The Smash World Tour made its way to Europe this past weekend for one of its most stacked qualifier tournaments yet. Here are some of the major takeaways from the upset-filled bracket at the SWT Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier.
Bloom4Eva excels with rarely used characters
Going into the SWT Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier, Oliver “Bloom4Eva” Alexander was a plausible pick for first place. He is the highest-ranked of only two Europeans who appear on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6. Still, he would have to deal with a plethora of offline threats looking to qualify for the in-person regional finals. Additionally, Bloom4Eva would have to wrestle with the inconsistencies of his own character, Bayonetta.
Despite the high-level competition and his not-so-high-level character, Bloom4Eva managed to claim first place. In doing so, he cemented his status as Europe’s current best online player. Bloom4Eva defeated players like James “Lucretio” Ekeocha, Valentin “Tomberry” B., Favro “Freetox_” Quentin, David “Vidad” Álvarez Pérez and Pau “sisqui” Caire.
Interestingly, Bloom4Eva and sisqui both opted to switch to secondary characters for their grand finals set. So, while sisqui tried to fight with Donkey Kong and King K. Rool, Bloom4Eva secured a 3-1 victory with his Corrin, another rarely used character.
Congratulations to @Bloom4Eva__ for winning the SWT Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier! #SWT2021 🏆 pic.twitter.com/rq3tLZPrXM
— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) April 11, 2021
Currently, it is unclear whether Bloom4Eva will actually be able to compete in the Europe Ultimate Regional Finals. The Smash World Tour rules state that competitors must be 16 years of age to be eligible for the Europe Regional Finals. However, Bloom4Eva will not turn 16 until November, and his Regional Finals are scheduled for July. The Smash World Tour has not responded to a request for clarification on Bloom4Eva’s eligibility as of the publication of this article.
Glutonny makes do with a nerfed Wario
Though he is Europe’s best offline player, qualifying was no easy feat for William “Glutonny” Belaid. His character, Wario, was heavily nerfed in the most recent patch, making it harder for him to combo into his Wario Waft kill move.
Despite this setback, Glutonny was able to make a run to third place at the SWT Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier. He fell into losers early, suffering a 3-0 loss to Vidad. However, he quickly reached top 12 with 3-0 wins of his own against Sem “Supahsemmie” J. and “Noxumbra.”
Before he finally fell to sisqui in losers finals, Glutonny looked dominant in the losers bracket. He swept every opponent in his path without dropping a game. Glutonny still managed to find setups into his Wario Waft; while also attacking with extended combos and mixing aggressive offstage edgeguarding with precise onstage ledgetrapping. As a result, Glutonny eliminated Arsenio “PurpleDebo” J., Tomberry, Vidad and Freetox_.
Ended 3rd at the SWT qualification !!
Really really happy of my losers run even if there is a LOT of things that i missed cause of wifi i think i played soooo well i'm proud of that
See you offline !
— SLY | Glutonny (@GlutonnySSB) April 11, 2021
SuperStriker makes a deep losers run to win the Last Chance Qualifier
As the only WWR-ranked player besides Bloom4Eva, Clement “SuperStriker” Madison was another fairly safe pick to do well at the SWT Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier. However, he suffered an early upset to “Raphy” in phase two of pools. Then, he lost to Supahsemmie, who had been upset in phase one of pools.
In the Last Chance Qualifier, SuperStriker once again found himself in the losers bracket thanks to Tiago “Thank” Gomes. But, SuperStriker took his Sonic to new speeds from there. He won 13 straight sets to claim first place in the Last Chance Qualifier.
In phase three, SuperStriker eliminated several offline threats in a row. These included Khang “Tru4” Tran, Dennis “iStudying” Kwarteng, Hugo Lancelot Hujala and Supahsemmie. Then, in top eight, he overcame Gia “Longo” Long Hoang, James “Peli” H., Noxumbra and Mertcan “Snormanda” Irdem, along with double-eliminating Lucretio.
SuperStriker made use of Sonic’s strengths, patiently waiting for opportunities to quickly approach with Sonic’s Spin Dash or Spin Charge, racking up little bits of damage at a time before resetting the neutral. In addition, he showcased his ability to edgeguard with back-air and the spring from Sonic’s Up-B, while employing forward smash both as a ledgetrapping tool and a raw punish option.
https://twitter.com/_Superstriker_/status/1381397450729078786
Published: Apr 12, 2021 12:00 pm