rom7

General Information:

Where: Toywiz, Nanuet, NY
When: March 8th – 9th
Stream can be found at: VGBootCamp

rom1

Summary:

We have an exciting weekend of Melee with ROM 7 hosted by Brian “Alukard” Garcia. The long running series started in 2009 as a ploy to have one last hoorah as many Smashers had already transitioned into Brawl. The ploy ended up producing some of the best matches of all time, and successfully achieved its goal of giving Melee some new life.

The  7th edition will feature several of the “Gods” of Melee including MIOM | Mango, CT|EMP Mew2King and CT| Hungrybox. As per ROM tradition, the Canadians have signed up in droves with players such as KirbyKaze, RaynEx, and EMG| Weon-x making the trip to New York. The tournament will provide many exciting matches among the top players and, for the first time during a ROM, will also feature an “Amateur” bracket, putting the spotlight on some of the newer stars in the Melee Scene. The action starts on Saturday at 9 AM EST and will go until 9 PM on Sunday night.

Tafo’s Predictions

  1. CT|Mew2King
  2. MIOM | Mang0
  3. CT| Hungrybox
  4. KirbyKaze
  5. Weon-X
  6. Darc
  7. VGBC |Hax
  8. Abate

mew2king

For now, I’d have to say M2K is the slight favorite, besting both Mang0 and Hungrybox in their recent sets. Mew2King has been on an overall tear lately, only dropping 1 set to Hungrybox at their last tournament and losing to Dr. PeePee at Apex. Mang0 could falter based on how active he has been, but if he’s in reasonable shape, he can take on the rest of the field.

Hungrybox has been stepping up his creativity lately and will be a tough player for the rest of the players to overcome with his immaculate spacing and hard-hitting punish game. KirbyKaze, recently more active in the scene, has shown dominance over the Canadian tournaments for the past 4 months.

Weon-X and Darc were more of “feeler” picks for me. Given a good bracket, I do believe both of them can get really far and that is what I’m predicting. VGBC| Hax could make a run at top 4, given a healthy bracket, but I still have my doubts on whether he can play unfamiliar matchups. Lastly, I think Abate is underrated and has a high chance of making a deep run at this tournament.

Other Sleepers to look for

Nintendude – He’s been going quite under the radar for some time, but boasts a Top 4 performance at Shuffle and has taken down top players such as PewPewU before.

Animal – Animal has the hunger to improve and has already taken claim to beating some of New York’s ranked players

So tune in over the weekend!

– MIOM | Tafokints