A Plumber, a boxer, a crocodile, multiple swordsman, and an intergalactic bounty hunter. This colorful cast may not seem to have anything in common but they are only a small fraction of what the outstandingly gigantic roster Super Smash Bros Ultimate for the Nintendo switch has to offer. Smash ultimate is a multiplayer platformer fighter released on December 17th 2018, despite initially being intended as a party game it quickly spread into the competitive environment becoming one of the most popular games for esports. Leyden is no exception, having our own smash bros crew battle team that regularly competes at tournaments. On December 6th the esports smash bros team traveled an hour away to McHenry High school. Winning this tournament was crucial as it secured the team a ticket to state. Our esports team had been hard at work to redeem themselves from last tournaments tough loss and now was the time to show it. And they did just that, going 4-0 leyden won the the tournament completely undefeated, and are now set to compete at state. “We have a stronger team this year. We made some significant lineup changes and our team has done a great job of strategically planning our player order for matches. Overall, I think we have a very competitive team,” says esports head coach Eric McFadden. It would not be an understatement to say that our school’s smash team has turned into a genuine state contender, especially with the newest addition to the team, who became an undeniable starter despite joining the team later into the season. “I feel very proud to have participated in the tournament and it was very nerve racking being in the final on my first time playing but I’m glad I went and everyone was very supportive of my matches,” comments Dylan Wayzer, first time player and key player in the team’s success. Despite the strong win and the team’s undeniable strength the results of the tournament still feel like an unreal surprise to the team. “I felt like our performance on Saturday was actually pretty surprising because we usually have a strong start, but as the match progresses we start struggling against characters we aren’t too familiar with. Luckily, this time we didn’t struggle with that at all even with those strong Peach players,” says team captain and ace, Daniel Delacruz. It’s also lucky that we weren’t without our own share of strong players. Captain Daniel Delacruz also adds, “I feel like everyone who played did really well, but the players who went above and beyond were Me (Daniel Delacruz), Dylan Wayzer, and Jonathan De La Torre. Despite it being Dylan’s first tournament with us he did really well as a starter. He always got us to a good start even against characters like Sonic. I did really well against the two Peach players we went against because I spaced them out the entire time. They were the most difficult opponents we faced at the tournament and I took both of those players out. Jonathan did amazing because he took out like 7 or 8 stocks in total as a heavy character that struggles to fight most opponents.” The team’s noticeable list of players doesn’t stop there however, as despite only being a sophomore and being the youngest player on the team, Julian Aguinaga had made a name for himself and confidently cemented his role as an undeniable starter. “I felt a little more confident in making it this year because I was able to make the team last year and not as many people tried out this year and I made a higher placement than last time. It feels kind of insane how I’m the youngest player in the smash crew lineup.” The team is in no way full of young or new players as Daniel Gonzalez is a West senior who has been on the team for 3 years now. And because of that he has seen both the team and himself constantly change over the years. “For me, I have definitely improved in areas skill wise. like with the change up of character mains like swapping k rool and banjo for g&w and Dark pit. and just over all getting a little bit better at the game. Team wise, we definitely had our ups and downs with losing good players and kinda not having much interest in the game for a bit. But as of now, we finally won a tourney, and were pretty confident on this upcoming sectional.” It seems both the players and coaches are feeling confident about their team. With the current line up of highly skilled and highly achieving players it’s safe to say the future looks bright for the smash team in their upcoming sectional and state tournaments.