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A robot launched high into the stratosphere found company in yet another robot,

Cloud charged limit and taunted in the face of his doppelganger,

and a fox kicked a hedgehog. Now on to The Hype Report.

THE HYPE REPORT

Smash at Xanadu 171: October 24th, 2016

Analysis: Z8 vs. Seagull Joe

As seen above, this week saw a TON of hype at Xanadu. It was hard to choose just one matchup, and believe me, I would love to write about ZSS's truest combo, but I guess you'll have to settle with watching all the magic yourself because we're talking about Rosalina and Sonic today.

Here's a link to the tournament playlist, because I'm nice after all:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcMdMmtHkPp...

(The ZSS match-up I refer to is actually hidden in the second half of the Disgaea vs. Nioret VoD for some reason :P)

Commentators pointed out that this match-up is known to be strongly in favor of Rosalina because of her defensive moves. At the same time, they mentioned that Sonic creates the pace of the game, and players who cannot keep up will struggle. For Rosalina's part, she has lengthy buffering for most of her moves, so there is a natural disadvantage to playing against an aggressive Sonic. What it comes down to, like usual, is Luma. This match-up is hype because of its close calls, so strap in and watch.

In game one, Seagull Joe managed an advantage due to quick aerials that put Z8 at a hefty 117% to his own 58%. After sending Rosa off-stage with a back-air, Seagull caught her in a grab at the left ledge and performed a forward-throw to send her high. Before attempting a follow-up, Seagull forward-tilted at Luma to knock it away, but that gave Z8 time to call Luma back. Luma then performed a down-aerial as it moved into Seagull, which just barely sent him off the left side of Town and City. Seagull shook it off and came back with a back-throw and back-air to kill, but things remained scary despite the tie-up.

Amidst a combo from Seagull, Luma caught him with an up-air that sent him right into Rosa's up-air, almost killing him. Seagull had to kill Luma before returning some damage to Z8, and then played more patiently with its return. Because of a long-charged side-special, he managed to get another kill on Luma. With Rosalina off-stage, he sent out three springs from Sonic's up-special, two of which pestered Z8's recovery. Luma respawned and another patient side-special knocked Rosa off-stage, but an up-air through the ledge sent Seagull Joe almost off the top once more. Luckily for him, it was just another close call.

Seagull Joe got in a back-throw that almost killed Rosa at just above 100% and waited for the recovery as Luma danced around him in a very daunting manner. One dangerous trade later, Luma was absent and Seagull went for an up-throw that killed. The first game ended with only one minute and forty-three seconds left.

Seagull spent even more time on Luma, and therefore played a safer second game. Z8 was racked up above 100% and fell to a back-air, but was unable to even the stocks up. He played much slower than Seagull and soon saw his Rosa alone and off-stage. She had to take four springs in a row before finally getting a hold of the ledge. Even then, she took a neutral-air into back-air combo and recovered high, landing center stage and getting up-smashed. That one didn't manage to kill, but a back-air soon sent Z8 off-stage again, where strong pressure from Seagull Joe caused him to recover too low and self-destruct.

Now, consider for a moment just how different these two games are. Obviously, game two lasted a small fraction of the time spent on game one. Somewhere here was a Rosalina and Luma that gave Sonic a run for his money, but we only just glimpsed her, and her screams were muffled by an optimistic BOING! as Sonic soared to victory. What happened?

Needless to say, this week's playlist saw enough Sega to make me think about playing Sonic. As a Fox main, I feel I would take advantage of the character's speed and combo potential. That is exactly what we got from Seagull Joe, except with a lot more patience than I would have had. He flaunted his character knowledge and wasn't afraid to go off-stage a bit to edge-guard.

Rosalina's defensive moves seemed to be nowhere as Z8 took plenty of hits he didn't need to. Without a Luma handy, she's vulnerable to quick attacks in the air. With Luma, Z8 failed to take advantage of the hits he got in, although I'm sure he scared Seagull with some janky moves here and there. It's not going to be enough if Luma is only used defensively.

See for yourself, and don't be afraid to learn new characters, y'all:

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