2018’s Full Bloom tournament, which is the fourth of the series, will be March 24-25 in Bloomington, Indiana. As in previous years, the event has been organized by Smash at IUB, with this year’s sponsors being Evansville Esports and Gamers HQ. The venue, the Indiana Memorial Union and its Alumni Hall, promises the ever sought-after 24-hour access that Smashers crave.
This tournament series focuses solely on the Super Smash Bros. franchise, specifically Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, featuring both singles and doubles brackets. UCF has been promised for the Melee setups.
There’s a lot on the line for the entrants this year:
- A $1,000 pot bonus—$800 for Melee and $200 for Smash Wii U
- The top two placing, non-invited Melee singles players win qualifying spots for Summit 6
- The Melee singles winner will be flown out to the next Esports Arena event
- The highest placing, never ranked Melee It On Me player wins a free flight to the upcoming Don’t Park On The Grass tournament
- The highest placing, never ranked Panda Global Rankings Smash Wii U player wins a free flight to their choice of either Hyrule Saga or Port Priority 3
Melee
This year’s Melee tournament promises to be a big one, with 354 players total registered for the singles bracket. Attendees include big, essentially universally-known names within the community—Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, William “Leffen” Hjelte, Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson, Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett and Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto, to name a few. In fact, almost half of the Melee It On Me’s top 100 have registered, but what about the lesser-known players from the local scene?
Boasting number one on the most recent Indiana Power Rankings for Melee—and number 81 worldwide—is Erik “Rik” Gerlitz. Rik is a Fox player from Zionsville, Indiana with notable wins over players including Kalindi “KJH” Henderson, Rishi “Rishi” Malhotra, Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir, Kelly “Kels” Smith and Drew “Drephen” Scoles. Rik has actually placed at least top 15th at each previous Full Bloom tournament, and perhaps he will yield even better results this time around
Unfortunately, it's been hard to find information about the rest of Indiana Power Rankings players in attendance, but Full Bloom 4 will be the perfect opportunity for them to show us their moves. Keep an eye out for the following players to get a taste of the local talent:
Lanceinthepants, a Falco main from West Lafayette, lays claim to 2nd on the Indiana PR. Number three is Voorhese, a Fox main who lives in Decatur, Indiana. He is sponsored by a local gaming store, DZ Gaming. The sixth PR slot belongs to CCM, a Samus main. Number seven is Captain Falcon main Joe “Phrigid” Fischer. BananaSack, a Fox main, holds the 8th spot. Next is +, a Peach main. Last but not least is Brendan “Skimmy” King, a Marth main.
Smash Wii U
Full Bloom 4’s expected number of Smash Wii U singles participants is 125, seven of those being listed on Panda Global Rankings v4—Jason “ANTi” Bates, Ezra “Samsora” Morris, Orion “Darkshad” Wolf, Julian “Zinoto” Carrington, Tyler “Tyroy” Awdisho, Dacota “Ryuga” James and Mason “Locus” Charlton.
It's even harder to find information about the Indiana Smash Wii U scene than about Melee, but again, Full Bloom 4 will be an excellent opportunity to showcase the community's talent, especially considering the low attendance of PGR players. Keep a lookout for the following locals:
Number three on Indiana’s most recent Smash Wii U PR is Jesse “Sells” Tranum, a Bayonetta main. Number four is Donkey Kong player Zymi Smilez. 5th is TriVium, a Bowser main who actually placed 4th in both the Smash Wii U singles and doubles brackets at last year’s Full Bloom. 6th is Benson Obama, a Mario main. Sicle, a Wario main, is number eight. Sitting at number nine is Vorst, a Fox main.
How to Watch
To access streams for Melee and Smash Wii U respectively, tune in to Melee Everyday and Smash at IUB.
Featured Melee commentators include Anthony “Slime” Bruno, Brandon “HomeMadeWaffles” Collier, Josh “FendrickLamar” Fendrick, Jackzilla, Jakespeare, Vish “Vish” Rajkumar, Webs and Cary “Vro” Zhang.
Featured Smash Wii U commentators include Tom “Lord Sturm” Berg, James “Flambo” Philiossaint, Sai, Kalle “Ori” Wanagat and XzibitA.
The current schedule (EST) is as follows:
March 24
- 10AM: Venue Opens
- 11AM: Doubles Begins
- 1PM: Melee/Smash 4 Singles Wave A
- 2:30PM: Smash 4 Singles Wave B
- 3PM: Melee Singles Wave B
- 4PM: Smash 4 Singles Wave C
- 5PM: Melee Singles Wave C
- 5:30PM: Smash 4 Singles Wave D
- 7PM: Melee Singles Wave D/Smash 4 Amateur+Novice Brackets/
- 9PM: Melee Amateur+Novice Brackets
- 11AM: Melee Top 48/Smash 4 Top 32 brackets
- 4PM: Smash 4 Top 4
- 6PM: Melee Singles Top 8
- 11PM: Venue closes
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