Melee March Madness

This week marks the start of March Madness, an annual staple of collegiate basketball, and one that’s spawned numerous spinoff “tournaments” across pop culture. Today, I’m introducing yet another March Madness bracket – this time for competitive Melee’s greatest moments ever.

From the days of titans like Ken and Azen to the era of the Five Gods to the current era, we as spectators have been graced with a myriad of incredible acts of skill, hype and entertainment across nearly two decades. Be it memorable, hype, important, or even funny, I’m leaving it up to you, the fans, to pick your favorite moments per week. I implore you to use your own judgement about which moment is the best Melee moment.

To create this double-elimination bracket, I and other Melee Stats members chose a variety of different events across Melee’s several time periods, narrowing down the list to a final 68 moments. Keep in mind that this wasn’t easy. Notably absent from the bracket are several major clinching moments like Armada winning Genesis 2, PPMD taking home the trophy for Apex 2015 and Plup defying the odds at Genesis 5. These are all undeniably important, but though we felt that while some tournament-winning moments should be included for gameplay or viral elements, winning a tournament on its own doesn’t necessarily fall under our criteria for this list.

Day one starts with our play-ins, where the 16 seeds face off versus the 17 seeds to decide who makes it into top 64. To vote on this, and see what’s up for voting, join the Melee Stats Podcast Discord server at https://discord.gg/VRf8cHS, and vote in the #Melee-Madness channel. We hope to see you there.

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UPDATE: The vote-ins are complete and so is the bracket. This page will be updated over the course of the next few weeks.

Round 1.1 Results:

• 1. Wombo Combo, SCSA West Coast Circuit (95.6%) > 16. Fly Amanita’s hand-offs on SFAT at The Big House 2 (4.4%)
• 8. “That set in Florida” Mew2King defeats Shiz game 5 at FAST 1 (26.2%) < 9. Abate encounters the invisible ceiling vs. S2J at TBH 5 (72.8%)
• 5. “I just beat Mango where you at?!” Kage double eliminates Mango at RoM 2 (41.1%) < 12. Armada ends his final major win with his last 0-to-death (58.9%)
• 4. “LOOOORD WHAT THE CRAP” Lord vs S2J Falcon ditto at The Next Episode (78.8%) > 13. “Hax wins!” Hax edges out Mango at Pound 2016 (21.2%)
• 6. Azen finishes a three stock comeback on Ken at MLG NY (54.4%) > 11. The Darkrain Combo, at FC 3 (45.6%)
• 3. “Unplug your controller, dawg!” Mango makes Taj forfeit at Genesis 2 (92.5%) > 14. PPMD JV 5-stocks Tubes at Apex 2010 (7.5%)
• 7. Mango wins Royal Flush and does an IRL stomp (77.5%) > 10. PPMD nearly JV 5-stocks Hax at MLG Anaheim 2014 (22.5%)
• 2. “This could be it… THIS IS IT” Mango vs Leffen at Apex 2014 (90.7%) > 15. Mango wins crews at TBH 5 with a wall-jump dair on Ice (9.3%)

Round 1.2 Results:

• 1. Hungrybox resets the bracket at Evo 2016 (58.9%) > 17. Press 1 If You Feel Bad For Hungrybox (41.1%)
• 8. Fly Amanita’s SoPo comeback against Silent Wolf at Kings of Cali 3 (47.5%) < Plup takes two quick stocks from  Leffen at Evo 2015 (52.5%)
• 5. Mango’s set-ending combo on Plup at Smash Summit 2 (68.0%) > 12. “What is this movement, Ice?!?”Ice vs. Armada at BEAST 6 (32%)
• 4. “My B” Chillin gets 5-0’d by Leffen in their Apex 2015 MM (86.9%) > 13. M2K takes 16 stocks off of Ken,Isai, Disk, and Manacloud in OC3 crews (13.1%)
• 6. Westballz combos Leffen at BEAST 6 (85.2%) > 11. Isai’s game-winning combo on Ken at MOAST 3 (14.8%)
• 3. Armada breaks Mango’s shield at BEAST 3 (73.2%) > 14. S2J performs the ultimate Johnny Combo on Lucky (26.8%)
• 7. Lucky performs the Sacred Combo on MikeHaze at Smash the Record 2015 (65.9%) > 10. Hbox engages the clutch in GTX grand finals  (34.1%)
• 2. “BAAIIIIIIIRRRR” PPMD stays alive in Pound V grand finals (53.3%) > 15. Armada’s 1v2 comeback vs Leffenand Ice at Apex 2015 (46.7%)

Round 1.3 Results:

• 1. Mango reads Armada’s roll with a rest at Genesis (92.9%) > 17. Chris Best and net1234 share a Marth ditto at Evo 2016 (7.1%)
• 8. Plup seals his 3-0 of Armada with a Lightning Kick at Genesis 5 (82.5%) > 9. Armada and Mango exchange powershields at MLG Anaheim 2014 (17.5%)
• 5. Mango throws his shirt into the crowd after beating Armada at Evo 2013 (63.8%) > 12. Mew2King beats Armada for the first time ever, at SKTAR 3 (36.2%)
• 4. Armada’s meditation four-stock on Leffen at BEAST 5 (77.8%) > 13. Armada and Android perform a 212% double zero-to-death on Leffen and Ice at BEAST 7 (22.2%)
• 6. Hungrybox edges out Armada 1% at Genesis 2 (55.2%) > 11. Mango JV four-stocks Zhu as Captain Falcon at West Coast Smash League (44.8%)
• 3. Mango reads Hungrybox’s roll at Evo 2013 (81.1%) > 14. Wobbles doesn’t let Mew2King escape at Infinity and Beyond 18 (18.9%)
• 7. PPMD combos Mew2King on Rainbow Cruise to win RoM 3 (36.5%) < 10. Hax puts New York City on the map with his combo on Javi at Apex 2013 (63.5%)
• 2. Axe four-stocks Silent Wolf in under a minute at Evo 2014 (93.0%) > 15. Darkrain hits SFAT with five knees in a row at FC10 (7.0%)

Round 1.4 Results:

• 1. Mew2King’s Game 4 comeback against DaShizWiz at RoM (94.9%) > 16. Westballz demands S2J to give him his spatula back at The Next Episode (5.1%)
• 8. Lucky gives Westballz pause at The Big House 4 (61.2%) > 9. Armada chooses Young Link versus Hungrybox for the first time (38.8%)
• 5. “Up-air, forward-air, f-forWARD-AIR” Mew2King’s last stock combo on PPMD at Zenith 2012 (56.7%) > 12. Mew2King wins Smash Summit 6 and “pops off” (43.3%)
• 4. “AND THE SWEDISH SNIPER STRIKES AGAIN” Armada’s Parasol combo on Leffen (66.7%) > 13. “You can’t just four-stock me, Mango!” Mango four-stocks Leffen at The Big House 4 (33.3%)
• 6. Bombsoldier zero-to-deaths Ken at Jack Garden (42.9%) < 11. ChuDat makes a two-stock comeback with Sopo versus HugS at Evo 2015 (57.1%)
• 3. Mango disrespects everyone with his rest punish on Hungrybox at Pound 4 (71.4%) > 14. The crowd raise their chairs for S2J after he defeats Mew2King at Shine 2017 (28.6%)
• 7. Mango just walks up slowly and downsmashes Hax at The Big House 4 (79.6%) > 10. Amsah performs The Comeback against Ek at Renaissance of Smash 3 (20.4%)
• 2. Mango rests Mew2King on A M O V I N G A R W I N G at Pound 3 (77.0%) > 15. Magi upsets Mango in pools at Genesis 6 (23.0%)

Loser’s Round 1: