Over this past weekend, two of IlluZion's finest, Sonido and Nicko, both made the trip out to San Jose to test their mettle against some of the world's best at Genesis 8. With well over 1900 entrants, Genesis 8 proved to be the most stacked tournament of the year for Ultimate. Check out below read about their tournament runs!
Sonido:
Sonido began his Genesis run absolutely flawlessly; he first began by decimating his R1 pool opponents, not dropping a game. R2 pools were almost going just as flawlessly for him as well, as he Spin Dashed his way through his first two opponents before meeting the consensus number two player in the world, Spargo in the winners top 64 qualifier.
The set started out a tad rough for our hedgehog hero, as Spargo took the first game relatively dominantly with a two stock finish. Sonido tried his best to make use of Sonic's superior movement speed to try and bait openings from Spargo, but the newly-minted Faze player's world class game sense and defense made it hell for Sonido to move in. Things were starting to look bleak for Sonido, however, ranked number two in the world, or not, he wasn't going to fall to losers without a fight.
In game two, Sonido began to adapt to Spargo's impeccable defense by using both empty hops to bait Spargo's shield and punish his aerials with long combo strings as he landed. But Spargo displayed why he is a contender for MkLeo's throne by keeping the game competitive by punishing Sonido hard whenever he made a mistake in neutral. The second game ultimately came down to a last stock situation, a situation that for Sonido, unfortunately, didn't go in his favor, as he missed a crucial grab at the ledge, allowing Spargo to downsmash his way to victory, winning the set 2-0 and sending Sondio to losers.
In his losers top 64 qualifier match, Sonido crossed controllers with the best Kazuya player in the U.S., as well as one of the best in Texas, Brr. The set was not recorded, but Sonido prevailed with a 2-0 to advance to top 64 where he would lose in his first set to Aaron (which also wasn't streamed), ending his singles run at a respectable 49th place.
In addition to placing highly in singles at Genesis 8, Sonido also placed 13th in doubles with his long-time partner and statesmen, Fatality, where they managed to take down the formidable team of Marss and Light.
Nicko:
The world's greatest Shulk player absolutely plowed his way through both rounds of winners side pools, including claiming a set win over Scend, Utah's number one player. Nicko would not drop a single game until his winners top 64 match against Niko, who is one of the top five players in Texas, in addition to being one of the Southern U.S.'s best Cloud mains.
The set started off very conservative, with both players feeling each other out with back aerials. But the balance turned against Nicko, as Niko was able to land a very high-damage string of 115%. However, Nicko demonstrated his mastery over the Monado arts by first performing a perfect parry, followed up by a calculated forward throw to Attack Mode forward aerial to seal the first stock. Despite this masterful comeback, Niko began to tighten up his neutral more with well-placed forward smashes and Limit Break attacks, eventually taking the first game over Nicko.
Game two wasn't looking bright for Nicko as well; Niko's superb forward smash placements were stifling any approach or landing that Nicko attempted, and he soon found himself down one stock to two while at a staggering 92%. The curtains seemed ready to fall on Nicko's winners run, but called for a second act by clawing his way back from the precipice of defeat, taking Niko's last two stocks with a combination of well-timed forward aerial strings and fatal edge guards to take the second game.
The third and final game boiled down to a back-and-forth aerial neutral battle, with both players unable to gain a prolonged lead for very long. But, in the end, it was Nicko's calculated spacing that proved the deciding factor as he was able to finish the set by baiting out Niko's dash out of shield with a forward tilt, securing his spot in top 64 winners side.
Right out of the gate in top 64, Nicko had to contend with Ultimate's best Fox player, Light. The last time Nicko had crossed paths with Light was all the way back in 2019 at Collision 2019 where he lost 1-3 to him.
Despite coming into top 64 off a white-hot winners run of his own, and with all the confidence in the world heading into their set, Nicko struggled immensely to find his footing against Light's offensive pressure. His use of Fox's tilts and splendid aerials suffocated Nicko to the point where he was forced to respond with defensive counter play. Nicko put up a valiant effort, but Light and his grizzled Fox were simply too much for him to handle. He would lose the set 0-3, falling to the losers bracket.
While in losers, Nicko first faced Finnish powerhouse, Lancelot, who is well known for being one of Europe's best Chrom players. The set was not streamed, but Nicko prevailed over Lancelot 3-1.
Nicko would next play one of the world's finest Kazuya players, Riddles. This set was also not streamed. Nicko ended up losing game five to the Canadian titan, ending his run at 25th place.
Written by Hank Strandberg
Follow Nicko and Sonido at
Sonido: https://twitter.com/_Sonido_
Nicko: https://twitter.com/2Scoops_Nicko
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