The Smash World Tour is headed to Vancouver this weekend for the biggest iteration yet of UBC Esports and Galint Gaming’s Battle of BC tournament series. This gold event will feature a number of top players from around the world for both Melee and Ultimate.
Before the action kicks off on Friday, here’s everything viewers need to know about Battle of BC 4.
Players to watch
After placing fifth at Smash Summit 13, Zain “Zain” Naghmi will undoubtedly look to revitalize his “Golden Age” with a first-place finish at Battle of BC 4. His biggest obstacle will likely be Jake “Jmook” DiRado, the only player at Battle of BC who has beaten him this year.
Another potential contender for first place in Melee Singles is Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma. Though he has yet to win a major since offline events returned last summer, Hungrybox has remained one of Melee’s most consistent top players. However, climbing back to the top will most likely require beating Zain, who solidly defeated Hungrybox 6-1 between their two most recent sets at Pound 2022.
On the flip side, Joseph “Mang0” Marquez has missed top eight at his last three majors, the worst streak of his 15-year Melee career. As a result, winning another major seems unlikely for Mang0 going into Battle of BC. Rather, the question surrounding Mang0’s performance is whether he can dodge upsets in order to finally reach top eight at a major again.
"This @C9Mang0's winning Battle of BC"
THE GOAT IS COMING TO VANCOUVER FOR BATTLE OF BC 4!!! 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐#BattleOfBC #BoBC4 pic.twitter.com/7K7TegzokQ
— Battle of BC 6 (@battleofbc) June 4, 2022
With other supermajor winners like Leonardo “MkLeo” López Pérez, Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez and Paris “Light” Ramirez not slated to attend, William “Glutonny” Belaid is the safest pick to win Ultimate Singles at Battle of BC 4. He will have an easier bracket at Battle of BC than he did at Pound 2022, which he won in April.
Meanwhile, several Japanese Ultimate players will attend Battle of BC for their first North American majors of the year. Notably, it will mark Seisuke “Kome” Komeda’s first North American major since February of 2020. As a top five player in Japan, Kome could very well make a deep run at Battle of BC.
How to watch Battle of BC 4
Viewers can catch the Battle of BC 4 broadcast across four different Twitch streams: btssmash, galintgaming, btssmash2 and btssmash3. The tournament will begin with Melee and Ultimate Doubles at 8 p.m. ET on Friday. Top four for both events will start at 10:30 p.m. on Friday.
Singles pools for both games will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with top 64 happening at 8 p.m. the same day. Finally, Championship Sunday will begin at 2 p.m., with top 24 for Melee and Ultimate Singles. Melee top eight will then start at 4 p.m., while Ultimate top eight will start at 7:30 p.m.
Fans will also be able to see additional content pieces throughout the weekend. In particular, the “Who Wants to Be a Melee-ionaire” game show will take place at 11 p.m. on Saturday and the Salty Suite will happen afterward at 12:30 a.m. There will also be a Rivals of Aether side bracket, with pools starting at 3 p.m. on Friday and top eight starting at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
