playing his Winners Semis set against sisqui as Byleth, instead using Corrin for Winners Finals against Maister and then Pyra/Mythra the rest of the way. It will be interesting to see how he hones his characters to fit different matchups throughout the rest of the year.
Since the beginning of April, Leo has won 5 out of 6 majors he attended, and in the one he didn’t win he got second place. He’s coming back to the United States for Double Down, and the continent he is returning to isn’t the same one he left. There have been nine majors on the continent since he left, with nine different winners, and all of the new competition will be chomping at the bit to take his spot on the throne.
Underdog Bracket Runs
It was a huge weekend for the UK, as they won 3v3 crew battles world cup over Team Mexico consisting of MkLeo, Maister and Chag, and they had a number of bracket runs from their best players.
The most impressive belonged to Bloom4Eva 
, who had been destroying tournaments in the UK in the post-lockdown era after his stint as a premier wifi Bayonetta.
Bloom beat Noxumbra 
before being upset by French Pichu main NaetorU 
in the first winners round of top 32, setting the stage for a massive losers run. Bloom beat Longo 
, Luugi 
(more on him later) and won a controversial set against quiK 
(who has made an impressive return to form) to make top 8 as the 11th seed.
He then disposed of Mr. R 
in four games, and stunned Glutonny 
in a workmanlike four game set. This sent the king of France home in 5th place on his own turf, extending his major drought in Europe. Glutonny, the best player in Europe and likely one of the five best players in the world, has not won a tournament with over 100 entrants on European soil since October of 2021.
That was where the run ended for Bloom, as he couldn’t handle Chag’s Palutena and he was knocked out at fourth, but he finished with a +3 SPR and a win over the best player in Europe. As many in England could have told you, it was only a matter of time until Bloom could travel and enjoy his breakout major run. But this performance, at his first tournament of over 200 players, blew even the highest expectations out of the water.
His UK crew battle teammate, Luugi, also had an impressive run despite being knocked out by his fellow Briton. Luugi is a strong Luigi player from the UK, but was seeded 46th coming into the tournament. He notched wins over Astrat 
, DarkThunder 
and Ogey 
to end up with a SPR of +2, and he only lost to Maister and Bloom4Eva, the second and fourth place finishers in the tournament.
The last of the British invasions deep into the bracket was done by RobbieAK47 , who was seeded 227th and finished 65th, good for a +3 SPR, and he was able to get upset wins on top French players Neeroz 
and Jesuischoq 
.
The United Kingdom didn’t get to have all of the fun though, the aforementioned French Pichu main NaetorU beat Deox6 , Gogesta , Bloom4Eva and Nitox 
to finish 7th despite being seeded 27th, good for a +4 SPR that was the highest out of anyone who made top 8.
Chag was seeded 7th, and as such had to play Glutonny in Winners Quarters after Chag had already beaten eMass 
and BeJay ! . The Frenchman got his revenge from his loss at Mainstage in a 3-0 sweep and kicked off a five set losers run for Chag where he beat Tarik 3-2, NaetorU 3-1, sisqui 3-1 and Bloom4Eva 3-0 before losing to tournament champion MkLeo for 3rd place. This finish is Chag’s best ever at a tournament with over 500 entrants, surpassing his run to fifth place at Mainstage 2021 in November of last year, and his SPR of +3 is also one of his best since his return to offline play after the COVID lockdown.
Quick Hits
Finally, we have some quick hits: fast stats, anecdotes and storylines from the weekend that don’t quite fit anywhere else in the story.
Leon (French) beat LeoN
(American) in a reverse 3-0 in the battle to determine the one true Leo(n)(N). However LeoN said that he would not be giving up the LeoN tag even in defeat.Mr.R was ranked as the 10th best Smash 4 player of all time and struggled to find that same success in Ultimate, with an average PGRU ranking of 40. In recent times however has found lots of success with his Smash 4 main Sheik, making his first top 8 at a Smash Ultimate Supermajor at COLOSSEL.
The Algerian team finished 2nd in the crew battles world cup, which is a huge win for the African smash scene in general. All three members of the team are Algerians living in France: Ogey, Flow
and Eko
were able to beat the Dutch, German and French teams before falling to the UK.There was only one Steve main to make top 32, Tropped
, and he was swept by DarkThunder 3-0 to finish 25th. The last time there was an American tournament with 500 players or more and no Steves in top 24 was Mainstage 2021, all the way back in November of last year before the 5 gods of Steve (Jake, Yonni, Onin, acola and DDee
) had emerged as major threats.