Sparg0 wins a Smash Major with Piranha Plant

Over the weekend, top Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pro Edgar ‘Sparg0’ Valdez won the 95 Kings of Fields #5 tournament in France, making this the first-ever Major victory for Piranha Plant.

“I won King of the Fields #5 with Plant!” Sparg0 exclaimed on X. “This is also my first time winning in France, which means I have now won a tournament in all three big regions: North America, Japan and Europe.

“I have now accomplished everything I wanted to do with Smash Ultimate.”

Sparg0 is currently considered the best Ultimate player in the world despite his young age of 19 years old. Once considered a Smash prodigy, Sparg0 has been consistently winning Majors throughout the past few years, largely with Cloud.

However, after an underwhelming outcome at Japan’s Kagaribi #13, Sparg0 surprised the Smash community by claiming he was sick of Cloud. Instead, he wanted to play Piranha Plant. He said on X at the time that it was the ‘most fun’ he’s had in Smash for quite some time, plus he appreciated having more answers and options during matches.

“Piranha Plant grind now,” he tweeted a few days later.

It was quite a shock, since Piranha Plant is a D-tier fighter. The FGC largely considered Sparg0’s declaration a joke and felt he’d just keep Piranha Plant as a pocket. However, Sparg0 brought out the Plant at the Major in France, proving he can make just about any fighter viable.

The young Ultimate pro has now become the first North American pro player — and fourth overall player — to win Ultimate Majors in Europe, Japan and North America.

While the Piranha Plant win is exciting for many reasons, the Smash community is a bit concerned about Sparg0’s future in the Ultimate scene. His statement that he’s accomplished all he wants in Smash felt ominous to some fans, who wonder if he’s not going to try as hard going forward or even switch to another fighting game title.

For now, Sparg0 hasn’t announced any career changes. It’s possible he may pursue more Major wins as part of the Plant Gang. This could really shake up the competitive scene and bring some exciting new matchups to Top 8’s.