IlluZion came out in force yesterday at Glitch-Infinite, with both our dashing team captain (BONK!) and our resident blue blur (Sonido) making top 32 out of 616 entrants! Catch their impressive bracket journeys down below.
Sonido:
The Southern U.S.'s greatest Sonic player first began his Glitch-Infinite run by steamrolling through R1 pools without dropping a single game, securing his spot in R2 pools.
Right out of the gates in R2 pools, Sonido had to play Riddles, one of the best players in Canada. Known for being an incredibly skilled Terry and Kazuya player, Riddles opted to use his equally as terrifying Roy against Sonido.
The set started off rough for Sonido; Riddles made great use of Roy's power and range to effectively stifle Sonido's Spin Dashes while dealing good damage in the process. Before long, Sonido found himself down three stocks to one. But Sonido, being an equally seasoned veteran as Riddles, adapted by cleverly mixing up his approaches with run up shield to take advantage of Roy's end lag, and masterfully changing the angles of his Spin and Homing Attacks to keep Riddles guessing. Before long, Sonido evened the stock count, putting Riddles directly on the backfoot. The first game came down to the wire, but it was Sonido who eventually edged out his Canadian foe by scouting out his roll from the ledge, back throwing him off the blast zone.
The majority of the second game looked bright for Sonido. He managed to gain a two stock lead and was looking primed to end the set 2-0 in no time, but Riddles, not deterred even in the slightest even though his back was to the cliff, performed his own reversal by taking Sonido's last two stocks, bringing the set to a climatic game three.
Game three boiled down to a fierce last stock, last hit situation, with Sonido landing high-damaging combos in the pocket, and Riddles using his disjointed attacks to juggle Sonido. However, in the end, Sonido emerged victorious with an incredibly well-placed back air!
Next in R2 pools, Sonido met Beast, the strongest Pokemon Trainer in Philadelphia.
The first game was hotly contested, it came down to Beast just barely edging out Sonido with a well-timed Ivysaur up air to close it out.
However, Sonido retaliated by taking game two after completely trapping Beast's Charizard in the corner, keeping him unable to make the most out of Charizard's powerful attacks.
The final game was equally competitive as the first two, with Beast seizing the lead early on courtesy of a Charizard dash attack. As Charizard was already at rage percent, Beast was able to control the pace of the set by both keeping Sonido away with the threat of increased attack damage, and due to being unable to die easily because of Charizard's extraordinary weight. The set came down to the final stocks, but, unfortunately for Sonido, the battle between the dragon and the hedgehog ended with Beast clutching the set out with a well-placed down air, sending Sonido to losers.
In his first set of losers, Sonido took on Brr, the number 10-ranked player in Texas. The match was not streamed, but Sonido defeated his Southern contemporary 2-0 to advance to top 32!
In top 32, Sonido played Yori, who is currently the best Steve main in MD/VA. Their set was also not streamed, but Sonido would fall to Yori 3-1, ending his run at Glitch at 25th place.
BONK!
BONK! went nearly unchallenged in R1 pools, only dropping one game to Towa Maji Tenshi before advancing to R2 pools.
In his first set of R2 pools, BONK! crossed controllers with Vult, the best Steve player in Kentucky.
The first game was a struggle for BONK!, he was finding it difficult to land many clean attacks or start any long combos due to Vult's expert usage of Steve's wacky and diverse attacks to keep BONK! at bay. BONK! fell to three stocks to one two minutes into the match. Though he managed to claw his way back to a last stock situation, Vult ended up ending the game with a slick combination of down air to back air.
Game two was equally as treacherous for BONK! as he was soon put in danger of falling from winners after going down two stocks to one. However, BONK! soon began to chip away at Vult's lead by slowly racking up damage and keeping Vult in the air with up airs. Vult's lead suddenly turned into an even game after a masterful Shuttle Loop out of shield, now BONK! could go on the attack. The game was even now, at least until BONK! parried Vult's final attack of the game, then followed up by sending Vult straight to the stars with a patented BONK! up air string to Shuttle Loop, taking the set to a game three!
The third game proved to an absolute barnburner, with both players going into the last glimpses of the set last stock and at high percents. One clean hit from either player would be enough to seal the fate of the other, but in a shocking twist, both players hit each other at the exact same time, sending each other off the blast zones, but it was BONK! who survived by the narrowest of margins, taking down Vult 2-1 in one of the sickest DBZ moments ever witnessed by man!
Up next for BONK! was the best Richter player in the world, T3 DOM. Out of all the players that BONK! had come across in bracket thus far, T3 DOM possessed one of the best counter playstyles to BONK!'s aggressive Meta Knight: his usage of Richter's variety of projectiles and long range whip attacks kept BONK! handedly at mid to long range. He also made BONK!'s life on the ledge hell, as he kept throwing Holy Water and other projectiles near the ledge, keeping BONK! from moving to the stage from below. This effective long range strategy allowed him to seal the first game over BONK!.
The second game saw BONK! begin to maneuver better against T3 DOM's projectiles by jumping in-between them, and using Dimensional Cape to close the distance, brining the set to a game three.
Game three played out just as competitively as the second, but, in the final moments of the set, T3 DOM managed to stun BONK! in a nicely-timed Holy Water, and ended the set with a forward smash, sending BONK! to the losers bracket.
In his first losers set, BONK! went up against Kofi, who is recognized as one of Ultimate's best Falco players.
Wanting to waste no time in qualifying for top 32, BONK! made quick work of Kofi in game one, dominantly three stocking him in under three minutes.
Unlike the first game, Kofi was able to make game two much more competitive, however, BONK! would still prove to be too much, and he would end the set with an admittedly awesome Dimensional Cape to close out the set 2-0, securing his spot in top 32.
In top 32, BONK! had to play one of the best Pikachu players in all of France, Neeroz.
In to time, Neeroz gained the lead thanks in part to his impeccable use of Pikachu's up tilt to neutral air combo. BONK! answered back with a barrage of jabs and a nice Shuttle Loop, but it was readily apparent that the speed advantage belonged to Neeroz. BONK! put up a good fight, but Neeroz took game one.
BONK! took the initiative by making it a point to stay as close to Neeroz as much as possible while avoiding his Thunder Jolts. He even took the lead after using Drill Rush to edge guard Neeroz. Neeroz wasn't able to get going much after that and, before long, BONK! ended the second game with a superb forward smash after reading Neeroz's roll.
The set proceeded to become very back-and-forth, with both players quickly seizing the lead over the other, eventually bringing the set to game five.
The opening minutes of the final game saw both players trying their best to both out maneuver and out damage the other. It was looking like a stalemate until BONK!, after reading an air dodge from Neeroz, quickly pounced with a masterful Drill Rush, sending his opponent off the blast zone, securing a crucial two stock lead to Neeroz's one. The lead didn't last long, though, as Neeroz quickly made the stock count even by executing a neutral air to up smash combination. Neeroz tried to use his speed more to out pace BONK!, but the Philadelphian Meta Knight was unfazed, and after making a stellar down smash read to cover one of Neeroz's recoveries, BONK! ended the set climatically 3-2!
(https://clips.twitch.tv/HonestIgnorantMuleGrammarKing-yCo_aOeiI9xXQEs2)
BONK! would next face LOE1, the second best player in Michigan, only behind Zinoto.
BONK! would start the set splendidly by two stocking LOE1 in the first game. After that, however, LOE1 completely took hold of the set by taking the next three games in a row, eliminating BONK! at 17th place.
Written by Hank Strandberg
Follow BONK! at
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BONK_MK
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bonkmk
Follow Sonido at
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_Sonido_
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sonidomsc
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