Esports: Peninsula Smash teams score sweeps, advance to quarterfinals

All three Kenai Peninsula Super Smash Bros. Ultimate teams won with a sweep in playoff matches Friday, and all three will be traveling to Anchorage next weekend to close out the season.

Kenai Central has two teams in playoff contention.

Kenai Central 2, Valdez 0

Kenai Central Team 1 entered the playoffs ranked at the top of the league, and battled No. 16 seed Valdez High School on Friday. Valdez was down a player due to sickness, so the match was decided in Kenai’s favor after the first point was scored.

Smash is played in a best-of-three format with teams playing one-on-one games — also best of three — in the platform fighter. In Smash, players don’t win by reducing their health to zero. Instead, they battle to launch their opponent off the screen as one of a cast of over 100 characters.

In Alaska School Activities Association competition, according to rules set by PlayVS, games are played for up to eight minutes, and each player has three “stock,” that is, they can be launched from the field three times before losing a point.

Koen Pace led the charge for Kenai, as Iggy. Opposing Pace was Valdez’s Ethan Weber, as Snake.

Kenai Smash Captain Kage Adkins said Iggy vs. Snake was a contest between two “zoners,” or characters who fight at a distance using projectiles.

As the first round opened, Pace led the fight, keeping Weber on the defensive. The two together fell from the left side of the stage — Pace returned to solid ground alone.

Pace remained ahead of the curve — but was brought down to an even 1-1 stock bout by Weber. Almost immediately after returning to the field after being eliminated for the second time, Pace landed the final blow on Weber.

In the second round, Pace was much more dominant, handily launching Weber all three times without losing even one of his stock.

Because Valdez was short a player, that one point was enough to ensure victory — and advancement — for Kenai 1, but Kenai’s Cody Good sealed a proper sweep by defeating Valdez’s other player, Gray Odencrans, also in only two rounds.

Pace said that going into the playoffs, the Kardinals were all feeling confident in their skills. He said that a focus for them entering the playoffs was “core values.” He said they were working to grow their teamwork and their support.

Next week in Anchorage, Pace said he was expecting to encounter a lot more zoning matchups.

“We have to worry a lot about projectiles and how we either are going to deal with that or how much we’re gonna get practice in to become better players — to handle those situations with the characters we already play,” he said.

Actually seeing his opponents, Pace said, would be exciting — even just for the opportunity to “shake the person’s hand.”

All but one esports match played by Kenai Peninsula teams so far has been distant. Playing Smash, especially, is a very different experience through the internet compared to locally on the same machine. Network hiccups could plainly be seen in every playoff match played at Kenai Central on Friday.

Adkins said that playing in person next weekend would be a huge difference — the kind of difference that would empower Kenai to take home the win.

Kenai 1 will play ninth-ranked Chugiak High School 2 on Friday in Anchorage. The two teams previously tangled in the first week of the season, when the Kardinals scored a 2-1 victory.

Kenai Central 2, Delta Junction 0

Kenai 2, who entered the playoffs ranked sixth, is advancing to the quarterfinals with a sweep over 11th-ranked Delta Junction Senior High School.

Blake Gillis, of Kenai, played as zoner King K. Rool, taking on Logan Pugh, first as Incineroar, then as Cloud. In both rounds Gillis managed Pugh — dealing far more damage than he was receiving. In both rounds, Gillis lost only one stock each.

Next to play for Kenai 2 was Eli Castro, who won two consecutive rounds over Delta Junction’s Josh McCall, first as Mr. Game & Watch, then as Ganondorf. McCall played his own King K. Rool for both rounds, but failed to respond to Castro’s attacks.

Castro said that it wouldn’t make as much of a difference for him to play in person next weekend.

“I don’t care if they’re in person or online,” he said. “I’ll do the exact same.”

Kenai 2 will also play Chugiak High School on Friday, battling the Mustangs’ third-ranked Team 1. Two weeks ago, Kenai 2 was able to sweep the Mustangs.

Nikiski 2, Cyberlynx 0

Nikiski High School, entering the playoffs ranked fourth, swept 13th-ranked Cyberlynx Correspondence Program.

The Bulldogs will face off with Anchorage Christian Schools on Friday, a team they topped 2-1 just last week.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.