*Credits to rlscribner for the featured pic and @ScubaF_ingSteve for the Tweet

The twitter chatter has been exciting with Leffen calling out Team Curse’s Hungrybox and Chillindude, questioning their value to their sponsors as “successful” players. Not wanting to back down, Hungrybox proposed that his teammate, Chillindude, and Leffen duke it out in a money match. With plenty of pride, trash-talk, and the right to a Fox’s color scheme at stake, this looks to be the most exciting money match at this year’s Apex.

LeffenChillin

Previous Salty Suites

The Salty Suite has been a long-held tradition among the Fighting Game Community as a means of showcasing grudge matches between high profile players. At Apex 2014, several of Melee’s most exciting matches occurred on VGBootCamp’s stream including the largest money match in melee’s history with Tian vs Tafokints and several other hype matches such as Kage vs MattDotZeb, Leffen vs Hungrybox, and Plup vs HugS.

The Stats

With his recent success, Leffen seems to be the favorite. Leffen has beaten Hungrybox and Armada in several sets and placed 3rd at The Big House 4. While Chillindude has been under the radar lately, several fans on twitter were quick to point out that Leffen and Chillindude tied for 9th place at Evo 2014, the last competition that featured both in attendance.

Interesting Fact: The last time Chillindude outplaced Leffen was at Apex 2012 with Chillin placing in 17th and Leffen in 33rd

We can look at overall placements and their win-loss record against top players, but at the end of the day, the two players will be evaluated solely on the Fox ditto. Dittos in Melee tend to be very finicky with a high degree of variance. With shine-spikes, chain grabs, and quick combos, Fox dittos are no exception. The momentum can swing very easily with one player winning by 3 stocks and then the other winning by 2 stocks on the next game. Let’s look at both players’ recent results in the match-up at major tournaments.

Chillin

  1. Evo 2014 – WIN vs Colbol x2
  2. CEO 2014 – LOST vs Fiction
  3. Thanks for Playing 7 – LOST vs Cyrain
  4. Thanks for Playing 7 – LOST vs Milkman

Aside from large tournaments, Chillin routinely plays dittos against Redd and Milkman in the MD/VA region.

Leffen

  1. HST2 – LOSS vs Ice
  2. HST2 – WIN vs Ice
  3. Evo 2014 – LOSS vs Silent Wolf
  4. MLG 2014 – LOSS vs Hax
  5. MLG 2014 – WIN vs Hax
  6. MLG 2014 – WIN vs Colbol
  7. Republic of Fighters 3 – WIN vs Armada
  8. Republic of Fighters 3 – WIN vs Armada
  9. Republic of Fighters 3 – LOSS vs Armada
  10. Apex 2014 – WIN vs Colbol

Based on 2014 tournaments, the results favor Leffen with a deeper resume. Chillin struggled a bit throughout the first half of 2014, but managed to pull things together at Evo2014, beating Colbol twice kaschmir decke. Overall, there’s still not enough data to make any definitive conclusions.

How Chillin can win

With a strategic use of full-hop aerials to set the pace of the match, Chillin can nickel and dime Leffen with well spaced aerials. Chillin has the veteran experience, playing in tournaments for over 10 years, which may be an advantage for him. Furthermore, Chillin dominated Redd in a high stakes (by smash standards) money match back in 2013 schlafdecke baumwolle. If he can keep his strong composure and use his experience and adaptability, he may have a chance to take this.

From a strategic standpoint, Chillin needs to avoid large horizontal stages such as Final Destination, Dreamland, and Pokemon Stadium. Leffen has one of the best laser/dash dance games as Fox and can frustrate players into throwing out overextended moves. Final Destination should be avoided as much as possible because of Leffen’s high proficiency with his tech chases and chain-grabs was ist schurwolle. If possible, Chillin should use his strong and nuanced shine-spikes and try to gamble on throwing Leffen off the stage at lower percentages.

How Leffen can win

Leffen has a very solid and safe game-plan in the ditto. As long as he keeps to his plan and capitalizes on tech chases, he has a great chance of winning. It’s important that Leffen doesn’t do too many risky ledge maneuvers that could lead to a SD or a shine spike. The loud American audience could also be a big factor as the majority will be cheering for the local hero. Leffen will need to phase this out as he’s playing merino decke. It is also important to note that Chillin has one of the most unorthodox playstyles as Fox, so it’s important that Leffen learns how to adapt quickly to Chillin’s movement.

Tafo’s Predictions

Leffen wins 5-2

Overall, I think Leffen is magnificent at the Fox ditto by the way he punishes. I expect Chillin to scrape some wins with some veteran experience and scrappy shine gimps, but it’ll not be enough to sustain him in a First to 5 series hausarbeit schreiben lassen preise. However, I am fully confident that Chillin will be putting in work over the next 3 months to make this interesting.