The Big House 6 will be keeping approximately the same region boundaries as the previous iteration. Image via @JuggleRob.
Last October at The Big House 5 the major Melee playing regions of the world came together to test their might against each other. Now, a year on, they return to Dearborn, MI to do so once again at the sixth iteration of the premier tournament series. In 2015 the crew from Southern California (SoCal) took first place as Joseph "C9 Mango" Marquez tore through Mustafa "Ice" Akcakaya in the final matchup, coming back from 2 stocks down, in the final battle against team Europe. They were the favourites then and with close to the same team and around the same skill levels they will remain one of the top contenders. Here we will take a look at their chances and those who might wish to steal their crown.
The participating regions and their captains have been chosen by vote through the compendium giving us an eight crew roster of six returnees SoCal, Europe, NorCal, Florida, Canada and home-region heroes Midwest, plus two new crews in Southwest and MD/VA. The regions of Northwest, Atlantic South, Tristate and New England all miss out, with varying degrees of chagrin.
The specific rules for how you qualify to play for a region are as yet unknown and have lead to some heated discourse. It could be by residence or by birth or some other metric but either way the teams have been announced and anyone who disagrees with head TO Juggleguy's decisions will probably just have to stay salty.Each team comprises of 5 players with one alternate available if the starters do not attend. Here I will try to predict how the teams will do and give a power ranking for them going into the event. Take these opinions with a pinch of salt and do not come running to me when you lose a sidebet off the back of them. Anyway, let's get down to the power ranking.
What We Could Have Won...
First, a quick look at the potential crews who received too few votes to make it to get in to the 8 team bracket.
Northwest: Silent Wolf
, Bladewise , Iceman , Vish , Rustin /Vinodh Tristate: The Moon
, Swedish Delight , DJ Nintendo , Zanguzen , Captain Smuckers New England: Slox
, Mafia , Swift , MattDotZeb , Infinite Numbers Atlantic South: Druggedfox
, $Mike , Sharkz + 2 moreNone of these teams would have seemed likely to challenge for the title or upset any of the top four teams but Northwest, Tristate and New England would have been on 8th placed MD/VA's level at least.
8. MD/VA
Population: 16 million | Area: 149,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 4 states
Team:- ChuDat
- Chillindude (c)
- Zain
- Sypher
- Wenbobular
Not selected: Nurok
Absent: Redd, lloD, DoH, Azen, Milkman, Cyrain, Tope, Vist, SmashG0D, Hat, Aglet, Bones, Plank, Junebug, MOM!, Obi, Doll, Husband, SG
New this year.
A lot of MD/VA's hope rests on their attending old guard Daniel "VGBC ChuDat" Rodriguez and captain Kashan "Liquid Chillindude" Khan. Chillindude has has a better 2016 than 2015 with fewer surprising losses and ChuDat has had a very good year beating many players considered above his current level, making top 8 at CEO and placing solidly at other majors.
Otherwise their roster is formed of relatively unknown players. Watch out for fast up-and-comer Zain "Zain" Naghmi among them but it is hard to predict this team to do well when missing most of the top of their power ranking with the region already past its prime.
For his home region, Chillindude said it best: "I'm the underdog so place your bets."
7. Southwest
Population: 52 million | Area: 2,260,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 7 states
Team:- Axe (c)
- Wobbles
- Taj
- Tai
- Ka-Master
, Hamyojo Region conflict: Eddy Mexico
, eligible for the Southwest region under under last year's rules but not this year.Absent: Medz, Silly Kyle, GG7, Forward, V3ctorman, Mojo, MT, Jake13, Tirno, Light, Eikelmann, ARC, SK92
New this year.
A potentially very scary team but with limited options due to the wealth of absentees from Texas and Arizona.
Formerly comfortably the best Luigi in the world, Ammon "Ka-Master" Styles has looked good since his return to the contiguous United States, most recently finishing second to Jeffrey "Tempo Axe" Williamson at Arizona's Battlefield Monthly 8 ahead of multiple ranked players. Since he qualified to play for Southwest, he rounds out the team well despite being unranked until recently.
Both Robert "PG Wobbles" Wright and Tony "Taj" Jackson represent uncertainty in this crew, Wobbles is infamously inconsistent and Taj is an on-and-off semi-retired smasher but maybe the motivation of having their region reliant on them will bring out some of their best play.
6. Midwest
Population: 74 million | Area: 2,300,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 14 states
Team:- Duck
- KJH
- Kels
- Prince Abu
- Captain Faceroll
Not selected: Darkatma
, Drephen , 4% , Ginger , Anther , AbsentPage , Slayer , Tapion , Reeve , Rik , Lanceinthepants , Shinobi , ORLY , Vro Region conflict: Captain Faceroll, dividing his year between UCI in SoCal and his home in Chicago, there was potential for Faceroll to make an appearance for either team.
Absent: Abate, Dart!, Vudujin, Hanky Panky, Trail, SilentSwag
Last year: Abate, Duck, Darkrain, Darkatma, KJH
Losing Stephen "Abate" Abate hurts this team a lot. Abhishek "Glacial Prince Abu" Prabhu is a strong replacement for the Luigi master with a similarly floaty character and he showed some of his crew battle chops at G3 but last year Abate was the region’s absolute hero.
James "Denial Duck" Ma has made large strides in improving his worldwide standing this year but Kelly "Kels" Smith, Kalindi "Glacial KJH" Henderson, David "Darkrain" John and Binyan "Darkatma" Lin have all had quiet or middling years so far. However, Griffin "Captain Faceroll" Williams has gone from strength to strength, likely to be one of the highest risers on the end of year rankings after previously not making top 100 and a series of strong winners.
Being the home team, the tournament is stacked with midwesterners from all across the region. up-and-comers Charlie "AbsentPage" Mckinley, Austin "Reeve" Reed, David "4%" Long and Ginger would have provided fresh options while longer term players Drew "Drephen" Scoles, Logan "Slayer" Crosthwaite and Cary "Vro" Zhang could have come back out of the woodwork and prove the midwest is laden with hidden bosses.
Losing their second best player will likely put them at a strong disadvantage against most of the other teams but they will have the strength of the largest portion of 1000-person crowd behind them and the other benefits of being the home region. Despite this it is hard to predict more out of them than doing better than the option-spares newcomer teams.
5. Canada
Population: 36 million | Area: 9,980,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 1 country
Team:- n0ne (c)
- KirbyKaze
- Ryan Ford
- Kage
- Nightmare
Not selected: Coffeeblack
, Sauc3 , Jamrun , SAUS Absent: Fork, Moky, RaynEX, I.B, Weon-X, Idea, Vwins, Bam, Blunted_Object, Edgeluca, Sion, Mittens
Last year: KirbyKaze, Kage, Ryan Ford, n0ne, Mittens
If only Canada could all come together at the same event and if their old guard could come back full time, then they would be a team to be truly feared. For now Canada are just relegated to upset potential.
That said, this year has seen strong performances from these players, particularly Edgard "EMG n0ne" Sheleby's 7th place at GOML 2016 beating Mew2King. Ryan Ford's high level of activity and dominance in-region and the appearance on the scene of new players William "Trulliam" Truong and Vikram "Nightmare" Singh provide a lot of hope.
David "KirbyKaze" Macdonald's semi-retirement will likely leave him, one of Canada's linchpins, somewhat behind and Roustane "synK Kage" Benzeguir 's recent main confusion may leave them both question marks.
In Smash it is dangerous to sleep on anyone but given how much the four teams above them have improved it is hard to predict them to pull off a repeat of last year's win over NorCal. Canada maintain the ability to surprise, but also their underdog status.
4. NorCal
Population: 15 million | Area: 278,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 0.5 states
Team:- SFAT (c)
- Nintendude
- Shroomed
- PewPewU
- dizzkidboogie
Not selected: Alan
, Darrell , Toph , Frootloop , Dr. Z , ycz6 , gaR Region conflict: dizzkidboogie and Zhu, although they both originated in NorCal they have only returned to NorCal in the past few months. Nintendude also moved to NorCal just this year.
Absent: Lord, SilentSpectre, Cactuar, Azusa, Kalamazhu, Coolkid, HMW, Ralph, L, Moose, Boulevard, Phil
Last year: SFAT, Shroomed, HMW, Laudandus, dizzkidboogie
A very strong-looking, consistent team that only lacks a god tier player. NorCal are the lowest ranked of the top four teams that will surely dominate the bracket. They may miss the ever elusive Falcons of Erick "Lord" Lui and Jeff "SilentSpectre" Leung but they have plenty of options otherwise.
The double Ice Climbers with Michael "SPY Nintendude" Brancato and Kyle "dizzkidboogie" Athayde is interesting. They are classically considered a strong crews character for their ability take a whole stock with a single grab and there are few better at it than these two.
The team is a very different look from last year's who were upset by Kage and Canada. Swapping Brandon "HMW" Collier and Sam "Laudandus" Rohrer for Kevin "CLG PewPewU" Toy and Nintendude is a strong positive regardless of how much Laudandus has improved, plus Zac "CLG SFAT" Cordoni has levelled up markedly since The Big House 5.
The fifth spot is a close call for NorCal between the second Ice Climbers in dizzkidboogie, a second Sheik in the improvement master Sam "Laudandus" Rohrer and the Falco of Julian "Zhu" Zhu. An excellent run at Evo finished at 9th place for Zhu and revitalised public belief in his play, however Laudandus is having his best year yet peaking in 5th place at Pound 2016. Ultimately the choice to go with the bonus wobbler is reasonable given dizzkid's improvement over the year, even beating Mew2King.
3. SoCal
Population: 22 million | Area: 146,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 0.5 states
Team:Population: 22 million | Area: 146,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 0.5 states
- Mango (c)
- Westballz
- Lucky
- MacD
- S2J
Not selected: MikeHaze
, Alex19 , Captain Faceroll , Reno , Tafokints , KoopaTroopa895 Absent: Santiago, CDK, Squid, ROFL, Kira, Ken, Jace, Luigikid, Fly Amanita, ARMY
Last year: Mango, Westballz, Lucky, MacD, HugS
Although Hugo "dT HugS" Gonzalez is listed as the alternate and he has a history of captaining winning crew battles, he has stated on Twitter he will not be providing any coaching for them this year. Perhaps top analyst Daniel "MIOM Tafokints" Lee will help cover that base.
They will be one of the most unified crews as SoCal is one of the least disparate regions in the bracket and they are mostly unchanged. Swapping Johnny "Tempo S2J" Kim in for HugS is an overall skill improvement but there will be plenty of Falcon slayers in the bracket to watch out for.
McCain "SPY MacD" LaVelle has had a relatively lacklustre year for his standards and Joey "Selfless Lucky" Aldama has hovered around placing as expected, finding it hard to score breakthrough results. However they remain top tier players and the potential always lies within these players, as well as both Weston "G2 Westballz" Dennis and especially Mango, to go on a tear and take the game away from the opposition.
2. Europe
Population: 742 million | Area: 10,180,000 sq km | Sovereignty: ~50 countries
Team:- Armada (c)
- Leffen
- Ice
- Professor Pro
- Android
Visa conflict: Leffen, Europe's other best player was still struggling with the visa issues that first cropped up when he tried to attend last year's Big House until Monday but it remains to be seen whether he will be at The Big House on such short notice.
Not selected: Fuzzyness
Absent: Amsah, Trifasia, Overtriforce, Zgetto, reaper, Däumling, Calle W, Jeapie, Beat, Baxon, Adam, Mahie
Last year: Armada, Ice, Prof, Android, Widl
The defending silver medallists would have to be my favourites for gold if William "TSM Leffen" Hjelte attends if not for how insanely stacked the number 1 team is. If Leffen attends they will be a very strong team with 5 of their top 10 in attendance. Lack of character variety might be a weakness but how much does that matter when that character is Fox?
I want to say anything is possible with the beast Adam "[A]rmada" Lindgren at the helm, and it is with the single caveat that he is on his worst losing streak in recent times, failing to win an American tournament since Summit 2 in April. After an extended break from transatlantic travel and with the desire to retain his number 1 rank at the end of the year Armada will want to be on top form going into Big House.
Last year it came down to Ice being unable to stand up to a fiery Mango. This year the team has more strength across the board swapping out Vetle "Widl" Hovland, who performed valiantly after being substituted in for Leffen at short notice, for either Leffen himself or current UK number 3 Robby "Vanity Angel" Gee.
Ice, Aaron "VwS Professor Pro" Thomas and new Alliance member Andreas "Android" Lindgren are all reasonably well tested prospects on American soil by now and their goal will now be to simply do better than before.
Each of the Europeans have recently had a fair amount of crews practice at Heir 3 where Sweden emerged triumphant. Perhaps they would stand an even better chance with a few Austrians in the lineup, they were the surprise package of Heir 3 beating top crews England, Netherlands and (a somewhat de-powered) Sweden.
1. Florida
Population: 20 million | Area: 170,000 sq km | Sovereignty: 1 state
Team:- Hungrybox (c)
- Mew2King
- Plup
- Wizzrobe
- Colbol
Region conflict: Mew2King, famously originally from Cinnamonson, NJ in the Tristate region, Mew2King has wandered the Smash scene for a few years and was the biggest question mark in this whole battle.
Not selected: Gahtzu
Absent: Gravy, Pengie, Harriet, Porkchops, Blea Gelo, Rula, Zidane
Last year: Hungrybox, Colbol, Plup, Wizzrobe, Gahtzu
This team goes from scarily strong with two top 6 players on the team in Juan "Liquid Hungrybox" Debiedma and Justin "PG Plup" McGrath, to borderline overpowered with the inclusion of Jason "Fox MVG Mew2King" Zimmerman Floridian. With his more than year-long residency deemed enough to qualify him to play for Florida they jump straight to the top of the list.
Compared to last year not only is swapping Jason "Gahtzu" Diehl for Mew2King a giant individual skill leap, it also eliminating the double Falcon problem they suffered last year. Both Plup and Justin "CoG Wizzrobe" Hallett have driven higher up the rankings as Plup knocks on the door of the top 6 and Wizzrobe makes a case for top 10.
That is without even mentioning that their captain Hungrybox is the consensus best player in the world right now. Despite some questionable strategic decisions in past crew battles, Hungrybox has shown, this year more than any, his in-game prowess, particularly in taking 9 stocks in the Jigglypuff vs. Falco crew battle at Pound 2016.
There is simply no way a team with 3 of the top 6 players in the world, a contender for top 10 and a top 20 player as the "weakest link" can be anything but favourites to win this event. That said they certainly are not invincible, with good counterpicking, and even simply outplays they could easily fall in the single elimination bracket.
Conclusion
The top four crews (SoCal, Europe, Florida, NorCal) are in a tier of their own, one of them will win the bracket but they all have the potential to beat each other. Florida and Europe with Leffen occupy another separate tier, Europe showed last year that you can go far in crew battles even with a perceived weaker player. They will face stiff competition and upset potential from some of the best players in the world in the other regions and the title is fully up for grabs.
You can watch the crew battle unfold before your very eyes this Friday from 3pm EST on VGBootCamp.
Let me know what you agree or disagree with and who you would pick if you were captain, in the comments, on Twitter and on reddit.
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