Written by: Kyle Charizanis

Some people will only remember this year’s Apex for its Top 8. There were certainly a lot of exciting moments: Mango 4-stocking Leffen, PP essentially 4-stocking Mew2King twice, and the surprise appearances of Soft and Colbol in the final stretch of the tournament. We also witnessed PPMD’s long-overdue return to the top, solidifying his position as the third member of the American Smash Triumvirate (PP/M2K/Mango).

But I think that the people who were there, and those who watched the entire stream, will have a very different view of the largest grassroots Melee tournament to date. Apex 2014 was as much about the old names as it was about the new. The international players really stepped into the spotlight and showed the world that they, too, are worthy contenders. I’m not talking about the Fox from Mexico, the Sheik from Canada, or even the Peach from Sweden; this year’s tournament had an even more eclectic cast of characters.

Aisengobay of Brazil (65th Place)

Often considered to be the #1 player in Brazil, Aisengobay fought valiantly through his difficult 1st round pool. He’s the only player on this list who (just barely) didn’t place in the top 64, but after watching his sets it seemed almost criminal to me that his Fox and Marth didn’t get to see the 2nd round. Aisengobay placed third in his 1st round pool behind Fuzzyness and Fiction. He defeated Fuzzyness in Winners’ Semifinals and narrowly lost to Fiction in Winners’ Finals before dropping the rematch with Fuzzyness in Losers’ Finals. Aisengobay plays a patient, spacing-oriented Fox, but he’s always willing to turn up the pressure as soon as he senses an advantageous situation.

Aisengobay vs. Fuzzyness, Winners’ Semifinals of 1st Round Pools

PL of Japan (49th Place)

PL definitely flew under a lot of people’s radar at Apex 2014. He got 2nd place in his 1st round pool by defeating MilkMan and G$, but was eliminated in the next round by Zhu and Tope. He also performed admirably in Doubles alongside Kounotori, a Japanese Falco player. His Samus’ playstyle is best described as being “intelligent;” cautious yet offensive, PL always seems to be mentally one step ahead of his opponents. I couldn’t find any Singles footage of his Samus at Apex 2014, so here’s a great set he had with So-ten at a recent Sumabato tournament in Japan:

PL vs. So-ten, Sumabato #10 (Losers’ Finals)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6XrGchcBys

Marc of The Netherlands (49th Place)

Few smashers have heard of Marc over here in North America, but he’s actually been playing Melee for quite a long time. He got 2nd seed in his 1st round pool, defeating Codi and KY but losing to Silent Wolf; Chu Dat took him out in his 2nd round pool. Marc plays a fast, aggressive Peach, emphasizing fairs and dash attacks as he inches ever closer to his opponents. His recent close set with The Moon at a No Johns Monthly put Marc on the map for a lot of people:

Marc vs. The Moon, No Johns Monthly

Fuzzyness of the United Kingdom (33rd Place)

Fuzzyness has a long and varied history with Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube. He started out as one of the top Jigglypuff mains, then switched to Falcon before finally settling on Fox. He lost to Aisengobay in his 1st round pool, but won the runback convincingly in Losers’ Finals. He defeated OkamiBW in his 2nd round pool, then was eliminated from the tournament by The Moon. His creative and technical Fox playstyle is the result of many years spent playing this game from a variety of character perspectives, and while 33rd Place is a respectable finish at such a large tournament, some would say that the FuzzyFox can do a lot better. (Does anyone else call him that?)

Fuzzyness vs. Leffen, Slynusmash (Grand Finals)

So-ten of Japan (33rd Place)

So-ten is another relatively unknown Japanese player who took some names at Apex 2014. His Fox stormed through Ben Grimm, Dazwa and Redd to take 1st seed in his 1st round pool, after which he had the misfortune to play Mew2King immediately in the 2nd round, followed by Hax on the losers’ side. So-ten emphasizes safety; in contrast with the popular Nair-Shine-heavy Fox playstyle, he prefers to spend his time dash-dancing, spacing Bairs, and full-hopping to attack his opponents from higher ground. His Fox exchanges a normally high Attack stat for vastly increased Defense. Nevertheless, Hax’s faster, more punishing Fox eventually managed to pierce So-ten’s armor in their 2-1 set.
So-ten vs. Hax, 2nd Round Pools

Kage the Warrior of Canada (25th Place)

Kage had an impressive run at Apex 2014, defeating SFAT and Vist in the 1st round and eliminating Westballz from the tournament in 2nd round pools. His exhibition set with Amsa was also quite close; both players would constantly adapt to each other’s tricks, with Kage making some key reads to deal massive damage and judiciously using Ganon’s strength to break through Yoshi’s double jump super armor. Against Westballz, Kage would constantly hit Falco out of the air, combo him off of the stage, then refuse to let him back on. He might be one of the less surprising international players to place well at Apex 2014, but the warrior always returns to make his mark again lest anyone think he’s faded into the shadows.

Kage vs. Westballz, 2nd Round Pools

Excel_Zero of Puerto Rico (25th Place)

Excel_Zero is a man of many talents. His crisp out-of-shield game, precise edgeguards and fair-heavy Peach playstyle caught a lot of people off guard. Specifically, these people: Excel_Zero defeated Cactuar, Tian and PewPewU to claim 1st seed in his 1st round pool, then defeated ROFL in the 2nd round before losing to Hungrybox and Zhu. His Winners’ Round 2 set with PewPewU went down to the last stock in all three games, but Excel_Zero clutched out the win in game 3 thanks to one of many well-placed turnip throws. I am reminded of a comment once uttered about Armada: “You don’t get that good playing bad people.” Who knows what other Puerto Rican hidden bosses could be training with Excel_Zero right now?

Excel_Zero vs. PewPewU, 1st Round Pools

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iItSvH<em>yK</em>Y

Ice of Germany (9th Place)

Ice’s incredible Sheik was conspicuously absent from the Top 8. After defeating Thumbswayup, Nand0, Hax and Shroomed in his 2nd round pool, Ice was eliminated with two losses to Soft, the Jigglypuff main from Georgia. Ice appeared to have little experience in the matchup, so it was unfortunate that he got sorted into a pool with both Soft and Darc, but it’s always a player’s own responsibility to make sure they’re prepared for all relevant situations (and of course, Soft played very well throughout their set). On the plus side, Ice got 4th place in Doubles while teaming with Armada, and his 2nd round pools set vs. Hax showed that the “xx” in 20xx probably doesn’t stand for 14.

Ice vs. Hax, 2nd Round Pools

aMSa of Japan (9th Place)

I don’t care what anyone says: this man was the MVP of Apex 2014. His heroic run through the winners’ side featured decisive wins over Green Ranger, Chu Dat, Silent Wolf, Fly Amanita, and a mountain of corpses piled behind him in the Salty Suite (including SFAT, Kage, Westballz, Nintendude and DJ Nintendo’s Bowser). Perhaps the most impressive thing about Amsa was his ability to quickly re-strategize in any matchup. He would use egg lay (Yoshi’s B-grab) to separate Popo and Nana against the Ice Climbers, fire a barrage of eggs to zone and extend combos against Ganondorf, and prioritize Upairs, super armor/parried Nairs, and impromptu combos against Fox. aMSa made Yoshi look like a high tier, and he did it with style. He finished just shy of the Top 8 after suffering respectable losses to Dr. PeePee and Colbol. aMSa has only been playing Melee competitively since October 2012, making him one of the fastest rising stars in the game’s history.

aMSa vs. Silent Wolf, 2nd Round Pools

Leffen of Sweden (4th Place)

Leffen beat Hungrybox, took a game off of Mew2King’s Marth with Fox, and brought Mango’s Falco to game 5. He also defeated Darrell, Scar, Axe, Fiction and Colbol to take 4th place in a 628-entrant tournament. You know someone is a top level player when you can watch their videos and count every mistake they make—there are just so few that each one jumps right out at you. That was how I felt while watching Leffen’s Losers’ Semifinals set vs. Mango; the result of game 5 (my favorite match of the whole tournament) was made even more impressive by Leffen’s stellar Fox play leading up to it. His slick movement, efficient combos and persistent edgeguarding make it clear why he’s often regarded as the best player in Europe following Armada’s retirement. After Apex 2014, some might even start to call him the best pure Fox main in the world.

Leffen vs. Mango, Losers’ Semifinals

Honorable Mention: Kounotori and Toph’s Japanese Commentary

Toph is of course not an international player, but his commentary with the Japanese native Kounotori still deserves to be highlighted. It was a milestone event to stream live commentary in another language during a huge Melee tournament, and I sincerely hope this sort of thing returns in the years to come. In fact, why stop at just Japanese? Awesome Games Done Quick 2014 already had German, French and Japanese re-streams going throughout the week-long event, and there are active Melee communities in many more countries than those. We need to step it up!