Tournament:Ranbat XVI
The 16th Melbourne Ranking Battle was held in Carlton's John Curtin Hotel on 17 August 2008, in conjunction with the Couch Warriors Committee. Tournament hosting rights were passed on to Shaz from CAOTIC who has now assumed a facilitator role for the event. Overall attendance for the Ranbat exceeded 80 people, with 41 entrants for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. From a logistical and organisational standpoint, the Smash tournaments operated like clockwork, reinstating trust in the Smash community.
Amaterasu recorded his first win through Melbourne's Ranbats, joining the ranks of previous winners Cobalt, Jei Jei, CAOTIC, Redact and Erick.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Finals Report
Singles
1st - Amaterasu (Mount Waverley)
2nd - Cobalt (Noble Park)
3rd - Jei Jei (Delahey)
4th - Dekar (Boronia)
5th - CAOTIC (East Melbourne)
5th - Tak (Scoresby)
Final Set:
1. Cobalt (Metaknight) vs. Amaterasu (Metaknight), Mario Circuit (Random) - Cobalt win
2. Cobalt (Metaknight) vs. Amaterasu (Metaknight), Smashville (Counterpick) - Amaterasu win
3. Cobalt (Snake) vs. Amaterasu (Metaknight), Corneria (Counterpick) - Cobalt win
Cobalt wins set 2-1
Championship Set:
4. Amaterasu (Metaknight) vs. Cobalt (Metaknight), Jungle Japes (Random) - Amaterasu win
5. Amaterasu (Metaknight) vs. Cobalt (Snake), Pokemon Stadium 1 (Counterpick) - Cobalt win
6. Amaterasu (Metaknight) vs. Cobalt (Snake), Battlefield (Counterpick) - Amaterasu win
Amaterasu wins set 2-1
The final sets proved to be an intense and highly strategical battle of the 2 best characters in the game. In the first set, Cobalt pulled off a suprising first match victory against Amaterasu's own main character, thereby giving Cobalt the critical deciding coutnerpick. Amaterasu attempted to fight the match on more levelled territory, with a strategy to play very defensively against Cobalt's unknown Metaknight. This stategy worked until Cobalt's final hand came into play, switching to Snake and counterpicking on Corneria. With 2 highly effectively placed up-smash edgeguards, Cobalt was able to shut down Ammeren's game with a crushing 2 stock-low % defeat, with killer blows delivered from zero %.
The second set picks up where the first one started, with a Metaknight ditto on a Random stage, with Amaterasu opting to ban Corneria. He gained the first win of the set, allowing him to eventually play on a stage of his preference. Come the third and final match, it was decided on Battlefield against Cobalt's Snake (The second match was won through Snake's utilt kills against Metaknight on PK1 - a stage with low ceilings). This proved to be a difficult stage for Snake as he struggled to gain any ground footing against Metaknight's flurry of options to keep Snake above the platforms. The final match was settled in a rather decisive final match.
Amaterasu claims his key to victory was to perform aerial fakeouts in order to exploit Snake's aerial lag if he chose to intercept.
Melbourne Ranbat Rankings - August
Top 5
1. Cobalt
2. Erick
3. Redact
4. CAOTIC
5. Amaterasu
Trivia
Dekar was destroying Cobalt's Snake with his world famous Donkey Kong before he clumsily self destructed on the final stock of the final match of the set.