News

This week we’re counting down the Top 50 players from season 2 of the NA RCS circuit. This honorable mentions list details players who just barely missed the cut or were highly skilled but inactive.

Other Articles in the Series

• S2 Top 50: Introduction
• S2 Top 50: Honorable Mentions (you are here)
• S2 Top 50: #50 – 41
• S2 Top 50: #40 – 31
• S2 Top 50: #30 – 21
• S2 Top 50: #20 – 11
• S2 Top 50: #10 – 1

Inactive Bosses

The players in this section are highly skilled Rivals players who would certainly be top 50 if they were more active. Some of these players have retired, while others only come by once or twice a year to show off their skills. This makes it difficult to rate them overall which is why we’ve decided to include them in the honorable mentions rather than the list proper.

• Ralph
• Kisuno
• ICE | RK9
• Turquoise
• Allergic to Bullets
• TheEvets
• Atma
• Sino
• gracefulknight
• PikaThePikachu
• Alexis

Just Missed the Cut

Players in this section just barely missed the cut when the final rankings were calculated. A couple more placings are all that separates them from top 50 in our panelists’ minds, which is why they’ve been included in the honorable mentions.

• Cupz
• Renzo
• Menace13

Editor’s Note: Tandori was erroneously included in “Just Missed the Cut” yesterday. This has been corrected.

Anticipation lingers in the air. Within a metagame torn asunder by the arrival of new blood (among other gameplay updates) players fight to find the limits of new characters. More seasoned players fight to find their own limits – then surpass them.

Veterans of Aether know what’s coming. The turning of the seasons, the brewing of a storm. Spring is here, so grab those controllers and get ready for RCS Season 3!

If you’re unfamiliar with the official, developer-sponsored tournament circuit, check out Tuesday’s post laying out the details.

With the unveiling of the next installation of the Rivals Championship Series, the first of many online tournaments will kick off this year’s grand race. Competing in the online tournament series is always a blast, seeing how you stack up in the circuit, battling one another for the big points and improving over time. But in my opinion, it’s even better doing it LIVE!

Now, you must be wondering why I switched to first person. That’s kind of unprofessional Etalus, you think to yourself, rubbing your chin. At least, I’m pretty sure Etalus writes these things. It’s true that Etalus does write these things, but this thing is not one of those things. Today, you’re reading my words, and I’m actually Solar.

You may recognize me from, well, plenty of places, among other news posts on this website, where I like to drop a nice “hype!” in the comments section every now and then. But besides that I’m just a guy with a big hobby of travelling out to live events and playing this particular video game with people. I tried it a couple times back when the game was young, and then enjoyed it so much that I started a Discord server called TAXI specifically to arm people with whatever information they may need to make it out to these events. Check it out here: discord.me/TAXI.

So what I’ve got for you today are the hot details on some live tournaments happening this Spring, each a part of the upcoming RCS circuit. Now let’s get right into it so YOU can get planning to make it out to these events and grab big circuit points.

Smash’N’Splash 4

• Featuring a $1,000 pot bonus for Rivals
• June 1 – 3
• Wisconsin Dells, WI
• Register here: smash.gg/sns4

“The Waterpark Tournament returns to the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. This venue features a 30,000 square foot convention center, indoor and outdoor waterparks, full size amusement park and much more!”

Pack your swimsuit – the venue is literally a water park resort. This Central US tournament has brought on Rivals for the first time, so bring your Orcane plushes – they’ll be right at home. The deadline to register for this event is May 17th.

Hyrule Saga

• Featuring a $2000 pot bonus for Rivals
• June 23 – 24
• Long Beach, CA
• Register here: smash.gg/hyrulesaga

“This is but one of the sagas of which the people speak… Celebrating the Legend of Zelda series, 2GG is proud to bring you Hyrule Saga! Not only will this event have an emphasis on the Zelda aspect of the Smash series, we will also be providing various events and activities inspired by the franchise itself. If you’re a fan of the Zelda franchise, you don’t want to miss this event!”

A Legend of Zelda fan’s dream come true – a tournament in homage of the series, with no shortage of Hylian goodies. 2GG has brought Rivals on board, and in exchange, Rivals brought us Hero Clairen – an incredibly sick skin – which, if you still haven’t purchased, you can by following this link. Funds raised from sales of this skin have been going towards making Hyrule Saga bigger and better in different ways, including bringing players out for a special Rivals crew battle. As a community we’ve already funded a team from Canada and North Carolina! Registering for the Rivals bracket is only $5. The deadline to register for this event is June 20th.

Andromeda

• Crowdfunded pot bonus
• June 23 – 24
• Valenciennes, France
• Register here: smash.gg/tournament/andromeda-1

“Andromeda is the perfect place for all competitive Smash, Splatoon and RoA players and offers one of the best venues in France and Europe. Besides, Andromeda is the first european tournament to propose a Splatoon 2 tournament fully driven by its community and by Esportbros.TV. Finally, a Rivals of Aether major is put forward in order to gather the best competitive players.”

Andromeda has brought on Rivals of Aether for Europe’s first Season 3 RCS major! Europe’s top player Kaos has already registered – will Andromeda be the beginning of his third journey to the top of the ladder? We’ll be seeing soon enough what the European scene has to offer for Season 3!

Stay tuned for the Summer and Fall posts, because this year’s RCS circuit has much more to offer. In the meantime, take a look at these locals (not on the circuit) being run in the next couple of months!

Push More Buttons

• May 12 – 13
• Minneapolis, MN
• Register here: https://downb.challonge.com/events/pmb2018

One of the trademark Smash tournaments of the Midwest has added Rivals to their lineup this year! Check it out this weekend!

COST 2018

• June 16
• Hilliard, OH
• Register here: https://smash.gg/tournament/cost-2018

So Central Ohio has brought on Rivals for their regional event, (which happens to be sponsored by Arctic Fury, which happens to also sponsor two top Rivals players: Windows from Florida and Slime Mage from Sweden – shout-outs to them!) and there are a couple of variables to take note of here: they have a $100 pot bonus for Rivals, and at the time of writing only 4 players have registered for the Rivals bracket. If you’re in the area, I definitely recommend getting in there!

Duelist Kingdom

• June 30
• Tempe, AZ
• Register here: https://smash.gg/tournament/duelist-kingdom

The AZ scene which brought us Heat Wave and Cold Snap offers a one-of-a-kind LARPing tournament experience inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh!, encouraging players of all skill levels to participate. Well, except for the players at the top skill level. They are actually prohibited from participating. I highly recommend looking this one, it’s one of the most interesting ideas for a tournament I’ve ever heard. Don’t wait, either – it’s capped at 40 entrants!

Stay tuned for a follow-up post featuring Summer events, including First Impact, Shine, and more!

Today we’re pleased to announce Season 3 of the Rivals Championship Series. The Rivals Championship Series (or RCS for short) is the premier Rivals circuit featuring the best events to play in and watch around the world. If you’re a new player or haven’t heard of the RCS before, don’t worry. Read on to learn what the RCS means for you and the Rivals community as a whole.

The Circuit

At its core, the Rivals Championship Series is a circuit for players who want to test their skills against the best. Players from around the globe are invited to battle for points, prizes, and the glory that comes with being the RCS champion.

Events in the circuit consist of a combination between online and offline events that you can find on the league schedule. Make sure you check for your specific region this year since we’re back in Europe and Australia as well as North America.

As the season goes on, each player that participates in sanctioned events will earn points based on their standings. At the end of the season, the top players from each region will receive travel vouchers to come play at the final event. Last season’s final saw T2 | CakeAssault claim the victory and the lion’s share of a prize pool that was over $12,000.

The Community

No matter your skill level, we want all players to feel at home in the RCS. We’re encouraging players to come hang out on twitch and discord during monthlies to make it as much of a community event as it is a tournament.

We’ll be bringing out your favorite commentators, new community rewards for participating, and all kinds of fun stuff.

By popular request, we’ll also be bringing back the RCS compendium featuring hard to find skins and other unique Rivals merch. Everything raised there goes back to RCS events or directly to the players participating. You can support your friends, favorite pros and get yourself something cool all at the same time.

New Prizes

This season, all first time participants will receive a Champion Wrastor skin, and if the event reaches 350+ players all entrants will also receive a Champion Ranno skin. Players who achieve top 8 will secure themselves an elusive Champion Absa skin. More event and competitive related skins will be revealed as the season goes on.

More to Come

Now that you’ve seen the overview, stay tuned throughout the week as we announce our full schedule for all regions, offline events, and the full rules and points structure for all of our detail-oriented players. Make sure you also sign up for your first monthly on the league schedule page.

To lead up to the event, next week we’ll be counting down the top 50 players from season 2 and reminiscing on the plays, the popoffs, and personalities that made season 2 a blast. Here’s to another year!

To celebrate Rivals at Smash’N’Splash we’re releasing Pool Party Ranno! Right now there’s two ways to get in on the summer fun:

1. Sign up for Rivals at Smash’N’Splash 4 – All current and future entrants for Rivals brackets at Smash’N’Splash 4 will automatically receive a skin through email.
2. Retweet our announcement – Retweet to get entered into a raffle drawing on 5/2.

Pool Party Ranno skins will be sent out twice a week to new tournament registrants. If you’re a new registrant you can always email us at [email protected] to speed up the process.

Now that the dust has settled from our recent major update, we’ve had some time to squash a few bugs. Thanks to everyone who helped report these. Please continue to send us your suggestions and feedback so we can keep Rivals excellent.

Bugfixes

• Holding down during the flinch state will no longer crouch cancel unless you were previously in the crouch state.
• Opponent’s speed is now capped when they’re sent into parry stun from a projectile. Prevents weird bugs where players would go flying after getting parried.
• Wrastor Aerial Dspecial hurtbox corrected.
• Fixed scenarios in Kragg’s and Elliana’s tutorials that would prevent completion.
• Forsburn’s clone will no longer use the default color for Elliana’s mine when it is stuck.
• Ori’s bash is no longer techable before the launching hit connects.
• The detection radius for Ori bashing Elliana’s mech has been corrected.
• Elliana’s guided missiles will no longer pass through low crouching characters on a platform when moving vertically.
• The charged version of Elliana’s guided missile will now correctly break Kragg’s rock.
• Kragg can no longer airdodge out of Elliana’s mine explosion.
• The moves below have been fixed to work correctly when Team Attack is turned on:
  • Ori’s Spirit Flame
  • Clairen’s Plasma Field
  • Elliana’s Steam

• Uair hit 1 and 2 SDI modifier increased from 1 > 1.2.
  This prevents uair > tether > uair from being guaranteed which had somehow worked its way back into the game.

• When Elliana’s Uspecial is parried she now receives extended parry stun.
• Holding the attack button will only cause you to hover if you’re doing an aerial, instead of any air attack.
  This change allows people who use the “strong attack” control scheme to do smashes without flying to the top of their screen.
• Utilt can no longer hit frozen enemies.