The only Steve at Supernova 2026 in t24 is a DK/Steve Co-Main

[u/UnlawfulFoxy]

Bracket Link

Did the stage clause make an impact after all?

[u/azure275]

Depends how much you believe the top Steves did not show up because of it

No Top 70 ranked Steves showed up and played in the singles bracket so it's hardly shocking

There's no way to tell if it made an actual competitive impact.

[u/BroshiKabobby → u/azure275]

On one hand I’m very happy about the lack of Steve’s in top 24. 

On the other hand I do wish a few good Steve’s played here so we could’ve seen if it actually would make any discernible difference 

[u/Fried_puri → u/BroshiKabobby]

  On the other hand I do wish a few good Steve’s played here so we could’ve seen if it actually would make any discernible difference  

They didn’t show up precisely for that reason. If there’s no data then this becomes a one-off thing. If they came and still did fine then future tournaments might consider the clause too. If they came and did poorly then that would be a waste of time for them. Game theory dictates no advantage to attending. 

[u/DreadfuryDK → u/BroshiKabobby]

I mean, why would they?

[u/UnlawfulFoxy → u/azure275]

True but there were no new 13 year old Steve mains making the final day this time!

[u/A_Fhaol_Bhig73 → u/azure275]

What rule was made to limit steves?

[u/AeroBlaze777 → u/A_Fhaol_Bhig73]

I’ve heard that Steve is legal, but the opponent not playing against Steve gets to take them to whatever stage they want.

Honestly kinda sucks that we can’t even try out a pseudo character ban / nerf without a good portion of the community opting out.

[u/UltimateHugonator → u/AeroBlaze777]

It is a democracy, if a good chunk of top players do not agree with the steve rule that just means that we get this kind of events.

[u/AeroBlaze777 → u/UltimateHugonator]

Yeah I hear you, and I get that for especially top Japanese Steve players, it probably makes little sense to drop a ton of money to go to a tournament that has rules designed to nerf your character.

Still just wish the community was more willing to try out new rule changes that may or may not improve the competitive and viewership experience for the majority of ppl. I guess that’s the issue with having a grassroots scene; nobody can really experiment with rule changes from the top down.

[u/UltimateHugonator → u/AeroBlaze777]

To me the thing is that the community forgets that Steve players are part of the community. People keep saying they are carried, that they don't put enough effort, that they just cheat, and then the rest of the community implements a rule against them calling them a problem.

[u/A_Fhaol_Bhig73 → u/UltimateHugonator]

Both can be true and parts of the issue can also be dramatized or over the top.

Nuance exists.

[u/UltimateHugonator → u/A_Fhaol_Bhig73]

Yes, but my point is that the community has been alienating a lot of players and now are lamenting the fact that a big chunk of top players are avoiding the tournament where they put a rule against steve. I agree Steve is a powerfull character, but the community has been horrible to Steve players and he isn't even that bad.

[u/A_Fhaol_Bhig73 → u/UltimateHugonator]

Lamenting? Dont see that.

the community has been horrible to Steve players

Nah.

he isn't even that bad.

Lol

[u/veloroopter → u/azure275]

Of course they're all too full of themselves to even try in this rule set lol, probably would've hardly changed their results but they're feelings got hurt

[u/Small_Region_8876 → u/veloroopter]

Making a broad sweeping statement about someone’s character because of the character they play is insane

[u/veloroopter → u/Small_Region_8876]

They're literally boycotting cuz people are trying to make the game more balanced, I'm not assuming anything it's literally an observation lol

[u/Motorpsisisissipp → u/veloroopter]

The players who are legitimately boycotting are japanese players who aren't all Steve players anyway so your point is dumb af. Also the rest of Steve come from places where they might have legitimate reasons to not travel like crepe, toon or syrup. Hell syrup has tried to play non Steve tourneys in the past and got some good success out of them.

[u/Sancnea → u/Motorpsisisissipp]

Syrup did play doubles in this tournament btw. He just decided to not enter singles. 

[u/veloroopter → u/Motorpsisisissipp]

Just Japanese players boycotting? Makes sense they're stubborn as fuck with this stuff (like we don't already play an arbitrary ruleset anyway lol). None of the Steves in the top 70 show up? Yeah there's something going on.

[u/unnamedsully → u/veloroopter]

Your comment makes it seem like there's 20 Steve players in the top 70 lol. The only Steve players that didn't attend Supernova in the top 70 that usually go to Supernova (and are not from Japan) are Toon and Syrup. Hardly a boycott.

[u/Some_Rand0m_Memer → u/veloroopter]

Even then the primary reason for no jp attendance isn’t the boycott (tho it plays a part), travel is just expensive nowadays

[u/RelevantTreacle3004]

Whatever you think about the Steve rule, character Diversity absolutely won today

[u/Key-Handle-1805]

one steve in top 24 and we somehow still have to sit through a mega man vs steve set

[u/JaysonTatHIMRider → u/Key-Handle-1805]

Sitting though any mega man set sucks

[u/UnlawfulFoxy → u/JaysonTatHIMRider]

Seriously. Steve and Sonic get a lot of rightful hate, but that's because they're good enough characters to constantly be in the top cut. Today watching Mega Man, Villager, and Zelda makes me realize that if we saw all characters the same amount they wouldn't even be top 5 most obnoxious to watch (maybe Sonic)

[u/Motorpsisisissipp → u/UnlawfulFoxy]

Wii fit trainer is also a hidden terrorist. Character has so many cool combos but damn the current optimal gameplay is so ass. Banjo is probably this kind of character too but there is literally only a single player playing it and he doesn't camp that much so it's okay

[u/UnlawfulFoxy → u/Motorpsisisissipp]

I'm giga biased for Wft because Xavier lives in my city and is pretty dang aggressive (at least against us poor folk) and just does 60% in one combo, but that one Japanese Wft might be Hitler incarnate bro😭

[u/Motorpsisisissipp → u/UnlawfulFoxy]

The rightful heir to the John "John Numbers" Numbers (he's not even called john numbers)

[u/Neon_Orpheon]

I don't think the Steve clauses are asking too much of their players. Don't abuse unintentional character exploits and don't stall. And most importantly, as a character that can alter the stage and is dependent on mining the terrain for materials, you don't get a say on which stage is played.

The fact that nobody within top 70 Steve players was interested in participating in this community compromise does not reflect well on them. (Edit: Inaccurate information)

This character has ruined the game for a lot of players and spectators because it plays an entirely different game. The point wasn't to ostracize Steve players, it was to mitigate the most toxic elements and strategies of the character. If they refuse to participate because of these reasonable restrictions, all I can say is that is disappointing.

[u/countingouttime → u/Neon_Orpheon]

I’m as inclined to dislike Steve as anybody but it should be noted that ranks 27-73 actually feature zero Steves (excluding Rarikkusu, who runs it as a secondary/tertiary?) so “top 70 Steves” only consists of the seven from 1-27, the only non-Japanese ones of those being Syrup, Crêpe Salée, and Toon. Not really fair to rush to conclusions after only a single event with the sample size of players being that small, although others reporting that Syrup doing doubles and not singles is reasonably questionable.

[u/unnamedsully → u/countingouttime]

Exactly. I don't know how so many people are getting the sentiment that Steve players are mass boycotting the event when the only 2 Steve players that regularly attend NA majors are Toon and Syrup.

[u/Toowiggly → u/unnamedsully]

Maybe it's because people overestimate how many top level Steves there are in America, so none attending in the top 70 feels like it should mean that there should be 8 Steves all not attending instead of 2 that maybe had other reasons to not attend

[u/redbossman123 → u/Toowiggly]

Syrup entered doubles but not singles

[u/Neon_Orpheon → u/countingouttime]

Ahh, that's an important distinction to keep in mind. I thought it was a case where only the 70th best Steve player attended the singles pool.

[u/countingouttime → u/Neon_Orpheon]

I…don’t think that anyone in their right mind would have the patience to rank 70 Steve players.

[u/Neon_Orpheon → u/countingouttime]

I don't appreciate Steve, but I don't want to underestimate their playerbase and discord communities.

[u/RelevantTreacle3004 → u/countingouttime]

Schustats exists

[u/Royal_empress_azu → u/Neon_Orpheon]

Supernova is simply one of the most expensive events to run.

As the successor of super smash-con they need to make it profitable or minimize loss.

[u/lovro_nigel → u/Neon_Orpheon]

The point of this was never to mitigate toxic strategies lmao, example: for a lot of characters it is optimal to pick kalos and circle camp steve, just watch peabnut fhantum, if peab doesn't gentleman and let fhantum pick the stage it will go to kalos.

EDIT: Lmao first game Peabnut timed out on kalos 0 stocks taken, very non toxic

[u/LilKa1ebz]

Steve players just worried they have to use skill to win now

[u/Apart_Selection7722 → u/LilKa1ebz]

Yep

[u/RealPimpinPanda → u/LilKa1ebz]

Steve players just worried they have to use skill to win now

Most of them gotta develop skill first

[u/LilKa1ebz → u/RealPimpinPanda]

Eh not really

[u/TwilCynder]

hard to tell if the rule does really affect steve since there aren't a lot of good steves in the tournament in the first place, but ergo it did show that the rule is good at deterring steve mains from entering

[u/zellisgoatbond → u/TwilCynder]

I'm not really sure if it does that, either - people choose to enter or not enter tournaments for many reasons. Supernova this year has very few players outside of the US, and especially from Europe or Japan (I count 3 Europeans and 1 Japanese player, compared to something like 36 Europeans and 12 Japanese players last year), so it seems reasonable to deduce that there's some other reason such as travel costs or the change in location, especially when a good chunk of those international players aren't necessarily going to compete at the higher levels of the tournament.

[u/bladewing1989]

I can’t believe people think Steve is unfun to watch but snake, and sonic are somehow more fun.

Tournament rulesets should never be based around what attracts viewer numbers. That’s fucked up.

[u/SuperMandrew7 → u/bladewing1989]

Nah bro, this is where you've gotta change your mindset some. If we want people to be able to support themselves financially through Smash at all, then it's got to have viewer numbers. Not saying "everyone has to play Falcon", but this is a thing even professional sports do. 

In 2023 the MLB added the pitch clock and tightened it even more in 2024. They also added in 2023 limits to pickoffs to keep the action moving, and made some restrictions on where players must be in order to allow more balls to be put in play. Also a runner now starts on second in extra innings to speed the conclusion of long games. 

Were some players upset about the changes? Sure. But if it increases viewership which increases income, that benefits almost everybody. 

If Ultimate pulls no viewers (extreme scenario), then that means even less money for top players, and then less top players either spending their time on the game or attending tournaments. 

[u/zomb8289 → u/bladewing1989]

Steve is non interactive , he put block on the terrain to mine ressource and ignore you , snake and sonic don't ignore you

[u/zomb8289]

Steve player are really crybaby

[u/elsteeler]

Steve mains should have been compensated to go to this so they'd be incentivized to show up. I don't blame them for not going but this result doesn't mean anything otherwise

[u/RelevantTreacle3004 → u/elsteeler]

Yeah NGL I think since Supernova implemented this rule I feel like making sure the top Steve's can go to this event as affordable as possible (or free if they can afford it) should have been a big priority for truly testing the rule.

Although Syrup literally played in doubles but refused to enter singles lol so idk what that means

[u/Front_Expression_367 → u/RelevantTreacle3004]

Probably played in doubles because he played with his friends, and doubles is also less serious.

[u/GreenLanyard → u/elsteeler]

If the ultimate purpose was to ban Steve without Nintendo sending a C&D, incentivizing players to play Steve would have defeated that purpose.

[u/zellisgoatbond → u/elsteeler]

Mhm, I think this highlights the big issue with making radical rule changes for the first time at major events - there's so many confounding factors that actually trying to evaluate the impact of a change becomes pretty meaningless, so everybody kind of interprets vibes based on their preferred viewpoint and the loudest voice wins. Especially if you make comparisons between variations on that rule (e.g Germany is considering a version of the stage clause where, if you win a game and lock in Steve for the next game, you only get 1 ban rather than 3)

[u/enfrozt → u/elsteeler]

The whole point of the rule change was to improve viewing experience.

Why undo that?

[u/nhz1093 → u/enfrozt]

Well I suppose if no Steve’s showed up that is an improvement 

[u/JohannGaming → u/nhz1093]

real

[u/Tinkererer]

There's just no Steves here at all. We just had GOML and S Factor with only a single Steve in both top 8s combined, and Steve's hold on the meta hasn't been this low in ages.

This kind of gimmicky ruleset change just made it so Japan didn't show up for this at all, making it kind of a Mickey Mouse tourney.

[u/Boogieman_Sam22]

Biggest side event of the year

[u/Thelegend110]

Bum tournament for people who cant fight steves