In the recent Gimvitational Smash Bros tournament, a player by the moniker Acola just concluded it by winning the major with a recently controversial character— Steve. This win is stirring up conversation about the character and their tournament legality following a recent trend in high competitive performance. It seems as if Minecraft Steve is inching toward a possible ban in the near future for competitive Smash given how much heat there has been surrounding the topic.
Steve has been getting a lot of pushback in terms of his legality in competitive Smash because his moveset breaks the conventional ways a platform-fighter character works. He benefits heavily from stages that have platforms like the Battlefields because he can wall himself in. These setups allow him to be safe on everything. Pair that with the fact that he has good projectiles like Anvil and Mine Cart, he’s a zoning and turtling nightmare.
Though the rise of Steve has only been a recent thing, there still is time to develop some kind of counterplay so he won’t get banned. As of right now, reactions are mixed. Just like typical Smash Bros drama, a character rising the ranks in the tier lists will have people calling for a ban outright only because of one major win. The dark horses usually get that rep, but it’s too soon to tell.
I think we should def learn how to fight steve now…not trynna defend steve cuz its def something that doesnt follow Smash physics and i dont wanna use the word cheating but it looks like…?
I definitely do not like the way the meta is going but all we can do is adapt.— LG | MkLeo (@Mkleosb) June 20, 2022
In previous Smash Bros. history, the game has seen some rather controversial characters who were at the forefront of competitive discussion. Namely, these were characters like Meta Knight who was banned in many tournaments back during Brawl. Next, we saw Bayonetta banned, even after she was nerfed in Super Smash Bros 4 (Wii U and 3DS).
With Ultimate being the current platform fighter getting tournament attention, Steve wasn’t the first to get this kind of reception. Before, we saw other characters like Pikachu, Pichu, Hero, and R.O.B in the spotlight for people wanting to nerf and even get outright banned in tournaments. Should any character be considered “top tier” or “carrying the player”, people are quick to vilify those characters as ruining the competitive scene.
As said before and what many other prominent figures in the scene are saying, it’s too soon to tell. A lot of them may have their gripes with the character, but as things stand right now, we’ll only have to see what trends are set with the current meta of the game moving forward. New tech is still to be discovered, like the slingshot tech by GimR, which still has not seen its true potential.
You can play Super Smash Bros Ultimate now exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
