This weekend (March 24-26), months of anticipation will be fulfilled as one of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U's most intense rivalries comes to a head! Players from all over the world are gathering at the eSports Arena in Santa Ana, CA for 2GGaming's biggest premier tournament yet: 2GGC: Civil War. Focusing on the rivalry between Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce, Civil War will feature a special 10v10 crew battle with these two players as captains. In addition, you can catch some exceptional Singles and Doubles action leading up to this spectacle.
While ZeRo is indisputably the best Smash Wii U player overall, his recent tournament record vs. Ally has been rather poor. ZeRo normally adapts to people who manage to best him once, but Ally has been his consistent demon and the cause of some of his worst Singles finishes in 2016. Though the two have only squared off once in 2017 (in losers' finals at Genesis 4), Ally has already secured a 1-0 lead in this year's set count. ZeRo may not have much left to prove, but he does want to demonstrate once and for all that he can best even his fiercest rival.
General Information
Streams for 2GGC: Civil War will be provided by 2GGaming (main) and ESASmash (side). In addition, live video game music will be streamed by EsportsMusicX after each day's events have concluded. Below are the approximate run times for Singles, Doubles and the Civil War crew battle. Since all Singles and Doubles matches after pools will run best-of-5, extra time has been allotted for these brackets. Events featuring best-of-5 sets are marked with a double asterisk (**).
Day 1 (Friday, March 24th)
Time (PT) | Event | Streams
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Doubles Pools Wave A | 2GG & ESA
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Doubles Pools Wave B | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | April Saga Round Robin | 2GG
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | Discussion Panels | ESA
4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | Doubles Top 12** | 2GG & ESADay 2 (Saturday, March 25th)
Time (PT) | Event | Streams
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Singles Pools Wave A | 2GG & ESA
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Singles Pools Wave B | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | Singles Top 96** | 2GG & ESADay 3 (Sunday, March 24th)
Time (PT) | Event | Streams
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Singles Top 32** | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Singles Top 8** | 2GG
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. | Civil War Crew Battle | 2GGTop Contenders
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Doubles Pools Wave A | 2GG & ESA
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Doubles Pools Wave B | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | April Saga Round Robin | 2GG
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | Discussion Panels | ESA
4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | Doubles Top 12** | 2GG & ESA
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Singles Pools Wave A | 2GG & ESA
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Singles Pools Wave B | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. | Singles Top 96** | 2GG & ESA
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Singles Top 32** | 2GG & ESA
2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Singles Top 8** | 2GG
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. | Civil War Crew Battle | 2GG
While 2GG events are always stacked to the brim with incredible talent, Civil War is easily the most competitive one yet. An incredible 47 out of 50 PGR v2-ranked players have registered for Singles, putting this tournament in the same tier as Evo, Genesis and CEO. Below you can view a list of all ranked players who have confirmed their attendance:
1 | Gonzalo " ZeRo " Barrios | TSM |
| Nairo | ZeRo2 | Elliot " Ally " Carroza-Oyarce | C9 |
| Merardo "
Venom
" Lopez | Ally3 | Nairoby " Nairo " Quezada | NRG |
| ZeRo | ZeRo4 | Samuel " Dabuz " Buzby | RNG |
| Samsora | Ally5 | Larry " Larry Lurr " Holland | MSF |
| ANTi | ZeRo6 | James " VoiD " Makekau-Tyson | CLG |
| Tyrell "
NAKAT
" Coleman | ZeRo7 | Yuta " Abadango " Kawamura | LG |
| Kameme | Ally8 | Leonardo " MKLeo " Lopez | FOX / MVG |
| Javier "
Javi
" Balderas | ZeRo9 | Jason " ANTi " Bates | IMT |
| Larry Lurr | ZeRo10 | Ramin " Mr.R " Delshad | Elevate |
| Dennis "
iStudying
" Kwarteng | Ally11 | Kameme | DNG |
| Abadango | Ally12 | komorikiri | 2GG |
| Ranai | ZeRo13 | Saleem " Salem " Young | MVG |
| Mew2King | -14 | Ranai | 2GG |
| komorikiri | ZeRo15 | Tyler " Marss " Martins | DNL |
| Zinoto | Ally16 | Julian " Zinoto " Carrington | EG |
| Marss | Ally17 | Gavin " Tweek " Dempsey | P1 |
| False | -18 | Eric " Mr.E " Weber | RvL |
| Pugwest | Ally20 | Zack " CaptainZack " Lauth | free agent |
| Pink Fresh | -21 | Chris " WaDi " Boston | InC |
| - | -23 | Rich Brown | PG |
| Fatality | -24 | Marcus " Pink Fresh " Wilson | VGBC |
| CaptainZack | Ally25 | Earth | free agent |
|
Fuwa
| -26 | Jason " Mew2King " Zimmerman | FOX / MVG |
| Salem | -27 | Eric " ESAM " Lew | PG |
| MVD | -28 | Griffin " Fatality " Miller | FS |
| Rich Brown | -29 | Jamaal " Samsora " Morris Jr. | free agent |
| Dabuz | -30 | Wesley " 6WX " Alexander | Circa |
| Wrath | -31 | Andrew " ScAtt " Huntley | MVG |
| - | -32 | Austin " Dath " Brown | free agent |
| Brett "
8BitMan
" Esposito | -33 | Chris " falln " Rugg | LooK |
| - | -34 | Eric " Tyrant " Legesse | free agent |
| Thomas "
Shaky
" Salazar | -35 | Vincent " Vinnie " Cannino | free agent |
| William "
Glutonny
" Belaid | -36 | Nietono | DNG |
|
9B
| -37 | Aaron " dyr " Wilhite | MVG |
| - | -38 | Daniel " Day " Facey | G-FORCE |
| Ned | -39 | Alexander " Pugwest " Martins | free agent |
| Mr.E | -40 | Sajhmori " saj " Dunn | free agent |
| Ryo | -41 | Corey " False " Shin | Elevate |
| Tweek | -42 | Alberto " Trela " Miliziano | free agent |
| - | ZeRo43 | Carrington " Wrath " Osborne | FS |
| 6WX | -44 | Orion " DarkShad " Wolf | E2C |
| Torin "
Lightshad
" Hull | -45 | Mason " Locus " Charlton | UBCEA |
| Landon "
Captain L
" Trybuch | -46 | Tommy " Ryo " Janky | Noble |
| saj | -47 | Jestise " MVD " Negron | PG |
| ESAM | -48 | Kirihara | free agent |
| - | -50 | Nicholas " Ned " Dovel | free agent |
| Day | Ally- | Freddie " FOW " Williams | free agent |
| - | ZeRoAs of Wednesday, pools and brackets have been finalized, so now it's time for some speculation. Who will emerge victorious at 2GGC: Civil War? Predicting results will be as hard as ever, but don't let that stop you from creating your own fantasy bracket for the chance to win prizes free of charge.
ZeRo and Ally project to play each other in winners' semifinals, but both have a number of obstacles in their paths before they even reach that point. For one, pools for this event are quite challenging, with even the top seeds facing off against other top players. Ally will likely face off against Vincent "Vinnie" Cannino, who sits at #35 on the PGR v2. Vinnie hasn't traveled much since Evo 2016, where he finished in an impressive 9th place. Perhaps this accounts for his relatively low seed considering his skill. He's certainly not out-of-practice, and could prove a difficult early round opponent. Meanwhile, ZeRo might have to get through Matthew "Xzax" Liberatore, one of NorCal's strongest and a frequent training partner. Playing someone who knows all of your habits so early in bracket is never fun, even if you're the best in the world.
From there, things don't necessarily get easier for either player. Ally is projected to play Eric "Mr.E" Weber in the first round of Top 96. Though their set count is comfortably in Ally's favor, Mr.E did manage to take a set from his Mario using Sheik way back at NEC 16, and his more recent sets using Marth have also been close. Should Ally win that matchup, he'll likely have to play Kirihara, who's coming in hot off a win at Frame Perfect Series 2. Things get harder to predict from there due to the potential for multiple upsets, but Ally's most likely opponent in winners' quarterfinals is Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby. Though Ally has shown that he can beat Dabuz (most notably on his way to victory at Evo 2016), this player matchup has historically proved very challenging for him. All of this just to get a crack at one player he can consistently beat!
If you think Ally's bracket means a free ride for ZeRo, think again. He'll likely face Earth in order to make Top 32 winners' side. ZeRo won a very convincing set vs. Earth's Pit at Evo, but Earth has a number of potent secondaries (including Corrin and Fox) that he can use instead. One also shouldn't count out Quinton "ImHip" Goodman, a SoCal Smasher who could pull off the upset on Earth using his slippery Duck Hunt. ZeRo notably lost to Japanese Duck Hunt player Brood at Genesis 4, so it'd be interesting to see if he could handle the character more effectively now. If ZeRo makes it to Top 32 still in winners' bracket, he'll have to watch out for Kameme and Dustin "Zenyou" Rice, both of whom could wind up being his next opponent. Kameme managed to 3-0 ZeRo in convincing fashion at Evo 2016, though he's struggled to replicate that performance since. Meanwhile, Zenyou came very close to beating ZeRo at 2GGC: Genesis Saga in January. ZeRo would rather not play either, but he does have what it takes to emerge victorious regardless.
How about some other top contenders? Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez is another favorite to take the entire tournament after his convincing wins at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga and Genesis 4. However, one of his likely opponents in winners' quarterfinals is James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson, who currently leads 3-1 in sets against the Mexican prodigy. Dropping into losers' bracket is by no means an automatic death sentence for MKLeo (he did win ZeRo Saga after losing once to VoiD), but it would still be a large setback. Should MKLeo make it all the way to winners' finals, he'd much rather face Ally there than ZeRo. While he maintains a largely positive record against Ally, ZeRo has proven fairly difficult. He did win 3-0 against him at ZeRo Saga, but ZeRo returned fire with two 3-0 set wins at Frame Perfect Series 2. If MKLeo secures yet another win in the face of these obstacles, he might even shift perceptions of who the best Smash Wii U player really is.
Finally, it would be wrong to do a predictions segment and not mention the Tokaigi 2017 champion and current 3rd seed, Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada. Nairo had a rough start to 2017 with a 17th place finish at Genesis 4, where he lost to his longtime nemesis ZeRo. Since then, he's managed to bounce back considerably, both at the aforementioned Tokaigi and with a 3rd place finish at Frostbite 2017 last month. Aside from ZeRo, few players have consistently been able to cut Nairo's tournament life short. Like MKLeo, Nairo would therefore prefer to fight Ally should he make it to winners' finals. Zero Suit Samus' matchup against Diddy Kong really is abysmal. Yet even in the worst-case scenario, Nairo has a number of other characters he can use to pull out a win.
These matchups and many more will ultimately shape Civil War's Singles results. The bracket is as vicious a crucible as anyone could devise for the crowning of a new international champion. So while all eyes are on ZeRo and Ally, now is also the perfect opportunity for another talented player to steal the spotlight. Be sure to catch as much of the action as you can live on Saturday and Sunday!
Don't Neglect Doubles
While Singles and Crews are receiving more attention, Doubles at Civil War is shaping up to be excellent in its own right. While Doubles is sometimes treated as a "side event," 2GGaming has allocated an entire day to the format. This means that teams specialists will be able to give their all without distractions. You can look forward to seeing fearsome static teams such as ZeRo / Nairo, Ranai / komorikiri, Abadango / Kameme and ESAM / MVD. You can also look forward to the international debut of MKLeo / Javi and Ally / Venom, two pairings between a top player and a local killer. Since there are only four pools, some of these players could end up going home before best-of-5 sets begin. You definitely don't want to miss this action live on Friday.
More on Crews: Stay Tuned!
As for crews, the showdown between Team ZeRo and Team Ally will close out the event on Sunday night. While this isn't the focus of this article, stay tuned to Smashboards for a detailed post on crews coming tomorrow. In the meantime, let us know in the comments who you think will win Singles and Doubles at Civil War.
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