This weekend, from August 26th to 28th, “Shine” will see its series debut in Boston, MA. Over 1600 players from all over the country will meet in Southern Boston to compete in Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Wii U. The Melee competition is looking fierce, with juggernauts such as Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma and Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman in attendance among a cohort of other Top 100 players.
Shine 2016 is a superb finisher to the month of August, and as this September is to be a stagnant one in terms of tournaments, all players are looking to end the month with a bang before entering the hiatus. Below are summaries detailing the more recent performances of all the competitors mentioned above. It is up to you to judge the information provided and decide who has that best chances of taking the tournament.
All rankings were directly pulled off SSBMRank
A Triumvirate of Gods
Liquid Hungrybox
(2nd): Coming off his huge EVO win, Hungrybox suffered a crushing defeat against Mang0 at Super Smash Con. Hbox lost to him 3-1 in winners’ final only to lose to him again in Grands with a decisive 3-0. It was utterly one sided, but a great set nonetheless.C9 Mang0 (4th): Mang0 is hot off a first place finish at Super Smash Con. It wasn’t looking too good for Mang0 after EVO, placing 3rd at Clutch City Clash after losing to SFAT back-to-back. But he has since regained his composure, striking vengeance in winners’ semifinals against SFAT, beating him 3-1 at Super Smash Con. He went on to take the tournament without dropping a set. His combo game and aggressiveness were unbelievably on point against Hungrybox, and it showed.
(4th): Mang0 is hot off a first place finish at Super Smash Con. It wasn’t looking too good for Mang0 after EVO, placing 3rd at Clutch City Clash after losing to SFAT back-to-back. But he has since regained his composure, striking vengeance in winners’ semifinals against SFAT, beating him 3-1 at Super Smash Con. He went on to take the tournament without dropping a set. His combo game and aggressiveness were unbelievably on point against Hungrybox, and it showed.
FOX MVG Mew2King (5th): Mew2King has been having a fantastic August. He won his first National in 3 years (Clutch City Clash), tore through losers bracket at Super Smash Con before losing to Hbox in losers’ final, and placed first at Endgame, a recent Illinois regional.Gatekeepers
PG Plup
(7th): Plup has competed in one tournament since his 3rd placing at EVO, Polarity, where he placed first after beating Colbol in Grands. He did not lose a single set. At Evo Plup beat Hungrybox 2-0 in winners’ semis before losing to Armada and having to face him again in losers’ finals. That time Hungrybox took the set 3-1. Plup has one of the most refined Shieks in the game, having taken sets off 5 of the Top 6, with the lone exception of Armada.G2 Westballz
(8th): Westballz has been having an okay month. He placed 7th at Clutch City Clash, taking out Lucky 2-0, The Moon 3-1, and S2J 3-1 before Mang0 delivered a fatal 3-0 in losers’ final. Westballz was sent to losers early by Texas smasher by the name of MT in winners’ round 2. At Super Smash Con, Westballz was sent to losers by Eric “ESAM” Lew in Phase 2 of pools. He again made an impressive losers run, beating Sami “Druggedfox” Muhanna, Mustafa “Ice” Akcakaya and James “Mafia” Lauerman before being stopped by M2K in Top 8. Westballz has never beaten M2K.Tempo Axe
(9th): We saw an impressive showing from Axe at Super Smash Con. After losing to Mafia in pools, he commandingly beat Stephen “Abate” Abate, MacD and Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett, securing himself a spot in Top 8. There he beat PewPewU and Shroomed until he faced his demon in Mew2King and lost 3-2. He placed 4th. Axe has always struggled against M2K, with last years set count being 12:4 in Mew2King’s favor. However this year they are even at 1:1. Can he win a set at Shine against M2K and have the set count advantage for the first time in his career?WFX Shroomed
(10th): Shroomed placed 5th at Smash Con after losing 3-1 to Hungrybox in winners’ semis and 3-1 Axe losers’ quarters. Despite what the game count may suggest, Shroomed played extremely well versus Hungrybox and it was in fact not all too one sided. However, Axe was a different story. Shroomed would have gaping leads against Axe but then he would allow him to comeback and win the game. It seemed as if Axe had Shroomed’s number. Shroomed’s journey to winners’ semis was impressive, but he had a relatively easy bracket getting there. This weekend we will see if he will be able to pull it off again.Key Holders
Secret Silent Wolf
(11th): We last saw Silent Wolf on July 23rd at Emerald City 4, where he took first against Theodore “Bladewise” Seybold. Being unable to attend EVO due to “an intense school program”, it has been a while since Silent Wolf has picked up the sticks in tournament. We will see how this dry spell affects him this weekend. He has one of the most premier Fox’s in the game, having taken sets off Mew2King, William “Leffen” Hjelte, and Kevin “PPMD” Nanney in the past.Won't be attending EVO this year. Instead I'll be working 10+ hour days, mostly in the burning sun ;_;
— otto bisno (@SilentWolf444) July 1, 2016
Selfless Lucky
(12th): Lucky’s last tournament foray was Clutch City Clash. After losing 2-1 to SFAT in winners’ quarters, he was sent to losers to face Westballz, who eliminated him with a 2-0. Lucky finished at 9th place. If Lucky wants to place well this weekend, he’ll have to develop a new strategy against the other players near his rank, as he has a negative set record against SFAT, PewPewU and Silent Wolf.CLG SFAT
(13th): After beating Mang0 back to back and attaining 2nd place at Clutch City, SFAT went on to place 5th at SSC, beating S2J and PewPewU in the process. He was stopped short of his run in winners’ semis by Mang0 although it was a very close set, and had to face his bane in Mew2King in losers’ quarters. Despite their set count being heavily in Mew2King’s favor, the set was extremely close and SFAT had a decent chance of winning had his spawn points not been so unlucky. Although he doesn’t look like too much of a threat on paper, SFAT is more than capable of taking down most of the competition at this tournament, and I daresay even a god.
(14th): PPU, a 7th place finisher at EVO 2016, had something of a breakout performance at Super Smash Con. He pulled a decisive 2-0 victory out of his hat against Mew2King’s Sheik in pools, something that would appear to give him huge momentum the rest of the tourney. And it did, somewhat. He managed to reach winners’ quarters where he unfortunately had to play SFAT, someone he has constantly struggled against this year. He lost 3-2 and moved into losers’ bracket where he beat Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto to advance to Top 8. Waiting for him was Axe, whom has a history of utterly decimating PPU in tournament, beating in 3-0 in virtually every set they’ve played. Unfortunately for him, this time was no different as PPU fell out of the tournament after a 3-0. This by no means indicates he is out of the running, though. PewPewU has shown notable improvement in his gameplay so I would not be surprised if he reached Top 8 again.SPY MacD
(15th): MacD has been sporadic with his tournament appearances, before Super Smash Con we last saw him play at GOML earlier in May, where he finished in the Top 16. At SSC he again placed in the Top 15, losing to Axe in Losers Round 2. His best placing this year was at EGLX, where he placed 4th. Do you think we will see another EGLX-esque performance from MacD this weekend?Tempo S2J
(16th): S2J has one of the most renowned Falcons in Melee and at 16th, is the highest Falcon player on the rankings. After a stellar 5th place performance at EVO 2016, beating Westballz in a set for the first time ever before losing to Hungrybox, he attended Clutch City Clash, where Westballz got his revenge. S2J finished 5th after a 3-0 by Westballz. At Super Smash Con his luck wasn’t much better as he lost to Kalindi “KJH” Henderson in losers round 1, placing below top 20. All in all though, S2J is having a good year and hopefully he is able to negate his last placing with a better one at Shine.Wildcards
DNL Duck
(22nd): We haven’t seen his Samus since his 9th place finish at EVO, but it is certainly still a threat. And with his recent joining of Denial, we can expect to see all sorts of things from him. We have seen how in the past how a sponsor can launch a player into better performance, and Duck is no exception.Kingsmen The Moon
(28th): The Moon has been having a solid month, placing 7th at Clutch City Clash and an impressive placing at Heir 3, placing only second behind Adam "Armada" Lindgren . He reached winners' finals without dropping a set prior but Armada took him out with a swift 3-0. Waiting in losers' final was Daniel "Chudat" Rodriguez who, after an intense 3-2 set, ultimately loss at the hands of The Moon. The Moon played extremely well and on point the entire tournament and he will be riding the momentum of this placing well into the weekend.Swedish Delight
(31st): Placing 9th-12th at EVO 2016, Swedish Delight has since ceased to attend any tournaments, Shine 2016 being to be his first since July. He has one of the best Sheiks in the game, having placed fourth at Pound 2016 after forcing Mang0 to Game 5 in losers' semis and he double eliminate Mew2King at Smash N' Splash 2. He is a top contender who I believe capable of defeating a sizable chunk of the Top 20.VwS Professor Pro
(34th): Hailing from London is Professor Pro, who is currently ranked 1st on Englands Melee PR. He placed 3rd at Dreamhack Summer 2016 and 5th at Heir, losing to Ice and Roberto "Overtriforce" Iglesias, respectively.So now that you know all about the biggest threats at this tournament, who do you think has the best shot of winning it? Or who would you like to see win the most? Tell us in the comments!
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