By Metric

Introduction

On July 10th, 2009, the world gathered together to play Melee.  Eight years after the game’s release, Genesis became the largest Melee tournament at that point, with 290 entrants.  Few could have conceived of anything greater.  Some had bigger hopes, bigger dreams for the game, but many believed Melee had peaked.  One or two nationals a year, sixteen players at the local weekly, the occasional smashfest at someone’s house, then move on once Melee died.  All games are shelved away eventually.

The stagnation was echoed in the competition.  Mango had dethroned Mew2king over a year ago in a rapid rise to the top, and there had been no challengers since.  Most expected Grand Finals to be routine.  Europe had come with their best, Armada, but the videos of him hadn’t impressed many Americans.  Once the tournament began, though, the Peach from Sweden defeated America’s finest one after another: Lucky, DaShizWiz, Mew2king, and even Mango, to the shock of the crowd.

Mango and Armada met again in Grand Finals, fighting for country, pride, and the right to be recognized as the best Melee player in the world.  Everyone in the building looked on as the meta-game changed, as the future of Melee was rewritten, as one of the greatest sets of all time unfolded before their eyes.  The world of Melee looked a little larger after Genesis.  It turned out things were just beginning.

Evo is about who has been or will become the champ.  What we remember is the winner, and the rest will fade away.  Genesis is a tale of Grand Finals, of sets that tug at your imagination and celebrate the spirit of Melee.  Years from now, the final victor won’t matter as much as watching the Melee that two rivals played.  Before the documentary, before Evo, the videos of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 Grand Finals inspired new players and breathed life into the scene.

Since Genesis, there have been sixteen premier tournaments.  For Genesis 3, here are sixteen possible Grand Finals and what they’d mean.

16. A New Contender

There are fifteen combinations of Grand Finals among the six players who stand at the top of Melee today.  Two of them, Mew2king and Mango, came into prominence before the first Genesis in 2009.  Over the next two years, Armada, Hungrybox, and PPMD emerged as their equals.  Leffen’s career had just begun, but he came to America for Genesis 2 in 2011, marking the first time all six attended the same event.  They have won all sixteen premier tournaments spanning the modern era of Melee.  Six to Mango, five to Armada, three to PPMD, one to Hungrybox, and one to Leffen.  Only once has another player made it to Grand Finals—Wobbles at Evo 2013—and only once has a player done it at a major, with a lone 2nd place by Westballz at MVG Sandstorm interrupting the Top 6’s dominance.

But the Top 6 began as outsiders, too.  First, people wondered who could beat Mew2king.  Mango did, and people asked who could contend with these two?  Then it became a group of five, and then Leffen made it six.  Is there a player who can beat these six players, who can take a tournament from them, who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath?

Competitive Melee is less steady than it used to be.  Two of the Top 6 may be sitting in Grand Finals, but occasionally one is outplaced, sometimes even eliminated before the tournament settles into its top eight.  With the exception of S2J, all the players in the top twenty have taken at least one set off one of Melee’s best in their prime.  A few might be knocking on the door and demanding a place in the pantheon.  However, entry isn’t free.

Axe has lingered at the threshold for a while.  5th at Apex 2010 and 4th at Pound V suggested he was on his way a long time ago, until these placements were followed by a string of results that were merely solid, not phenomenal.  In 2014, people’s expectations rose again after he placed 5th at both MLG and Evo, but a deeper run at a premier tournament, like a win over Armada, has eluded him.  It’s not a question of whether Axe has improved.  He has, but so have the Top 6.  To catch up, they must be outpaced.

There is also the question of consistency.  People speak highly of Westballz’s peak performances, but these often last for only a stock or a game.  Even sets are not enough when there’s a whole tournament to play, and it only takes two missteps before you’re out.  Even a tournament is short sighted; Westballz made Grand Finals of MVG Sandstorm, but the best players he eliminated at that tournament, Mango and Hungrybox, outlasted and outplaced him in the long run.  Melee’s not a marathon or a sprint.  It’s both.  To join the Top 6, you have to keep on beating them, keep on losing to no one else, until the wins are diminished and the losses are ridiculed and greatness is no longer an achievement, but a chronic condition.

And now all eyes are on Plup, the newest hope to break into the pantheon.  He’s pushed far this past year, boasting wins over Mango, Leffen, PPMD, and Hungrybox, and placing as high as 3rd at a major and 4th at a super-major.  In many ways it’s reminiscent of Leffen’s 2014: a startlingly fast rise, but one that’s incomplete, missing victories against the whole Top 6 and an appearance in a Grand Finals.  It would be naive, however, to assume that because Leffen ultimately made it, so will Plup.  For each success story, there’s been several who fell short. Hax, KirbyKaze, Jman, Zhu, DaShizWiz.  They all came close, but “close” is forgotten once the next prospect appears.  Pressure, stress, fatigue, motivation, fear, health, burnout—there’s more reasons to fail than there are to succeed.

If anyone outside of the Top 6 reaches Grand Finals of Genesis 3, the competitive landscape could change.  The stakes go beyond a single tournament win.  A new contender would be playing for status as an elite player, the right to start their own chapter in Melee history and build a legacy as one of the greats.

And if neither competitor featured in Grand Finals is part of the Top 6, all bets are off.  In that case, maybe a new era will begin, an era where no player is sacred and anyone can win in Melee.

The rest will be included in Parts 2 and 3.