Pound 2016 will be remembered as one of the wildest tournaments in Smash 4’s history. The 513-man bracket saw several incredible upsets and many players finding success with unusual characters. We witnessed several heavy hitters such as Nairo, False, and MVD get eliminated on Saturday while lesser-known players such as ScAtt, K.I.D. Goggles, and Saj surprise many by surviving into the top-16. Despite all of the chaos, the Pound staff was able to run the enormous tourney relatively smoothly with mostly volunteers who were kind enough to lend their time and help out. When the dust settled, the crowd focused their attention on the remaining field of 8 players and it was anyone’s guess who would be left standing at the end of the day.
Pound 2016 Wii U Top 8
Winner’s Side
TweekWinner’s Side
– In the past Tweek has been known for being possibly the best Bowser Jr. main on the planet. A little over a month ago, he decided that his beloved low-tier was holding him back from being able to compete on a national level. After making the switch to Cloud, Tweek finally had the tools to prove that he is one of Smash 4’s best. Despite being the youngest player on the main stage at 17 years old, Tweek played like a man possessed. The young Cloud main defeated Mr. II, Remzi, Larry Lurr, and K.I.D. Goggles on his way to earning his first-ever spot in top-8 at a national.Marss
– This Zero Suit Samus main has been a rising star in the Smash 4 community for not only his singles play but also for being one-half of “Team Yazi” with his brother and top-level Marth player Pugwest. Coming off an impressive 7th place finish at Genesis 3, the stakes were high for Marss to show that he can consistently be a top-8 level player in singles. He accomplished just that with wins over aMSa, Xaltis, ESAM, and Pink Fresh.
– Arguably the favorite in the surviving top-8 field, VoiD came into Pound with quite a bit of momentum. His 4th place finish at Genesis 3 as well as his 1st place finish at Glitch set the table for him to take it all at Pound. The 19-year old Sheik main took out Sova Unknown, Scatt, Angel Cortes, and Ally all while only dropping a single game en-route to top-8.Abadango
– While everyone in top-8 had a difficult path to the main stage it’s safe to say no one traveled nearly as far as Abadango, who came halfway across the world from Japan to compete at Pound. “Aba” had an incredibly strong 2015 with top-8 performances at Apex, EVO, and The Big House 5 while predominantly using Pac-Man. However, after a disappointing finish at Genesis 3 (49th) and the nerfs to Meta-Knight in the most recent patch, Abadango decided to switch to the recently buffed Mewtwo. To the surprise of many, Abadango managed to get Mewtwo into top-8 at an American national for the first time in Smash 4's history. Abadango used Mewtwo’s expanded toolkit to defeat Average Joe, Seagull Joe, and K9sbruce. The only match where he didn't use Mewtwo was against Dabuz, who he defeated with Meta Knight.Loser’s Side
Larry Lurr
– Arguably one of the most successful multi-game specialists Smash has ever known, Larry is no stranger to the big lights of national tournaments. The former Brawl APEX champion was in great form, using his Fox to breeze through his first 5 games before running into Tweek in Round 2 pools and falling 1-2. Despite the setback Larry regrouped and eliminated False, ScAtt, and Dabuz to secure yet another spot in top-8 at a national.Ally
– Another former APEX champion, Ally was a juggernaut of the Brawl scene in its heyday with major wins at APEX 2009, Genesis, Pound V, and APEX 2015. Since Smash 4 has taken over, Ally is still seeking a premiere tournament win to reclaim his former glory. Aside from a tough match against Hyuga, Ally had little to no difficulty getting through Round 1 & 2 pools. That all changed when he ran into a brick wall in the form of VoiD who 3-0’d him in Winner’s Quarter-Finals. Once in losers Ally was able to defeat ESAM in a very close 3-2 set to punch his ticket into top-8.
– While Pink Fresh is currently the face of the Bayonetta controversy ripping through the Smash 4 community, you wouldn’t know it from the hometown crowd cheering his name. Many would wrongly assume that Pink is a no-namer who’s only found success due to his switch to Bayonetta, but he’d probably be the first to tell you that he doesn’t need a top-tier to win against high-level talent. Pink Fresh also had possibly the most difficult road to the top-8, in which he had to defeat ADHD, Raptor, Hyuga, and Mr. R after dropping a set to Marss in Winner’s Quarter-Finals.Mr. R
– This Sheik main from the Netherlands is known for being incredibly consistent in his placings. Since Smash 4 was released, Mr. R has not finished below top-10 even once in any notable tournament. At the outset of Pound Mr. R was considered one of the favorites to win the entire event. However, Mr. R faced an unexpected obstacle in Pink Fresh who sent him to the loser’s bracket in Round 2 pools. Mr. R still managed to make it into top-8 with great wins over Mister Eric, K9sbruce, and an incredibly close set against K.I.D. Goggles.Hype Video
Top-8 Hype Video by Last Stock Legends
Matches
Matches
Marss vs. Tweek
In our first top-8 match-up, we had two very young players who both played quick characters with powerful kill options. The movement by both players was incredibly crisp throughout, and made for very tense gameplay. Marss scored beautiful kill using ZSS’s zair offstage to take the first stock, but Tweek was able to bring it all back and win game 1 with a dash attack. Tweek popped off, clearly relieved to have won the high-stakes game 1. Games 2 and 3 were a different story, with Marss making incredible comebacks in both games to go up 2-1. In game 4 we saw a dominating performance by Marss, who executed a hard read down-air from the top of the blast zone to gimp Tweek’s recovery and take the set. Marss moved on to Winner’s Finals while Tweek would need to fight his way back from Loser’s Quarters.VoiD vs. Abadango
This match was of great interest to many due to Abadango’s use of Mewtwo. Would Mewtwo’s new buffs be enough to allow Abadango to take out a top-level Sheik main? Abadango answered that question with an emphatic yes. VoiD seemed put off by the match-up, and struggled to find ways to kill the slippery Pokemon who had finally received his weight-buffs. After a somewhat close game 1, Abadango took over and proceeded to 2-stock VoiD in game 2. Sensing trouble, VoiD counter-picked Fox and took the set to Battlefield in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately this didn’t phase Abadango, who got a beautiful disable to up-smash kill on the bottom platform. Abadango moved on to face Marss in Winner’s Finals while VoiD was sent looking for answers in Loser’s Quarters.
Pink Fresh vs. Mr. R
The crowd was clearly excited to see MD/VA representation on the main stage. Chants of “Let’s go Pink Fresh!” filled the ballroom. Mr. R had something to prove, as he had been knocked into losers by none other than Pink Fresh the day before. Mr. R made it clear that he had labbed against Bayonetta in preparation for their rematch and came out swinging. In the first stock of game 1 Mr. R almost successfully performed a zero-to-death on Pink Fresh, only taking 8% of damage on his way to a solid two-stock. In game 2, Pink Fresh seemed to get his legs back underneath him, not even having to use his special combos to take both stocks off of Mr. R to even the set at 1-1. After the loss Mr. R decided to counter pick to FD which worked out very well for him, getting a two-stock while somehow surviving until 173%. In game 4, Pink Fresh made the questionable call to take Mr. R to Battlefield but he was miraculously able to pull it off and force game 5. The energy in the crowd was electric for game 5, but unfortunately it was not enough to save Pink Fresh from being eliminated. Mr. R used some incredible DI and matchup knowledge to survive and move on to Loser’s Quarters.
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Larry Lurr vs. Ally
The stakes were high for the two former APEX champions in this match, with both players facing elimination. Ally took game 1 convincingly, forcing Larry Lurr to make the switch to Donkey Kong to counter Ally’s overwhelming Mario. In game 2 this looked like the perfect call, with Larry Lurr using Donkey Kong’s cargo throws to up-air to bring an early end to both of Ally’s stocks in just over a minute. Before game 3 Ally took a long moment to consider counter-picking a character against Larry Lurr’s DK. He held the marker over Shulk for a long period, which whipped the crowd into a frenzy of “Shulk!” chants. In the end Ally decided to stick with Mario. This turned out to be the correct call as Ally was able to win a close game 3 and take advantage of an unfortunate game 4 SD by Larry Lurr to close out the set. Ally took one another important step to winning his first Smash 4 major and advanced to play Tweek in Loser’s Quarters.
Mr. R vs. VoiD
Mr. R had yet another revenge match to win in top-8, this time it was against VoiD. In their last meeting at Glitch, VoiD managed to 6-0 Mr. R between Winner’s Finals and Grand Finals in a dominating fashion. It was clear Mr. R had spent time watching the VODs from these matches and came prepared this time around, as he took a close game 1 to break his losing streak. VoiD responded quickly in game 2, executing a gorgeous down-air stage spike on Mr. R to finish a very convincing two-stock. After that it was all Mr. R who won a close game 3 and got a hard-read up-smash to win game 4 and advance. VoiD was certainly disappointed that he could not continue his success against Mr. R, though he will surely get another chance to exact his revenge soon.
Tweek vs. Ally
This match saw a seasoned Smash veteran pitted against a relative newcomer to the big stage. However in game 1 it would have been difficult to tell which player was which. Tweek jumped out to an early lead and finished the game with a forward air that bounced Ally from the ground all the way into the upper blast zone. Ally struck back with a two-stock in game 2 and a great comeback in game 3 to take the set count to 2-1. In game 4 Tweek was finally able to convert his Cross-Slash limit break against Ally and win emphatically, forcing the second game 5 situation of top-8. Ally took several minutes to select a counter-pick stage and eventually choose Lylat. The payoff for that selection came late in the first stock, when Ally jab-gimped Tweek who then got caught underneath the stage. Tweek managed to keep things close, but in the end Ally was able to end the young Cloud main's run to survive and advance to Loser’s Semis against Mr. R.
Abadango vs. Marss
With Tweek’s elimination, Marss was now the lone American left in the field. He had the tall task of needing to defeat one of Japan’s greatest players to make it to Grand Finals on winner’s side. Despite being the foreign player, Abadango had definitely become the crowd favorite at this point with his impressive Mewtwo play. Both players were essentially even during the first stock of game 1, but Abadango was able to take advantage of whiffed grabs by Marrs to close out the game with a powerful up-smash. In game 2 Marss jumped to an early lead before seeing it almost slip away with smart play by Abadango, but Marss was able to catch him with a Boost Kick off of a roll to seal the deal. In game 3 we saw an attempt at mindgames with Marss taunting Abadango, who was offstage. Unfortunately for him Abadango took the game with a show stopping neutral-air to foot stool cancel b-reversed Disable to up-smash that was quite possibly the most exciting kill in top-8. In game 4, Marss counter-picked to Duck Hunt but Abadango simply had too much momentum and closed out the set. With that Abadango became the first ever Mewtwo main to compete in a Grand Finals for Smash 4, and Marss would be forced to wait for his opponent in Loser’s Finals.
Ally vs. Mr. R
If there wasn’t enough already at stake, both players in this match were the lone remaining representatives from their respective countries (Canada and the Netherlands). Mr. R won game 1 against Ally by using his needles very effectively to limit his approach options. Game 2 looked to be more of the same until Ally slowly climbed back into the match and used F.L.U.D.D. to exhaust Mr. R’s recovery. This led to an easy down-smash and an improbable victory for Ally. Game 3 was yet another last-hit scenario that went to Mr. R. In game 4 Ally managed to stay alive until 226% while gaining 54% extra credit on Mr. R. Mr. R brought the game back and kept it close, but made an unfortunate mental error in down-airing off-stage to lose his final stock. This set the stage for yet another brilliant game 5. Ally started off on the wrong footing with an SD, losing his first stock and causing him to have as much as a 100% deficit on the final stock. Despite this, Ally managed to make a miraculous comeback using constant movement, up-air strings, and a back-throw to survive. Mr. R will likely be disappointed in himself for this set due to the fact that he had ample opportunity games in 4 and 5 to close it out.
Ally vs. Marss
After a short break, Loser’s Finals was set to begin. After Ally’s improbable loser’s run he seemed to have nerves of steel as he played an extremely impressive game 1. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Marss seemed to be having a difficult time shaking off his loss to Abadango. He missed several punishes that had seemed automatic in previous sets and whiffed a grab that allowed Ally to get a charged forward smash for the win in game 2. Game 3 quickly turned into a victory lap for Ally, who was suddenly playing his best Smash of the day. A missed back-air cost Marss his first stock, and Ally took his second with an up-smash at 0%. While Marss may be upset about his play in this particular set, he can hold his head high knowing that he placed higher than any other American at Pound. Ally had now completed an incredible loser’s run all of the way into Grand Finals.
Abadango vs. Ally
This Grand Finals was one that I’m sure very few people saw coming, with Abadango being a Mewtwo main who barely cracked the top-50 at Genesis 3 and Ally appearing in his first national Grand Finals since Smash 4 was released. Game 1 started fairly slowly. Both players seemed to be content with defensive play while they felt out their opponent. Abadango struck first, grabbing Ally out of the air and up-throwing to take the first stock. Ally evened things out shortly afterwards with a well-spaced back-air. After nearly getting caught in multiple smashes by Ally, Abadango closed the game out by reading Ally’s spot-dodge and connecting a forward-air from the center of Smashville. Game 2 was also very tight, Abadango nearly had his shield broken from an Ally up-smash but instead turned it into an up-throw to win. With the set count at 2-0 it seemed inevitable that what was once unthinkable was about to happen. A Mewtwo main was about to win a Smash major. Abadango went up early in game 3 and never looked back. With a well placed forward air, Abadango won his first American Smash 4 major and earned a place for both him and Mewtwo in the history books.
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