The results were interesting… to say the least. With multiple DQs, upsets, and surprises, Press Start has plenty to talk about.

1. The gap between the Big 6 and everyone else…

Is shrinking. Two thoughts come to mind right now. It was very impressive to see Lucky defeat Hbox and HugS defeat Leffen. SFAT also had Hbox at the brink of elimination before Hbox made a nice comeback to win Game 5. I’ll still say there is a line between the Hbox/Leffen/Mew2King tier and everyone else below, but it’s shrinking. It was also interesting to see that none of the four “Big 6” members  were to be found in winners semis. Furthermore, this highlights how impressive Armada is, not having dropped a set to a non-god since Pound 4 (no, I’m not counting The Foundry).

2. Vintage Mango

If you’re familiar with Mango’s history, then you’ll know about his infamous Pound 3 bracket:

Pound 3 (February 2008)
 Press Start (May 2015)
Player Bracket Results Player Bracket Results
Silent Wolf R1 Winners 0-2 SFS|A Rookie R1 Winners D/Q
Mathos R1 Losers 2-0 Jace R1 Losers 3-0
Sliq R2 Losers 2-0 Westballz R2 Losers 3-0
Cactuar R3 Losers 2-0 Hax$ R3 Losers 3-1
Forward R4 Losers 2-1 TSM|Leffen R4 Losers 3-0
Azen R5 Losers 2-1 Shroomed R5 Losers 3-0
Chu R6 Losers 2-1 Lucky R6 Losers 3-1
Cort R7 Losers 2-0 Liq’ Hbox R7 Losers 3-0
PC Chris R8 Losers 2-1 MVG|Axe R8 Losers 3-1
Mew2King GF Set 1 3-2 Fly Amanita GF Set 1 3-0
Mew2King GF Set 2 3-1 Fly Amanita GF Set 2 3-0

Table 1: Mango’s Pound 3 and Press Start Brackets

Given the relative skill of his opponents, I don’t think Mango’s Press Start bracket is as impressive, but it’s impressive nonetheless, defeating two members of the Big 6 and several members of the Top 15. He only dropped a total of 3 games in ten best-of-5 sets.

3. In Season Mango?

It’s May and we’re slowly approaching the summer. Are we beginning to see Mango in peak form for the 2015 Summer? Trends seem to indicate so. Everyone be afraid… very afraid…

4. Meanwhile, Teams

Once again, Mew2Box takes another tournament. It seems like Mew2King has been turning into a modern-day Isai, playing as a fantastic support player, but losing interest in singles. Congrats to him and Hbox for winning another doubles tournament. Although they have dropped sets, they have won every tournament in which they have teamed.

5. Tilted Leffen

It was a rough weekend for the Swedish Fox, dropping sets to HugS and SFAT, then having to play Mango for 9th place. It seems like his loss to SFAT tilted him harder than a top lane Cassiopeia. He’ll recover and it’s part of the maturing process of being a top player, even if he looked absolutely clueless against Samus. Heck, he still pulled a 4 stock on Mew2King. How many people can boast about that?

6.  DQs

Plank was given flack for DQing Mew2King+JMan from both winners and losers of the Pound 4 doubles bracket. His rationale was that it screws over several teams in losers bracket. Traditionally, I would agree with Plank’s philosophy, but then we wouldn’t have seen Mango’s epic loser’s run. It’s tough to be a TO sometimes.

7. Is standing the new 2015 meta?

sfathbox

It was a good effort by SFAT, but Hbox’s secondary form was too much to overcome. Bring out the unicycles at Evo.

8. GFYCats

Getting gfycat’d is the Smash equivalent of getting posterized in basketball. It’s so nice that we can have instantaneous clips such as these within minutes of it happening on the lovable page known as r/smashbros:

9. Analyst Desk <3

I’m so happy that I was given the opportunity to do this! Slides are here and it was nice to also get Leffen on board to comment on players. Hopefully, this can be done again in the future.

10. Top players and consistency

Aaand that’s why ____ still has a long way to go before becoming top 6 material. Too inconsistent. #kappa

11. (Bonus) Axe

Axe’s neutral game has become more nuanced in recent months. At first, he had two gears: fast and faster. It’s nice to see him willing to slow down the pace of a match when needed. I imagine playing Mew2King regularly has a thing or two to do with it.