GSA Overview: 25th of February by BaxterV
GSA (Global Speedrun
Association) is a speedgaming organization, that hosts near daily races,
that made it’s rise in 2018. Therefore the organization has much work to do to
professionalize their stream. We’ve seen over the last couple of weeks that
banners have been added to race VOD’s, more games were announced to get their
own division, details about the first PACE event were revealed, etc. However
the overall standings have not been discussed much. This came as a surprise as
we’re past halfway with the leagues. So let’s not waste any more time and dive
right into this.
Super Mario 64 70 Star Division 1
Because there are 2 divisions in 70 Star, and a 16 star
league, we’re spreading them out a little. To start off, Puncayshun, the
current World Record holder of this category, has a sizeable lead. He’s earned
himself 329 points over, moreover he’s undefeated. Runner-up is Toastrider91,
with 206 points. His only loss was to Dwathever, who is in 3rd place
with just 1 point less. He won all of his matches except the one with
Puncayshun. 4th is Cheese, having lost a match to Toastrider91 and
Liamkings. Beneath Cheese are Binny, Weege14, Benjii64 and Paracusia to close
off the top 8.
Puncayshun has clearly made an impact on the competition.
His 123 point lead makes him a good contender for the number 1 spot, which
would set him up to play the player in 8th place, currently that is
Paracusia. With still half of the season to go, anything can happen, even
Puncayshun could be overthrown. In the upcoming weeks we’ll see how Puncayshun
can manage, and if he will keep the undefeated streak alive.
Also we have to look at the bottom 3 playes, which are not
guaranteed a spot in Division 1 next year. Currently V1RO, RockChalk19 and
Heisenburger make up the bottom of the bracket. It should be mentioned not
everyone has played their 6th game as of writing this, V1RO earned a
victory over Heisenburger and has yet to play his 6th game.
RockChalk also earned a victory over Heisenburger, and also has yet to play his
6th game. Heisenburger himself hasn’t earned a victory yet, which
would mean he is going to play the Division 2’s 1st place.
Again nothing is set in stone, but Heisenburger seems to
have ran out of luck as his remaining 5 games are against the higher ranked
players. He is going to play against Liamkings, who is in 9th place,
this match will most likely seal his fate in terms of standings this season.
With that being said we will keep a close look at the league as it roles on.
Mario Kart: Double Dash Time Trials
For those not aware, this league format is a little
different. If it’s not clear how the structure is set-up after this quick
run-down then I advise you to read the Structure Info document by GSA (link).
Every match 13 time trials are done, with (I might be wrong on this) the winner
choosing the next stage every time. Due to the way the game functions it give
the final time up to 1000’s of a second, this makes re-timing the game
unnecessary.
Let’s look at the current standings. Basebalkid is on top
with a 5 point lead over GoombaNL with 76 points. Basebalkid is however not
undefeated, he lost 8-5 to OuterHalo. GoombaNL is in second place, with 71
points, and is undefeated. This is something I didn’t mention before, but the
13 games all award points to your profile, next to that 5 points are awarded
for the win (beating your opponent). GoombaNL simply won but not in as great of
a fashion as Basebalkid did, meaning he’s now despite not having lost a full
match yet, in second place.
Tied with GoombaNL is OuterHalo, who also has 71 points, but
has played one match less than GoombaNL or Basebalkid. Lothjon (66 Points) and
OptimisticEmo (58 points) close out the top 5 of the Mario Kart Time Trials. It
should be noted that place 6 on the leader board, Megamatt, is only 1 point
behind Optimistic Emo with 57. Moreover place 7 is 2 points behind the place
above it; Ultimarkh has 55 points and has an even season as of right now with a
3-3 standing.
In last, and very much in danger of losing his spot is
Rasern, with only 15 points, all earned in defeat. The top 3 is very close, and
so are the spots 5-7. Anything is still possible with the league, with 5 (6 for
some) games to play, it will be fun to see the runners delevop strats and
consistency trying to earn enough points to make their way to play-offs.
Super Mario 64 16 Star
In the 16 star division points are earned similarly to the
system MDKK (Mario Kart: Double Dash) uses. Points are awarded for every game,
plus an extra point for the contestant who wins the best out of 3 series of
races.
Currently in 1st place is 16 Star World Record
holder Akki. He’s earned himself 19 points 6 games, all of which he won. With
17 points he is followed by Binny, who has played 6 games, only 1 of which he
lost. This loss was to Akki. Behind this we see Anti and Cheese battling for
the 3rd place spot. Both have lost 2 games, 1 of which they lost to
Akki. Cheese’s 2nd loss was to Gainai, while Anti’s 2nd
loss was to Binny.
Behind this we see 3 men fighting for 5th place,
Dwhatever, RochCalk19 and Weegee14 with 12 points. RockChalk has yet to face
either of these two men. Weegee beat Dwatever during the season. It will be
interesting to see who will prevail and earn the best spot for the play-offs.
Looking only at the table the odds would favour Weegee, as he is yet to face
opponents lower in the brackets.
In last place with 0 points is MrJimmysteel25, who hasn’t
won any of the races over the 6 matches he played. It would be nice to see him
earn a win, just to keep his spirit up. Gainai is the breakout story of the
season probably, a runner who has only 2 points, and even a win with these two
2 over Cheese of all people.
Super Mario Odyssey Any%
The newest addition in the 3D Mario games catalogue is also
a highly contested speed game, with World Record being lowered 7 times
throughout the season. Different people held World Record over the course of
the season, all of which are in the competition. Chaospringle, Nicroveda and as
of writing this LilKirbs have all held World Record in SMO Any% during the
season.
On top in the competition is Stavos96 with 294 points. Under
this is Nicroveda with 281, followed by LilKirbs with 259 points. The top 3 is
quite close, between place 3 and 4 is a bigger gap. Chaospringle has ‘only’ 193
points and ties with Suisaiga with this amount. This top 5 has great talent in
it, retimings have already occurred, the competition is evolving quite fast.
Comparing runs from the beginning of the season to those right now is not
really fair. Runners that don’t implement new strats and routes during the
season get left behind, and it shows on the leaderboard.
Two-player Any% World Record holder Orolme is in last with
63 points, only 5 point behind LilAggy with 68 points. The last 2 places are
still really close. In the offseason it’s most likely we’ll see both of these
men fighting for their spot in next season’s league. As of right now
ReyalsdiorteM would also have to defend his spot, lacking 10 points to tie the
9th place of Dansta.
The Odyssey races have really been a joy to watch. The
constant improvement of strats and solid commentary have made it very
entertaining to watch. I suggest you try some of these matches, Stavos and
Nicroveda would be a good option as they are both still undefeated.
Super Mario 64 70 Star Division 2
We’ve already discussed Division 1, so let’s take a look at
who’s in line for a spot in the first division. M0m0 is in first place, 261
points, with 6 games played. Protoman5 is in 2nd place with 256
points, but has already played 7 games.
DrogieSR and JJsrl are in 3rd and 4th
place. Both of these players are still in the race for 1st place. To
my own surprise Cartoonbuffoon and BroMario28 aren’t competing as well as I
expected. Cartoon is in 6th with 155. He’s been delivering
interesting performances and solid runs over the course of the season, but
hasn’t yet ‘turned it on’. His chances of 1st place (or play-offs in
general) are slim, but existent. Bromario28 has only played 5 games and
gathered 52 points, while others have already played 7, so the odds favour him
to rise in the rankings, but the League Open Qualifier Tournament
seems inevitable for him.
It’s interesting to note that nobody is undefeated or
winless. The quality of runs is slighty worse than the first division, but the
matches do seem more tense. The commentators should also be given praise as
their performances on Division 2 matches were just as good if not better than
the Division 1 matches.
Celeste Any%
The Celeste Any% are done 3 at a time like the 16 star matches.
In the league are former-World Record holder Fladervy and current World Record
holder TGH. Just like with Super Mario Odyssey Any% this World Record has been
lowered during the season multiple times.
Unsuprisingly TGH is in the lead with 24 points, closely
followed by Fladervy with 23 points. Nero_x2 closes of the top 3 with 21
points. This top 3 is pretty close, and both TGH and Fladervy are still
undefeated. Their face-off will likely decide the faith of this season, unless
Nero is able to beat TGH in their match. Fladervy has already beaten Nero and
has also beaten No. 4 in the season MSushi, who has 16 points.
At the bottom there are two very respectable runners,
Flarebear & Evanfight. The latter of which scored a single point, the
former scoring none at all during the season. Their eventual clash will decide
who is the better, because there will be at least 4 points on the line. However
both will most likely play the Qualifier Tournament, together with MooseSR
who’s spot is also in jeopardy as he is in 10th.
I would definitely recommend watching some of these matches.
They’re only half an hour long and showcase the game beautifully. The game is,
next to being very hard, aesthetically pleasing, this mixed with the high pace
action and skips makes for a very entertaining run.
Sum-up
Halfway through the season not many places have been
solidified yet. The only player who’s in a safe-spot in terms of first place
holders is probably Puncayshun. Akki, TGH, M0mo, Stravos96 and Basebalkid are
all still fighting for their first place, with direct competition on their
heels. As the season progresses I intend to write another such post, perhaps at
the end of the season.
Super Mario 70 Star Division 1, Celeste and Super Mario
Odyssey Play-Offs will all be played at PACE 2019. This event is the first of
it’s kind and has much to improve, but the concept is good. PACE 2019 will also
showcase some other popular speed games, all worth checking out. PACE will be
held from the 25th of April till the 28th of April, I
hope to see many of you in chat.
About the me
Hi, I’m BaxterV. I decided to write this article because I
am a speed run fan, one that greedily watches GSA live on Twitch, and the VOD’s
on YouTube. However I couldn’t really put things into perspective. As of right
now the whole program seems to be episodic, every block of races feels like a
single race, not a match in a competition. That’s what sparked my interest to
write this article, to give an overview of all the standings. I know I’m not a
good writer, I apologize for that. Hopefully my writing skill will improve as
we go, if I can get myself to do this on a monthly basis.
P.S. I'm not gonna bother adding pictures because by now it's already outdated, not motivated enough for that. Maybe at the end, but we'll see.
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