The first Blacklisted was arguably one of the most important East Coast Project M events. It came when the community needed it most, and was hugely successful in providing a fantastic tournament and stream experience.
In early 2015, VideoGameBootCamp announced that they would no longer be streaming Project M, as continued support for the game would have likely ended in legal action against them. VGBC had previously streamed the most popular Project M local every week, PM @ Xanadu, which often reached more than 3,000 concurrent viewers. This started a trend of larger streamers dropping Project M; streaming it not only chased away sponsors, but could have potentially ended in legal action.
To be blunt, Project M had been blacklisted.
BLACKLISTED 1
A few months after, events team Smashing Grounds made an announcement: they would be hosting Blacklisted, a Project M-only major featuring heavy hitters from all over the East Coast, and even a few from the Midwest. Up until this point, any large Project M tournaments were simply featured at Super Smash Bros. Melee and Smash Wii U tournaments, but Blacklisted was different. It was a self-proclaimed “Project M Extravaganza” set to be held in August of 2015
On the date of the tournament, August 16, 136 Project M players arrived at Massachusetts-based arcade Game Underground to compete. By the end of the day, the 22 pools were whittled down to 16 players who were to compete on the second day of the event, and the Salty Suite had begun, with the highlight for many being the Falcon ditto between Anthony Gallo and Sokcorey “Sora” Chan.
Day two began with doubles, which was won by Arjun “Junebug” Rao and Hat, with Brian “DVD” Sherbert and Pete “Envy” Grieco placing second, and Jake “Frozen” Somma and SteroKiDD taking home third. The singles bracket ended shortly after, with Junebug taking first, Darc taking second and Frozen taking third. Although this top 3 went as seeded, the event’s top 8 had most of the venue sitting in the center of the room, watching on a large projector, while others crowded the CRT.
For many, Blacklisted is still one of the best Project M tournaments they’ve ever attended. It came at a perfect time for the community, had a fantastic venue filled with arcade cabinets and nearby restaurants, ran smoothly and had a huge attendance for a Project M only tournament.
BLACKLISTED 2
Less than a year after Blacklisted, Smashing Grounds came out with a new announcement. On March 13th, a post was made to the Project M subreddit announcing Blacklisted 2, which was to take place on May 21-22. This time, the tournament would be included in PMUnderground’s Project M Championship Circuit, and hosted at the same spacious venue as the first event. Like the first Blacklisted, the tournament would be held over two days and include doubles, crew battles, and a $1,000 pot bonus. However, with Smashing Grounds being a member of PMTV, and Project M streaming group on Hitbox.tv, the stream would not be held on Twitch this time, but instead on Hitbox.
The tournament had a total of 123 entrants, split across 16 pools. Taking place only one month after Supernova, a single day Project M national in New York, the Project M scene was still fired up for more tournaments. Blacklisted 2 had many heavy hitters enter, such as Malachi, DVD, Darc, Gallo, Hyperflame, Switch and Frozen, all trying to win both money and Project M circuit credits.
The schedule was similar to the previous event’s, the first day consisting of singles pools all the way up to top 16. After singles, the crew battles began, with some interesting crews. This time, there was a 7v7 Ganon crew battle, a 4v4 Zero Suit Samus vs Ice Climbers crew battle, a 5v5 Ganon vs Ike crew battle and a 5v5 crew battle between Free Saltines, a crew from New York City, and Montreal. The “Salty Suite” this year was not predetermined, but instead consisted of several impromptu money matches.
The second day began with doubles, which resulted in Darc and Silver taking first, with Envy and DVD placing second, and Billy “GP” Hand and Nick “Boiko” Boiko placing third. After doubles, top 16 began, and the venue yet again turned into an impromptu theatre, with chairs lining the middle aisle of tables used for friendlies and money matches. The tournament ended with Malachi placing first, DVD placing second and Gallo placing third.
While Blacklisted 2 didn’t have as much historical significance as the first Blacklisted, it still proved to be an incredibly successful event. The tournament organizers, Harmak and Atlas, had learned from the few mistakes that were made at the first event to create an incredibly smooth running schedule, and despite not being on Twitch, the viewership was just as large.
BLACKLISTED 3
Returning to Game Underground, Blacklisted is now back with a third installment, which will be held on July 1st and 2nd. In true Blacklisted fashion, the event will be held over 2 days, featuring both a singles and doubles bracket, with more events to be announced soon. New to the Blacklisted series, there will also be both a pro and amatuer bracket for singles. This means that if you don’t make a high enough seed in pools, you’ll still have a chance to compete in the amateur bracket.
As of right now, early bird registration is available for $20, and will increase to $25 on April 7th. The event is part of the second Project M Championship Circuit, and will be streamed yet again on Hitbox.tv.
If you’re interested in going, you can sign up on the smash.gg page here. For updates on the tournament, you can follow the tournament on Twitter here, check the Facebook event page here or the Smashboards event page here.
