CEO Dreamland, which took place at Wyndham Resort in Orlando, Florida wrapped up Sunday with the remaining Super Smash 4 singles competition. The three day tournament, which took place April 13-16, concluded with a thrilling top-8 player clash. Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios would add another first place finish to his resume, finishing the tournament without losing a single set. Here's how the rest of Day 3 played out.
Eric "ESAM" Lew's audacious run through Smash 4 singles gridlocked when he faced "ZeRo" in the winner's semifinals; ESAM, the mighty Pikachu main, was confounded by ZeRo's Diddy Kong, losing the set 3-1 and sending him into the lower bracket. Things didn't get much easier for ESAM as he confronted Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby, the respected Rosalina & Luma main in the loser's quarterfinals. The set looked to be unexpectedly in favor of ESAM's as his Pikachu mauled Dabuz in Game 1. ESAM advertised a masterful sequence in the first game, employing constant pressure upon Dabuz which he had clear trouble adjusting to. Dabuz would turn things around, however, winning three consecutive rounds to secure the win. His run would end there, though, as he would eventually be eliminated by Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada in loser's semifinals.
Dabuz's winner's bracket run was trumped by Ramin "Mr R" Delshad who managed to make it all the way to the Grand Finals before ultimately falling to ZeRo. Squaring off against Nairo in the winner's bracket semifinal, Mr R would get in the first word, claiming a 3-1 victory. However the two would meet again promptly in the loser's finals following a heartbreaking winner's bracket loss to ZeRo. This time the set was much closer, with the match eventually going into a Game 5. Still, Mr R's expert Sheik play was too much for Nairo to overcome, eventually claiming the series win.
In a rematch of the winner's bracket finals, ZeRo would immediately zip out to a commanding lead in the Grand Finals, taking the first two games of the series against Mr R's Sheik. A clever tactical move would get Mr R back into the game, as he opted to use Cloud, eventually pushing the series to Game 5. For the first time in this tournament, ZeRo was experiencing visible trouble adapting to Mr R's Cloud; Cloud's range and limit ability made ZeRo's common approach tricky. Although many spectators were hoping to see Mr R institute a bracket reset, ZeRo would take Game 5 and the CEO Dreamland title vanquishing Mr R 3-2 in Grand Finals.
Congratulations to @TSMZeRo for winning Wii U Singles!! #CEODreamlandpic.twitter.com/WOfbRU8L5a
— CEO Gaming (@CEOGaming) April 17, 2017
