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Just days after Zain “Zain” Naghmi won Genesis and just days before the prestigious Smash Summit 9 invitational tournament, Zain is a free agent no more. League of Legends esports organization, Golden Guardians, entered into the Super Smash Bros. Melee scene earlier last week with the pick up of the best Marth main in the…
In recent years, Super Smash Bros. Melee has seen decreasing attendance at major events. The game has also had a number of highly ranked players step away from the game. With the loss of Melee in the EVO lineup, are those who call Melee a dead game right? There are a number of legitimate factors…
Super Smash Bros. Melee has been a staple of the Evolution Championship Series, ever since its return in 2012. This year, Melee’s biggest event won’t take place at the Mandalay Bay event center. With this news, an era of Melee comes to a close. After a one-year stint at EVO in 2007, Melee reentered the…
In addition to a ban on the heinous practice of Wobbling, the Melee community is also toying with the idea of allowing each player a ban in best of five sets (Bo5’s). Will this have its intended effect within Melee’s best players? A stage ban is a rule that allows a player to rule out…
An uprising is stirring in the Super Smash Bros. Melee community. For years, Wobbling – a technique that allows the Ice Climbers to kill their opponent from one grab at any percent – has been legal and accepted at nearly every tournament. Now, many players want to see the move banned. What should Ice Climbers…
Every year (and summer), a new set of Super Smash Bros. Melee player rankings are released. This list sets the baseline for the coming Melee season, influences seeding, and can help rising players acquire crucial sponsorships. With the 2018 rankings coming out just before Genesis 6, what did it get right and who should have been…
Genesis 6 kicked off the 2019 Melee season and it did not disappoint. Here we’ll break down the biggest storylines that went down over the course of the tournament. Beware: spoilers lie ahead. Genesis 6 brought the greatest Melee players to the Paramount Theater to set the tone for 2019. The tournament featured a slew of upsets…
Genesis 5 was the largest Super Smash Bros. Melee event of 2018. It set the stage for the year and gave fans a Grand Finals for the ages. Here, we’ll preview Genesis 6, the storylines entering the tournament, and if it can live up to prior years. Genesis 6 kicks off at 10:00 A.M. PST. …
Being fast has been an unfair advantage in every installment of the Super Smash Bros. franchise. From Smash 64 to Smash for Wii U, the speedy characters have reigned over the slower and less fortunate fighters. Did Super Smash Bros. Ultimate bring an end to the tyranny of speed? We’ll examine both that and the prevalence of…
The 2018 Super Smash Bros. Melee season has come and gone and with it many of the old narratives surrounding the gods of the game. Here we’ll look at how 2018 treated the gods of the game and what it means heading into 2019. The GOAT Hangs up his Controller Regardless of what the 2019…
Don’t Park on the Grass 2018 just came to a close as it turned to Monday on the east coast. The final tournament that will influence the 2019 rankings is in the books and there were a number of surprising performances. Here, we’ll look through the bracket at some of the best runs of the…
Tier lists rank characters based on their overall potential. This doesn’t certainly mean that top characters will have an unbalanced advantage over the opponent, but that they have a higher payoff when playing in tournaments. Fighting games like Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Super Smash Bros. Melee possess tier lists of their own. To…
Don’t Park on the Grass is the last chance for a number of top Super Smash Bros. Melee players to improve their rankings before the 2019 ranks are voted on. With over 500 Melee players heading to Seattle, this event is sending 2018 Melee off on a high note. The Favorite Zain “Zain” Naghmi is…
The recipe for Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma’s success against Adam “Armada” Lindgren is to stay within striking distance. Aggressive on game one, gain counter-pick advantage and win game five on Yoshi’s. The win at GTX 2017 marks Hungrybox’s third Grand Finals victory over Armada this year. Once again, Hungrybox adds another improbable championship run to his…
Melee’s at a stage in its development where trying new things is not only fresh and new but necessary. Singles tournaments are great, but the audience needs something to keep them interested aside from singles. Crew tournaments could be that outlet. Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman showed us the potential of teams and how different compositions can…
What is it about Canada that makes William “Leffen” Hjelte untouchable? Is it the Canadian crowd that’s passion boils over into the gameplay? Or possibly, Leffen just feels more comfortable north of the border. Whatever the case, Leffen now owns two Get On My Level trophies. Coincidence or not, Leffen took care of business…
For what it’s worth, CEO 2017 had one of the better Melee top 8s of the year. The lack of high-level players didn’t stop those who showed up from putting on a show. It all culminated into Juan “Hungrybox” Debiebma’s first career CEO belt, after running the gauntlet. Hungrybox went to two game fives against…
The end of Summer marks the end of the busiest season in the Super Smash Brothers tournament scene and the start of a brief rest period before the next big major event (The Big House 6, October 7-9th). The summer [of Smash] provided a great deal of major tournaments and gave us a good indication…
It wasn’t long ago that the world didn’t know much about Edgar “EMG N0ne” Sheleby, who has been a hidden boss within the Ontario, Canada Smash scene since he moved from Nicaragua in August 2014. Now after a number of breakout performances in 2016, two decisive tournament wins at Smash Factor 5 and SoCal Colosseum…