Last April, the Smash scene in Bloomington, Indiana hosted its first regional tournament, Full Bloom. While the tournament ran successfully, it was of middling size, sporting just 95 Melee singles entrants. However, the region has only grown stronger. Full Bloom 2 will be the third Indiana tournament in three months with over 300 attendees and top-level talent from outside the Midwest. Hoping for similar success as Landlocked and Outfoxx’d in Indianapolis, Smash at IUB is looking to put their city on the map with Full Bloom 2.
As one of the featured guests and #9 on the MIOM rankings, Axe is the favorite going into the tournament. However, as he stated in a tweet recently, he wants to focus on having fun more than on winning. Whether that means we’ll be seeing his secondaries or not remains to be seen. Lucky, on the other hand, is looking to win. Having taken Rubicon 5 in December, Lucky is no stranger to winning tournaments over Midwest players. The third guest, HomeMadeWaffles, may be known more for commentating than competing. However, he is not to be slept on. As he said on mic recently, he’s determined to improve and wants to play in more top 8s instead of commentating them. At Full Bloom 2, this goal is looking like a very real possibility.
Photo by Ayub Arain (@avianmessiah)
As far as the regional talent goes, Prince Abu is looking to defend his title as Full Bloom champ. Barring any upsets, KJH, Kels, Drephen, and Darkatma are all reasonable predictions for top 8. IN/KY’s own Team OPtimal is also looking to place well. Team OPtimal’s Rik, Reeve, Lanceinthepants, and Voorhese all made top 8 at the first Full Bloom. Given the high skill level at Full Bloom 2, a similar performance at this tournament would be making a huge statement. Other notable Midwest attendees include Ginger and Beach from Michigan, ORLY and Vro from Chicago, and Shinobi from Missouri.
Smash 4 will also be at Full Bloom 2 and streamed by Pushblock Gaming. With a recent win over Hyuga and close sets with both Ally and Mr. R, Tyroy’s Bayonetta may be the favorite going into the tournament. Indiana’s power ranked players will be represented as well, with Krow, Sofa King, YoshiBro1, and Skaterjayy all in attendance. An Indiana victory could show the rest of the Midwest what they’re capable of.
Follow the brackets on Smash.gg and check out the streams on Melee Everyday and Pushblock Gaming.
