Chalking up his first major win for 2017, C9|Ally has taken the gold at 2GGC: Greninja Saga. Triumphing from Winners’ side, the Canadian Mario was able to assure his place at the 2GG Championship Finals at the end of 2017–and win with enough time to catch his flight back home.
The bracket gods seemed to favor Ally for this event, as he was able to avoid his bracket demons and make it all the way to Winners’ side of Grand Finals by only dropping two games. Taking out Japanese Brawl legend Edge, 2GG|komorikiri and second in line to the US Rosalina crown falln on his way to Winners’ Finals, Ally’s final two matches were against MSF|Larry Lurr. With the tournament running over and the clock ticking down to Ally’s flight, he would have to defeat Larry in two sets if he were to get home in time. Luckily, Ally made quick work of Larry, beating him 3-0 in Winners’ Finals and then 3-1 in Grand Finals. Clearly his Mario didn’t want to work any unpaid overtime.
AND LET'S GO MADE IT TO MY FLIGHT
— Ally (C9)
(@C9AlIy) May 21, 2017
Larry’s luck just seems to be against him at Saga events, as he is able to make it to Grands in spectacular fashion before falling at the final obstacle. The main upside to this Saga was that he managed to stay in Winners’ for the majority of the tournament, defeating his demon LG|Abadango in the first round of bracket and racking up victories over IMT|ANTi and Mr. R. Larry’s still got time to secure that Saga victory and I hope we’ll see his lightning fast Fox at the 2GG Championship Finals.
Someone must have been handing out 1-ups at Esports Arena, as Greninja Saga saw the glorious return of another notable Mario main. Struggling to hit his stride during early 2017, ANTi looked back in his prime during bracket. After dropping down to Losers following a loss to Larry Lurr, ANTi managed to eliminate both TSM|ZeRo and Mr. R during his trip through the lower bracket. He would eventually bow out after losing a tight five game set to komorikiri in Losers’ Semis, but the fire looks to be back for this Brawl veteran. No longer washed, this man is looking crisp and dry going into the Summer of Smash.
NOT WASHED?! @Anti advances to #2GGC Greninja Saga top 8! pic.twitter.com/GdJdm9z6MJ
— 2GGreninja Saga (@2GGaming) May 21, 2017
Falln’s Greninja Saga performance definitely forced people to sit up and remember this SoCal Rosalina player. His opening match in bracket would see him defeating TSM|ZeRo 3-2, to the shock of everyone. Taking game 1 and 2 against his Diddy, falln forced ZeRo to pull Cloud out of his pocket to get past his Rosalina. The switch seemed to be working, with ZeRo regaining his composure and taking falln all the way to game 5. Despite the pressure and the bad matchup, falln was able to hold his nerve and win the final game with a 2-stock. This victory allows falln to join RNG|Dabuz and Kirihara in the exclusive club of Rosalina players who have taken down the world number one. Falln would manage one more win, defeating Canadian Ryu and world’s nicest man UBCEA|Locus 3-1 before future champion Ally sent him into Losers’. From there, it would be the turn of fellow Mario ANTi to deliver the final blow, sending him out at fifth place.
As for the contingent of ninja frogs who had been flown out to Greninja Saga, Losers’ bracket would see several of them fighting against each other to stay alive. One of the first matches of Losers’ would see the two European Greninjas–orKs|Elexiao and iStudying–battling for their tournament life, just to have the winner face off against Japanese Greninja some. Some’s victory over Elexiao lead him to face fellow Japanese Greninja Lea for 17th place, bringing the streak of frog on frog violence to an end. Lea would be the highest placing Greninja, taking 13th place after losing 3-0 to ZeRo.
Following this event, ZeRo has surged back up to the top of the 2GGC leaderboard, with Dabuz in second and komorikiri in third. Nairo Saga is the next scheduled event on the tour, with it also acting as the Summer season finale, so expect some fierce competition as players try to snap up those remaining auto-qualifier spots.
RESULTS:
1. C9|Ally (Mario/Canada)
2. MSF|Larry Lurr (Fox/USA)
3. 2GG|komorikiri (Cloud, Sonic, Lucina/Japan)
4. IMT|ANTi (Mario, Zero Suit Samus/USA)
5. falln (Rosalina and Luma/USA)
5. P1|Tweek (Cloud, DK/USA)
7. Mr. R (Sheik/Netherlands)
7. UBCEA|Locus (Ryu/Canada)