This weekend marks the Netherlands' largest major tournament to date: Syndicate 2016! Hosted at the Jaarbeurs convention center in Utrecht on 09/10 and 09/11, Syndicate has attracted over 500 players from all over Europe and beyond. That figure includes over 200 entrants for Super Smash Bros. Melee and 300+ for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, so you don't want to miss this tournament. To catch the mayhem live, tune in to GeekyGoonSquad and SaltyPlayground. Keep reading if you'd like to learn more about what's in store for the Wii U side of things.
Players
It's not just that he's never lost a European tournament; Mr.R is widely acknowledged as one of the strongest Smash 4 players in the world. Repeated top 8 appearances on foreign continents (including 5th place at last month's Umebura S.A.T.) lend further support to his greatness. Though he's never outright lost, he has dropped a few sets. It appears the rest of Europe is finally gaining ground on him. Could this be the tournament where his reign finally ends?
Rich Brown has really proven himself in the past few months. He's risen to the #4 spot on SoCal's recently-released September PR update. He beat Yuto "Abadango" Kawamura, the man who brought Mewtwo into the national spotlight, in the ditto. Now he's trying his luck overseas against Mr.R and the rest of Europe's top players. As the second seed, he has a very good bracket, but also a lot to prove. He definitely benefits from his character's strong Sheik matchup, which could help him vs. Mr.R.
Ixis is a strong contender for #2 in all of Europe at the moment, winning pretty much everything he's attended lately. His resume includes 1st at Neokan Party 2 (over tons of international talent), 2nd at PPT behind Abadango, and 1st at almost everything he attends in the UK. That being said, he still has a number of losses to other prominent European players, so it seems as if the gap between him and Mr.R is still substantial.
The Brawl prodigy is still around, and he still has an amazing Wario. He also added Falcon to his arsenal and effectively dual-mains the two characters. His playstyle is very unorthodox, unpredictable and entertaining. His recent wins over Ixis, S1-14, Elexiao, Griffith and more are somewhat marred by inconsistency. However, he's currently ranked 1st on the French PR and could potentially beat anyone in attendance on a good day.
Currently ranked 2nd in the Netherlands, S1-14 is one of two players to take a set from Mr.R. Granted, it was against his Bayonetta, but even the next set vs. his Sheik was close. He's been beating iStudying for months on end and wins most of the tournaments he attends in the Netherlands, earning him the title of best Ness in Europe. He also has a Mario, but has been making an effort to solo main the psychic child.
iStudying (#3 on the Netherlands' PR) needs no introduction. He's an excellent player who's best known for beating ESAM and MVD to take 2nd at BEAST 6. He's a stylish player with devastating combos, but he struggles against S1-14 as well as a few other players. In spite of this, he still manages very consistent placings and is possibly top 5 in all of Europe.
Meru is ranked 4th in the Netherlands, but recently spent some time in Japan. There, he beat a number of exceptional players including Ri-ma and Takera, while outplacing Peach legend Kie. He even took 1st place at one of Takera's house tournaments. He may not be as recognizable as some other premier players, but you shouldn't underestimate him by any means.
PikaForLife beat iStudying at Avalon U-V and fell just short of top 8 at Neokan Party 2. With his recent improvement, he's arguably the strongest Pikachu player in Europe. He usually teams with S1-14, forming a powerful healing core with Ness' PSI Magnet. Don't be surprised to see him and his teammate in finals, and don't count him out for top 8 in singles either.
This man won Albion, a large UK tournament, with pre-patch Bayonetta. Since he was relatively unknown before that, some people attributed this feat to his character. However, he kept doing really well after the nerfs, winning a few locals and holding his own against the rest of the Netherlands. He's now acknowledged as one of the best Bayonetta players in all of Europe.
Sodrek is arguably the best German smasher in attendance, rivaled only by quiK. He's the strongest Fox in Europe and one of the best period, even receiving compliments from Larry "eLevate Larry Lurr" Holland. He has been struggling a bit more lately, but his "poor" placements are still great by most people's standards. He's also the other player who's taken a set from Mr.R in tournament, notably against his Sheik.
quiK is an extremely technical, fast-paced ZSS main. He has wins over Sodrek and Jbandrew, while narrowly losing to Ixis. Those of you who followed Brawl probably remember that he was one of the stronger ZSS players even back then. He still deserves more recognition than he gets outside of Europe.
Jbandrew recently moved to Germany, where he predictably places pretty well, but he still can't quite crack the two players above him. Still, he's got wins over ESAM, ANTi, Megafox, Purple~H, Light and more. Since the MK nerf he's been suffering a character crisis, so hopefully he can figure something out and do better.
Another one of Germany's best, LoNg0uw has beaten cyve, iStudying, quiK, Ho, vyQ, Light, Jbandrew and more. He's probably the best ROB in Europe, although Robo~Luigi and Nin could be other contenders. He falls back on Cloud when ROB doesn't work, and now seems to lean towards dual-maining the two.
Light plays a very aggressive, unorthodox Sheik. His most notable achievement was arguably putting iStudying into Losers at BEAST 6, as well as eliminating S1-14. However, he didn't do so hot at PPT (the latest big German national), losing to Destany R1 and not making it very far in losers' bracket. This leaves him as somewhat of a wild-card.
J.Miller won BEAST 5, the biggest EU tournament at the time, then took a long break from Smash. Even still, he's still one of UK's best players. He has recent wins over Sodrek, Glutonny's pre-patch Bayo, and more, with consistently strong results overall. He even put up a great fight against Larry Lurr at the Rio eGames. He projects to face Glutonny in winners' bracket, which definitely won't be a set to miss.
Ho plays many characters, most of which are top tier. Despite some inconsistency, he sometimes does extremely well. When you combine a wide arsenal of characters with a high skill peak, you have someone who could easily exceed his current seeding and make it far in bracket.
Khanage is one of UK's best players at this point, who notably beat Spain's Greward at Neokan Party 2. He's a rising star and keeps placing really high at most tournaments he attends, to the point where he may have exceeded Meru in skill. Perhaps this tournament will help settle who's really the better player?
Like Ho, Griffith has a deadly set of top-tier characters to choose from. He used to be ranked 7th, and now comfortably sits at 4th. He has what it takes to win over Glutonny and Ixis, even claiming some 1st place spots. He's improved a lot since the game's launch, no doubt because of his flexibility in character choice and playstyle.
Known "french phenom" ln the US, Kesa was ormerly ranked 10th on the PR. Sadly he's fallen off a bit due to inactivity. That said, he beat a number of SoCal's best players while staying there, rarely failing to place well. He's currently unranked on the French PR, but that's hardly indicative of his skill. On top of that, his flashy, punish-heavy style is exciting to watch and certainly complements his character choice well.
Angragon could be the best Falco in the world. He consistently finishes top 3 in France and has a lot of high-profile wins to his name. Because of his skill and matchup inexperience on the part of his foreign opponents, he could easily make it really far at Syndicate. Unfortunately, he's seeded rather poorly and has to play iStudying early in bracket. We can only hope that match ends up on stream.
France has more than one low-tier hero. Scarhi has an impressive list of wins, including Glutonny, Griffith, Greward and Man. He's not the most consistent player, for instance performing poorly at BEAST 6 . However, he can pretty much beat anyone when he's playing on point, and so has huge potential to cause upsets.
Most Smash 4 fans know of Kamemushi and Andrew "ScAtt" Huntley, but few realize there's a third Mega Man who gets consistent national results. Greward has been dominant in Spain for years now, but Rydle and Robo~Luigi have been putting up a fight lately, and winning a few tournaments over him. His pocket Bowser isn't a joke, and is often his preferred character to use earlier in bracket. He's even a solid contender for top 5 in Europe, with previous wins against iStudying, Ixis and more.
Marcbri is another very strong Spanish player. He mains Diddy, and sometimes pulls out a fearsome Cloud when things don't go his way. Though second overall behind Greward, he now has more competition as the rest of Spain improves. Unlike most European Diddy players, Marcbri is exceptionally good as remaining safe and playing defensively.
Here's another excellent ROB/Cloud dual main, this time from Spain. Robo~Luigi has been around for a while, and it's hard to say who's better between him and LoNg0uw. He recently got 2nd at Sonic Boom, the biggest tourney in Spain, defeating Greward, Pefo, Sefi and more. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to crack Bayonetta, so hopefully he can avoid her this weekend or show off some new strategies.
Pefo is another Sonic on the rise lately and a probable top 5 in Spain. With Syndicate taking place in the Netherlands, the most-represented countries don't have any solid Sonics to practice against. Don't be surprised if he gets really far, even winning his projected matches against Rich Brown and quiK in the process.
Switzerland's strongest player is one of the better Yoshi mains. His movement is fluid and precise, lending to a very stream-friendly playstyle. Even without an army in attendance, he and his countrymen could easily end up taking some prisoners at Syndicate.
The best player from Norway showed up strong at Battalion, a big German tourney, surprising everyone by beating Sodrek. This is impressive considering the fact that Norway has historically been overlooked. Ryu being another very rare character in Europe, don't be surprised if he does it again and beats some big names.
Luxembourg is surprisingly good at Smash, and LuiS is their best player. He's done pretty well at the few internationals events he's attended. His Yoshi is one of the best in Europe, so I think he could put Luxembourg on the map with some good upsets. Of course, you might still struggle to see Luxembourg on the map without a magnifying glass, but what can you do?
One of Ireland's best players is coming in off a 2nd place finish in his home country. Skarfelt has a very technical Fox, and one who's been making a ton of progress lately. He recently traveled to Japan, and although he didn't perform well there, the experience seems to have contributed to his recent improvements.
Yes, that's right: the best player from Israel uses Ganon. In fact, he's one of the strongest Ganon mains out there. Though he projects to drown in pools based on seeding, he can easily reach top 32 if he plays well. Since Scarhi is in his pool, there's a good chance that Shulk vs. Ganon could end up on stream Saturday.
Note: Many thanks to user @Tetra-76 for providing tons of information on Europe's best players. Without her, this article wouldn't have been completed before the tournament.
Streams & Schedule
Day 1 (Saturday, Sept. 10):
Time
|
Event
11:00 – 13:00 | Pool Wave 1
13:00 – 15:00 | Pool Wave 2
15:00 – 20:00 | Doubles Bracket
20:00 | Crew BattleDay 2 (Sunday, Sept. 11):
Time
|
Event
10:00 – 17:00 | Singles Top 64
11:00 – 17:00 | Amateur Bracket
17:00 – 20:00 | Singles Top 8
All listed times are GMT+2, placing them 6 to 9 hours ahead of mainland US times. Be sure to account for this when tuning in. Streaming will be split between GeekyGoonSquad and SaltyPlayground.Day 1 (Saturday, Sept. 10):
11:00 – 13:00 | Pool Wave 1
13:00 – 15:00 | Pool Wave 2
15:00 – 20:00 | Doubles Bracket
20:00 | Crew Battle
10:00 – 17:00 | Singles Top 64
11:00 – 17:00 | Amateur Bracket
17:00 – 20:00 | Singles Top 8
