Andrew Czysz Jr.
2022-11-29 03:00:53
In the spirit of this annual event, we will be ranking the top 5 most-picked Smash Bros. Fighters from WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros Regular Season. Pyra/Mythra (Aegis)Playoffs for WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Season of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will kickoff today, November 29th, as 16 teams across four varsity divisions will square off to determine who will be crowned champion in each division.
The First-Round of the playoffs start today November 29th, with Quarter-Finals occurring the following Tuesday, December 6th. Finally, on Saturday, December 10th at Madison Area Technical College, WIHSEA's Fall 2022 State Championship Event will commence.
Starting off the list we have the dynamic duo of Pyra and Mythra from the popular action role-playing series Xenoblade Chronicles, developed by Monolith Soft.
They were selected a total of 16 times throughout WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season, and for good reason.
A great candidate for this high pick rate, is versatility. A character such as Pyra/Mythra is versatile because of their ability to alternate between a neutral-heavy, speedy swordie and a powerful, bursty finisher.
Pyra has the Flame Nova as her neutral attack. It allows her to charge and dispose a fiery spinning sword strike. You can react deceptively quickly out of it. Her up special is the Prominence Revolt. With this move, Pyra ascends upwards and drop down to create a large explosion with her sword, causing the enemy to be knocked back significantly. The move is often applied when the opponent is at high percents, and can be baited from the ledge.
Pyra's side special, Blazing End, allows the sword to be thrown and turned into a spinning sword strike. This can be used to keep an opponent off you or for clever edge guarding.
Her down special is swap, meaning that the player can swap to Mythra.
Shifting to Mythra's Special moves, she has the Lightning Buster as a neutral attack. The Lighting Buster allows Mythra to charge a series of sword swipeds in front of her. The longer it is charged, the greater its range will be. Mythra also becomes invincible when performing the attack.
Her Ray of Punishment up special allows for a single or multiple projectiles to be shot diagonally downward. The Photon Edge side special grants Mythra the ability to disappear, and unleash around six strikes within a large proximity. Similar to Pyra, Mythra's down special is swap, giving a player the option to switch back to Pyra if necessary.
After witnessing the versatility in the character, it is clear to see how they had one of the highest pick rates in WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season.
King K. Rool
Moving on, we have the beloved crocodile antagonist from the Donkey Kong series, King. K. Rool.
This heavyweight fighter has been selected 17 times during WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season. A lot of it comes from his hard hitting arsenal.
K. Rool has the Blunderbuss as a neutral special. It allows him to suck up and spew out iron cannonballs that can be angled to catch aerial targets.
His up special used for recovery, is the Propellerpack. Most characters do not have the tools to punish this from above, making it a strong recovery for a super heavy.
The Crownerang is his side special. K. Rool is able to throw his crown like a boomerang to deal damage towards his enemies. K. Rool is also equipped with Gut Check, a counter used to block off enemy attacks.
K Rool's move set is susceptible to putting out high damage on his opponents, at the expense of speed and size.
His ease of use paired with a lot of gimmicks keep K. Rool strong at the intermediate level of play.
Kirby
Shifting gears, we have the protagonist from the Kirby series, Kirby.
This adorable puff ball has been picked 19 times, during WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season. The main reason for Kirby's high pick rate is popularity as an iconic Nintendo character.
A common strategy used by players who choose Kirby this season is floating in the air to avoid attacks, and drop the Stone attack on their opponent(s). This is a strategy applied to be rewarded with either chip damage or a knockout, depending on the opposing players' health.
While Kirby has a lot of weaknesses like slow airspeed, his strengths are his deceptively powerful smash attacks, his ability to bait with multiple jumps, and his relative ease to play at a competitive level.
Steve
Riding further down the list in the minecart, we have Steve, who comes from one of the highest selling video games ever, Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios.
Steve is a character that is not only a fever dream in Smash itself, but one who was selected an astonishing 20 times, throughout WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season. A strong reason for this is his unorthodoxly strategic move set.
Steve has the neutral ability to mine, craft, and build a block, much like he does in Minecraft. His Up special allows for the wings of Elytra to guide him for recovery purposes. Down special consists of TNT, while Steve's side special is a minecart, created with stone found from mining on the stage.
Transitioning to Smash attacks, Steve's forward smash is a sword swing, while his up smash is a large magma block, which traps opponents and deals high damage. Finally, Steve splashes a bucket of lava for his down special.
One of the most commonly used strategies with Steve this season is, attacking with the minecart, attract the opponent into the magma block, and/or drop an anvil on their head.
For a character who was an unexpected arrival to Smash Bros, Steve packs a major punch.
It is often debated that Steve may be the strongest character in the game as he develops, as of the writing of this article. This is why he was one of the most selected fighters during WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season.
Cloud Strife
Trickling down to our final fighter on the list, we have the Final Fantasy protagonist, Cloud Strife.
The buster sword wielding powerhouse has been picked a whopping 24 times, during WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season.
Starting with Special moves, Cloud's neutral attack is a blade beam that hits enemies, while it skids across the stage. It gives him the privilege of being a swordie that can not only force approaches, but threaten you off stage from a distance.
His up special consists of the Climhazzard, an upward sword slash used for recovery, but primarily as an amazing OOS (Out of Shield) tool. Where Cloud really shines is his Limit Charge down special. After it is charge up, Cloud's entire arsenal becomes even more deadly, as the damage is increased for his specials and his speed and drift become increased.. Finally, Cloud's side special consists of the Cross Slash.
Since Cloud Strife is one of the only fighters in Smash to have an arsenal tailored to his Limit Charge ability, it is clear to see why Cloud was one of the most picked fighter, during WIHSEA's Fall 2022 Smash Bros regular season.