Apex 2014 Top 8: Recap

With the year 2013 officially in the books, 2014 looks to be the biggest year ever for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Just two weeks into the new year, Apex 2014 drew competitors new and old to Somerset, New Jersey to test their mettle and leave their mark in a newly revitalized Melee scene. After traveling through a bracket riddled with upsets, the top 8 players were split down the middle into returning contenders and breakthrough players. Making their returns to the national spotlight were VGBC | Dr. PP, HungryBox, MIOM | Mango, and CT EMP | Mew2King. Looking to start the competitive year strong and take out these powerhouses were Colbol, Fiction, Leffen, and SS | Soft.

Colbol (Fox) vs. SS | Soft (Jigglypuff) for 7th Place

Both hailing from the south, these players have met in tournament many times over the years, but never so deep in a bracket of this size and scale.

In game 1 on Battlefield, Soft was able to quickly turn around a percent deficit by catching Colbol off guard with his strong punishes and a classic Up Throw to Rest combo. Colbol noticeably changed to a Dash Dance and Laser camp strategy, but two errors let Soft demonstrate his superb edgeguarding to take game one.

Counterpicking to Final Destination, both players quickly exchanged stocks thanks to Rest. Colbol collected himself and began to play a “run and gun” laser game that put him at a 3 to 1 stock lead. Soft’s comeback hopes ended with self destruct, handing Colbol a JV 3 Stock win for game 2.

By game 3 on Dreamland Colbol seemed to have all the momentum and a winning strategy putting him again at a 3 to 1 stock lead. In a repeat of game 2 Soft fumbled his ledge play and self destructed giving Colbol the set victory.

Fiction (Fox) vs. CT | HungryBox (Jigglypuff) for 7th Place

With a strong placing at EVO and top placings at SoCal locals, players were impressed but not surprised to see Fiction break into the top 8. With that said, the powerhouse Jigglypuff player, Hungrybox (knocked into losers bracket by Leffen) was ready to showcase just what it means to be a top player.
After striking to Battlefield, Hungrybox opted for a peculiarly patient and slow style, far removed from his typical Back Air heavy spacing game. By running circles around Puff and landing safe hits, Fiction wowed the crowd by taking a 4 to 2 stock early lead. A recovery mistake by Fiction and a perfect edgeguard from a warmed up Hungrybox tied the game. Settling into his signature style, Hungrybox proceeded to combo and techchase Fiction, forgoing many potential Rests to take game 1.

Counter picked to Final Destination, Hungrybox was ready to reveal that he was in Fiction’s head. Early stocks were exchanged, but Hungrybox began to dominate the stage space. A second low percent Up Throw to Rest combo and another impeccable edgeguard threw Fiction off his game, ultimately leading to a self destruct that would allow Hungrybox to advance.

Leffen (Fox) vs. CT EMP | Mew2King (Marth, Fox) Winners Bracket

Coming off of his Day 2 victory over Hungrybox, Leffen looked confident that he could cause another upset against Mew2King.

Choosing Yoshi’s Story for game 1, Leffen controlled the pace of the match by playing patient so Mew2King couldn’t implement his legendary punish game. Some exciting off stage acrobatics from Mew2King brought the game back to last stocks at 0%. Pressuring Mew2King into the corner, Leffen was able to secure the game with two clean Shines.

Not one to ignore obvious advantages, Mew2King counter picked to Final Destination to show just how strong Marth’s grab and juggle game is against Fox. Leffen was able to bring Mew2King down to two stocks by capitalizing on a handful of mistakes, but with no platforms for Fox to tech onto Marth’s Up Throw chaingrab to Up Tilt combos proved devastating.

Heading into game 3 on Pokemon Stadium Mew2King chose to switch characters to Fox. Both players demonstrated perfect knowledge of the ditto matchup, coming down to last hit last stocks with Mew2King clinching the win with a Down Smash edgeguard.

Opting for the runback, Leffen continued to put up a great fight. Mew2King switched up his style, going for solid hits and reads rather than pure combos and was able to advance with a 2 stock victory.

VGBC | Dr. PP (Falco) vs. MIOM | Mango (Fox, Falco) Winners Bracket

A clash of the titans, Dr. PP versus Mango may have been the most anticipated set of the day.

Game 1 on Battlefield saw both players maintaining a very close stock and percentage throughout. An unintentional edgeguard trade by Mango brought the match to last stocks at 0% with Dr. PP chaining together the winning combination.

While still close in numbers, Game 2 on Dreamland was more precisely controlled by Dr. PP. Mango’s unorthodox mixups fell flat, while Dr. PP’s consistency shone through. A low percent spike from Falco on Fox gave Dr. PP an advantage and a final back air sealed the win.

Mango answered by changing to Falco and returning to Dreamland. His faster and more aggressive brand of Falco sought to smother Dr. PP and keep him off center. Keeping advantage on every stock Mango took the game.

Not shaken by the loss, Dr. PP took Mango to Final Destination. Without platforms Dr. PP had an easier time avoiding the outright aggression of Mango and built his lead to a 2 stock victory, the biggest win of the set.

Colbol (Fox) vs. Leffen (Fox) for 5th Place

Initially appearing to be a close matchup, Leffen managed to adapt to Colbol half way through Game 1 on Battlefield. A previously even game suddenly devolved into a two stock victory for Leffen.

Looking to recollect, Colbol counterpicked to Final Destination to rely on Up Throw chaingrab punishes. Just like the previous game, the players were on even footing for the first half of the match until Leffen began to bait out Colbol’s predictable grabs. After making his adjustments Leffen walked away with a two stock win and the set.

CT | Hungrybox (Jigglypuff) vs. MIOM | Mango (Fox) for 5th Place

Possibly the most well known rivalry in Melee, a short two out of three set between Hungrybox and Mango got the crowd hyped up for Loser’s Quarterfinals.

Mango demonstrated what separates him from other Fox’s Hungrybox has faced. By staying evasive but threatening Hungrybox’s space Mango was able to continually drive Puff to the outskirts of the stage, a unique role reversal from what is usually seen in the matchup. This positioning allowed him to continually trade hits and be pushed safely into the center of the stage where Hungrybox would be unable to utilize his strong punish game.

Winning this war of attrition led him to a 2 stock victory on both Battlefield and Yoshi’s Story, convincingly taking the set.

Leffen (Fox) vs. MIOM | Mango (Falco) for 4th Place

Ready for another shot at one of the game’s top players, Leffen brought his A game right out of the gate. Abusing Fox’s movement options against the slower Falco, Leffen took an early two stock lead over Mango. While Mango managed to tie the game at last stocks Leffen was able to grab Game 1.

Not ready to be knocked out of the tournament by anyone but the best players, Mango began stringing together unorthodox combos in the way only he can. This “powered up” Mango visibly put Leffen on edge in game 2, but by game 3 Leffen had adjusted and was able to carry Mango across Final Destination and secure his edgeguards, putting him up 2 games to 1.

Once again armed with platforms on Dreamland Mango found his footing by taking advantage of platform tech chases and follow ups. Leffen then counterpicked to Fountain of Dreams for game 5, an unusual and ultimately poor decision. Mango seemed to have forgotten the previous four matches and obliterated Leffen in a 4 stock victory that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

VGBC | Dr. PP (Falco, Marth) vs. CT EMP | Mew2King (Sheik, Marth) Winners Finals

The typically ledge dominant Mew2King looked nervous in game 1, losing two stocks to simple punishes from the patient Dr. PP. He was able to stay in the game by taking advantage of Falco’s notoriously weak recovery options, but ultimately Dr. PP maintained control over the flow of the match and took the game.

Dr. PP’s dominating pace control continued to be a theme throughout the set as the players switched into a Marth ditto on Final Destination. Mew2King’s famous Marth looked positively slow in comparison to the smooth movements of Dr. PP. After being juggled across the stage and edgeguarded three times, Mew2King forfeited the match, granting Dr. PP a 4 stock victory.

Opting to go Shiek for an advantageous matchup an improved mindset, Mew2King maintained a small lead until self destructing and tying up the game at 1 stock each. Off of one dash dance bait Dr. PP was able to Ken Combo Shiek all the way from the center of the stage, earning a stylish 3-0 victory and a trip to Grand Finals.

MIOM | Mango (Falco, Jigglypuff) vs. CT EMP | Mew2King (Shiek, Fox, Marth) Losers Finals for 3rd Place

The amount of experience these two competitors have playing against each other was more apparent than ever. Batting each other across Dreamland the game appeared dead even, but Mango flubbed multiple edgeguards on their last stocks allowed Mew2King to setup an edgeguard of his own far below the stage. Game 2 played out very similarly on Yoshi’s Story, this time with Mango securing a win.

Game 3 brought big changes with Mango finally switching to his infamous Jigglypuff, a rare sight in the last few years, and Mew2King going Fox. Despite being the same matchup as the well known Pound 3 grand finals, Mew2King showed that he had vastly improved his game by perfectly DIing out of each of Mangos Up Throws and racking up plenty of damage with lasers.
Choosing to abandon his Jigglypuff, Mango switch back to Falco while Mew2King switched to Marth. Mango’s aggressive play initially looked to be just what he needed, but at two stocks a piece Mew2King reminded the crowd why you can never count him out with two crisp edgeguards, knocking Mango out of the tournament.

VGBC | Dr. PP (Falco) vs. CT EMP | Mew2King (Shiek) Grand Finals

Game 1 was a runback from the previous set, taking place on Yoshi’s Story. Despite Mew2King’s best efforts Dr. PP was able to take an early two stock lead by spiking Shiek out of her recovery and secured a two stock victory by not giving any room to breath.

Once again Mew2King switched to Marth for his Fountain of Dreams counterpick, but this time Dr. PP chose to stay Falco. Much like in the previous set, Dr. PP completely dominated the match taking only 51% total damge and driving Mew2King to forfeit his last stock with a self destruct.

Switching back to Shiek on Fountain of Dreams finally proved successful for Mew2King. Playing even more patient than before he kept the match centered around the sides of the stage, focusing on Falco’s weak recovery. A rare self destruct by Dr. PP gave Mew2King enough room to pick up his first win against his opponent.

Another game, another character change from Mew2King, this time back to Marth on Pokemon Stadium. Despite an early self destruct, Dr. PP was able to even up the game again with both players at two stocks each. A risky Counter by Mew2King near the ledge resulted in a huge Down Air punish by Dr. PP, putting the game squarely in his favor. With a large percent lead on last stocks Dr. PP began firing off lasers while waiting for Mew2King to approach. Even with so much percent Mew2King was able to DI some near lethal hits, but ultimately fell into the abyss when he did not realize he had lost his second jump. After a customary handshake Dr. PP jumped up from his seat as the Apex 2014 Super Smash Bros. Melee Champion.