Ep. 3: Crown the Third: The Kings Return

In this episode we take a look at some of the exciting sets that took place at Crown the Third, with a focus on MkLeo's tumultuous run, and talk about what it all means for MkLeo going forward.

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Hey everyone. Welcome back to the third episode of Upset Factor. I'm your host Lukas, and today we have a pretty special episode ahead of us. We're gonna be talking about what happened this year at Crown III and get into some of the sets I found to be very interesting, many of which are with players that we haven't seen so much of yet in this podcast and I think that was a very defining trait of Crown the third this year, where a lot of the players in top eight were not the usual suspects that we've been seeing in the last few tournaments, especially the ones that we've talked about in the previous two episodes of this podcast. So without further ado, let's just get into some of these sets. So the first set we're gonna be talking about today is between Kurama and Dark Wizzy, two very skilled Mario players and I think this set is very interesting because we have Dark Wizzy who was for a long time the best Mario player since kind of when the game released and Kurama the player that has taken that mantle off of dark wizzy since he's started to pop off in the last couple years. Another reason I think this is very interesting is because it's not very often that we get to see high level dittos like this, especially for a character that's not quite as common as some of the other top tier characters like say Pyra and Mythra or Steve because for Mario, the only two players that really represent this character are Dark Wizzy and Kurama, and they have only played each other once since Ultimate came out with that being at Genesis six in 2019. Getting into the set overall, the first couple games were definitely going in Kurama's favor. There weren't really any standup moments to me in the first two games, but the third one was the one that really started to spice things up a bit with wizzy, stealing the momentum in his favor for the first time in the set, getting two very quick stocks off of Kurama. And this momentum stayed in Wizzy's favor for the next game with him looking like he was using a lot of the tools that Karama was using against him to take this game, such as caping the fireballs at the ledge, which sends them back up into the person that sent them or jumping up and intercepting fireballs on stage, which was something that Kurama was doing a lot in the first two games against Wizzy and it didn't feel like Wizzy had a very good answer to this while he was doing that. So it was cool to see this adaptation coming from Wizzy as he turned Kurama's tools against him. Bringing us into the final game, we finally saw a return to form from Kurama showing why he's the current best, Mario over wizzy and taking the set three to two. So, like I said before, this is the first time these players have played since Genesis six in 2019. And while I did say that, Kurama has recently stole this title of Best Mario from Dark Wizzy. He was able to beat Dark Wizzy in 2019 when they did play together. So now he's won both times in this ditto, and with his superior showings in recent tournaments. On top of him winning this matchup twice now. It definitely seems like Kurama has cemented himself as the current best, Mario, So the next set we're gonna be talking about is between Tweek and Onin. We've talked a bit about these players before in the last episode, but just to give a quick introduction, Tweek has been a player that has been top 2 pretty much since the game came out around, up until after the quarantine where Spargo and Acola started to gain momentum, but he has still been a very consistent player since then, never really dropping outta the top five, I'd say. And while he has had some rougher results lately, he's still a very consistent player that is always someone to look out for when going into these tournaments. And the next player Onin Someone that has really picked up since the release of Steve and has skyrocketed to being, the best Steve in North America. And only really being behind Acola in terms of skill on Steve. I thought this was a very important set to talk about specifically because Tweek for the last few weeks has been hyping up a new character that he says will be his way to deal with Steve. And after losing to Acola in a nailbiter of a set at Ultimate Summit six in Grand finals, this set would show whether his new character would be the answer for Steve or if he'd have to go back to the drawing board. And while this isn't against Cola who he had trouble with in the past, this is the first time he has played against a Steve since losing to Acola In a tournament bracket. So I thought this would be an interesting one to talk about. So getting into the first game, after using the characters in doubles, we finally got to see Tweek on Megaman. And this was the character that he had been hyping up for a while as his Steve killer. But much to any Tweek fans, dismay, this pick did not go quite as well as many were hoping it would, as it didn't quite seem like Megaman had the tools to deal with. Steve's tools when Steve would put walls up, normally you want a move that can break those walls very consistently, but Megaman didn't really have something to do this. His forward air was able to hit all three blocks, but it did very little damage and just didn't really feel like. It warranted having this kind of third pocket character that would be used for Steve. And this might have been some inexperience on the character since Tweek has only just picked him up and this was his first time playing him, but it didn't quite go well, and Onin took the game, which. Prompted tweak to switch back to Sephiroth in the second game. And this was the character that Tweak used when he was facing off against Acola in summit Grand Finals. And while he did lose that set, it did go very well and it was, I think a Game 10 set. It was very intense. And Getting into this game against Onin, he was able to take this second game on Sephiroth which was making it look like Sephiroth might still be the answer until he either finds a different character that works in this matchup or gets a bit better at the Megaman. Trying to keep that momentum going. Tweek opted for Sephiroth for the rest of this set, but wasn't able to keep the lead going in his favor as after a close last stock game in game three, Onin took the victory and then proceeded to take the next game in a similar fashion. And so, like I was saying before, while Sephiroth did get him farther than his mega man did, I can see why Tweak was thinking of trying out, a new character as after Onin got used to the game plan from Sephiroth Tweek was looking a bit lost at times, trying to get things going against Steve. And with Sephiroth also being so light when you're going against, when you're going against a character like Steve who has so many high power high kill power moves. It is a bit scary to be on a character like Sephiroth where you're dying a lot earlier and you have to be a bit more precise and thoughtful against a character like Steve who has a bit more of a simple game plan. So hopefully soon we'll get to see Tweak face off against a Steve again, and we'll be able to see if his Megaman just needs more practice or if he just doesn't have the tools to defeat a character like Steve. So getting into the next set that we'll be talking about this episode. While I don't necessarily have a main theme for this episode, like I have in the last couple. I definitely feel like there was a main character at this tournament, and to me that was MkLeo. So we've talked a lot about how Spargo and Acola have taken the top two spots off of MkLeo and Tweek in the last couple years. And I think this tournament was a big moment for MkLeo to maybe prove that he's still got it compared to those players and. Sadly, this didn't quite go as maybe he would've planned. And so getting into this next set, I'm gonna be talking about the set between MkLeo and Zomba. We've talked so much about MkLeo I almost feel like I don't need to introduce him, but I'll talk a bit about him first. Obviously the best player for a very long time, mained Joker for a very long time, but since quarantine has switched his character up a lot he played Corrin for a little bit, Byleth was his main for a very long time during and after the quarantine, and lately has been really going heavy towards Pyra and Mythra but, He has said a few times now that he is gonna stop focusing so much on Pyra and Mythra and really give Byleth and Joker more of a go going forward in the next few tournaments. And so that was what we saw a lot of in this tournament coming from MkLeo and to give Zomba a little introduction since we haven't really talked about him so far on this podcast. Zomba is a Rob player that I think is generally considered to be the best on Rob. Usually I would say it would either be Zomba or MkBigBoss who people would consider to be the best Rob, but I. I think Zomba has taken that mantle pretty firmly lately. And so I think this was a very exciting set because these two players have had a bit of a beef going on lately on Twitter, and this resulted in them having a first to 10 at the Salt Box, , an event put on by HungryBox, which was a series of money matches between players that either just had a rivalry going or some sort of beef, and Zomba and MkLeo at this did a first to 10 with MkLeo coming out on top in that match. However, it was very close with both players winning games back and forth, bringing the score to seven to seven before MkLeo was finally able to break away and take the first to 10 with a final score of ten seven. And after this prompted a bit of an exchange on Twitter between the two players which resulted in mk Leo tweeting at Zomba saying while he played well, he would never beat him in an offline match. And Zomba firing back with some tweets of his own. So getting into the set, we started off with MkLeo having all of the momentum. And after already winning in the Saltbox against Zomba, it seemed like he maybe had him figured out as he was seen laughing in the player cam after the first game and winning both the first and second games with the two stock victory. And so obviously, even though it was online, playing so many games and winning that first to 10 would definitely make. You pretty confident when you're going against that player so soon after in a set like this. But Zomba didn't wanna let himself come down too early and he finally showed some signs of life in the third game. Possibly not wanting to make a bit of a fool of himself after setting his tag as Mickey Leo to make fun of MkLeo for the second time in a row. Now, as he was able to come back strong, taking the third game with a two stock victory of his own. The fourth game was what I thought was the standout game of this set by far. And while Zomba did win the third game pretty handedly, this was the one that really felt like the turning point of the set. With Zomba taking two very early stocks with Rob's side B off of stage, and then in a very intense last stock situation with multiple close calls on both players ends, Zomba was able to take the game to bring the set to a game. Five, shutting down any talk of the fabled game four Leo that many people reference in sets with Leo. And I think this was really cool because normally in sets where MK Lao is involved. What you'll see a lot of the time is he might lose the first two games, but then he really turns around in the last games of the set. And there is a stat that has become popular where every time this happens, he almost always wins the set. Where he'll go down two games and then reverse 3- 0 and so now Zomba was looking like he might do the exact same thing that Leo usually does to other people having this crazy few games of his own. Going into the fifth game, we saw Leo really looking like he had lost his steam after that brutal fourth game with him not being able to mount another comeback against Zomba, letting him take the game with a two stock victory and the set three to two, giving Zomba the victory., Even though MkLeo did come out on top in the salt box, , which does give him some extra credit in these two players record against each other. With the win in this set, Zomba now has two wins over MkLeo and only one loss. And with MkLeo having so much practice against mk big boss, who like I mentioned before, is another Rob player that is not too far behind Zomba. It's looking like Zomba might just have the read on MkLeo and I'm curious to see what will happen in the future as these players continue to face off against each other in the tournaments to come. So now the next set that I want to talk about, and you might see a trend if you know how this tournament went based on who we're talking about, is between MkLeo and Jackal. I wanted to talk about this because this was another set between Leo and a player that isn't usually at the forefront of the conversation when talking about a lot of the tournaments that happen for Ultimate. While Jackal is a very solid player, he usually isn't one to get really high placements consistently in a lot of tournaments. And so this kind of continued this trend of Leo losing out in a lot of these sets against these players that you wouldn't normally expect him to lose to at this tournament. To talk a bit more about jackal he is a wolf main, he similar to Zomba is likely the best, wolf main, aside from maybe Ouch who is a player that we talked about last week . but yeah, a very solid player and Wolf being just a very solid character in general. Definitely made this for a pretty exciting set. So getting into game one it was looking very even between the two players. And after a very close last stock game, Jakal was finally able to take the win. Though both players were reasonably shaken up as it realistically could have gone to either player at many points during the last stock. This win definitely charged up Jackal though as he started to, as he started off the second game with a zero to death on MkLeo and kept that momentum going, taking the game with a two stock victory. And after a ton of debate between Joker and Byleth in the third game with a bit of an unexpected pick, MkLeo opted for Meta Knight and for the first bit of the game, it seemed to pay off with MkLeo taking the first stock of the match. However, after the novelty of the pick wore off, Jakal regained composure and took the game with a very early kill on MkLeo's final stock, taking the set 3 - 0. And so now with both of these sets that we've talked about with MkLeo, it has been pretty obvious that during his run at Crown, he was really struggling to reach the level he had been at for so many years prior to 2023. And with losses like this, it's really hard to give much thought to him still being in the conversation. For best in the world as Spargo and Acola have just had so much more consistency at most of the tournaments they've attended compared to MkLeo. And so obviously there's still a lot of time before this year's over. So by the end of the year, who knows maybe losing at this tournament like this will reignite some sort of fire in MkLeo and he might. Make a bit of a comeback as the year progresses, but at least for this season, it's looking like it's gonna be pretty much impossible for him to take the top spot once again. Moving on, before we get into the last set I want to talk about I'm gonna take a look at grand finals for this tournament and that trend that I was talking about before of. The matches that I just talked about was because both those two players that beat MkLeo were the ones that ended up being in grand finals at this tournament. So to talk about these two players history a little bit before we get into the games these two players have played each other a lot over the years with them having almost 70 sets against each other in tournament. And while Zomba does have the upper hand over Jakal in these two players head to head it's still pretty close with Zomba having around 40 wins and Jakal having around 30. And so getting into what happened at Crown iii, both of these players had a great showing and their spots in grand finals were definitely earned with both players taking sets off of many of the top seeds at the tournament with, like I mentioned, both players beating MkLeo, Jakal beating Spargo and Zomba beating Tweek, who are all three of the players that are usually talked about as being possibly the best in the world. And so while I do think that MkLeo was the main character of this tournament, the reason that I still wanted to talk about Grand Finals before getting into the last that I want to talk about is because after going so long with pretty much all of the major tournaments, having a lot of the same names in top eight and grand finals. It was really cool to see some variety this time around. And it just goes to show that while players like Spargo and Acola are widely regarded as the best. The other top players aren't too far behind, and at any moment they could come outta the waterworks and pull off an insane run like we saw this time around at Crown iii. Just so you can watch this set and enjoy the grand finals for yourself. I'm not gonna talk too much about what happened in the games. I think it was a very exciting set and I just wanted to talk a bit about it to give both these players props for beating out a lot of the top talent that attended this tournament. So yeah, definitely check this set out for yourself. But now getting into the final set and what I think was the main event of this tournament, we're gonna talk about the set between MkLeo, and Spargo. We've talked so much about these two players. But just to give you a refresher for Spargo, he is the player that I'd say is the best right now. maining Cloud and Pyra and Mythra and going against MkLeo in the past he had a tough time, but recently he has been able to beat MkLeo the last couple times they've met in tournament and, I think a lot of people were likely curious to see if this would continue when getting into this set that happened at Crown iii. So getting into the actual games of the set, the first two games, had Spargo looking like he would continue to show why he's the best player right now over MkLeo with him seeming like he had Leo's Byleth figured out taking the first two games with a clear advantage over MkLeo however, in the next game after a switch to Joker from MkLeo it seemed like we were finally gonna get a taste of the classic MkLeo we've been missing for so long now as he showed his mastery of the character with some huge combos on Spargo taking his first game of the set. And this continued as while Spargo was able to get MkLeo to his final stock in the fourth game, it was clear that cloud wasn't gonna be the answer against a character like Joker and MkLeo took the game, bringing the set to game five. And so these two games were a lot closer to what we were used to seeing for the first couple years of Ultimate when talking about MkLeo as he really just figured everything that Spargo was gonna do out, and even made the switch back to Joker, who was the character that he always played back in the first couple years of Ultimate. And so getting into the final game with his cloud, taking a bit of a beating in the previous games, Spargo switched onto Pyra and Mythra, possibly hoping to use their big sword, hit boxes to wall out joker. However, just like the last two games, MkLeo stayed in control and took the game with a two stock victory over Spargo. This set was quite the rollercoaster for Leo as going from the first two games to the last three, it really looked like we were seeing a completely different player on his end, and after so many tournaments where MkLeo seemed reluctant to bring out the Joker, it was very exciting to see it come out in such a huge way in this set. This was also a pretty rough set for Spargo as while it did seem like he was in control for the first couple games. As soon as Leo switched to Joker a character that can keep up with both of Spargo's mains much better than Byleth can. It was clear that the gap between the two players is still not quite as big as it might have seemed at the last few tournaments. The two have been at, at least when Leo is looking like he did in those last three games on Joker. I'm curious to see if MkLeo will be able to continue looking like he did in those last few games against Spargo going forward into other tournaments and hopefully doing so well with the Joker in this set will reignite some sort of fire in him to maybe pick up the character more and get back to how he was for so long since the game's release. Okay, so hopefully you enjoyed this episode of Upset Factor. The next episode will be out in another two weeks, like I've mentioned in the last couple episodes, and I'm not quite sure what tournament I'll be talking about for that episode, but there's so many that are happening. I'm sure it'll be just as big of an episode as the last few that we've had so far. So yeah, hopefully you all have a good week and we'll see you next time.