October is historically an average month for Melee, but in recent years it has been dominated by The Big House, the premiere Midwest Smash tournament series. Out of the five 100+ entrant tourneys that have been hosted in October all-time, three of them belonged to The Big House series coming into this year. The others are Event 52, which was one of the first 100+ entrant Melee tourneys in the post-Brawl era in 2008, and the former record-holder MLG New York Playoffs 2006, which clocked in at 208 entrants. This year will shatter all previous marks: The Big House series has reached a high point of all-time interest, and the arrival of Smash 4 3DS to the United States should bring to life some new dual events featuring both Melee and Smash 4.
Last month, Tipped Off 10 set its own series attendance record with 175 entrants, and Shape V kicked off the Armada hype train in the final weekend of September with 104 entrants.
October 4
The Big House 4 arrives on October 4-5, representing the fourth annual installment of the largest active Midwest Melee tournament series. Registration closed on September 20th to an incredible 570 entrants. That’s good for 4th-biggest Melee tournament of all-time, only behind EVO 2014, EVO 2013, and Apex 2014. The Big House has soared to record-breaking numbers this year for a few reasons. It has a quality reputation for being a well-organized grassroots national, using word-of-mouth to bring in more and more attendees each year. It is supported by some of the biggest platforms in the community; Smashboards, Melee It On Me, and Twitch. And it is helped by the presence of Project M, which brings a sizable chunk of dual-game Smashers to the table: according to registration data, 233 entrants (about one-third of the entire field of entrants) entered both Melee Singles and Project M Singles at the tournament. With Mango, Armada, Hungrybox, Mew2King, Leffen, and more in attendance, the stakes are as high as ever. Prediction: 570 entrants (registration closed).
October 11
Justice 4 takes place on the second weekend of October, taking advantage of Armada’s willingness to stay an extra week in the United States to host a one-day super regional in New York. With a collection of new-school blood (Hax, TheMoon, Slox) and old-school returns (Cort, PC Chris, Zanguzen) on the table, this looks like a hell of a show. The last installment of the Justice series in mid-May came out of nowhere to bring in 100+ entrants, and this one is expected to increase on that total especially with Armada on the billing. Tristate has been exploding in turnout recently; we could approach the upper one-hundreds here. Prediction: 150 entrants.
The Fall Classic 2014 also takes place on the second weekend of October. Although touting three different Smash games (Melee, Brawl, and Smash 4 3DS) and a pot bonus for each, this tournament is unlikely to gain much traction within grassroots Smash travelers. Last year’s edition, while attracting three of the big five, only brought in 36 entrants. The remote location in North Carolina and the fact that Armada chose to attend Justice 4 on the same weekend will likely relegate TFC to a second tier level event again. Prediction: 60 entrants.
October 18
Mayhem returns on the third weekend of October, presenting itself as the first significant Melee and Smash 4 dual event in SoCal. When Mayhem first got started, the dual game nature of its Melee and Project M lineup was able to lend itself to giant turnouts; can Smash 4 provide the same lift to the series? On the other hand, could the presence of Smash 4 actually lower the Melee turnout at the first few events due to a temporarily heightened interest in the new game? All good questions, and no easy answers. Prediction: 160 entrants.
October 25
(none)
See you next month.
MIOM | Juggleguy
[…] 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. […]