by MIOM|Tafokints

The summer of smash continued in Florida with some exciting Melee action. Several top players including Mango, Armada, Mew2King, and Hungrybox were in attendance along with several local favorites such as Plup, Colbol, Blea Gelo, and Gahtzu. The three day tournament started with bracket pools, which led into a Top 32 bracket. Hard-fought matches were done on Saturday to narrow the field into the final 8 combatants. Sunday brought the action together on an exciting wrestling stage in front of a large audience that included the greater fighting game community.

Day 3 Top 8 Results

Top 32 Bracket here

1. P4K EMP Armada
2. C9.Mango
3. Crs.Hungrybox
4. P4K EMP Mew2King
5. CT|Wizzrobe
5. Plup
7. SS|Colbol
7. Fiction

Grand Finals Set 1

C9.MaNg0 vs P4K EMP Armada (Armada wins 3-0)

Game 1: Battlefield – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock 

Armada started off with a nice early lead, cutting off Mango’s movement. Mango racked up percent with incessant lasers and well-spaced aerials to keep it close. However, Armada showed some adaptation himself, winning more interactions in his out of shield game and ultimately taking game 1.

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 3 stocks

Armada’s nice use of jabs and aerials ended up stopping Mango’s pressure in its tracks as he put on a dominating performance, 3 stocking Mango.

Game 3: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 2 stocks

Once again, Armada’s marvelous use of jabs gave Mango fits. This time around, Armada seemed to having commanding control of the stage, often trapping Mango in the corner for extended periods of time.

Grand Finals Set 2

C9.MaNg0 vs P4K EMP Armada (Armada wins 3-1)

Game 1: Battlefield – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by ?? stocks

After losing by playing too aggressively, Mango switched gears to a more patient game, utilizing lasers. However, Armada waited patiently to find the openings he needed that led to his patented edgeguards.

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

Armada’s defensive game proved to be dominant, frequently trading or outright beating Mango’s aerial approaches. Mango kept the game close with much needed up-smash or up-air kills. Yet the tables turned as Armada nailed two amazing edge-guards to take the game.

Game 3: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Mango wins by 1 stock

Mango finally showed some signs of life, though still played a tad sloppy. Armada was not able to get the same strong punishes as game 2. Although Armada had control for the majority of the game, Mango ended up narrowly winning with an up-throw up-air on Armada’s missed DI.

Game 4: Dreamland – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

Armada picked up an early lead, but Mango manages to pull back with some stray hits. However, Armada’s steady adjustments as well as his solid edgeguards proved too much for Mango as he defeated his long-time rival and won the CEO crown.

Loser’s Finals

P4K EMP Armada vs Crs.Hungrybox (Armada wins 3-0)

Game 1: Fountain of Dreams – Armada (Young Link) vs Hungrybox (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

The Loser’s Final match-up was a repeat of the character match-up featured earlier in winner’s. This time around, Armada displayed his adaptation skills, avoiding grabs and reading Hungrybox’s movement. Hungrybox kept the match close with some unorthodox up-smashes, but Armada kept his lead and taking game 1.

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Young Link) vs Hungrybox (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

Armada’s strong control of the stage ended up keeping Hungrybox in the air and off-stage for long stretches. Hungrybox tied up the game quickly after Armada taunted him on the top platform of Yoshi’s, but Armada held a steady lead throughout the match that Hungrybox could not break.

Game 2: Final Destination – Armada (Young Link) vs Hungrybox (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

With his tournament life at stake, Hungrybox opted for Final Destination as a counter pick. Hungrybox looked promising, taking the first stock and dictating the control of this match with the use of more lasers, full-hop aerials, and up-smashes. Unfortunately the set ended with Hungrybox pulling a classic Mew2King – a failed waveland from the ledge on the last stock, giving Armada the 3-0 victory.

Winner’s Finals

P4K EMP Armada vs C9.MaNg0 (Mango wins 3-1)

Game 1: Battlefield – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Mango wins by 1 stock

Solid aggression by Mango would be met by equally devastating punishes by Armada as the two players traded their first three stocks. Armada’s use of good down-smashes gave him a lead, but an unfortunate shine-spike led to his early death on the final stock.

Game 2: Dreamland – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Armada wins by 1 stock

Mango once again took an early lead but Armada’s long punishes and swift edge-guards gave Armada a stock-advantage. Some solid up-airs and up-smashes allowed Mango to tie the game at 1 stock remaining each, but Armada sealed the game with a nice trade on Mango’s aerial.

Game 3: Yoshi’s Story – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Mango wins by 1 stock 

Mango started off game 3 with an amazing 0-death combo, killing Armada at 79%. Uncharacteristically, Armada ended up missing some crucial punishes that got him into a hole that was too deep to recover from.

Game 4: Battlefield – Armada (Peach) vs MaNg0 (Fox) – Mango wins by 1 stock

A quick early kill by Mango was met by an early gimp by Armada to tie the game at 3 stocks each. In this game, Mango had a few technical skill miscues that Armada capitalized on hard, but in the end, Mango’s solid spacing and character advantage gave him the win and a ticket into grand finals.

Loser’s Semi-Finals

Crs.Hungrybox vs P4K EMP Mew2King (Hungrybox wins 2-0)

Game 1: Battlefield –  Hungrybox (Jigglypuff) vs.  Mew2King (Fox) – Hungrybox wins by 1 stock

Hungrybox started off nicely with some gimps and rests on Mew2king’s Fox. In retaliation, Mew2king landed some up-smash KOs before Hungrybox ended up taking Mew2King’s last stock on an jab-reset rest.

Game 2: Final Destination –  Hungrybox (Jigglypuff) vs.  Mew2King (Fox) – Hungrybox wins by 1stock

Hungrybox survived to 200+% on his first stock while also taking two stocks from Mew2King, giving him a nice advantage. Mew2King then mounted a comeback, taking 2 stocks of his own to tie up the game. Some uncharacteristic missed edgeguards by Hungrybox made this match much closer than it should have been, but a jab-reset rest by Hungrybox clinched the set and a rematch against Armada in Loser’s Finals.

Winner’s Semi-Finals

Crs.Hungrybox vs P4K EMP Armada (Armada wins 2-1)

Game 1: Yoshi’s Story – Hbox (Fox) vs Armada (Young Link) – Hbox wins by 2 Stocks

In a surprise move, Hungrybox revealed his Fox for the first time at a national to deal with Armada’s Young Link. The mobility of Fox seemed to be a huge difference as Hungrybox has historically struggled playing his Jigglypuff against the projectile spam of Young Link. Some use of great back-airs and up-airs allowed for Hbox to rack up quick damage to win Game 1 decisively.

Game 2: Pokemon Stadium – Hbox (Fox) vs Armada (Peach) – Armada wins by 1 stock

Armada had the counter-pick and went Peach to contend with Hbox’s Fox. Hbox’s Fox made this match surprisingly interesting, taking Armada to the final stock, but a combination of technical mistakes along with Armada’s strong punishes led to him losing in game 2.

Game 3: Batttlefield – Hbox (Fox) vs Armada (Young Link) – Armada wins by 2 stocks

With a tough decision, Armada opted to switch to Young Link to fight the Fox as opposed to playing  the Peach vs Jigglypuff match-up. Armada took an early lead, nicking Hbox’s Fox with aerials and projectiles. Despite also being able to rack up damage, Hbox could not land a finishing blow, allowing for Armada to live to upwards of 150%.

C9. MaNg0 vs P4K EMP Mew2King (Mango wins 2-0)

Game 1: Dreamland –  Mango (Fox) vs.  Mew2King (Sheik) – Mango wins by 3 stocks

A classic match that we see at almost every national or regional. Mango’s patented aggressive game had Mew2King off stage for the vast majority of the match. There were some scares early for Mango as he fooled around a bit near the ledge; despite that, Mango still took game 1 with a dominant 3-stock victory.

Game 2: Fountain of Dreams – Mango (Fox) vs.  Mew2King (Marth) – Mango wins by 1 stocks

Mango’s aggression got him in trouble early as Mew2King nailed a gimp to take an early lead. However, Mango took control with some smart back-airs to edgeguard Marth in tandem with his spacing and pressure which never gave Mew2King any breathing room on-stage.

Loser’s Quarter Finals

Crs.Hungrybox vs CT|Wizzrobe (Off-stream, Hungrybox wins 2-0)

Game 1: Battlefield – Hungrybox wins by 2 stocks

Game 2: Pokemon Stadium – Hungrybox wins by 2 stocks

P4K EMP Mew2King vs Plup (Off-stream, Mew2King wins 2-0)

Game 1: Fountain of Dreams – Mew2King wins by 2 stocks

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story– Mew2King wins by 2 stocks

Loser’s Top 8

Plup vs Fiction (Off-Stream, Plup wins 2-0)

Game 1: Yoshi’s Story – Plup wins by 2 stocks

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story – Plup wins by 2 stocks

SS|Colbol vs CT|Wizzrobe (Off-stream, Wizzrobe wins 2-0)

Game 1: Final Destination – Colbol wins by 1 stock

Game 2: Battlefield – Wizzrobe wins by 1 stock

Game 2: Yoshi’s Story – Wizzrobe wins by 2 stocks

Day 2 Top 8 Results

Pool Results (In no particular order)

Winners – Losers

Armada – Pi

DJ Nintendo – Gameguys Mojo

Fiction – Jake13

Chillin – Gahtzu

Hungrybox – Zidane

KoreanDJ – The Moon

Plup – Zanguzen

Porkchops – Wenbo

Mango – Flow

Zero – Lambchops

Toph – DruggedFox

Blea Gelo – DEHF

M2K – Hariett

Pikachad – Wizzrobe

Colbol – Pspirit

Chudat – ARC

Other Notable Results

Porkchops > aMSa in Bracket Pools Winner Finals (3-2)

aMSa hoping to bounce back from his disappointing MLG Anaheim performance, started off strong again at CEO, while rising Florida star, Porkchops, a student of the old-school Lambchops, wanted to prove to the world that he should not be slept on. In their winner’s finals set, aMSa once again starts with an early game lead, but Porkchops smart adaptation allowed for him to catch up, tying the set 2-2 before going back to Yoshi’s Story in an exciting game 5 match. Porkchops managed to come up on top with smart approaches and extensive punishes, leaving aMSa to question himself on what adjustments he must make before Evo 2014.

Wenbo > aMSa in Bracket Pools Loser’s Finals (3-1)

Day 1 Melee Double Results

Day 1 of CEO featured Melee teams. Georgia heroes Baka4Moe and SS | Nicaboy, surprised many by upsetting Team CTRL (DJNintendo + The Moon) before losing to Chillin/Chu to finish 5^th overall. Team CT (Esam/ZeRo) also put in an impressive run, beating Colbol/Hax and Team Liquid (Ken/KDJ) before also losing to Chillin/Chu. At the end, it was the usual suspects, Team P4K EMP (Armada/M2K) and Team Florida (Hungrybox/Plup) that would meet in Winner’s Finals, and later, Grand Finals. Unfortunately for the hometown players, Team P4K EMP proved too much for them, winning another national and continuing their indomitable streak of teams victories.