November 2014 Preview

November is historically a very strong month for Melee: coming into 2014, it boasted 13 tourneys of 100+ entrants all-time, tied with August for most of any month. November has usually been carried by the Revival of Melee tournament series, but without a ROM installment this fall, other tournaments will have to step up to fill that void.

Last month, The Big House 4 shattered the Midwest Melee attendance record with 574 entrants, good for fourth biggest Melee tournament of all-time. Justice 4 and Mayhem also brought in very respectable turnouts for one-day events. As suspected, the arrival of Smash 4 3DS did not make a significant dent in any Melee tourneys, either positively or negatively. It appears that the two games attract different crowds, and the intertwining of dual-game events may have to wait until the console version of Smash 4 comes out. This month, the arrival of Smash 4 Wii U and the continuing Apex World Circuit have the potential to shake things up.

November 1

Fight Pitt V headlines the first weekend of November, having just surpassed the 200-entrant mark through online paid pre-registration before the start of the event. The Pittsburgh and Northeast Ohio scene has taken attendance to the next level this year, having gone from a region which hadn’t ran a 100-entrant tourney in the post-Brawl era to one that has now hosted four of them in the last ten months alone, including this 200-entrant whopper coming up. This fifth installment of the series brings something new to the table: the first two-day Melee event held by the current Pittsburgh community. Attendees have responded favorably, driving registration numbers sky high and gaining top player starpower such as Hungrybox, Hax, and Colbol. The marketing plan has been on point, the organization solid, and the VGBootCamp platform as credible as ever. PGH, welcome to the 200-entrant tournament club. Prediction: 200 entrants (registration closed).

November 8

Kings of the North 3 lands on the second weekend of November, representing Wisconsin’s first Melee regional of 100+ entrants since 2007. With online paid pre-registration nearing its end, KotN3 is already well over 100 entrants. This tourney has leveraged a couple things well. First, the recent surge in stream activity and exposure thanks to the MeleeMilwaukee crew, who did a fantastic job covering the Melee bracket at TBH4 last month alongside VGBootCamp and have continued to produce great content, even securing a Twitch partnership just in time for this tourney. Second, the decision to include both Melee and PM events — this is almost an essential format in the PM-heavy Midwest, being able to draw big names such as Mew2King, who will be in attendance here. With more turnouts like this and more quality content from MeleeMilwaukee, Wisconsin will further put itself on the map as a regional hot spot. Prediction: 140 entrants.

Shuffle VI also comes in on the second weekend of November. Shuffle V rode the hype associated with being the first MLG qualifier back in February to an impressive 140+ entrant Melee turnout. Last month, tournament organizers ESI announced that results from this upcoming tourney would act as seeding material for “possible future MLG events” — but this hasn’t been a selling point to many top players so far based on the current unique entrants list. Furthermore, this event was previously scheduled for mid-September, but had to switch dates due to a venue issue. With uncertainty revolving around the date change and Melee’s MLG status, Shuffle VI is unlikely to match the previous installment’s turnout. Prediction: 80 entrants.

Smash or DI 3 comes to London, UK on the 8th of November as well. The UK has seen a huge surge of Project M players over the past year, driven in part by top players such as Professor Pro and Jolteon making a name for themselves overseas. Melee has been riding this wave of popularity as a whole new generation of players pick up the game after watching the summer of Smash! Only the SmashUK season finale, Heir to the Throne, has broken 100 entrants this year making this a massive tournament for the UK so close to BEAST 5; Europe’s only Apex World Circuit event. With 90 players already confirmed for Melee, and a similar number for Project M, including Professor Pro, Fuzzyness, Jolteon and VA, the European scene is gaining considerable traction. Prediction: 110 entrants.

November 15

Do You Fox Wit It? marks the first significant NorCal regional since The Next Episode back in March. Considering how active the NorCal Melee scene is, there haven’t been many tournaments of regional+ status in 2014; only TNE and NorCal Arcadian have cracked 100+ entrants this year. We’ve seen how SoCal exploded in turnout and enthusiasm after the summer of Smash. It’s likely NorCal has experienced a similar EVO effect, just not on the same large scale yet. This should be a coming out party for the EVO 2014 kids and new-school NorCal Smashers to show up in force, especially with an excellent TO staff in place and huge out-of-region names such as Colbol, Silent Wolf, and Japanese sensation Flash already confirmed. Prediction: 180 entrants.

November 22

BUST is the next big New England regional, hosted by MattDotZeb and featuring the finals of the New England division of The Melee Games. Tournament organizer MattDotZeb was recently added by the MIOM team, a move that should result in better promotion of The Melee Games and tourneys such as this to give them a national scope. Furthermore, BUST is an Apex World Circuit event, further benefiting the event from a promotional perspective. Despite sticking to a one-day event again, New England has yet to disappoint in turnout at their own regional events this year. The final few crew battles have been lined up, collegiate Smash activity in the Boston area is at an all-time high, and the region’s main TO finally has a nationwide platform to work with. Prediction: 160 entrants.

KTAR XI also lands on this weekend. Last month’s installment produced a modest turnout of about 40 Melee entrants, but this one is an Apex World Circuit event. A Melee tourney on the Apex World Circuit gains a few key benefits: $1000 in pot bonus provided by Twitch, $500 in financial support from the Apex team, and the top player incentive offered by circuit points seeding similar to the MLG grassroots program in the spring. With Tristate attendance booming from regular locals and regionals in the post-EVO era, and the boost given by the Apex platform, we should see a sizable increase from the previous KTAR Melee turnout. Prediction: 90 entrants.

November 29

(none)

See you next month.

MIOM | Juggleguy