Marth at Apex 2012

[Nike.]

Let's take a basic look at everything that went down with our brothers.

• We had a little over dozen players enter singles.
• 6 made it made to Round 2 Pools.
• 4 made it into the bracket.

Let's go more in depth.

We had a little over dozen players enter singles.

Spoiler

Pool1
DEHF
Nysyarc
Punishment Divine
Adept
Kaptain

Pool 6
Mr-R
fUddO
Bionic
iPresea~
Troncat

Pool 13
NEO
Domo
Gunblade
Lunar
Prof3ssor MGW

Pool 20
Leon
Deltacod
K.I.D.Goggles
Bing
Melon

Pool 29
Bizkit
Meekspeedy
Eazy
Waldo
Paw

Pool 37
Zekey
KiD
Player-3
ForwardAirRage!
xivk & Jokaru

Pool 38
Stroumbert
PikaPika!
RJ
PEACE
LegendAssassin

Pool 40
Will Walsh
Karamity
Bladewise
kulwolf37
HoroLightBlue

Pool 44
Trela
Mr.L
Luckay4Lyphe
Brianna
Nike

Pool 46
WarioMaster15
[YRSF] Tin Man
Tiger
wWw Sphere
DJ Arcatek

Pool 47
Kadaj
PentaSalia
Goyf
Royal
FGCU MAO!

Pool 51
ZEX
Hylian
z0mfg
Omega Tyrant
Deathbysuarez

Pool 72
mikeHAZE
Firefly
False
ButtStein
Blotto5

• Gunblade was in the same pool as Neo, felt kinda bad. Though he did have other obligations with commentary, so it worked out
• Player 3 had a hard marth pool, which forced him to use Fox. He didnt make it out
• Eazy went full metaknight and falco one game in his pool. Didn't make it out.
• Kadaj, after getting knocked out of doubles, had his pool directly next to mine. He lost to Royal in his pool, a Snake main. Kadaj made a few basic fundemental punishment errors and he let it get it in his head. while he destroyed the rest of his pool (A HARD 3stock on an IC's main), he forfeit. Considering round2 pools were the next day, I asked him not to since he had a day to regroup, but it was too late
• Bladewise not making it out surprised me. I guess he was more focused on melee, but his Marth is extremely good.
• Despite all the hype before the tourney, Leon destroyed his pool lol.
• Mike, Ramin, and Zex had no problems, though Zex used mostly MK
• Neo's big comp was Domo, which basically decided 1st and 2nd. Domo won
• Peace had a hard pool that went under the radar. RJ actually managed to make it to bracket.
• I registered under a different name lol. Actually did very well against Trela, had some leads both games (including a 2-1 stock lead game2), but he clutched it out on me lol. Luckay, the 2 seed in my pool, had no idea who I was and played as if I was a random. I apologized to him afterwards.

While a couple players had the potential to make it out, Kadaj forfeiting was the only thing out of the ordinary.


6 made it made to Round 2 Pools.

[collapse=Round 2 Pool Results][collapse=Pool 6]

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[collapse=Pool 10]

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[collapse=Pool 14]

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[collapse=Pool 17]

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[collapse=Pool 23]

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[collapse=Pool 30]

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• Mike had alot of trouble. Him, Denti, and Jash all tied for first (Mike lost to Jash). Thankfully he had the best overall record and managed to get the first seed. Still, that's a close one.
• I was extremely worried about Leon. 3 Metaknights and a top3 DDD were all in his pool. I hung around to record with my camera (though that's not needed since someone was recording with his laptop.) I watched him play Zekey, and it wasn't even close. Leon was most certainly on his game, and only lost to Holy. The pool should be on youtube soon I'm assuming.
• Zex also had some trouble. While everyone got a free 2-0 from Anti sleeping in, his games against Pink Fresh all went to super last hit and he also lost a game to Delux. He clutched it out, though. More metaknight in pools.
• Neo's pool was hard as ****. He basically had to beat Salem and not get upset by Arty. Sadly, I didn't watch any of the matches. Asking Neo later how it went, he said that he choked against Salem
• My pool was hard as **** lol. On top of that, I lost my controller the day before, and the one I used was bad. It pointed to the right, so my set against ADHD was a big troll from the smash gods (walking to the right, bairs/ftilt/jab to the right, etc). After losing to Logic, Kain, and ADHD, I just left. The money matches against Sonics, Peaches, and Snakes I wanted to do were impossible now. As far as me, I got *****
• When I first heard Mr.R's pool, I thought it was easy. So wrong lol. He tells me that he doesn't know his seed because he lost a set to Meekspeedy and there was a 3way tie. The TO's make them play it out, and Ramin 2-0's everyone. He also finds out later that someone filled the pool sheet wrong, and that Ramin should have had the first seed anyway. Alot of confusion, but Ramin gets first seed in the end.

While me losing didn't really come as a surprise, Neo not making out was kinda saddening. Still, major props to Salem. Zex went mostly all MK up to this point (actually didn't see the marth a single time yet )

4 made it into the bracket.

4 Marth's making it into the bracket is actually a win in my book, considering how hard thier round2 pools were and the multiple 3way ties.

Zex
Defeated Poltergust
Lost to Ally
Defeated Bloodcross
Lost to Z
Placed 25th

Zex went full Marth against Ally and had a lead game2 at one point. Very proud of him. However, that was the only set I saw in person. No idea who he used against everyone else. His loss to Z is a little heartbreaking. Props to Z, but I think Zex should have won that. Still, wins against Poltergust and Bloodcross are mad legit.

Leon
Lost to Trela
Defeated Fino
Lost to Gnes
Placed 33rd

Leon placing 33rd was depressing. Sets against Trela and Gnes were recorded (I did commentary for the Gnes set. I had no idea I was doing it til the mic was in my hand, so go easy on me being nervous the first few minutes lol.) Against Trela, he lost Game1 on SV, took him back Game2 and won with almost a full stock, and lost game3 on Frigate. Trela was at 118%, and the ending was extremely close. Could've went either way. Didn't watch his set against Fino, but he won. Against Gnes he lost game1 and won game2, both on SV. I'm starting to think that he learns people after the first game, because the same thing happened against Trela. Gnes took him to Pokemon Stadium 1 and Leon went Peach. Both players are at last stock and trade hit constantly. Both do kill moves in triple digits with the opponent BARELY surviving. Gnes gets the last hit, though. Was very hard to see Leon take 33rd. Even if he won against Gnes, his next opponent would have been Coney, whose like a Marth slayer. Leon ran into some bad luck in losers bracket

Mikehaze
Lost to Will
Defeated Kismet
Defeated Trevonte
Defeated Reflex
Lost to ADHD
Placed 17th

Mike got some hard luck as well. Will first round. Especially with this being an EC tourney, the huge crowd was completely against him. Losing confidence against a character that hits as hard as DK is a death situation, and it found Mike. Last game was a solid 2stock. It was hard to watch, none of WC had his back However, Mike made a tear into Losers bracket. Kismet, Trevonte, and Reflex is extremely impressive. Sadly, though, the "Mikehaze vs ADHD" on the mic was a debby downer. Having 2 of our top marth's taken out by Gnes and ADHD in losers bracket was surely planned by the Smash Gods.

Mr.R
Defeated Seagull
Lost to Ocean
Defeated Salem
Defeated Seibrik
Lost to Brood
Placed 17th

Was very happy to see Ramin take down Seagull. He also avenged Neo and took Salem out of the tourney. The Seibrik set is already up, and Ramin kind of tore him up. But still, Smash Gods hate us. Ramin ended up losing to the Japenese. He roomed with them the whole week and practiced against all of them the entire time. It's the equivalent of someone flying to Apex and playing someone from his state. He was very upset and vented to me afterwards about it, and I felt super bad And to twist the knife, Ramin and Mike would have played each other if they beat ADHD and Brood.






So that was Apex. Love to hear everyones thoughts. Here's a few of mine:

• Smash Gods hate us. Making Marths play against ADHD and Gnes in losers bracket, the best rob, and the best dk, a top2 wolf, and a top2 olimar. For a character that beats most of the cast, Marth mains saw very little of that action. I personally think we got bracket *****.
• Olimar seems even. Pierce, if you disagree heavily with this, by all means, share with us why.
• Leon is even better than I thought he was. Because EU told us on numerous occasions that he doesn't truly know the game and just plays, I think alot of people thought he'd do bad if he ran into tough matchups (which he did). But watching him in person was magic. He survived a pool with a top3 ddd and 3 mk's. He beat Gnes solidly a game and and took him to last hit game3. He also did the same against Trela. Leon is clearly a top level player. His ability to download players after a game is like magic. However, his lack of truly studying the game like Mike or Ramin showed. I want to see him take that next step. Like, holy cow, he almost beat Gnes. He has so much potential.
• Ramin is unreal. He's literally gotten better with each passing month this past year. We've all noticed it since MSN2. He bodied 542354534 top players in money matches. He went even with the japenese, the same people who placed top16 at this. And after watching him play all week and hanging out with him... I think he's better than Mike, or at least DEAD EVEN with him. Yes, I know Mike won the money match. However, they did it at 2am in the morning. Ramin was barely awake when I told him that there about to play (While Mike said he was perfectly fine). And he didn't have his controller. During their money match, he was using someone elses. I think thats a hinderence. The exact same same thing happened when he lost to VVV Zero... he lost his controller and used my crappy one.
• I think Marth still has the potential. I've been inspired by Mike, Ramin, and Leon to get better. Marth is ****ing awesome when you see him in the right hands with the right mindset. While Olimar and IC's rising above him on the next tier list is a given at this point (and some of his advantaged matchups being even), I think this character is still potentially da bomb. After watching Otori's and Kakera's Metaknight, Nietono's Olimar, and Ocean's ROB, it's easy to see that they have full mastery of their character. Some of the things they did make our metagame look like trash in all honesty. This also leads me to think that Mikeneko is on par with Mike/Ramin/Leon.

There's untapped potential in Marth. We've got work to do.

 

[KillLock]

Good read.

 

[Raziek]

Good topic.

I approve.

 

[professor mgw]

Nice stuff!

Marth > Oli.

 

[Reizilla]

This is good.

 

[Lord Chair]

It really feels like you're making excuses with the whole Smash Gods thing. The bracket was stacked and you had to beat incredibly strong opponents throughout the entire bracket. Will was probably one of the easier opponents for Mikehaze to have and OCEAN wasn't as big a threat as a lot of other players, round 2 Winner's also featured DEHF vs Gnes, it can always be worse .

For the rest, nice post!

 

[Nike.]

Oh, that's just my salt lol.
That was mainly about Gnes and ADHD x).
Yea, at a tournament this big, players simply have to step up.

 

[BladeWise]

I should've made it out. I got into a 3-way tie for 1st seed, but the tie-breaker rules weren't in my favor. However, since so many people dropped out, they should've added me in, seeing as how it was a 3-way tie for first, rather than a tie for 2nd.

I beat Karamity and lost to Will (who lost to Karamity).


However, I have been focusing 99% on Melee.

 

[Bloodcross]

Darc beat Illmatic

 

[PEACE7]

Good read man

 

[Zano]

wish I made it out : (

 

[Dnyce]

Leon switched to peach vs me. It was a choice I was banking on due to nicole exp... but the skill difference between him and nicole was more than I expected @.@

 

[PEACE7]

wtf zano you were there??!!!???

 

[Zano]

no, I wasn't there, sadly, which is why I'm sad.

 

[Shaya]

I'm not sure if ICs got that much love at apex. But Olimar definitely looks like the new 'probably near top of top tier'

 

[VibeSlyph]

Wish I could have gone to Apex. Would have loved to meet the Marth boards.

Marth vs. Oli is definitely looking even.

 

[DeLux]

I'm relatively certain Zex only used MK during all of our pools matches.

If I hadn't been ecstatic that I just made it to bracket, I'd probably be salty I lost because I made some dumb grab drops and poor tactical decisions that I'd otherwise normally not make :\

 

[MysteryTigerTeen]

Good read ;D

 

[ScareMl]

who won between neo and kadaj?

 

[Gunblade789]

im gunna play more marth and improve. My main focus is commentary when it comes to large tournaments but I wanna try and step it up on the playing side of the spectrum. =]

 

[황미영]

I was hoping Mr. R would win the tourney as soon as I heard he was attending. Well, until next time!

 

[Mr-R]

Thanks nike . Reading this cheered me up a little.

 

[King Funk]

 

[Reizilla]

I see Paw and Leaf.

 

[Nike.]

Was taken on day1. Leon wasn't there yet, would've made the pic perfect