After CEO Dreamland, the last notable event of the pre-COVID era, tournaments were infrequent and smaller in scale. Most were variably held in France and Japan, with some small Sumabato series events in Kansai making up the most significant tournaments.
Now, Kagaribi 4 stands as the next evolution.
Kagaribi 4, as of this writing, handily cracks the 4000 point barrier on OrionStats, making it the first designated Supermajor in a year and a half. It is the most significant meeting of Kanto and & Kansai, Japan’s two best regions, since EVO Japan 2020.
Kansai’s advantage going into Kagaribi 3 was its infrequent regional events held throughout 2020. It was the most active region during the pandemic, which may have helped prepare them for the first new-era major.
Going into Kagaribi 4, local events and weeklies have largely resumed in Kanto, with the bi-weekly series WINNER! Concluding with an unexpected win by former Wifi player “Chicken”, a Diddy Kong and Wolf main from Kanto.
Atelier, once known as one of Japan’s best Rosalina players in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and now a top Pokemon Trainer player, has surged into Japan’s upper echelon since Quarantine began.Possibly the best active Trainer in the world, Atelier crushed expectations at Kagaribi 3 by placing second. At Kagaribi 4, he is the fourth seed.
Unlike Evo Japan, every set at Kagaribi 4 will be best of five, making it one of the biggest skill tests to date for the numerous top attendees.
Japan’s seeding is often based largely or even exclusively on prior event iterations. This has resulted in bizarre seeding historically, and Kagaribi is no different. With Kagaribi taking place as a Kanto event, numerous Kansai players have found themselves woefully underseeded when based on Kansai results from the Sumabato event series. This is because many didn’t attend Kagaribi 3.
Lv.1, a lesser known Chubu resident, is one of the region’s best players and often carries outstanding loss records. His frequently low seeding owes itself to difficult brackets, resulting in few wins, but high quality losses. Most notably, Lv.1 suffered a double elimination at the hands of MKLeo at Umebura Japan Major 2019.
At Kagaribi 4, the set could be considered a tossup. The winner will likely face Kome in top 64, an extremely difficult follow-up given how competitive pools already are.
Kirihara’s history is more well known to the states through his various stellar performances as Japan’s top Rosalina main. He remains the best Rosalina main in the country for Smash Ultimate, but he has additionally picked up Sheik as a character.
Huto has mained a large number of characters over Smash Ultimate’s lifetime. Starting with Mario and Luigi, he eventually integrated Wario and Shulk before dropping all of them in favor of Banjo. As of late, he appears to have brought his Wario back, making him one of Japan’s best Wario players.
HERO is likely to be Shky’s hardest opponent until he reaches Kome, but Tsu having a career defining run isn’t out of the question now that he’s spent a significant amount of time on Pyra/Mythra and had over a year to refine his Terry.
The sets and players I’ve mentioned are only part of what’s set to be the most significant event in well over a year. This event will almost certainly be impossible to fully predict, especially after Kagaribi 3 shattered all expectations. Much like with InfinityCON, we can expect Kagaribi 4 to be an early snapshot of what the new-era metagame will look like offline.
