Umebura 25 Preview: Japan takes on the USA feat. NAKAT, Kamemushi, VoiD and more!

This Saturday, September 10, Kanto's premier tournament series returns for another installment. Umebura 25 marks the first big tournament in East Japan since Umebura S.A.T. last month. You might think this one would be less exciting, but that's hardly the case when brand new international guests are coming! This time, Counter Logic Gaming's finest Super Smash Bros. Wii U players, James "CLG VoiD" Makekau-Tyson and Tyrell "CLG NAKAT" Coleman, will try their luck against Kanto's best. In addition, Richard "CLG Keitaro" King and D'Ron "D1" Maingrette will also be there, so expect some top-notch English commentary. Be sure to tune in to SHI Gaming if you want to catch the action live.

Players​

Though CLG is coming through with world-class players, Kanto has many of their own. Here are some that VoiD and/or NAKAT will likely have to overcome if they want to win this tournament:

Yuto "Abadango" Kawamura needs no introduction. This talented multi-character wizard has made it into numerous international top 8s, including some tournament wins. He is easily one of the largest threats in Smash 4. On top of that, he's proven quite difficult for VoiD. He beat him on his way to victory at Pound 2016, and again at CEO 2016 and Midwest Mayhem 2. Though he hasn't fought NAKAT yet, he arguably poses the largest threat to both international players, having proven himself excellent at dissecting foreign playstyles.

Kamemushi is another huge threat to the American players. At EVO 2016 he only lost to a Canadian, and his winners' bracket run included a victory over VoiD. However, he does have a recent loss to Gackt, a relatively unknown Ness player, so it's possible that NAKAT could pose a greater threat to him. At Umebura S.A.T., he finished 4th losing only to Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada and Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby. A lot depends on whether Kame opts to use his main or play one of his *ahem* unusual characters during pools.

KEN already proved he has what it takes to win tournaments at Umebura 22, his first major victory. Naturally, he wasn't content with that, nor was he content with being the #1 ranked player on the Sumamate WiFi ladder. He ascended to a new level through his victory at Umebura S.A.T., where he beat both Nairo and Dabuz and dropped only two games the entire tournament. Such dominant statements are rare in this turbulent stage of the game. If KEN plays that well again, he could become the second player to attain back-to-back wins at Umebura.

In spite of his tag, Earth is quite comfortable in the air. He seems to glide right over the obstacles that plague lesser players. Though he had a rough bracket at Umebura S.A.T., just missing out on top 16, he finished 4th at Sumabato the very next weekend. His most recent win was at Tamisuma #62, a single-elimination tournament hosted yesterday. This summer has seen him playing some of the best Smash of his career, so expect him to cause trouble for his opponents this weekend.

Nietono is another perennial favorite who can be expected to perform quite well at Umebura 25. He's coming in off a very respectable 9th place at Umebura S.A.T., and before that he attained consistent results overseas during the Summer of Smash. His merciless ledge-trapping serves him well against the likes of Cloud, and could also help vs. NAKAT's selection of characters. As the most consistent Diddy Kong player in Japan by far, few players want to be seeded against him.

Umebura wouldn't feel complete without Rain , the player who has won the most of their events and the only one to win consecutive ones. While it's no secret that he isn't as dominant as he used to be, this is partially because everyone else has improved at an impressive rate. Like Earth, he narrowly missed top 16 at Umebura S.A.T. thanks to a very hard bracket. Though he didn't perform very well while visiting the US, he's always been a much stronger player on his own soil, something that works to his advantage against visiting players.

Kirihara impressed a ton of people when he showed up to EVO 2016. Some of the people he played friendlies against insisted he was actually stronger than Dabuz! Unfortunately, he was double-eliminated by Toon Link and didn't quite make top 32. The bold claims others made about him remain unproven. Combine that with the fact that he's often unable to attend offline tournaments, and you have the making of a do-or-die opportunity for redemption here at Umebura 25.

Tsu- has overtaken Motsunabe as Japan's best Lucario. A win over Ranai helped propel him to 7th place at Umebura S.A.T., one of the best results for Lucario at a major to date. He was also one of two players able to take a game off of KEN (the other was Dabuz). Add to that a 3rd place finish at Umebura 24, and you have real reason to expect another top 8 finish this weekend.

Speaking of Umebura 24, Pichi was the champion. He was also the reason that Tsu- didn't place higher, as he double-eliminated him (and beat Motsunabe to boot!). Before that, he also won a tournament over Nietono at Waseda University last fall. His playstyle is flashy, but his punish game sacrifices no ruthlessness for show. Any players not on top of their game can expect to lose to him.

T almost won Umebura 24 and finished 9th at Umebura S.A.T., but before that was virtually unknown. It's exciting that such high-caliber talent can be hidden in plain sight. Unlike many Japanese players who came up on WiFi, T had been attending offline events. He just needed that final breakthrough to carry him to notoriety. You should definitely watch his recent set vs. Ranai, the results of which you can easily surmise from its inclusion in this paragraph.
UPDATE: T cancelled and is no longer attending.

Eim is Japan's most consistent Sheik main at this point. He knocked YOC and Earth into losers' at Umebura S.A.T. before losing to another Pit player. He finished 13th, the same placing as such legends as Ranai and Komorikiri. He's proven his proficiency at the ditto by beating Shu, another great Sheik player in attendance this weekend. With VoiD's own expertise in the Sheik ditto, we can only hope that the two end up squaring off in bracket.

Brood and Raito have both shown themselves capable of beating some of the best players in the world with Duck Hunt. However, they had a fairly rough time at Umebura S.A.T., where they both went 0-2 in bracket. There's no reason to expect they won't bounce back from this, however, as they rarely find themselves eliminated that early. It will be interesting to see if the CLG players came prepared for this unusual matchup.

Some is a fan-favorite for his unconventional character choice and flashy footstool combos. While Oisiitofu had been getting better results with the character for some time, Some managed to outplace him at Umebura S.A.T. and put up a good fight against Nairo in the process. Unfortunately, he ran into Nietono (his personal demon) in losers' bracket. If he can avoid Sheik and Diddy (no small feat) or show something new in those matchups, this could finally be his tournament.

Nasubi is more often seen at Sumabato, but he's been mostly absent from recent Kansai tournaments. He did attend Super Smash Con last month, but he didn't do very well there. He did somewhat better at Umebura S.A.T., but still couldn't get through Earth's Pit to advance in losers. This came as a surprise to anyone who saw his impressive string of placements earlier this year, where he peaked at an impressive 2nd place. Nasubi has what it takes to win, but certain matchups (particularly Bayonetta) seem to cause him a lot of trouble.

Masha is a bit of a wild card. Those of you who followed Brawl probably remember his exceptional Falco, which was most renowned for beating Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman to claim an impressive 4th place at Sunrise Tournament. These days he is rarely seen at tournaments, but he does quite well online. Japan's WiFi scene has produced many other great players who have gone on to dominate offline. He is also one of the few top players to stick with Shulk, and no others make the character look as lethal as Masha does.

Brawl fans will also recognize OCEAN , who at one time was in contention for the title of World's Best R.O.B. main. He's attended tournaments sporadically throughout Smash 4's life and was especially successful during its early days. Just as he was starting to appear washed-up, Sumabato 12 proved that wasn't the case. There, he made it to winners' semis after beating several top players. For now, OCEAN remains afloat and threatens to make waves yet again.

Spoiler: More Great Players

Yui and Shogun
Hayato. and Manzoku
Nyanko and Kakera
Shiki and Lea
Shu
RSZ|Umeki
SHIG|9B
Choco
kept
YOC
Ryuji
Takera
Kisha
Songn
Hikari
bAhuto
Daiki
mow
SHIG|Shimitake
Pon

Schedule

Time | Event
10:30 a.m. | Opening ceremony
11:00 a.m. | Pools begin
1:00 p.m. | Lunch break
2:00 p.m. | Main tournament
8:00 p.m. | Event ends

All times listed are GMT+9, placing them 16 hours ahead of EDT and 16 hours ahead of PDT. If you live in the States, you'll have to stay up late on Friday night in order to see this event live. If you're European, this will likely start in the wee hours of the morning, but you should easily be able to catch the ending around late morning. Once again, all of this will be streamed on SHI Gaming, and you should also be able to watch the replays if the time-shift just doesn't work for you.

 

I'm glad Pon got a shout out

 

Late cancellations: T, Manzoku, Shimitake.

 

I really hope NAKAT and YOC do well

 

He was also one of two players able to take a game off of KEN (the other was Nairo)

Wasn't it Dabuz?

 

Late cancellations: T, Manzoku, Shimitake.

RIP T :'(

 

Wasn't it Dabuz?

That's impossible, because then I'd look silly. But really, thanks for the correction.

 

What did it mean by, "He (Earth) seems to glide right over the obstacles that plague lesser players?"

 

What did it mean by, "He (Earth) seems to glide right over the obstacles that plague lesser players?"

I was alluding to his consistency while making a Pit joke.