MLG Anaheim: Championship Pools, Crew Battles, Stream Schedule
MLG's eSports Report recently unveiled the pool's organization for Melee at MLG Anaheim. The following 12 players have already qualified for the Championship Bracket by either winning one of the grassroots qualifier tournaments or acquiring the most seeding points through high placings at the same events.
Pool A
- P4K EMP|Mew2King (Sheik/Marth/Fox)
- EG|PPMD (Falco/Marth)
- Leffen (Fox)
- SS|S0ft (Jigglypuff)
- VGBC|Hax (Fox)
- Remen (Falco)
Pool B
- C9|Mang0 (Fox/Falco)
- Crs.Hungrybox (Jigglypuff)
- P4K EMP|Armada (Peach)
- CT|Zero (Fox)
- VGBC|aMSa (Yoshi)
- Westballz (Falco)
These 12 will be joined by the top 4 players from the winner side of the open bracket (2 in each pool). Each final 8-player pool will be played out Round Robin style, meaning everyone in pool A plays everyone else in pool A in a best-of-5 set. The two players with the best record will advance to the "Championship" Winner Semifinals, while 3rd-8th will progress to various spots in the Championship loser bracket (the top 4 on the loser side of the open bracket will also advance to the Championship loser bracket).
Why the unorthodox format? Because forcing all of these players to fight each other in such overwhelmingly difficult pools will produce some of the best matches Melee has ever seen. Westballz and aMSa have never met in bracket, Hax and PPMD both have yet to play Leffen in tournament since the Swedish player became a Fox main, and each pool contains several sets that could easily be Grand Finals at any other tournament.
All the matches will be streamed on MLG.tv/Smash this weekend. The full Melee streaming schedule can be found here.
Crew Battles
MLG will also play host to an East Coast vs. West Coast crew battle. Crew battles are something of a lost art in the Melee community, but Anaheim 2014 will revive the classic crew rivalry that started it all:
Each side will have 40 stocks total (4 stocks x 10 players, with 2 players in each pool listed as alternates). One player from each crew is chosen to do battle, and the survivor carries over their remaining stocks in the next match against another player from the opposing group. This will continue until one crew loses all 40 stocks.
In this case, players will also be required to choose a single character before the event even begins, allowing for each crew to player-counterpick the other (for example opting to save their Peach main to take out the other crew's Ice Climbers). Crew battles are always a crowd favorite since everyone has an entire team to cheer for and regional pride is on the line.
With $15,000 in prizes and all 5 of the "Smash Gods" in attendance, MLG Anaheim is shaping up to be one of the best Melee tournaments of all time. Tune in to MLG.tv/Smash to catch all the matches this weekend, June 20-22. And again, here's the full stream schedule.
