Chapter 1: ZeRo’s Dominance
Often considered the greatest Smash 4 player of all time, Team Solomid’s ZeRo had an amazing 56-tournament winning streak (which, by the way, is in “Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition” as the largest esports winning streak ever). Winning notable tournaments such as EVO, CEO, and Super Smash Con, he was averaging about one tournament win a week. But it wasn’t just big tournaments he went to, however - if there was a local near where he was, he’d go there and take your money too.
But, as always, all good things come to and end. After two incredibly close sets, Nairo broke the streak at the MLG World Finals in New Orleans. Despite going on another short winning streak, an injury in his middle finger proved to be the end of his dominance. He started losing sets to people he would have won against back in mid-2015, and started getting sub-par results to his standards, such as:
- 2nd at Get On My Level 2016
- 2nd at Smash 'n' Splash 2
- 2nd at 2GG: Mexico Saga
- 9th at CEO 2016 (This is especially important because this was his first time missing top 8 at in a Smash 4 major.)
- 3rd at EVO 2016
- 13th at Super Smash Con 2016
Ally, Kamemushi, Anti, Mew2King, Tsu - these were all players he would have beaten in early-mid 2015 (and in dominant fashion, at that). But of course, that's something we'll talk about next chapter.