Phantom 2020 Major Results

March 29, 2020

Written by Tom Anderson

Note: CouchWarriors apologises for the delay in event reports this month. The results are being reported here for posterity.

 

After a massively successful debut last year, the return of Phantom was arguably one of the most anticipated tournaments for 2020. This year the Smash-focused major was again held at the UNSW Roundhouse in Sydney, with tournament brackets running on March 7th and 8th.

Phantom 2020 also had the honour of being the first Major to hand out double-points for the newly-launched CouchWarriors League. Here’s a summary of the results in every game and how the top matches turned out. A complete listing of match results and brackets for each game can be viewed on Smash.gg here.

 

Smash Ultimate

1. MVG|Dark Wizzy
2. Kanga|Jdizzle
3. GG|Sriks

This is a tough result to have to lead with, but one which was always possible once we knew Rasheen “MVG|Dark Wizzy” Rose would be visiting our shores for the event. Hailed as the best Mario in Ultimate, Dark Wizzy backed that rep up with an unbeaten run through the singles bracket. While the matches against Australia’s elite at least felt competitive, there was still a sense we missed a chance to claim a rare statement win over a strong international.

 

 

Aside from Wizzy’s dominance, it was a pleasure to see players from all regions lining up to settle the pecking order – although most of the matchups seemed to go as expected. The big exception was Hope “R!OT|Saber” Farnbach, who made her mark with a 4th place finish in a loaded interstate field. Having struggled to make it to tournaments recently, there had been some questions around Saber’s form going into Phantom, but this excellent run was a powerful statement of her PR credentials.

 

I’m trying to find the words to sum up my trip but I can’t find them. It was everything I needed given my competitive direction as of late. I proved to myself I can still be relevant. I overcame demons spanning multiple games and I had so much fun while doing it.

— Saber (@SaberSSB) March 9, 2020

 

Smash Melee

1. DS|Sora
2. Davox22
3. MC

The Melee singles event was a big moment for the locals, as the sharks from NSW (and ACT) gobbled up almost all the interstate invaders. Still, with no Spud around to rain on his parade Joshua “DS|Sora” Lyras proved again he is a cut above with a clean tournament victory.

 

Won phantom 2020! Lots of mixed feelings about melee right now, but still an amazing time with everyone as always. Need to be up the grind for BAM for sure if I wanna do myself and everyone proud once Spud and Nick are back ??

— DS Sora (@LilTrickshot) March 8, 2020

 

Shoutouts to Johnny “Scared” Isijanovski and Ronaldo “Cunchy” Seno, who did not make the podium but DID keep Kanga Esports star David “Dekar” Moore out of the top 4 with impressive wins.

 

Project M

1. luxingo
2. Star
3. KANGA|Dekar

NSW Project M stalwarts Martin “luxingo” Fong and Rohan “Star” Baird successfully defended the turf here, with luxingo turning in an immaculate 10-0 record despite the round-robin format featuring many previous PR players.

 

Ultimate Doubles

1. Kanga|Jdizzle / ATH|DD
2. MVG|Dark Wizzy / DRGN|Corvid
3. SebPro101 / Kanga|Ghost

The national pride was somewhat restored by the power couple of Bradley “ATH|DD” Kun and Jonathan “Kanga|Jdizzle” Douglas reuniting to defeat Dark Wizzy and partner Jamal “DRGN|Corvid” Ali. Saber also made 4th in this event alongside fellow dark horse Jacob “Ryzuul” Biziuk, completing her triumphant comeback story for the weekend.

 

Melee Doubles

1. DS|Sora / LGC|DonB
2. MC / ATH|Sock
3. Kanga|Dekar / smopup

Surprise surprise, the same strong players who were duking it out in the singles side of Melee showed up again at the top of the doubles event! Dekar and Gerard “smopup” Salonen easily take the “long-distance relationship” award for reaching 3rd place with their VIC-QLD collaboration.

 

Rivals of Aether

1. Ryzuul
2. MAST
3. Nyantic

No SNC at Phantom this year, so it was Ryzuuls of Aether time! Not without a big scare first though, as Connor “MAST” Kinkead sent Ryzuul crashing into losers with a 3-0 shellacking. After earning the runback though, Ryzuul picked up momentum, resetting Grand Finals 3-2 before finishing with a strong 3-0.

 

Phantom 2020 #RivalsofAether Top 8 – Sydney, NSW – 20 entrants

?@Ryzuul (Middle)
?@SSBMAST (Left)
?@NyanticNiko (Right)
4) @Papajimfeels
5) @just_Glace
5) @Jarcino_
7) @saltynv
7) @Verse_SSB

Thank you everyone for entering! I hope to see you all again in the future! pic.twitter.com/PcghQmgcFs

— Rivals of Aether Australia (@ANZRivals) March 9, 2020

Phantom 2020 was definitely a worthy follow-up to the original, and featured plenty more games and community events that helped to make it a great big reunion for Australian Smash. A pity I can’t cover them all here. Congratulations to our tournament placegetters and Phantom champions!