Genesis X2 hosted the biggest Rivals of Aether II tournament since its 2024 release with over 500 entrants including its top players. The community largely believed that the two best players would face off in the Grand Finals, but two unaccounted competitors subverted expectations.
On one hand, the best player by far in Rivals of Aether II is Alex “CakeAssault” Strobel also known as “Cake”. With an astounding 91% offline tournament win rate, and a dominance stemming from the prequel Rivals of Aether competitive scene, when he enters a Rivals of Aether tournament, it is never a question of whether he will win. The question is how hard he will win.
On the other hand, Marlon “Marlon” Merrit is considered to be one of the best online players of the Rival of Aether games, holding three of the top 10 online leaderboard spots with alt accounts using four different characters at one point. Yet, due to a two-month suspension for inappropriate behavior, Marlon’s real first chance at proving his offline talent was Genesis X2.
Everybody expected Grand Finals to be the two best Rivals of Aether II players finally facing off for the first time in the biggest tournament this game had ever seen. Marlon started Top Six on the loser’s side and CakeAssault faced off against Justin “Plup” McGrath in Winner’s Finals.
Plup is not known for his Rivals of Aether II showings. He’s mainly a Super Smash Bros. Melee top player, having won Genesis 5 in 2018 in that game. Before Genesis X2, the only tournament record Plup had in Rivals of Aether II was a 7th place finish in LACS Rivals. His presence was unassuming until his first set against CakeAssault.
Plup first took the set to 2-0, a rare occurrence for anyone against CakeAssault. His gameplay looked practiced. His matchup knowledge and decision-making in this set made him look dominant.
But CakeAssault, used to playing in intense tournaments, was not ready to go down yet. Cake clapped back, closing two nail-biting sets, bringing the match back to an equilibrium 2-2.
CakeAssault had momentum off of his two wins, but he was visibly nervous. A loss meant that his reign was waning, and this was against one of the best Melee players with skills on par with his own.
After a tense final game, and with the crowd roaring behind them, Plup spiked CakeAssault’s flawless record and pushed him to losers finals. Nobody expected Plup to be this dominant, but this was not the only upset this tournament had.
CakeAssault’s first offline set loss in Rivals of Aether II
On the Loser’s side of the bracket, Marlon expectedly won against Asahi in his Loser’s Quarter-Finals match, 3-1. To reach the much anticipated matchup against CakeAssault in Loser’s Final, Marlon first needed to beat Nick “Stango” Stango in Loser’s Semi-Finals.
Stango is a top player in his own right, seeded 4th in Genesis X2 and statistically ranked 5th in an unofficial Lumirank. He was expected to lose to Marlon so we could watch the head to head from the top two players. Unbeknownst to everybody, Stango was feeling it.
Stango destroyed Marlon, going 3-0. Zetterburn, the character Stango plays, requires immense confidence to play at the top level with quick and hard hitting combos. The set was like watching a wolf hunt its prey, chasing Marlon across the stage with clean platform movement and landing perfect K.Os.
Instead of the Marlon vs. CakeAssault match the community was expecting, Loser’s Finals matched up Stango against the recently defeated number one player. The tournament organizers left a commentary note, stating: “Traditionally CakeAssault destroys Stango.”
The community was doubtful that Stango could even hold his ground against CakeAssault, let alone make it to the Grand Finals.
As Cake went up 2-0, it looked like he was going to finish off Stango. But, all of these games were going to the last stock, hinging on a last hit. CakeAssault usually beats his opponents with a dominant two to three stock lead, so Stango even going to nail biting last hit scenarios was impressive.
Understanding this, Stango pushed through and shattered everybodies expectation, breaking past the notion that he was meant to lose this set. He brought it all the way back to 2-2, final game, final stock.
“When you 3-0 a competitor of Marlon’s caliber, I think that just unlocks a new level of confidence in yourself,” said Toph commentating the match.
EE also commented on Stango’s demeanor. “He is traditionally a very stoic player. I am noticing some emotion swell up in him every time he gets a stock off of CakeAssault as he understands it’s just one step closer to a big time victory and grand finals.”
Stango started the last stock at 106% while CakeAssault respawned for his final stock. Stango parried Cake’s first approach and started his final combo of the tournament. The crowd screamed after every hit, each one getting Stango closer and closer to breaking through his bracket demon.
But the combo did not finish with Stango’s win. CakeAssault wriggled out of it and got one last edge guard to secure his Grand Finals ticket. Stango bowed out at a respectable 3rd place with the crowd supporting him, some chanting, “Stangoat.”
Stangoat doesn’t make it
Now in the Grand Finals, the rematch between Cake and Plup was well on its way. With an imposing 2-0 lead, Plup backed CakeAssault into what could be his last Genesis X2 game.
Cake was cornered. Nothing was working for him to take a game. His final game was slipping away from him against a player that had almost no tournament showings. So he did something he had never done before.
CakeAssault switched off his character, Forsburn, to play Zetterburn, a character he has never pulled out in a Top 8 match. With his back against the wall, Cake started biting. He brought the third game to an even last stock with Plup.
The crowd roared with excitement, cheering for both Plup and CakeAssault. Before Genesis X2, Rivals of Aether II tournaments had a jolly atmosphere with competitors laughing with each other in Grand Finals. But, this game felt different. Every missed hit felt desperate for the win and every strong hit was barely not enough to take the game.
The intense 45 second last stock came to an end. CakeAssault’s historical switch was not enough to find another game against the first Rivals of Aether II Genesis champion. Plup had beaten all the odds, and was officially the champion.
Plup becomes a two time Genesis winner
Rivals of Aether II’s competitive scene is still in its infancy. The two top players, Marlon and CakeAssault , after years of domination in the prequel, were set to continue their winning streaks at Genesis X2 .
Yet in this new generation of tournaments, players like Stango and Plup snuck under everybody’s radar and brought a new competitive era to Rivals of Aether. Plup was seeded 12th by tournament organizers and was not in conversation of making the top six, much less taking the entire tournament.
Now, he won the biggest Rivals of Aether II tournament of all time, dethroned the best player in two dominant 3-2 and 3-0 sets, and Plup’s Genesis trophies are now x2.