April is historically quiet for Melee turnouts. The current record is MLG New York’s 143 entrants in 2006, which is the worst high-mark of any month on the calendar; and just one Melee tourney in the United States has even broken 100+ entrants in the post-Brawl era, Kings of Cali 2’s 114 entrants in 2013. However, with Melee cruising along in its Platinum Age, social media interaction continuing to surge, and media exposure ramping up in anticipation of MLG Anaheim and EVO 2014, this year should be comparatively strong.

April 5

Every weekend in 2014 so far has produced a Melee tourney of 75+ entrants, but that streak may end here with no heavily-promoted regionals on the calendar. You know it’s an off-weekend when neither VGBootCamp nor CLASH Tournaments has a tourney lined up to stream. However, the Melee community continues to impress this year by producing massive turnouts seemingly out of nowhere, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see a tourney do so again. The most likely candidate is The Oklahoma Invitational, where Stock Cancel Gaming ambitiously aims to host events for three games (Melee, Brawl, PM) over two days. Melee has been the greatest benefactor of multi-game events in recent months, boasting a ton of spillover attendance from other Smash scenes. And if we’ve learned anything recently, it’s that every state/region’s first significant tournament after the documentary ends up bigger than expected. Prediction: 50 entrants.

April 12

Civil War VI is in the spotlight during the second weekend of the month. FGC-based Smash tourneys have had an unsuccessful history, even in recent months: Canada Cup had just 48 entrants in September 2013, and The Fall Classic was even lower at 35 entrants despite attendance from three of the North American big four. Two factors that usually doom FGC-based Smash tourneys are the unfavorable entry-fee-to-playing-time ratio and the lack of recognizable Smash liaisons on the promoting front; Civil War looks to change that with a round robin pools format and the presence of VGBC, as well as starpower such as Dr PeePee and ChuDat. Can this become one of the rare FGC-based events to make in-roads to big Melee turnout territory? So far, EVO is the only organization that can truly make that claim. Prediction: 70 entrants.

Smash Brothers University 2.5 also looks to make headlines with a two-day installment. The New York scene has been described by some as splintered, often hindered by expensive venues and inconvenient transportation options. However, such a community composition often makes the big tournaments even bigger when executed properly. If organizers go the extra mile and throw a multi-day event, attendees are more likely to go the extra mile themselves and attend in full force — this seems to be the case here. SBU 2.0 produced 65 Melee entrants with 106 attendees overall including PM, and the dual-game nature of the tournament should help numbers again this time; Melee and PM are the two Smash titles with by far the most crossover attendance according to data from Apex 2014. With 130 RSVPs on the Facebook event overall, SBU 2.5 will likely give the Tristate Melee history book a run for its money. Prediction: 80 entrants.

April 19

Two large, but wildly different tourneys dot the Melee landscape on the third weekend of the month.

NorCal Regionals brings back Melee for the second year in a row, this time taking place only on the Saturday + Sunday of the weekend as opposed to Friday + Saturday + Sunday last year. This is a key advantage over most other FGC-based tourneys that require entrants to show up and compete on Friday, especially considering that 2014 Smasher demographics still lean towards college students who have class and/or young working professionals who have weekday jobs. It also helps that renowned NorCal organizer Sheridan Zalewski has been the face of marketing for the Smash portion of the event, which should help rally in some extra turnout. NCR 2013 got 70 entrants on a whim, and that was a Friday-Sunday tourney; NCR 2014 should exceed that comfortably, although the re-location to Sacramento may cause a minor setback. Prediction: 100 entrants.

Fight Pitt 4 also takes place this weekend, featuring Melee and PM in a one-day installment once again. It will be hard to top Fight Pitt 3’s S-Tier billing of Mango and M2K, but organizer bearsfan has risen to the challenge by confirming the attendance of Wife, Husband, Abate, as well as VGBootCamp, whose presence should provide a huge marketing boost and instant tournament credibility. Fight Pitt 3’s Facebook event ended up with 51 RSVPs but produced an impressive 95 entrants; Fight Pitt 4’s Facebook event has 73 RSVPs already, which suggests a turnout that should easily eclipse the triple-digits this time. Northeast Ohio / Pittsburgh has been one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States: over the past 12 months, it has produced two tourneys of 100+ entrants, three tourneys of 90+ entrants, and six tourneys of 75+ entrants. Look for that surge to continue, although the Easter weekend timeframe may keep it from truly exploding. Prediction: 130 entrants.

April 26

Fighters’ Edge Spring Championships is a noteworthy tournament on the final weekend of April due to the fact that MLG added this event as an extra qualifier in its Melee Grassroots Program, perhaps trying to fill the void left by ROM 7 which opted out of qualifier status earlier. This is a difficult turnout to project, because it’s a tournament that even Midwest Melee enthusiasts likely would not have known about had it not been for MLG’s announcement. EXP has been going strong in Chicago with a turnout of 80+ in each of its last two Melee installments, but Fighters’ Edge takes place in remote Du Quoin which is near the southern border of the state, closer to Missouri and Kentucky than the Chicago-Land area. At the end of the day, it’s difficult to see this one gaining much steam unless the marketing effort picks up or a top player confirms their attendance. Prediction: 50 entrants.

See you next month.

MIOM | Juggleguy