New York City has always been a difficult region to manage. Local enough that New Jersey, Philadelphia and New England (and even Maryland and Virginia) would show up occasionally in past eras, yet great venues are as difficult to find as solid left handed pitching in the Mets bullpen. The New York City scene has been subsisted by many tournament hosts, however, the second wind for New York was really because of Hectohertz finding a great location, outgrowing it, and finding a replacement nearly immediately.

When you think of New York locals, most of them haven’t actually been in what everyone thinks of New York City. Sudden Death was held at Next Level Arcade (Home of Next Level Battle Circuit and Smash Attack), but it’s fairly deep in Brooklyn. No Johns has had various venues, even in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before building a 6 year old relationship with ToyWiz in Nanuet. The Break has been a huge boon for the tri-state scene, with players like DJ Nintendo and The Moon showing up, but that’s still in New Jersey. Even the JUSTICE series was in Scarsdale, outside of city limits.

However, for the first time since the days of Bum beating people with his back turned to a TV in the basement of Web2Zone, Melee returned to Manhattan with the Nebulous series. Of course, in the platinum age, the players came, played, stayed and wanted more until they outgrew the venue. The first Nebulous had only 34 entrants, but the peak so far has been 123 with Super Nebulous 2.

Enter NeoNebulous, a new venue in the middle of Chinatown, with parking nearby (if you get there early) and because of proximity, a short subway ride from Penn Station for anyone heading into the city from out of town. And well, even if you can’t be there in person, twitch.tv/sigmelee will be providing a hell of a stream, showcasing that a NYC that has rookies and veterans alike fired up and working toward slot machines in Vegas.

This weekend’s NeoNebulous is going to be one for the books, as it isn’t even one of the larger or highly regarded “Super Nebulous” series. It’s just a local. With a special guest.

Yeah, this guy.  $100 to whoever eliminates him from the tournament.

Currently estimating 150 people all who want a chance at picking him limb from limb.

With Hax recovering from surgery, Mew2King on the West Coast, who can claim to be the king, not just of New York, but of tri-state? Everyone knows about the legends of the region, like Zhu, Cactuar, Vanz, G$, DJ Nintendo and The Moon, but who else should you keep an eye on?

These guys:

Son2 – An up and coming Falco out of South Jersey, Son2 regularly pops up at Philadelphia tournaments. In recent weeks, however, the Tristate native has begun to attend Nebulous regularly. Adding another tournament to his rotation has done the spacie well, with multiple top 5 finishes.

Ryobeat – Returning from a break to take his SATs (school always comes first), Ryobeat needs to reestablish himself in the NY scene. His punish heavy Peach and technical Fox impressed this winter, when he had a particularly strong streak of games, with wins over multiple ranked players. Despite his age, Ryobeat has managed to work his way into the Tristate PR, a testament to his potential.

JFlex – Most players improve at a slow, consistent rate. JFlex is the exception. In the past 6 months, the New Jersey native has skyrocketed in talent, grabbing sets from G$, DJ Nintendo, Smuckers and other NY legends. Arguably one of the top three Sheiks in Tristate, JFlex is known for his relentless tech chases and nonstop aggression. With a “win at all costs” mentality, JFlex has a hunger to continue his upward trend and dominate the scene. Keep on Flexin.

Reno – An oldie but a goodie. Reno is part of the old Long Island crew, running with Soup, Hazz, Alejandro P, DMON and G$ back in the day. At one time one of the best Shieks in tristate, Reno has recently moved to SoCal. His play has improved significantly, nearly upsetting Evil Geniuses’ PPMD at SKTAR3, but he has yet to have a tournament placing that reflects it.

Smuckers – The hero of Westchester. Smucks is coming off of two consecutive 2nd place finishes at Nebs, having taken sets off of Vanz, OTG, Ryobeat and others. With smooth movement and a methodical play style, Smuckers is one of the most promising Falcons on the East Coast.

Zanguzen – The eternal Falco main from New Jersey, rumor has it Zang has been around since before time itself. Seriously, we’re pretty sure he predates carbon. Known for his patient zoning play, inventing the lazer-ftilt, and beating M2K at his first tournament, Zang continues to compete with dizz for both nicest smasher, and most frustrating playstyle. With a reputation for tempo control and a chip away style, Zang also retains a pocket aggro style, able to take players by surprise with a sudden change of pace.

OTG – One by one, they all fell. They changed characters, they stopped playing, they stopped performing at a high level. OTG still stands as arguably the best solo Doc main out there, even if he doesn’t make it to as many events as many would hope. He racks up damage safely and smart, but isn’t afraid to throw all of the chips on the table for a big conversion. Always a sleeper pick.

 

 

Codi – One of the best players on Long Island, and someone who can throw anyone for a loop. A former pupil of prog, he has strong group of characters at his hands, and is proficient with all of them, however, his consistency is something that can be worrisome for him. He might be top 3 at a local, or struggle to make it into bracket, but you’re in for a fight no matter which version shows up.

dizzkidboogie – The hungriest and most travelled player in NYC, dizz has been at tournaments in Georgia, Alaska, North Carolina, California, Washington and probably everywhere in between. If you host a 3 person tournament in your room, expect dizz to show up and wobble you mercilessly while being all around the friendliest guy you’ve ever met. Recently he’s beaten DJ Nintendo, Moon, HDL and Vanz, cementing himself as one of the top players in NYC. Known for his metronome-esque precision (he is a professional musician after all), and his ability to read movement and be waiting for you with the grab, dizz is a force to be reckoned with. If you want to beat him, you’ll have to make no mistakes, or you’ll need to draw out the legendary dizzkidbowser.

Ryan K – Right before APEX 2015, PC Chris, Zanguzen, Calle W and Ryan K thought about doing a Falco round robin.  Between all of them combined, there was between 40-50 years of Falco expertise.  Ryan opts to go Marth a lot more often now with crippling punishes and spaced aggression that can be debilitating.

Nakat – One of the legends of Brawl, Nakat has made a transition into being one of the early leaders in Smash 4. As such, his participation in a Melee tournament is a surprise for many Tristate players.

StricNYN3 – One of the Jersey’s most potent players, Stric is a Falco who takes no prisoners. With aggression that makes the Huns quiver with fear, Stric has taken several games and sets off of top players. He’s tailed off a tad bit in recent months, settling at 2nd in Jersey behind Swedish Delight. However, don’t sleep on Stric. With wins over Westballz and Axe at majors, Eggm’s top disciple has put together a solid mental game with extremely talented fingers.

Hazz – Most of the new blood know Hazz as a commentator. “Whoever said that set in Florida…” has become a running joke in the scene, as everyone knows him and Mogwai on the set for arguably the most memorable game played in New York soil in Smash. However, the veteran slick Fox hasn’t been active, but it sounds like he’ll be making the long awaited return this weekend.

Slox – New England’s Hax1.5, the Fox/Falcon had been on a tear through NE, climbing to #1 on their power rankings, smashing through every major player across the region. This meteoric rise came to a screeching halt when the technical prodigy suffered a hand injury, forcing him to take a prolonged break from Melee. Despite this, Slox remains crowd favorite for his aggressive rushdown playstyle. Before his hiatus, Slox had beaten The Moon, DJ, G$ and taken Hax to game 5 with Falcon. Will he be able to perform after his break? Will he be able to put up results outside his region?

However,  as the scene grows, we’re not just seeing individual players, but The Melee Games have really started banding together Smashers at their local colleges into units of solid players.

The Columbia Crew:

Fiya – The first half of the fierce Run’N’Gun team, Fiya is an aggressive Fox main. With an unpredictable style, he’s gained notoriety for his janky flourishes in game and his playful smack talk outside. He’s racked up several wins over formidable players in the region, such as JFlex, Son2 and Ryan K. In doubles, he’s just as strong, taking sets off of the legendary Grab’N’Go.

Zero Omega – The other component of Run’N’Gun, ZO is a vicious Falco main. With a fast rushdown style, ZO takes his opponents by surprise and forces the win as quickly as possible. He’s allegedly the only person to ever fire more lasers in a game than Zanguzen.

Cheezpuff – Puff main and teams ace. Has won Nebulous’ doubles with Fiya, Zero Omega, and FLOTUS. Known for extremely cheesy ledge play. Cheez is best known for being the man to clutch out the last stock against UMB last season to take home 1st place for Columbia.

Flotus – Peach main and first lady of Nebulous. Known for extremely patient play, with recent wins over JFlex and the infamous timing out of cheezpuff on dreamland.

Whiskers – Columbia’s resident Yoshi main, and probably the only Yoshi main in this region, Whiskers is an up and comer who has made it out of pools several times, and well as consistently done well in crew battles.

The SBU Boys:

Equal – A Falcon main, Equal is arguably the backbone of the SBU team. He’s garnered an image of infamy within the MG scene for his all-kill of another school last season.

Sol – An old school spacie main, Sol is a recent SBU alum. He’s focused heavily on this match, aiming to be one of Long Island’s heavy hitters. This will also be his first Nebulous.

Minty – One of the most promising players on Long Island, Minty is a smack talking Samus with an axe to grind. With wins at a handful of Long Island weeklies, Minty has plenty of tournament experience under his belt. After a brief foray into Smash 4, the Samus main has returned to Melee with a fire in his gut.

Venti3HM – Venti is a Falco main, a fairly new player who managed to climb the SBU Power Rankings to #1, before a period of inactivity placing him at 7th currently.

Vortex – Up and coming sheik main, Vortex is just starting to break out onto the scene, with one of his first major wins over Swiftbass at a recent Nebulous.

 

All of the action will be live Saturday, March 28th at 2 PM EST on twitch.tv/sigmelee, plus MeleeItOnMe will be hosting it too. Tune in, and watch what the resurgence of the New York City scene brings to the table.  Plus, the scene has a lot of love for Showdown Smash and Smashed at the Foundry, so who knows what’ll happen if prog is on the mic and summoning the spirits of 2010 all over again?

Introduction written by prog, player writeups written by TL|Peanuts.  You can follow prog at @progducto and Peanuts at @tl_peanuts.