Guest article by Pablo Montero

The international Smash community has seen considerable growth over the past year with new names and “hidden bosses” starting to pop up all over the globe, while other international veterans continue to climb the ranks. We’ve seen Professor Pro from the UK, Tekk from France, Reaper from Germany, Rudolph from Japan, and Spud from Australia to name a few. In particular, Latin America has expanded tremendously in the past year as more talent has emerged from there both in Melee and in Smash 4. More and more players are coming out with the help of more local events, as well as Spanish streams reaching out to native Spanish speakers.

On this occasion, we go to Mexico to see how it has grown in the past year. After Smash Factor 4 in 2015, the Mexican scene saw a surge in development as players and figureheads became more motivated to grow the scene. Over the course of a year the scene went from having a few smaller scale events, to now having many events in a packed calendar, providing Mexican players and spectators more opportunity to compete and watch than ever before.

To recap the “summer of Melee” in Mexico, let’s begin with the first big tournament that kicked off the summer: The Hazard.

To preface The Hazard, as well as the Mexican smash scene, we need to first talk about Monterrey. Monterrey is the strongest region in all of Mexico with players like Javi, his twin brother Tuga, Valdo, Aza, Rael, and others. They dubbed themselves “The Golden Saints” in reference to their liking of the Saint Seiya anime (Knights of the Zodiac). They have dominated the Mexican scene ever since the old days before Brawl. However, new life has emerged in Mexico, and the pressure has begun to creep up their backs. Such pressure would be first felt by Javi, arguably the best player in the country, as he went on to compete in The Hazard at Mexicali, Baja, California, in May.

The word “arguably” is used because others would give the title to someone else: Eddy Mexico. The Tijuana legend made his appearance at The Hazard, reaching the end of the losers’ bracket to fight Javi who slayed his way through all of Baja, California, including fellow Tijuana up-and-comer Bimbo Mexico. Eddy started the set off strong with a 3-0 reset in the first set of grand finals. In the 2nd set, Eddy and Javi went blow for blow and game for game as the set boiled down to a last match, last stock situation where Eddy Mexico sealed the set with a nutty misfire on Yoshi’s Story. The ongoing debate of who the best in Mexico is saw the strong Luigi main as its victor that day, adding another page to the history between the two, and adding more doubt to the legitimacy of Monterrey’s claim as best in Mexico.

The Hazard top 8
Mexicali, Baja, California
1. – XTR Eddy Mexico
2. – RG Javi
3. – Medz
4. – XTR Bimbo
5. – RG Hylian
5. – RG Far!
7. – Panda
7. – RG Hiro

Some months later and after plenty of excitement from the US scene with events such as CEO, WTFox, and EVO, things kicked off in Mexico with Smash Factor 5, the biggest celebration of Smash Bros. in the entire country’s history. With Melee growing, it was no surprise that this international major broke the prior edition’s attendance. The presence of top talent like n0ne, HugS, and the “Golden Saints”, as well as a high quality stream in VGBootCamp was enough of an incentive for players from the entire republic to attend.

A surprise occured even before the major started, in a pre-event side tournament that was held in organizer Citi’s house. The event had  most of the Monterrey players present plus Puebla locals, national foreigners, and international players such as n0ne and D1. Aza surprised everyone with a 3-2 victory over n0ne in winners’ finals and although n0ne ended up taking the event, Aza raised some eyebrows with his win and started off the weekend with momentum.

The event itself was groundbreaking with 3 simultaneous Melee streams run by Nova Gaming from Puebla, QTT from Guadalajara, and La Gema from Veracruz, alongside the Smash 4 stream by Smash Factor and the main stream by VGBootCamp. Pools were a war zone, displaying the rising skill level of Mexican players and lead up to a final top 16 bracket stacked with the best of the best in the country for Sunday’s finals.

In the final bracket, old school legends and veterans were a given, but new blood also made their presence known like Sheik player Pinillos, who is #1 in Veracruz; Dream, the best Ganondorf in the country; MCMike, a young Ice Climbers newcomer from Mexico City; and Bedgar who finally got his chance against Javi in a high-octane Fox ditto where he managed to display his improvement, but still didn’t stack up to the top level of the country just yet. After more action, the top 8 was decided: HugS would face Valdo and Javi would do battle with n0ne on the winners’ side, while Dream took on MCMike, Eddy Mexico clawed his way through losers’ against Aza after being defeated by Valdo 3-1, marking the beginning of his Monterrey boss rush. He went on to defeat Aza in a close 3-2 set, giving way to a face off against Javi once more, coming off of a loss against n0ne. This time however, luck would be on the claw’s side as there was no misfire to save Eddy this time; only an up-smash at the last moment of the 3-2 set that gave Javi the victory.

Following that and his victory over Valdo in loser’s semis, Javi was tasked as the last remaining Mexican player to defend home soil against the foreign invaders. However, n0ne proved to be too tall of a task this time around, causing a repeat of their winners’ semis encounter. Now with no Mexicans in the way, HugS and n0ne faced off in grand finals resulting in a 3-2 bracket reset, and a 3-1 victory for n0ne over HugS. Even with the improvement of the Mexican scene, the foreign invaders still got the better of Mexico’s best.
Smash Factor 5 top 8
Cholula, Puebla
1. – EMG n0ne
2. – dT HugS
3. – RG JAVI
4. – Valdo
5. – XTR Eddy Mexico
5. – Dream
7. – Aza
7. – MCMike

A few weeks later the next big tournament was coming up: Infinite, in Hermosillo, Sonora. Located at the north of the country, right below Arizona and New Mexico, this event presented itself as an opportunity for players in the northern states, unable to travel to Puebla, to showcase their skill. It was a wild rumble between the best of the northeast, with the addition of .jpg who, despite being one of Monterrey’s “Golden Saints”, fell short to Far, Sonora’s champion and best Sheik in the region.

Infinite top 8
Hermosillo, Sonora
1. – RG Far!
2. – .jpg
3. – Morrito
4. – Tasquer
5. – Morrito 2
5. – Troy
7. – TZ jonas
7. – Alsquer

Next we head out to Tijuana, for Smash Blast 2. One of the latter tournaments of the summer occurring in August, Smash Blast 2 was a gathering of the Tijuana scene that showcased Eddy and Bimbo Mexico once again, now with no outsider intrusions, allowing them to duke it out in Grand Finals with Eddy being the victor. Bimbo is a remarkable Falco main that could potentially pose a threat on a national scale, but hasn’t had the chance to travel to bigger tournaments. Still, he has been able to outdo players like Valdo and Eddy at times and continues to show promise.

Smash Blast 2 top 8
Tijuana, Baja California
1. – XTR Eddy Mexico
2. – XTR Bimbo
3. – RG Hylian
4. – RG Hiro
5. – Panda
5. – Guzballz
7. – Tete
7. – Niko

The last event held in August was BdG, in Guadalajara, which had many in attendance: the Sonora natives, Far, Misa, Jonas, and more from the north, and the Guadalajara crew, all looking to take home a juicy 5000 peso pot bonus (and Regi for all you Smash 4 fans! Leo was also in attendance. Spoiler: he won).

Even with this list of attendees, the headline of the event was the return of Yu, a Mexican hidden boss. Yu is a player from the state of Veracruz who moved to Monterrey for college, eventually reaching the level of “Golden Saint” while competing there. Nowadays he studies in Japan where he continues to be a top level threat, having continued to improve while mixing the best of the aggressive Mexican style and strategic Japanese play. Now in his homeland, he was determined to smash through and become the best in the republic, going to Guadalajara and plowing through BdG, all without dropping a set.

BdG top 8
Guadalajara, Jalisco
1. – LG Yu
2. – TZ jonas
3. – RG Far!
4. – Misa
5. – Morrito 2
5. – LG Blitz
7. – QTT Bedgar
7. – Ryo

After 3 intense months and 4 big events, the season came to a close with one final event: Thunderstruck IV. Hosted in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Thunderstruck IV functions as a Capcom Pro Tour event, mainly known as a traditional fighters tournament. Some call it the “Mexican EVO”, and seeing the growth in the Mexican scene over the past year, they decided to add Melee to the event! It all falls into place, as Monterrey is also la tierra del nivel (the land of high level [play]), the sanctuary where the highest skilled players in Mexico reside. This was the most stacked tournament in Mexico’s history with all of the “Golden Saints” present, and the rest of Mexico’s best flying in to get in on the action.

This wasn’t a celebration of Smash like Puebla, this was a straight up clash of fighters only for the toughest competitors. Pools were brutal, as there wasn’t a single “free” pool. Players that were supposed to advance didn’t, like Veracruz player Sauris, the so-called “best Samus in the nation,” or Ryo (Yu’s brother), while newcomers imposed themselves, showing their improvement. Nevertheless, the latter stages of the bracket would see the strongest advance and it seemed like we would be having a golden top 8 on Sunday, until a surprise twist occurred in losers’ round 3 where Monty, a relatively unknown Ice Climbers main, wobbled Valdo into a 2-1 upset.

Sunday came and gave one of the most thrilling top 8’s in Mexican smash history. The finals began with Javi facing off against Yu in winners’, a heavily anticipated matchup that many were expecting with the return of Yu, however Javi was all business and ended up winning 3-0, silencing any would-be critics. Afterwards, .jpg surprisingly defeated Rael (you might remember him from the PAX Arena top 8 in January), while Fox-turned-Falcon main Maxi defeated Monty, and Twin defeated Aza in the losers bracket. Yu then made a resolute losers run, plowing through Maxi, Twin, and .jpg to get his runback against Javi. It came down to Fox vs. Falco in a no-holds-barred battle between Javi and Yu, the latter of which had transformed his entire play style from their prior set, mixing up his game with more of an offensive approach that surprised the claw player. It seemed to be working for Yu, who took the first two games, even netting a 3-stock win in game 2, but it was not enough. After two games, Javi had found the solution to the blue Falco’s assault and with precisive play, Javi saved himself from the bracket reset and managed to reverse 3-0 Yu, winning the set 3-2 and taking the tournament.

Thunderstruck IV
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
1. – RG Javi
2. – LG Yu
3. – .jpg
4. – Twin
5. – Maxi
5. – Rael
7. – Aza
7. – Monty

Thunderstruck IV marked the end of the summer season in Mexico. A joyous period of time for the Mexican Smash player, product of all the community, TOs, streamers, and event planners’ hard work to advance the region and showcase it’s flair to the globe. What does this say of the current state of Melee in the country? Although not as solicited as it’s Wii U counterpart, the scene has managed to create an environment that gives players sufficient opportunities to play, be it locally or at larger-scale events, with more events continuing to emerge. More players are appearing, and even if the old guard remains standing firm, their armor has shown to break with newer prospects catching up to them at an exciting pace that makes one look forward to what 2017 will bring to the story-lines of the republic.

Mexico has come a long way since the “dark days of Melee.” New players keep popping up and with them teams, streams, and events to attend, enabling more and more to enjoy the game and to give its’ dedicated players a chance to benefit from their talent. They even have their own section in the smash.gg rankings now! And with a national-scale power ranking in the works, you can be sure this will only continue. Hard work will continue to be put in to make the Mexican community bigger and better, and a force to be reckoned with in all of Smash at large!

Support Mexico, watch our scene!
twitch.tv/lagema
twitch.tv/qttsmash
twitch.tv/novagamingsmash
twitch.tv/suricatafgc
twitch.tv/smashfactorgaming
twitch.tv/team_sabroso