The final Apex qualifier is in Florida and loaded with talent. Several attendees have their flights and qualifier spots won, but the action will still be exciting. Four of the “big 6” will be in attendance. Armada and Leffen travel from Europe to get acclimated to the US prior to Apex. Mew2King will be traveling from SoCal and Hungrybox will be attempting to protect Florida from outside invaders.

Even outside of the big 6, the tournament will host several players that were in the top 100 of #SSBMRank2014 (players listed below). With two weeks to go before Apex, these players want as much  practice to prepare.

VGbootcamp will be streaming the action all weekend. With the excitement that happened at BEAST 5, who knows who will take it all!

Logistics

Where: Orlando, Florida
Stream: VGBootcamp

Schedule (All times EST)

Saturday January 17
10 AM – 6 PM – Singles Pools
7 PM – 11 PM – Doubles Bracket

Sunday January 18
10 AM – 3 PM – Doubles Bracket
3 PM – 11 PM – Singles Top 64 Bracket

Predictions

The smash.gg blog has a fantastic collection of surveys in regards to player performance. Check that out. Also, Juggleguy has an amazing post , depicting the Apex Qualifier Points situation.

The predicted brackets (assuming pools play out accordingly) show some very interesting matches as early as round 3 winners. Shroomed vs. Axe, a west coast classic, will be exciting as they have had close sets for years. Plup vs Westballz will be a rematch from The Big House 4. This time around, Plup has homefield advantage. Colbol performed poorly at Do You Fox With It but could redeem himself in the Fox ditto, playing against SFAT. The Florida Prodigy, Wizzrobe, will also have an interesting, never-before seen match against Leffen, winner of BEAST 5.

If the bracket plays itself out according to seeding, the Winner’s Semis will be ecstatic. On one side of the bracket, Armada and Hungrybox will be playing. Hoping to avenge his loss from Evo, Armada may have a secret pocket character to beat his Puff. On the other side, Leffen and Mew2King will be playing. Currently, Mew2King is the only “god” left that Leffen hasn’t beaten. History doesn’t look too promising as Mew2King took all 4 sets against Leffen in 2014. However, momentum rides with Leffen with his dominant performance at BEAST 5, where he defeated Mango and Armada. Aside from those matches, there will be endless high level matches in the loser’s bracket that could go in many directions.

Tafo’s Predictions

1. Armada – If the brackets play out, I really believe that the winner of the top half of the bracket will take the whole tournament. Hungrybox could beat Armada in Winner’s Semis, making this whole prediction a wash, but I believe that Armada has been seething to beat Hungrybox since the summer. If he wins, he will most likely play Mew2King, which has traditionally gone in Armada’s favor.

2. Mew2King – I have documented his recent slump after the release of Smash 4, but he has the most favorable bracket with Armada on the other side of the bracket. Mew2King has performed very well against Leffen and I think it’s going to take some time outside of Paragon for Leffen to overcome his Marth.

3. Leffen – He has definitely stepped up his game, but has one of the two people (the other being PPMD) that gives him trouble in Winner’s Semis. If given a different bracket, I would have given Leffen #1, but unfortunately he has to play Mew2King instead of Hungrybox or Armada.

4. Hungrybox – There are definite advantages to being in your hometown for a tournament. If he beats Armada in Winner’s Semis, then he has a decent chance of beating Mew2King in Winner’s Finals to make it into grand finals. It’s also interesting to note that he will have to play LuCKy in Winner’s Quarters. Last time they played, LuCKy won 3-1, but who knows what can happen this time around?

5. Axe – Given the player pool, Axe’s Pikachu does amazingly well against the Paragon-meta. A few players give him trouble such as Colbol, Westballz, SFAT, and possibly Wizzrobe, but, overall, he has strong matchups against the majority of the field.

5. Plup – He has consistently performed very well over the past year and also doesn’t have any noticeablly weak matchups against the second tier of players at Paragon. Homefield advantage is always nice to have.

7. Westballz – Could go a little higher or lower based on how he’s playing for the day. He’s been strong as of late, winning a qualifier in Socal.

7. Lucky – Similar to Westballz, Lucky could go a little bit higher based on how he fares against Hungrybox. He’s shown dramatic improvement in his game, particularly with his floatie matchups.

Other MIOM Predictions

Juggleguy
1. Armada
2. Mew2King
3. Leffen

Dr. Z
1. Leffen
2. Armada
3. Hungrybox

MattDotZeb
1. Hungrybox
2. Leffen
3. Armada

Notable Player List (SSBMRank):
Armada (2)
Mew2King (4)
Hungrybox (5)
Leffen (6)
Axe (7)
Westballz (9)
Colbol (10)
Lucky (12)
Shroomed (14)
Plup (16)
SFAT (20)
Zhu (21)
MacD (25)
Wizzrobe (29)
HugS (37)
Cactuar (42)
Porkchops (52)
S0ft (64)
Blea Gelo (69)
Gahtzu (78)
Drugged Fox (83)
Laudandus (90)