Three takeaways from the SWT East Asia South Ultimate Online Qualifier

Last weekend, Smash World Tour viewers saw a mix of household names and up-and-coming wi-fi warriors from one of Smash Ultimate’s most prominent regions: Japan. This weekend, Smash fans got to see one of the world’s lesser-known regions, the rest of East Asia.

Here are some of the major takeaways from the SWT East Asia South Ultimate Online Qualifier.

XIFL the Pokémon Trainer

Amid competition from eight other countries, Hong Kong’s No. 1 player claimed first place at the SWT East Asia South Ultimate Online Qualifier. Timothy “XIFL” Chan masterfully used Pokémon Trainer to win the tournament without dropping a set.

At times, XIFL followed the typical Pokémon Trainer formula, racking up quick damage with Squirtle’s combos before switching to Ivysaur in ledgetrap and edgeguard scenarios. In addition, he took risks to find early kills with Charizard, calling out his opponent’s positioning with a devastating Flare Blitz kill on multiple occasions.

XIFL’s run most notably included two wins over Taewan “LynZle” K., the SWT East Asia Qualifier’s No. 1 seed. He also earned convincing 3-0 victories against Lorenzo “Junkyarddude” Suarez and Joshua “Yoshi_95” Rapport, who rounded out the top four of the main bracket.

Congratulations to @XIFLssb for winning the East Asia South Ultimate Online Qualifier! #SWT2021 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XgBhlsDBVW

— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) April 25, 2021

LynZle finds success with multiple characters

South Korea’s best player, LynZle, slightly underperformed at the SWT East Asia South Ultimate Online Qualifier, placing second as the highest seed. Still, he managed a respectable performance while utilizing a wide range of characters.

LynZle relied on his main, Joker, in his high-stakes winners and grand finals sets against XIFL. In other sets, he turned to high-tier characters like Palutena and Mr. Game & Watch, as well as the lesser-used Mii Swordfighter. LynZle also won a handful of sets with Smash Ultimate’s newest set of characters, Pyra and Mythra. His diverse character repertoire carried him to victory against Kendrick “PSI Force” Cheah, Aidan “Pwner” W. and Yoshi_95.

https://twitter.com/LynZle_lain/status/1386295260423200772

Pokémon world champ Sejun shows his prowess in Smash

Sejun “Sejun” Park is best known for winning the 2014 Pokémon World Championship with the rarely-used Pachirisu, but Sejun is also one of the best Smash Ultimate players in South Korea, as evidenced by his second place finish at the SWT East Asia South Last Chance Qualifier. In keeping with his love for the unorthodox, Sejun uses Dedede, whom many players consider to be a low tier character.

Initially, Sejun seemed unlikely to qualify for the Regional Finals, as he fell out of the main bracket before top 16. However, he went on a solid run through the Last Chance Qualifier, winning seven sets. Sejun racked up lots of damage with Dedede’s Gordo projectile, while also finding strong but slow hits to secure kills.

Sejun’s run notably included wins over PSI Force, who sent him to losers in the main bracket, and No. 5 seed Ken “ShiNe” Huang. He also defeated “Lira” and “rebs,” and double-eliminated “67.” Meanwhile, his only losses in the Last Chance Qualifier came against that bracket’s champion, James “Tanark” Lee.

I did it!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/W6NnmQXmCu

— Sejun Park (@pokemon_tcg) April 25, 2021

Looking ahead

The following players have qualified for the East Asia Ultimate Regional Finals beginning on July 3, where they will join the eight players from the Japan Online Qualifier:

• XIFL
• LynZle
• Yoshi_95
• Junkyarddude
• “PsineWave”
• Pwner
• Tanark
• Sejun

The Smash World Tour will resume on May 1 with the first of four North American qualifiers, the NA Southwest Ultimate Online Qualifier.