From Nov. 17-19, the Metroplex hosted its first major fighting game tournament since before the pandemic: Low Tier City at the Arlington Esports Stadium. With 650 competitors all fighting for glory, the event defined an action-packed weekend for UTA Esports and fighting game fans all across north Texas.
The main focus was the Singles tournament for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which consisted of 256 entrants. The vast majority of UTA Esports’ attendees participated in the tournament, one of whom was computer science freshman Oscar “Atomic” Ninffert, who has many victories at Mav Mayhem under his belt.
“I’m feeling really good, I’ve lately been doing subpar to my standards but I felt really good today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Atomic after advancing past the qualifier pools with an undefeated record.
Atomic placed 7th overall; higher than any other member of UTA Esports.
But Atomic’s greatest achievement at Low Tier City came alongside fellow competitor Tarun “Beastly” Chemiti as they teamed up for the 2v2 bracket in which they beat out teams consisting of the Singles finalists SHADIC and Dark Wizzy to take first place for UTA Esports; one of the highest honors the team has ever received in the fighting game community.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was far from the only fighting game to feature at Low Tier City. Various other titles also received top billing, such as the recently-released Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6—in which UTA Esports’ Davy and Jackie “Hippo” Pham tied for 5th and 7th place—along with other Smash games like 64 and Melee.
One of the most impactful brackets ended up being Tekken 7, holding what is likely to be one of the last tournaments of its lifespan before the release of Tekken 8 on January 26th. UTA competitor Keyon “Phenom” Stokes made it to the semifinals but was knocked down to 3rd by the eventual winner, Corey “Wasulu” Hartfield from UNT. Wasulu used Eddy as his character of choice, coming out on top over runner-up Michael “Yuzuruk” Nguyen’s Law in a best-of-five set.
“I just gotta keep sharp,” said Wasulu.
This mindset is prevalent among top-ranked competitors, reflecting how they approach the complex nature of gameplay at such a high skill level. Being able to predict your opponent’s next move and react accordingly within a split second can make all the difference.
While Low Tier City is now in the books, there’s still the spring semester to look forward to. If the Mavs can keep up the good fights, UTA might be seeing a few more championships coming their way.