We are finally here with our first major tournament of the summer. It’s been a long year since CEO 2014. To recap some of the narratives from a year ago:
- 262 entrants
- VGBC|aMSa struggled, finishing 33rd, losing to Wenbobular and Porkchops
- Florida made a very strong showing with Wizzrobe, Colbol, Plup, and Hungrybox making it into top 8
- Hungrybox brought out his Fox to try to take out Armada, managing to take a game off his Young Link before Armada adapted.
- Armada took CEO 2014, defeating Mango in 2 sets of Grand Finals (3-0, 3-1)
A year later, CEO 2015 continues to impress with an even larger Smash presence: 512 (capped) in Smash 4 and 466 in Melee. The lineup is very stacked with five of the “Big 6” members in attendance (PPMD is not attending) and a large wave of second tier players.
| SSBMRank | Tag |
| 9 | Westballz |
| 10 | SS Colbol |
| 13 | CLG.PewPewU |
| 14 | Shroomed |
| 16 | Plup |
| 18 | s2j |
| 20 | MIOM SFAT |
| 21 | Zhu |
| 25 | MacD |
| 26 | Liquid Chillindude |
| 29 | COG Wizzrobe |
| 30 | The Moon |
| 34 | Abate |
| 37 | HugS |
| 39 | DJ Nintendo |
| 42 | Cactuar |
| 44 | darkrain |
Table 1: List of Top 50 non-Big 6 SSBM Rank Players
Several players remain sponsor-less, but a nice performance at CEO 2015 could be great leverage for obtaining one. Beyond the list of powerhouses, we’ve had several players rise up through the ranks in the past year. From the South, $Mike, Twitch, Gahtzu, and DruggedFox have all had incredible performances in 2015 and hope to continue building their resume of upsets. From NorCal, Laudandus, Darrell, Toph, and recently sponsored YP.Bizzarro Flame aim to show that NorCal’s depth extends beyond their big 3. As a big surprise, we will also see Ken and Azen at CEO 2015. This is the first time that the two are attending the same tournament since MLG Vegas 2006. The talent pool at this tournament is deep and the closing matches in bracket pools are sure to be exciting.
Logistics:
Stream: www.twitch.tv/vgbootcamp
Schedule (ALL EST)
Friday
12 PM – Melee Doubles Bracket
5 PM – Melee Doubles Finals
8 PM – Smash Exhibitions
Saturday
9 AM – Melee Singles Pools
Sunday
12 PM – Melee Singles Top 8
Narratives
1. At the Top
Armada has looked unstoppable since Apex, winning every tournament since then. Although we haven’t seen much of him lately, Armada should be the favorite at this tournament, even though he’s had a couple of close calls against Mango and Hungrybox during their last sets. However, this won’t be an easy road for Armada as Leffen, Mew2King, Hungrybox and Mango have been practicing vigorously in the past few months to be in tip-top shape for the summer. It will be interesting to see how much these players are willing to invest into CEO without revealing too much for Evo. Will Armada show his full counter-picking strategy? Will Mew2King experiment with new characters against Puff? Is Mango going to do the Fox ditto? These are questions that you should play close attention to when they play later in bracket.
2. The Second Tier
While there is a distinct gap in skill level between them, players in the 7-15 range of SSBMrank can pose a strong challenge to the big 6. Westballz has had amazing runs, defeating Mango and Hungrybox in recent sets. Other players such as PewPewU, Shroomed, Plup, and Colbol have taken sets against the big 6 over the past few months. Although players such as Mango, Leffen, and Hbox seem to have a clutch factor in many close sets, it’s only a matter of time before more players begin not only taking matches, but also taking sets.
3. The Florida Homecooking
4 out of last year’s top 8 were from Florida. Can Florida protect their home turf again? Plup has shown great strides with his Sheik. Hungrybox loves playing in front of his home crowd. The Olés will be louder than ever and nothing will make them happier than to see Florida dominate the bracket.
4. The Classics
The inner fanboy in me wants to see an Azen vs Ken match. Historically, Ken has had a significant edge on Azen, but that was nearly a decade ago. The matches may not be pretty (by today’s standards), but, for nostalgia’s sake, let’s see a set between these two legends.
5. Sponsors
PewPewU and Bizzarro Flame signed with sponsors recently. Hopefully, we see this trend continue with players such as Axe, Westballz, s2j, etc…
Tafo’s Predictions
1. Armada
2. Mango
3. Hungrybox
4. Leffen
5. Westballz/Plup
7. Mew2King/Colbol
I dont agree with the rankings because while m2k loses to most of the top 6, he never loses to westballz and he destroyed plup, he is amazing against anyone who is not top 6.
In the past year.. he’s lost to
Nintendude x2
Shroomed x2
Fiction x2
Silent Wolf
Axe (several times)
Sup Tafo.
Those aren’t really valid in my opinion. I am pretty sure every one was Bo3 at locals/regionals, except for a few of the Axe ones, and M2K still has a really good winning percentage vs axe (much higher than you would expect 6th best player vs 7th best player to have)
I would believe those results if they were shown to me after but IDK what the basis is for these rankings. M2K has never lost to westballz or plup in many, many sets.
For visibility: M2K has lost to the following:
Nintendude x2
Shroomed x2
Fiction x2
Silent Wolf
Axe
How many logical leaps do people have to make to justify M2K’s placings? Yes, you can say that he lost less in recent months, but he’s also forfeited or hasn’t played against significant top level talent as much as mango/hbox/leffen
Right, hes not going to beat any gods in my predictions (pretty sure he’s only beaten 1 god this year) but again, he’s never lost to westballz or plup.
In the last year he’s had tons of wins versus gods, and he played such an insanely high amount of players it looks bad if you only look at his losses. For example, 2 of those losses you listed were at the same tourney in bo3, silent wolf and fiction, and both losses to nintendude were in grand finals back to back in bo3. His losses to shroomed are big but he’s not set to play shroomed until loser’s semis if at all.
I am not even an m2k fan I just can’t see the justification of predicting he’ll be outplaced by multiple people who he has never lost to in multiple sets.
Well M2K isn’t going to CEO anymore so it’s not as important now but I feel it’s worth pointing out that Mango, Hungrybox, and Leffen have lost about as many sets to non top 6 players. Especially if you take into account tournament attendance(Leffen goes to far fewer US tournaments than the others) but you never seem to talk about those. Especially since Leffen’s and Hungrybox’s losses have been much more recent.
forgot plup in table 1
The nintendude losses were when he decided to go peach ditto after he destroyed nintedude with fox, to play his peach against nintendude. His losses against fiction, silentwolf and shroomed were when he was in a mental slump, and when he was sick at apex. Axe and was the only one who really beat him when he was in top shape. Axe usually wins any matchup where pikachu does not utterly lose.
Holy mother of johns, it’s just excuse after excuse with this one. Take off the goggles man
yeah yeah and whenever mang0 loses it´s because he just didn´t feel like it and whenever PPMD loses it´s beacuse he doesn´t attend enough tourneys and is out of shape and whenever hbox loses it´s because he hurt his back while standing up and whenever leffen loses it´s because there too many gay youtube comments beneath his videos and whenever Armada loses it´s beacuse…wait…Armada doesn´t lose.
Armada lost to PPMD
He meant to non top 6 players
“Axe usually wins any matchup where pikachu does not utterly lose.”
You mean like vs. Sheik, m2k’s main?
Also I imagine that m2k did not “decide” to peach ditto m2k, rather that after he beat his peach, he expected a switch to ICs and didn’t want to go fox for that maybe?
Johns. Who knows whether m2k will show up in top shape?
[…] Amazing top-level sets are a guarantee. Check out Tafo’s writeup on CEO and its storylines here. Featuring Armada, Mango, Hungrybox, Leffen, Mew2King, Westballz, PewPewU, Plup, s2j, SFAT, […]