Episode 1-8: The Ultimate Speculation

In this episode, AV and Peon speculate about the changes coming to the newest title in the Smash franchise, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. They discuss what changes could be coming for you as a competitor, both inside and outside the game.

## Questions

### **Peon:**

> That’s a great question, you know, because all these different characters it will be more important to have more pockets you know, more options on the table. I’m going to go ahead and say it will be more important to have more characters in your roster because it’s as simple as knowing as many characters as possible, especially at the opening gates, is going to help you out so much in tournaments.
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> You don’t want to be surprised by what happens since the meta will be so new on release. You won’t really know who is amazing and who is bad yet. It will take a while for the meta to really form and it will be nice to diversify your investment in multiple characters in case one of them sucks.
> Plus, with all these different characters, the chances that one of your characters is going to have a bad match up is really high. Since there are more characters, you’re also increasing the probability that you’re going to have bad matchups. So, get your fingers behind a couple of different characters.
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### **AV:**

> I’d say if you’re not playing one of the top five characters in this game you’re going to want to have a pocket character. I say that pretty directly because I think that the most important resource in terms of learning matchups is having people to play against and there’s going to be a matchup that you know is really bad.
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> That pro player that you follow or the entire community of the character in general knows that there’s this one bad matchup and if you don’t get practice against that matchup, the absolute easiest thing to do, and the path of least resistance, is to just pick up the hard counter to that character. Picking up the hard counter, in my opinion, is likely easier than learning the matchup by seeking out a player of that character. So, your best bet will likely be playing two or three characters.
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> It will dilute your skill a little which will make the game really interesting and I think that’ll actually help the game develop more. I think we are going to see a little stronger of a lifetime out of this game because people are going to be developing or trying to develop so many different characters.
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### **AV:**

> I think if there’s a player that I have lost to six or seven times, and have never beaten them, or maybe I’ve taken one game here and there but generally struggle against this person, I think that it means that there is a significant hole in my gameplay. That is such a valuable data point so I actually will, absolutely, treat it differently in the sense that I will explore and find out exactly what’s going on.
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> I will go to this person that’s my Bracket Demon and I will try to play as many friendlies with them as humanly possible. Not to figure them out as a player or to get the down low on them, but to introspect in exactly what is on my plate that causes this person’s play style or character to trump mine.
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> That is how I use my knowledge that someone is my Bracket Demon, to kind of structure my practice and influence the way that I prepare for matches.
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### **Peon:**

> Psychologically I know they are just another guy or girl. They’re not some god. You can’t be too afraid of them. You can’t be nervous or scared when playing them. Game play/game plan wise I’m definitely going to be trying to implement some specific strategies and feel around and see why they’re my Bracket Demon. You know, really try to understand it better. So, I’ll really try to treat it a little bit differently.
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### **Peon:**

> Let’s preface this and say we both get to pick three. Let’s each pick one at a time. I would probably pick President Bill Clinton, just so I could show him my impersonation yeeehawwww. What about you?
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### **AV:**

> I would pick Gandhi because that’s a free win. He took a vow of non-violence and that’s easy bracket. I’m moving on.
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### **Peon:**

> Maybe Norm McDonald. I feel like he would hate it and I like his voice. I just like him.
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### **AV:**

> I would pick Hikaru. I studied him religiously to learn DK, so being able to play against him, and learning from him would probably be a really cool experience.
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### **Peon:**

> Maybe, like, Benjamin Franklin. This dude invented the library, could you imagine what his reads would be like in game.
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### **AV:**

> Obviously I’m torn between giving a fun answer or a serious one, but I think it would be really cool to just play and hang out with Armada. I’ve always looked up to Armada in terms of his mentality and his approach to the game.
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### **Peon:**

> So one of each I suppose
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### **AV:**

> I think this one is really difficult. Obviously I’m probably going to be forgetting my absolute favorite moments.
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### **Peon:**

> So let’s distinguish this. Is this just your own personal moment, or just across the scene? I say we say across the scene.
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### **AV:**

> I actually want to get both. I think my favorite Smash 4 moment is the very last tournament I attended. I won both Doubles and Singles and it was my very last tournament.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah, we played double Cloud.
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### **AV:**

> That was my very last tournament in Central Coast and that was easily my favorite sesh for a moment. I don’t think I can top that other than another really hype grand finals that I won. In terms of the competitive smash scene, I think, probably, my favorite Smash 4 moment as a whole was Civil War III.
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> I don’t want to pick any specific thing from Civil War but there were so many things in that tournament that made it such a standout event. It was just, in terms of the watching as a viewer, in terms of the storylines, it was just an absolutely incredible event with a lot of amazing sets.
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### **Peon:**

> Yeah, it was so good. Some of the upsets, the whole theme, was so hype. I still never even saw the Marvel movie it was based on.
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> Okay, so my favorite casual moment. I don’t want to give it too cheesey of an answer. Honestly, like playing with friends. I have a specific memory of just having a bunch of local smashers in my upstairs. We were just drinking some beer after a big tournament and we all just kind of were hanging back and everything. Just cut loose, you know, a bunch of nerds cutting loose is always fun to see. A lot of people putting themselves out there and seeing smashers in a different context is always heartwarming for me for some reason. I don’t know why.
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> Competitively I have to say it was right after this, it was vaguely competitive, but right after 0-1 Westside Saga. The whole meme about the SoCal crowd being super boring and super unhype was shown most prominently in this tournament.
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> There was nobody making any noise. It was me and my group of five people. We were cheering. We weren’t over-the-top screaming but we were cheering an appropriate amount, but since nobody else was cheering it was super awkward. I think it was also Z5s first time MCing and nobody was responding to anything he was saying. It was just super awkward in the building.
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> So, anyway, it’s completely silent and Zero resets the bracket against Tweek and gets the W. It was vintage Zero. He walks off the stage and, again, nobody was cheering for him or congratulating him. It was actually pretty sad. I had never talked to Zero before and he walks over to me and my buddy Slep and he just kind of digs his hand into my shoulder, like, into my trapezius. He’s touching parts of my shoulder I didn’t know were there. I mean, it felt good though. I look over and Zero was like,
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> *“Oh, that was hard.”*
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> and I was like,
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> *“Yeah man, that was hard.”*
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> Anyway, after that, it was so funny because he just needed someone to talk to after. I talked to him for, like, 10 minutes or so. Super nice guy, he was super friendly, and it was just hilarious. It was really surreal because those were my first interactions with a top player at the time. Funny guy.
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### **AV:**

> Solo main. It’s pretty obvious. If your character has a hard counter there is a low amount of resistance in terms of picking up a character to counter it, then do that and choose a counter pick.
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> Solo main and have a secondary for counter picks. I think dual maining at a mid-level is a bad idea. It is a game that you’re playing. In terms of splitting your time between learning these two characters and at the mid-level you can win most matchups with playing one character.
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### **Peon:**

> Does anybody really dual-main? I feel like nobody really multi-mains.
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### **AV:**

> Dual-maining is like multi-classing in Dungeons and Dragons, or any RPG.
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### **Peon:**

> I’ve played Dungeons and Dragons a grand total of zero times. I’ve got no idea what your talking about.
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### **AV:**

> Alright, well, it’s like splitting your skill points between two different classes in an RPG. That’s literally what dual-maining is. Some stuff crosses over in terms of your skills and your stats crossing over. There’s probably some ways to optimize it and your skills can cross over in some ways, but you are splitting your time between learning and appreciating two different characters. So, I would recommend against it.
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