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Monday Morning Marth: September 23

Edwin Budding
Published September 23, 2024

Only a little over three months are left in 2024, and yet we have quite a bit coming up for Melee tournaments. In most Monday Morning Marths, I typically either preview a tournament or do a deep dive on viewership, attendance, or, really, any trend that I find interesting. In this one though, I’m going to keep it simple and preview the last quarter of the year.

Today, I’m offering my “what you need to know” analysis on some of the biggest events that will be closing out 2024. Like last time, I’m not getting my information from a secret source – it’s from the Public Smash Calendar. These will be a mix of majors, supermajors, regionals, and basically anything that I think sounds very cool. If your tournament is not included in this and you want to yell at me, that is your wish; I mostly wanted to focus my sights on the events I listed in this column.

NOTE: This column is not overviewing the Nouns Invitational or Showcase, mostly because I have no public information to go from with regards to either event. I’d keep an eye out for either event, purely because of top player representation and the chance for more high-level sets. 

Wavelength 2024

Who’s going?: Five SummerSSBMRank Top 10 players as of right now: Zain, Mang0, Hungrybox, Jmook, and moky. Beneath that, you have a slew of Top 25 players in Aklo, Spark, Joshman, Krudo, Chem, and Ben, and then a ton of regional talent from across the East Coast. This includes Wally, Bbatts, Khryke, mvlvchi, Dawson, Kalvar, bonfire10, K8A, Foxy Grandpa, and Agent. Alongside these mainstays of the East Coast, you also have Lucky, Skerzo, Preeminent, null, Matteo, and Southeast hidden boss Paladin too. In general, there’s a good number of surprising appearances here, with two especially rare Southern giants present in JSalt and SFOP. Also, me. I’m going.

What type of event is it?: It’s very clearly a major. You have the best player in the world here along with a distant contender for the No. 1 rank and three Top 10 players who remain strong competitors even during respective slumps from winning majors (or, in moky’s case, still chasing the gold). Add in six current Top 25 players and several other players who could end the year in the Top 50, and it’s not even a contest.

When is it?: October 5-6.

Where is it?: Westford, MA.

Why should you care?: The cheap answer is that it’s a major. The more in-depth answer is that this event is the spiritual successor to Shine and quite potentially the future of New England Melee. There’s not many events outside of Collision that typically get the entire Northeast together, and not did this one accomplish just that, but it brought home multiple top ten players, and regional talent from across the Midwest, Southeast, Deep South, and West Coast.

GENESIS: BLACK 2024

Who’s going?: S2J and Medz are the two obvious headliners due to being prominent Top 50 players. Where this event gets interesting, however, is the presence of a ton of regional stars and even legends of NorCal past. I’m talking about players like Zeo, Umarth, Sufy (a born-again Donkey Kong player), Snap (fresh off Eggdog’s event), invading SoCal talent (cliché and s-f), and – yes, you’re reading this correctly – SFAT and Shroomed.

What type of event is it?: Definitively a regional.

When is it?: October 12-13

Where is it?: San Jose, California, right in the Guildhouse bar.

Why should you care?: For starters, it’s a fairly stacked regional in NorCal featuring multiple generations of regional greats. But on the low, the NorCal vs. SoCal rivalry has been kind of dead since S2J, a SoCal giant, moved to NorCal and became the region’s top player with relative ease. This event offers a fairly unique mix of entrants between the different eras of West Coast players, with the new generation of SoCal especially standing out alongside the two ghosts of NorCal’s past and all of NorCal’s current top dogs.

Pataka Esports Festival

Who’s going?: Right now, it’s Zain, moky, Aklo, Junebug, and a bunch of British Columbia players, including Elliot and Polo.

What type of event is it?: British Columbia regional with special guest stars.

When is it?: October 19-20.

Where is it?: Surrey, British Columbia.

Why should you care?: It’s an event that celebrates South Asian representation in gaming. Melee has a history of that, which includes the best player in the world, a community legend in Chillindude, and top West Coast Canadian talent. This event in particular is one that I deeply regret not being able to attend this year due to prior personal commitments.

The Function 4

Who’s going?: Zain, Aklo, Joshman, KoDoRiN, SDJ, Chem, 404Cray, Swedish Delight, Kacey, bonfire10, SFOP, DrLobster, Kevin Maples, mayb, Fro116, Mot$, Rishi, Lowercase hero, Maelstrom, K8A, Trail, Ober, max, bambi, Agent, Freezus, and Swift. All in all, you have Zain, a bunch of Top 25 to 50 players, and notable representation from the entire Northeast, along with a bunch of hidden bosses of Tristate, as well as now-inactive former Top 100 players.

What type of event is it?: Let’s call it a super-regional, because why not? Any event in New York City is going to be inherently stacked, and although this one falls short of major status, it has Zain.

When is it?: October 26

Where is it?: New York City.

Why should you care?: It’s an event ran by NYCMelee, the most successful and largest East Coast community, and Zain’s taking on the entire region. Even if you hate NYCMelee, for some strange reason, at least tune in to see them lose to Zain. Or beat him. Who knows.

SAPF 2024


Who’s going?: Aklo, Zamu, Faust (EDIT: Faust will not be going any more), and then you have the entire gauntlet of top European talent (save for Leffen and Pricent). That includes Trif, Nicki, Frenzy, Solobattle, Pipsqueak, kins0, max, Fat Tino, Jah Ridin’, and Sharp, among several others.

What type of event is it?: “EU Major” (AKA a super-regional).

When is it?: November 1-3, 2024.

Where is it?: Hannover, Germany.

Why should you care?: EUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEUEU (Seriously though; some of my favorite weekends of Smash tournaments involve waking up, making myself a cup of coffee, and watching large European events featuring NA talent and obscure EU legends. This is one of them).

Let’s Make Moves Miami 2024

Who’s going?: For starters, Zain, Cody Schwab, Mang0, Hungrybox, Plup, moky, Soonsay, and Wizzrobe. Following these eight Top 10 players, there’s Junebug, someone who seems right outside that range right now, Ben, and MOF currently registered. I’d expect to see other Southeast, Florida, and broadly East Coast talent present here as we head closer to the event itself.

What type of event is it?: This one’s clearly a major right now, but we’ll see if the depth it gains later makes it a supermajor.

When is it?: November 1-3, 2024.

Where is it?: Miami, Florida.

Why should you care?: Eight of the top ten are present in a part of Florida that’s never actually had a major before (SFL). Most people tend to think of Florida as just one state with Disney in it and a bunch of people with incomprehensible political views, but South Florida has its own distinct identity from the rest of the state, and it has a fairly rich history.

Don’t Park On The Grass 2024

Who’s going?: Zain, Cody Schwab, Mang0, Hungrybox, Jmook, Plup, moky, Soonsay, Wizzrobe, Aklo, and goddamn Leffen. Following arguably the eleven best players in the world, there’s Trif, Spark, Junebug, Joshman, Axe, Krudo, SluG, KoDoRiN, SDJ, Salt, Fiction, Magi, Medz, Ossify, lloD (!!!), Wally, S2J, Nicki, Ben, SFAT (!!!), n0ne, Shroomed, Skerzo, Khryke, mvlvchi, Zuppy, Z0DD-01, and countless other people. There is a solid chance that this tourney may end up having the highest proportion of Top 50 players present at a given event in a year since Genesis 4. Even if it doesn’t, the hidden bosses or inactive top players that are here will functionally replace any Top 50 player who isn’t going.

What type of event is it?: Supermajor.

When is it?: November 16-17, 2024.

Where is it?: Seattle, Washington.

Why should you care?: Look at the who’s going list. You can’t ask for much more – this is 2024’s spiritual, West Coast stand-in for The Big House.

Platfight Gaming Championships

Who’s going?: Right now, just Wizzrobe is confirmed for notable top level talent on the event page. However, I’d be surprised if Hungrybox didn’t attend, given his relative proximity to the event. It’s possible Krudo and Panda could come here, and that this ends up a CEO 2024-type tournament for regional draw.

What type of event is it?: Right now, it’s a small regional, but I expect it to increase in size.

When is it?: December 13-15

Where is it?: Kissimmee, Florida.

Why should you care?: More than the players involved, I’m curious to see how this event turns out across all its games. The idea of a “platform fighter” equivalent of Evo is pretty cool to me, and I’d like to see if the concept has any legs in practice. I know Dhir really wants this to be a legitimate major event, given how it’s set to end on the final weekend of SSBMRank as well.

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