Frosty Faustings XV 2023 Grand Finals - Riddles (Kazuya) vs ApolloKage (Snake) - Smash Ultimate

/#SmashBros /#SmashUltimate
Frosty Faustings XV - February 3-4, 2023
Venue Location: The Westin Chicago Lombard, IL
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[@goosnavslakovic4908]

Riddles: *tries to kill apollokage* Apollokage: okay... my turn

[@silverjeyjey4054]

Fine... I'll do it myself.

[@Exceed_HS]

The fact that AK took it to Game 10, last hit, last stock, lost because he double SD’d on the last game, and looks more satisfied than Riddles when he lost is proof of a literal unbreakable mentality from him

[@OrbitalHybridization]

Trueeee. Riddles was more distraught than him jaja

[@ThirdEyeManifest]

Yeah because Riddles played 10 games of cuphead. No respect to AK, lame playstyle

[@ieatcereal4dinner489]

@@ThirdEyeManifest cry harder please i wanna hear you

[@OrNah.]

@@ThirdEyeManifest you know, I thought the same thing but than I remembered this is against a Kazuya. Riddles mains Kazuya and he has to zone the fuck outta him because one hit and he's dead so he deserved what he got

[@dargtan8414]

Riddles was just disappointed on how he won, he should've lost that 100%, AK even had a couple of nice hits to get adavantage again but he dropped all of them, just a couple of seconds of pure spaghetti but it is what it is

[@Leap623]

Big Riddles fan so I'm happy to see the W, but mad respect to Apollokage's sportsmanship. Being this close in grands last hit, losing to an SD, and just immediately turning to your opponent and going "yup GG's, well played" without any sign of salt takes such insane mental fortitude. I would be losing my mind. This dude's going to go so far with that attitude.

[@Its_Large_Dad]

Crazy SD twice on last game and no controller spike. Mastery on how to take a loss and keep it moving.

[@chuck.fleischer]

that might be the most unfortunate ending ive ever seen in a long time

[@Diamondsucks.]

Not that unfortunate, It was a decent play he just messed it up

[@silverjeyjey4054]

He does that trick so many times. Nerves got to him and he probably wouldve gotten it if he kept his cool. He improved so much with his Kazuya game play since their last encounter.

[@KindaKaon]

AK is such a sick Snake player, what makes him special is probably that he blows himself up about 5x as much as other good snakes

[@silverjeyjey4054]

@@KindaKaon that's his comeback mechanic

[@mr.rikman4707]

@@Diamondsucks. it is unfortunate you idiot clown 🥱🤡🤡

[@SuperFern]

Apollokage is truly a Marvel. His Snake has all the SAUCE

[@WibbleWobbl]

Ironic that this is the highlighted comment...

[@SuperFern]

@@WibbleWobbl Listen, if you don't blow yourself up, are you really a Snake main?

[@ThirdEyeManifest]

No sauce whatsoever, just salty spam

[@Its_Large_Dad]

@@ThirdEyeManifestyou really just going through comments and bashing AK because you don’t like snake huh? At least what he is doing takes a lot of planning and thinking. The constant grenade pulls are a part of that. I can tell you know very little about the matchup and game.

[@tobimakkura]

@@ThirdEyeManifest yes sauce

[@coolshirtkid]

i’m a big kazuya hater but riddles was playing so clean, this seems like a super awkward matchup for both characters but they both made it work, great set

[@tinyt.w.i.m7291]

I appreciate people who put aside their bias and peep skill 👍

[@wafflesnosyrup]

@@tinyt.w.i.m7291 word

[@neverknowsbest.]

If kazuya beating your ass just pick up luigi and 0 to death him back. Luigi a bad match up for him

[@coolshirtkid]

@@neverknowsbest. nah i don’t play against anyone who’s good at him, just from a viewer perspective he’s pretty lame

[@Rortaa]

@@neverknowsbest. nah. just about all of kazuya’s moves negate Luigi’s fireball, and he can contest with Luigi attempting to wall with buttons.

[@dtfriendship8651]

I’ve never seen a snake this good. To do this well against riddles is incredible

[@drcoolguy2772]

Absolutely incredible set, hope to see them play each other again soon

[@treehinko]

Could have gone either way. Exciting games! Ggs to both players

[@Agastui]

Riddles should take notes from Apollokage on how to lose with grace while maintaining his cool and sense of sportsmanship. What a legend.

[@calapai7]

Snake's grenades force Kazuya to play like a normal character and it's so much cooler as a spectator.

[@HeWhoGoons]

You know what they say, “You play with fire, you’re gonna fucking blow yourself up in grands.”

[@RayBcv1030]

AplloKage Continuing making Missouri proud. Unfortunate that he couldn't take it. He played so well

[@silverjeyjey4054]

This is probably the most creative, aggressive, and assertive gameplay I've seen AK with Snake.

[@R3C0N1225]

This set was insane, I was losing my mind. The movement, adaptation between. Top top top play. This was an amazing set from 2 of my favorites. Great play throughout. AK you are a thread-weaving god, much love.

[@Walufkinblast]

You almost got it apollokage, hopefully the next time, keep the grinding king

[@jonathanmoro5001]

He truly is BIG BOSS

[@androidps1440]

2 PS1 characters in a finals of a Nintendo game love to see it

[@deadeyed2454]

Honestly I think AK would've won this whole tournament if he didn't SD with his own explosives on the last 2 stocks of game 10.

[@CraftyMiscreant]

He got too fancy with his down grabs. Should have just did downgrab uptilt when Riddles was at high percentage. Oh well. Fantastic play.

[@kirbylover37]

​@@CraftyMiscreant Downthrow up tilt is only true at 160

[@Decrypt-Kryptonian]

Even Riddle my boy felt like I didn't really win ......I was really struggling and annoyed and respect that Snake Player Stressed Out

[@dogyX3]

This set of crazy intense

[@WT_Neptune]

I love that Kazuya makes high/mid/lows relevant in Smash. I dtilt that man like my life depends on it lol

[@PsychSaenz]

ApolloKage started spamming C4 too much and it backfired on him. He lost track.

[@thebananamelon5065]

He confused himself so much that he immediately blew himself up upon spawning a C4

[@BryanMatias]

16:04 crazy combo

[@waleedmughal4439]

Incredible set

[@AyooMurray]

Riddles let's go!!!! This was a great match up! Sheesh!!!

[@justwatchin6918]

I had a 200 Pulse watching this... I'm so happy riddles took it

[@343Films]

Same. Kazuya is so fun to watch. Maybe the most honest, hypest character in ultimate

[@Its_Large_Dad]

@@343Filmssay sike right now…

[@343Films]

@@Its_Large_Dad super sikel. I was hoping my comment was dripping with sarcasm enough to not need the /s lol

[@Its_Large_Dad]

@@343Films I mean anytime riddles does even kinda good the Kazuya and riddles Stans come out in full force so you never know. Lol

[@343Films]

@Jeremy Hernandez 100% true. Love Riddles, he seems like a really awesome dude, but yeah Kazuya is just bleh to watch. Even Terry is way more hype by comparison

[@SuperAntichicken]

you know Apollokage got that dawg in him

[@oscarcalles4117]

Is it more frustrating to play against an amazing kazuya who can zero to death you each stock. Or a projectile happy snake with 10000 mix ups.

[@mariomitchell2864]

Damn that's tough .. I'd fight Kazuya though, especially if it's a character than can juggle him. He has a worse disadvantage state and he's more telegraphed.

[@sullivanish]

Yes but frame 1 grenade makes it so u can survive thise

[@muzuchama]

I have fun fighting both

[@danielsmith5032]

I would rather fight Kazuya

[@ahmadharmon5373]

Mad respect to ApolloKage. What a hell of set

[@sobanoods9454]

Despite being two of the most hated chars in the game, the matchup between Snake and Kazuya really is something to watch.

[@keinrdz807]

hell no

[@External29]

I can understand the hate toward Snake, but Kazuya?? I still don't get it. It's not like you can spam projectiles with him.

[@sentryslayer16]

@@External29 kazuya kills at every percent. and it’s not like ak can “spam projectiles” in most matchups, and certainly not this one. it takes a delicate balance of playstyle to play snake at such a level, and this is a prime example.

[@td6508]

@@sentryslayer16so kuzuya don’t take skill? u can’t kill at every percent unless u can do a 0toDeath which is not easy….. it’s not a guaranteed death u have to be able to hit every input and most can’t even do 1 electric now imagine doing them consistently! Plus most people can’t read get ups ect.

[@jj6148]

@@td6508 Just because it's hard to input, doesn't mean the move isn't inherently broken. Its risk-reward is stupidly high and it leads into kill combos at basically any percent while being able to beat almost every attack in the entire game.

[@spliffaminal]

8:09 what was he cooking?

[@CopShowGuy]

STL represent! Hall Hawk back there being the hype man he is!

[@SnuggsMcDuff]

Lol I was wondering what that flag was

[@deathangeleas2401]

Kage basically gave him the last game lmao. I think riddles knows too that he half-didn’t earn that. P.S. I say half cause kage killed himself because of the pressure that Riddles was putting on him. So technically not entirely bs.

[@jaydenvaporwave1772]

Y’all can hate kaz, but leave man riddles alone, he is obviously just great player and a cool dude, you can just tell by his face at the end he didn’t want to win that way lol. Also props to the snake he played that matchup perfectly in my eyes and I really think he probably would have won if he didn’t make the miscalculation.

[@oreoj7346]

simp

[@jaydenvaporwave1772]

@@oreoj7346 D1 instigator

[@isaacnikolic5895]

There's no reason why you can't hate Kazuya and respect Riddles. Only Kazuya apologists pretend the 2 are mutually exclusive.

[@crisyldefonzo5790]

Let’s go AK so sick

[@DontWatchAdsJustRefresh]

Amazing set. I wasnt surprised at the end, thats honestly just a snake thing. The tradeoff for blowing shit tf up with like 5 different moves at all times comes with a boom 😂

[@mbrauner4434]

AK's Snake is NASTY. Best that I have seen lately...

[@adrien4337]

Both played so well.

[@thebananamelon5065]

@17:45 RIDDLES GOES OFFSTAGE, PREDICTS THE C4, AND TECHS IT TO SAVE HIS LIFE ONLY TO GET ABSOLUTELY BOMBARDED IN THE NEXT INTERACTION

[@Magnus8618]

16:04 reason why I love Apollokage, he’s built different.

[@kefirtompkins7338]

That reflect read has got me dying I loved it fyre riddles fyre

[@CTBD09]

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[@blueheart9873]

Well, at least Apollokage made sure Riddles didn't take the win

[@JesseDumontt]

If Riddles lost I would've been so upset because I would've watched for nothing and I don't like watching Snake 😭 He's boring to watch and fight against. I like the characters where they're in your face and don't run away and you don't need to play so different against. Apollokage seems cool though. Earnes my repsect for the sportsmanship at the end considering how it ended and how he almost won knowing it could've easily went either way.

[@kiewanhill8410]

I’m happy last weekend I got to meet kola and leon and watch them play plus riddles they are so good

[@williamalberto4284]

There is something different about watching snake. So entertaining!

[@fupalover]

Man watching Frosty really showed me how privileged Smash tournaments are. Especially compared to other FG tournaments.

[@overscoreSX]

Best Snake I have ever seen! Incredible!!

[@neverknowsbest.]

*why no player cams the cameras are right there 😔*

[@edwinvargas7969]

Havent felt this way about a Snake being this good in while, AK def has it in him to push Snake really far

[@somebody_somewhere]

Trying not to SD as you keep tight distance away from the C4 while falling is all too real

[@sergiooliva2517]

34:03 “not pressing buttons when both were sent into the air” ouch

[@BryanMatias]

Never seen a snake so cracked

[@Mew2Win]

33:16 cryptic words

[@matthewmorrison3745]

Bro walked up an up tilted riddles in that first match

[@odstagent1070]

15:17 dont mind me, i'm just keeping this to myself

[@homedepotindustrialfan936]

This is the weirdest matchup and makes for a tense set with proper mains.

[@mazenlmao]

Tragic game 10

[@KalikoAF]

Most exciting match ever, but man what a unfortunate ending.

[@edwinmorales950]

Was this a major?

[@Amari253325]

We take those............?

[@wafflesnosyrup]

this matchup is epic

[@Mew2Win]

31:59 I knew it was over when he delayed the c4

[@nick6019]

Against Kazuya, a whole stock lead is just not enough.

[@rospoho]

AK is so cool to watch, he has infinite mix ups

[@tinyt.w.i.m7291]

The swaggy Kazuya

[@SeanRainey]

Indeed... why is Kazuya so heavy for that much power...

[@raiders2011able]

Great Set

[@Popinazo]

I wanted Riddles to win, but not like that :c

[@terrantony2635]

Two playstation characters fighting on a kingdom hearts stage! 😂

[@Cyrath89]

Appolo is reaaaaly awesome

[@pedrojackson8416]

PS1 battle !!!!

[@smashbrosfiend]

10:08 good pun lol

[@crisvaz27]

lets go riddles ❤❤

[@__hazelnut]

spoilers: leo won

[@ToadegatheNerd]

I'd be glad that hellstorm was over if I was riddles

[@esbluetheprototype]

These are two characters with the same archetype but different sub-types. They both go for trades, just that Snake uses projectiles and Kazuya brawls.

[@Myztyrio]

Nah. They’re not.

[@Its_Large_Dad]

???

[@esbluetheprototype]

@@Myztyrio They're obv diff characters (zoner vs shoto) but I might be speaking above your pay grade. They both go for trades because they can kill early.

[@Myztyrio]

@@esbluetheprototype They interact entirely differently. Snake has a huge array of tools and ability to play the game in pretty much any way, he is not an archetypical zoner. Kazuya has one mission - get in and grab/punch you. Just because they're both heavy and have high kill power does not make them similar characters at all 😂

[@memeaids4766]

I'm fine with Kazuya n all, but the fact that EWGF was made EASIER to do kinda pisses me off. It's still hard, and I do have respect for the people at the highest level for being able to do consistent pop offs with it, but I don't like how much easier it is, even if it's by a miniscule amount.

[@nathanlevesque7812]

being a 2 frame window is less impactful than it having limit on stunning opponents that were just stunned and haven't even touched ground yet

[@Small3stbirb]

I mean, as a Kazuya player, the mechanically difficult aspect isn’t really the input of ewgf, but hitting the nair spike while the DI mixup. Also crouch dash cancelling is the only reason Kazuya is viable at a high level, and it’s so annoying to do XD

[@jonteguy]

@@nathanlevesque7812 → ↓ ↘ + tap is the Smash input, in Tekken 7 it's f,N,d~d/f+2, there's one more additional input on-top of it being 1 frame, that is a big deal. Imagine if 2framing people on ledge was 1 frame instead of 2. People would simply hit it 50% less often. Now try to do that consistently. But I also agree with Joshua, the hard part of Kaz is not the input for EWGF in Smash, it's connecting it after nairs and reading DI after they get hit by it. There's only one Kazuya at the top and there's a good explanation for that. This is not true for Steve, there's a ton of Steves that are performing well out of nowhere, there's not a single Kazuya player who wasn't known before that is suddenly known. Character is hard. Harder than people give it credit for, they listen too Tweek too much. I like Tweek but his take on Kazuya is bad. I'm not saying Kazuya isn't busted, he is. But you're not getting carried by him. You have to play really well to play that character. In a lot of fighting games the most broken characters are the hardest ones. Kazuya is top tier in Tekken too but he's hard so not a lot of people play him. They transitioned him well into Smash in that sense too.

[@nathanlevesque7812]

@@jonteguy Going from 2 frames to 1 doesn't automatically mean 50% less often. Where was Axiom XL before? Where was Ferps? I had no idea they existed. Saying players 'came out of nowhere' or whatever is just a statement of your awareness, and frankly of selection bias. People pay attention to Steve. They don't notice the equally abrupt rise of players that use Wolf or some other vanilla character.

[@Its_Large_Dad]

@@nathanlevesque7812chefs kiss to that last response. I have nothing to add

[@wonkyj7149]

bro...how is AK so good

[@SeveredEverlastingWorldLore]

lol, he killed himself in the most important point of the match.

[@quantum_leap786]

I hate kazuya as much as the next guy but man this match up looks tough for him

[@vick7868]

It's volatile even. Both characters can just destroy each other.

[@MrBarcaX]

WHY ARE YOU WEARING MASKS?

[@sebaschan-uwu]

Apollokage gave up at least a full games worth of stocks just by killing himself

[@MrJoshDada]

Seeing snake KO himself is so satisfying.

[@D0ffgc]

bruh

[@otisbarrett8327]

Lol I agree

[@shizo66]

watching AK lose is almost as good as watching sonix lose

[@abeljuarez1834]

Apollokage stays camping. That’s some lane sh*t right there

[@McDoubleFunny]

i can’t believe im watching smash bros by nintendo lol

[@sergiooliva2517]

lol I was guessing if that snake was so good calculating when to drop the c4 or throw the grenade, but he literally lost 3 stocks just because he stood too close of those. Congrats to that Kazuya, sticking with kazuya even when he is in disadvantage against proyectiles, he just showed a great control and domain

[@drewarnold3170]

shout out to the guy wearing the KFC bucket on his head

[@Knivess0]

What.the.fu- augh.

[@TyphonCH]

My favorite part was when Kazuya could invincibility through a grenade explosion, when normally that's a combo breaker for Snake. Trash character design imo

[@blackoriginthreshold7126]

One yourself trust, not no even smh GGs

[@DeRez19]

Snake mains blowing themselves up recklessly finally giving them a huge L. I was wondering when this would happen.

[@kewdii]

I love riddles and I love his Terry. Kazuya is carrying these wins though.

[@lanecus]

What a dope. Nade SDs.

[@oscarcalles4117]

Love watching a snake lose to his own bombs.

[@colins7298]

What’s up with the masks?

[@ElAbsent]

Autosuicidio hahah xD

[@jjuanrey9160]

Con kasuya no cuenta

[@D0ffgc]

Porque no lo puedes hacer

[@distortion1167]

intenta jugar cualquier FGC contra snake