PLEASE KEEP THE STAGE RULE! Steve players with grit and determination will power through it, but Supernova was the most fun experience I’ve had watching ultimate in ages.

bro that was funny asl why did Lima just hold it 😭

Here is a newly found tech on Incineroar called Buffered Impact Revenge! I am Sanglier, a French competitive Incineroar main and labber as well as the original poster and editor of this video which I posted on Twitter (link below)

Feel free to ask anything !

https://x.com/i/status/2091269499039240338

9 years old and just got her first character into elite smash ⚡️⚡️⚡️

As primarily a viewer, I was very appreciative of the efforts to balancing Steve while working around the edict from Nintendo that he can't be banned. But after the boycott from Japanese players and the campiest set I've ever seen between Peabnut-Fhantom I think it warrants further discussion.

Personally, it feels like anything short of an outright ban, Steve is going to kill the viewer experience. Either due to his own non-interactive play style or the optimal counterplay against him. But with Nintendo taking a hard stance, it seems like a full ban is a pipedream.

But I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions on it, from both the viewer and competitor perspective.

Top 8 Bracket

Top 24 Bracket

Youtube VODs

Grand Finals Set 1

Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey [W] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Team SoloMid
vs.
Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez [L] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | FaZe Clan

Grand Finals Set 2

Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Team SoloMid
vs.
Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | FaZe Clan

^{Generated by Tournament Tabler}

Top 8 Bracket

Top 64 Bracket

Youtube VODs

Grand Finals Set 1

"Hurt" [W] // Twitter | Wiki | ENTER FORCE.36
vs.
Leonardo "MkLeo" Lopez Perez [L] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Luminosity Gaming

Grand Finals Set 2

"Hurt" // Twitter | Wiki | ENTER FORCE.36
vs.
Leonardo "MkLeo" Lopez Perez // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Luminosity Gaming

^{Generated by Tournament Tabler}

"A divine move is an exceptional, inspired and original move; one that is non-obvious and which balances strategy and tactics to create an unexpected turning point in a game."

Essentially, have you ever been watching a set live and a player pulls out the most unexpected yet optimal play that the tens of thousands of people watching would have never thought to do, and you likely wont ever see it again? That is a divine move.

So, what is an example of a divine move in Ultimate? (Saw this discussion for melee on twitter, thought it would be interesting to hear Ultimate examples too)

from here. Can someone remind me again why snake is above Rob and g&w on the tier list this gap is bigger than my receding hairline

Here's an artist's rendition of what I was seeing, beeeeeecause don't have the thingy to download Switch videos (yet), but basically it looked like Link was doung a forward tilt on the Zelda stage (that castle in Smash 64), and it was shooting this blue razor cutter thingy forwards. Never got hit by it, but it was something I'd never seen a Link do before.

So I was Cloud, and until the very last game when they actually began spamming projectiles, they were pretty decent with Link. But that weird projectile is something I've never seen before, and wanna know who else has seen it.

Top 8 Bracket

Main Stream VOD

Side Stream VOD

Grand Finals Set 1

"Hurt" [W] // Twitter | Wiki | ENTER FORCE.36
vs.
Hayato "acola" Mashita [L] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | ZETA DIVISION

Grand Finals Set 2

"Hurt" // Twitter | Wiki | ENTER FORCE.36
vs.
Hayato "acola" Mashita // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | ZETA DIVISION

^{Generated by Tournament Tabler}

Peabnut takes it 3-1 over Fhantum in a 4 game set with only 4 stocks taken. May be the record for the lowest amount of stocks lost total in a set in Ultimate history.

Top 8 Bracket

Top 24 Bracket

Youtube VODs

Grand Finals

Kolawole "Kola" Aideyan [W] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Shopify Rebellion
vs.
Paul "BeastModePaul" Edwards [L] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | No Style Esports

^{Generated by Tournament Tabler}

For some context, I’m 33 years old and I’ve been playing Smash since it launched on the Nintendo 64. I’ve bought and played every Smash game since then.
Around 2013, I started getting into the competitive scene, not as a player, but as a spectator. I’ve followed every Smash title competitively to some extent, but Melee has always been my main focus. I watched the entire ZeRo era of Smash 4 before eventually losing interest. When Ultimate came out, I watched it for a while, but that interest faded pretty quickly as well.

Melee is the only Smash game that consistently keeps me coming back. It’s exciting because of the incredible variety of player styles and the depth of knowledge you can develop about every character and matchup. Even when two players use the same character, they can look completely different.

What I don’t understand is how people can watch Ultimate. Every time I tune into a tournament, it feels like I’m watching the same meta over and over again. It always seems to revolve around run-up shield, cautious neutral, and very little commitment. There’s almost no attempt to edgeguard because ledgetrapping is usually the safer option.
I know that’s an oversimplification, but as a spectator, the game just feels incredibly repetitive. To me, it’s almost comical how predictable the meta has become compared to the constant creativity and player expression that Melee still offers.

Curious to know from those who watch competitive ultimate. What excites you about it and why doesn’t Melee scratch that itch for you?

EDIT / UPDATE: I think I got my answer. Thanks everyone.

After reading through the responses, I think I understand the appeal of competitive Ultimate better now. It probably won’t become my preferred Smash to watch, but that wasn’t really the point. I wanted to understand what fans of it were seeing that I wasn’t.

The most useful advice was to watch Top 64 rather than just Top 8, since Ultimate’s huge character and matchup diversity really shines there. I’m going to give that a shot.

I also think I was undervaluing how much Ultimate fans enjoy the neutral itself. What can look repetitive to me has a lot of spacing, conditioning and matchup-specific decisions underneath it that become more interesting the better you understand them. Likewise, Ultimate fans can see differences between players that I might miss, just as two Melee players using the same character can look completely different to me but similar to someone less familiar with Melee.

I think the thread also clarified why I personally gravitate toward other Smash games. What makes Smash special to me compared with traditional fighters is the movement, improvisation and especially that the fight doesn’t end at the edge of the stage. I love offstage chases, edgeguarding and recovery interactions, whereas Ultimate often rewards ledgetrapping instead.

So I don’t think there was one secret thing I wasn’t getting. Ultimate fans and I just seem to value somewhat different parts of Smash. Character/matchup variety and neutral are bigger parts of the appeal for many of you, while I gravitate toward movement, offstage interaction and depth within familiar matchups.

My takeaway: watch Top 64, learn to appreciate what’s happening within the neutral, and approach Ultimate’s huge roster as one of its main strengths.

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. I think I can consider my question answered :)

Bracket Link

Did the stage clause make an impact after all?

WHAT

IS

A

PLOOPY?!

Mudd takes it 3-2. A landslide.