Tournament:MLG Anaheim 2014
| MLG Anaheim 2014 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Dates | June 20th-22nd, 2014 |
| Venue | Anaheim Convention Center |
| Address/City | 800 W Katella Ave Anaheim, California 
|
| Attendance | 325 |
| Entry fees | $55 from March 14th to April 13th $65 from April 14th to May 11th $75 from May 12th to June 16th $125 at Anaheim Check-In |
| Pot size(s) | $15,000 |
| Results | |
 winners
|
Mango 1v1 Armada & Mew2King 2v2
|
| Staff | |
| Organizer(s) | Solid Jake, Major League Gaming |
MLG Anaheim 2014 was a Super Smash Bros. Melee national tournament that featured the return of the Super Smash Bros. series to Major League Gaming tournaments, being the first time Super Smash Bros. was featured in the circuit since MLG Dallas 2010, and the first time Melee was featured in the circuit since MLG Las Vegas 2006. It also featured doubles and global crew battles. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was also supposed to be featured at the event, but was removed from the game lineup reportedly due to intervention from Nintendo.
Although this tournament held many entrants and featured matches with the best in the world, it was criticized by participants for being poorly run. The tournament organizers would often incorrectly dictate call times for matches, then call matches several minutes earlier than expected and disqualify players, such as PewPewU and Shroomed, into the losers' bracket who showed up at the original time. Only through massive social media intervention were the majority of the players allowed back into the winners' bracket. The organizers were also criticized for not allowing friendlies, even though there were several vacant setups, and discouraging spectating of tournament sets. On the stream, advertisements sometimes cut into matches, drawing further criticism from those viewing online.
The qualification system was criticized because it allowed perceived lesser players to qualify simply because they placed somewhat highly at many tournaments. Of the 25 players in the championship bracket, s0ft, Remen, and ZeRo were not ranked in the Summer 2014 SSBMRank list of top-25 players. ZeRo and s0ft both attended 5 of the 9 qualifiers, and Remen traveled to Japan and won Sumabato DX Melee 11, which had the weakest field of the qualifiers. Of the players who were on the Summer SSBMRank list, Fly Amanita (#9), SFAT (#11), KirbyKaze (#16), and Zhu (#21) failed to qualify for the championship. The top-25 players who didn't attend at all were Ice, Silent Wolf, JAVI, and Overtriforce.
Qualifiers[edit]
- Shuffle V - 2000 point qualifier
- CEO 2014 Prologue - 2000 point qualifier
- Fighters' Edge - 1000 point qualifier
- WHOBO MLG - 2000 point qualifier
- Sumabato DX Melee 11 - 2000 point qualifier
- Get On My Level 2014 - 2000 point qualifier
- Republic of Fighters 3 - 5000 point qualifier
- Pat's House 2 - 2000 point qualifier
- SKTAR 3 - 5000 point qualifier
Open bracket qualifier finalists[edit]
An open bracket was run at the event to determine the final 20 players, with the qualifiers before the event determining the players. [1]
Qualifier winners[edit]
All of these players automatically qualified by winning a qualifier.
| Player | Qualifier(s) won |
|---|---|
| Mew2King |
Shuffle V; Fighters' Edge; Pat's House 2 |
| Hungrybox |
CEO 2014 Prologue |
| Mango |
WHOBO MLG; Get On My Level 2014 |
 Remen |
Sumabato DX Melee 11 |
| Leffen |
Republic of Fighters 3 |
| PPMD |
SKTAR 3 |
Point standings[edit]
These players did not win a qualifier, but still gained enough points to qualify.
| Player | Score | Qualifier placings |
|---|---|---|
| Armada |
4800 | Republic of Fighters 3: 2nd SKTAR 3: 4th |
 ZeRo |
3060 | Shuffle V: 13th Fighters' Edge: 5th WHOBO MLG: 4th Pat's House 2: 17th SKTAR 3: 9th |
| Hax |
2800 | WHOBO MLG: 2nd SKTAR 3: 5th |
 aMSa |
2560 | Sumabato DX Melee 11: 13th Republic of Fighters 3: 3rd |
| Westballz |
2320 | Pat's House 2: 4th SKTAR 3: 5th |
| s0ft |
2240 | CEO 2014 Prologue: 5th Fighters' Edge: 4th WHOBO MLG: 5th Get On My Level: 13th SKTAR 3: 17th |
Championship pool play[edit]
Each player within the same pool played each other in a best of 5 set. The remaining two spots in each pool was determined by the open bracket.
| Championship Group A | Championship Group B |
|---|---|
| Qualifier finalists | |
Mew2King    |
Hungrybox 
|
PPMD  |
Mango
|
| Leffen |
Armada 
|
| s0ft |
ZeRo
|
| Hax |
aMSa 
|
| Remen |
Westballz
|
| Open Winners' Bracket finalists | |
Axe  |
Fiction
|
| Colbol |
PewPewU
|
| Open Losers' Bracket finalists | |
Plup 
| |
| Lucky
| |
S2J 
| |
| Shroomed
| |
| Group A | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | PPMD | Mew2King | Leffen | Axe | Hax | Colbol | s0ft | Remen | Set count | Game count |
| PPMD |
— | 3-0 | 2-3 | 3-2 | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 6-1 | 20-8 |
| Mew2King |
0-3 | — | 3-1 | 2-3 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 5-2 | 17-8 |
| Leffen |
3-2 | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 2-3 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 5-2 | 18-10 |
| Axe |
2-3 | 3-2 | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 5-2 | 17-9 |
| Hax |
1-3 | 1-3 | 3-2 | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 4-3 | 15-12 |
| Colbol |
1-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 3-1 | 2-5 | 9-17 |
| s0ft |
0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 1-6 | 4-19 |
| Remen |
1-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | — | 0-7 | 3-21 |
| Group B | ||||||||||
| Player | Armada | Mango | Hungrybox | PewPewU | Fiction | Westballz | ZeRo | aMSa | Set count | Game count |
| Armada |
— | 3-2 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 7-0 | 21-3 |
| Mango |
2-3 | — | 3-2 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 0-3 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 5-2 | 17-10 |
| Hungrybox |
0-3 | 2-3 | — | 3-0 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 5-2 | 17-8 |
| PewPewU |
0-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | — | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 11-12 |
| Fiction |
0-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | — | 3-1 | 3-1 | 3-2 | 3-4 | 11-16 |
| Westballz |
0-3 | 3-0 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | — | 3-0 | 3-2 | 3-4 | 10-14 |
| ZeRo |
1-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | — | 3-2 | 1-6 | 6-20 |
| aMSa |
0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 3-2 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 2-3 | — | 1-6 | 10-20 |