Ten Years
That is how long the team at GENESIS has provided its historic tournament series in the heart of California. From the dominance of Armada and MKLeo to the underdog stories of Plup and Marss, GENESIS has no shortage of remarkable moments in Smash history. Inside a staggering 200,000 square feet of gaming space, GENESIS X looks to shatter all previous expectations and embody GENESIS’ best experience yet. From February 16th - 18th, 2024, this premier event for Super Smash Bros. Melee (1539 attendees) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (1503 attendees) is pivotal for their rankings. With so much at stake for both events, here are the most notable storylines to observe throughout GENESIS X.
Can last year’s champions run it back?
Surrounded by questions about his G.O.A.T status, Leonardo “MKLeo” López Pérez won back-to-back Genesis tournaments through the loser’s side of the bracket at GENESIS 9. This win came after a dominating performance at the Ludwig Smash Invitational, where he swept half of the Four Horsemen of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Carlos “Sonix” Pérez and Mashita “あcola” Hayato. All signs pointed to MKLeo’s return to glory in many people’s eyes, but his reign ended swiftly just as his rise to prominence started.
MKLeo would not win a major for the rest of 2023 and finished the year as the #11 player in the world on the LumiRank, marking this his first time outside of the Top 10 since he debuted on the Panda Global Rankings back in 2018. GENESIS has always been MKLeo’s tournament, having won five out of the six GENESIS brackets he has attended, only losing GENESIS 7 to Tyler “Marss” Martins. After a 4th place finish at Luminosity Makes Big Moves 2024 and a brief stay in Canada, MKLeo looks to silence doubters once more and show up anyone who tries to win in his house, the Guildhouse.
Looking at Super Smash Bros. Melee, Jake “Jmook” DiRado made history by being the first solo Sheik player to win a supermajor with his win at GENESIS 9. He followed this up by winning Collision 2023 and WaveDash 2023, as well as a 5th place finish at Battle of BC 5 and a 2nd place finish at Fête 3: By The Sea. With this being his first year of offline competition, he had everyone’s attention.
Jmook would finish in the Top 8 at Shine 2023, The Off-Season 2, and The Function 3, but would soon massively underperform by getting 33rd at Get On My Level 2023 as the #2 seed. Fortunately, he managed to bounce back, winning The FINAL Melee Coinbox and placing 2nd at Santa Paws 2. With two of his most prominent bracket demons, Cody Schwab and Zain Naghmi, in attendance, it’ll be interesting to see if the best Sheik in the world can maintain his title as the GENESIS champion.
Can the Four Horsemen of Ultimate be overthrown?
On December 11th, 2023, after Watch the Throne had concluded, Andrew “PracticalTAS” Nestico coined the term “The Four Horsemen” for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Top 4 players: Mashita “あcola” Hayato, Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez, Carlos “Sonix” Pérez, and Miya. Out of The Four Horsemen, あcola (with UmeberaSP#10) & Miya (with KOWLOON #9 with Sumabato and DELTA#7 [FAT]) have taken an A-tier tournament or higher. Sonix and Sparg0 were both in attendance for Luminosity Makes Big Moves 2024, but Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey conquered these players, defending his crown on home turf. Besides あcola, every other Horseman is in attendance for GENESIS X, with Sonix, Miya, and Sparg0 all projected to finish in the Top 3 in that order.
Outside of Miya and Gluttony, Tweek is a thorn in Sonix & Sparg0’s sides, being 2-0 & 3-1 on them. On paper, Sparg0 has the best head-to-head player matchup spread out of everyone listed; he is even split 3-3 against Sonix in their last six offline sets. However, Sparg0 is prone to the most upsets out of the four, with results like 17th place at Port Priority 8 and 49th place at Super Smash Con 2023. Historically, Shuto “Shuton” Moriya has winning records on Sonix, Sparg0, William “Gluttony” Belaïd, and Paris "Light" Ramirez Garcia; however, he has losing records against Miya and Tweek but is a dark horse candidate to steal sets against the Top 5 seeds. Gluttony and Light are on the same boat as Shuton, being bracket demons for two of the top seeds (Gluttony for Tweek, Light for Sonix) but also having a decent chance of being upset themselves.
It will be a treat to see how these Horsemen do at GENESIS X, as this bracket is a strong indicator of how they could perform during the rest of their seasons. If they underperform, Tweek or Gluttony could earn another major tournament win, putting them in the conversation as “Horsemen Slayers” and giving them a great start to their 2024 season.
Can Cody Schwab and Zain Naghmi be challenged?
During the last SSBMRank season, Cody Schwab and Zain Naghmi played a first-to-ten exhibition match at The Match: The Fight For Number 1 to determine who would place 1st & 2nd on the ranking. Cody would win 10-7 and etch himself as the first solo Fox main to become the world’s best Super Smash Bros. Melee player. GENESIS X is the first supermajor for the year for Super Smash Bros. Melee. These two are on a crash course for Grand Finals, but with most of the SSBMRank 2023 in attendance, the script may have other plans.
Individually, Cody is 1-2 with Kurtis “Moky” Pratt, while Zain is 2-2 with Masya “aMSa” Chikamoto. Cody has a difficult path in Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma (his former bracket demon), Moky, and Leffen; meanwhile, projections have Zain facing aMSa in the winner’s side of Top 64. Overall, Cody and Zain separate themselves from the rest of the chaos among the top players.
Unlike Ultimate, Melee’s top talent is not as polarizing. No player in the modern era can match where Cody and Zain are currently, just as no one could during Hungrybox’s reign as #1 or when “The Five Gods” era was in its heyday. However, the script may have other plans, and hijinx will ensue.
North America vs. Japan: Who prevails in Ultimate’s next continental battle?
By this point, a hot storyline in Ultimate’s competitive scene is who can square themselves away as the best continent, North America or Japan. At Port Priority 8, this was on full display. Despite Sonix taking the event over Miya, North America dropped to Japan like flies in Top 32. Sparg0 lost to Kengo “KEN” Suzuki; MKLeo and Angel “Onin” Mireles lost to Kaninabe; Juan Pablo “Skyjay” Lozada and Antony “MuteAce” Hoo lost to Shimizu “Umeki” Masaki; Light lost to あcola and KEN. This mayhem culminated in creating a complete dissection of North America’s talent pool with only a minute portion of what Japan has to offer.
GENESIS X puts this storyline at the forefront, and this time, with new talent on both sides waiting to pounce. Alongside other Japanese powerhouses like Sota “Zackray” Okada, Gakuto “Gackt” Ito, and Neo Iwahita: Hero, Taikei, Shirayuki, Yuta "Nietono" Uejima, Akakikusu, Kyon, and MTK (among other Japanese talent) are making their North American debut for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Meanwhile, rising North American stars like Ethan “SHADIC” San Miguel, Paul “BeastModePaul” Edwards, Syrup, and WebbJP look to defend North America from the Japanese talents in their projected paths.
Whoever places highly at GENESIS X moves their continent closer to being the best. With Get On My Level X happening in May and other Japanese talent like M0tsunabE and Jogibu making their North American debut, this storyline will only evolve in 2024.
Can Bloom4Eva perform well outside of Europe?
It goes without question that Europe is not the most talented continent for Ultimate. While Gluttony and Pau “Sisqui” Caire have carried the heavy banner for most of Ultimate’s life, competitors like Oliver “Bloom4Eva” Alexander look to help.
If there is anyone to pay attention to during GENESIS X weekend, Bloom4Eva is that competitor to look at. He came in as #28 on the LumiRank 2023 and stayed in Europe for virtually the entire season. That is until he got invited to Watch the Throne. Only beating Luis “Lui$” Ocegura Ramos, he placed 9th as he lost to numerous top North American and Japanese players. This starkly contrasted his result at Double Down 2022, where he placed 13th and beat players like Seisuke "Kome" Komeda and Jose "JDV" Gallegos.
GENESIS X marks Bloom4Eva’s first non-invitational North American bracket since Double Down 2022 and the United Kingdom’s best has ample opportunities to make a statement. Being the #30 seed in Ultimate Singles, favorability is on his side as he faces Anthony “AnthonyIsntCool” Codd and Abraham “MKBigBoss” Slane Parra to qualify for Top 64 winner’s side. Both matchups are doable, with Bayonetta being arguably R.O.B’s worst matchup. Once he hits Top 64, projections have him playing Sparg0, which will be a hot set. A loss to the young prodigy would leave him playing Jayjay “Ouch?!” Basilan and Bharat “Lima” Chintapall are on the loser’s side of the bracket, where seeding has the run end.
However GENESIS X goes, this run sets Bloom’s 2024 narrative. If he performs greater or equal to his seeding, he cements himself as an international threat outside of Europe. If not, questions arise on whether or not the lights of North America and Japan are too bright for one of Bayonetta’s best. Only time will tell, but Bloom will not back down without a fight.
Who will have a breakout performance?
As is tradition at any high-stakes event, projected paths go out the window, and upsets spread like wildfire. GENESIS is no stranger to this, as some of the tournament series’ best moments come from chaotic brackets. It becomes a guessing game to determine breakout runs, but here are my picks for players to make that chaos begin.
Spritzy
For those unaware, Spritzy is a part of the “Toon Link Renaissance” with Deliboid in North America. He started 2024 with a bang by upsetting Samuel “Dabuz” Robert Buzby, Fawn, and placing 65th at Luminosity Makes Big Moves 2024. He would follow this up with a breakout performance at King of Bombs #1, placing 5th with wins on Sebastian “Deathspade” Smith, Tarun “Beastly” Chemiti, Niko, and ToasT.
As the #94 seed in Ultimate Singles, projections have him playing MKBigBoss, who he took to game five at Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2023. If he wins against MKBigBoss, Bloom4Eva becomes a daunting foe due to his experience against Skaws. If he loses to MKBigBoss, beating Ikan is definitely within the realm of possibility since he got upset by Deliboid at Frosty Faustings XVI 2024, his only bracket set against Toon Link. With his substantial rise, he looks to lead the Toon Link charge with a solid GENESIS X run to boot.
Susu
The French Dimension has quite a lineup of players competing at GENESIS X, but Suleyman “Susu” Abbas is the most intriguing. He already has a breakout run in 2024, placing 33rd at KOWLOON #9 with Sumabato with wins on Rizeasu and Alice; both players are in the LumiRank 2023 Top 150. Before his trip to Japan, he won WANTED Road to UFA with wins on Spectral and PeW and then placed 49th at Ultimate Fighting Arena 2023.
Being the #84 seed in Ultimate Singles, projections have him playing back-to-back Falco players on the winner’s side of the bracket, Ryan “Nexus” Kaplan and Micheal “Tilde” Tedesco. He has a high chance of upsetting James "VoiD" Makekau-Tyson, given how strong Steve is against Sheik. If he can beat Tilde, Kaninabe will be a close set since Fox is one of Steve’s best meta-relevant matchups. GENESIS X is Susu’s first North American event, and he looks to mine his way into the eyes of many with another performance.
Bbatts
Peach players in Melee are vast. Going from a Top 5 Melee player of all time in Adam “Armada” Lingren to a Doctor & Melee competitor in Arjun “lloD” Malhotra, none are quite like William “Bbatts” Batista. 2023 was quite a year for the Twitter connoisseur as he placed 7th at Riptide 2023, 4th at Rise N’ Grind 2023, 25th at The Big House 11, and ended the season with a 9th at Santa Paws 2023 and a ranking of #36 on the SSBMRank 2023 season.
His run at GENESIS X is not particularly favorable on the winner’s side, running into Kyle Krudo, who is 0-3 on Bbatts all time but has not played in two years. Projections have him defeating Henry “Lowercase hero” Moser and Anthony “Preeminent” Braun, with he has a winning record on both but then runs into Daniel “Zamu” Bernstein. The only time they played each other, Bbatts squeezed out a close game 5 set at Riptide 2023, so this set is doable. If he beats Zamu, projections have him playing Kalindi “KJH” Henderson and John “KoDoRiN” Ko, where Bbatts has won his most recent sets against either player. If BBatts can play his cards right, this Peach player can create one of the strongest loser’s runs the GENESIS series has seen yet.
Eddy Mexico
Whenever a Melee player thinks about the best Luigi mains, Eduardo “Eddy Mexico” Lucatero Rincon comes to mind. With scattered attendance in 2023, strong placements such as 33rd at GENESIS 9 and 3rd at Smash Factor X still had him conclude the 2023 season as #54 on the SSBMRank 2023. Like so many other competitors, GENESIS X marks his first test for this year.
Being the #48 seed in Melee Singles, projections have him running into Miles “Soonsay” Foster. While neither has played since Battle of BC 4 in 2020, Eddy Mexico holds the set count 3-1 and is all of Soonsay’s experience in the Luigi matchup, so the odds are in his favor. The Fox gauntlet would continue against Joshua “Joshman” Lyras, who he took to game five back at the Ludwig Smash Invitational in 2022. Regardless of where Eddy ends up in the bracket, Fox follows. Despite the tier difference, he can demonstrate Luigi’s excellence with a statement performance at GENESIS X, no matter who is in his way.
There is so much at stake for all competitors at GENESIS X. Top talents look to break through and become the next feel-good story of 2024. Ten years of GENESIS tournaments have led up to the epitome of the entire series, and everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to witness this script take its hold.
Scottie Wade
Writer, 26 Rising
Comments