With the continuing growth of competitive fighting games and esports in the United States and beyond, the pursuit of a career in these fields is becoming more viable every day. Even high schools such as Lambert High in Suwanee, Georgia are getting in on the action.
In this mini-documentary produced by well-known FGC cosplayer and competitor, Amanda “Romanova” Rose, she interviews a group of students from the Lambert High School Esports Club, who play competitive fighting games such as SoulCalibur VI, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and several others. In the video, they talk about how they got into competitive fighters as well as what they plan to do involving fighting games in the future, after graduation. Some of them also talk about how they balance their school life with the club activities, and what the goals of the team are in general.
I talked to Romanova about how and why she produced this video to highlight the Lambert High School Esports Club, and what the future might hold for these teens in the world of competitive gaming. You can watch the video and read the interview below.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: How and when did you come across this high school esports club in Suwanee?
Romanova: First of all, thank you for giving a chance to give these teens more exposure. They deserve it.
I came across the Lambert High School Esports Club by just attending my weeklies. Funny enough, my first encounter was their leader Ajax playing me at the Gwinnett Brawl weekly. He barely beat me, but popped off and I was like ‘Who is this young kid popping off like a maniac?’ He later came up and apologized for the excitement claiming he was actually a big fan of my streams and me playing DBFZ, and told me a bit about what they do (him and the team).
Their one member, Synebon, frequents my streams and was the one to officially invite me to come guest coach them. They have had a few people from our locals (like Max Blackwerk) come to give advice to help them get better at fighting games by sitting with their players individually and working on strengthening areas of their gameplay.
El Cubano Loco: Why did you choose to do this mini documentary on them in particular? What made them stand out and strike a chord with you?
Romanova: I chose to do this because there is always content being pumped out in the FGC and it’s amazing, but you don’t get to see too many of these inspiring tales. This may not inspire most people but seeing what these people were doing was so pure and heartwarming I wanted to share it with the FGC. I never had a team like this when I was younger. I know I would’ve felt so much better about being a nerd in high school if I had a group like this to kick it with for practices and gaming. I hope that it inspires other high schools to do the same. I know the other people who have come to coach them would agree also.
The way I did this all was using Twitch to raise the money to hire a videographer to come with me to interview them. I wanted it to be grassroots, but also good quality video. I also learned more about them while doing this doc, which made me end up including Ajax’s father in the video as well. I thought one of the most heartwarming things was seeing his dad say how his son was into esports so he ended up working on fight sticks and arcade cabs instead of cars with him and wouldn’t have it any other way. I really hope for the parents out there who see this video see how much it means to their children when they can support the hobbies their kids want to partake in, like gaming.
El Cubano Loco: Do you have any projects planned with them in the future? If so, what are they exactly?
Romanova: I do not currently have any future projects planned with them, but one big thing I’d love to do is this: some of them graduate next year, and it would be cool to raise money and send two of them to Evo next year if we could get a project going for it and to film their experience at Evo, since it will be their first time at an event of that grandeur. Another thing I’d love to do would be to send them to Combo Breaker, one of my personal favorite FGC events.
El Cubano Loco: Do these kids plan to grow their club into something bigger, and maybe branch out to compete at majors at some point as they mature?
Romanova: I think some of them want to continue to support each other even after they become alumni to the club. I really hope to see them come more often with time to the monthlies and weeklies as well. I see a lot of potential in them to grow as fighting game players as do my fellow players from the local scene here. I think the future looks bright for this group of teens.
It’s no secret that arcade business and its culture in the United States had been on life support since the ’80s to mid ’90s, with the expansion of the home console market, lack of promotion, and the advent of online play being key contributing factors. There has been a recent resurgence of arcade gaming in the form of “barcades” in various parts of the country in the last few years, but the boom can’t compare to when arcades were in their golden age.
Fighting games, of course, were a huge part of the arcade industry back in its heyday. You couldn’t go anywhere — be it a mall, liquor store, movie theater, or family amusement centers — without seeing (and probably popping quarters into) Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter, Tekken and many others. With the decline of the arcade business starting in the ’90s, however, fighting games went through a “dark age” of sorts. Sure, there were still titles being made and released in the few surviving arcades scattered throughout the United States despite the decline in the business, but none that took fighting game community or the mainstream by storm until Street Fighter IV was released in late 2008 — and not only revitalized the FGC, but I would daresay partially reignited mainstream public interest in arcades.
That being said, arcade and video games in general had long been scrutinized and looked down upon as something that was a bad influence on young kids: wrongfully blamed for violence and other woes in American society, with shooters and fighters being the genres the mainstream media and politicians targeted as the main culprits. Even though arcade and video game culture have become somewhat more accepted by the general public in the United States, it is still experiencing the same problems it faced at the beginning.
This two-part documentary titled “Why Arcades Died in America” by Jabril Power examines this period of decline in arcades with deep insight into key factors. In the first part, he explains how the mainstream media portrayed arcade and video games that came from Japan, through archived footage from various new outlets and the negative — albeit subdued — prejudiced language reporters used to convey that it was an “addiction, “invasion, or “craze.” In the second part, Jabril Power goes over the decline of malls and department stores due to big online retail websites such as Amazon taking over, and relates it to how arcade and video games are being represented in a negative light in the United States — as opposed to how Japan embraces and celebrates the culture instead.
If you ever wanted to delve deeper into the decline of US arcade culture, watch both parts of this intriguing documentary in the two videos below. This one definitely hit close to home for me — as I’m sure it will for a lot you, who grew up playing at your local arcades — and how much of an impact it had in our lives as a hobby we still enjoy now.
Team Solo Mid’s William “Leffen” Hjelte, who hails from Sweden, has had quite the journey to get to where’s he at currently at in the fighting game community. He is not only a top player in his main game (Super Smash Bros. Melee), but he has been transferring his Melee fundamentals in recent years over to other titles such as the Marvel vs. Capcom series and Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball FighterZ. Only 24-years-old, Leffen has had a lot of success in such a short amount of time and, needless to say, he isn’t going nowhere anytime soon.
In this latest mini-documentary by theScore esports, they cover Leffen’s volatile beginnings in competitive Melee — going over how he built an infamous reputation through trash talk and bad behavior both offline and online that got him banned from tournaments in Europe for a while. After that, the video goes over his reformation into a respectable player who toned down his behavior and let his skills do the work instead.
It then goes on to show how Leffen earned the title “god slayer” by beating the five “gods” of Melee and winning the toughest tournaments in both the United States and Europe throughout the years. These accomplishments eventually culminated in his biggest career win earlier this year by becoming the Melee Evo 2018 champion–the first non “god” to accomplish this feat. All this and more about Leffen in the 31-minute video above.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to help in the fight against this deadly disease (that affects thousands of people in the United States) Esports Arena Oakland along with the PandoraHouse team will be holding a tournament event this Sunday in northern California. This event will be hosting casuals and tournaments for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Tekken 7.
The tournaments are free to enter, with 100% of the venue fee and raffle ticket proceeds benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Also 25% of the proceeds from the booths and artists at the event will go to the foundation as well. On top of all of that, there will be extra prizes awarded to the the first and second place players of each game, and even more prizes for the two games with the most entrants. Registration and additional info for this event can be found by clicking on the links in the tweets and sources below.
Combat for a Cause is coming up soon!
This Sunday, October 7th, we'll be partnering with @ThePandoraHouse to help support #NBCAM!
$10 Flat Fee = Casuals + Tournament play. And it ALL goes toward charity!
Combat for a Cause: Breast Cancer Edition 2018 will be streamed live this Sunday at 11:00 AM on ThePandoraHouse’s Twitch channel. If you live in the Bay Area and happen to be a fighting game fan, come over to hang out, play, and meet some amazing people while contributing towards a good cause.
If you’ve been keeping up with Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition and the Capcom Pro Tour as of late, you’ve probably noticed that there has been one character in particular that hasn’t been placing too high at majors this season. Which character do you ask? I’m talking about my own main character since season one of SFV: Vega.
Back in the first two seasons of SFV, there were quite a few prominent players with the masked matador, such as ROM, Nemo, Jibrill, and Reiketsu. Ever since Vega was questionably weakened in season three of SFVAE, it seems these players have moved on to other characters for better results. The only notable players that have stuck with him and placed high this year are M. Lizard/Tourniquet from South Korea, and the subject of this interview, SonicBoxx’s Bruno La Grotta, a.k.a. “DoomSnake507.”
Hailing from Panama City, Panama, DoomSnake507 first made his name in SFV by being one of the highest-ranking Vega players on CFN. He then started to travel to and compete at Latin America CPT Ranking tournaments in 2017, usually placing top three or higher — with his most notable accomplishment being first place at The Fight 2017 in Bogota, Columbia against the future Capcom Cup 2017 champion, Rise Nation’s MenaRD.
Currently ranked 71st on the Global CPT Ranking and ninth on the Latin America CPT Ranking as of this writing, DoomSnake507 — who happens to run a family business that has been making windows, doors, and aluminum construction supplies for over 38 years — has proven that he can take a character who’s considered by most players to not be competitively viable and be successful both online and offline. I recently interviewed him by email to get to know a bit more about his competitive gaming origins, as well as his thoughts on Vega, SFVAE, and the Latin America CPT.
Responses edited for length and clarity.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: When was your first exposure to fighting games, and how have they impacted you? When and why did you decide you wanted to compete in Street Fighter V? Is it your first competitive game?
DoomSnake507: My first one was Street Fighter II since day one. That game and other Capcom games blew my mind. I miss the old days, not gonna lie, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy SFV. Well, this is not my first competitive game. My first ones were Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK 2. I miss everything about that game! Then I stopped competing because of my career. Then a friend of mine was playing Street Fighter III and it was strange for me at first because of the cast, but I never had the time to play that game well. Too much studies and work. Then I started playing older and new games, but only casuals. Then Street Fighter IV came up. I was so hype for that game since the first trailers! The community in Panama became alive thanks to SFIV because it was pretty much dead since the old days when we used to play CvS2, so I was mad happy in that time! Thanks to SFIV I started traveling more and playing with more international pros so it was easy for me to enter in the ring with SFV.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: What’s the competitive fighting game scene in Panama like? Is there plenty of offline competition to train with?
DoomSnake507: The fighting game scene in Panama is very small, so there is not much offline competition or training here. That may be a disadvantage, but I never give up in anything that I do, so I put myself in strict training sessions online and offline of course. Thanks to online I learned the match-ups and then applied that in the offline scene so when I travel I always try to play a lot with pros and friends. That helps me a lot too so for me there is no excuse to get better you know.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: You have proven that playing online can produce results at offline majors. In your opinion, what are some of the pros and cons of playing online and offline? Also what was your first offline tournament and how did that impact you?
DoomSnake507: Well many besides me have proven that point. For example, NuckleDu and Punk. They were online warriors like me and when they decided to travel they proved their skills on both fronts. So the pros for online is match-up knowledge and for people that work and have kids like I do, it’s better because of the time, but I always recommend offline experience for sure.
The cons would be let me see… ah yes……lag! And for offline I only get pros because it is the way you should play always. Sometimes you can play excellent online, but offline is another story, and that happens because of the lack of experience with pressure in tournaments, and if you want people to take you serious in this industry or in whatever game you play you need to prove that in the ring you know. My first offline tournament was MvC in 1998. I was so hype and nervous at the same time because a friend signed me up without telling me! The prizes at that time was money and a PSone with six games. The deal was that if I won, he keeps the PSone because I already owned one, and well, I won. That impacted me so much. I made some good friends and when the rivalries began to appear in that moment, I realized that this is what I want to do.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: You play Vega, who most players consider to be bottom three — or possibly the worst character in the current season of SFVAE. What’s your opinion of your main character and character tiers in general? Do you think he fine the way he is? What improvements would you suggest for him to be more competitive with the rest of the cast? Also, why did you choose him in the first place?
DoomSnake507: I don’t consider him the worst character in the game. I do think that he has the worst V-Triggers in the game, though. The thing is that it’s not easy winning with him, and when I do it feels so good because there is no excuse, but he lacks very important tools like better anti-airs , no wake-up options , better V-Reversals, and much more, but he has good walk speed, pokes that are not the best ones but still good, and a command grab which is so important in this game [laughs]. I love Vega’s style in this game because he is not a charge character. In this season he’s missing so many things that I would liked to have fixed. For example, the LK Rolling Crystal Flash loop. Please, Capcom. He needs that back. Also the EX RCF in season one was so good. The standing fierce in claw stance needs more range, please. Better V-Triggers like having two uses for VTI and V-Trigger II. Only one parry? Seriously? Better anti-airs and of course the V-Skill in Season One was great. I don’t know what they where thinking nerfing it. The V-Skill needs to have more invincible startup frames and last but not least, the EX Flying Barcelona. They nerfed that too! Why? He needs his tools back! My top 10 characters is no surprise to anyone: Cammy, Akuma, Cammy, Guile, Cammy, Ibuki, Cammy, Menat, Cammy, and Cammy.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: You told me before this interview that you play Birdie as well. Have you considered maining him or another character entirely for more consistent results?
DoomSnake507: I always like Vega’s style, but I never used him in the past because he was a charge character. When I tried him in Season One I loved his speed and his moves. It’s very important that you really like the character, because for me it’s so boring picking up a top tier character just because they are strong, but you don’t even like or enjoy playing them you know. In Season One and Two, I was using Cammy in casuals only for fun because she’s got all the tools and is very easy to use. I was beating everyone, but I was not enjoying the game because for me she is so boring. But I respect people that use Cammy because I have known friends that have mained her since the old days, and that’s not their fault that the character is so strong. People that have known me since Season One my know that my first characters were Vega and Birdie. I dropped Birdie (at first) because I took most of the time to learn Vega and I felt more hype for him. Then the nerfs began to destroy my main character every time a new season was released and Guile enters. That was for me my worst match-up besides Mika and others. In Season Three I tried to look for some counter picks for Guile and I saw my friend Mena beating the Guiles. Since I used to play Birdie in the past, I began to try him against Guiles. I know it’s still a hard match-up, but it’s much easier than playing with Vega. So for now I am using Birdie for three match-ups only and the rest with Vega for now.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: Your sponsor, SonicBoxx, has enabled you to travel and compete more than ever this year. What has this new experience been like for you? Which tournaments have been your favorites this year and why?
DoomSnake507: Thanks to SonicBoxx, this year I was able to travel a lot and get more experience than ever. I got no regrets since competing is the thing I love. You always need to do what you like the most to be happy with yourself and with the support of my family it’s way better. I always thanks God for this opportunity. My top events are Combo Breaker because of the amazing 24-hour venue. Game Over in the Dominican Republic because the production was so amazing. I need to go next year again. Evo for sure with all the amazing players, and it’s the hardest and the most important tournament for me. Also First Attack. I really enjoyed Puerto Rico and the energy there. It’s such a blast!
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: What do you think of the current state of SFV? Do you think it’s heading in the right direction at this point in terms of character balance? Also, what is your opinion of the Capcom Pro Tour’s ranking points system? Do you feel like it’s harder to earn points to qualify for Capcom Cup compared to previous years? Do you feel CPT events in Latin America and other regions should distribute more points to the players who place high? Why or why not?
DoomSnake507: I don’t like the current state of SFV because the online experience is still not great. The servers are awful and I think they’re buffing and nerfing characters randomly. Sometimes I don’t know what Capcom is thinking. I know that it’s not an easy task, but instead of nerfing they should buff the weak characters. All Street Fighter games have trouble with balance. I’ve known that since my old school days, but in this game you don’t have many defensive options. Since Season Three started, the balance for me is ridiculously bad. Some characters here have strong comeback factor thanks to V-Triggers, such as Akuma’s and Ibuki’s. You can play the whole match almost perfectly and then they activate the V-Trigger, get one hit, and you are done.
I don’t like the ranking points system this year. They have been changing it since Season One, so we need to see more points in the future. It is harder to get points than last year because in my case there aren’t so many Premier events like in the USA, Europe, and Asia. For the Latin community it’s so unfair. The fact that Mena won Capcom Cup 2017, I think that Capcom should have given Latin America way more Premiers. We are a strong community with great players, but without any support we don’t have the chance to show that you know. I feel that we need more Premier events than ranking because it’s frustrating that some people travel so far for a ranking event, get one point for ninth place! Other thing that I don’t agree with is the online CPT events. If Capcom doesn’t have good servers, why do they waste their time doing that? Meanwhile so many players are saving money to travel and doing some type of sacrifice to get attend these events. Other people just wait for the online event in their houses, play laggy matches, and lose with teleport dashes or get disconnected like I do in the last online event. I think they need to change the format for the online event. For example, who ever wins the online CPT gets a flight for the next CPT event. Getting points with laggy matches is so unfair, and it’s anti-professional in my opinion.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: For new players wanting to travel and compete for the first time at a major, what kind of advice would you give them?
DoomSnake507: You need to believe in yourself first of all. Take advice, learn to listen, learn from your defeats, train a lot, and don’t panic or get frustrated when you are losing. That happens at the beginning of this road that you decide to take since your mind is adapting to a different scene. You need to get use to it and you should be fine in no time. I have been there too, but never quit cause many people wanna see you there if they start seeing you like a threat.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: Are there any other fighting games you are interested or have dabbled in? Any non-fighting games you play?
DoomSnake507: Right now I am focusing only on SFVAE. I don’t got much time because of work and my kids so I use the little time I have to train. I do play non-fighting games. My list can be eternal, but right now I’m playing God of War, some games on the 3DS in the long-hour flights most of the time and Nintendo Switch games as well. Shenmue is one of my favorite series and I finished both parts on the Sega Dreamcast. I enjoy playing it again and to show it to my son, too. I am also a huge fan of the Metal Gear Solid games. That’s why my handle ends with “Snake.” Waiting for Final Fantasy VII remake and Kingdom Hearts 3 and I also enjoy the Resident Evil games. I’m so happy for Resident Evil 2 remake! One of my hobbies since I was a kid was collecting everything that has to do with gaming, and I continue with that tradition.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: Which tournaments will you be attending for the rest of the year? What does the future hold for you beyond 2018 in your pro-gaming life, as well your life outside of it?
DoomSnake507: The rest of the year I will be attending all of the Latin America events in Chile, DR, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil for now. No US events until next year, but if I make good points in the rest of the events, I’ll see you at Capcom Cup 2018 then! I wanna enter so bad this year, so I am working hard for that.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: Anything else you want to say in this interview for people to get to know you better? Any special shout-out or thanks?
DoomSnake507: Thank you for this interview. Thanks to God for giving me this opportunity, and thanks to SonicBoxx for believing in me too. For the people who don’t know me I am a very easygoing person so you can talk to me anytime or ask me about anything. If you need any advice or support as long as I can I will give you a hand. Shout out to the community of Panama and all of my friends that I make thanks to my travels. Love you all and they know who they are. To my special family that always follows my steps in every event. Without them I am nothing. I love you so much. My two kids — they are everything to me. To my wife who supports me so much. Love you, babe, and shout-out to the worst player in Panama, Keeper507. He knows why I am saying that! And yes, I said worst [laughs].
If you want to know more about SonicBoxx’s Bruno “DoomSnake507” La Grotta, follow him on his Twitter page.
The northern California competition is heating up once again for the Red Bull Conquest Qualifier, which will be streaming live from Esports Arena Oakland later today at 12:00 PM PST. The featured games on hand will be Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, and Guilty Gear Xrd: Rev 2.
With over 200+ registrants competing across all three games, this is by far the largest Red Bull Qualifier event this year so far. Notable names attending today will be RBlSnake Eyez, CYG BSTlPR Balrog, TempolAlex Myers, PHlLPN, XSK_Samurai, Jimmy J. Tran, Ghodere, MClGcYoshi13, Ultima, and more. All of these players will be competing not only for cash and prizes, but first place for each game earns the players a spot for the National Finals that take place in Washington, DC.
NorCal, you did the thing! The Red Bull Conquest Qualifier at @ESAOakland is now the RBC Qualifier with the most registrants thus far this year, and registration is still open until 10pm tonight! https://t.co/nNrtx4Zfpp
If you’re in the Bay Area, spectating is free for this event. Come by to check out some of the most amazing high level fighting game action in the state! If you can’t make it out, don’t worry — you can still catch the stream below:
It’s happening, folks. One of the games that helped shaped the Evolution tournament series into what it is today is back for another round. Ultra Street Fighter IV is back as a side tournament at Evo 2018 this weekend!
This will take place in the BYOC area of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV this Saturday at 1:30 PM. It’s a $5 entry with 70/20/10 pot split, and it is a double-elimination format. The game will be played on PlayStation 4, and there is a 128-player cap.
Currently, 110 players have already signed up on Challonge, which include some big names such as CYG BST|PR Balrog, Brenttiscool, Iansanity, Wolfkrone, Vicious, CastBlanka, and many more. If you want to compete, be sure to sign up now since slots are filling up fast. There might be on-site sign-ups an hour before the tournament begins if certain players don’t show, but no guarantees, since this might hit the 128-player cap soon.
This is a community-driven event and since it was last minute, there might not be a live stream for this game, so if you’re at Evo and want to spectate some high-level USFIV action, be sure to hit up the BYOC area. I’ll be competing myself, and helping out with this event by recording some matches to upload after Evo 2018 is over. Stay tuned for more details if anything new comes up!
There has been a change in the winds in the competitive world of Super Smash Bros. Melee since Evo 2017. Sure, it’s still usually the same top players that win or place high consistently during the year, and there has been little change in the character tiers and overall meta. However, certain players that have long stood in the shadow of the “gods” of Melee for for years have risen up to the challenge of trying to dethrone these seemingly unbeatable players and becoming… demi-gods? God-slayers? Or maybe even new “gods” of Melee themselves. Since the current Melee gods are well-established already, lets instead take a look at the new blood, as well as seasoned top players who I feel have shaken up the old Melee guard and how they will fare going into Evo 2018 this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Plup Club President: Justin “Plup” McGrath Sponsor/Team: Panda Global Gaming Characters: Sheik/Zelda, Fox, Samus
Shortly after Evo 2017, something significant happened. PG|Plup — who placed fourth at Evo 2015, third at Evo 2016, fifth at Evo 2017, and ranked fifth on SSBMRank in 2017 — took home his first major tournament win at DreamHack Atlanta 2017, where he overcame stiff competition which included momentous victories over two of the Melee “gods,” Team Liquid’s Juan “Hungrybox” DeBeidma and Echo Fox’s Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman with his dynamic Sheik and Fox play. Needless to say, this was a huge moment in the Melee community seeing as how this was an accomplishment that hadn’t been done in years during the game’s competitive lifespan.
At The Big House 7 in Detroit, Michigan, Plup ascended to “god-slayer” status with his biggest win yet over arguably the best Melee player in the world at the time and one of his tournament demons — Alliance’s two-time Evo champion Adam “Armada” Lindgren from Sweden — besting him 3-1 in winners semis, marking this occasion for Plup as one of the few players who has defeated every Melee god. He would then go on to defeat Armada’s fellow countryman and “god killer,” Team SoloMid’s William “Leffen” Hjelte in an intense winners finals set 3-2 to advance to grand finals. Sadly, that’s where his insane run would end at the hands of his fellow Floridian and one of the Melee gods, Liquid|Hungrybox coming from the losers bracket being sent there by Leffen earlier in top eight winners semis. Plup would fall convincingly 3-1 in both sets to Hungrybox which to the dismay of many in the audience at The Big House 7, felt like he had stolen Plup’s first super major win where all the Melee gods were present.
Then at the next big super major Genesis 5 in Oakland, California earlier this year, the unthinkable happened. For the first time ever in the history of the event, grand finals was not between Cloud 9’s Joseph “Mango” Marquez and Alliance’s Armada and instead saw a different outcome with Plup and Hungrybox facing each other in grand finals once again — eliminating both of the usual suspects along the way. This time, Plup would barely emerge victorious over Hungrybox after losing the first set 3-0 very quickly and then barely squeaked by with a 3-2 win that came down to the last stock!
With his first super major win under his belt, Plup had cemented himself as possibly one of the new Melee gods and the rest of 2018 has been the year of the “Plup Club” as they say in the Melee community. He has either won, placed second, or stayed within the top five at every event so far this year. While being consistent is a good sign for him going into Evo 2018, the events where he has placed second he has lost to the same opponent every time: Hungrybox. At some of these tournaments, Plup would send his fellow Florida player to losers only for Hungrybox to comeback against him in grand finals in quick and decisive fashion out of seemingly nowhere. During these grand finals sets, Plup who is usually calm and collected, starts to crack and his emotions get the best of him due to the frustrating nature of Hungrybox’s defensive playstyle with Jigglypuff. As a result, Plup starts to become impatient and overextends himself when he shouldn’t.
Plup is extremely capable of winning Evo 2018 with his meticulous balance of both offense and defense with Sheik and Fox — and busting out his amazing Samus when he needs to as a surprise pick. He has proven that he can beat everyone in the world at the highest level of competitive Melee. Plup just needs to overcome not only Hungrybox and his Jigglypuff, but also himself if he wants to win Evo 2018 and erase any doubts of him being one of the new Melee gods.
The Premier Fox Specialist: William “Leffen” Hjelte Sponsor/Team: Red Bull, Team SoloMid Characters: Fox, Mewtwo
One of the best, if not, the best Fox main in the world and the original “god-slayer,” TSM|Leffen has come a long way since he started competing in Melee in 2011 and worked hard for it despite being labeled a “villain” in the community for quite some time before cleaning up his act in the last few years. Leffen has since learned to embrace his villainous role and even though his behavior is nowhere near as toxic as it once was (look up evidence.zip), he is not afraid to speak his mind and talk trash once in a while to rile up the competition before attending his next big major.
It shows a lot of confidence in his skill and Leffen has been backing it up for years taking sets from various top players as well as the Melee gods themselves and winning tournaments when they’re all in attendance — establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with his optimal Fox play. If it weren’t for his visa issues from late 2015 to early 2016 that stopped him from traveling to the United States to compete, Leffen would be in contention for top three Melee players in the world right now.
Due to that huge setback, Leffen has struggled to place consistently at every major and super major he has attended from 2016-2017. For every dominant first place or top three finish Leffen would earn, he would then tie for fifth or only get top 16 at the next event. When Leffen is laser-focused, he seems unstoppable. However, if he is not on point due to outside factors, Leffen can lose to just about anyone in the SSBMRanked top 16 or lower.
Thankfully, 2018 has been good for Leffen so far. He has been placing top five or higher consistently in every major tournament he has attended this year — taking first place at Valhalla and Flatiron 3, strong third place finishes at Genesis 5 and Smash ‘N’ Splash 6, and tying for 5th at Smash Summit 6 along the way.
Just like Plup though, Leffen has been consistently losing to Hungrybox when they meet up in top eight finals of every tournament they attend. Each of their sets has been back and forth throughout 2018, but Hungrybox seems to edge him out at the end. Their rivalry with each encounter has only intensified with both players talking trash and hurling insults at each on social media and at the events themselves.
Leffen is one of the hardest-working players in Melee and has the intelligence and skill with Fox to beat anyone when he’s fully in the zone. Hwoever, he has lost to the other gods such as Mango, Mew2King, and Armada — as well as other players ranked below him on a bad day, so he’ll have to focus on getting through those opponents first before even thinking about taking out Hungrybox, who is by far his biggest obstacle this year. He did sent his rival to losers at Low Tier City 6 this past weekend only to fall to him again in grand finals 3-1 and 3-0. Hopefully Leffen can take his experience from last weekend and apply what he learned this weekend.
I can see Leffen winning Melee at Evo 2018, or at least placing in the top three if he can get past Hungrybox somehow. He is also competing in Dragon Ball FighterZ and even though he has stated on Twitter that he will be more focused on Melee, his strength in being adept at multiple games might undoubtedly divide his attention which can bite him when playing Melee. In any case, I predict Leffen doing extremely well in both games this weekend in Las Vegas. [Editor’s note: Due to conflicts in pool schedules, it seems that Leffen may actually bow out of Dragon Ball FighterZ completely.]
A relatively new, but seasoned player from Florida in the Smash community since 2012, Wizzrobe is not only arguably the best Captain Falcon player in the world, but he is also an extremely consistent player — usually placing top eight and top 16 in every tournament he competes in. He was ranked eighth overall in SSBMRank for 2017 and has beaten many notable players including two of the Melee gods who also are from the same home state, Hungrybox and Mew2King.
So far in 2018, Wizzy is still continuing to be consistent, and has had some good placings since last month heading into Evo this weekend. He got fourth place at CEO 2018, first place at Smashadelphia 2018, and most notably taking first place beating fellow Floridian Hungrybox in two sets coming the losers bracket at Optic Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. An impressive feat for anyone not ranked in the top six.
Wizzrobe has a lot of momentum heading into Evo 2018, but his character choice of Captain Falcon, despite being one of the best players with him, holds him back in a lot of character matchups such as Fox, Falco, and Sheik. He also tends to lose to the same top players who are ranked higher than him such as Hungrybox, Mew2King, Leffen, Plup, Mango, and Armada more than he beats them — with the last two players being the ones he’s never beaten before in tournament. I can see Wizzy placing top 16, and maybe even top eight as he has been doing for the last couple of years — but if he really wants to win, he needs to dig deep to conquer his demons and maybe make some more risky plays since he usually plays too safe with Captain Falcon at times.
I would advise to maybe have a secondary character — but I’ve only seen Wizzy play Captain Falcon, so he’s just going to have to rough it out with him in the meantime. If he wins, Wizzy would be the first Captain Falcon in years to win a super major, and that’s something to definitely be excited about this weekend.
The Diamond in the Rough: Zain Naghmi Sponsor/Team: Panda Global Gaming Characters: Marth
To say PG|Zain is a new player on the rise is a huge understatement. First appearing on the scene only three years ago in 2015, he went from being ranked 66th in 2016 and then rose to almost cracking the top 20 in 2017 in a short amount of time on SSBMRank. He has had some multiple upset victories against some of the best pros in Melee who are ranked higher and more experienced than him such as his teammate Plup, CLG|SFAT, TSM|Leffen, Shroomed, PewPewU, La Luna, HugS, EMG|nOne, Lucky, and most recently and notably, C9|Mango, whom he has defeated twice now as of this writing with his insanely mobile and punishing Marth play.
His best performance so far was at Smash Summit 6 this past May, where he defeated some of those players I just mentioned including Plup and Mango — losing only to Mew2King and Armada, to finish respectively at third place to the surprise of everyone. Since then, Zain has consistently placed within the top six or top eight with his lowest placings being only top 12 or top 16.
Zain is coming in red hot to Evo 2018 this weekend, where he is probably expected to do well. Taking into consideration how he was invited to Smash Summit this early in his career to practice with a handful of the best players in Melee, Zain was able to learn and absorb a lot of things from these pros in a short amount of time in that house. That being said, he’s still too green, and he might run into other players who are up-and-coming and they could in turn score an upset victory over him. Zain is still not that experienced after all, and he has lot more room to grow with each tournament he attends beyond Evo. I can see him making top 32 or top 16, but he’ll really need to push himself and remain focused if hes want to crack top eight and possibly win the whole tournament which would be one of the biggest surprises in Melee history.
These are only a few players who have been making their mark in 2018 in Super Smash Bros. Melee. There are so many other amazing players that have been stepping their game up to shake up the status quo. Will the old “gods” maintain the old guard, or will the fresh new blood usher in a new era of Melee? Be sure to tune in this weekend to watch some of the best Melee players in the world compete for the title of Evo 2018 Champion.
You read that right, folks. Level Up|Series, Esports Arena Oakland, and PandoraHouse are teaming up to bring you the latest weekly fighting game stream in northern California with the debut of Wednesday Night Fights x ESA Oakland. With over 120 players registered for tonight’s grand opening, there is going to be plenty of heated competition across games such as Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Guilty Gear Xrd: REV 2, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late(st), Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Injustice 2.
You can read the series of Twitter announcements below that have led up to tonight’s big event:
#WNF 2018 x Oakland Grand Opening Episode 1 is tonight! Over 120 players have already pre-registered!
We are proud to announce our partnership with @levelupseries as NorCal's #WNF Variety Stream Team! Thank you to everyone who supported #CATA. We look forward to this transition!
There will also be plenty of notable players attending tonight’s event such as Tempo|Alex Myers, PH|LPN, NO RESPECT, BC|Apologyman, CLN|Yohosie, XSK_Samurai, UYU|P. Ling, and many more. You can check out the fierce NorCal competition in the stream links below when it starts at 8:00 PM PT. Follow your favorite players in each game to see how they’re doing in the brackets at smash.gg!
Hot on the heels of Nintendo’s gameplay reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at the E3 2018 last week, it looks like Smash fans will have another golden opportunity to try out the latest entry in the franchise.
The CEO Twitter page has announced that Nintendo will have a playable demo of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at their booth next weekend at CEO 2018, which is taking place at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. You can read the announcement tweet below:
CEO Gaming is extremely excited to announce that #SmashBrosUltimate on Nintendo Switch will be playable at the @NintendoAmerica booth at CEO 2018!
— #CEO2018 on June 29 – July 1 (@CEOGaming) June 19, 2018
This is good on Nintendo’s part, since they want their fans to try out SSBU ahead of the December 2018 launch to get as much feedback as possible — so they can make the necessary improvements and adjustments before the holiday season. Since the Super Smash Bros. series has a huge scene in Florida, you better believe the lines to try out the newest entry will be very, very long.
Today is the last day to register online for CEO 2018, so if you are still planning on attending one of the biggest fighting game tournaments of the year, sign up tonight at smash.gg before midnight. If not, there will still be “emergency” registration at the door.
#WNFOAKLAND (@embersandroses) 
!! 