Avery “Ginger” Wilson hosted LG Ginger’s Pot o’ Gold on March 14 to commemorate his recent induction onto Luminosity Gaming’s roster. Here are three takeaways from this online Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament.
KoDoRiN gets his biggest online tournament win
John “KoDoRiN” Ko is no stranger to winning online tournaments. He has emerged victorious at numerous weeklies since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, LG Ginger’s Pot O’ Gold was a different beast, with 242 entrants (though there were several DQs) and many top players in attendance.
Even so, KoDoRiN’s Marth play carried him to first place without him even dropping a set. His biggest challenge actually came in round one of top 64, where he narrowly defeated Jigglypuff main, Reece “Golden” Economides, 3-2. However, this set warmed him up in that match-up, as he beat another Jigglypuff main, Toussaint “2saint” Turnier, 3-0 in the next round.
From there, KoDoRiN got every Marth player’s dream: a bracket full of Fox and Falco mains. KoDoRiN cruised through the remainder of the tournament, defeating Sasha “Magi” Sullivan 3-1 and Daniel “Zamu” Bernstein 3-1. He also double-eliminated Isaac “bobby big ballz” P., winning 3-1 in winners finals and 3-0 in grand finals. KoDoRiN dominated in the final game of the set, going up four stocks to one. After taking a single stock, bobby big ballz forfeited his own stock and gave KoDoRiN the victory.
Zamu cements himself as a threat in the online era
Zamu was on the rise in 2019, ranking in the top 50 for the first time; thanks to wins over players like Álvaro “Trif” García Moral and Aziz “Hax” Al-Yami. However, as the community switched to online tournaments in 2020, Zamu’s results became comparatively quiet. While he avoided terrible losses, he also failed to secure many fantastic wins. The trend seemed like it might continue into this year, as Zamu finished in a lackluster 65th place at Four Loko Fight Night.
However, Zamu flipped the script at Saturday Night Levo #9 on March 13. There, he placed second, with wins over Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez and Eduardo “Eddy Mexico” Lucatero Rincon. Zamu followed this up the next day with a third place finish at LG Ginger’s Pot O’ Gold, his best run of the online era thus far.
Zamu narrowly outclassed higher-ranked players in the Fox ditto, with 3-2 wins against Steven “FatGoku” Callopy and Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni. He also scored a 3-0 win over Jacob “Jflex” Pinto, who notably defeated Hax at Four Loko Fight Night.
In the losers bracket, Zamu showed off his proficiency in another match-up: Fox versus Falco. After a close 3-2 victory against Kristian “Rocky” Cruz, he then swept Magi 3-0 in losers semis. Zamu ultimately fell short against another Falco player, bobby big ballz, though not before forcing him to game five.
SFAT underperforms at LG Ginger’s Pot o’ Gold
SFAT started the year on a strong note, placing in the top three of every single tournament he entered in January. However, he went on hiatus throughout all of February, with LG Ginger’s Pot O’ Gold marking his return to serious Melee competition.
SFAT was poised to do well. When number one seed, Johnny “S2J” Kim, dropped out, SFAT was left as the highest-seeded player at the tournament. Despite this, he was upset twice and finished in seventh place.
SFAT faced Zamu for the first time ever in winners quarters of this event, and he lost 3-2. In the losers bracket, SFAT fell 3-1 to Magi. Magi seems to have become somewhat of a bracket demon for SFAT, as she also beat him 3-0 at Smash Summit 10 Online.
Disclosure: Luminosity Gaming is a subsidiary of Enthusiast Gaming, which owns and operates Daily Esports.
