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[Forkball]

Are eSports participants called players or athletes? I forget.

Gonzolo Barrios aka ZeRo aka Scarf Lord has been a notable competitive Smash player for a few years now. However, he didn't truly reach his apex (pun intended) until Smash 4 came out. Since then, he has won 55 Smash 4 tournaments. In a row. Out of 55 tournaments. CHECK IT IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.

Notable victories:
Smash 4 Invitational aka the first time people got to see the game being played by other people in public
APEX 2015 champion
PAX 2015 champion
EVO 2015 champion, where he also defeated Nintendo World Champion John Numbers (this makes ZeRo the Nintendo World Champion right?)
Falcon Punched mew2king three times in five minutes

Is there anyone else in eSports that comes close to his dominance? Is one person completely dominating all pro competitions good or bad for the game? Can he be stopped? He is truly the Michael Jordan of video games. Or maybe Michael Jordan is the ZeRo of basketball.

 

[Anth0ny]

Justin Wong's run in Marvel 2.

4 straight Evos.

 

[Joyful]

the power of the scarf

 

[Boombloxer]

Op needs to break out of the Smash world. Sonicfox didn't lose a tourney for a year or so, Daigo's had a few runs, Wong in Marvel 2, JDCR in Tekken...

 

[BreakJohn]

Didn't Justin wong go like 10 years straight completely dominating marvel 2? to the point he was being banned from entering tournaments just so that other people could win?

Ninja'd

 

[pizzacat]

Who?

 

[BY2K]

Justin Wong.
Faker. (I think?)
Sonicfox.
Daigo.

 

[『Inaba Resident』]

lol.
Justin Wong

 

[Olengie]

For Smash yeah.

I say Justin Wong.

 

[Kieli]

Justin Wong?

 

[Warxard]

Justin 'Hustle. Loyalty. Respect' Wong.

 

[Zabant]

Jwow for sure.

 

[Speedy Blue Dude]

Not sure if teams count, but the team Ninjas In Pyjamas in Counter Strike: Global Offensive had a 87-0 streak, being virtually undefeated from 2012-2013. Even now they're still a strong team, and have made it to 5 of the 6 finals in Major Tournaments. Two of their players, GeT_RiGhT and F0rest, were practically unstoppable and together the two of them were the #1 and #2 player world-wide, respectively for like two whole years. They're dominance was big that even now 3 years later GeT_RiGhT is still the #1 player stats wise because of how padded his stats were from his insane days. That's pretty damn dominate to me.

 

[ClayKavalier]

Justin Wong's run in Marvel 2.

4 straight Evos.

That doesn't seem quite as dominant as 55 tournaments in a row.

 

[BennyBlanco]

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

 

[Soulflarz]

My vote goes to Wong

 

[mStudios]

lmao no

 

[Lulubop]

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

No it isn't

 

[80s Bad Guy]

Fatal1ty am cry

 

[BY2K]

Not doesn't seem quite as dominant as 55 tournaments in a row.

4 times winner of the biggest and most recognized fighting game tournament on the planet? One Smash tournament at EVO probably has more entrant than 10 of those 55 tournaments combined.

It's dominant alright.

EDIT: Well assuming EVO in the Marvel 2 era had about as much entrants as they do now, which isn't probably the case...

 

[mrlion]

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

I guess 1926 entrants for Evo's Smash Wii U tournament is considered relatively small.

 

[Toxi]

Falcon Punched mew2king three times in five minutes

Zero has such a wonderful laugh.

 

[Anth0ny]

Not doesn't seem quite as dominant as 55 tournaments in a row.

pretty sure Justin didn't drop a set in Marvel 2 for YEARS

smash 4 wii u isn't even a year old yet

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

smash 4 competitive scene is the biggest fighting game besides melee and street fighter 4

nothing else even comes close to the above three games

 

[Masaki_]

thanks for the laugh, op

do you even know about korean bw?

also every time i see the word "esports" im like

 

[SolidSnakex]

Not doesn't seem quite as dominant as 55 tournaments in a row.

I'd argue that it's more impressive because he dominated over the course of four years with people learning the ins and outs of the game. The Wii U version of Smash isn't even a year old at this point.

 

[RedAssedApe]

more dominant player i've never heard of

 

[BY2K]

pretty sure he didn't drop a set for YEARS

He lost one at The Big House, since he was sent to losers.

 

[Anth0ny]

He lost one at The Big House, since he was sent to losers.

I'm talking about Justin during the Marvel 2 days.

 

[tbd]

Nothing I'd be jealous of, I guess. And no.

 

[MegaPanda]

Lol, does OP's list of tourneys actually include Weeklies?
Seems like Zero's been winning Smash 4 for less than a year, make this thread again when he wins his 5th Evo

 

[Seyavesh]

4 times winner of the biggest and most recognized fighting game tournament on the planet? One Smash tournament at EVO probably has more entrant than 10 of those 55 tournaments combined.

It's dominant alright.

there's also the consideration that it wasn't just 4 evos in a row, he literally won every single tournament he went to for several years. it wasn't until sanford kelly beat him at a random ass tournament that his long streak ended

like, high stakes money matches and low tier tournaments are both a thing that came out of justin doing that for so long, because people wanted a way to prove how good they were against others/a shot at winning something

....at least, that's what i sketchily remember being told to me anyhow

 

[slayzz]

never heard of this guy.

 

[Sheroking]

He lost one at The Big House, since he was sent to losers.

IIRC, Justin was sent to losers a few times in his run. He just always won from losers.

Don't think he lost a tournament once in that span. It HAS to be him.

 

[Usobuko]

thanks for the laugh, op

do you even know about korean bw?

Thread's over.

About time to broaden your horizon beyond the Western hemisphere.

 

[Moonlight]

Sonicfox is doing kinda insane right now, so at the moment I'd say it's him. JWong is for sure overall.

Definitely for Smash 4, and his dominance has definitely been good for that scene.

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

I don't know someone like Toxic dominated Quake 3 for a while. Fatal1ty. Seriously there's so many games and players.

 

[Syf]

Flash in Brood War is the real answer.

 

[Tomohawk]

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

Relative to other fighting games I thought it was pretty big, it had 2nd most entrants at evo.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Sonicfox is doing kinda insane right now, so at the moment I'd say it's him.

Gonna be interesting to see how he does in SFV since he said that he's going to be jumping into competitive SF with it.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Who?

Smash Tournaments? I guess it's a joke thread, right?

 

[Anth0ny]

IIRC, Justin was sent to losers a few times in his run. He just always won from losers.

Don't think he lost a tournament once in that span. It HAS to be him.

I always heard he never dropped a set until Sanford and Yipes hit their prime.

funny how the pre youtube/streaming days of fighting games have almost become mythical in nature.

 

[Shun]

Dude isn't even the most dominant in Smash. That belonged to SephirothKen from like 2003 to 2007.

Dude hasn't even won 8 EVO titles like Justin Wong.

Can you call it dominance when you compare the threshold of the skill of the top 64 players? Or even top 32? Some games are a fucking bloodbath.

 

[Avallon]

He's good at Smash and is nowhere near the most dominant player in e-sports history.

 

[Who]

sm4sh competitive scene is relatively small and he dominates it

Relative to what?? The NFL??

 

[Poltergust]

Smash 4? For sure.

For general fighting games, he's gonna need at least 3-4 more years under his belt to touch the likes of Justin Wong, SephirothKen, or even Mew2King at their primes.

If you want to get into all e-sports, literally no fighting game player can compare to gamers that actually bring in the money. Justin Wong gets paid peanuts in relation to MOBA e-sports and such.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I don't know. ZeRo is the only name - and face - I've ever heard. I think the exposure he gets now is bigger than people like Justin Wong got in their biggest years, even if they did comparably bigger(?) things.

 

[HK-47]

Flash, anyone?

 

[Kraatu]

Who likes smash 4? As a melee guy the only respect I have for him came when he played Project M. He was solid but not top of the crop.

 

[ClayKavalier]

I don't know. ZeRo is the only name - and face - I've ever heard. I think the exposure he gets now is bigger than people like Justin Wong got in their biggest years, even if they did comparably bigger(?) things.

Gaming is bigger too though, and I'm guessing way more people are familiar with Smash than with MvC2.

 

[Poltergust]

Who likes smash 4?

Uh, a whole lot of people?