This year’s Golden Week holiday let the world witness some of the best Smash Ultimate gameplay we’ve ever seen! Japan had not one, not two, but three major events during this time period. The last two even ended up becoming P-Tier on LumiRank’s tournament tiering system. First was Maesuma’ Grand Wars with 318 entrants, then DELTA 8 with a whopping 516 contestants. However, both were dwarfed by the final event to begin on Golden Week. Kagaribi 12 boasted a gargantuan 2,030 entrants! If you thought that number was pretty impressive, you’d be correct. Kagaribi 12 is the largest Ultimate tournament this season and the largest ever in Japan!
However, that’s only scratching the surface. There was something else very interesting for Smash Ultimate’s meta going on here. You see, there were a lot of players from around the world flying in for Delta 8 and Kagaribi 12. These names include highly prestigious players such as Sparg0, Zomba, MkLeo, Glutonny, BassMage, MKBigBoss and Big D. Yet despite all of that, not a single player from outside Japan placed within the Top 8 for either Delta 8 or Kagaribi 12. As for Maesuma’ Grand Wars, it also had exclusively Japanese players in the Top 8. There just also happened to be less players from overseas competing in that one.
Going into Kagaribi 12, both of Japan’s titans Miya and acola were coming in hot. Miya had just won Maesuma’ Grand Wars, albeit acola wasn’t in attendance for it. And then acola won DELTA 8. As for Kagaribi itself, the contestants left for the Top 8 were as follows:
Mashita “acola” Hayato (Winners)
Taro “Hurt” Yamada (Winners)
“Miya” (Winners)
“TamaPDaifuku” (Winners)
Takuma “Tea” Hirooka (Losers)
Sota “Zackray” Okada (Losers)
Kengo “KEN” Suzuki (Losers)
Shuto “Shuton” Moriya (Losers)
As for the actual event, here’s how the Top 8 played out.
The Top 8:
Kagaribi 12’s Top 8 started off with a rather explosive bout between Shuton and Tea in Losers. Shuton grabbed two games, but Tea ultimately took the victory 3-2. Next, we had Zackray prevailing against KEN with a very solid 3-0. After this came a complete nailbiter of a set between acola and Hurt in Winners. It was incredibly close, nearly timed out and came down to a last hit, last stock situation. Ultimately, Hurt closed it out 3-2 and sent acola down to Losers.
Next in Winners was another very close set between TamaPDaifuku and Miya. Miya ended up emerging victorious here 3-2. Now in Losers again, two ZETA DIVISION-sponsored players were set to play, acola and Tea. Tea managed to take a game, but acola won very convincingly with a 3-1. After that we got a set with Zackray and TamaPDaifuku, which Zackray won 3-1. Back up in Winners, it was time for Winners Finals between Hurt and Miya. Miya then ended up sending Hurt down to Losers with a 3-1 victory.
Losers Semis was next with acola and Zackray, the former being the current best player in Japan (and the world) and the latter the former best player in Japan. Acola won here a very strong 3-0. It was then time for Losers Finals between acola and Hurt. Hurt won 3-2 again, although much more convincingly this time, ending the last game with a three-stock lead. Finally, there was one last battle, with our two contenders in Grand Finals being Miya and Hurt. The set was close but in the end, Hurt didn’t get the reset and Miya took home the gold with a 3-2!
Final Standings:
1st: Miya
2nd: Hurt
3rd: Acola
4th: Zackray
5th: TamaPDaifuku
5th: Tea
7th: KEN
7th: Shuton
Author's Note: Wow, that tournament was amazing. Genuinely one of the best Ultimate tournaments ever if you ask me. And like, a lot of those sets were amazing, like both the Hurt v acola sets, Miya vs TamaPDaifuku and of course the Grand Finals. What do you think though? Please let us know in the comments below!
Credits:
Editing & Writing:
Zerp
Thumbnail Graphic:
Zerp
Social:
Zerp
