With ULM Smash Climax, the most highly anticipated tournament in North LA history, just around the corner, players from across the I-20 corridor gathered at Monroe Battle Circuit 7 to test their skills and scout out the competition one final time before the main event.
MBC7 saw top players, quality individual performances, and high-octane action. Take a look through this comprehensive highlight reel that breaks down each of the 24 recorded sets!
Round 1
Epic Oswald v. Grape Ape (2-0 Oswald)
In this round 1 meetup of PR contenders, Epic Oswald often took advantage of Meta Knight’s superior aerial maneuverability to harass Grape Ape offstage. This time, however, Grape Ape called out Oswald’s eagerness with a well-placed forward air to annihilate Oswald’s stock. This spike was not enough for Grape Ape to take the game or the set, however.
SweetFlying v. Shiplord (2-0 Sweet)
Here Shiplord demonstrates why Luigi can be such a tough matchup for Fox. SweetFlying had been doing a good job avoiding the need to use FireFox to recover, but the first time he did, this was the result.
In the end, Shiplord’s counterpick shenanigans were defeated by SweetFlying’s methodical execution. Here in game 2, Sweet calmly waits for Luigi to slowly recover before catching him with an up tilt, then waits again for the right moment to back air Shiplord to the blast zone.
10 Piece v. Limen (10 Piece 2-1)
In this battle of the TO’s, 10 Piece illustrates why Sonic is considered to potentially have the best punish game in Smash 4. He punishes a down air with a forward smash, sending Toon Link off the opposite end of the stage. Then, with that incredible closing speed, Sonic is able to punish Tink’s bomb pull from across the stage before Limen has a chance to react. Speed went on to defeat projectiles as 10 Piece took the set 2-1.
Talon v. Jrod (Talon 2-0)
This set didn’t feature a lot of highlight moments, but it did include a great example of good sportsmanship. After Talon accidentally pauses mid-match, he retreats to the far side and gives Jrod a free recovery. No stocks had to be taken, no TO had to be called in, and no one took an unfair advantage of the situation. Props to both Talon and Jrod for displaying friendly Smashitude.
Others sets of note
- WarMonger 2, Okuu 0
- Turnip 2, Nova 1
Winners Round 2
Nin v. WarMonger (Nin 2-1)
Nin the Yoshi main decided to kick off this set with an anime sword battle, opting for Lucina over the black dino in game 1. Here he pulls out an impressively hard roll read, eviscerating WarMonger’s first stock. The plot of the anime did not go Nin’s way, however, and he Monger took the first game.
Starting in game 2, Nin decided to go Yoshi and go in. Here he goes freestyle with a dash attack > egg throw > fair spike > F-smash string that racked up 43% on WarMonger and sent him offstage. “I was doing what naturally comes into my head, that’s all,” he later explained. And that’s exactly what he kept doing all the way to a 2-1 win.
10 Piece v. EJ (10 Piece 2-1)
With USC looming, EJ decided to give the Bowser a rest, opting for several secondaries at MBC7. Against 10 Piece he tried Cloud, with mixed success. Here, we essentially Cloud at his strongest and weakest in the span of 12 seconds.
Other sets of note
- Seven 2, Felagund 1 (almost had him)
- Axis 2, Epic Oswald 1
- Sketchy 2, SweetFlying 0
Losers Round 1
Jrod v. WarMonger (Jrod 2-0)
Strap yourselves in, because this set has one heck of a highlight reel. Here in game 1, we see WarMonger’s Roy finishing off an epic zero-to-death first stock on Jrod’s Mewtwo. Monger lets Jrod think he’s safe to attempt a neutral getup and then employs the scooping hitbox of up smash to get the kill.
Now with a huge lead on Jrod, WarMonger attempts to finish the game with another up smash. The move starts to connect but is interrupted by the beginning of a move from Mewtwo… perhaps down tilt? I’m not quite sure. Regardless, the ensuing trade saves Jrod’s life and puts him in the perfect position to finally bring Monger to his last stock. Miraculously, this moment began a comeback that propelled Jrod to a game 1 victory from the jaws of defeat.
In game 2 we see a double character switch. A bit too preoccupied with retrieving his tome, WarMonger puts himself in position to be spiked to his doom by Jrod’s Pit.
Soon after, WarMonger got his revenge with a spike of his own. It was actually a thrown tome attack that put Jrod offstage for this dunk, so Monger also justified his fixation on the tomes slightly. And thus, it came down to the final stock.
After several back-and-forth swings of momentum throughout the two games, Jrod finishes the victory by calling out Monger’s tendency to immediately release his neutral B. Even with a massive lead at times, WarMonger unfortunately came away empty-handed.
Limen v. SirLegend (Limen 2-1)
Last stock, game 3, loser goes home. At one point down 127% to 44%, Limen was able to hang onto his tournament stock long enough to execute this sweet string to bring SirLegend’s ROB into kill percent and then immediately finish him off. The clutch factor allowed him to take this win against a PR opponent.
Felagund v. Nova (Felagund 2-0)
Most of the kills in this set were random smash attacks and one SD. Possibly the best clip is this moment when Felagund racks up a quick 31% on Nova. Felagund lets her run into the tether grab, down throws, follows the DI to connect with the weak hit of back air, and takes advantage of his fast-faller opponent to follow it up with the weak hit of up smash. Felagund would go on to take his first set against Nova this season.
Other sets of note
- Talon 2, Okuu 0
- Grape Ape 2, SweetFlying 0
- Shiplord 2, Epic Oswald 0
Losers Round 2
Felagund v. Jrod (Felagund 2-1)
Having been the victim of Jrod’s Pit in seasons past, Felagund decided to try Lucas over Ness in these players’ first match of the season. Felagund netted the first kill with an offstage down air that connected on literally just the spike hitbox.
Game one couldn’t have ended much closer than this. Both in kill percent, Felagund and Jrod met in a violent trade, side B vs. down smash, that ended in a close victory for Felagund.
It’s safe to say the switch to Lucas paid off for Felagund in this set. Not only was Lucas able to power through the attempted Orbitar gimp, he boldly returned the favor with a raw fast-fall down air, pursuing Pit all the way to the bottom blast zone. “A wise man once told me I don’t take enough risks,” Felagund later said. Sketchy was heard remarking that Felagund just wanted to show everyone how big his rope snake really is.
EJ v. Grape Ape (EJ 2-1)
Speaking of Lucas: EJ has one too! As cool as Felagund’s spike shenanigans may have looked, they were nothing compared to this string unleashed by another of EJ’s secondaries. This crisp down throw > nair > fair > PK Freeze > PK Thunder 2 string not only gave Grape Ape a quick 66%, it was also just plain cool (pun intended).
Despite the cool combos, Grape Ape hung on in game 1 and evened the odds with this excellent edgeguard. Challenging PK Thunder 2 can be scary, but this grape-colored ape expertly pounds Lucas into the blast zone. The set got progressively more meme-oriented, however, with game 3 ending in Grape Ape losing a random ditto.
Other sets of note
- Shiplord 2, Limen 0
Winners Round 3
Ramsaur v. GroundOwl (Ramsaur 2-0)
Since the Olimar hasn’t done the job against Ramsaur in recent sets, GroundOwl tried out his secondary Charizard in game 1. He found, however, that this dragon-not-dragon Pokemon can be susceptible Mario’s cape. You’d think FLUDD would be the super effective move…
To start off his return to Olimar, GroundOwl performs this silly but effective string of grab combos on Ramsaur. The first two take advantage of Olimar’s crazy pivot grab range. GroundOwl has actually confirmed that the third grab was also meant to be a pivot grab, calling the resulting dash grab a “fortunate flub.”
This man really thinks 3 consecutive F-smashes is okay? Not on Mario’s watch. GroundOwl definitely learned the hard way throughout this set that sleeping on the cape can be a dangerous thing.
That’s it for Part 1 of the MBC7 summary! If you enjoyed it so far, click here for the second half!
North Louisiana Super Smash Bros. 