Midwest will have to prove that it's the "Midbest" in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U at Midwest Mayhem Saga this Saturday in Santa Ana, California.
2GGC: Midwest Mayhem Saga will be the first leg of the Midwest Mayhem 8: North America Tour. Although the event's location is southern California, Midwest Mayhem Saga will feature the best players from the Midwest.
Even though the tournament is a one-day regional, it's absolutely stacked with stellar talent. Entrants include Team SoloMid's Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, currently ranked the best player in the world, Misfits' Larry "Larry Lurr" Holland and Immortals' Jason "ANTi" Bates, among others.
Midwest Mayhem 8: North America Tour is a new tournament circuit that will feature events in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The winners from each of the nine tournaments will be flown out to Midwest Mayhem 8 this April in Chicago. Also, the highest placing SoCal player from Midwest Mayhem Saga will get a free ticket to Midwest Mayhem 8.
Chilean Smasher ZeRo, currently residing in New Jersey, will be leading the bracket. The Genesis 3 champion fell short in Jan. at Genesis 4, landing a highly respectable third place. While ZeRo might not be as dominant as he was in 2015, he's still the favorite to take Midwest Mayhem Saga.
But even the best player in the world has concerns for this Saturday. "There are many dangerous players but I'd say ANTi and Larry are the most dangerous for me. They've managed to do well against me in the past, and it won't be easy to take them down," said ZeRo.
ZeRo might have an Achilles heel in Diddy Kong. "Fox and Mario are good against Diddy Kong, my main, so it's definitely important to look [at] them," said ZeRo. He's currently honing his Cloud as a strong secondary. "The Mario matchup is simply too difficult for Diddy Kong to do consistently despite my huge efforts, therefore looking into a counterpick option is the smartest route at this point," said ZeRo.
While ZeRo might be focused on Larry Lurr and ANTi, Julian "Zinoto" Carrington from Michigan is eyeing that first place trophy. "My main goal is to focus on my play to make sure I'm at my best when I play the invaders [i.e. non-Midwesterners] and not to lose early before I even make it to them," said Zinoto. Even though Zinoto is the best player from the region, the pressure to perform isn't getting to him. "It was the same situation for Brawl so I kinda got used to it," said Zinoto. And since there's a decent amount of talent from the Midwest attending, he won't have to shoulder all the burden.
One of the up-and-coming stars in Smash 4 is Events2Compete's Orion "Darkshad" Sky from Ohio. He's currently ranked 44th on the Panda Global Ranking, and is considered one of the best Ryus in North America. He's known for his platform- and read-heavy style of play. Darkshad had a breakout showing last year, beating top players like Larry Lurr, Echo Fox's Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez Perez, and Zinoto seemingly out of nowhere.
"I'm trying to go into this tournament with a more positive outlook. I'm not going to concern myself too much over placings, only to improve," said Darkshad. Caring too much about placings plus a negative mindset are the demons Darkshad will have to overcome, as "getting some enjoyment out of the game is key to being successful in [his] eyes."
Other notable threats will be Counter Logic Gaming's James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson, Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey, and Zack "CaptainZack" Lauth. 2GGaming's Rei "Komorikiri" Furukawa from Japan will also be attending, and might have a runback against CaptainZack, who he lost to at Genesis 4 under unusual circumstances. During Genesis 4, it came to light that the in-game knockback settings had been set to 0.9 instead of 1.0. But tournament organizers decided to only allow a rematch of the previous game, and not the set. The ordeal soured the experience for Komorikiri.
Even with top players like Cloud9's Elliot "Ally" Bastien Carroza-Oyarce and Panda Global's Eric "ESAM" Lew not in attendance, Midwest Mayhem Saga promises close, high level matches for a passionate, growing audience.