What an amazing weekend! We saw high level play, a variety of characters, international surprises, and even the national anthem. Let’s hear our thoughts from people across the community in regards to Apex. This edition will include more than 5 people’s input

 1.       What was the most exciting moment of Apex 2014?

Wynton “pr0g” Smith – Most exciting moment of APEX 2014 had to be the Salty Suite.  It was more of an inferno, but I’ve NEVER felt energy like that at any event.  The sets were personal or extremely entertaining, often both.  The intro videos that were done, especially for Sunday…set the bar for exhibitions everywhere.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – Mango vs Leffen – Easily the most exciting match of the tournament. My friends and I were watching the stream on a large projector and we were jumping out of our seats from the hype. I was personally rooting for Leffen but it was still a fantastic match.

Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir – I’m going to have to say Mango’s 4 stock on Leffen. I was sitting right beside Shroomed and PewpewU during this set and we all went nuts when that insane combo happened! The whole room exploded! I’m genuinely impressed every time I watch Mango play. His combo game, reactions and setups are amazing!

Landon “DoH” Cox – aMSa definitely generated the most hype and stole the spotlight. He basically canceled the Salty Suite on day 3!

Onish “SS|Flow” Jain – The most exciting moment of Apex 2014 was game 2 of Mango vs Leffen when the crowd started singing The Star-Spangled Banner. Mango was the USA hero fighting one of the most controversial players in Melee history in Leffen from Sweden. Leffen had already shown his immense talent previously by beating Hungrybox and Colbol and had took game 1 from Mango and had a lead in game 2. Mango looked lethargic by his standards for the first game and a half and was heading towards a 0-2 hole vs Leffen but once the crowd started singing, Mango felt revitalized and brought the game back with a couple of hard hitting combos. It was a truly remarkable moment that put aside the much talked about East Coast vs West Coast rivalry and brought it back to USA vs The World.

Will “ReNo” Hsiao – The most exciting moment of Apex 2014 for me is a very close tie between Mango vs Leffen 4 stock, and aMSa’s Yoshi vs anybody. Mango vs Leffen in general was absolutely amazing. Considering the amount of crowd hype there was when everyone was singing the Star Spangled Banner, I don’t think anything can top the amazing kill when we ended on “…braveee!!!”

Asa “senortesta” Chambal-Jacobs –  The most exciting moment for me was definitely the Salty Suite. Watching Plup 3-0 Hugs made me swell with east coast pride and afterwards there was a $1,000 money match that fueled the east coast/ west coast rivalry. I really hope we can get more things like this at future tournaments so that high level players can verse each other if the bracket doesn’t allow it.

Bernardo ‘Foknes Byrd’ Alves – The most exciting moment in Apex was probably Mango vs Leffen. The series was incredibly close, and Leffen seemed rather capable of taking the set. From the National Anthem Combo momentum shift, to the crazy 4 stock on FoD to clutch out the set, Mango’s ability to gather the crowd once more in his support was pure excitement.

Brent “Sasquatch” Cihonski – Mango closing the set vs. Leffen with a four stock. For the majority of the set, Mango seemed to be getting pummeled and was barely getting by. After some freedom music from the crowd, Mango stepped it up and, on Leffen’s TERRIBLE counter-pick (worst decision of Apex IMO) Mango made a point that being “out of smashing shape” meant nothing to him.

Jonathon Johnson-Linyard – Ahhh this is a tough one. Between the hype that was the Salty Suite, the brilliance of aMSa and the least 3 sets of the tournament…. it is almost impossible to choose one. But for the patriotism that I have I gotta say Mango vs Leffen was something of beauty. Our last man from Europe taking Mango to the limit was something of beautiful to watch, only for the dream to be washed away in such a dominating style was icing on the cake for such an amazing set. And I know that much criticism has come from the ‘Anthem Combo’ however, I feel it was just part of the moment, a moment which will go down in history which showcased great entertainment from my view as a spectator.

 2.      Who surprised you the most?

 Wynton “pr0g” Smith – The South, period.  We often hear of East Coast hubris and West Coast worship, but the South was the best represented region in top 8.  Soft particularly, he’s been around for ages, it sounds like he has the fire back, and making it to top 8 in a tournament with this much depth is insanity, and if anyone says that he was on their radar for that kind of run, they are either lying to your face or PB&J.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing-  This one will be a tie between s0ft and aMSa. I had heard about s0ft but he was definitely not a top 8 contender in my book before the event started. Good stuff to him for surprising me and surprising all of us with his fantastic run, defeating Hax, Ice (twice) and many others in the process. In a previous 5 on 5, I had mentioned aMSa as the player who has the most potential to improve in 2014. And while I now find out that I was right, his performance still really shocked me. It was not just his unbelievable technical ability but also his surprisingly high knowledge of matchups that impressed me.

Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir – This has to go to aMSa, who can honestly think that a Yoshi can make top 10 at an international tournament while even having bracket pools on top of that!? The difficulty of Apex 2014 was out of this world and that makes his placing even more impressive. No one was ready for that Yoshi. =)

Landon “DoH” Cox – Leffen. I had heard he was basically not playing and had been banned from tournaments…then he beats HBox, gives M2K a run for his money, and then forces Mango to game 5? I don’t think anyone was expecting that.

Onish “SS|Flow” Jain – SS | S0ft was the most surprising player at Apex 2014. While aMSa also turned heads with his performance, Evo 2013 had already shown us aMSa was a very good player. S0ft just came out of nowhere. S0ft is a Jigglypuff main from Georgia, a state that is overlooked by far too many in terms of player talent. He had solid placings at Apex 2013 (33rd) and Tipped Off 9 (7th) but he never really got any recognition by the community. His Cinderella run to Top 8 included wins over Hax, Harriettheguy, and Ice twice. While his journey ended vs Colbol in Top 8, he really showed the Melee community just what you can accomplish when you work hard, have a good mindset, and believe in yourself.

Will “ReNo” Hsiao – Absolutely aMSa. He really brought it, and showcased what character dedication can do. Aside from finals, I think all his matches were the most watched and hype.

Asa “senortesta” Chambal-Jacobs – The crowd favorite for this question is clearly aMSa but I’m going to go with SS|Soft. He wasn’t even an option on the melee top 100 list yet he out-placed players like Axe, PewPewu, Shroomed, Sfat, and Hax. He also double eliminated Ice who I personally thought would have made top 8 easily. SS|Soft has clearly demonstrated that the south is not to be slept on and that Hungrybox and Darc aren’t the only good Jigglypuffs out there.

Bernardo ‘Foknes Byrd’ Alves – I’d either have to say Leffen or S0ft. Leffen got 4th while facing a multitude of strong opponents. While few would question Leffen’s ability to play the game,few would have him outplacing Hungrybox, PewPewU or Ice. S0ft took everyone by surprise going all the way to top 8, where almost no one would have expected him to place.

Brent “Sasquatch” Cihonski – Colbol was such a surprise to me. I have no doubt in my mind that he is good, but placing above Norcal’s finest and above one of Socal’s greats was just amazing. Being top 6 (T-5) at this large of a tournament would have to be the staple of his smash career and a very pleasant surprise.

Jonathon Johnson-Linyard – Plain and simply aMSa. As a fellow international player it is known until you make a name for yourself in the US you are slept on. The fact he came back again, did even better and proved all the naysayers wrong, was amazing. 9th with Yoshi speaks for it self. I don’t think anyone expected that. *Note S0ft was a close second to this.

 3.       Who’s #1 in your book after Apex?

 Wynton “pr0g” Smith – You are only as good as your last tournament, and with a 6-1 victory over the player with the hottest streak into APEX, plus the EVO champion, it goes to VideoGameBootCamp’s Dr. PeePee.  You look at his play, all of the subtle move choice, the clutching to certain spacing scenarios, he was performing with surgical execution this weekend.  He won the matches that matter, but he was a man possessed this weekend.  If he keeps this up, I don’t think the others can catch up for ages.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing –  When Dr. Peepee played his first match in top 8, I immediately thought in my head: “He’s probably going to win Apex”. It’s very hard to determine who is number 1 in Melee because as Prog said in commentary, it’s really all about who’s the best on a given day. But for now, if I have to choose one, it’ll have to go to the Doctor.

Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir – I’d have to go with my dude Dr.PP. I knew from Evo that it was only a matter of time when he comes back stronger than ever. My prediction for the finals was Dr.PP vs M2k and he definitely did not let me down! If he can keep that fire going to absolutely destroy all the top players then I think he can maintain number 1!

Landon “DoH” Cox- I’m still giving an edge to M2K. PP was very dominant at this tournament to be sure, but one tournament does not a reign make. M2K has had a very strong run the past few months, and one tournament where he was entered in multiple events does not discredit that.

Onish “SS|Flow” Jain – Dr. PeePee is #1 in the world. Dr. PeePee seemed to be in a slump most of the year but he ended it strong. He dominated Hungrybox 6-1 at Tipped Off 9 and beat Mango and Mew2King twice at Apex 2014, but most impressive was how he won. Mango had recently given Dr. PeePee some trouble when he started playing Fox vs him but this time Dr. PeePee was able to edge out his Fox and finish the set off when Mango went Falco. Mew2King has had great success vs Dr. PeePee recently but Dr. PeePee completely flipped the script this time around as he 3-0’d Mew2King in Winners Finals, including a 4 stock on Mew2King in Marth dittos on FD and had another dominating performance in a 3-1 win in Grand Finals.

Will “ReNo” Hsiao – I don’t want to say #1 in my book, but someone who stood out to me this tournament was Leffen. That year off from smash seemed to do him a lot of good. I can confidently say, that I went from a total Leffen hater to a Leffen supporter. Obviously, still going to root for the US, but he has earned a lot of respect from me. Did you know he was pretty good at Marvel too? 🙂

Asa “senortesta” Chambal-Jacobs – M2K is #1 in my book. While he only placed 2nd in Melee, he still has the most top 8 finishes out of any smasher. 2nd in Melee, 4th in Brawl, 2nd in PM, 1st in Melee doubles and I think 7th in Brawl doubles. He also would have played in 64 and PM doubles if they were not canceled. M2K had to be ready to play all 4 smash games at this event and he made top 8 for everything he entered. Because of this, M2K is clearly the best overall smasher and eliminating Mango makes him a definite for top 3 in Melee. Hopefully M2K can get his first Apex win for singles next year because as everyone knows, he deserves it.

Bernardo ‘Foknes Byrd’ Alves –  I’ll take the obvious answers and go with Dr. PeePee. He convincingly defeated Mew2king, and we all remember the results of TO9. when he quickly took the tournament from Hungrybox. Due to these recent results, and handling M2K with ease after his dominance in recent tournaments, I think PPMD has the top spot, for now at least.

Brent “Sasquatch” Cihonski – There are a lot of reasons why I believe what I believe for this subject, but we don’t have all day. So; Mango. An under-practiced Mango can still make top 3 and have a solid win over Hbox and an amazing comback over Leffen (who was doing exceptionally well). Mango will be first in my books UNTIL PP bulks up his 1st place resume or M2K proves that this whole tourny was a fluke for him and that the king has indeed returned. Had M2K won this, this would be a whole different story.

Jonathon Johnson-Linyard –  Kevin Nanney aka Dr. PeePee aka PPMD, and quite simply there is not much you can say to argue against it. Having already destroyed HungryBox at Tipped of 9, the man did not drop a set the entire of Apex, took out the Evo champion (Mango) and the man on form (Mew2King) in the process. Obviously people will argue the absence of Armada is a factor and #Mangonation will argue he was not at his best. But for the time being, the sheer manner in which Dr. Pee Pee won is argument enough for me, for him to claim number one in the world right now.

 4.      Who had the most underwhelming performance?

 Wynton “pr0g” Smith – S2J.  DQed out of winners, knocked out in the first wave of pools, when he was on a lot of people’s lists for being top 16…definitely not the placement that people expected.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing –  Hax. For all the hype that his Fox received and all those people who said he could break top 4 with it, he sure didn’t do as great as predicted. But I’ll be fair and say that him breaking his controller could have affected his performance quite heavily. I’m sure he’ll do great in the future if he keeps practicing, it’s never easy to pick up a new character from scratch.

Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir – S2j, it really sucks that even though he traveled to the EC, he got DQed in Winners and then proceeded to lose to Swedish Delight by constantly being techchased to death. I would think that he should’ve been able to get out of that kind of traps with all his Sheik experience but it didn’t look that way. Next time, he should be slightly more responsible to make his matches on time though I understand that Apex is meant to have lots of fun. 😉

Landon “DoH” Cox – The Apex staff, definitely. The tournament was a hot mess in terms of seeding and brackets. There was no reason for there to be “bracket pools” the whole tournament with the amount of time wasted. Also the lack of setups day 3 made everything frustrated; some of us are more than happy to watch GFs on YouTube later; let us play with our friends from across the country/globe as much as possible in the venue. If we are doing just players, then Hax$; his Fox looked like a completely different player than he did at that No Johns; he kept going for inefficient things rather than a guaranteed punish and it cost him.

Onish “SS|Flow” Jain – S2J had the most underwhelming performance at Apex 2014. Regarded as the one of the best Falcon players in the world, many expected S2J to place in the top 25. Instead, he was late for pools and got DQ’d into losers where he eventually lost to Swedish Delight. Despite this, nobody doubts S2J’s ability as a player and I expect to see him bounce back at the next big tournament.

Will “ReNo” Hsiao – I (ReNo) had such an underwhelming performance. TO johns. I can’t touch on other people, but yeah.. TO johns. LOL.

Asa “senortesta” Chambal-Jacobs –  The most underwhelming performance I say goes to S2J. He was DQ’ed from winners and then lost in losers in Round 1 of pools. I understand that his controller recently broke and he had 4 sheiks to play in his pool but if you wan’t to still be considered a top 20 player, you have to at least place better than 65th. Hopefully by EVO 2014, he has a new broken in controller and better luck so S2J can show who the best current Falcon main is.

Bernardo ‘Foknes Byrd’ Alves – S2J….from being disqualified in winner’s, to not making it out of pools, I think it’s hard to argue with this one. We all expected a little more from S2J, and it is clear that he failed to deliver. Other than that, I think we expected Fly Amanita to have a stronger showing as well, but it wasn’t as disappointing as Johny’s performance.

Brent “Sasquatch” Cihonski – I love the way this kid plays, but sadly, Hax under performed. After all the 20XX hype and people raving about his fox, I kept a sober demeanor to it. Could a fox that’s not even a year old really win a tourny or even give Hax a top 5 performance? I wasn’t so sure. I believe that Hax’s falcon would have done better, BUT I believe that his fox is only getting stronger and, by the end of this year, 20XX could very well be upon us.

Jonathon Johnson-Linyard –  Honestly as European, I have to say Ice not making top 8 was for me the most underwhelming performance of the the tournament. Yes he made top 12 at one of the most stacked tournaments in melee history. Yes he lost in a match up which is known for it’s severe difficulty. Yes he lost in against a character Europe itself is not well versed (like my johns?) But after making top 8 at Evo, and continuing his dominance of Europe in the absence of Armada I would feel for him having to watch Leffen, a player who he has been consistently beating in Europe get 4th must have hurt. I know that at least on this side of the pond the moment we were told Ice had lost the reaction was: ‘Ice lost? No way!? Who is the hell is S0ft?’

 5.       Apex was _______

 Wynton “pr0g” Smith – the stuff of legend.  The tournament organizers had to be blindsided by the size and challenges that presented, but something about a few hundred people for doubles grand finals (usually not revered the same way as singles), the number of upsets and Cinderella stories, the character diversity in top 16, the crowd, the Salty Suite, the quality of the sets, from that perspective it is definitely in the top 3 tournaments I’ve attended.

Julius “King Funk” Vissing – Apex was marvellous

Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir – Apex was pretty amazing I’ve got to say. There were many quality matches to watch that were very entertaining and also have a lot of content to learn new stuff. Certainly it was not all good since the organization was a little off however I think the hotel rooms and the friendlies room really helped for the tournament experience. (The food was overpriced and not that good though) If I have one advice for tournaments this big is that try to find people that are willing to play for a long time on a TV, go to the hotel rooms and party. Try to make sure to meet new people and visit old faces to really make your experience godlike, there’s plenty to go around!

Landon “DoH” Cox –  Apex was unsettling as a competitor, but probably awesome as a viewer. I feel like a lot of top players won’t be back next year, as the tournament seems to be taking on a more FGC like tone. People just don’t get the bang for their buck due to lack of setups and space. However, I don’t know who all is going to remember those details when you look back at the tournament, just the matches.

Onish “SS|Flow” Jain – Apex was an upset filled tournament. S0ft, Leffen, and aMSa all had incredible upsets throughout the weekend. The Top 8 had 4 newcomers in S0ft, Leffen, Colbol, and Fiction. They represent the new blood of Melee and the players who have the ability to break into the Top 4 of Mango, Hungrybox, Dr. PeePee, and Mew2King. Apex 2014 was a breakout tournament for many players and it will be interesting to see how well these players will do at future tournaments.

Will “ReNo” Hsiao – Apex was everything the smash community needed. 

Asa “senortesta” Chambal-Jacobs –  Apex was slightly underwhelming. Being the 2nd largest melee event and single largest smash centered tournament is by all means a success but some sacrifices were made that really hurt the tournament. Firstly, PM and 64 doubles were cancelled due to time constraints and melee ran until 2:00 in the morning EST. Because of this, Salty Suite matches like Hax vs. Westballz and Shroomed vs. Chudat had to be cancelled and Brawl didn’t even reduce to a top 8 for Sunday. I think that if there were more stream and recording set ups, things could have gone more smoothly. Pools were also held up because of players entering several games and I think that is an error on the To’s part. All in all though, Apex only helps the community and increases hype for EVO and all of 2014.

Bernardo ‘Foknes Byrd’ Alves – Hype. There’s no other word to describe it, really. It was the second largest tournament we’ve had, and a great international showing made it even more exciting. The salty suite matches were the icing on the cake, with great exhibitions, and the highest money match in melee history being broadcast live?

Brent “Sasquatch” Cihonski – A wake up call to a sleepy west coast. The answer for question #4 should have been “the west coast” but I felt like the question wanted a specific player, so I held my tongue. Apex taught the west coast about an ancient prophecy; that the years before 20XX would be filled with rises is the east coast and euro/asia. What did the WC do? We thought ourselves invincible. Gone are the days that good WC players could easily march their way through bracket…the world is catching up to us; the density of high-level play is becoming thick on the Eastern Seaboard and we have awoken a sleeping giant in Asia…..i haven’t even gotten to the fact that we thought we were done with Europe after Armada “retired” (hint: FALSE). Nor do i need to; the West Coast is better than our results, and we need to prove that. But, in the meantime, GG’s east coast.

Jonathon Johnson-Linyard –  Apex was for me the best possible way to kick off 2014 in smash. The tournament was full of up sets which no one could predict. Let’s be honest who thought Cactuar would drown? Who believed aMSa would place 9th? How many people had Hax & Shroomed instead of S0ft and Colbol in there top 8? Who thought Leffen would place 4th (shoutouts to prog). All this along with the return of an exciting teams bracket……. 2014 Smash’s Biggest Year Yet? Who’s Hype?