Three takeaways from the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4
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A graphic of the top six players from Summit Champions Week 4, who qualified for Smash Summit 11.
Provided by Beyond the Summit
Category:
Smash

Three takeaways from the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4

Zain earns his second SCL victory of the season
Image of Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate
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Published: May 10, 2021 11:40 am

After three weeks of its split-division format, the Summit Champions League returned with an old-fashioned, double-elimination bracket for the final week of Season 2. Zain “Zain” Naghmi came out on top after an anticlimactic victory over Joseph “Mang0” Marquez in set two of grand finals.

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Here are the details of Zain’s win and other major takeaways from the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4.

Zain slays Mother’s Day Mang0

There’s something about Mother’s Day that causes Mang0 to pull off some of his craziest performances. Before this event, he had won every tournament he entered on the holiday since 2011, most recently including Royal Flush in 2017. However, Zain broke that streak with a first place finish at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4 on Mother’s Day, 2021.

Zain had cruised comfortably into the winners side of grand finals, defeating Jason “Gahtzu” Diehl 3-1, Kurtis “moky” Pratt 3-0 and Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni 3-0. Meanwhile, Mang0 entered grand finals fresh off a five-set losers run.

Mang0 looked dominant in the first two games, winning on Battlefield and Final Destination; Zain’s go-to counterpick stage. While Zain gained momentum as he won the next two games, Mang0 stifled his reverse 3-0 in Game 5. After smothering Zain with an aggressively offensive stock, Mang0 took a solid lead, which he maintained for the rest of the game, allowing him to reset the bracket.

Going into the second set of grand finals, Zain knew what he had to do. Mang0 had been calling out Zain’s low recovery attempts with late rolls up from the ledge. While he edgehogged Zain and took many stocks with this strategy, he left himself vulnerable by staying on the ledge after his invincibility had worn off. Zain began to punish this option in Set 2 with early Up-Bs that clipped Mang0 and allowed Zain to reverse Mang0’s edgeguard attempts.

Suddenly, Zain was finding kills much more reliably than Mang0. From then on, the momentum grew rapidly in Zain’s favor. After a close Game 1, Zain three-stocked Mang0 in Game 2 and four-stocked him in Game 3, which concluded with Mang0 throwing himself off the stage. Thus, Zain won the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4 with an unexpectedly destructive 3-0. This makes him the only player to win more than one week of the League this season.

Mang0 recovers from a Round 1 loss to reach grand finals of the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4

While many viewers consider him a Fox and Falco dual main, Mang0 has relied predominantly on Falco in recent years. Prior to this tournament, he had not used Fox against a non-Jigglypuff main in a tournament since he faced DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel at Low Tier City 7 in July of 2019. However, Mang0 decided to start his run at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4 by playing as Fox.

The decision did not initially pay off. Mang0 narrowly lost 3-2 to Justin “Plup” McGrath in winners quarters, forcing him into the losers bracket early. Nevertheless, his Fox did secure him a commanding 3-0 over Avery “Ginger” Wilson, with him two-stocking Ginger every single game.

Afterward, Mang0 brought back his Falco for Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett, who defeated him for the first time last week. Their set had come down to the last stock of Game 5. But this time, Mang0 came out on top, extending his lifetime record against Wizzrobe to 22-1.

After his narrow win over Wizzrobe, Mang0 used Falco for the remainder of the tournament. The rest of his opponents gave him less trouble than Wizzrobe as well, as he defeated moky 3-0, Cody “iBDW” Schwab 3-1 and SFAT 3-0; the latter being another set where he two-stocked his opponent every game.

Mang0’s run at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4 concluded with a close win over Zain, followed by a crushing defeat. Mang0 and Zain are now 2-2 in sets for 2021. Their tiebreaker could come in person later this year at Smash Summit 11.

SFAT earns big wins en route to third place at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4

As a perennial top 20 player who has never cracked the top five on the global rankings, SFAT often makes top eight at any given tournament. However, SFAT reminded viewers that he can go toe-to-toe with many of the best players in the world, as he placed third at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4.

In winners quarters, SFAT faced last week’s champion and the No. 1 seed, Wizzrobe. After going down 2-1 in a series of close games, SFAT began to dominate toward the end of the set. SFAT three-stocked Wizzrobe in Game 4 and two-stocked him in Game 5. This earned him in a 3-2 win and a spot in the top eight. Additionally, this marked his first win over Wizzrobe since GameTyrant Expo in 2018.

While winners semis brought him another higher-ranked opponent, this match was one in which SFAT, historically, had the upper hand. SFAT fought Plup, who has not defeated him since CEO 2018. The trend continued at the Summit Champions League Season 2 Week 4, as SFAT beat Plup 3-2 in a back and forth set.

If nothing else, SFAT exuded confidence going into his winners finals set against Zain. SFAT offered to start on Final Destination; Zain’s best stage and one that cannot be chosen for Game 1 unless both players agree to start there. Zain declined the offer, instead earning his 20th consecutive win against SFAT without having to play on Final Destination.

Looking ahead

The following players have qualified for Smash Summit 11. The tournament is slated to occur in person from July 15 – 18:

  • Zain
  • Mang0
  • SFAT
  • iBDW
  • Plup
  • moky

These players will join William “Leffen” Hjelte and Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto; international players who received direct invitations. There will also be two last chance qualifiers, the S.A.M.E. Circuit for European players and Rollback Rumble: The Big One for North American players. The final six spots are reserved for fan vote-ins.

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Image of Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate is an alumnus of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a gaming journalist with a love for Nintendo esports, particularly Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon.
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