Zain and MKLeo domination at Smash Genesis 8 teases a hectic summer

Super Smash Bros
April 18, 2022
Jordan Ashley

Smash Bros Genesis 8 major was just held over the weekend, with exciting action across all areas of Smash Bros. The event held both a major for Ultimate and Melee, giving a great update on how players developed this spring.

Both sides of Genesis 8 were exciting, with Zain taking a second Genesis win and MKLeo pushing back into first in the world of Ultimate once more.

Genesis 8 MkLeo

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Zain Wins Second Melee Major at Genesis 8

The bigger story from the Genesis 8 event was the Melee side of the competition. Here, Zain took home the win for his second Genesis in a row.

The Melee event carried a prize pool of $23,280 for singles. Zain was up against some steep competition like iBDW and Hungrybox. However, it was Jmook, a relative underdog, who was the final competitor against Zain.

Our champion began the winner’s bracket beating out Jmook pretty decisively. From here, Jmook faced iBDW and won without dropping a set. This match began to point towards a reversal. Jmook wasn’t exactly the favorite going in, but he’d had a good run at the event and a win for him would have definitely been dramatic. The final round saw Zain face Jmook once again. Just like in their earlier match, Zain stuck to Marth for all rounds. Jmook switches from Sheik over to Fox for the final set. It didn’t particularly help things though.

Zain essentially crushed Jmook, and fairly easily took home his second consecutive Melee Major win.

 

Lets not forget Jmook’s run was respectable, and it was quite a bit more than what a lot of fans expected from him. While second place was disappointing, this was a breakout performance at Genesis 8.

MKLeo Returns to Top Spot in Ultimate

The Ultimate side of the tournament was no less entertaining. Coming off the back of tournaments like Collision and Smash Summit, where Sparg0 performed very well, the results were surprising. MKLeo returned to form at Genesis 8, the player took home the top spot after a tight run through the bracket.

Things began with a match-up we’ve already seen this year, with MKLeo facing Sparg0. The two players even used the same characters as the first round at Collision 2022, both sticking with their mains. This was a tight match, going for five rounds just like their last clash. However, this time MKLeo pulled just ahead. Sparg0 stuttered again in the loser’s final, losing out on a rematch in favor of Glutonny. This set things up for the finals where MKLeo had to face the French player.

In this match-up, MKLeo stuck to his Byleth while Glutonny kept with Wario that had served him well through the entire loser’s bracket. This wasn’t the tightest of finales though. Glutonny came close in the first and last sets, but MKLeo won all three rounds in the Genesis 8 Grand Finals. Taking home a major win without a lengthy final.

 

MKLeo is undoubtedly on the highest skill tier of the game. In recent tournaments though, he’d fallen a little behind. These results are a big plus for the player and a good sign that his reign in Ultimate is far from over. We’ll have to see what the remaining majors bring to see if Sparg0 or MKLeo continue their respective domination over 2022.