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2GGC Civil War Room: ANTi vs. Zinoto

Jason “Anti” Bates and Julian “Zinoto” Carrington meet at CEO 2016. (CEO Gaming)
Jason “Anti” Bates and Julian “Zinoto” Carrington meet at CEO 2016. (CEO Gaming)

2GGC Civil War begins on Friday, March 24 and it is poised to be one of the biggest Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments in the game’s history. Many of Smash 4’s top players will be in attendance, with the weekend’s main event slated to be the 10v10 crews battle between Team ZeRo, led by Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios, versus Team Ally, led by Elliot “Ally” Carroza.

This week, Yahoo Esports will take a look at five potential marquee matchups likely to take place during the Civil War crews battle. Each day, we look at two opposing players and their Smash history.

The week begins with a look at one of the more heated rivalries of the past few months: Jason “Anti” Bates (Team ZeRo) vs. Julian “Zinoto” Carrington (Team Ally).

Anti and his Mario hit a wall against Zinoto’s Diddy Kong (Rose Silvestre)
Anti and his Mario hit a wall against Zinoto’s Diddy Kong (Rose Silvestre)

The story

Both Anti and Zinoto have played Smash Bros. since the days of Brawl, but the two had their most memorable matchup at CEO 2016’s Grand Finals. On top of a flashy entrance into the CEO ring, Anti was having the run of his career. He came in on the winners side of the bracket after having beaten top players like Ramin “Mr. R” Delshad, Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey, and Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby. His final opponent was Zinoto, which is where Anti’s momentum came to a sudden halt. Anti’s Mario had no answer to Zinoto’s Diddy Kong, with Zinoto quickly taking the first Grand Finals set 3-0. The second set began exactly the same as the first, with Zinoto scoring another win and his Diddy looking unstoppable.

Struggling for answers, Anti switched to Cloud, one of his many pocket characters. The crowd perked up, so did Anti. The Cloud gamble paid off and Anti took the next three games unanswered to claim the CEO 2016 victory. Anti’s celebration of jubilantly jumping around the CEO ring and posing on the turnbuckles was one of Smash 4’s most memorable visuals of 2016.

Since that day and since the Civil War crews announcement, both Anti and Zinoto have upped their rivalry to another level. Zinoto fired the first shot on Twitter, hours after 2GGC Midwest Mayhem Saga concluded.

Anti responded with a video roast, pointing to the CEO results, as well as Zinoto’s loss at Midwest Mayhem Saga the night before. Zinoto promptly fired back with shots at Anti’s Mario and some of his early tournament losses. Anti then volleyed back in kind with shots at some of Zinoto’s more brutal losses.

The level of heat for this intense rivalry has led to speculation that the crews battle will open with Anti and Zinoto facing off, which would be a thrilling sequel to the CEO 2016 story.

Zinoto was a buzzsaw at CEO 2016 until Anti went to Cloud (Rose Silvestre)
Zinoto was a buzzsaw at CEO 2016 until Anti went to Cloud (Rose Silvestre)

IMT | Anti (PGR #9) vs Zinoto (PGR #16) By the Numbers, by the PG Stats team (Luis “suar” Suarez, Dominique “Dom” Moore, Adam “Mayday” Braham, and Justin “Popi” Banusing)

  • ANTi is known for his versatility, having played a variety of characters in tournament. Even though he co-mains Mario and Cloud, ANTi has utilized characters such as Zero Suit Samus, Luigi, Charizard, Sheik, Meta Knight, Rosalina & Luma, and Diddy Kong in bracket play.

  • Zinoto carried his Brawl main, Diddy Kong, over to Smash 4.

  • ANTi specializes in exploiting character weaknesses in specific matchups while Zinoto specializes in the technical knowledge of his single main.

  • ANTi and Zinoto have only played at CEO 2016, where they met in grand finals. (Edit: The two had met once prior to this in pools at The Big House 5, where ANTi won 2-0.)

  • ANTi lost 4 straight games in grand finals before Nairo told him to switch to Cloud. ANTi went on to win 3 straight games and win CEO 2016.

  • Zinoto leads in individual games 4-3 over ANTi.

  • Stage Count for ANTi vs. Zinoto:

  • Smashville: ANTi 1, Zinoto 3

  • Final Destination: ANTi 2, Zinoto 1

  • ANTi’s PGRv3 tournament placings: Kumite in Tennessee (2nd), Genesis 4 (9th), PAX Arena (7th)

  • Zinoto’s PGRv3 tournament placings: Midwest Mayhem 6 (1st), Genesis 4 (33rd), Midwest Mayhem 7 (2nd), 2GGC Midwest Mayhem Saga (9th), Frostbite 2017 (7th)

  • ANTi’s PGRv2 tier 1 major placings: CEO 2016 (1st), EVO 2016 (33rd), Super Smash Con 2016 (13th), The Big House 6 (2nd), UGC Smash Open St. Louis (13th), 2GG ZeRo Saga (7th)

  • Zinoto’s PGRv2 tier 1 major placings: CEO 2016 (2nd), EVO 2016 (49th), Super Smash Con 2016 (17th), The Big House 6 (33rd), UGC Smash Open St. Louis (17th), 2GG ZeRo Saga (17th)


Ozzie Mejia is hopeful ANTi and Zinoto kick off the crews battle. Follow him on Twitter @Ozz_Mejia. The PG Stats team also contributed to this article. Follow them on Twitter @PG_suar, @PG_Dom, @PG_Mayday, @PopiSSB, and the whole team @ThePGStats.