UGC Smash Open Preview: Wii U Singles feat. ZeRo, MKLeo, Ally, Mr.R, Kameme and more

On December 2-4, Smashers from all over the world will gather in Collinsville, IL for UGC Smash Open. This new and exciting major was organized by UGC Events in conjunction with renowned Smash hosts Matt "MattDotZeb" Zaborowski and Bassem "Bear" Dahdouh. With a $40,000 prize pool split between Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the stakes have been set incredibly high.

With an earlier event preview taking a look at the Melee side of things, we'll now look at what's in store for Smash Wii U competitors and enthusiasts.

Schedule & Stream

Like most Smash tournaments, UGC Open will feature both Singles and Doubles brackets. In addition, there will be a Low Tier tournament hosted on Friday and an Open Ladder featuring 40 setups on all three days. Below you can view the full event schedule. Do note that all listed times are Central Time (UTC-6:00).

UGC Open will feature two streams dedicated exclusively to Smash Wii U. UnrivaledTournaments will function as the main stream, while Events2Compete will stream other matches of note. You can look forward to top commentary from Daniel "DC" Coke, Phil "EE" Visu, Terrence "TKBreezy" Kershaw, Zak "Coney" Z., D'Ron "D1" Maingrette and more. Below is the commentary and stream schedule, once again in Central Time.

Competitors

There are far too many talented players attending UGC Open to cover them all here. That being said, here are some with notable tournament wins that you can expect will make an impact:

Player Name & Tag | Team(s) | Character(s) | Recent Win(s) | 2v2 Partner
Gonzalo " ZeRo " Barrios | TSM | | KTAR XIX , The Big House 6 and 2GGT: Abadango Saga | Nairo
Elliot "Ally" Carroza | C9 | | Rio de Janeiro eGames Showcase and EVO 2016 | Mew2King
Nairoby " Nairo " Quezada | NRG | | Super Smash Con 2016 | ZeRo
Ramin " Mr.R " Delshad |Free Agent | | Eclipse 2 and Syndicate 2016 | iStudying
Leonardo " MKLeo " Perez | SF and HDG | | Canada Cup 2016 and Smash Factor 5 | Day
Saleem " Salem " Young | MVG | | Olympus , Little Big House 2 , and Collision XIV | Ryuga
Jason " ANTi " Bates | IMT | | CEO 2016 | Larry Lurr
Yuta " Abadango " Kawamura | LG | | TUS Tournament 6 and Clutch City Clash | Kameme
Takuto " Kameme " Ono | DNG | | Umebura 25 | Abadango
Larry " Larry Lurr " Holland | Elevate | | Rebirth VII and 2GGT: Mexico Saga | ANTi
Julian " Zinoto " Carrington | Free Agent | | Midwest Mayhem 5 and Rebirth IX | tyroy
James " VoiD " Makekau-Tyson | CLG | | 2GG: Pay It Forward | NAKAT
Tyler " Marss " Martins | DNL | | Invasion 9 | Pugwest
Marcus " Pink Fresh " Wilson | VGBC | | 2GG: KTAR Saga | CaptainZack
Eric " ESAM " Lew | PG | | Smash The Record 2016 and TGL 9 | MVD
Andrew " ScAtt " Huntley | MVG | | S@X 0614 | Fatality
Wesley " 6WX " Alexander | Circa | | Midwest Mayhem 4 | unlisted
Griffin " Fatality " Miller | Fly | | Battlegrounds 3 | ScAtt
Jason " Mew2King " Zimmerman | MVG and FOX | | Come to Papa 2 | Ally

Vincent " Vinnie " Cannino | Free Agent | | Revelation 2016 | unlisted

You can find the full list of entrants on Smash.gg here.[/CENTER]

The Odds

Now that we've had a look at some of the finest competitors, it's time to consider what to expect in bracket. Note that brackets are not final, so all of this is speculation based on past results.

A dominant ZeRo at The Big House 6.Photo Credits: Jeff Mahieu via Flickr.​

ZeRo probably has the best odds of winning out of anyone, but those odds still aren't great at a tournament as stacked as this one. After a shaky mid-2016, the Chilean champion has made an impressive comeback. Still, his results aren't as dominant as they were in 2015. A number of other top players at this event have multiple wins against him, most notably ANTi, Larry Lurr, Salem and Nairo.

Outside of ZeRo, there are a number of players who always finish strong, but don't usually win premier events. Abadango has remained highly consistent since his Pound 2016 victory, but has yet to recapture that level of glory during subsequent visits. Mr.R has a near-flawless record in Europe, marred only by a 5th place finish at Smashdown World, but a large victory on American soil has thus far eluded him.

Nairo deep in thought at The Big House 6.Photo Credits: Jeff Mahieu via Flickr.​

Other players such as Nairo, Ally and ANTi have tremendous highs that are balanced by depressing lows. All three won premier tournaments over the summer, only to place outside of top 16 at others. As a result, predicting how they'll do this weekend is incredibly difficult. These players have become fan favorites, perhaps in part due to their highly variable performances. They can go the distance, but it's not inevitable that they will.

Some competitors are hard to place due to a lack of exposure. Salem is finally attending more tournaments, and looks to be a truly world-class player, but he still has less experience at majors than the other greats. MKLeo has already proven that he can go toe-to-toe with the best players of North America and Europe. It remains to be seen whether he'll triumph over Japan. All that said, it would be surprising to see either of these players do poorly.

You can see Salem square off against MKLeo in this losers' finals set from KTAR XIX.​

Ever since placing 2nd at EVO 2016, Kameme has been floundering in his placings He did win Umebura 25, but couldn't clutch out several other large Japanese tournaments. His 13th place finish at The Big House 6 was a bit of an under-performance. Still, there's no telling what the crafty Mega Main has up his sleeves. He's been known to use a number of different characters, and has recently been seen training up a Sheik.

While the Tristate region features the likes of Nairo, ANTi and Salem, SoCal will be relying on powerhouses such as Larry Lurr and VoiD. These two routinely jockey for the top spot on their home turf, and both have notable 2GGT Series titles to their names. Larry is one of the few players to beat ZeRo coming from losers' bracket, though unfortunately he lost their most recent encounter. Don't be surprised if you see one or both in top 8 Sunday evening.

It's important not to forget about the Midwest's own homegrown talent, either. Not only did Zinoto come incredibly close to winning a premier tournament, he's also been on a killing spree recently. Others such as Dacota "Pulse | Ryuga" James, Nicholas "UR | Ned" Dovel, Tyler "E2C | Tyroy" Awdisho and Orion "E2C | DarkShad" Sky could also make it quite far in bracket.

Finally, there are a number of other great players not mentioned above who have shown high potential. Among them are Jamaal "Samsora" Morris Jr. and Eric "SS | Mr.E" Weber. While neither has yet managed a major tournament win, both have beaten elite players on multiple occasions. Don't be surprised if they or others cause serious upsets, perhaps climbing to new heights in the process.

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Who do you think is going to win Smash Wii U at the UGC Open? Let us know in the poll and comments section below.

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