April 2014 Preview
April is historically quiet for Melee turnouts. The current record is MLG New York’s 143 entrants in 2006, which is the worst high-mark of any month on the calendar; and just one Melee tourney in the United States has even broken 100+ entrants in the post-Brawl era, Kings of Cali 2’s 114 entrants in 2013. However, with Melee cruising along in its Platinum Age, social media interaction continuing to surge, and media exposure ramping up in anticipation of MLG Anaheim and EVO 2014, this year should be comparatively strong.
April 5
Every weekend in 2014 so far has produced a Melee tourney of 75+ entrants, but that streak may end here with no heavily-promoted regionals on the calendar. You know it’s an off-weekend when neither VGBootCamp nor CLASH Tournaments has a tourney lined up to stream. However, the Melee community continues to impress this year by producing massive turnouts seemingly out of nowhere, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see a tourney do so again. The most likely candidate is The Oklahoma Invitational, where Stock Cancel Gaming ambitiously aims to host events for three games (Melee, Brawl, PM) over two days. Melee has been the greatest benefactor of multi-game events in recent months, boasting a ton of spillover attendance from other Smash scenes. And if we’ve learned anything recently, it’s that every state/region’s first significant tournament after the documentary ends up bigger than expected. Prediction: 50 entrants.
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