Samsora wins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Singles at Shine 2019
Ezra “Samsora” Morris won Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Singles at Shine 2019 in Worcester, Massachusetts on Aug. 25. This is Samsora’s first S-tier victory in Smash Ultimate. In addition, it is his most significant tournament victory in any Super Smash Bros. game.
Samsora had little difficulty advancing into top 32. He scored a 3-0 victory over Matt “MattyG” Ganshirt, then a 3-1 victory over Eric “Mr E” Weber. Two more 3-0 wins against Justin “Welfare Pickles” Dale and Jude “Jakal” Harris earned Samsora a spot in Winners Semis.
Samsora carried his momentum into top 8 of Shine 2019 Smash Ultimate Singles. He earned 3-1 victories over both Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby and Leonardo “MkLeo” Perez, the No. 1 player in the world. However, this scenario was one Samsora was all too familiar with. Samsora also defeated MkLeo in Winners Finals of Super Smash Con 2019, only for MkLeo to win in Grand Finals.
At first, it seemed Shine 2019 Grand Finals would be a repeat of Smash Con. In Samsora’s first five-game set of the tournament, MkLeo came out on top. However, Samsora was able to retaliate with a 3-1 victory in the second set to win Shine 2019 Smash Ultimate. This season, Samsora now boasts two significant tournament victories, and he has not placed outside of any tournament’s top 6.
Other results from Shine 2019 Smash Ultimate Singles
Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada has struggled to match his heights from Smash 4 in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, he made a statement with his 3rd place finish in Shine 2019 Smash Ultimate Singles. After his loss to Tyler “Marss” Martins in Winners Quarters, Nairo earned some phenomenal wins in the losers bracket. He defeated David “LeoN” Leon, Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey, and Dabuz. Nairo even won his runback with Marss in a convincing 3-0.
Rasheen “Dark Wizzy” Rose placed 5th at this event. This was both his best placing to date and the best placing by any solo Mario player in Smash Ultimate. Interestingly, Dark Wizzy did not have to beat any PGR-ranked players on his run. Still, he earned a plethora of good wins. Dark Wizzy beat Julian “Juuuuul” Vera, Dominick “NickC” Cuccurullo, Jakal, and Raffi “Raffi-X” Azar.
Raffi-X followed up his 9th place finish at Super Smash Con with an even better 7th place finish at Shine. He took sets off of Dark Wizzy, Alan “Gen” Soriano, Guillermo “Stroder” Martinez Jr., and Aaron “Blacktwins13” Grandison-Vargas. Raffi-X is making a case for himself as the second best R.O.B. player in the world, behind Chris “WaDi” Boston.
Results from outside of top 8
Blacktwins13 did not let Pichu’s nerfs prevent him from making a strong run at Shine 2019 Smash Ultimate. The Pichu main made it all the way to Winners Quarters at this event, ultimately placing 9th. Along the way, Blacktwins13 beat Troy “Puppeh” Wells, Justin “Wishes” Magnetti, and Alexis “Goblin” Stennett. Notably, Goblin had just upset Tweek the round before he lost to Blacktwins13.
The highlight of Jakal’s tournament was his victory over James “VoiD” Makekau-Tyson. Jakal also earned respectable wins over Brent “DM” Lee and Zamir “Juice” Johnson. Juice scored wins against many difficult opponents on his own run to 13th place. He was able to defeat Robert “Myran” Herrin, Paris “Light” Ramirez, and Spencer “BestNess” Garner.
Other 13th place finishers earned many unexpected wins on their journeys to top 16. Jonathan “Jw” Woldu beat Mr E and Goblin. NickC beat Antony “MuteAce” Hoo, Michael “Riddles” Kim, Luis “Lui$” Oceguera, and Andrew “ScAtt” Huntley. Stroder beat Liam “Phantom” Giannico, Nasir “BlazingPasta” Green, and Matt “Elegant” Fitzpatrick after an early loss to Ricky “LingLing” Gorritz.
