User:Cookies and Creme/Disputed majors
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I tend to prefer adding to tournament history sections at the end of the season/when rankings come out, as it's easier to look back and sum up a player's overall season then. In the meantime, I'm going to draft up what I'll likely put into these sections.
Sparg0
However, even with all of his success within the last year, Sparg0 struggled with his mental health. As a result, on June 20th, he announced his hiatus, which he initially declared was indefinite.[1] During the next few months, the meta saw some major changes. In particular, around the time of his hiatus there was a surge of Steve results, largely due to acola's continued strong performances which included his victory at The Gimvitational, as well as Onin's victory at Super Smash Con 2022, where he decisively defeated several top players including MkLeo, Glutonny, and Maister. Furthermore, players in contention for the best player of the year continued to fight for the spot in Sparg0's absence, and as a result players began leaving Sparg0 out of the conversation.
Although Sparg0 did attend a couple of regional and locals during his hiatus, he didn't return to top level play until he was invited to Smash Ultimate Summit 5 in September. However, he was somewhat rusty in his initial few appearances. At Summit, Sparg0 ultimately placed 7th, with his only top 10 win being Glutonny. Sparg0 faired better at the Ludwig Smash Invitational, the most difficult invitational up to that point, where he qualified for the final bracket after going 3-1 in his Swiss Pools, notably showing his confidence in the Steve matchup by defeating Onin and losing only to Shuton. Although he was sent to the loser bracket early by Kurama, Sparg0 saw an impressive loser's run defeating Dabuz, Riddles, Sonix, and Shuton, but ultimately fell to acola following an unfortunate SD at the start of the final game. Even with this run, however, Sparg0 only managed to bring himself back into the conversation for top 5 as two players stood in his way: MkLeo, who despite underperforming at Super Smash Con and Summit, dominated the Ludwig Smash Invitational; and acola, who in addition to his continued dominance in Japan, placed 2nd at the invitational as well as claiming victory at the supermajor Let's Make Moves Miami. In order for Sparg0 to get back into the conversation, he'd need to derust quickly, as the end of the season was starting to close in, and with the cancellation of the Smash World Tour 2022 and the postponement of the Panda Cup, only two major tournaments remained for Sparg0: Mainstage 2022, a supermajor which saw many SWT-qualified players in attendance, and Ludwig's second invitational the Scuffed World Tour. Sparg0 would need to see strong performances at both if he were to reclaim his former glory.
Despite facing a bit of trouble early on, Sparg0 easily made it into top 8 at Mainstage 2022. Unfortunately, a headset malfunction knocked him out of the groove, leading to Sparg0's 3-0 defeat by Tweek. This setback did not hinder his run, however, as after switching out his headset Sparg0 made yet another loser's run, defeating Kurama, Light, and Big D to face Tweek once again in grand finals. Despite coming close, Tweek failed to reverse 3-0 Sparg0 as the bracket was reset, and Sparg0 ultimately defeated Tweek 3-2 in the reset, claiming his first major victory since Low Tide City. Not only did he avenge his devastating loss at the previous Mainstage, but Mainstage ultimately became Sparg0's comeback tournament. With acola's underperformance at Seibugeki 12 that weekend, many players once again began considering Sparg0 for the #2 spot.
However, if he were to strengthen this argument, he'd have to see a strong performance at the Scuffed World Tour. In Sparg0's predicted bracket he had to face Miya, Japan's other rising star, as well as acola. Despite having experience from fighting Maister, Miya prove challenging for Sparg0 as he was ultimately down 2-1 against him. Sparg0, however, managed to squeeze out a win with the Aegis. In the following match, despite Sparg0's confidence in the matchup, he quickly realized that acola was still in peak shape, and their set once again went to game 5. However, Sparg0 did not SD this time, and ultimately won the runback and moved on in the winner's bracket where, instead of MkLeo, he had to face Tweek yet again. Sparg0 ultimately cleaned up Tweek, both in their winner final's set and their grand final's set, winning the invitational.
Sparg0 places 2nd for 2022
Sparg0's performance in December blew away expectations. Not only was he able to win two major tournaments back-to-back, but he did so as if he had never left before, winning runbacks against players who had defeated him during his rusty period, and proving that he was still one of the best despite returning in a new meta. His run at these two tournaments marked a strong end to the season, as Sparg0 ultimately edged out acola for the year-long ranking to reclaim his #2 position.
Sparg0 places 3rd for 2022
Sparg0's performance in December blew away expectations. Not only was he able to win two major tournaments back-to-back, but he did so as if he had never left before, winning runbacks against players who had defeated him during his rusty period, and proving that he was still one of the best despite returning in a new meta. Although he was ultimately edged out by acola due to his hiatus, Sparg0's run at these two tournaments marked a strong end to the season and allowed Sparg0 to keep his top 3 position.
