May 6, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up (5/6/2014)

By |May 6, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Another weekend of awesome smash. Mang0 and Remen claim their spots in the Top 16 bracket of MLG

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May 6, 2014

MIOM|Tafo’s MLG Predictions  

By |May 6, 2014|Default|3 Comments

Update: SolidJake has confirmed that Republic of Fighters has been changed to a 5000 pt qualifier. The predictions have been changed to reflect the news.
Current Standings
We are officially over half way through the MLG Qualifiers. To recap, the qualifiers will determine 12 out of 16 slots for the final bracket at MLG Anaheim. Winning a qualifier will automatically place you in the Top 16. Also, earning qualifier points can also place a player in the final bracket. The remaining 4 slots will be reserved to the players who make it out of the dreaded open bracket at MLG Anaheim. Over the last weekend, MIOM|Mang0 claimed a victory at Whobo in Texas and Remen surprised many, winning Sumabato, the Japanese qualifier.

So far, our guaranteed finalists include:

MIOM | Mang0 (Whobo)
CT EMP|Mew2king (Shuffle V, Fighters’ Edge)
Remen (Sumabato DX Melee 11)
Curse.Hungrybox (CEO Prologue)
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May 2, 2014

Mindset: Let’s Be Real

By |May 2, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Many players have requested more articles tackling the “mindset” aspects of smash. Fortunately, I’m very fascinated by how our minds affect our gameplay. I’m going to call an audible and, instead of doing a “5 ways to _____” buzzfeed style article, try to go a little deeper on mindsets while revealing a little bit of myself. You can withhold the tissues; sympathy and pity are not what I’m after today.

The Memory

We’re going to go back to roughly 7 years ago. I was a junior in High School at the time. Smart phones were virtually non-existent, R&B music was still quite popular, and Zhu was switching to a new main every week. My niche in high-school fit the stereotypical Asian nerd. I was rather quiet, smart, and socially awkward. However, I loved helping people. There was a secret joy in being able to help people out whether it be teaching somebody how to do a Chemistry problem or be the pair of attentive ears to a person’s problems.

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May 1, 2014

May 2014 Preview

By |May 1, 2014|Default, Juggleblog|7 Comments

There has been a total of 91 Melee tourneys with 100+ entrants in the grand history of this game. Can you believe only one of them has occurred in the month of May? MLG Dallas 2006 is the only Melee tourney on record to break 100+ entrants during this month, which should come as a surprise to any tourneygoer. This year looks to crush that precedent, with an unprecedented lineup of five straight MLG qualifiers filling the weekends of May 2014 and possibly providing the community with a historic run of 100+ entrant tourneys.

Last month, Fight Pitt IV was the biggest performer, shattering records in the NEOH/PGH area with a jaw-dropping 174 entrants. Fighters’ Edge UGC was the biggest bomb, producing a reported 17 entrants in what must be a disappointing (but nevertheless unsurprising) addition to the MLG qualifier series. Entrants data from April indicates that grassroots events still rule in 2014, despite a sizable amount of money and sponsorship being thrown at some more mainstream events. Smashers still live by and travel to the proven tournament experience offered by grassroots TOs, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

 

May 3

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Apr 30, 2014

How You Can Help

By |April 30, 2014|Default|0 Comments

My days as a tournament organizer were amazing when I was running the “Campbell” series tournaments in NorCal. Over the course of the two years, I saw the series go from 14 entrants to 70 entrants at Campbell X (this was large in 2011/12, I swear!). With other obligations and goals taking higher precedence, I haven’t organized a tournament in a while, but I still contribute in whatever ways I can. It’s easy to take all the credit, but these tournaments wouldn’t have been as successful had it not been for my peers who were more than willing to lend hand to ensure that the whole process goes smoothly. Many players used to approach me asking how they could help, so I figure writing in this blog would be a good idea.

Here are some great ways you can help:

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Apr 29, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up 4/28/14

By |April 29, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Wrap Up! If you’d like your tournament to be added to future tournaments. Fill out this form! Send pictures to DanielLee912@gmail.com

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Apr 28, 2014

Triple-elimination!

By |April 28, 2014|Default|2 Comments

Some of us at some point have wondered while looking at a bracket, “so there’s single-elim and double-elim, what about triple-elimination?” I had played around with the idea in my head and drew out some possible ideas for what it might look like but never fully fleshed it out. About 2 weeks ago, I saw a facebook status by Ankoku/aisight/Tony Cheng saying that anyone successfully running a triple elimination bracket would have his enduring admiration and respect. This was the motivation I needed. I had my triple-elim bracket design finished that night, posted that I wanted to try it at the next Norcal tournament, and got the OK from the community. We ran the triple-elim bracket on Apr 12 with 55 entrants and it was a fantastic success. We somehow finished it in under 6 hours, thanks to having 14 setups and the hard work of all the Norcal helpers *shoutouts to Mama Ko* So how does a triple-elim bracket work? What do you need to do to run one successfully? I’ll be describing how the whole thing works and referring to different rounds of different brackets, so you can look at what we did at the Norcal tournament as an example to follow along:

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Apr 25, 2014

Guest Article: Team Attack Off

By |April 25, 2014|Default|5 Comments

Today, we have Jamil “Jam Stunna” Ragland writing an article about sharing the joys of being in the community with his young son.
Jamil and son watching the Charizard/Greninja reveal for Super Smash Bros. 4

Introduction
My son wants to go to a Smash Bros. tournament. He’s been playing videogames his entire life, just like his father. I remember being five years old, helping my mother to get over those impossible jumps in Super Mario Bros., playing the Nintendo Entertainment System we rented from Blockbuster and never returned on time. My blood boils when I remember how my uncle humiliated me at the age of seven in Street Fighter II, double-perfecting me with nothing more than Chun-Li’s grab.
But tournaments? I used to line up in the arcades when Street Fighter II Championship Edition was released, waiting for the opportunity to play as Sagat and Bison, but it never occurred to me that people held tournaments for videogames. I organized a round-robin style competition in my dorm during my freshman year of college, but that was just for bragging rights, not a cash pot. I didn’t attend my first tournament until I was almost nineteen years old, where I was promptly bodied by players who’d perfected wavedashing and l-canceling before I even knew what those terms meant. Here’s my son, on the other hand, immersed in the competitive side of gaming from birth, ready to put his dad’s money on the line for a chance at being the best, all before his seventh birthday.
I was decent at Melee, at one point even managing to come in 9th in my state’s power rankings. I lost more matches than I won. While that was frustrating, I would tell myself that I just needed to work a little bit harder, go to a few more tournaments, and then I would have that breakthrough moment where I began performing well at a local, and maybe even regional level.

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Apr 24, 2014

Guest Article: Branding Yourself In The Smash Community

By |April 24, 2014|Default|1 Comment

Hey everyone, HugS here, and I wrote a little piece.

This is for the players that are getting good and are wondering how to get known. This is for the players who feel they are better than some of the game’s biggest names, yet can’t seem to pull in the same kind of notoriety. Building a brand that people associate with can get you more support than your skills ever could alone.
Intro to Branding
While I can’t say I’m the foremost expert on brand building, I can say that I am very much in control of the image I put out there, and it’s all very intentional. I want there to be no confusion about who I am, and what I represent. In fact, it’s almost disgusting how predictable I am. However, that makes my actions a consistent reminder of my brand.

The thing about building your brand is that you can produce both positive and negative perceptions about yourself. Widespread likability is not the point. I don’t care who you are, as long as you’re in the public eye, you’re going to get negative feedback. Is your record completely spotless? Well then, there are people out there who hate cookie cutters too.

So let’s get this straight: the main point about brand building is to generate support from the people who associate with it.

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Apr 22, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up (4/22/14)

By |April 22, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Welcome to our “Weekly Wrap-Up” to get a quick scope of all of the SSBM happenings over the previous weekend! If you want to promote your local scene/region, contact Daniel Lee on facebook or email DanielLee912@gmail.com to have your event results posted here!
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