GENESIS X3 had quite the intense Super Smash Bros. Melee Losers Bracket on Saturday, February 14th, as some of the best players in the world fought to be in the Top 8 on Sunday, February 15th.
After a day full of upsets and surprises, Justin ‘Wizzrobe‘ Hallett, Jake ‘Jmook‘ DiRado, Alvaro ‘Trif’ Moral, Miles ‘Soonsay‘ Foster, Alexandra ‘Salt‘ Rennie, Joshua ‘Joshman‘ Lyras, Kyle ‘Krudo‘ and Cody Schwab have made it to the Top 8.
GENESIS X3 Top 64 Sees Best Players in the World Struggle
The Top 64 was full of the usual suspects, but the bracket didn’t unfold as fans expected as the day went on. Zain Naghmi, Cody Schwab and Juan ‘Hungrybox‘ DeBiedma are the top three players in the world, but they all landed in Losers — and only one of them could come out.
Cody Schwab faced Pikachu main Dan ‘Swift’ Petruso in Winners Round 1, which saw the world’s best Fox lose 3-1. He fell to the Losers side.
Zain was already showing signs of weakness early in the Top 64. The Smash community could be heard screaming throughout the venue as ‘RapMonster,’ a Luigi ranked #28 in the world, kept landing wild combos on the GOAT. Zain eventually lost 3-1, sending him to Losers quite early on.
Hungrybox was looking pretty strong as the Top 64 began. He beat Riley ‘Zasa’ Matson in a convincing 3-0 and then beat Salt 3-1. However, he fell to Soonsay after a super close 3-2 match.
At this point, the top players were all in Losers and would need to fight their way out if they wanted to get into Top 8. To make it even more intense, only one of them could make it out. The way the bracket fell in Losers, Cody Schwab and Zain ended up facing each other — and whoever won would then have to face Hungrybox to see who would make it back into the Top 8.
Cody and Zain had a pretty intense back-and-forth, but Zain ultimately came in 17th place after a defeat from Cody. Seeing the best player in the world fall into Losers and scrub out was a huge shock to the Melee community.
Cody Schwab then had to face Hungrybox for a shot at Top 8. Cody’s Fox has proven tricky for Hungrybox in the past, but it was really a toss up between the two going into the match.
However, the Jigglypuff main didn’t have his head in the game. As screaming fans cheered him on, Hungrybox continued to make pretty questionable mistakes against Cody, sometimes even losing by two stocks. After dropping to Losers, Hungrybox had tweeted that he ‘threw away’ a chance at winning GENESIS, even though he’d had huge comebacks in the past. But he was clearly off in the match, losing 0-3.
“Just having a rough weekend in general,” Hungrybox tweeted after the loss. “Game is hard otherwise it wouldn’t be special. I don’t know who to blame anymore.”
GENESIS X3 Melee Top 8 Schedule
Super Smash Bros. Melee’s Top 8 is scheduled to take place after Ultimate (which will also have quite the exciting Top 8 tomorrow). Tune in at 5:30 PM PST to GENESIS’ Twitch stream to catch the action.
Here are the current matchups:
- A: Wizzrobe vs. Jmook
- B: Trif vs. Soonsay
- F: Salt vs. Joshman
- G: Krudo vs. Cody Schwab
If the Top 64 proved anything, it’s that it’s tough to predict what will happen at GENESIS X3. Wizzrobe and Jmook will likely be a pretty close one, although Wizzy is ranked higher in the SSBRank at the moment — although not by much. Trif and Soonsay are also predicted to be very close.
On the Losers side, Joshman will likely win against Salt. While Salt has been quite entertaining to watch thanks to some very aggressive and fast Captain Falcon play, Joshman is currently #4 in the world, which showed throughout the weekend thus far. Cody Schwab has also been playing super confidentially and will very likely win against Krudo. He will also probably beat Joshman, although it is a very close matchup.
It’s a safe bet that Cody Schwab will win the entire tournament. However, anything can happen at a Major like this.
