Tournament:Watch The Throne
| Watch The Throne | |
|---|---|
| |
| Dates | December 8th-10th, 2023 |
| Venue | Guildhouse |
| Address/City | 420 S 1st Street San Jose, California 
|
| Attendance | 16 |
| Pot size(s) | TBD |
| Results | |
 winners
|
 Sparg0
|
| Staff | |
| Organizer(s) | Rayn, Charles Thoren |
Watch The Throne was a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate invitational tournament held at Guildhouse in San Jose, California from December 8th-10th, 2023. It was announced at the end of the first day of Get On My Level 2023 and was similar in style to the discontinued Smash Summit series. The event was brought together by Smash podcast hosts Charles Thoren and Hazmatt of Tweek Talks, EE of Lights Out, and BAM and Charles of Smash University. The top 3 at the event received free entry to GENESIS X, with the winner receiving an additional free flight and hotel. Side events included an Ultimate crew battle, the Rivals 2 beta, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, and the Combo Devils beta.
Players invited/qualified[edit]
The following players were invited:
The top 2 non-qualified players at Super Smash Con 2023 qualified:
The highest-placing non-qualified player at Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2023 qualified:
Sonix (who finished 2nd)
The highest-placing non-qualified player at Port Priority 8 qualified:
KEN (who finished 4th)
The highest-placing non-qualified player at GENESIS: BLACK at Guildhouse qualified:
ApolloKage (who finished 1st)
Players voted in[edit]
- Lui$ (October 2nd)
- Kurama (October 5th)
- WebbJP (October 8th)
Tarik (invited as ProtoBanham's replacement as the runner-up in the final day of voting.)[1]
Declined players[edit]
ProtoBanham was originally invited but had to drop out.
Players eliminated[edit]
These players were eliminated in the voting phase:
- MASA,
Sisqui, T3 DOM, takera (October 2nd) 
elijmin, MFA, Peanut, 
Skyjay (October 5th)- Riddles, Neo, Tarakotori, Tarik (October 8th)
These players were eliminated in the nomination phase:
| Aaron |
AndrewT |
Candle |
Cee |
Chase |
Chronos |
Cosmos |
Dany |
fawn |
Goblin
|
| Jahzz0 |
JeJaJeJa |
 Jezo |
loaf |
Maister |
Nexus |
 Nietono |
Onin |
 quiK |
Riku
|
 ShinyMark* |
skittles |
 Soar |
Sweshi |
Zomba
|
*Although ShinyMark qualified for the next phase, he dropped out prior to its start and was replaced with MFA.
Eligible players[edit]
Players were eligible if they met any of the following requirements:
- Ranked in the top 100 on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.
- Placed top 64 at a major or supermajor in 2023 (LumiRank A-tier or above) up to Maesuma TOP 14.
There were a total of 699 players eligible (including those already qualified). The 15 players with the most likes and retweets on their Twitter nomination posts progressed to the voting phase.
Tournament summary[edit]
The Round Robin stage mostly ran without any notable upsets, although there were a few close sets. Two of the most notable were WebbJP against acola, with acola narrowly denying a reverse 3-0 by gimping WebbJP with blocks offstage, and ApolloKage against Sparg0, with ApolloKage's forward smash read nearly KOing Sparg0 in a game 5 last stock situation.
The Round Robin stage also had a notable rematch between MkLeo and KEN, who last fought at EGS Cup over four years prior and ended with KEN double-eliminating MkLeo. MkLeo ultimately defeated KEN in the rematch, the first time he defeated KEN at any Smash tournament since the Smash 4 event IBP Masters Showdown back in 2017.
The Loser's side of the final bracket saw a Loser's run from KEN, who notably defeated both Light and MkLeo in the runback to place 5th despite starting in the Loser's bracket; the former win marked KEN's first-ever win over Light, a player who had historically dominated in the Sonic matchup. In addition, the Loser's side saw an infamous match between Tweek and acola, where after going down 0-2 Tweek tried and failed to camp out acola with Diddy Kong. The dire situation was caught on stream, which briefly panned out to both players when there was around 38 seconds left on the timer; the players' subsequent reaction to the stream, mainly Tweek's reaction, was widely noted and discussed online.
The Winner's side of the final bracket saw Sparg0 and acola face off against each other for the first time since Battle of BC 5 almost six months ago. Although acola put up a noticeably stronger fight against Sparg0, with each game going to last stocks, Sparg0 defeated acola 3-1, extending Sparg0's overall record against acola to 7-1. Sparg0 then faced off against his Coinbox rival Sonix and dispatched him in an easy 3-0, notably using Cloud for all three games instead of Aegis, his normal choice in the matchup. Miya proceeded to beat both Dabuz using Steve and Tweek to make Winners Finals against Sparg0, the first time they fought since Kagaribi 10. Although Miya also put up a stronger fight, Sparg0 also defeated him 3-1. After being knocked into Loser's, Sonix defeated acola and Miya in rematches from Port Priority 8, both in a 3-1 fashion. However, Sonix once again fell to Sparg0's Cloud in Grand Finals 3-1, with his only game win being over Sparg0's Aegis. Sparg0's victory at the event, which came after several underwhelming performances, led many players to believe that he was still the #2 player in the world.
The event notably had the year's top 4 players place in the top 4. Due to their dominance in the event over the other top players as well as them winning all but one major with at least one of them in attendance since the end of the mid-year season, many players dubbed them the Four Horsemen, analogous to Melee's Five Gods.
Results[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate singles[edit]
(16 entrants)
Final Bracket
| Place | Name | Character(s) | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sparg0 |
 |
|
| 2nd |  Sonix |
 |
|
| 3rd | Miya |
  |
|
| 4th | acola |
|
|
| 5th | KEN |
|
|
| 5th | Tweek |
 |
|
| 7th | MkLeo |
  |
|
| 7th |  Glutonny |
 |
|
| 9th | Bloom4Eva |
 |
|
| 9th | Kurama |
 |
|
| 9th | Light |
 |
|
| 9th | Dabuz |
  |
|
| 13th | Luis |
 |
|
| 13th | Tarik |
 |
|
| 13th | WebbJP |
 |
|
| 13th | ApolloKage |
 |
Side events[edit]
Old Guard vs. New Guard crew battle[edit]
| Old Guard | Character | Stocks Taken | New Guard | Character | Stocks Taken |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light |
|
2 | Zomba |
 |
3 |
| Dabuz |
|
5 | ApolloKage |
|
2 |
| Tweek |
 |
1 | Miya |
|
4 |
| Luis |
|
5 | WebbJP |
|
1 |
| Glutonny |
|
2 | acola |
|
2 |
| Total | — | 15 | Total | — | 12 |
