Unlike the NA West finals, cancellation rates were far lower for the East. As a result, most of the original qualified players are here and ready to compete, hailing from regions spanning from Florida to Quebec.
Encompassing the Atlantic Southeast, Florida, the Inland & Gulf Southeast, as well as portions of the Mid-South with Missouri, the Southeast has had eyes on it for quite some time. While Florida has long been known as an immense talent pool, Georgia has emerged over the last six years as an extremely powerful region. Behind it, we have the Carolinas, another emerging region benefitting from its close proximity to MDVA and Georgia.
Encompassing MDVA, Tristate, the Great Lakes portion of the Midwest, Upstate New York, New England, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada, NA Northeast is likely the strongest area in the entire global circuit.
As only one replacement occurred, both regions here are represented by eight players each.
Tweek, generally considered top three in the world, is an overwhelming favorite to win this pool. While lacking a record against Yez, he has a 1-0 record on Myran and a 4-0 record over WaDi. Despite occasional issues with consistency and a handful of odd losses, Tweek’s Diddy Kong appears to be his most stable and threatening character to date.
WaDi, MDVA’s longtime best player, is walking in with both Mewtwo and R.O.B. in his arsenal. Recently picking up Mewtwo, he can be considered the best pilot of the character in the world, and remains a very skilled R.O.B. player.
While his record vs Tweek was mentioned above, this will be the first time he has fought Myran since GENESIS 6, nearly three years ago, where WaDi lost. That in mind, WaDi’s rankings have been consistently higher, so he may be favored to emerge as the pool’s second seed.
Armadillo is one of two Canadian players present at this weekend’s event, and the only one from Quebec. Quebec, a large province, has not had a ton of time in the sun as of recent years, largely exposed to the public through Canadian major series Get On My Level. Armadillo, a powerful player from the province, recently won Battle of Z: Toronto Strikes Back, an event featuring several top players from Ontario and Quebec.
Piloting both Lucario and Pyra, he is the pool’s most substantial wildcard, as he has not competed against top players out-of-country offline. With good performances in Quebec and a qualifying run to play at today’s finals, Armadillo will be a player to watch.
Lastly in this pool of dark horses is naitosharp, the sole New England player in attendance. Initially a heavy wifi player, he has emerged as a top contender in New England. New England is by now considered one of the East Coast’s strongest regions, and has solid depth across its six states.
Interaction with Tristate and Upstate New York, as well as a homegrown major with Shine, provides its players numerous opportunities. Another major advantage in Naitosharp’s pocket is his extensive roster. While he’s used a massive number of characters, he seems most likely to use Zero Suit Samus and Joker as of late. Other prominent choices include Wolf and Sheik.
Starting off, we have the 13-year-old New Jersey prodigy Syrup. Placing second at the NA Northeast Qualifier to Tweek, Syrup is an impressive player with tons of potential ahead. Ranked 4th in his state, it wouldn’t be surprising if he pulled off an upset or two.
One potential issue is his mixed set record against Rivers. Sporting a 1-2 set record across one NJ monthly, it shows he’s capable of defeating top in-region players, but it may signify a tough bracket run. Nonetheless, he has the ability to make something interesting happen and is this pool’s main dark horse.
Kola, recently sponsored by Moist eSports, is another one of Georgia’s recent rising talents. In Super Smash Bros for Wii U, he was known as “Salt One”, and often reached ceilings he struggled to break. In Smash Ultimate, though, he quickly emerged as a top 30 player by the end of the pre-Quarantine era.
After a power vacuum was left in Ontario in light of several retirements & hiatuses, Riddles emerged as their best player. Performing well in the Fall Ultimate PGR season – the hardest season to date – Riddles managed to get ranked 47th.
Lastly for Pool 3, we have Rivers. Initially a Chrom main, he has joined the recent wave of Diddy Kongs seeing success. This isn’t a shock – his primary main in Smash Wii U was Diddy, and he could make Top 8s at big events with him. In Smash Ultimate, his biggest successes have been with Chrom, but he’s grinded out Diddy Kong experience in two hard regions with top Diddy Kong players – Aaron for Florida, and Tweek for New Jersey.
Rivers at his best could also sweep this pool, and on-paper, he should be favored to place second. However, he has not fought Riddles at all in Smash Ultimate. His only set against Kola was at Frostbite 2020. A narrow 2-3 loss, it’s hard to say how relevant that set will be, since both players have changed substantially in the nearly two-years since.
Facing down stiff competition, he has a 1-3 record against Dabuz and a 1-0 record on LeoN. Matchup dynamics and set records benefit him against LeoN, but he has historically struggled greatly against Dabuz. He also has had trouble against Sonic players in the past, making Wrath a potential threat.
This is the most significant event he’s attended since, and it isn’t out of the question that he emerges in winners bracket. If everything goes well, it’s plausible he wins the pool outright – something that would re-solidify him as a contender for best Sonic.
Finally, we end with Dabuz. The King of New York himself, Dabuz is hot off an incredible run at Low Tide City where he finally took his first set off of MkLeo in Smash Ultimate. While his follow up at Super Smash Con: Fall Fest was a bump down, he’s still proven he has what it takes to be in contention to take a major.
With a positive record on ESAM and a workable competitive record with LeoN, Dabuz is favored to take the pool. His wildcard opponent is Wrath, although Dabuz did defeat Kengo “KEN” Suzuki at Summit 3, who is comparably good as a Sonic player. Whether or not this experience will help him remains to be seen, but all he needs to do to clear himself a ticket to winners bracket is beat players he’s already beaten before.
NA East features one of the most significant talent pools at a round robin event seen to date. No matter who qualifies, at least a few top players will likely miss qualification to the December Championships, with room for underdogs to slip in.
This weekend will see the end of the North American side of the circuit until the offline Last Chance Qualifier held before the Championships. This means some who miss qualification may still have a chance, but good runs here will earn a sigh of relief for many top players.
- New Jersey 
- Missouri 
- Virginia
- Florida
, he ran things through losers bracket in swift fashion, only eliminated by Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez 
, another common top 3 candidate. Tweek is in top form to walk through to Day 2 in Winners. 
and “Bert the Dragon” 
.
– Georgia
– Louisiana
and Jon “Suarez” 
. These wins in mind, KirbyKid could end up a strong contender to come out winners side of his pool, and a top 6 overall placement isn’t off the table.
, Naitosharp is probably the most favored to win his pool outright. However, with losses to regional talents at local events and less favorable runs at following majors, he may have a hard fight ahead.
– New Jersey
– Georgia
– Ontario, Canada
at Glitch 8.5.
, who recently finished ninth at Port Priority 6 – have aged well. This is mind, Kola is vulnerable in his pool, but could easily sweep it if he plays at his peak.
&W in the process. Since then, though, he’s been skeptical about Kazuya’s practical use in tournaments, and has wavered on switching to other characters. It’s hard to say who he’ll lean on for the qualifier, but he’s likely to be successful regardless, as he’s done well with a number of very different characters.
– Florida
– New Jersey
– Georgia
– New York
and “ApolloKage” 
, he’s still a primary threat to take pool 4.
, “Paseriman” 
, and other top international threats.