GVP Newcastle Clashes #5 Report

GVP Newcastle Clashes #5
30/5/21

Last weekend Newcastle held their monthly “Newcastle Clashes” tournament! Unlike their weeklies these events are run on a Sunday. Unlike most monthlies GVP usually receives less entrants in their monthly tournaments than they do with their weeklies, however, the entrant skill ceiling is usually higher than that of their weeklies. With most of the PR trying to attend as well as some Sydney players travelling down for a chance to win! This monthly only four of the Newcastle PR were in attendance: Beet, Spike, Bass and BD but to make up for it some powerful Sydney players made their way down. Ryan the Diddy Kong player currently ranked 5th in NSW as well as TurtleCat the Palutena ranked 31st in NSW both came down. Returning Sydney player Leak also made an appearance along with couple – Kitt and retired Aus PR player Luco (who was only here for doubles). Former NSW PR player – Glace, also came down to make this a very interesting bracket filled with lots of talent!

Highlights

Beet tears through bracket: Newcastle’s ace – Beet the Falco once again cleaned up bracket! This time he didn’t even drop a set, there were some challenging matches for him as players pushed him to game 4 and 5. The entire tournament was played in a best of 5 format, this was likely due to the low, 18 entrants as well as the event running in the day instead of the usual nighttime. In Winners Quarter Finals Beet found an opponent who was able to put up a fight – Leak. Leak playing Ridley, managed to steal a game off Beet before losing the set 3-1. Beet then faced off against the previously mentioned TurtleCat in Winners Semis who was also able to take a game but couldn’t scare Beet into a game 5 situation. It was down to Beet’s opponent in Winners Finals to put a stop to this reign of terror. Glace, previously being ranked 7th in NSW before becoming mainly inactive after Covid returned from his home in ACT to come to Newcastle and show his talent. Which he very much did, pushing his way through bracket to make it to Winners Finals to challenge Beet. Glace played a mix of Terry and Robin with the Terry seeming to be the ace this time around as he pushed Beet to a game 5 before he was taken out by the Falco. Glace had the opportunity to face off against Beet again in Grands but this time could only get him to game 4 before being knocked out at 2nd place, giving Beet the tournament win.

Sydney Players take out Spike early: Spike was looking to be a Top 4 contender for this tournament but was taken out by some fierce competition. Unlike usual he played solo Dark Pit (His secondary) and was able to make it to Winners Quarter Finals with seemingly little trouble but was then taken out by TurtleCat who won the set 3-1. Spike then clutched out the set against Kitt the Ness player who pushed him to game 5! Spike then had a game 5 last hit set with Leak who was mainly playing Rosalina, with a small pinch of Ridley thrown in. Leak clutched the set out with the last hit going to him. Spike mentioned that the reason he played Dark Pit instead of his usual Bowser Jr was because he had other stuff on in the afternoon and mainly went to see his Sydney friends who had travelled down! Spike was quoted saying “Leak beat me 3-2 last hit but if I won that set, I would’ve dq’d and gave him the win anyways” While we know Spike wasn’t giving it his all and is capable of winning such sets, we can also be happy for the Sydney players who were able to get the wins on him that tournament!

Bass makes some crazy upsets: Newcastle’s Dedede player – Bass, currently ranked 6th in Newcastle was expected to do well at the monthly but nobody was expecting the impressive run he ended up making! Bass’ run started off with arguably the hardest of the Round 2 sets, up against the Ness player Kitt but was able to take him out 3-1. Bass then took an expected loss to the very talented Glace but was able to push him all the way to game 5! With how close that set was, Bass was ready to push himself back to Glace for the runback. He tore through MTH the Meta Knight to make Top 8 before bumping into a massive roadblock. He was up against Ryan, seed 2 of the tournament and NSW PR player who had been upset in a game 5 set against Merebry the Pikachu. Ryan took the first two games, but Bass stayed calm and collected, taking games 3 and 4. It was game 5, Bass had been playing well but he needed something powerful to etch out this reverse 3-0 against Ryan. Bass was able to get a hold of Diddy’s banana and hit him with it to then land a crushing Dedede dash attack to win the set, a massive win for Bass! He was then also able to beat TurtleCat, avenging his Newcastle brethren – Spike. He ended up losing to Merebry in a game 5 set where he unfortunately sd’d on the last stock. This was still an amazing showing for Bass and we’re happy to see him make Top 4!

Conclusion

Some smaller notes include BD the Snake player ranked 8th on the Newcastle PR, was able to push Leak to game 5 before being smacked out at 9th. TurtleCat was able to win a two-person bracket for Smash Melee. Couple, Kitt and Luco were able to win the doubles side event <3 It was an exciting day for everyone who attended Newcastle Clashes #5 and we hope you enjoyed reading about it! See you next time!

-Faithe (maGs)
@maGs_Aus