The most qualified “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” players in the New England area competed for five hours in the Collegiate Starleague New England Qualifier, an event Emerson Esports hosted in the Bill Bordy Theater on Sunday.
The event was broadcasted live on Twitch, a video game streaming website, to over 100 people. Each of the 94 players who attended paid a $5 entry fee to contribute to the monetary prizes given to the top four competitors at the end of the tournament. Five Emerson students competed in the tournament, but none won.
Sophomore journalism student Robert Wilson, who goes by the username “BobbyWasabi,” hosted the event with Emerson Esports and Great Value Smash, a professional Esports organization located in Connecticut. Great Value Smash brought over 10 setups with Nintendo Switch consoles, high-end gaming monitors, and live streaming equipment that helped maintain the Twitch broadcast throughout the day.
Wilson entered the tournament as the sixth seed—the highest ranked player out of everyone from Emerson. He said Great Value Smash helped run Sunday’s tournament smoothly.
“For this event, we’ve contracted out a tournament organizer,” Wilson said. “What they’re helping us do is they’re bringing in about 11 or 12 setups, on top of the already donated setups by players, and bringing additional streaming technology.”
Darius Hill, a professional “Super Smash Bros.” player who goes by the username “Laid,” seeded first out of the 94 players in the tournament and finished in second place. Hill also placed second in a 211-person tournament on March 9 and placed third in a 111-person tournament on March 2.
In an interview before the tournament, Hill said he entered Sunday’s tournament to display his skills and practice against the best talent in the New England area.
“Recently, I’ve played in tournaments around New England and the region, and my confidence coming in [to the tournament] is pretty high,” Hill said. “I know I can’t sell anyone short and I can’t sleep on anybody because anybody can be practicing on me and could be having the best tournament of their life. You never know when anyone’s break out tournament is going to be.”
The bracket of the tournament was set up double-elimination style. Wilson lost in the quarterfinals of the winners bracket before facing elimination in the quarterfinals of the losers bracket. He finished in fifth place.
In the championship match, Treynz Amos—the second seed going into the tournament—who goes by the username “Nuggetz,” defeated Hill in an upset and was awarded $199 as first place. Amos previously placed 25th in a 218-person tournament on March 9 and second in a 37-person tournament on March 13.
Seth Kary, an organizer of the tournament and a Great Value Smash employee, kept the event going throughout the day by announcing matchups over a loudspeaker. Kary said it was a pleasure to work with Emerson Esports and believes everyone involved had a great experience.
“[Emerson] reserved the space and they handled a lot of the back-end logistics while I handled a lot of the front end, like getting the registration page working,” Kary said “It was great cooperation between us and I had a lovely time cooperating with them. It seemed like everyone had a great time.”
