NJPlayerFinder
Smash Apprentice
-The Background-
Melee's comeback may have been inevitable, because lets not kid ourselves, its one of the best competitive fighters ever made. But this is a story, like any other...a story that I am proud to tell.
Lets back it up a bit, lemme give you some background on the scene. February 2008 was Pound 3, EASILY one of the best and most influential tournaments in melee's history. If it weren't for Plank and his efforts, Melee WOULD NOT be what it is today. A record 290(?) entrants competed, knowing that this would be the last huge tournament melee would have before Brawl's takeover. It was here that many players vowed that they would never lose their love for Melee. And right before melee was taken over, Mango took his crown as the National King of Smash!
MARCH 9, 2008-Super Smash Bros. Brawl is released for the Wii console. Melee is all but dead. More and more pro players announce that they have retired from Melee altogether, most of them moving onto the "new smash" movement. Most melee tournaments were side events AT brawl tournaments, moved to the back burner. This game had little life left in it.
Flash forward to February of 2009. It has been one year since Pound 3, and local tournaments have made a strong effort to bring back Melee. Since brawl's release, few tournaments had even broken 50 entrants, and no tournament had broken the 100 player cap. All the while a revival is on everyone's lips, as tournaments like Event 52 and Tipped Off 4 generate hype.
Alukard(NY), JFox(NJ) and Scar(PA) were talking online about how they could generate enough hype to make a large-scale tournament happen in the Tri-State. We concluded that like most things, we would need to generate some prize money. Prize money brings pros, and pros bring hype. Once hype is established, the masses join in, which in turn causes more pros join the bandwagon because they see the potential for a large-scale tournament.
Alukard announces a tournament for March 7th 2009, which happens to be exactly 1 year after Brawl's release. JFox, trying to build hype, announces that a Tri-State challenge will allow any player out of the tri-state area (NY, NJ, PA) to win $100 on top of the prize if they can manage to outplace our tri-state big names.
Enter Mango. Since Pound 3, Mango had not been back to the East Coast. A whole year had gone by, and he was not yet considered the King of anything, just "that kid that managed to beat every East Coast pro we had." So he jokes that he is going to come here and steal that $100 prize, plus all of the prize money. Well...JFox takes him seriously.
JFox convinces Mango that he will pay $100 towards his plane ticket and house and transport him while on the east coast. Mango, in his boy-ish giddy excitement accepts the offer, ready to once again prove his skill to the world. But at this point its only 2 weeks until the tournament starts! With the news of Mango's return to the east coast, smashboards goes crazy, with an easy 100 posts every day in the thread. The news of Mew2King and Mango butting heads after so long literally takes players out of retirement.
-Gathering The Troops-
JFox decides to generate as much hype as he can muster with the little time there is before the tournament. Meanwhile, Alukard, hearing the news, starts working out plans with the venue to allow for the biggest tournament possible. After seeing interest from players from the south and midwest, he decided that to make this tournament worth the travel, we would need more melee. So rather than one day, he convinces the venue owner that we will bring in far more revenue if we can use the venue one extra day. So now (with two weeks before the tourney) all of a sudden we had a two day tournament, a rarity since the release of brawl.
Meanwhile, JFox is spreading the good word on smashboards of the clash of the titans at Revival of Melee. Canada's finest were some of the first to guarantee their presence. Chudat (VA), a player that was almost exclusive to brawl at the time, decided to join the fun. This seemed like a big accomplishment, until some of the biggest news ever had hit. East coasts finest sleeping giants all announced around the same time that they were likely to come- PC Chris (NY) Korean DJ (MA) and Azen (VA) - all retired melee veterans, announced that they would come. With this news, players like Cort (CT) Drephen (OH) and other retired pros also announced interest. At this point there was no turning back, the Revival had began and no one could stop it.
Alukard and JFox started to literally freak out. They were only rookies at this sort of thing, and the amount of hype they started was more than they knew what to do with. Luckily, the Gods of Melee were on their side. Like lightning, the up and coming Scar (at that time known in some circles as "the electric kid") was summoned onto the scene. Scar had the most experience hosting large tournaments with his Smashpocalypse Series, and he was ready to go to work. It was as if he controlled the chaos. Scar started a very haggard form of registration to help handle the flood players pouring in. A tournament so big that you needed to go online register?! That had not been done since Pound 3! Here we go...
After a year long drought without the intensity that is Melee, everyone and their mother wanted to be a part of history. Lets slow it down a sec, I need to tell a side story. PB&J(GA) a devout fanboy to all the southern pros, made a big move. He single-handedly was responsible for the next big name. DaShizWiz (aka Cheese Wizard) was coming! PB&J was going to help pay for DaShizWiz's plane ticket in order to make the trip possible...a big gift that the whole community is thankful for! I could gush for paragraphs about how great this news was...but there's plenty of story left to be told so lets not.
Lets go back to my favorite part, the Mango side story. Mama Mango (<3) was finally convinced to let her boy once again travel across the country and stay with a stranger. Cheap airfare was found, rides were taken care of, etc. But Mango was a little boy, so he wanted some company (not really, lol) for his voyage. So Zhu(CA) and the love machine, aka Oscar Wilde, aka Hero of Love, aka Lovage(CA)...decided they wanted in on the action and came along for the plane ride. They all flew to NY airport the day OF the tournament. Needless to say, they were quite the rambunctious group of kids to take care of
Anyway, so by the time ROM was about to start, you practically had every pro that you could think of, making this truly the first national tournament since Pound 3. Ready or not (and we definitely were NOT ready), Revival of Melee was just about to start.
-Game Day-
So after weeks of stressing out about ROM, it finally was here! To my surprise, the venue was pretty awesome! They rented out plenty of tables and chairs, it just took forever to set it all up. Scar had some really awesome ideas as far as laying out the room correctly to maximize space, a skill he undoubtedly picked up from running his Smashpocalypse tourneys. There were about 27 setup, 5 of which were being used for recording matches. The coolest part was that all of the recording setups were in a row in the front of the venue, and there was plenty of room for an audience to crowd around each one.
We had lots of help, something we were all appreciative of. Alukard's girlfriend and his sister (who used to run weeklies in NYC) were a huge help. Pakman and Mogwai also stick out in my mind as being of great help come the day of the tournament. Day 1 was everything that really mattered- doubles pools, doubles, singles pools, and singles. Day 1 had about 154 people, 128 of which entered singles entrants, and about 106 doubles entrants. All in all an awesome turnout back in those days, and just the perfect amount of people for the venue size. The fact that we got the entire tournament done in one day was pure teamwork and terrific planning, most of which also was Scar's work. He created a pretty awesome and balanced bracket.
The aura in the room was unforgettable. So many people in that room never thought they would be at a national tournament for Melee ever again, and yet through the effort of each of those individuals, melee truly made a come back on that day. We didn't know what to say, but Alukard said it best. With a big grin on his face he just smiled and said "REVIVAL OF MELEE BABY!" There was a sense of pride that everyone felt as they cheered at that moment. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49A3-g4tdw )
-Brackets-
Brackets played out amazingly well. At this time, newer players like Zhu and many of the Canadians were still unrecognized talents due to smash communities being so localized for so long. (Remember, at this time Mango was only believed to be the best by west coast players.) Vwins and Bam did an awesome job in doubles, taking 3rd place. Grand finals was PC and Mango vs Jman and M2k, a pretty epic showdown. I still remember the very last game of finals, PC Chris and Mango pulled of a siick combo which today is referred to as the "Rombo Combo" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNnbmJxZTZ4 )
Singles was wayy more epic. SO many great matches, and lots of "upsets" which today all make a lot of sense. This tournament made players like Kage, Zhu, and Raynex known to the world tomorrow's pros.
....To Be Continued
Melee's comeback may have been inevitable, because lets not kid ourselves, its one of the best competitive fighters ever made. But this is a story, like any other...a story that I am proud to tell.
Lets back it up a bit, lemme give you some background on the scene. February 2008 was Pound 3, EASILY one of the best and most influential tournaments in melee's history. If it weren't for Plank and his efforts, Melee WOULD NOT be what it is today. A record 290(?) entrants competed, knowing that this would be the last huge tournament melee would have before Brawl's takeover. It was here that many players vowed that they would never lose their love for Melee. And right before melee was taken over, Mango took his crown as the National King of Smash!
MARCH 9, 2008-Super Smash Bros. Brawl is released for the Wii console. Melee is all but dead. More and more pro players announce that they have retired from Melee altogether, most of them moving onto the "new smash" movement. Most melee tournaments were side events AT brawl tournaments, moved to the back burner. This game had little life left in it.
Flash forward to February of 2009. It has been one year since Pound 3, and local tournaments have made a strong effort to bring back Melee. Since brawl's release, few tournaments had even broken 50 entrants, and no tournament had broken the 100 player cap. All the while a revival is on everyone's lips, as tournaments like Event 52 and Tipped Off 4 generate hype.
Alukard(NY), JFox(NJ) and Scar(PA) were talking online about how they could generate enough hype to make a large-scale tournament happen in the Tri-State. We concluded that like most things, we would need to generate some prize money. Prize money brings pros, and pros bring hype. Once hype is established, the masses join in, which in turn causes more pros join the bandwagon because they see the potential for a large-scale tournament.
Alukard announces a tournament for March 7th 2009, which happens to be exactly 1 year after Brawl's release. JFox, trying to build hype, announces that a Tri-State challenge will allow any player out of the tri-state area (NY, NJ, PA) to win $100 on top of the prize if they can manage to outplace our tri-state big names.
Enter Mango. Since Pound 3, Mango had not been back to the East Coast. A whole year had gone by, and he was not yet considered the King of anything, just "that kid that managed to beat every East Coast pro we had." So he jokes that he is going to come here and steal that $100 prize, plus all of the prize money. Well...JFox takes him seriously.
JFox convinces Mango that he will pay $100 towards his plane ticket and house and transport him while on the east coast. Mango, in his boy-ish giddy excitement accepts the offer, ready to once again prove his skill to the world. But at this point its only 2 weeks until the tournament starts! With the news of Mango's return to the east coast, smashboards goes crazy, with an easy 100 posts every day in the thread. The news of Mew2King and Mango butting heads after so long literally takes players out of retirement.
-Gathering The Troops-
JFox decides to generate as much hype as he can muster with the little time there is before the tournament. Meanwhile, Alukard, hearing the news, starts working out plans with the venue to allow for the biggest tournament possible. After seeing interest from players from the south and midwest, he decided that to make this tournament worth the travel, we would need more melee. So rather than one day, he convinces the venue owner that we will bring in far more revenue if we can use the venue one extra day. So now (with two weeks before the tourney) all of a sudden we had a two day tournament, a rarity since the release of brawl.
Meanwhile, JFox is spreading the good word on smashboards of the clash of the titans at Revival of Melee. Canada's finest were some of the first to guarantee their presence. Chudat (VA), a player that was almost exclusive to brawl at the time, decided to join the fun. This seemed like a big accomplishment, until some of the biggest news ever had hit. East coasts finest sleeping giants all announced around the same time that they were likely to come- PC Chris (NY) Korean DJ (MA) and Azen (VA) - all retired melee veterans, announced that they would come. With this news, players like Cort (CT) Drephen (OH) and other retired pros also announced interest. At this point there was no turning back, the Revival had began and no one could stop it.
Alukard and JFox started to literally freak out. They were only rookies at this sort of thing, and the amount of hype they started was more than they knew what to do with. Luckily, the Gods of Melee were on their side. Like lightning, the up and coming Scar (at that time known in some circles as "the electric kid") was summoned onto the scene. Scar had the most experience hosting large tournaments with his Smashpocalypse Series, and he was ready to go to work. It was as if he controlled the chaos. Scar started a very haggard form of registration to help handle the flood players pouring in. A tournament so big that you needed to go online register?! That had not been done since Pound 3! Here we go...
After a year long drought without the intensity that is Melee, everyone and their mother wanted to be a part of history. Lets slow it down a sec, I need to tell a side story. PB&J(GA) a devout fanboy to all the southern pros, made a big move. He single-handedly was responsible for the next big name. DaShizWiz (aka Cheese Wizard) was coming! PB&J was going to help pay for DaShizWiz's plane ticket in order to make the trip possible...a big gift that the whole community is thankful for! I could gush for paragraphs about how great this news was...but there's plenty of story left to be told so lets not.
Lets go back to my favorite part, the Mango side story. Mama Mango (<3) was finally convinced to let her boy once again travel across the country and stay with a stranger. Cheap airfare was found, rides were taken care of, etc. But Mango was a little boy, so he wanted some company (not really, lol) for his voyage. So Zhu(CA) and the love machine, aka Oscar Wilde, aka Hero of Love, aka Lovage(CA)...decided they wanted in on the action and came along for the plane ride. They all flew to NY airport the day OF the tournament. Needless to say, they were quite the rambunctious group of kids to take care of
Anyway, so by the time ROM was about to start, you practically had every pro that you could think of, making this truly the first national tournament since Pound 3. Ready or not (and we definitely were NOT ready), Revival of Melee was just about to start.
-Game Day-
So after weeks of stressing out about ROM, it finally was here! To my surprise, the venue was pretty awesome! They rented out plenty of tables and chairs, it just took forever to set it all up. Scar had some really awesome ideas as far as laying out the room correctly to maximize space, a skill he undoubtedly picked up from running his Smashpocalypse tourneys. There were about 27 setup, 5 of which were being used for recording matches. The coolest part was that all of the recording setups were in a row in the front of the venue, and there was plenty of room for an audience to crowd around each one.
We had lots of help, something we were all appreciative of. Alukard's girlfriend and his sister (who used to run weeklies in NYC) were a huge help. Pakman and Mogwai also stick out in my mind as being of great help come the day of the tournament. Day 1 was everything that really mattered- doubles pools, doubles, singles pools, and singles. Day 1 had about 154 people, 128 of which entered singles entrants, and about 106 doubles entrants. All in all an awesome turnout back in those days, and just the perfect amount of people for the venue size. The fact that we got the entire tournament done in one day was pure teamwork and terrific planning, most of which also was Scar's work. He created a pretty awesome and balanced bracket.
The aura in the room was unforgettable. So many people in that room never thought they would be at a national tournament for Melee ever again, and yet through the effort of each of those individuals, melee truly made a come back on that day. We didn't know what to say, but Alukard said it best. With a big grin on his face he just smiled and said "REVIVAL OF MELEE BABY!" There was a sense of pride that everyone felt as they cheered at that moment. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49A3-g4tdw )
-Brackets-
Brackets played out amazingly well. At this time, newer players like Zhu and many of the Canadians were still unrecognized talents due to smash communities being so localized for so long. (Remember, at this time Mango was only believed to be the best by west coast players.) Vwins and Bam did an awesome job in doubles, taking 3rd place. Grand finals was PC and Mango vs Jman and M2k, a pretty epic showdown. I still remember the very last game of finals, PC Chris and Mango pulled of a siick combo which today is referred to as the "Rombo Combo" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNnbmJxZTZ4 )
Singles was wayy more epic. SO many great matches, and lots of "upsets" which today all make a lot of sense. This tournament made players like Kage, Zhu, and Raynex known to the world tomorrow's pros.
....To Be Continued
