MLG Anaheim 2014 - Everything YOU Need to Know!

[Smashboards]

Players have been clamoring for details since the announcement last week that Major League Gaming would include Super Smash Brothers Melee and a $15,000 prize pool at their annual Anaheim tournament this June 20-22nd, 2014. In the last 48 hours details for the event have become more clear and the official Smashboards thread for the tournament has been updated by @Solid Jake. The biggest news is exactly how the the massive $15,000 prize pool for Super Smash Brothers Melee will be distributed. At many tournaments outside of MLG, like EVO, Melee would need 1,500 entrants to receive such a prize pool. This is because most events offer a 1 to 1 ratio related to specific game entrance fees (e.g. $10 for your game entry = $10 in the prize pool). MLG is always intriguing because it breaks the mold for prize distribution. The $15,000 prize purse will distribute as follows below.

GET YOUR MLG ANAHEIM 2014 PASS HERE
​

Smash Melee - MLG Anaheim 2014 Prize Pool1st = $5000
2nd = $3000
3rd = $2000
3rd = $2000
5th = $1000
5th = $1000
7th = $500
7th = $500

The MLG Tournament Experience - Explained

Major League Gaming has long been attempting to solve for two critical issues. First - how to determine a winner of a massive event through a fair process while also taking into account that tournaments must operate in a limited time frame. Second - how to make sure viewers at home have compelling entertainment and stream content to consume throughout the tournament. MLG has a fairly good, though complicated, solution to this deep issue. It revolves around a mix of qualifiers, round robin pool play, and double elimination brackets. Let's see if we can hopefully explain the process accurately.

Phase 1 - Amateur Play (likely during Friday and Saturday)

• Everyone: 1024 player open bracket is played beginning early Friday afternoon - this bracket is double elimination and will resolve itself over the next 24-36 hours as players progress through the winners and losers bracket
• Qualified players: 12 players will begin play in the "pool play" portion of the tournament. This phase will be streamed starting Friday afternoon and since it involves pre-qualified players will feature most of the top-level talent at the tournament.
• Open Bracket Winners: At some point, likely on Saturday morning/early afternoon, there will be only four players remaining in the open bracket winners that began on Friday afternoon - these four players will join their 12 pre-qualified players in pool play portion of the tournament and provide content for the livestream

Phase 2 - Championship Play (late Saturday and Sunday)

• After Pool play resolves itself there will be 16 players with various records - these 16 players will seed a double elimination Championship Bracket
• At the lower portion of the Championship Bracket, starting in Losers, will be 4 brand new players from the Open Bracket.
• Players will seed deeper into the bracket based on their performance in Pools (e.g. players who went undefeated in pools will likely find themselves starting in Winners Finals or Semi-Finals, players who went 0-7 in their pool will likely face off against the players who advance from the Open Bracket, Losers portion of the tournament)
• Total players in the Championship Bracket portion of MLG Anaheim is 20
• The tournament plays out as a double elimination bracket, however, most players will be seeded into the Losers Bracket unless they performed exceptionally well during the Friday and Saturday pool portions of the tournament

Does that sound complicated? It is. However, the format MLG has chosen provides for stream content between top players all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is a huge, and clear, advantage to becoming a qualified player for MLG Anaheim 2014 - for starters you give yourself a 1-in-2 shot at a minimum $500 payout. To qualify, you must compete at several qualifier tournaments in the 2,000 and 5,000 series of tournaments. The qualifiers are below:

• February 22nd - 23rd | Shuffle V | Columbus, OH
• March 29th | CEO Prologue | Orlando, FL
• May 3rd-4th | WHOBO6 | Houston, TX
• May 4th | Sumabato DX Melee 11 | Osaka, Japan
• May 10th – 11th | Get On My Level | Toronto, Canada
• May 17th - 18th | Republic of Fighters 3 | Paris, France
• May 24th- 25th | Pat’s House 2 | San Diego, CA
• May 31st - June 1st | SKTAR 3 | Somerset, NJ

More details on qualifiers and points are located in the official Smashboards tournament thread.

Major League Gaming has provided a brief overview of the event as well:
Super Smash Bros. Melee MLG Anaheim 2014 Details
12 Qualifier Players start in Championship Pool Play (Free Entry)
1024 Player Open Bracket
20 Player Championship Bracket
Double Elimination Brackets; Matches = Best of 3 Games (Open Bracket), Best of 5 Games (Championship Pool Play & Championship Bracket)
Prizing: $15,000
Qualifier details to be released soon
Passes: $55 per Player from March 14 to April 13

• $65 per Player from April 14 to May 11
• $75 per Player from May 12 to June 16
• $125 per Player at Anaheim Check in

Smash Melee Stages
Starters/Neutrals:
Yoshi's Story
Fountain of Dreams
Battlefield
Final Destination
Dreamland

Counterpick:
Pokemon Stadium

The event will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California located at
Anaheim Marriott
700 Convention Way
Anaheim, CA

Get your passes for MLG Anaheim 2014 HERE before they sell out or the price is raised!

 

[Wasp]

i always find it funny that it's possible getting paid for gaming... of course this is professional gaming and the pressure is pretty high, but then still... Would be awesome... olympics don't get paid for winning too, they just get a medal or something

 

[DaDavid]

i always find it funny that it's possible getting paid for gaming... of course this is professional gaming and the pressure is pretty high, but then still... Would be awesome... olympics don't get paid for winning too, they just get a medal or something

Many Olympians abroad do actually get paid just for competing though, with bonuses for winning medals. As I understand it, the U.S. and a few others are pretty unique in expecting their athletes to make money off of endorsements and things like that.

But on topic, it's nice to see that the system is meant to stream top-level matches, and the existence of qualifiers does I suppose allow lesser known players to potentially shine at the big one, but it still seems that the open registration people are at a bit of a disadvantage.

Either way, can't wait to see it all go down.

 

[Renji64]

Can't wait to watch this.

 

[caLviN-1260]

As someone who attended last year's Anaheim to view other games, I am 100% confident that whatever format is laid out for Smash the guys there will make it work. I'm really pumped to attend!

 

[Battlecow]

Sounds like it'll make for some great viewing

 

[Silvia]

I definitely look forward to watching some of these.

 

[Max Ketchum]

This is awesome. Super pumped for Melee.

#FreeSSBB though!

 

[Acryte]

Sumabato DX Melee? Sounds like aMSa just got qualified lol. Wonder if we may need to crowd-source him a ticket if he can't get sponsorship... can't be cheap to fly out from japan.

 

[Vortexmonkey]

Cant wait to watch this so hyped. i might start doing smash tournanents when im about 17 years old or so.

 

[SuperSonBlaze]

Right On! are any of these events team or team stock?

 

[KrIsP!]

How are two people tied for third if it's double elimination?

 

[Vortexmonkey]

Right On! are any of these events team or team stock?

Yes there are going to be team matches.

 

[SuperSonBlaze]

im kinda new to this site btw its confusing, isn't there a chat or something where i can find people to train with? i cant get any better because im already the best in my area b but i cant find anyone to train with, and idont feel like thats enough to compete with the smash OG's showcasing here.

 

[Bones0]

im kinda new to this site btw its confusing, isn't there a chat or something where i can find people to train with? i cant get any better because im already the best in my area b but i cant find anyone to train with, and idont feel like thats enough to compete with the smash OG's showcasing here.

If you go to the main forums page (http://smashboards.com/forums/), you can scroll down to the "SMASH TOURNAMENTS" section. Under that heading, you have "Tournament Listings" which lays out all of the tournaments being hosted in the upcoming months. Scroll down until you see the pretty colors, and you can select which region you're in to narrow your search. For IL and MI, you would click the green "Midwest", and it will only show tournaments in that area.

Another sub-forum you can use is "Regional Zones" which often have lists of players in more specific areas. This can help to find people to train with, but the best place these days is usually a FaceBook group. Here is a list of the major regional groups:
http://smashboards.com/threads/facebook-groups-links.325058/

I hope this helps!

 

[Element of Smash]

How are two people tied for third if it's double elimination?

1st & 2nd - Grand Finals
3rd- Finals
5th- Semifinal
7th - Quarterfinals

I'm pretty sure I'm over simplifying it, but that's how I understand it to work.

 

[Sashimi]

Shouldn't it go

1st & 2nd - Grand Finals
3rd - Loser's Finals
4th - Loser's Semis

?

 

[KrIsP!]

That's how it would in double elimination. In single elimination you'd have tow people tied for third but they said double elim. so I don't understand it.