Originally the scene in Ottowa however was not as massive as it is today. A group of dedicated Brawl and Melee veterans came together to form 613 Smash in December of last year as Ottawa lacked strong leadership for event organization. It has moved up from weekly events out of player's apartments, college campuses, conventions, arcades, banquet halls, and more slowly building from the barely 20 players they began with to over 400 members they boast today. This weekend they begin a new monthly tournament series that will show some of the best Canada has to offer: Capital City Smash.
Brothers Battle
While the event is also set to have Project M as well as Rivals of Aether the big talent is pouring in to play Smash for Wii U. Not only Canada's best player, but possibly the best Mario main in the world Boreal | Ally will be in attendance. He has been a strong force since the game's release winning The Come Up without dropping a single set against competitors like Mew2King, DKWill, and Nakat and remains strong with recent placements such as 5th at EVO 2015, 4th at Paragon Los Angeles, and 4th at MLG World Finals 2015. Smash talent must run in the family as his older brother HolyNightmare is also a force to be reckoned with having taken 1st place finishes at Enthusiast Gaming Live, Get On My Level 2015 and Smash Nexus. Both of these Canadian wonders will be competing at the event but they won't be winning easily.
Challengers Approaching
One girl who's sure to put up a fight is recently sponsored SuperGirlKels although she admits herself HolyNightmare will be her biggest challenge. "Holy is that guy who has practically seen me grow from day one and knows me inside out." she told us. "We play so much to the point where he knows what I'm going to do before I even think of doing it. It's like he knows me better than I do myself."
She is a member of the crew Heart of Hydra which also boasts another player to look out for: Venom. A strong Ryu main he has only recently been thrust into the spotlight for his skills which has been a highly emotional experience for him. "While it's great when people recognize your talent, I'm personally a player that still has trouble dealing with emotions at tournaments." he said. "Stress, fear of disappointing and under performing are things that is still hard for me to deal with."
Jpeds had been another breakout talent at events but he's just happy to be playing the game he loves. "I just entered tournaments because I love the game and never really thought about trying to be a huge threat." he told us. His secret to success with his Diddy Kong? Playing friends online. "I just play wifi a lot with people from my scene." he said. "I don't really have a specific way to train."
SuperGirlKels isn't the only girl in Canada to keep an eye out for. Local Ottawa player Artryuu can make a dent in any bracket but she has faced unique challenges playing Smash as a girl. "It feels great to know I'm a threat so people will try to give their full potential against me and not judge me for being a female player." she told us. "Before there would be some people that would give me wins since I wasn't recognized and being that I look like a 14 year old girl. That doesn't feel right. But since then I've proved myself to be worthy and I'm happy for that."
She has found that success playing a lesser seen character in Shulk but that pick for her was a no brainer. "Nintendo revealed the Shulk trailer and I didn't think it twice. I said to myself I'll grind for Shulk because I enjoyed him as a character in Xenoblade Chronicles." Her twin sister Tao Chan is just as scary in bracket showing a strong mastery over Mega Man.
Another local threat to keep an eye on is BreaD especially because he doesn't just stay local, visiting many events in Montreal. "It actually feels really nice, when i went to Montreal for the first time was when I first realized i was known as a player. When Montreal's players were called to play me I was hearing stuff like 'Be careful, I heard of this guy. He's a good Zero Suit Samus from Ottawa'''.
There are other unique players as well like Poke showing that there's more than one scary Mario main in 'The True North' and Knuckles, formerly the best Brawl player in Ottawa, who despite not owning the game also uses Mario to keep up with the best of them.
Rivals Clash
Many exciting rivalries are set to play out at Capital City Smash which are sure to be exciting. "There's a lot of great players coming to the event, but if there's one going that I would consider my rival, it would be HolyNightmare" Venom told us. "These past events, we would keep getting toe to toe, always going to game 5 in grand finals. Our sets are always incredibly close, and even if I manage to send him in losers bracket, he always found a way to make it back." Jpeds is hoping for redemption against HolyNightmare as well. "I've always gotten beat pretty convincingly so I hope I can get another shot at him"
Artryuu however has her eyes on a different player. "I personally consider SuperGirlKels as a rival. We have to break our bracket set encounters which is 1-1."
Who Will Emerge Victorious?
With so much talent in attendance it is difficult to predict a winner. Another Canadian threat, Blacktwins, will not be able to attend the event but shared his thoughts on the matter. "To me, the big threats from each region potentially going are: Holy, Ally, Venom, and SuperGirlKels from Montreal and Jpeds, Artryuu, TaoChan, and BreaD from Ottawa." he divulged. "For a top three it's dependent on bracket manipulation/luck but I would probably have to give it to Ally, Holy, and SuperGirlKels due to consistency. However Venom goes even with them and BreaD and JPeds can make upsets."
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A special thanks goes out to the players in Canada without the help of which this article could not exist: SuperGirlKels, Blacktwins, Artryuu, Venom, BreaD, Linkshot, Jpeds, and 613 Smash all of whom can be found on Twitter at the links listed. Capital City Smash will take place on November 14th and will be streamed by 613 Smash. More information on the event can be found in its Smashboards Event Post. Need more of Canadian Smash? Stay tuned to Smashboards for the release of the full players interviews from this article early next week!
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