Battle of the Swedes
Eclipse will be the first tournament since EVO 2015 where Leffen and Armada will both be in full force (they played their secondaries at Heir II the Throne). The last time the two faced of was at WTFox in July, where Leffen seemed to have Armada's number. Leffen is up 7-6 in sets against Armada in 2015, winning the Fox ditto the last four times they played. Without Leffen, however, Armada has established dominance over the rest of the world, mostly notably winning The Big House 5 and Smash Summit over players such as Mango, Hungrybox, Mew2King, and PPMD. Last time Leffen competed in the America, he won HTC Throwdown in a dominant fashion. Eclipse will be the first tournament since Leffen's visa issues, and will be his return to top level competition.
With all of this in mind, the matchup between Armada and Leffen at Eclipse will be very interesting.
Invaders from the West, and the Defenders of Europe
Axe, Westballz, and Plup will all be in attendance at Eclipse. The three are commonly grouped together when discussing player skill and ranking; They are renowned as three of the best, just behind the top 6. They have each had moments of brilliance against Armada and Leffen this year; Plup did well against Armada in the Smash Summit challenge round and famously beat Leffen at both Paragon Orlando 2015 and EVO 2015 this year; Axe beat Leffen at MVG Sandstorm. Armada has yet to lose against any of the three.
Armada and Leffen will not be the American's only challenges -- Ice from Germany will also be defending Europe. During Westballz' trip to Europe this September, Ice and Westballz faced off a total of four times, between Dreamhack London 2015 and Helix. Although Westballz won in sets 3-1, Ice put up a good fight, with 2 narrow 3-2 losses. Ice has not played Axe or Plup in tournament yet. Ice tends to struggle with unfamiliar matchups, so if he meets with Axe's Pikachu in bracket, Axe will have a great chance of winning. On the contrary, Ice is comfortable with the Sheik matchup, which could help him against Plup. However, since PAL Sheik has a different down throw that NTSC, and because Plup heavily relies of NTSC Sheik's down throw tech-chasing, he has said the he will almost certainly be playing Samus at Eclipse. Even still, Ice has good experience against Samus having beaten quiKsilver many times, the #3 ranked player in Germany and top Samus main.
There will be many other top European players going to Eclipse too, most notably two of the continent's best Sheiks, Android and Overtriforce. Android had a strong showing at The Big House 5, finishing 25th, while Overtriforce netted a respectable 13th place at Tipped Off 11.
Finally, there is one more American in attendance -- Wobbles! Though he will not be competing, the fan favorite Ice Climbers main will be on the mic all weekend commentating.
Teams: The Lindgren Brothers vs The World
The Melee Doubles tournament will also be very exciting at Eclipse. Established teams such as Armada/Android and Leffen/Ice willing be competing for the gold against newer teams such as Plup/Axe and Westballz/NamiNami (a top Finnish Falco). The clear favorite to win would have to be Armada and Android; They won The Big House 5 in a dominant fashion, ending the historic win streak of Hungrybox and Mew2King, and they have beaten Leffen and Ice at B.E.A.S.T. 5, Apex 2015, and Heir II the Throne. However, Leffen and Ice have taken a set off of the Lindgren brothers in the Winners Finals of B.E.A.S.T. 5. Eclipse will likely be the first time Android and Armada get to face Leffen and Ice since Apex 2015, so this will likely be a great set.
Smash Wii U: Norway's Best
Eclipse is primarily focused on Melee, but that won't stop Norway's best from competing in Smash Wii U! Captain Falcon main Gardex will be looking to defend his title as the #1 ranked player in the country. Among Gardex's competition is Ryu main WiiASE (Ranked #2), MK/Mii Brawler/Random main Chiiii (Ranked #4), and Ryu/Link main AfroTwist (Ranked #7), Diddy main Whoophee (Ranked #10), fellow Captain Falcon main Sak (Ranked #11), Fox/Charizard main Hansi (Ranked #14), and Captain Falcon main Riksto (Ranked #15). But there is even more than Norway in his way. Finland's best player and Lucario specialist Loota as well as arguably the best Swedish Smash 4 player and ZSS main SmashSK will be looking to get that elusive 1st place.
Streams/Schedule
Eclipse will be streamed on Pressfire.no's Hitbox channels by a professional TV production staff! The main stream can be found here, while the secondary stream can be found here (once the channel has been created). It will feature American caster Wobbles as well as many great European commentators. The full schedule and more information can be found here (All times in CET).
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