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Notable International Tournaments of Late 2020 & Early 2021

By Mathew "EazyFreezie" Aliotta | 08/12/21

After March 2020, the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate scene heavily shifted to online tournaments due to the ongoing pandemic. It was not until late May 2021 that the scene saw a resurgence in offline events with locals starting back up and larger events starting again in June with InfinityCON Tally 2021. But as certain countries handled the pandemic more successfully than others, some regions were able to host events in the latter half of 2020. Today we will be covering some of the notable events that occurred in Japan and France throughout 2020 that may have flown under the radar to the majority of the scene.

Glutonny’s Continued Reign

During PGRU v1 and v2,
Wario
had an iron grip over the European scenes. He has won almost every European tournament that he has entered in Ultimate and very rarely loses to his EU brethren. Glutonny continued to reign supreme in his home region through 2020. During the first event in August, TWELVE I, Glutonny took first without dropping a set. In fact, he only dropped a total of three games: two to
Lucina
, France’s premier Lucina player, and one to
Captain Falcon
, one of the best Captain Falcons in all of Europe. He mainly utilized Wolf and only used his main character, Wario, to defeat Ogey. 
One month later, the WANTED series was having its fourth anniversary and launching its fourth season of tournaments with this event. Glutonny once again took first, this time fully utilizing Wario. But, he did not take it without a fight, as he lost one set to Ogey in Grand Finals. Ogey was the only player to take games of Glutonny this time, taking 4 in total. Ogey and Leon placed in both top 8s, along with
Wolf
Dr. Mario
These players were seen as some of France’s best players pre-pandemic. A new face also placed top 8 in both French events:
Palutena
, a 15-year-old player who started competing in late 2019 and started making strides in results before the pandemic. Since these tournaments, Raflow has seen many great placings in 2021, placing top 8 in most tournaments he enters and becoming one of France’s offline rising stars.
Raflow's Top 8s at offline events of at least 128 players. Click to expand.

Kansai’s New Threats

Japan had the biggest resurgence of offline events, starting in the Kansai region. The Sumabato series started back up in August 2020 and has had multiple events in the series occur sporadically since, with the most recent happening in July 2021. A number of strong notable Kansai players from before the pandemic, such as
Pokémon Trainer
,
Shulk
,
Bowser
and
Yoshi
, were among the event winners. Atelier is the only player in this time frame to win more than one event (Sumabato SP 15 & 17). 
Other established talent who had recurring top 8 placements were
Cloud
, Kansai’s premier Cloud player,
Chrom
Roy
, Japan’s best Chrom player, and
Sheik
, Kansai’s premier Sheik player. 
There are a few new players in Kansai who started achieving great results during these tournaments as well. Most of the scene is now aware of the amazing Hero player,
Hero
, from his run in Kagaribi #3. He really started to make a name for himself, though, during 2020. Sumabato SP 14 was Akakikusu’s first offline event, where he got 3rd. From there, he has made multiple top 8 appearances, and has made a name for himself as one of Japan’s best players in 2021.
Akakikusu's five most recent Smash.gg events. Click to expand.
Another new up and comer is
Palutena
Wario
. hasuiro had previously only played in Maesuma TOP 2 back in Feburary 2020, but they had a strong presence in the latter half of 2020. In the four Sumabato’s that hasuiro entered, they placed top 16 in all 4. 
hasuiro at Sumabatos 14-17. Click to expand.
Lastly, we have
Inkling
. He started entering events at the very end of 2020, and made top 8 for the first time at Sumabato SP 13. Shirayuki quickly became Japan’s new premier Inkling, placing as high as second at Sumabato SP 16, and in July 2021, taking 1st at Sumabato SP 18. He has taken wins on strong Japanese players such as
Peach
, Lunamado,
Ken
, tk3, and
King Dedede
.
Shirayuki at Sumabatos 16-19. Click to expand.

Mēsuma, Kagaribi, and Kurobra

There were multiple other notable events that occurred in Japan, but there are three others I would like to focus on: Kagaribi and Kurobra 24 in the Kanto region, and Mēsuma in the Chubu region. 
The first event to happen is Mēsuma, where we see top Kanto talent such as
R.O.B.
Wario
Joker
Wolf
,
Sonic
,
Ness
and
Sheik
Joker
return to the competitive scene. We also see the return of strong players from Chubu such as
Toon Link
,
Snake
and
Toon Link
. Zackray took the whole event while only dropping a single game to Gackt, winning with a combination of Joker, Wario, and ROB. 
We also see a new name enter the top 8 results.
Samus
, the Samus main from Chubu, took 2nd at Karisuma SP 10 the week prior, and proceeded to make waves in July 2021, making top 8 at both Sumabato SP 18 & 19. 
Toura at Sumabatos 18 & 19. Click to expand.
Next in December was Kagaribi, the new tournament series that started in the Kanto region of Japan. KEN took the event flawlessly, not dropping a single set or game and defeating players such as zackray, Kome, and kept
Villager
. There was a surprisingly strong run from a
Falco
, a former Ness player in both Smash for Wii U and Ultimate. He took wins off of strong Japanese players such as
Megaman
Wario
Sheik
and
Palutena
, but ultimately fell to KEN and
Zero Suit Samus
. MASA unfortunately has not entered any tournament since Kagaribi, and we will have to wait to see if he can become a true threat going forward.
Lastly, there is Kurobra 24. While this event is the smallest event I am covering (with a total of only 55 entrants), this tournament has the significance of being the first offline tournament Sephiroth won. Zackray won the tournament with only Sephiroth, where he only lost one game to
Pichu
in grand finals. 
While these tournaments are at this point lost to time and the pandemic, they give us a glimpse on the buildup of new and old players prior to the resurgence of offline tournaments in the summer of 2021. We also got to see what the offline character meta, mainly in Japan, looked like during a time where the scene was mostly online. Hopefully with the resurgence of offline events, we will continue to have Ultimate to watch from around the world.
Mathew "EazyFreezie" Aliotta has been involved in Super Smash Bros statistics since the release of Super Smash Bros for Wii U. His most notable work is his co-ran algorithm based ranking, OrionRank. Follow him on Twitter at @EazyFreezie 
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