Brian “Cosmos” Kalu won Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Singles at Pound Online on April 26. It was his first online Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament victory since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cosmos made his way through pools and into top 32 on winners side. In the process, he earned wins over the likes of Enis “Izaw” Al-Maatooq, Jade “Middy” Vong, and Markus “ShinyMark” Florido. However, a controversial moment occurred in Cosmos’ next set against Grayson Ramos.
Though Cosmos lost the first two games of his set against Grayson, the players reported lag throughout these games. A tournament organizer had the players conduct internet speed tests and found that Grayson had a worse connection than Cosmos. As a result, the TO DQed Grayson from Pound Online Ultimate Singles, giving Cosmos the victory despite his early deficit.
Nevertheless, Cosmos proceeded confidently forward in the bracket, scoring 3-1 victories over Alan “Gen” Soriano and “Sonix.” In Winners Finals, he beat Brett “8BitMan” Esposito 3-1. Then in Grand Finals, he conquered Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby with a commanding 3-0. Incidentally, Grayson was the only player to win more than one game against Cosmos during Pound Online Smash Ultimate Singles.
Other results from Pound Online Ultimate Singles
8BitMan had a stellar run in Pound Online’s Smash Ultimate bracket, making it all the way to Winners Finals. In top 256, he scored 2-0 victories over Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez and Henry “Colmar” H. 8BitMan reached top 8 after a pair of 3-2 wins against Carrington “Wrath” Osborne and Jonathan “JW” Woldu. Finally, 8BitMan beat Tarik Fayazi in Winners Semis before getting eliminated by Cosmos and Dabuz.
Playing all the way from Germany, Tarik had an impressive run to 4th place. He cruised through top 256 with flawless wins over Ash “StylesX2” J., Bryan “Vapor” Z., and Cathal “holopup” Collins. Then in top 32, he scored huge upsets over both Kolawole “Kola” Aideyan and Dabuz. Tarik earned one final win over Alexis “Goblin” Stennett before losing his runback against Dabuz in Losers Semis.
The metagame for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Wi-Fi events seems to be constantly changing. Pound Online Ultimate Singles was no exception. For example, consider Kola, Spencer “BestNess” Garner, and Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez. Despite being the tournament’s three highest seeds, all three of them placed outside of top 8.
