For the first time, the New England region is going to be host to a national tournament: Shine 2016.
Big Blue eSports, organizer of “The Melee Games”, is hosting what might be the largest event on the East Coast for 2016. Having raised $15,000 in less than a week after being announced, Shine is shaping up to be a successful tournament.
Top Super Smash Bros. for Wii U from all over the country is coming to the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts for a chance to claim the championship title, with the local community ready to defend their home.
New England’s Defenders
- Marss(
): New England’s most valuable player. Tyler “DeS | Marss” Martins has shown that he has the potential to beat the very best, with a Top 8 placing at GENESIS 3, the first national tournament he attended. With set wins over top players such as Eric “ESAM” Lew, James “VoiD” Makekau-Tyson, Jestise “MVD” Negron and many others, along with Top 5 placements at Pound 2016, 2GGT: KTAR Saga and APEX 2016, he’s cemented himself as one of the very best. After being picked up by Denial eSports, Marss is looking to defend his region with all he’s got.
- Pugwest(): Marss' brother Alexander “Pugwest” Martins will also be attending the event. Thought to be one of, if not the best Marth players around, his patient style of play has netted him several top 32 finishes at events such as EVO 2016, Pound VI and 2GGT: KTAR Saga.
- Koolaid(): A local to Massachusetts, Darius Jamil “Koolaid” Hill is considered to be one of the best Pac-Man players in the world after Yuta “Abadango” Kawamura dropped the character. While he doesn’t compete outside his region, Koolaid has wins over his New England peers Marss and Pugwest and should not be overestimated.
Challengers from the Outside
On their first visit to New England, these challengers will face all the region’s best in an attempt to take the title home.
- ZeRo(): Having been the reigning champion for a majority of the game's lifespan, ZeRo has had a hard time replicating his past dominance ever since his return, even failing to get Top 8 at CEO 2016. However, this last weekend, he managed to win Endgame after being sent to loser’s by Smash Master Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman and managed to came back from the loser’s bracket, defeating his rival Elliot “Ally” Carroza-Oyarce, who had a set count over him and recently became a part of Cloud 9’s roster. In the finals match, he took 2 consecutive sets over Mew2King, even taking the final game without being touched once. With full momentum going into Shine, ZeRo is looking to take the tournament and reclaim his throne.
- Larry Lurr() A very explosive Fox main from SoCal, Larry has gotten into Top 8 at every event he’s attended since the year started. While ZeRo may be the favorite, Larry has proven that he can take down the champ. Despite being 3-3 in sets with ZeRo, Larry’s wins are more recent, with impressive feats such as double-eliminating him in 2GGT: Mexico Saga’s finals and denying ZeRo’s entrance to Top 8 at CEO 2016. Larry was even invited to the eGames at Rio to represent the United States, managing to get 2nd place behind Ally. At Shine, Larry will have the opportunity to have a tie breaker with ZeRo and maybe even win his first national tournament.
- Anti(): Well-known for his wide array of counterpick characters, his Twitter persona and his decimation of LowTierGod in Street Fighter V, Anti is quite the unpredictable player. Despite playing a lot of characters, he’s been sticking to Mario recently, with the occasional Cloud coming in when he’s having trouble. Ever since hisnail-biting set with ZeRo at The Big House 5, he’s been a threat at every event he’s in, even though he doesn’t attend many. At Wednesday Night Fights, he became the 8th person to take a set off ZeRo, taking two consecutive sets from him in Grand Finals with only his Mario. Following that, he won CEO 2016 right after being picked up by DreamTeam. Now a free agent, Anti is coming into Shine looking to beat down all the competition.
- Mew2King(): One of the 5 Gods from Super Smash Bros. Melee extends his reach to the Wii U. Mew2King has proven he can be a threat in any Smash game, especially with his amazing recent victory in the Smash Masters competition at Super Smash Con 2016. While not as dominant as he is in Melee, M2K is still a force to be reckoned with. After having a character crisis following the first Diddy Kong nerf, he picked up Cloud and has been a top contender ever since. With impressive placings all across the board, including Top 8 at Get On My Level 2016, Apex 2016, WTFox2 and Endgame, M2K and his Cloud have taken sets over top players like Ally, Anti, and Yuya “9B” Araki. M2K even has the distinction of being the first person ever to take ZeRo out without losing a single game. With Shine having events for 2 other Smash games, will Mew2King dominate them all?
- ESAM () & MVD(): The panda boys are ready to fight. While both of them have seen better days (ESAM’s 2nd place finish at Super Smash Con 2015 and MVD’s 3rd place at Paragon L.A), they have been in a slump recently. ESAM saw his lowest placing ever at this year’s Super Smash Con with 33rd,and MVD didn’t make Top 64 at either CEO or EVO 2016. Panda Global’s players are not down for the count, however. MVD has been improving fast, gettting 9th place at 2GGT: KTAR Saga and Super Smash Con 2016, and while ESAM hasn’t had any luck with placements, he still has raw potential with his incredible plays (despite making crucial mistakes more often than not). Regardless, both of them have the ability to make it to the top at SHine.
Schedule
Shine 2016’s stream operations will be run by the MD/VA-based VGBootCamp (VGBC), with Big Blue eSports handling the secondary stream. Day 1's Smash Wii U happenings will be streamed on BBeS whereas Day 2's will be on VGBC with both streams starting at 10AM on their respective dates.
As with the two titles present at the event, the finals of each game will streamed on VGBC.
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