Due to the event being held in MDVA (Maryland/Virginia,) we’ve seen five cancellations from the initial batch of qualified players. Despite that, all sixteen players competing are from NA West defined on the map below.
NA West regional map. Click to expand.
Encompassing the Pacific Northwest, portions of the Prairies region of Canada, Alaska, and half of the Heartland Midwest, the Northwest Region emerged as a competitive area in the online qualifier segment. After replacements, the area comprises nine of today’s competitors, with a plurality from Washington state.
Featuring talent beds in both California and Texas, NA Southwest shaped up as one of the more competitive online qualifiers, ultimately anchored by California. Kansas, an unusual inclusion to the Southwest, notably suffered from being split from Missouri, which it shares a scene with due to Kansas City’s far-eastern location within the state. Ultimately, the region features seven of today’s competitors.
SKITTLES!! is the first seed in Pool 1. Hailing from Nebraska, he was the winner of the online NA Northwest qualifier. Initially a constant in Midwestern events, SKITTLES!! emerged as a top Wifi player during the quarantine era as part of the increasingly powerful Heartland state.
JoJoDaHobo, the first replacement player, is a contender for the best Toon Link player in the United States. While occasionally struggling at major events, he performs well locally, notably being a regular top 8 appearance at the Washington-held biweekly Orbitar series. Notably, he holds a 2-4 record to Justice in offline sets.
A favorite to win his pool, he holds a 3-1 record over Larry Lurr. While lacking records against the other two players in his pool, it seems like a difficult task to dethrone the Southwestern Ness champion in pools.
Exodia, Alberta’s sole representative and the only Canadian player present, is a highly skilled Zero Suit Samus main. With the location of Alberta, major opportunities are scarce for the dominant Canadian player. He has notably never attended a major event in Smash Ultimate, opting instead for Prairie Canada or British Columbian regional events, which he often does exceptionally well at.
Despite scarce out-of-region data, Exodia has won seven of his last offline events over top Albertan talent, collecting an impressive total of 25+ tournament wins, including two PGR events - Animethon 26, and Salt Flats 2020.
Larry Lurr requires little introduction. From the Super Smash Bros Brawl era onwards, Larry Lurr has been a constant fixture in SoCal and regularly considered a top player from the region. While his results in Smash Ultimate have slowed, he remains an innovator and active Falco & Wolf player, and is unafraid to flash a pocket Mii Brawler.
His most notably achievement was winning the Alaskan regional event MTA eUnlimited BYTE, a 128 entrant event held in a suburb of Anchorage. Robin is a relatively uncommon character, bringing another wildcard layer to his attendance.
While her local results have been mixed, her most serious event was undeniably a return to form after some flubs towards the end of Smash UItimate’s pre-Quarantine period. With these strong wins in mind, she is a favorite to make it out winners side.
For set records, MVD’s holds a single loss to Moxi at Super Smash Con 2019. Moxi is favored, but both carry similar win profiles & records. While not having a record versus Ludo, MVD is still favored, as he has shown to be very proficient at the Mario matchup with a winning record over Dark Wizzy.
This is mind, he is a strong local performer, winning Orbitar 87 over JoJoDaHobo and Justice, two players in above pools. Should he run into them in bracket, he’d likely be favored, enhancing his chances of making it farther in bracket. Among his pool, he holds a 4-16 record against Moxi.
Lastly in this pool, we have another replacement player, this time from Texas. Ronnichu, another Snake main, is a recent upstart in Texas. Hailing from Southeast Texas, he, like Ludo, came just shy of qualifying for the event at the Last Chance Qualifier.
With solid in-region results at Heartbeat backed by two solid major performances, Ronnichu is set to be a major wildcard.
For the final pool, we shift to a direct focus on SoCal. Starting with the runner-up of the NA Southwest Qualifier, we have Kiyarash. One of SoCal’s top Luigi mains, Kiyarash emerged in the Wifi era as a strong Luigi, eventually ending the era at 35th on the WWRv7.
Domnique is the sole player from Oregon in attendance. A top 5 player in his state, he - like many players here - emerged more prominently in the Wifi Era. After the return of offline events, though, he quickly stacked up a series of local event wins and eventually placed 7th at the Oregon regional Back in Blood.
With limited set data outside of Oregon to work with, Domnique is a solid wildcard pick, piloting R.O.B. at a time when the character’s fortunes couldn’t seem much better.
T3 DOM, despite being only the 3rd seed in this pool, is favored to win it. Ranked 3rd in SoCal, he is likely the best Belmont player in the world at the moment, placing 4th at Summit Qualifier event MSM 240 and running up MSM 242 - the final MSM for the foreseeable future.
Finally, we end on Erik, a North Dakota Mii Swordfighter main. Despite the character’s near nonexistence in Smash for Wii U, Mii Swordfighter is locked in for two appearances at this circuit, the other player being in Oceania.
NA West encompasses a diverse area, but has primarily pitted SoCal, the Pacific Northwest, and the proper Southwest against each other for six slots in December, with a few outlying areas vying for spots.
Pools 1 and 3 seem to have fairly likely conclusions, with their top two seeds likely moving onto winners with ease, while Pool 2 introduces a three-way fight between Larry Lurr, Scend, and Exodia, with Exodia as a significant & rarely seen wildcard.
Lastly, Pool 4 has a likely winner, but all bets are off for the other player who will exit in winners.
Featuring unique regions and a lot of unlikely players, this qualifier has the opportunity to be the most unpredictable once the main bracket begins depending on set composition, as pool runner-ups otherwise favored could get locked into ugly brackets, allowing some wildcards to slip into the December Finals.
The event begins at 12:00 PM PST.