The winning team of the third Melee Games, UC Berkeley (Cal), had very humble beginnings. The Super Smash Bears had been a very popular group on campus featuring old school players such as Zeldafreak and Snap, but the group died when most of them graduated around 2012, leaving a void of competitive smash on campus.

Little did anyone know that a simple reddit post between Tafokints and Spevak in September 2013 would be the catalyst in reviving the Berkeley scene. Interest from several students culminated into the first smashfest of players who’d be the cornerstones of the Berkeley club. Spevak, along with Ralph, Glitter, and a few others, started to play regularly. And a series of fun smashfests led to the idea of reviving an official club and extending the smashfests to the entire campus. Periodic tournaments such as “Finals Destination” and “The Golden Bair” at Pappy’s attracted Norcal’s heavy hitters, while drawing in new local players and students.

Over the past two years, the overall talent of Berkeley improved rapidly. Ralph, a Falco, is currently ranked #9 on the Norcal power rankings, defeating top players such as Toph, DJ Nintendo, and Laudandus. Glitter, Ralph’s roommate, has made great strides with his Fox, improving his technical skill and decision-making. Old-school Ice Climbers player Delphiki carries veteran experience while having great success at Norcal regional events, defeating players such as Zhu and Toph.

Going into The Melee Games, Berkeley never really had the brand-name players that others could recognize. Ask people outside of California and they would probably only be able to identify one of the players featured on the Berkeley Crew. Other local teams featured powerhouses such as SFAT and PewPewU, whereas it seemed that Berkeley would have to “settle” with Ralph and Delphiki.

Although Delphiki and Ralph did much of the heavy lifting, Berkeley’s other 4 members pulled their weight, showing the importance of having a balanced full team as opposed to having only one superstar. Nimzo, another great Falco, managed to hold his own in many of the crew matches, even going even with Squid, a ranked socal player. Warwick Foe, the team’s Jigglypuff, was used to trade stocks with his opposing team’s strongest players. He didn’t always take the most stocks, but managed to wither strong players, allowing for the Berkeley team’s stars to shine. As seen in the The Melee Games Grand Finale, Glitter was the force that stopped the other team’s momentum with his defensive-minded Fox. Wavebringer, the Peach, also had some crucial moments, preserving leads and holding momentum in their west coast matches.

Always supportive of one another, the Berkeley team was very inclusive in making the appropriate decisions in the counter-picking that can make or break a crew battle. Even against the heavily-favored UC Irvine crew, everyone was tactically placed to get a favorable matchup. Delphiki had a fun time feasting on the stocks of KoreanBJ (now known as “Matt”) and Lil Fumi, taking a total of 6 from the two strongest players. Ralph played Sherigami on FD and Nizmo played the Falco ditto against Squid, all decent to highly favorable matches. In another crew battle on the East Coast, Peanutphobia, known for taking 10+ stocks with his Yoshi, was limited to only 5 stocks, as Berkeley wisely sent in Warwick Foe, a Puff, to trade stocks, instead of a Fox/Falco that could potentially get dominated in an unfamiliar matchup.

It only seems apt that Delphiki, the veteran, was the main driver in establishing early leads and the counter-pick advantage. With the ability to take quick stocks off of a grab, Delphiki puts his opponent on edge and was able to take several stocks due to his opponent’s nervousness. These early leads helped the rest of the team, allowing everyone else to have a little more freedom in execution and focusing on making firm reads. Whereas Delphiki often started the battles, Ralph would close them. With both UC Irvine and University of Maryland, Ralph found himself in high-pressure situations, expected to close out matches as Falco, a character that is very unforgiving to play. However, Ralph always stepped up to the plate, convincingly defeating Sherigami from UC Irvine and SG from University of Maryland.

After a 3 month journey, Berkeley earned the rights to be called the first ever national Melee Games champion. Now a thriving group, Berkeley features a Facebook group with over 600 members, routine smashfests with players of all skill levels, and exciting bi-annual local tournaments. Who would have thought this could all start from a small reddit post?

Now looking ahead to 2016, The Melee Games only continues to grow with over 1500 players signed up and over 150 schools ready to rumble. With more at stake and regional circuits that will culminate into an exciting finals at Genesis 3 in January, which schools will shine this upcoming season?

NorCal Finals: Berkeley vs Santa Cruz
California Finals: Berkeley vs Irvine
National Finals: Berkeley vs UMD

Credits to: Glen “Warwick Foe” Zhou and the Berkeley crew for fact checking