As 2015 comes to a close, one major international Melee event remains: DreamHack Winter 2015. After a successful first Melee event in London, England in September, DreamHack is back with more talent, commentators, and more hype. For the world's best, this will be the tournament for them to end off 2015 successfully, and show their best before Genesis 3. This article will cover all of the storylines going into DreamHack, as well as where to watch the tournament and the schedule.
Clash of the Titans
DreamHack Winter 2015 will be the first tournament since the Smash Summit earlier this month to feature at least of four of the elusive "Big Six". In attendance are arguably the top four players right now - Armada, Leffen, Mango, and Hungrybox, all of which could take the entire tournament.
Arguably the favorite to win it all, Armada will be looking to continue his post-EVO undefeated streak at DreamHack. Going off recent results, DreamHack Winter may very well be a great close to Armada's 2015. After beating Leffen 6-0 at Eclipse, Armada now has a winning record against the rest of the top 6 in 2015. Furthermore, Armada has beaten Hungrybox, Mango, and Leffen at The Big House 5, Smash Summit, and Eclipse respectively. However, this doesn't mean first place will come easy for Armada. Hungrybox took a set from the Swede at FC Return earlier this year, and went to game 5 with him and EVO and The Big House 5. Leffen has gone head to head with Armada this year, although Armada slightly has the edge over Leffen in sets 8-7. Finally, Mango even took Armada's Peach to game 5 at the Smash Summit with Falco. That performance surprised many as Mango has traditionally elected to play Fox against Armada's Peach.Mango will be one of the wildcards of the tournaments, after having a shaky 2015 overall. An often overlooked aspect of Mango's play is his character choice. He has recently expressed that dual-maining Fox and Falco is more difficult than it seems, and that he generally performs better when he only has to focus on playing one character. This has shown as he play, as he did very well at Paragon LA 2015 and Smash Summit only playing Falco. However, if Mango meets with Hungrybox in bracket, it is almost certain he will play Fox. Mango's Fox has historically dominated Hungrybox in sets, but the fierce rivalry between the two is changing, as Hungrybox has taken sets from Mango this year at EVO 2015 and The Big House 5. Lastly, Mango vs Leffen is a match that is long overdue. The last time the two faced off was WTFox in July, where Leffen won 3-0. However, much has changed since then and the match is anyone's game at this point.
Hungrybox will be looking to continue his very consistent 2015 at DreamHack. Armada, Leffen, and Mango generally have the edge over Hungrybox in 2015, although the Jigglypuff specialist has kept it very close this year. Perhaps Hungrybox's biggest advantage at DreamHack is the usage of the PAL version of Melee, where Fox is slighty lighter, has a shorter up-special, and has a weaker up-smash. This will help Hungrybox tremendously as he almost exclusively loses to top Foxes, namely Armada, Mango, and Leffen. With Fox's nerfs and Hungrybox's impressive recent results, DreamHack Winter 2015 may just be Hungrybox's tournament.Finally there is Leffen, who is not only defending his country, but his own pride as one of the world's best. During the early summer, Leffen cemented himself as the most dominant player at the time, winning every national until EVO and defeating Armada, Hungrybox, and Mango in the process. His dominance waned after EVO, although he still won HTC Throwdown very convincingly. DreamHack Winter will be the first tournament since HTC Throwdown where Leffen will get to play with more than one god. Although he lost to Armada at Eclipse 6-0, Leffen will not settle for nothing less than 1st place at DreamHack Winter.
America's Best
Outside of the "Big 6", there is a myriad of top talent coming over from the US to Sweden for DreamHack Winter, including Axe, Westballz, Plup, Shroomed, SFAT, S2J, MacD, HugS, Duck, and Wizzrobe.
Axe is hot off his strong performance at Eclipse, where he turned many heads by taking Armada's Peach to game 5, a matchup that is an uphill battle not only for Pikachu, but and uphill battle against a player of Armada's caliber. In PAL, Pikachu is one of the few un-nerfed top characters, so matchups such as Fox and Sheik are made much easier for Axe. If DreamHack Winter is like the rest of Axe's 2015, a solid top 8 placing should come easily.
Westballz will be looking to have another successful DreamHack after placing 2nd at DreamHack London. At his peak, he may be able to go head to head with the top 6. Westballz is often susceptible to upsets, although he has become more consistent. Recent results such as 4th at Paragon LA 2015, 2nd at Dreamhack London, and 5th at The Big House all show that the technical Falco is set for success at Dreamhack Winter.
Plup will be one of the top players to look out for at DreamHack Winter. Because Sheik's down-throw is changed in PAL and Plup heavily relies on Sheik's down-throw tech chase, he has said that he will play more Samus in Europe. At Eclipse, he even showed off his pocket Fox, which could be an option in certain matchups. Despite that, Plup's Sheik saw more success against Ice at Eclipse than his Samus. With this in mind, more than one character may just be what Plup needs to continue his already impressive 2015.
Both NorCal and SoCal will be coming in strong as always. In addition to Mango and Westballz, top SoCal players S2J, MacD, and HugS will be in attendance. Recently joining Melee it on Me, S2J will be looking to continue his rapid improvement. With impressive results such as 9th at The Big House 5 and 2nd at #SmashTheRecord2015, the flashy Falcon is looking to have another deep tournament run at DreamHack Winter. Similarly, MacD will be looking to show his refinements in his Peach. He has been making waves this year, now being able to compete with all SoCal's best and having strong national placings. Meanwhile, veteran Samus main HugS is also ready to show his improvements from this year, as evidenced by his plethora of strong national finishes such as 9th at EVO and SSC, and 5th at #SmashTheRecord2015.
Two of NorCal's top three will be giving it their all at DreamHack Winter -- Shroomed and SFAT. Both have had fairly consistent national performances, with Shroomed placing top 8 at nearly every national except for EVO, and SFAT placing 7th at The Big House 5. Sheik's PAL changes will not be as big of a deal to Shroomed, as he uses the down-throw tech chase less than Plup. Additionally, Shroomed has shown that he can compete with Axe/Westballz/Plup, beating Plup/Axe at The Big House 5 and Westballz at Smash Summit. In addition to Shroomed, top Fox main and good friend SFAT will be looking to place top 8 at Dreamhack. He has recently shown he can compete with the best, beating Axe at Smash Summit and nearly making top 8 there. With all this in mind, DreamHack Winter may well be another successful tournament for NorCal.
Hailing from the Midwest, Duck will be at DreamHack Winter to continue to prove himself as on of the Samus mains around. He has been improving very quickly this year, and it has shown in his results, as he placed 13th at EVO and 9th at The Big House 5. Additionally, he has big wins of players such as Westballz and SFAT in 2015. A top 8 finish is what Duck will need at DreamHack to solidify himself as a top 20 threat.
Currently making big strides, Wizzrobe will be at DreamHack Winter. He has recently had many great performances, taking Mew2King to game 5 at MLG World Finals 2015 to place 4th, and solidly placing 2nd at Tipped Off 11. Along with Gahtzu and Gravy, the young star has been pushing the limits of Falcon. DreamHack Winter may just be a great finish to Wizzrobe's fantastic 2015.
Europe's Time to Shine
Because most of the Melee scene is located in North America, the top Europeans rarely get the same exposure as the West. DreamHack Winter will be the first major international tournament where the American competition travels to Europe to face all of the top European talent, rather than the opposite. Aside from Armada and Leffen, Europe's best are ready to show the world what they're made of on the grand stage.
From Germany, there's top 20 ranked player and familiar face, Ice. Overall, he has had a good 2015, placing 9th at EVO and The Big House 5, as well as taking 3rd place at DreamHack London after being double eliminated by Westballz. In spite of that, he managed to pull out a set win in his rematch against Westballz at Helix. At Tipped Off, Ice had a rather disappointing performance, losing to a Jigglypuff player named Envy in pools. One of Ice's biggest weaknesses over the years has been his tendency to struggle with unfamiliar matchups. Aside from his loss to Envy at TO11, Ice also got dominated by Axe at Eclipse. For Ice to have a successful run at DreamHack Winter, he will not only have to be playing at his peak, but be ready for some of his weaker matchups. Also from Germany is Marth main reaper (without the capital R), who is quickly rising to become one of Europe's biggest threats. With wins over Ice, Professor Pro, Tekk, Zgetto, and more, he only looks to continue that success at DreamHack Winter.
Although Armada and Leffen are Sweden's best known players, the country has a very dense talent pool. Younger brother and static teammate of Armada, Sheik main Android has shown fast growth this year, becoming a top 10 player an Europe and putting himself on the board as one of the top Sheik's in the world. After finishing top 8 and DreamHack London and Eclipse, Android is here to show that he is much more than Armada's teammate. Joining Android is Calle W, the #4 ranked player in Sweden and a long time Falco main. Calle W is not extremely well known to the NA community, but he has shown he is still one of Sweden's best, defeating Android at various locals and having good placings at European tournaments.
The oldest Smash scene in Europe and one of the best countries in the continent, the Netherlands will be coming in strong with Amsah and Jeapie at DreamHack Winter. Once considered the best European player and one of the best in the world, Amsah will compete with many of America's best for the first time since 2012. Although he has been surpassed by players such as Armada and Leffen, he is still ranked #5 in Europe, and it shows in his results. He has remained very consistent, placing 5th at B.E.A.S.T. V, 2nd at HFLAN Melee Edition, 2nd at JST7, and 5th at DreamHack London, all over players such as Zhu, Professor Pro, Tekk, and more. Recently, he won Avalon M over reaper, Tekk, Zgetto, and Jeapie. With his solid fundamentals and excellent mindset, Amsah is ready to show the world his incredible play again. Representing the Netherlands with Amsah is Jeapie, A flashy Falcon who has solid results and wins. He had a impressive performance at Super Nebulous 3, getting 7th place over many top American players, in additional to his great results in Europe.
Representing Great Britain, up and coming Fox main and Project M fan favorite Professor Pro will be also be defending Europe at DreamHack Winter. He has seen some great results recently, including 5th at Tipped Off 11 and 9th at Paragon LA 2015, where he had a notable win against Hungrybox at the latter. However, Professor Pro will not be the only one representing Great Britain. Although his tournament attendance has slowed down this year, British fan favorite Fuzzyness will be playing at Dreamhack. He seems to be semi-retired, but he has shown he can go head to head with the best. Alpha Dash will be proving himself as the top Ice Climbers main at Dreamhack Winter. Getting 13th at Dreamhack London, the solid ICs only looks to repeat his success. Additionally, Britain's best Peach Vanity Angel will continue his success at DreamHack Winter after a strong 13th place finish at DreamHack London.France will be coming in strong at DreamHack Winter. Leading the pack is the rising Jigglypuff main, Tekk. He had a deep run at DreamHack London, defeating reaper, Android, and Amsah to get 4th place. Additionally, he beat Zhu at HFLAN Melee Edition and even took a game off Lucky at Heir II the Throne. Many eyes will be on Tekk as he will be looking to replicate his DreamHack London success on a much larger international stage. Joining Tekk are top French Smashers Mahie, Baxon, and Aether. Mahie and Baxon have both had strong showing recently as the two got 9th at Heir II the Throne and DreamHack London respectively. On the other side, Aether plays a very unconventional character - Link. Despite the fact that Link isn't the an amazing pick in Melee, Aether is a master of the character and will be looking to show his Link prowess at DreamHack Winter.
Solely representing Spain's top players, Overtriforce will be competing with the world's best once again at DreamHack Winter. The Spainish Sheik suffered a surprising upset to Iori's Donkey Kong at Tipped Off 11, but Overtriforce has had very strong performances otherwise. He has remained consistent in Europe, placing 4th at Helix and 5th at DreamHack London and Eclipse. DreamHack Winter may just be the tournament where Overtriforce will get to show that he is still an international threat.
Teams: Brothers, Pokémon, Norwalk and more
Given recent results, teams at DreamHack Winter will be very interesting. Typically Armada and Android would be the favorite to win, considering their excellent synergy and their 1st place finish at The Big House 5. However, they finished 3rd at Eclipse, losing to Plup/Axe and Leffen/Ice. Arguably considered the best team in the world, the Lindgren Brothers will have many challengers at DreamHack London. Fellow Europeans and top team Leffen and Ice are aiming for 1st place. They have shown that they are a world class team, defeating Armada and Android multiple times and having great international results. An unlikely team, Hungrybox and Axe have teamed up at a supermajor for the first time. With their unconventional team choice of Jigglypuff and Pikachu, the two skilled masters of their characters may have it in them to take home 1st place. Additionally, Norwalk residents and good friends Mango and S2J will be playing to win and to entertain. Last time they teamed together at a national, they got 5th at CEO 2015. Although they don't team together too often, Mango and S2J's excellent speed and overall play could net them impressive results at DreamHack Winter. Shroomed and MacD will be one of the many teams at DreamHack Winter to look out for. The two are masters of teams, seeing first place finishes at nationals with Armada and Leffen respectively. Lastly, Florida is making its way to DreamHack with Plup and Wizzrobe. They are both good friends and practice partners, which could spell success for them at DreamHack Winter. Other notable teams at DreamHack Winter include SFAT/Reno, Amsah/Jeapie, Professor Pro/Tekk, Baxon/Overtriforce, and Duck/Moose.Stream/Schedule
The entirety of Melee at DreamHack Winter 2015 will be streamed on Twitch at DreamHackSmash by Liva of GeekyGoonSquad, and the $1,000 money match between Leffen and SFAT will be streamed on GeekyGoonSquad if it does happen. The tournament will begin on Thursday, November 26th and end on Saturday, November 28th. Here is the schedule (all times in CET):
Thursday, November 26th
14:00 – Teams Wave 1 start
16:30 – Teams Wave 2 start
20:00 – Teams bracket top 32 up to top 4
22:00 – Projected end of top 32
Friday, November 27th
14:00 – Singles Wave 1 start
16:15 – Singles Wave 2 start
18:30 – Singles Wave 3 start
20:45 – Singles Wave 4 start
23:00 – Projected end of Singles Pools
Saturday, November 28th
14:00 – Singles bracket top 64 up to top 8
17:30 – Projected end of top 64
19:00 – Teams top 4 start
20:15 – Teams top 4 ends
20:30 – Singles top 8 start
23:00 – Singles top 8 ends
Enjoy DreamHack Winter 2015!
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