Last week Canada hosted Get On My Level, or GOML, a supermajor tournament filled with top players from around the world, ending with a Sonix vs. Sparg0 battle in Grand Finals. This week many of the best players from GOML traveled south to join Mexico’s slew of hidden talents at Smash Factor X in Mexico City. Viewers from across the globe were, once again, treated to a Sonix vs. Sparg0 duel to end the tournament.
The final match was not the only set that was tense and hectic, though. Some crazy upsets were pulled before the top 64 matches even started.
Three-seed Zomba, fresh off of a fourth-place finish at GOML and a major win at Crown III in June, lost to Bayonetta main and 62nd-seed Mar in the top 64 qualifiers. With other dominoes falling, the first match of the top 64 turned out to be Zomba versus 14th-seed Cosmos, with the loser dropping out in 49th place.
Although Zomba was able to defeat Cosmos, he wouldn’t be able to make it much further as he ended up losing his next match to fall out of the tournament in 33rd place. Outside of Zomba, though, the vast majority of the top 16 seeds finished as expected.
This is not to say the top eight didn’t feature a surprise entry — Mexico’s very own Meme, the Yoshi main seeded to place 51st, defeated 9th-seed Maister and 19th-seed Mr. R en route to his seventh-place finish.
On the winner’s side of the bracket in top eight, all eyes were glued to one matchup: MkLeo against Sparg0. MkLeo is the king of Smash Factor, having won four of the last six years. Sparg0 is the new prince, competing for No.1 worldwide and fresh off a second-place finish at GOML.
Leo is known to take his Smash Factor appearances very seriously as he looks to represent his home country and the tournament where he first rose to fame. It showed this weekend as he primarily used his famous Joker. However, even with the crowd power-up and using his ‘best’ character, Sparg0 was still just too much.
They split the first two games, but then Sparg0 put it in another gear and was consistently one step ahead of MkLeo, finishing him off in four games, setting up a rematch with Sonix in winner’s finals.
With how dominant Sonix looked last week versus Sparg0, many of the viewers expected this match to go similarly. However, the best players always adjust, and Sparg0 is no exception. He turned the tables and managed to beat Sonix in four games, cementing his spot in the Grand Finals.
Sonix wasn’t going to just bow out after that, though. Even after going down 0-2 in loser’s finals to Japan’s Shuton, Sonix avoided elimination and won three straight against Shuton to meet back up with Sparg0.
With two supermajor Grand Finals matchups in a row, it’s safe to say that a new rivalry is brewing between Mexico’s Sparg0 and the Dominican Republic’s Sonix. This Grand Finals match started with a swift 3-0 from Sonix, resetting the bracket and evening the score with Sparg0. The fourth set between these two players in the last seven days would determine the victor.
Against all odds, with the momentum and the character matchup against him, Sparg0 pulled it out for his home country. In an incredibly tense game four, with 30 seconds remaining and both players one hit away from victory or defeat, Sparg0 was able to land the finishing blow and win Smash Factor X, getting his revenge from Get On My Level.
Smash Factor X makes the top four worldwide players extremely clear: Sparg0 and Acola are the obvious contenders for No.1 worldwide, while Miya from Japan and Sonix look like they are comparable for the spot of No.3.
Both GOML and Smash Factor X set the stage for Smash’s ultimate tournament: Super Smash Con, happening in two weeks, featuring over 2,500 entrants. The entire community will be glued to their screens, ready to watch the best players in the biggest tournament.
