Rofl.
So I assume from what I've been hearing that NOregon isn't musch for the competitive scene at all?
Actually its the best place in Oregon to play smash.
You see, there used to be a tight little melee community here in the days of yore before brawl. But then brawl came; four dread horseman, darker than a black hole, riding on the flames of hell, barreling over the horizon. The melee community was destroyed. Many of the melee players converted.
For a while, everyone played brawl, melee was a dead zone. Some of the melee players enjoyed it and stuck with it, others didn't and sat around in angst. After a couple months however, those who hadn't fully converted to brawl in their minds and had the seed of doubt that brawl was not the path of light, began to bring melee to brawl tournaments, much to the chagrin of the brawl TO's, bless them.
Melee struggled. Struggled so much, that a majority of players trying to play melee felt wholly disillusioned, as one tv tucked away in a corner at an occasional brawl event was not enough to cultivate any substantial competition. So, those who had the doubt, either took what was given to them and turned all of their focus to brawl or stopped playing smash all together. For a while, nothing really happened, there were melee friendlies and smash fests carried out now and again, playing out like eulogies to friend that never should have died.
But as the great scholar, Jeff Goldblum quotes, "Life...finds a way."
Like flowers that, against all seeming odds, poke their vibrant heads from dead earth laid to waste by an all consuming brushfire, posts from new melee players began to appear. Perhaps they were merely in hiding, seeing brawl as the dominant game but got fed up. Or perhaps they were inspired by the powerful and resilient melee community of california and decided to make their own stand. Regardless, new flowers bloomed. Melee was making a comeback. A few older players decided to harness this energy and ride the wave that was gaining momentum (still building as I type this).
Getting bored so tl;dr: Melee scene is mostly a group of enthusiastic new players now, with a few older players. I'm optimistic because I'm seeing really quick improvement among the new guys. You all are awesome.
Also, eugene's not a bad place for melee either, there's just a handful of really busy people. Corvallis is probably better during the school year.
