North Texas Daily

Walking into the Lyceum on Saturday, hoops and hollers along with the occasional surprised gasps could be heard as over 50 people watched and participated in “The Scrapyard,” UNT’s first major Super Smash Bros. Ultimate event.

“Smash tournaments can get pretty heated, especially during crew battles, so we’re pretty used to noise as long as it stays respectful,” said Spencer Taylor, president of UNT’s Smash Club. “You usually hear people cheering on their friends. It gets pretty hype sometimes.”

The name “UNT Brothers in Smash” was recently changed to “UNT Smash Club” to promote an inclusive space within the club.

“The Scrapyard” was organized by director of UNT Esports, Dylan Wray, Taylor and vice president Robert Snider about a month ago.

“The name ‘The Scrapyard’ comes from Scrappy, our mascot,” Taylor said. “I’d also imagine that some huge, destructive battle could happen in a scrapyard, so it’s pretty fitting for a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament.”

Being the first major tournament the club has held, Wray recruited help from the Union and UNT Student Affairs staff to set up and market the event. The logistics were established by Wray, Taylor or Snider and the technical cre”Organizing ‘The Scrapyard’ has been a blast,” Taylor said. “This is definitely something that the Smash Club wouldn’t be able to pull off on its own, so we’re grateful to have such fantastic groups across UNT to support Esports in such a big way.”

Smash Ultimate is the fifth installment in the fighting series Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features fighters from a variety of different video games, such as Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise, Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise and Isabella from Animal Crossing New Leaf.

“Smash Bros. is a little different from traditional fighting games,” Taylor said. “Instead of trying to deplete your opponent’s health, your goal is to knock them offstage so they can’t get back. The more damage someone takes, the further they fly every time they get hit, which makes it easier to take their [lives].”

The Scrapyard featured a crew battle between UNT and UTD students. 

The crew battle was set up so that it was a five versus five, a match in which players from one team play individually against a player from the other team, but stocks are shared collectively. A stock is equivalent to a life. When a player’s life is taken, they lose a stock. Each player gets three stocks, giving each team a total of 15 stocks per team, but once each individual’s three stocks are gone, they are out, and the next person on the team moves in to play.

UTD won with three stocks remaining.

The pools that were distilled into a top 48 bracket, where the 48 best players fought against each other. Christopher “Kaze” Sweetman, an Incineroar main from UTD, won first, Efrain “Akito” Nazairo, a Snake main from UTD, won second and Charles “Chippo” Paap, a Mega Man main from UNT, won third.

UTD freshman design major Zach Rendulic’s controller as he plays Wii Fit Trainer at The Scrapyard at the Lyceum in the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. Image by: Emily Olkkola.

The top eight winners won free t-shirts. “Kaze” won a free weekend pass to Dreamhack Dallas this year.

Paap, UNT freshman business and marking major, participated in the crew battle and placed No. 3 in the top 48 brackets.

“Having to play students from other campuses is a great idea, especially when I’m used to just playing people on this campus,” Paap said. “I don’t really have a car, so it’s hard for me to go to [local tournaments] or any other tournaments.”

Like Paap, UTD design freshman major Zach Rendulic also participated in the crew battle. He mains Wii Fit Trainer “Balance” and frequently goes around DFW participating in Smash tournaments, like Freaks and Geeks LLC and Red Line at Source Gaming Lounge.

“Whenever I have time, I always try to make it out to tournaments,” Rendulic said.

This was the first time Rendulic participated in a UNT based tournament.

“It’s been cool,” Rendulic said. “It’s a really cool setup here. It’s cool that we’ve got matches projected up on the screen [and having] commentators we can hear [while playing and watching]. It’s been a pretty nice experience.”

Featured Image: Two players contemplate which map to use when they battle on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at The Scrapyard in the Lyceum in the University of North Texas on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. Image by: Emily Olkkola.