July 31, 2020
Tom Anderson
Couch Warriors / Results
July 19th brought us the third event of the new online Smash Ultimate league created by Cospendium and Kanga Esports. With overall leader Joseph “Doctor A Ness” Cresnik sitting out this time, there was the opportunity for a winner to close the gap he’d started to open over the pack – and 142 smashers showed up to try their luck. Oh, and the winner would get to lean back in a new Zenox gaming chair at the end of the day.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us today.
Congratz to the top 8 of the July @cospendium SSBU League! (Especially DD who secured the Gaming Chair?)
Graphic by @RuneRenee
Sponsored by @ZenoxAUS pic.twitter.com/BcGFrYsS1r— Kanga Esports (@KangaEsports) July 19, 2020
The last few months of online SSBU competition have been interesting to follow; with the game’s netplay being how it is, most of the top players have been picking and choosing when they enter. This has let a lot of newer players and skilled online warriors show off their stuff and claim some wins, but it’s hard not to attach an invisible asterisk to those results.
There would be no asterisk next to this bracket, however. A stacked field boiled down to a very tight top 8, combining New Zealand’s brightest stars with four players from 2019’s National PR and an injection of exciting new blood.
Sebastian “GZ|SebPro101” Poli-Tabone has been on an absolute tear through the CWL and other online events in the last couple of months, but here he faced additional competition from Auckland allstar Liam “M|Aluf” Aluf. The Mario master first dismissed Seb to Losers, and then Josh “Kanga|Ghost” Francis. Ghost was no easy prey, however, showing some slick Falco play en route to his best finish in months.
We have @SSBGhost and @ShadrewSSB playing in the top 4 of the @cospendium SSBU League, Plus Kanga @BigBenGold on the mic!
Make sure to tune in and watch the action:https://t.co/wACRx31pcA pic.twitter.com/Ox4pzJrp2E
— Kanga Esports (@KangaEsports) July 19, 2020
Losers Side was a snakepit of up-and-coming smashers, but it was the established talents who triumphed this time around. Pride of Queensland Andrew “Kanga|Shadrew” Isokangas earned a win over Aiden “Dura” Scalzo, then completed a Kanga one-two on Ngugi “SSG|Static” Thuo after Ghost knocked him down from Winners. But it was Bradley “DD” Kun, on a huge Losers side runback, who ultimately emerged to challenge Aluf in Grand Finals.
We’re used to Grand Finals being a runback from Winners Finals or Winners Semis, with the energy carrying over from that minutes-ago encounter. But DD’s bracket had been derailed by an upset loss in pools, falling 1-2 to Sam “RE|Jamie” Smith. The loss definitely woke DD up, and they put together a string of wins that in another year might earn you a Major trophy.
Aluf put up a fierce fight against the resurgent DD, but couldn’t keep it up after the reset, allowing DD to push through a decisive 3-0 and take the honours! Aluf’s 2nd place was still good enough to bring them within striking distance of Doctor A Ness in the standings, while SebPro and Cooper “AMG|PillowTalk” Fitzpatrick round out the leading group.
The next event will be August 16th. You can check the standings for the Cospendium league here. With the overall competition still wide open, the next few months should be very interesting indeed.
