Cosmos and Zain are The Quarantine Series: Pound Online champs

Last weekend hosted the latest event in The Quarantine Series, Pound Online. With the world fighting the coronavirus pandemic, many tournaments have been canceled. Fortunately, Pound made a return as a part of The Quarantine Series.

The online tournament featured two games, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Spanning three days, the $10,000 tournament attracted many big-name players like Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby, Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Leonardo "MkLeo" Lopez Perez, Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey, Justin "Plup" McGrath, Sonix, and Enrique "Maister" Hernández Solís. Even past champions Kolawole "Kola" Aideyan and Spencer "BestNess" Garner joined the fight.

Once more, The Quarantine Series received about 5,000 signups for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, while Super Smash Bros. Melee had less than 1,000 participants. The first day hosted brackets for Smash Melee, while the second did the same for Smash Ultimate, with the third and last day reserved for the top 8 for both games.

Here are the top 8 standings for The Quarantine Series: Pound Online:

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 

• 1. Brian "Cosmos" Kalu

• 2. Liquid|Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby

• 3. AMG|Brett "8BitMan" Esposito

• 4. CGN|Tarik "Tarik" Fayazi

• 5. LGCY|Sonix 

• 5. APE|Alexis "Goblin" Stennett

• 7. Jonathan "Jw" Woldu

• 7. 16B|Ricky "LingLing" Gorritz

Super Smash Bros. Melee

• 1. GG|Zain "Zain" Naghmi

• 2. Liquid|Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma

• 3. CLG|Zachary "SFAT" Cordoni

• 4. BC|Johnny "S2J" Kim

• 5. PG|Justin "Plup" McGrath

• 5. Zaid "Spark" Ali

• 7. CLG|Kevin "PewPewU" Toy

• 7. UYU|Edgard "n0ne" L. Sheleby

Besides Sonix and the champ Cosmos, none of The Quarantine Series: Minor Tournament # 1's top 8 made it that far this time. It's a similar story with the Opening Invitational, with very few of the top players in that event making it into the top 8 in subsequent events. This record could be an indication of just how fierce the competition has been in the tournament series. 

Last year's PGRU #1 player, MkLeo, has also failed to win a single event in The Quarantine Series so far. His best finish was in the Opening Invitational when he placed 7th alongside Ezra "Samsora" Morris. Besides the caliber of players competing, the fact that it is an online event has influenced the results.

"FixUltimateOnline" hashtag has begun to trend on Twitter with fans demanding Nintendo improve the netcode for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Events at this tournament indirectly supported the cause yesterday. During the top 32, Cosmos came close to dropping out of the tournament after his opponent, Grayson "Grayson" Ramos was disqualified for playing with a lag inducing internet connection. Cosmos' ping was 2 while Grayson's was 26, which led to them experiencing some lag as Grayson secured two matches. 

Exercising The Quarantine Series' rule regarding lag, Grayson was disqualified, which allowed Cosmos to proceed through the bracket. There's no assurance that Grayson wouldn't have defeated Cosmos, in the same manner, had there been no lag. In an attempt to be fair, one of the tournament organizers, Cyrus "Cagt" Gharakhanian of Florida Smash, stepped in and made the call after reviewing both player's internet connections.

Cagt has since apologized for his decision, calling it a "wrong call" he made in "the heat of the moment." The organizer has promised to do better and will research better lag testing in order to make a better-informed decision if a similar situation ever arises. It's not much, but Cagt offered Grayson a fully compensated trip to any event of his choice after the pandemic ends.

The next event in The Quarantine Series is the first Major, which is scheduled to take place on May 2.