Kolawole “Kola” Aideyan won the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Quarantine Series kick-off event on March 29. It was the first in a series of online Smash Bros. tournaments that will take place from March to July.
Kola’s start at this 32-person invitational was not exactly dominant. In round one, Kola narrowly won a five-game set over Justin “Plup” McGrath. Even so, he beat Chris “WaDi” Boston 3-1 and fellow Georgia native Carrington “Wrath” Osborne 3-2 to reach top 8.
Kola started off top 8 with his most dominant performance of the Quarantine Series kick-off. Switching off of his signature Roy and onto Snake, Kola defeated James “VoiD” Makekau-Tyson 3-0. After a 3-2 victory over Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada, Kola found himself in Grand Finals.
In Grand Finals, Kola faced off against Enrique “Maister” Hernández Solís. Near the end of game two, Maister’s internet disconnected while he was on last stock at a high percent. The TOs responded by creating a poll allowing the Twitch chat to decide how to handle the situation. In an incredibly tight vote, 50.2% of the voters decided that Kola would get the game victory. Kola went on to win the set over Maister 3-1.
Kola is quickly establishing himself as one of the best Wi-Fi players in the world. Earlier this month, he won the Soaked Series Invitational, another event hosted by Charles “Cr1TiKaL” White. There, Kola took sets off of Brian “Cosmos” Kalu, Nairo, and Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby. This victory at the Quarantine Series kick-off is a fantastic addition to Kola’s online résumé.
Other results from the Quarantine Series kick-off
Maister pulled off a noteworthy losers run on his way to 2nd place at the Quarantine Series kick-off. He defeated James “Rivers” Wade 3-2 and Spencer “BestNess” Garner 3-1 before losing 1-3 to Jesiste “MVD” Negron. In the losers bracket, Maister scored 3-0 wins over WaDi and Ezra Samsora Morris. He finally reached Grand Finals after defeating VoiD 3-2, BestNess 3-0, and Nairo 3-1.
Nairo made it to Winners Semis with wins over David “WhiteHusky” Velazquez, Raffi “Raffi-X” Azar, and Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez. Interestingly, Nairo opted to play as Hero for the entirety of top 8. In doing so, he beat MVD 3-0 and took Kola to game five.
The Quarantine Series kick-off proved that online Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and offline Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have two very different metagames. Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez, the best offline player in the world, finished in 7th. He lost to VoiD in winners and then lost 0-3 to BestNess’ Piranha Plant in losers. Samsora lost his round one to “White Nova,” a relatively unknown Ganondorf player. Likewise, Tyler “Marss” Martins lost 0-3 to Sparg0 in his first match, then proceeded to drop out of the tournament.
Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma and Plup, best-known for their prowess in Melee, both placed 13th at the Quarantine Series kick-off. Hungrybox barely lost a close five-game set to BestNess. Then in losers, he proceeded to beat Rivers and Charlie “Charliedaking” Antoun. Likewise, Plup managed to take Kola to game five in the winners bracket. Afterward, he eliminated Michael “Riddles” Kim and Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland.
The next Quarantine Series tournament will take place on April 18. It will be a minor tournament, meaning it will feature an open bracket. The circuit will conclude with its finale event on July 26.
