Of course, the biggest news from the weekend was Sparg0’s victory, finally getting the major win he’s been after. Seeing Sparg0 in Grand Finals comes as little surprise, but his win breaks what was beginning to feel like a second place curse: Second at SmashCon Fall Fest losing to Light, and second at Port Priority 6 and Mainstage falling to MkLeo. This weekend, he overcame those obstacles, claiming wins on both players in addition to a list of top talent including Chag, Tea, Elegant, and Lavish.
During the group phase, Sparg0 was the only top seed to avoid an upset from a lower seeded player. His fellow top seeds — MkLeo, Tweek, and Protobanham — all ran into difficulties during their brackets that resulted in them having to compete in the gauntlet stage. Sparg0, on the other hand, got to rest easy until the final bracket on Sunday, beginning his run by defeating fellow Mexican player Chag 3-1 in Winners Quarterfinals, a reversal of fortune from Chag’s upset over Sparg0 at Mainstage 2021 that allowed him to qualify for Summit.
Sparg0’s run through Sunday’s final bracket contained plenty of runbacks of previous major opponents, beginning with his winners semis set vs MkLeo. The two went to game 4, resulting in one of the most stunning set-ending finishes you’ll ever see at a major event. Down over 100% on his final stock, Sparg0 managed to hold on for dear life offstage against Leo’s Byleth, stalling with a perfectly timed cross slash before Leo could have a chance to F-Air him. Soon after, Sparg0 found the perfect opening against Leo’s defenses, landing a back air that connected into an offstage forward air spike, stealing Leo’s final stock away at a mere 31%. In a way, this was his chance at redemption, mirroring Leo’s come-from-behind victory against Sparg0 at Mainstage where Leo similarly found an opportunity to back air and spike offstage. How poetic, then, that Sparg0’s final opponent of the tournament, Light, would also be a runback: this time from grand finals of SmashCon Fall Fest.
Winners Finals of Summit 4 was played on the razor’s edge, with Sparg0 and Light trading games back and forth. Light would steal stocks away with risky offstage shines, while Sparg0 would answer back with solid onstage punishes and incredibly spaced back airs. Sparg0 managed to close out game 5 with a solid lead, setting expectations high for the potential runback in Grand Finals. However, nothing could have prepared Light for this Sparg0: one who knew he was going to win this tournament. And so he did, closing out the bracket with a 3-0 over Moist’s Fox.
Sparg0’s win cements him as one of Ultimate’s best, and a strong contender for the best Ultimate player in the world. It felt like a matter of when, not if, for him placing first at a major, and we expect this to be only the first of many, many more to come. At such a young age, the future is most certainly bright.
We’d be remiss to not mention the incredible runs Light and Protobanham both had this weekend as well. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers at Ultimate Summit 4 exceeded expectations by walking away with collective wins on just about every player in attendance aside from Sparg0.
Light’s run began in the group stage with a shocking upset over MkLeo that set the bar for the tournament. This was the first time the two had played since before the quarantine era, at Ultimate Summit 2 — a game 5 set that ended in Leo’s victory as Joker. Fast forward, and it wasn’t even close: Light 3-0’d MkLeo by oppressing his Byleth and showcasing exactly why the character struggles against rushdowns like Fox.
Light would end up defending his 2nd place finish in the pools by beating BassMage in the gauntlet stage, moving onto winners side in Sunday’s final bracket. There, Light claimed a win on Maister, his third on record and their fourth set in a row that’s gone to game 5. Next was Tweek, another game 5 set that resulted in a win for Light, with Tweek’s SD in the final game allowing Light to steal away the momentum of the entire match.
Proto’s bracket was even more interesting, beginning with pools where he was upset by Maister and finished second going into the gauntlet stage. In a twist of fate, he ended up scrapping against Tweek to determine who would be starting final bracket in winners, and Tweek came out on top in the end. Despite having a bracket where every set was a potential tournament-ender, Proto managed to claw his way back up to losers finals, an unprecedented Summit run. He became the first player to make it that far in a Summit bracket after starting in losers, between all 16 Melee and Ultimate brackets. On the way, he defeated Dabuz, eliminating him at 9th, stomped out BassMage’s breakout performance, got the runback against Tweek in a 3-0, and claimed his first win against MkLeo in Game 4 of losers semis.
Among an impressive Top 8, one player’s awe-inspiring run stands out: BassMage. To most, it’s a big surprise to see Jigglypuff performing this well, but perhaps it shouldn’t be all too shocking considering the buffs the character has received over the last few updates. BassMage used his skills in tandem with Puff’s buffs to pick up a handful of fantastic wins, including two game 5 closers against Chag, a win on Goblin during the gauntlet stage, and a win over fellow last-minute vote-in Lavish.
BassMage proved he belonged on the same stage as anyone else in attendance, and cemented Puff as a character to watch going forward. Stay tuned to the PGstats YouTube this Friday when we’ll be putting out a deeper analysis on his performance, analyzing Puff’s buffs and how they were a major contributing factor behind his wins.
For the first time since GOML 2019, MkLeo did not place in the Top 2 at an Ultimate major. This stat is mind-boggling to say the least, and could also hold massive repercussions for the future of Ultimate’s competitive landscape.
To slightly temper expectations, it is worth mentioning that his top-2 streak remains intact for open tournaments, given that Summit is an invitation-only event. Still, demolishing expectations, this was not Leo’s tournament by any means. He lost a total of four times, each one to a different player: Gluttony, Light, Sparg0, and Protobanham. This means that of MkLeo’s now-53 recorded offline losses, nearly 8% of them came from Ultimate Summit 4.
This raises the question, is it time for Leo to start bringing back some of his other characters? Since picking up Byleth and running away with multiple major tournament wins with the character, there’s been an underlying feeling that people will eventually catch on to how to counter him. And indeed, Summit 4 was that breaking point. Whether he continues to stick with Byleth, or decides to bring back the Joker that almost single handedly dominated the pre-quarantine era, or goes in another direction entirely, we’ll have to wait and see.
Leo wasn’t the only former Summit champ that had a difficult time this weekend, as last Summit’s winner, Tweek, placed 5th with losses to Dabuz, Chag, Light, and Protobanham. Tweek has now placed last, first and 5th in his three Ultimate Summit appearances, remaining one of top-level Ultimate’s most unpredictable players.
Overall, this iteration of Summit took players and spectators alike on an incredible journey. Between the onslaught of high profile upsets during pools on Friday and Saturday, top level gameplay throughout, and top-of-the-line production value as always from Beyond the Summit, it was a weekend well worth the hype.
