Four takeaways from the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 1
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Smash Summit Champions League week 1 standings
Image via Beyond The Summit
Category:
Smash

Four takeaways from the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 1

The convincing wins and underdog surprises at the first week of the Smash Summit Champions League Season 2.
Image of Ty Galiz-Rowe
Ty Galiz-Rowe
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Published: Apr 12, 2021 10:00 am

The Smash Summit Champions League has returned, this time with a new more Nintendo-friendly name, with Season 2 Week 1 on April 11.

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As with last season, it featured a unique format with players moving up and down through Divisions 1 and 2, with four competitors qualifying for Division 2 Relegation at William “Leffen” Hjelte’s LEVO the day before. Here’s a look at some of the event’s most shocking results.

Mang0 convincingly wins Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 1

Joseph “Mang0” Marquez looked near unstoppable on his path to first place during Week 1 of the Summit Champions League. Across his three sets throughout the event, he only dropped a single game.

Mang0’s run began with a dominant performance in the Falco ditto against Avery “Ginger” Wilson. Then he faced off against Cody “iBDW” Schwab, who has never defeated Mang0 online. The set ended in an anticlimactic fashion, with Mang0 winning 3-0 after iBDW self-destructed during an edgeguard attempt on his last stock in Game 3.

Finally, Mang0 faced a predictable grand finals opponent, No. 1 seed Zain “Zain” Naghmi. With his signature aggressive shield pressure and flashy combos, along with seemingly un-edgeguardable recoveries, Mang0 became the second person to defeat Zain more than once since the beginning of the pandemic, with the first being Johnny “S2J” Kim at Four Loko Fight Night.

Mang0 lost Game 1, leaving him with a steep hill to climb considering Zain would later be able to counter-pick to Final Destination, Marth’s best stage against space-creators by a large margin. However, Mang0 avoided grabs at low percentages, preventing Zain from chain-grabbing him. Meanwhile, he established many of his own pillar combos using Falco’s shine. As a result, Mang0 won twice on Final Destination to secure a 3-1 victory over Zain.

Now, Mang0 said, his goal is not to get cocky. He also won Season 1 Week 1 of the Slippi Champions League over Zain. However, he failed to make finals again after that week and lost his only other match against Zain that season.

Moky proves he’s a Division 1 player

When the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 1 lineup was first announced, Kurtis “moky” Pratt was dissatisfied with his placement in Division 2. He felt he deserved to be in Division 1 rather than Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, who had been more active but had worse results.

As it turns out, moky didn’t have to worry about staying in Division 2 for very long. In his first match, he beat Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson 3-0. This included two wins on Fountain of Dreams, a stage where Axe is notorious for dismantling Fox players like moky.

As fate (or seeding) would have it, moky’s Division 1 Relegation match pitted him against Hungrybox. Despite winning Game 1, moky fell off hard on Hungrybox’s counter-pick and was four-stocked on Dream Land. But moky bounced back in the next two games. In Game 4, he three-stocked Hungrybox on Battlefield to secure his first-ever win against Hungrybox and claim a spot in Division 1 for next week.

KoDoRiN wins and loses in unexpected matchups

KoDoRiN had much to prove coming into Season 2 Week 1 of the Smash Summit Champions League. He was the final player selected to begin in Division 2, making him the last seed in effect. Even so, he had decent odds in his first match against Fox player Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni. SFAT is a player he has beaten before and a character his Marth excels against.

The set began with SFAT three-stocking KoDoRiN on Pokémon Stadium. Of course, KoDoRiN could then turn to Final Destination, a stage considered nearly unwinnable for Fox against Marth at high levels of play. However, SFAT proceeded to four-stock him on Final Destination. SFAT ultimately won the next Final Destination game as well, handing KoDoRiN a 3-0 loss and sending him to Division 2 Relegation.

After losing a theoretically easy matchup, KoDoRiN then faced perhaps the hardest possible matchup he could get in his relegation match: Justin “Plup” McGrath. As a top-10 player and winner of the LEVO qualifier, Plup was already a favorite to advance. On top of that, he mains Sheik, the character Fox mains usually turn to when they struggle against Marth.

KoDoRiN noted that he had been nervous during his first match because of the “big stage” of the League and the high expectations placed on him. But KoDoRiN adapted his mental game for his relegation match and managed to score a shocking 3-1 upset over Plup. KoDoRiN was the only player who lost in Division 2 but won their relegation match. Therefore, he will return to a very different-looking Division 2 next week.

Dacky unexpectedly secures a spot in Division 2

Amidst a field of top 50 players and online mainstays, Dat “Dacky” Vo faced tough competition even qualifying for the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 1. Despite this, the Washington Fox main unexpectedly made a run to top four of LEVO, narrowly conquering Hugh “SluG” Hegarty and Colin “Colbol” Green in the process.

The odds were stacked against Dacky once again in Division 2 relegation of the actual league. He faced off against Dawud “Aklo” Rahman, one of the mainstays from the first Slippi Champions League season. However, Dacky proved his proficiency in the Fox matchup by beating Aklo 3-1. As a result, he will continue to compete in Division 2 next week. Dacky is still the underdog amidst a group where everyone was ranked top 100 in 2019, besides him.

 

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Image of Ty Galiz-Rowe
Ty Galiz-Rowe