In 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has a surprise final 2016 major. It is upon us this weekend, and it’s going to be a wild one. Acting as the last Tier 1 event before Version 2 of the Panda Global Rankings, players wanting to make that top 50 will be fighting tooth and nail to prove themselves in Las Vegas. ZeRo Saga also acts as the final 2GG Saga of the year and potentially the tournament where the “Saga Curse” will finally be broken.
At every Saga named after the guest of honor, that player has failed to take the title. With TSM|ZeRo back on form–winning the past five majors he’s attended–he could finally be the man to break the curse and ring in 2017 as the undisputed world number one. But we have been wrong before. Everyone reckoned that LG|Abadango would romp to victory at his Saga; he actually got 13th. With every player—besides Ranai and PG|ESAM— in the current Panda Global top 15 attending ZeRo Saga, the stage is set for one grand finale, as 2GG rallies its forces to keep the Saga curse alive.
The deck is very much stacked against ZeRo, so let’s look at seven players who have the history and the potential to take the event–or at least keep the curse alive for one more tournament. One such threat is a player who has been absent from majors as of late, but is making his welcome return to defend his hometown of Las Vegas. Arguably the best Ness main in the world, with the Netherlands’ S1 making moves to catch up to him, FOW is coming back from his short hiatus to train up ahead of Genesis 4 in January. Placing 1st at the last two Vegas regionals he attended, FOW’s Ness is by no means out of practice, setting up some astounding PK Rocket kills and showing off some of the new ledge defence tech that he initially pioneered as the world’s best Ness main. FOW is no stranger to the Saga curse, coming 4th at his own Saga back in March. The sting of that loss may steel him to becoming the curse’s enforcer, now that ZeRo has the potential to break it.
Slowly gaining momentum in the USA after his 3rd place at The Big House 6, 2GG|komorikiri is coming into ZeRo Saga with his Limit fully charged and the Chaos Emeralds in his pocket. After a convincing win at Smashdown World, komorikiri’s Cloud and Sonic are looking well prepared for almost any match up–as long as it isn’t a Shulk. ZeRo and komorikiri have played against each other twice in the history of Smash 4, with the last set at The Big House 6 resulting in a 3-1 win for ZeRo. Hopefully, his time in France and Japan since that set will have allowed him to practice with other Diddy players, to finally conquer this match-up and hopefully claim victory on US soil. With 2GG actually sponsoring komorikiri, he may end up acting as the agent that keeps the curse intact for 2017, when he has his own Saga and could be allowed to break it in spectacular fashion.
A Brawl legend who has been gaining renewed strength over the past few months with Bayonetta, MVG|Salem is a dangerous contender going into ZeRo Saga. Double-eliminating ZeRo at Collision XIV and currently the only player to be tied in sets with ZeRo at 2-2, Salem certainly has the potential to deal some serious damage this coming weekend. While he underperformed at UGC Smash Open–thanks to the efforts of ESAM–his stellar placings at Olympus, KTAR XIX and The Big House prove that Salem’s Bayonetta can Witch Twist its way to victory, if he can keep his momentum going. However, with other Bayonettas like JK, Calculus, VGBC|Pink Fresk and DMG|CaptainZack giving players around the country vital match-up experience against the Umbra Witch, Salem needs to have some serious DI traps and combo mixups in order to outplay those who have done their Bayonetta homework.
The other Japanese contender on this list, and fresh off his victory at the Hirosuma Tokaigi Qualifier, Abadango’s Mewtwo has definitely been Hyper Training at every opportunity. Since his pick up by Luminosity Gaming back in October, Abadango has gone from strength to strength, racking up high placings both in the USA and his homeland of Japan. His 3rd place finish at the DNG Kanto Invitational provided him some vital match up knowledge, especially against Diddy, the bane of Mewtwo mains everywhere. This intense round robin must have proved useful, as not only did Abadango get 2nd at UGC Smash Open upon returning to the States, but he finally took two games off of ZeRo’s Diddy by switching to his old main Meta Knight. He almost reset the bracket as well, suggesting that with some more dedicated practice, Meta Knight could finally be the character which sees him triumph over the cheeky monkey. His victory at Hirosuma also put him in good stead for facing down C9|Ally’s Mario by defeating Ron, and duelling Kirihara at the Kanto Invitational prepares him for the threat of RNG|Dabuz’ Rosalina too. With a big victory to give him confidence, Abadango may be able to avenge himself for his performance at his own Saga, by winning at ZeRo’s.
A perpetual rival to ZeRo at any SoCal tournament, ELV|Larry Lurr is famous for putting on fantastic performances at 2GG Sagas. Triumphing over ZeRo at Mexico Saga, getting fourth at KTAR Saga and staging one of the most impressive Losers’ runs of all time at Abadango Saga, Larry has history on side to win this event. When his Fox turns up the jets and plays at full speed, there is no stopping this man; just watch that infamous set between him and ZeRo at CEO. If he manages to avoid another rival, CLG|VoiD–the two are now 18 for 18 in sets–Larry can go all the way. With his recent 2nd place at LA Smash City where the final was him versus ZeRo, with Larry inches away from a bracket reset, the fire is clearly burning for him to take yet another Saga. Let’s just hope some of that Saga magic brushes off on him, with him getting to Grand Finals via Winners. My heart cannot take another mammoth Losers run.
The master swordsman and the pride of Mexico, MKLeo is looking unstoppable going into ZeRo Saga. After finally gaining his visa, Leo has been touring the USA throughout November and December, racking up victories like a mercenary on a mission. His skills at adaptation are phenomenal, often going down a match or two to a powerful opponent, just to flip a switch and demolish them in return. Just look at his recent performance at Friday Night Smash Delight 26, where after losing to Zinoto 2-0 in Winners’ Quarters, he then went onto flatten the Michigan Diddy in Losers Semis and then take the whole events with consecutive 3-2 sets against DNL|Marss. Flash forward to Showdown: Battle Royale this past weekend, where he only dropped a single game over the course of the entire tournament, and that was in Grand Finals. Leo seems to have a sword for every occasion and now that he has plenty of experience fighting many of the USA’s top talents, he knows which blade can slice through which opponent. Leo has yet to take a national though, for all of the fanfare surrounding him, and while he certainly has the potential, he has a 0-2 losing record versus ZeRo in tournament. With their last proper set being at KTAR XIX, where ZeRo clutched out a 3-2 victory, I would definitely brace for a historic set if these two meet in bracket.
In the early parts of 2016, there was a player that was considered to be the one who could snatch away ZeRo’s number one ranking; Ally. While there is no chance of anyone stealing that number one spot away from ZeRo now–unless he goes 0-2 at ZeRo Saga, and then the brackets suddenly disappear for the last five tournaments–Ally still has a winning record against ZeRo for 2016, with the set count 4-1 in Ally’s favor. For his highest highs, there have been anomalies for Ally this year too, like his 49th place at CEO and his unfortunate disqualification due to illness at The Big House 6. Combined with a 9th at UGC Smash Open and a 3rd at Showdown: Battle Royale, Ally’s going into ZeRo Saga as a bit of a wildcard. There is no question that he is still a huge threat, but looking at the numbers of killers in the bracket, he may struggle to breach top 8 still alive in the Winners’ bracket. If his Mario is on point, he could easily take the whole thing but if he runs into a Larry Lurr, a Nairo or an MKLeo before that final stretch, he could be looking down the barrel of Losers’ bracket. He’s more than capable of a Lurr-esque run through Losers however, so don’t count him out.
These are just seven of the multitude of top players that could defeat ZeRo or even take the whole Saga. While his recent victories cast him as the unstoppable force, ZeRo is still very much human going into this event. Many players on this list have put dents in ZeRo’s “plot armor,” so do not expect this weekend’s events to be anything close to a done deal. There will be upsets and there will be explosive sets, so just enjoy the show. All the action will be streamed on 2GGaming’s Twitch channel and you can follow along with the results by checking out the 2GGT: ZeRo Saga smash.gg page.