EPT
Unfortunately, I am also not good at Smash. I've never been to a true tournament. I'm "good" among college dorm rooms and friend groups, and given my Brood War and StarCraft 2 background, I generally tell people "I'm decent enough to realize I'm terrible."
Why is this important?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/C79fMIX.jpg)
MLG VP and HGH sponsored Adam Apicella
Well, I've made a bet with Adam. As some of you may know, he attended a school called Ohio State, most notably known for their fratbro fans and lack of academic integrity. I went to a school called Michigan. There's a rivalry between our schools.
Therefore, if I am able to win two games at MLG (not sets, games) then he will wear a Michigan shirt/jersey for the last day of MLG. If I am unable to do this, I will have to wear an Ohio State jersey, probably XXXL, on the last day and do some interviews in it.
The format of MLG is double elim. Which means most likely I'm going to get at minimum two Bo3s, to win an aggregate two games. If I win a set, I win the bet. If I go 1-2 in two sets, I win as well. I realize a lot of this will come down to bracket luck, I have a zero, and repeat zero, chance if I get paired up with any notable tournament player, so I might have to bribe whoever generates the brackets for Anaheim.
Fortunately, there's a bright side, and, the bet means I get to play Smash a lot. In fact, this weekend three dutch guys are coming over to play. I will start my Asian Rocky Balboa-esque training with the goal of winning a solitary losers bracket set immediately.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DGLYblK.jpg)
TLHQ's SSBM setup. It's a plasma! No lag, I promise.
Here's what I wrote about Smash before:
+ Show Spoiler +
SSBM is a game built on speed, creativity, and emotion, a beautiful accident with a competitive scene that was never anticipated by its players or publisher. It is a game forged in living room couches and friends' basements, on tiny CRT monitors and $5 money matches. It is a game built on mechanical and mental skill with ten year veteran players who still smash every week and care about which coast of the United States you grew up on.
The highs and lows of Melee's life span are well documented. The game went from kids huddled in college dorm rooms to a big stage, golden age of $10,000 MLG tournaments, back to player-organized "lets hold one more grassroots event before Melee dies" back to a 100,000+ viewer EVO 2013.
Melee is a survivor. It fought slow declines, a "death" sequel, and the efforts of its creator to kill its competitive scene. Thirteen years later, here it stands, with the most entrants ever for events and Nintendo finally recognizing its scrappy little scene. Melee will be at MLG for the first time since 2007, and again a few weeks later at EVO 2014.
So when Liquid decided to pick up two legends from an entirely different, console-based fighting game, it felt natural. The game is StarCraft-esque, which is the best compliment we can give it. You don't form communities and friendships and a lifestyle around flash-in-the-pan, dead in six month game titles. Ordinarily, games should not see a revival 13 years after launch. But Melee, like StarCraft, is not just an ordinary game.
See you at Anaheim.
The highs and lows of Melee's life span are well documented. The game went from kids huddled in college dorm rooms to a big stage, golden age of $10,000 MLG tournaments, back to player-organized "lets hold one more grassroots event before Melee dies" back to a 100,000+ viewer EVO 2013.
Melee is a survivor. It fought slow declines, a "death" sequel, and the efforts of its creator to kill its competitive scene. Thirteen years later, here it stands, with the most entrants ever for events and Nintendo finally recognizing its scrappy little scene. Melee will be at MLG for the first time since 2007, and again a few weeks later at EVO 2014.
So when Liquid decided to pick up two legends from an entirely different, console-based fighting game, it felt natural. The game is StarCraft-esque, which is the best compliment we can give it. You don't form communities and friendships and a lifestyle around flash-in-the-pan, dead in six month game titles. Ordinarily, games should not see a revival 13 years after launch. But Melee, like StarCraft, is not just an ordinary game.
See you at Anaheim.
For those interested in the journey of someone who's "new" to tournament play but played Smash way back when (I assume a lot of you are like this) then you can follow along in my quest to learn. I'll hopefully be giving updates on my progress and how it goes.
