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Apr 4, 2014

April 2014 Preview

By |April 4, 2014|Default, Juggleblog|1 Comment

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.

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Apr 4, 2014

What can I do?

By |April 4, 2014|Prog Blog, Team Blogs|4 Comments

So, one thing I’ve noticed a lot recently is a lot of people building their local scenes. And what stands out to me is the same question being asked over and over again, which is one that I love hearing.
“What can I do to help?”
Fantastic question. Everyone at one point in their “career” is a player, but there are other things you can do to help a scene grow. And well, I’m going to look back in order to help you all look forward.
If you are going to give an MVP award to any one individual for their contributions to the SSBM scene outside of play, in my opinion, the winner is easy: HMW.
Why? Of course, looking back, there were “dark ages” between the golden age that we revere and the platinum age that we’re currently in. He did some of the big stuff for scene growth, such as…
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Mar 20, 2014

Am I Ready?

By |March 20, 2014|Prog Blog, Team Blogs|0 Comments

“Am I ready?”

I asked myself that back in 2007.

My answer to myself was a resounding “no.”

I’d been playing for a year, maybe a bit more.  I wasn’t confident at all in my abilities.  I went to locals just to play friendlies, maybe enter doubles.  But singles?  With the tri-state region during that era?  I just wanted to get better first, then start taking my lumps and face off against people I admired, learned from and wanted to play against.

MLG was on the way.  Later EVO.  These were players I had been watching USA Network on every Saturday morning for a glimpse of Melee action.  These were players I had been studying on the DC++ hub.  I’m not in their league, not even close.  I’m not ready yet.

Time passed.  Finally.  I was ready.

And then everything was gone.  EVO and MLG weren’t carrying Melee anymore.

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Jan 9, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 7 – Epilogue

By |January 9, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|3 Comments

Read part 6, here!
What’s Next
Now I have to get to the sad part of my blog. As most of you know I’m having a baby, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be half retired. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still attend tourneys and try to win, but I probably won’t be able to practice and dedicate the hours needed to perform at the level I would want to. Thats why Zenith and Evo meant the world to me. It would basically be the last time you guys would ever see in-shape, top-of-his-game mango. That’s why winning was so important to me. I needed to prove, to myself more than anyone, that I could still win one last time.
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Jan 8, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 6 – Evo Top 4

By |January 8, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|0 Comments

Read part 5, here!
Armada
Now, everyone reading this probably knows the Mango Armada history, it’s a great rivalry. America vs Sweden, legend vs legend, floaty vs fast faller. Going into this set, me and Armada were 2-3 in sets, 11-10 in tourney matches, Armada having the edge and after those BEAST friendlies. If I lost this set, there could never be a Mango Armada argument. It would just be Armada >>> Mango, and I wouldn’t be able to say squat and just have to live the rest of my life accepting it. My whole smash career, every hour of time I’ve put into this game, everything would be for nothing if I lost to Armada and got 4th at Evo (or that’s how I saw it).

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Jan 7, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 5 – Evo Top 8!!!

By |January 7, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|2 Comments

Read part 4, here!
Loser’s Bracket MaNg0
That loss hit me hard, because now I knew I’d have to bust a Pound 3 on the biggest stage ever. I had to play SFAT after and he should have beaten me as well, but I somehow clutched that one out as well. I was done with my day and just wanted to sleep and get ready for top 8. I was not happy at all with my play that day. Even later in the day while I was having a good time with my friends, it really bugged me that I was in loser’s. I was just thinking to myself, is this what I want my legacy to be? Losing to Wobbles and getting like 5th place at Evo. I was very, very dissapointed with myself, but I knew that the tourney was far from over. And it’s not like i’m not comfortable in losers, so I had that going for me. I went to bed and got like 7 hours of sleep (wanted more, but I’ll take it), and got myself ready for TOP 8!
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Jan 6, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 4 – Evo, road to top 8

By |January 6, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|0 Comments

Read part 3, here!
The Road to Evo
So, the day had finally come, it was time for Evo baby! I rode with s2j and lovage and we arrived at like 12:30ish. Which is normally a good time but I had the 8 am pool ;_;. So, I got a few hours of sleep, and when I walked into the venue that morning it hit me that it was GAME TIME. It was time to put up or shut up. I knew if I lost this tourney I could never say a word about winning or about being amazing.
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Jan 4, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 3 – training for Evo

By |January 4, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|0 Comments

Read part 2, here!
Training for Evo
After Zenith I was pretty happy for myself but I knew that winning Zenith would be worthless if I didn’t win Evo. So the smash grind had begun. For the first time in I think YEARS, I actually practiced every day, at least 2-5 hours. The few days I didn’t play I took time out of my day to think about the game and think of new ideas that I would want to incorporate into my game. I watched matches of me getting junked and made mental notes to not to make those mistakes again. I watched matches where I destroyed and made sure to use some of those tricks again (but not all of them because I gotta stay fre$h LMAOO).
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Jan 3, 2014

MaNg0′s Blog pt 2 – the rest of Zenith

By |January 3, 2014|MaNg0's blog, Team Blogs|4 Comments

Read part 1, here!
Zenith, part 2
In a fast paced game like Melee, even the smallest of a split second of doubting yourself can ruin your whole approach, or anything for that matter. So I had to play Shiz first. I didn’t think I was playing too great, and normally when I play bad, I just get down on myself and give up. It’s hard to put in the effort to come back and sometimes I’m lazy. But in these sets I powered through it because I was so pissed that M2K gimped me so many times in winners. You can only get gimped so many times, you gotta draw a line somewhere LOL. I wasn’t lazy about it and I noticed that I started playing better.

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Dec 31, 2013

Melee in 2013: Year in Review

By |December 31, 2013|Juggleblog, yearinreview|12 Comments

Melee in 2013: Year in Review
The sixth annual Smash tournament industry report

Previous Editions
[2007]
[2008] (none)
[2009]
[2010]
[2011]
[2012]

Overview of 2013

2013… where do we begin.

As the year draws to a close, many members of the Melee community can’t help but look back at the past twelve months and ask: What happened this year? How did we get here? How is it that the scene is arguably stronger now than at any other point in history? The answers to these questions outline some of the most exciting, grueling, and heart-stopping moments the Melee community has ever seen. Resilience was tested with the “Spirit Bomb” donation drive, and vindication was achieved with the return of Melee to the Evolution Championship Series. Adversity was conquered through the Nintendo Stream Crisis, and antiquity was celebrated with the release of “The Smash Brothers” documentary. 2013 will likely be remembered as the year of EVO, but it should also go down as a truly remarkable twelve months to be relished by a community that rose to the challenge to make it all happen.

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