In every sport there is something magical and exciting when a new player "breaks out" and shows their potential. The cultivation of these moments comes from a specific focus of nurturing new talent. Soccer has youth levels, tennis has semi-pros, basketball and football have Division 1 leagues in college. For the Super Smash Bros. Melee community, we have the Arcadian, a tournament dedicated to the unranked players of a region. An arcadian helps show the community the true depth of a region, and this Saturday, April 29, Nebulous Gaming is hosting “Lift off!”, Tri-State's (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) first ever Arcadian!
Brandon "HomeMadeWaffles" Collier at Super Nebulous 4 once said, that “New York has the best scrubs”, and for the most part, I agree with this statement. Within Tri-State there are a plethora of hidden unranked bosses that have beaten players, such as Alex “Captain Smuckers” Cottrell, David “R2DLiu” Liu, Tim “Swiftbass” Gibson, Jacob "JFlex" Pinto and Colin “Colbol” Green. This stacked Arcadian boast players that have the potential to break the Top 100 in a year or two. These players are going to battle each other to claim the spot of the best “up and comer”. While filled with exceptional players, the tournament is not "free" for any one player. However, there are still some players confirmed that stand out from the rest.
First, is Ben "Vortex" Geoghean is a man for all intents and purposes should be ranked either in Long Island or in New York City. He is the undisputed best player in Stony Brook University, which boast a number of strong players as they were one of the crews flown out to Genesis 3 for the The Melee Games (TMG) Finale. He is a very cerebral player that carefully picks apart his opponent with strong fundamentals and platform game. While his Sheik is his main, Vortex boasts a very strong secondary Fox to compete against certain match ups, such as Jigglypuff, and some stage counterpicks. With this, Vortex goes into the Lift Off! as the likely first seed.
Jaime "Whiskers" Nino has had a meteoric rise since early 2017. Always having a good time and famously preaching "I eat ass to get good", this Yoshi main is the mid-tier hero of Nebulous. Currently the best in Columbia University, this man balances academics, partying, and taking names perfectly. What is amazing about his "hitlist" is how recent those wins were. Just last week he beat Captain Smuckers and proceeded to take Jaden "Jaden" Carr (a.k.a. Vanz) to Game 5. In addition, he went on a run at Smash Corner, beating Aziz "Hax$" Al-Yami, Cody "iBDW" Schwab, and Alex "Beerman" Ucles (a.k.a. Lamb Chops) back to back to back. The one that got away from him was a Game 5 loss to Colbol at an NYU tournament. Despite that, Whiskers' record speaks for itself and shows how talented of a player this man is. His ability to move quickly around platforms, consistently parry and powershield make him a good bet to take the whole event.
Josh "JoJo" Alvarez is the people's champ of NYC ... after Captain Smuckers. Normally he is found meditating in some corner of Nebs, but once he plugs in, this gentle soul, wearing his trademark "LOVE" tag, will not hesitate to style on you. Unlike Vortex and Whiskers, he is not the best in his university, because well, he is still in high school! His Captain Falcon can do it all, being able to play fast and efficient, while still having that X-factor that makes him unpredictable and unorthodox. Movement-focused, he is able to create unique knockdown situations and convert brutally afterwards. What makes him one of the favorites for the tournament is not just his skill, but how well rounded his match up spread is. Some of his best wins are on Captain Falcon's harder match ups, such as, Falco, Jigglypuff, and Sheik. If you hear the crowd yelling at the Arcadian you can bet that it will be for JoJo.
While Vortex, Whiskers, and JoJo are the favorites going in, make no mistake that they are not guaranteed a Top 3 finish. Tri-State boast a long list of players that are able to and have beaten these three players in the past as well as other PR players. Here are some of the other players to watch out for.
Joe " Young " Young
| Excluding The Moon, Young is indisputably the most accomplished Marth main living in the City. Often gets overlooked as he’s more quiet than most of the current squad of up and comers, but has some extremely impressive wins and runs, including R2DLiu, Beerman, Evan "
Animal
" James, Joey "
NY Joey
" Cheung, and
Jaden
(a.k.a
Vanz
)Caleb " Equal " Miller
| Another brilliant starter from the Stony Brook University roster, this Captain Falcon main has made very deep runs at Nebulous and is up to par with, if not better than JoJo. He has beaten Vortex and Whiskers before, but is most famous for his run at Nebulous 77 where he beat Jason "
JustJason
" DiMicelli, Richard "
Fiya
" Hue, NY Joey, and Nico "
Ryobeat"
Rodriguez to net a second place finish.Leighton " Big Kid " Ivy
| At 15 years old and with a mere one and a half years of competing under his belt, his Jigglypuff will mess you up in the game you were playing before he was born. One of the true fiends of New York City, Big Kid travels to most majors and regionals to gain experience. He has a brutal punish game on spacies and can consistently get drill rests on most of the cast. He holds impressive wins over, Beerman, JoJo, JustJason, and Tyler "
Lint
" AugerSam " Chupper " Chu
| Formerly a League of Legends pro, everyone in New York knows him more by how good his Marth is. Like Vortex, he would probably be power ranked Top 20 in NYC if he was active. His use of Marth's disjointed hitboxes and ability to convert afterwards makes him a real threat going into this Arcadian. He boasts even or positive records on most of the players qualified for the Arcadian and has several wins over Beerman and JustJason on top of that.Vig " Nation " Moorthy
| One of the best if not the best at New York University, Nation posses a very smart and technical Falco. His ability to slowly corner his opponent and remove their options of escape are reminiscent of none other than Kevin "
PPMD
" Nanney. He capitalizes on his chances and has a strong punish game to boot. Currently, he has wins over Beerman, Young, Michael "
Green Ranger
" Kamm, and Trevor "
Atomsk
" Hirschen." Nerd "
| This Long Island Falco main boast big wins over Beerman, Subtle, Animal, Toussaint "
2Saint
" Turner, and Andrew "
dudutsai
" Tsai. Some things that makes him stand out is his positioning-dependent punish game and his neutral mix ups between laser and cross-up aerials.Delvy " Delby17 " Martinez
| The second youngest of the players mentioned, this 16 year old Falco main is one scary kid. His fast, technical, and rush down Falco can make even the best players feel pressured. When Delby17 first entered the scene, he didn’t strike anyone as anything other than your ordinary pools Falco main - seemingly out of nowhere, young Delby rapidly evolved into one of the most promising up and comers in the New York scene, culminating in his 2-1 victory over Cobol and win over dudutsai, earning him a 9th place finish at Apollo IV.Will " Wassabi " Wassmer
| One of the hardest working players in the New York scene, his house has quickly become the central New York smashfest location. Any given moment he isn’t working or sleeping, he’s fiending and looking for new ways to improve. He has a very well rounded Fox that is heavily adaptable allowing him to play both a fast aggressive rushdown game and a slower, more position focused game. His ability to corner his opponents and punish hard off of one opening makes him capable of taking many players. He boast wins over Kilmer "
MayB
" Varela, Nation, and Young."Do not miss out on any of the actions at Lift off! because some of the matches between these players will be down to the wire. Be sure to follow the bracket and check out the stream tomorrow.
Melee Doubles | 2:00 PM (EST)
Melee Singles | 4:00 PM (EST)
Pro Bracket | 6:00 PM (EST)
Special thanks to Gabe "Jib" Karon and Ryobeat for the help with some of the player descriptions!
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