Smasher:Acola: Difference between revisions
says online instead of offline
(says online instead of offline) |
|||
| Line 33: | Line 33: | ||
===Offline debut and meteoric rise=== | ===Offline debut and meteoric rise=== | ||
Despite his strong results online, acola had little impact on the | Despite his strong results online, acola had little impact on the offline scene in his first year, with his only attendance being a [https://challonge.com/x0homigo small event in November]. That changed in 2022, when acola was invited to {{Trn|Maesuma Offline}}. Despite being his first offline event with top players in attendance, acola surprised everyone by placing 2nd, defeating several established players along the way including {{Sm|Hero|p=Japan}}, {{Sm|Kome}}, and most notably {{Sm|Shuton}}, whom he reset the bracket against. Following this event was {{Trn|Sumabato SP 24}}, acola's first notable open bracket event. Coming in as the 14th seed, acola once again shocked players by taking the tournament over even more established players such as {{Sm|Abadango}} and {{Sm|HIKARU}}, marking his first superregional victory. These two events established acola as Japan's premier rising star and marked the start of acola's dominance in Japan, with him placing no lower than 2nd at several events afterwards. | ||
These "several events" also included the Golden Week events, specifically the major {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 7}} and the supermajor {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}. Both events featured many of Japan's best players, and both events also seeded acola outside of the top 8, with Kagaribi 7's algorithmic seeding notoriously seeding acola at 57th. Despite these challenges, acola blew both seeds out of the water by winning both events, defeating every single player that was in his path aside from a single set loss to {{Sm|Yoshidora}} at Maesuma. In addition, with his victory at Kagaribi, acola became the lowest-seeded player to ever win an ''Ultimate'' supermajor. These performances not only established acola as the new best player in Japan, but also made him known overseas, with players comparing his dominance to {{Sm|MkLeo}} and {{Sm|Sparg0}}, ''Ultimate''{{'}}s best two players at that time. Many players began anticipating a potential match between MkLeo and Sparg0, while other players dismissed acola as being yet another player in the wave of Steve players who saw strong performances that year. Nonetheless, many players began looking forward to how acola would fare against North America's best players. | These "several events" also included the Golden Week events, specifically the major {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 7}} and the supermajor {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}}. Both events featured many of Japan's best players, and both events also seeded acola outside of the top 8, with Kagaribi 7's algorithmic seeding notoriously seeding acola at 57th. Despite these challenges, acola blew both seeds out of the water by winning both events, defeating every single player that was in his path aside from a single set loss to {{Sm|Yoshidora}} at Maesuma. In addition, with his victory at Kagaribi, acola became the lowest-seeded player to ever win an ''Ultimate'' supermajor. These performances not only established acola as the new best player in Japan, but also made him known overseas, with players comparing his dominance to {{Sm|MkLeo}} and {{Sm|Sparg0}}, ''Ultimate''{{'}}s best two players at that time. Many players began anticipating a potential match between MkLeo and Sparg0, while other players dismissed acola as being yet another player in the wave of Steve players who saw strong performances that year. Nonetheless, many players began looking forward to how acola would fare against North America's best players. | ||