By Spike, Regular Contributor
The first Super Sudden Death amiibo tournament has concluded. As a new meta, there is no established rule set- yet. Tier upsets were common, and the tour proved one thing- in this new format, any amiibo is fair game.
It was won by a Gunner (my Gunner, which is why I feel qualified to write this), after an intense final set against the 2cd place Little Mac. The third place was a Sonic. Many lower tier amiibo were successful, and the meta here could be more than a little bit awesome to explore.
Currently, the tier list is theory based. My theory based tier list is at https://www.smashtierlist.com/39377d2e62217fb442f97adb004c19392f7fc0b321024a9857e0b130ee3eda20/, and yes, there are some hot takes.
For anybody interested, the current results-based tier list is at https://www.smashtierlist.com/fe7d5edae34d4193dbf3b5820216fa6d6e25197d7ebf28b495645ef16a79221a/, but that’s based on one tournament.
I will be exploring the theory tier list.
To start off, I’m going to say that disagreeing with the tier list is fine, it’s theory based, could be 100% wrong. Second, everything A and up is ordered; B and below is not. The “unknown” section is for amiibo with AI and movesets that could go either way. Most of them have at least one move that would be good in SSD, but I’d need to see them play in it to know.
First of all, what is SSD, and what should the ruleset be? Well, again, no established ruleset. SSD is a mode where all players start at 300%, used to end tied matches. In Ultimate, the screen also shrinks and Bomb-Ombs fall from the sky.
For the rule set, I highly recommend turning off screen shrink and Bomb-Ombs, no Items, FD and BF only, one stock, best of 3 First to Five Win sets. The reason for one stock is that upon respawning, the couple seconds of invulnerability can easily lead to a free stock in SSD, which I personally think is pointless. First to 5 because, well, these matches are basically coin flips with a little bit of strategy thrown in. Also, even if there were the max of 27 matches in a set, it would likely take less than five minutes.
So, what’s up with the tier list? Why are so many weird amiibo in the high tiers? Well, I’m going to go over that, sheesh! Starting with the S+ tier, cool?
At the very top of the S+ tier, Mii Gunner reigns. Aside from being the only amiibo to win a SSD tournament so far, Gunner is just an easy high tier in this meta. The reasons are the same as the reasons I sent her to the first SSD tour- the missiles kill at 300% with no difficulty, other amiibo shouldn’t be able to get in close, and- most importantly- with a little bit of tweaking, Gunner has amazing matchups against the other high tiers. We’re talking easy wins against the other S+ and S tiers, about half of the A+ tiers, and the Belmonts. I’ll be doing a write-up on that soon, so stay tuned!
Note: Speaking of the Belmonts, yes, I know that the Belmonts are in different tiers. It’s only because Simon’s Holy Water detonates bombs and Richter’s doesn’t. Given how good the Links seem to be, that could be good or bad- but I’m leaning towards bad.
Also in S+ tier, we have King K Rool and Lucas. They’re in S+ for similar reasons- PK Fire and Blunderbuss both shoot out projectiles that likely KO at 300%. Plus, King K Rool has some nice options if the opponent dodges Blunderbuss, like forward tilt.
S tier is basically anyone with a nice projectile, plus Ridley and Incineroar, who both have long-ranged, killing command grabs.
Young Link and Link both have good boomerang attacks and multi hit forward smash attacks, but Young Link might actually be better than Link in this format, simply because he can be taught to use his arrows- and in this format, his arrows are instakills.
Ice Climbers are here for a simple reason- Nana can eat the opponent’s first attack, allowing Popo to get in close and end the game. In a format where Lucas, Mii Gunner, and Villager are all projectile spamming powerhouses, this could be a unique and advantageous attribute.
Ridley has a long ranged command grab and a tendency to jump a good bit. This could allow him to dodge projectiles before securing an early kill.
Mii Swordfighter’s Tornado is an easy kill in this format. I could see him jumping a tier simply because it’s a gigantic projectile that’s hard to dodge.
Incineroar is, well, Incineroar. Long range command grab, instakill up air, ftilt… the list goes on. He’s just plain solid.
I’m not going to go over many more amiibo (expect a write-up that’s both more organized and using more results soon!), but I will go over a few amiibo I expect to prove themselves in this format soon:
-Sonic: I fully expect him to jump a tier simply by spamming Homing Attack. The fact that he gets off the ground (and, consequently, out of Missile and PK Fire range) is the cherry on top of an instant kill move that locks in on the opponent. He’s just good, and even a terrible Sonic in Vanilla could be top tier here.
-Snake: He has a controllable projectile and a solid dash attack that covers a lot of area. Something to watch out for for sure.
-Greninja: Dash attack forward air is still good, but down air is the real kicker. Greninja is going to inevitably win any confrontation with slower amiibo, especially on Final Destination.
-Villager: Lloid Rocket and Pocket. Enough said.
I know that this was short, and not really in-depth, but more articles on Super Sudden Death as a meta will be coming soon, don’t worry.
Never Stop Training
-Spike
Amiibo Doctor 