Recent News

For those of you that have been keeping up with the ladder or recent content, you know that we have been hosting events for ladder every weekend to increase activity. While things are looking fairly decent, we can always do better, and a little fun never hurts anyone. To add an extra spark to ladder, I wanted to introduce a new event: Perfect Week!

The Perfect Week is based on an episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Barney Stinson, the ladies man of the series, accepts the challenge of taking home a new woman every night of the week. If you're not understanding what I'm getting at, the idea of this event is to take one of your fellow smashers home every night of the week. The idea of this event is to defeat at least one new opponent every night of the week. To make this event special, it will only take place during official seasons (ones where badges count and playoffs occur.) In addition, there will be two different weeks for the ladders. For this season, the Perfect Week schedule is as follows:

Singles: July 16th - 22nd
Doubles: July 23rd - 29th

Your matches can be played any time throughout the day as long as they are submitted by midnight (EST) of that day. To be clear you can play the same opponent as many times as you want in that one week, but they will only count towards one day of your Perfect Week. The new opponents don't have to be someone you've never played in your ladder history; just someone you haven't played during the Perfect Week. The Perfect Weeks have been scheduled to match the appropriate weekend events. This means the weekend of Singles Perfect Week is Singles Weekend, and the weekend of Doubles Perfect Week is Doubles Weekend. We do realize that acquiring these badges may be difficult, especially for doubles, but that's the point. The badges will be worth at least 500 points (the doubles one might be more than singles due to the difficulty of finding matches), and have a Barney Stinson theme to it. A week before the first Perfect Week, I will be posting a blog to remind everyone.

P.S. Don't forget that this weekend is Doubles Weekend! If you need a refresher on the ladder schedule, click here.

As Enrish stated in his latest ladder article, one of the changes we plan to implement is more ladder weekends. Ever since the match requirements for playoffs were introduced during the Road to Apex ladder, the brackets never met their intended quotas. My goal is to try to restore the brackets to their former glory, give you all more chances to play, and liven up those ladder chats by means of two sub-changes:

1. In addition to Doubles Weekends, there will be Singles Weekends. While not as bad as doubles, singles brackets have been a few players short...even though it should be fairly easy for everyone to meet the requirement of thirty matches. (Just look at all of the players who played at least a hundred matches in the past!) Regardless, the timespan is the same as Doubles Weekends, and shall remain like this unless stated otherwise in a blog. Here are the days and times (based on Eastern Standard Time):

-Friday: 3 pm - midnight (12 am)
-Saturday: noon (12 pm) - midnight (12 am)
-Sunday: 1 pm - 10 pm

The badges, however, are a different story. With respect to the event itself, only one is being made for playing at least two matches on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. For those badge connoisseurs out there (using the non-vulgar version of the badge name for the article's sake) who are curious as to why this is, keep in mind that there used to be only one badge for Doubles Nights. The only two reasons that badge is still given out in addition to the actual Doubles Weekend badge is because doubles ladder isn't usually crowded, and...well, badges can't be deleted, so no point in neglecting it. Back on topic, if there seems to be a decline in attendance as the weekend goes by, then I'll consider a second badge.

2. There will be ladder events every weekend, and they will alternate between singles and doubles. This weekend (June 8 - 10) will be Singles Weekend, next weekend (June 15 - 17) will be Doubles Weekend (SUNDAY WILL GO FROM 12 AM TO 12 AM (24 HOURS) FOR FATHER'S DAY), and all future weeks will switch in that fashion. Keep in mind that the last weekend an event will take place before the ladder ends is July 27 - 29, which will be a Doubles Weekend.

That's about all you need to know when it comes to the schedule. I'll close this article by listing all of the badges you can earn for these events:

Singles: wifi warrior, staff slayer, and singles weekend warrior.

Doubles: double dater, doubles weekend warrior, and double danger.

As always, if you qualify for any of these, let Enrish or I know. Happy laddering!

Playoffs ended about two weeks ago after the most chaotic season it has seen in at least three years, if not ever. There was multiple suspicions of people subbing for others, two very large disputes, site problems at least twice on scheduled nights, and issues with Nintendo's server. Nonetheless, even with all that chaos, we managed to finish only a week behind schedule thanks to the dedicated participants. Here are the winners!

Singles:
1st - SlayerZ
2nd - Gonzalo ZeRo
3rd - M to the Ekos
4th - Zorai.

Doubles:
1st - -Randum- + A-Oh
2nd - Killuminati Patg + Mysterion

Congratulations to you all!


With a new season upon us, we're looking to the future. This last two or three months, I've noticed all the comments the members of this site had to say about ladder.There's been statements about how we need more events, that there needs to be more hype, and that playoffs need to be run better. And so today, as with the other recent "times of change" movements, I present to you some of the major changes that you'll see from now on:

1. This season, we're looking to upgrade all of the rules in ladder. We want everything to be as updated and specific as possible so as not to cause confusion, and everyone will know without a doubt when something is okay or not okay to do. Invinciboy and I have already spent multiple hours towards updating the rules, and will continue doing so. That being said this season we will be enforcing the Apex stage list once again this season, and continue to do so for future ladders. The rules have been updated to show which stages the Apex stage list supports, so please make sure you're frequently checking the rules for updates.

2. We are considering the ban of double Meta Knight in Doubles ladder, but first we would like the members' opinion on it. Very soon, we will be posting a poll where you can voice your opinion on the matter.

3. Ladder and playoffs will be hyped once again! Bi-weekly ladder updates will occur on a consistent, rotating schedule, and we're going to have special events for ladder every weekend in order to give players more of a chance to meet the requirements. Meanwhile, Invinciboy and myself will be putting countless hours into hyping the playoffs and seeing what we can do to make things a little easier for everyone.

4. Though all these changes are of significant importance, the most important change will be who's now in charge of ladder. About three months ago, when first working towards the site's revolution, I came to the realization that I can no longer offer the site what it needs by myself. Because of that, I decided I was going to distribute five of my positions to what Neal, JV_, and I felt were the most qualified staff. Though we haven't made a final decision on the other positions, picking the new Head of Ladder was pretty easy. So without further ado, let me introduce the new Head of Ladder: Invinciboy! From now on, he will be in charge of everything that has to do with ladder, including hosting playoffs. For this first season (at least), I will be helping him out. You requested that another person help the host out so things can run smoothly, and so it has been done.

There are more changes we have in mind, but those will be announced later.


"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." This famous phrase by Friedrich Nietzche has never meant so much to ladder and playoffs. We survived one hell of a season, and now that we know what needs to be focused on, we're going back to the drawing board and making sure this next season paves a path of improvement. Of course, we're always looking for suggestions. If you have an idea that you feel could improve the ladder system, let us know! There are no right or wrong answers, but please be clear with what you mean. (In other words, don't just say, "The playoffs schedule sucks! Enrish was an *** for using it!")

We hope you all enjoy the changes and proposals we've presented so far, and stay tuned for future updates!

Hello, everyone! Now that the new ladder season is upon us, it's time to start the traditional ladder updates back up. The ladder's already been through a few twists and turns, and I predict many more will occur over the course of it. Without further ado, let's introduce this update's notable players and teams! (Note: these rankings taken from today's stats, at 11:45 AM, and are based on feedback, signatures (if applicable), and past experiences (for those that most likely will never change their crew). If anything needs to be corrected, let me know with a comment in this article or PM. Also, our supply of replays has been bone dry for the longest time. If any of you have anything you want to show off, send a message to lightlanayru, Mocha, Horse, or myself.)


*1. Nairo (2407, with 51-0; Character(s): Meta Knight)*
2. DracoBlaze (2174, with 20-3; Character(s): Meta Knight and Snake)
3. PentaSalia (1999, with 25-4; Character(s): Mr. Game and Watch)
4. Denti (1930, with 15-3; Character(s): Olimar)
5. TyphoonX (1911, with 23-15; Character(s): R.O.B.)
6. Iota (1833, with 29-6; Character(s): Wario)
7. _Quest_ (1813, with 80-13; Character(s): Toon Link and Marth)
8. Zénîth (1801, with 17-13; Character(s): Diddy Kong)
9. Jtails (1800, with 20-2; Character(s): Meta Knight)
10. ThunderK9 (1791, with 54-33; Character(s): Falco)
11 MC PE (1786, with 13-3; Character(s): Meta Knight)
12. EMINEM (1738, with 19-0; Character(s): Mario)
13. ven (1734, with 37-12; Character(s): Zelda)
14. Sangoten (1726, with 15-5; Characters(s): Pikachu)
15. National Champion Megaike (1723, with 51-35; Characters(s): Ike and Snake)
16. Keeby (1723, with 51-35; Characters(s): Meta Knight/Mr. Game and Watch/Kirby)
17. OG Syco (1708, with 21-4; Character(s): Olimar)
18. Sam_The_Freshest (1697, with 27-17; Character(s): Meta Knight)
19. Mr.Eric (1659, with 37-45; Character(s): Marth/Falco)
20. The Legend of Henry (1650, with 15-3; Character(s): Snake)
21. Bizkit (1634, with 15-1; Character(s): Snake)
22. Mysterion (1620, with 14-3; Character(s): Mr. Game and Watch)
23. Prof3ssor MGW (1596, with 7-0; Character(s): Olimar)
24. DOOM THE MAD SNAKE (1590, with 12-2; Character(s): Snake)
25. Alphicans (1581, with 10-2; Character(s): Mr. Game and Watch)
26. DreamKnight (1578, with 26-25; Character(s): Meta Knight and Kirby)
27. Waymas (1559, with 11-2; Character(s): Wario and Olimar)
28. Anuar (1556, with 25-9; Character(s): Olimar)
29. Meek (1550, with 13-4; Character(s): Sonic)
30. Dusk (1549, with 24-22; Character(s): Wolf)
31. khrizred (1547, with 15-6; Character(s): Snake)
32. ikemastr37 (1542, with 22-13; Character(s): Ike)

NOTES:
-Nairo certainly has an impressive streak as he's lounging in first place. Will it ever end?
-Aside from Nairo, players that have a clean streak are EMINEM and Prof3ssor MGW. Nice work!
-There are many rarely-used characters, but out of everyone in the past updates, Pikachu seems to almost never show up. Shoutout to Sangoten for representing the electric rodent!


*1. Top 16 Or Else (Players: Blazer + Iota; 1581, with 16-0; Characters: Meta Knight and Wario/Mr. Game and Watch)*
2. The Person Who Does The Ladder Updates Has Nothing Better To Do! (Players: EMINEM + WaDiRob; 1574, with 19-1; Characters: double Wario)
3. Naturally. (Players: BlazinAlex AKA Guy Cecil + DracoBlaze; 1471, with 7-0; Characters: Marth/King Dedede and Meta Knight/Snake)
4. Bacon Strips & Bacon Strips & Bacon Strips (Players: Taste + Negga; 1386, with 11-1; Characters: Ganondorf and Mr. Game and Watch/Diddy Kong)
5. Murderous Melody (Players: Roy Flare-Blade + Miz Mango; 1332, with 21-2; Characters: Ike and Samus)
6. Green Team Forever ♥ (Players: Amaterasu Okami + Doogi; 1232, with 6-1; Characters: Snake and Ness)
7. 火All Fired Up火 (Players: MiniFox + Ikeboy; 1216, with 10-2; Characters: Pikachu and Meta Knight/Snake/Donkey Kong)
8. 4 Lora (麗) (Players: GenoSamus + Karby; 1188, with 9-3; Characters: Samus and Kirby)
9. Doomsday (Players: -Randum- + -Serebii-; 1161, with 4-1; Characters: Mr. Game and Watch/Meta Knight and Meta Knight)
10. Wario Bros. (Players: Wafty + LOE1; 1094, with 12-13; Characters: Double Wario)
11. i am running out of team names...... (Players: Goten + Jules; 1072, with 4-1; Characters: Meta Knight/Snake and Olimar)
12. Two Swords (Players: Foodies + _Quest_; 1062, with 10-12; Characters: Double Marth)
13. Otori + Kakera (Players: Nostalgia. + Promises; 1033, with 5-0; Characters: Ness/Meta Knight and Meta Knight)
14. weeee (Players: Sam_The_Freshest + _ForsaKen_; 1023, with 6-2; Characters: Meta Knight and Snake)
15. Top 16 with badges (Players: Sakram3nt + kokomo; 917, with 4-5; Characters: Double Donkey Kong)
16. Somo (Players: xzx + ccst; 858, with 2-1; Characters: Wario and R.O.B.)

NOTES:
-Only two teams have a perfect record: Naturally. and Otori + Kakera.
-Seems like two teams are going all-out with double Wario. I wonder which team will come out on top by the end of this ladder?
-I'm surprised to see only six or so Meta Knights in this batch of teams. Hooray for variety!
-It's good to see a few teams have met the playoffs requirements so early. We realize that it's hard to get matches in Doubles ladder, but we'll definitely hook the rest of you up!

That's it for this ladder update. The season's still young, and it may end later depending on when neal arrives. Play your hearts out, and I'll see you next time, All is Brawl!

P.S. Shoutout to the second-place team! You guys are awesome!

This weekend will be the first Doubles Weekend of the season! For those who don't know what Doubles Weekend is, it is three Doubles Nights rolled into one. The purpose of this is to help promote Doubles Ladder and make sure that teams can meet the match requirement (currently set at twenty) for the playoffs at the end of the season. Along with the chance to participate in what is hopefully matches full of fun and excitement you'll have a chance to earn three different badges this weekend. Those badges are:

Double Danger (http://allisbrawl.com/fun/badge.aspx?id=509) - Defeat an AiB Staff team. Currently the only AiB Staff team is Green Team Forever (http://allisbrawl.com/ladder/player.aspx?id=77230).
Double Dater (http://allisbrawl.com/fun/badge.aspx?id=296) - Play three doubles matches in one Doubles Nights' set time.
Weekend Warrior (http://allisbrawl.com/fun/badge.aspx?id=729) - Play two matches every night of the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).

Normally there are set times on each day. This weekend the only set time is midnight to midnight (PST).

Best of luck to all of you and have a great weekend!

Editor's note: This article was submitted by a non-Content Team member. If you're interested in submitting an article, please contact Miles of SmashWiki, lightlanayru, or Invinciboy.

Hey everyone! This is the first I have ever written for this site, so bear with me. I wanted to write about a popular feature of this site that gets a lot of attention: the Ladder system. There have been a lot of articles written about it over the past few years, but this time we are going to look at it from another angle. This article is especially written for those who take Laddering seriously, but even those who don’t can still get a lot from this! With the upcoming ladder season, it's time to get a fresh perspective on laddering. Let’s dig in, shall we?


-Background on the Ladder-

AllIsBrawl’s Ladder system has been a feature of this site for the past few years and was implemented in the summer of 2008 by Nealdt. On that year and that year alone, there was a Summer Ladder, which was then followed by a Fall Ladder. Then during the next year came the sequence which we have seen every year since: a Winter Ladder (which goes from the start of January till the end of March), a Spring Ladder (which goes from the start of May to the end of July) and a Fall Ladder (which begins in September and lasts until the end of November). To date, there have been 14 of these “main” Ladder seasons. Each of the months between these seasons has featured a “joke” Ladder, which unlike the main Ladders, has no rewards (other than badges, but not including the Ladder Placing badges). As of Spring 2009, each season has featured a corresponding Doubles Ladder for each Singles Ladder.

The Ladder system is powered by a system related to Microsoft’s Trueskill System. On the page you can go to from here, the technical details of how it works are described. Basically, every time you win or lose a game, the system uses your results to determine how good of a player you are. The more you win, the better it thinks you are, and the more you lose, the worse it considers you. But there’s more: it also takes into account the skill level of the people you play. This means that if you beat an opponent who wins 90% of his games, it counts for more than if you beat an opponent who only wins 40% of his games. Similarly, if you lose to an opponent who wins 90% of his games, it hurts you less than if you had lost to one who doesn’t win as much. As if this isn’t complicated enough, I should also mention that your first game and the next few matches are probably the most important games you play; you have more potential to earn and lose points during these games. Once you play about 40-50 games, your earning and losing potential goes down a lot. Annoyingly, the Ladder also has a feature which makes your points go down every 24 hours (if you haven’t reported a match) which is commonly referred to as “decay”. The more you’ve played, the more decay you get (I’ve seen myself lose as much as 5 points per 24 hours, to 1 point).

So, other than trying to prove that you’re amazing at Brawl, what reasons are there to use the Ladder? Well, during the season you have the ability to earn badges: for example, if you beat 3 opponents in a row, you can earn the Streaker badge. Once each season ends, the top placers in each ladder (top 64 in singles and top 32 teams in doubles) each receive a special badge in honor of their accomplishment, and the top 60 (and top 30 teams) are invited to participate in a special tournament to compete for prize money. I should also mention that the ladder placing badges (top 64, top 32, top 16, top 8, top 4, and Champion [example badges are from the 2010 Winter Ladder]) all grant the exclusive blue username color (except for the top 8 and higher badges, which give the rare glowing white/silver name color), which makes them desirable to many who frequent this website. In addition to that, the Ladder is one of the best ways to train for serious Brawl matches offline. Many of the best players of Brawl started right here on this Ladder; you might be the next pro player to rise up from WiFi!


-Singles Ladder Vs Doubles Ladder-

Singles Ladder is the more basic and popular Ladder of this site: you face off against one opponent at a time using competitive rules in a best of three set to determine the winner. Matches are easy to arrange, there are very many opponents, and most people prefer this way of fighting over Doubles. Competition is very high; due to this, making top 64 in this Ladder is considered by many a way to prove that you are a good player. Once you join Singles Ladder, you cannot restart it - whatever score you get stays until the next season.

As mentioned earlier, Doubles Ladder wasn’t originally part of the Ladder system; it was added by Nealdt in the Spring of 2009 due to popular request. In general, it works the same as Singles Ladder, but with a few notable differences. For this Ladder, you must find a partner to make a team with. Because of this, each match has four players, making it a lot harder to set up matches since everyone has to be online at the same time. In another departure from Singles Ladder, Doubles Ladder allows you to “disband” with your current partner at any time and start over with a new partner, giving you as many chances as you want to try to place in this Ladder. It’s a lot easier to place here than it is in than singles; in general there are a lot less players (so less competition) and on top of that, fewer players are good at playing Doubles. To make this even more interesting, twice as many glowing white name color badges are handed out on this Ladder per season than in Singles Ladder (due to there being two players per team for the top 8). Doubles may not be your thing, but Doubles Ladder provides extra incentive to get better at them.

While everything so far mentioned is commonly known, I’m now going to venture into uncharted territory. While some players are so good that they can place really high without putting much thought into it, those who plan out their way strategically will go further than those who don’t. By learning how the Ladder works and by looking at its history, you’ve taken the first step. Now, let’s go even further. Everything from here on is based on my own observations, experiences and opinions, but I hope you can get something useful from it.


-Ladder Strategies-

One of the most important factors for determining your success in Ladder is your strategy. Over the various Ladder seasons, many players have tried different strategies with varying degrees of success. Your results are directly linked to your skill level, but there’s more to it than just that. I want to point out the three most basic strategies I’ve seen used in Ladder along with examples of players that have used them effectively.


-The Fearless Strategy-

This is the most common basic strategy. When using the Fearless strategy, players will play just about anyone. There’s a large difference in results between those who are really good at this game, and those who aren’t, when this strategy is used. If you’re really good, you’ll get a lot of points quickly, but if you aren’t winning a lot, you won’t get far. Example: Ally


-The Streaker Strategy-

For this strategy, players seek out opponents that they think they have a pretty good chance of beating (usually lower-level players). This strategy is the best strategy for getting you Streaker badges like the Godlike badge, but to get a good amount of points, you’ll have to put in much more work than you would if you used one of the other common strategies. Examples: _Quest_, GOG


-The Farming Strategy-

For this strategy, players seek out opponents with good records that they think they can beat consistently. They then proceed to play these certain opponents repeatedly (usually avoiding other opponents). This is arguably the most effective ladder strategy to use if you want a good score. Best Example: Salem (check out all of his games Vs Raffi-X – Salem also had over 2500 points before he lost his first game)


Most other strategies are combinations of these three. See what works for you and come up with your own way of getting points! By using a thought-out strategy, your chances of success increase by a large amount, so don’t hold yourself back.


-Before the Match-

As implied earlier, one of the most critical factors for getting a good score in ladder is selecting your opponents carefully. Before each match, it’s a good idea to know what you’re up against. First, look at your potential opponent’s win/loss record and their score. This will help you find out how good your opponent is (if you don’t already have prior knowledge). Next, check their feedback. This will allow you to find out what previous opponents thought about them, among other things (e.g., what character they use, what stages they like, how laggy their connection is, and more). If you need even more information, you can look at their profile. Once you’ve done all these things, you can then decide if you want to play them or not.

If you are worried that major lag might be a problem, ask to lag test before the ladder set (ideally, do not accept their challenge before you lag test – I will explain why shortly). Make a room (or if you want a slight advantage, have your opponent make the room – this way, you get port priority) and pick a character (preferably one you do not use, since some people use lag tests to find out what character you use so that they can counterpick you before the match even starts). To reduce lag as much as you can, close every internet-related thing that you can except the chat and ask your opponent to do the same. Once you’ve tested the lag, kill yourself in the game, and then send the challenge to begin the match if you’re ready.

From the moment the challenge is accepted, you have exactly 3 minutes in which you are able to cancel the challenge for whatever reason you decide, with no consequence. Once those 3 minutes are done, you can still cancel the challenge, but your opponent can argue against it if they wish (forcing you to play out the game or take a loss). Why is this important? Because, sadly, some people will try to trick you about their connection and then boost the lag once the serious match begins (yes, it’s pathetic, I know). This will change how well you can punish their attacks and can allow some really dumb things to happen to you. But, since you only opened up the challenge right as the game was starting, you have a window of time in which you can just cancel and get out of the situation with no trouble at all. Just click the “Cancel Challenge” button on the chat, and you won’t have to play out the match. Only use this option when it’s absolutely necessary, but definitely keep it in mind.


-More Tips For Success-

-Before you Ladder, get in some warm-up time. This will help you to be more focused and to play better in your Ladder match. The Free Play chat is an easy way to get warm-up games.
-Don’t play when you are tired or when you can’t focus. No reason to hurt your Ladder score. Playing warm-ups can help you to be sure, if you’re uncertain about how well you can focus.
-Losing 3 points from decay is better than losing 10 from not playing your best. Decay is annoying, but losing can often hurt you more than decay would.
-Don’t get discouraged. Just because something dumb happened to you doesn’t mean you can’t bring it back. Keeping calm is the key to victory.
-Don’t be afraid of an opponent who is considered better than you or is more well-known. You can still win against really good opponents even if you don’t consider yourself to be one.
-Though already implied earlier in the article, a huge tip to help you get points quickly is to focus on players above you who have good scores and win-loss records.
-If you wait till the end of the season to begin laddering, it’s easier to find opponents with good records and to avoid point decay. The risk to this strategy is that if you can’t pull off a good deal of wins quickly, you may not be able to get far. But if it works, you can have great last-minute results like Mar and Smetsys did.
-In Doubles Ladder, it’s really easy to get a lot of points by winning just a few games against really good teams. If you can beat one of the best teams on your first set like these guys did, you can make top 32 (or higher) pretty easily.
-If you’re worried about an opponent passing your score, don’t play them if you think you have a chance of losing (this is much more important in Doubles Ladder due to there being fewer opponents). If you refuse to play rivals, some will try to make you feel bad or intimidate you into playing them. Expect this and be prepared to stick with your decision.
-For Doubles Ladder, spend a lot of time in advance playing with your partner to try and figure out what works for your team. Don’t just hop straight into the Ladder if you’re trying to get a good score.
-Consider using Skype or talking on the phone during Doubles Ladder matches. Talking with your partner during the game can make a huge difference on how well you work together, even if there’s extra lag.
-Take advantage of the ruleset. Use everything, even the most retarded stages and rules, to your advantage. Just because it’s dumb and should never have been allowed doesn’t mean you need to hamper yourself by not taking advantage of it. Focus on timeouts if you have to; just get the win legally.
-Save replays (hacking your Wii can really help with this). If you have an opponent who tries to lie about your win, you can present the saved matches to prove your case; otherwise, you can use the replays to evaluate your own gameplay (which can help you improve).
-Though it’s not directly related to laddering, you can find more ideas about strategy and other helpful tips that will help your laddering by reading the book Playing To Win, written by Sirlin.


-Closing Up-

AllIsBrawl’s Ladder is here for you! I hope you can use it to both improve as a Brawl player and to become a more strategically-minded person in general. Only you can decide what you want to be, and where you want to see yourself in the future. You are the one who has the final say in who you become. My goal is just to get you thinking.

This is the time for you to get that badge you always wanted. This is the time for you to do better at this game. This is the moment when you start something new, or try again at something you couldn’t succeed in before. This is where success begins: right here, right now. You can do it if you try!

So as I finish, I want to leave you with a question: What are you going to do?

Hiya, AiB! Well, it is that time again. While it has been awhile since I last whipped up an article, it is my turn to bring you the next ladder update for this season! Hopefully, this will be an attempt to keep the content alive. Let's see how things go for this week!

And just to let you know, if there are any corrections to fix here, please let me know and it'll be fixed asap. Your character mains are based on what's given via your profile and ladder feedback. Lastly, if you have any ladder matches to show off on, you can PM your video links to me, Mocha, Minty Pony, or Invinciboy.

Note: These rankings have been taken on March 11, 2012 at 4:15 am PST.




Singles:

[01]|[01] : Ally (26 - 0) → Snake
[02]|[03] : DracoBlaze (40 - 9) → Meta Knight
[03]|[02] : Gonzalo ZeRo (42 - 9) → Meta Knight
[04]|[04] : ANTi (35 - 0) → Meta Knight / Diddy Kong / Marth
[05]|[05] : Denti (110 - 24) → Olimar
[06]|[06] : SlayerZ (28 - 5) → Peach
[07]|[NR] : juiceAllied (29 - 12) → Meta Knight / Random?
[08]|[07] : PentaSalia (92 - 40) → Mr. Game & Watch
[09]|[08] : Epar (15 - 1) → Meta Knight
[10]|[26] : WaDiRob (47 - 11) → Mr. Game & Watch / Wario / R.O.B.
[11]|[10] : lloD (24 - 1) → Peach
[12]|[NR] : M to the Ekos (28 - 3) → Lucas
[13]|[11] : LoF NAKAT (19 - 0) → Falco / Snake / Olimar / Meta Knight
[14]|[14] : wonf (30 - 13) → Marth
[15]|[NR] : Iota (22 - 10) → Wario
[16]|[18] : Keeby (87 - 80) → Kirby
[17]|[NR] : Jbandrew (26 - 10) → Meta Knight
[18]|[12] : Zorai (57 - 34) → Meta Knight / Marth
[19]|[31] : Krystedez (38 - 10) → Pit
[20]|[15] : Uno. (81 - 27) → Mr. Game & Watch / Meta Knight
[21]|[25] : 809 (30 - 4) → Meta Knight
[22]|[16] : Nilik (27 - 7) → Random?
[23]|[NR] : Bizkit (45 - 7) → Snake / Meta Knight
[24]|[NR] : Kain (15 - 3) → Wolf
[25]|[NR] : _Quest_ (111 - 10) → Toon Link / Marth
[26]|[20] : Raffi-X (24 - 13) → R.O.B.
[27]|[28] : Skyward Tearbear (10 - 1) → Meta Knight / Random?
[28]|[23] : Axel (28 - 36) → Diddy Kong / Meta Knight
[29]|[17] : Anuar (63 - 8) → Olimar / Snake
[30]|[NR] : DR MoNrA (23 - 7) → Meta Knight / Snake
[31]|[21] : PatG (24 - 9) → Falco
[32]|[NR] : The LCie Kyleisreal (15 - 3) → Snake

Doubles:
[01]|[01] : Otori + Kakera [Epar / MJG] (42 - 1) → Meta Knight
[02]|[03] : Satisfaction [-Randum- / Purgatory] (15 - 5) → Meta Knight
[03]|[02] : Aloeism [Keeby / Waldo] (40 - 10) → Kirby / Meta Knight / Ike / Snake
[04]|[04] : Haters make us famous [Smetsys / DracoBlaze] (32 - 6) → Meta Knight
[05]|[08] : Explosive Elegance [Diska / Mocha] (18 - 4) → Snake / Zelda
[06]|[NR] : MEGABUS+JANSPORT [SAS / 809] (13 - 4) → Meta Knight
[07]|[15] : 11bpoAA290ooQwYcwu8642c [Ali. / Negga] (11 - 9) → Meta Knight / Mr. Game & Watch
[08]|[09] : DIP [Zak / Eden] (5 - 1) → Meta Knight / Random?
[09]|[16] : A New World Order. [The LCie Kyleisreal / NotMegafox] (5 - 1) → Snake / Fox
[10]|[05] : If it lags its you [Axel / wonf] (10 - 8) → Diddy Kong / Meta Knight
[11]|[11] : Game&Gas [Uli / superbeans] (19 - 17) → Mr. Game & Watch / Wario
[12]|[07] : Mc Bunz. [Sam_The_Freshest / MC PE] (7 - 2) → Meta Knight / Snake / Wolf
[13]|[NR] : watr [Goten / Jules] (10 - 11) → ? / Snake
[14]|[NR] : SKEET SKEET! [juiceAllied / Deltacod] (4 - 2) → Meta Knight
[15]|[10] : 8J [SmashGOD / lloD] (9 - 6) → Samus / Peach
[16]|[NR] : Autopilot Crew [-Zodi- / GnG Sinnyboo242] (6 - 7) → Meta Knight





(Notes? All I see here is Meta Knight EVERYWHERE! lol xD Though in all seriousness...)

Singles:
- It seems anyone STILL has yet to hunt down Ally and ANTi, as they are marvelouslly obtaining their undefeated winning streaks despite their inactivity.
- An unranked player from the last update, _Quest_, currently has the most wins, using mostly Toon Link and Marth.
- Meanwhile, Lucas is still rarely seen, and M to the Ekos is representing him hardcore. He is currently placing 12th at this time. Will he keep going?
- Also sneaking up in the rankings is Kain with his Wolf, as he is placing 24th.

Doubles:
- Otori + Kakera are still maintaining their first place position. Who will snag the top of the ladder from them?
- It is such a rare case to see Zelda in these rankings!  Props to her and Diska, as they are continuing to push further up.
- The rankings pretty much lack variety, so there is not much else to note.

Just a reminder that this season's ladder will close on March 31st, so time's a-tickin'. Catch up and maintain your scores when you can. And if you haven't joined the ladder yet, you should join inf you want to show off some skills! Congratulations to those who have made it in this bi-weekly update. I hope you all have a good day today! Until next time, see ya~

Hello, AiB! It's been awhile since I've written a ladder article for the site, but I've recently received a request to write another article - so it looks like I'll be alternating with lightlanayru, Invinciboy, and Minty Horse. I've taken the time to make sure the scores/rankings/characters are as accurate as possible. If I missed any character someone used, please let me know. It also helps to have pointers on signatures, ladder feedback, and profile as to the character that was used in ladder. 

I want to remind everyone that if you have any replays of your best ladder matches and you’d like to share it and have it featured on here for the ladder updates, feel free to send them to me or Trish via PMs.

Side-note: These top rankings have been taken on 8:00 pm CST on Saturday [02/25/12]. 

Current Rankings

Singles: 

[01] Ally | Score: 2302 | Win/Loss Ratio: 26 - 0 | → Snake / Meta Knight / Falco
[02] Gonzalo ZeRo | Score: 2244 | Win/Loss Ratio: 40 - 8 | → Meta Knight 
[03] DracoBlaze | Score: 2233 | Win/Loss Ratio: 31 - 7 | → Meta Knight / Snake / Falco
[04] ANTi | Score: 2169 | Win/Loss Ratio: 35 - 0 | → Meta Knight / Diddy / Marth 
[05] Denti | Score: 2133 | Win/Loss Ratio: 106 - 22 | → Olimar
[06] SlayerZ | Score: 2108 | Win/Loss Ratio: 24 - 3 | → Peach
[07] BFAA PentaUmai | Score: 2043 | Win/Loss Ratio: 53 - 20 | → Mr. Game and Watch 
[08] Epar | Score: 2017 | Win/Loss Ratio: 15 - 1 | → Meta Knight
[09] Negga | Score: 1948 | Win/Loss Ratio: 29 - 2 | → Diddy
[10] lloD | Score: 1934 | Win/Loss Ratio: 20 - 1 | → Peach
[11] LoF NAKAT | Score: 1903 | Win/Loss Ratio: 19 - 0 | → Falco / Snake / Olimar / Meta Knight
[12] Zorai | Score: 1899 | Win/Loss Ratio: 57 - 34 | → Meta Knight / Marth
[13] E.J. | Score: 1894 | Win/Loss Ratio : 60 - 5 | → Sheik 
[14] wonf | Score: 1880 | Win/Loss Ratio: 27 - 12 | → Marth 
[15] Uno. | Score: 1867 | Win/Loss Ratio: 69 - 19 | → Mr. Game & Watch / Meta Knight / Rob 
[16] Nilik | Score: 1864 | Win/Loss Ratio: 27 - 7 | → Random 
[17] Anuar | Score: 1863 | Win/Loss Ratio: 56 - 6 | → Olimar / Snake
[18] Keeby | Score: 1839 | Win/Loss Ratio: 58 - 54 | → Kirby 
[19] Kain | Score: 1841 | Win/Loss Ratio: 15 - 3 | → Wolf 
[20] Raffi-X | Score: 1837 | Win/Loss Ratio: 24 - 13 | → Rob
[21] PatG | Score: 1822 | Win/Loss Ratio: 24 - 9 | → Falco 
[22] Tairu | Score: 1819 | Win/Loss Ratio: 87 - 24 | → Falco
[23] xMARx | Score: 1815 | Win/Loss Ratio: 26 - 28 | → Diddy / Meta Knight 
[24] Professor Genki | Score: 1809 | Win/Loss Ratio: 26 - 5 | → Fox / Falco / Snake
[25] 809 | Score: 1794 | Win/Loss Ratio: 28 - 4 | → Meta Knight
[26] WaDiRob | Score: 1808 | Win/Loss Ratio: 26 - 6 | → Mr. Game and Watch / Wario / Rob
[27] Vato_break | Score: 1784 | Win/Loss Ratio: 36 -13 |  → Diddy / Mario
[28] Skyward Tearbear | Score: 1775 | Win/Loss Ratio: 8 - 1 | → Olimar / Meta Knight
[29] TheLegendaryJash | Score: 1761 | Win/Loss Ratio: 25 - 5 | → Toon Link
[30] Masho | Score: 1759 | Win/Loss Ratio: 53 - 16 | → Marth / King Dedede / Rob
[31] Krystedez | Score: 1751 | Win/Loss Ratio: 30 - 10 | → Pit
[32] joe ST | Score: 1745 | Win/Loss Ratio: 37 - 12 | → Meta Knight / Snake / Falco


Doubles: 

[01] Otori + Kakera [Epar / MJG] | Score: 1988 | Win/Loss Ratio: 31 - 1 | → Meta Knight / Meta Knight
[02] Aloeism [Keeby / Waldo] | Score: 1829 | Win/Loss Ratio: 32 - 7 | → Kirby / Meta Knight / Snake / Ike
[03] Satisfaction [-Randum- / Purgatory] | Score: 1689 | Win/Loss Ratio: 11 - 5  → Meta Knight / Meta Knight 
[04] Haters make us famous [Colette / DracoBlaze] | Score: 1661 | Win/Loss Ratio: 26 - 5 | → Meta Knight / Meta Knight
[05] If it lags its you [xMARx / wonf] | Score: 1449 | Win/Loss Ratio: 9 - 5 | → Diddy / Meta Knight / Sonic
[06] -No Fear- [ZodiTheForSaken / BFAA PentaUmai | Score: 1403 | Win/Loss Ratio: 11 - 14 | → Mr. Game and Watch / Meta Knight
[07] Mc Bunz. [Sam_The_Freshest / MC PE] | Score: 1381 | Win/Loss Ratio: 7 -2 | → Meta Knight / Snake / Captain Falcon
[08] Explosive Elegance [Diska / Mocha] | Score: 1349 | Win/Loss Ratio: 7 - 3 | → Snake / Zelda 
[09] DIP [Zak / Eden] | Score: 1337 | Win/Loss Ratio: 4 - 1 | → Meta Knight / Random 
[10] 8J [SmashGOD / lloD] | Score: 1283 | Win/Loss Ratio: 8 - 5 | → Samus / Peach
[11] Game&Gas [Uli / superbeans] | Score: 1236 | Win/Loss Ratio: 13 - 12 | → Mr. Game and Watch / Wario
[12] Speeeeed Up [Blazer / XxGeexX] | Score: 1224 | Win/Loss Ratio: 8 - 1 | → Meta Knight / Sonic
[13] Oblivion [Crow./ Blaze.] | Score: 1208 | Win/Loss Ratio: 19 - 19 | → Peach / Snake 
[14] Sexy Beasts [AfroTwist BananaPie/ Gardex] | Score: 1204 | Win/Loss Ratio: 6 - 1 | →  Link, Pikachu / Mr. Game and Watch
[15] <- XVVV -> [RnaD / Negga] | Score: 1199 | Win/Loss Ratio: 5 - 5 | → Meta Knight / Mr. Game and Watch 
[16] | A New World Order [The LCie Kyleisreal / Professor Genki] | Score: 1100 | Win/Loss Ratio: 3 - 0 | → Snake / Fox

Notes

Singles: 

- Ally and ANTi with an amazing win streak and no losses so far. How long will they be able to keep their streak? 
- Denti with 128 matches played so far! 
- Sheik, who you rarely hear about in ladder, is sneaking herself in the placings by E.J.
- Uno. with 69 wins. Game and Watch likes lucky numbers... will he maintain it?
- At least 13 Meta Knights are currently at the top of singles ladder.   



Doubles: 

- FOW and MJG lead doubles ladder with their almost unbeatable double Meta Knight team with only one loss so far
- Some random Zelda teleports out of nowhere into doubles ladder with her ma - *ahem* I mean, Snake. Are Mocha and Diska actually Riot and Bizkit in disguise?
- Girl power... lloD and SmashGOD show some femme fatale with their Peach and Samus teams
- Looks like Foxhound has come back to haunt Snake and join him as KyleisReal and MegaFox bring out their Snake and Fox
- Again, at least 13 Meta Knights are currently at the top of doubles ladder.


Remember, this season’s ladder ends on March 31st. There’s still time to catch up on your score if you’re behind on decay, and to join the ladder if you haven’t already. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the ladder. Keep working hard, and have a great upcoming Spring Break everyone (:

Good afternoon, everyone! I'm back with another ladder update to keep all of you followers in check, but before I get into that, let me bring up an important. As if he was Halley's Comet or something, Neal showed up for the first time in 75 years. I found him on AIM and told him to update the ladder rules with everything that was presented during the Road to Apex season, and he did. Make sure you look at the Rules page to see the changes and abide by them, because they will be there until the end of time!

And now, I present to you the current rankings! (Note: these rankings taken from today's stats, at 2:51 PM, and are based on what was used in the past update (with the changes you all mentioned, of course.) If anything still needs to be corrected, let me know with a comment in this article or PM.)


*1. DracoBlaze (Score: 2206, with 20-3; Character(s): Meta Knight)*
2. ANTi (Score: 2204, with 35-0; Character(s): Diddy Kong and Meta Knight)
3. SlayerZ (Score: 2129, with 21-2; Character(s): Peach)
4. Denti (Score: 2106, with 84-16; Character(s): Olimar)
5. PentaSalia (Score: 1992, with 46-17; Character(s): Mr. Game and Watch)
6. Negga (Score: 1984, with 29-2; Character(s): Diddy Kong)
7. lloD (Score: 1973, with 18-0; Character(s): Peach)
8. Zorai (Score: 1953, with 55-31; Character(s): Meta Knight)
9. Nilik (Score: 1948, with 26-5; Character(s): Random)
10. LoF NAKAT (Score: 1932, with 18-0; Character(s): Falco, Snake, Olimar, and Meta Knight)
11. E.J. (Score: 1910, with 56-4; Character(s): Sheik)
12. Uno. (Score: 1908, with 53-12; Character(s): Mr. Game and Watch, Meta Knight, R.O.B., Wario, and Random)
13. Raffi-X (Score: 1879, with 23-11; Character(s): R.O.B.)
14. Kain (Score: 1878, with 15-3; Character(s): Wolf)
15. Keeby (Score: 1874, with 41-26; Character(s): Kirby/Mr. Game and Watch)
16. PatG (Score: 1846, with 23-9; Character(s): Falco)
17. Vato_break (Score: 1835, with 31-9; Character(s): Diddy Kong and Mario)
18. xMARx (Score: 1825, with 23-23; Character(s): Diddy Kong and Meta Knight)
19. wonf (Score: 1824, with 22-10; Character(s): Marth)
20. Skyward Tearbear (Score: 1809, with 8-1; Character(s): Random)
21. Kazoscy (Score: 1801, with 61-14; Character(s): Falco)
22. Professor Genki (Score: 1796, with 22-4; Character(s): Fox)
23. Seagull Joe (Score: 1773, with 35-13; Character(s): Wolf, King Dedede, Snake, R.O.B., Sonic, Falco, and Meta Knight)
24. waterflame (Score: 1764, with 15-2; Character(s): Meta Knight and Falco)
25. Masho (Score: 1751, with 43-11; Character(s): R.O.B. and King Dedede?)
26. Roy Flare-Blade Heartmut (Score: 1749, with 62-61; Character(s): Donkey Kong and Ike)
27. MC PE (Score: 1741, with 10-1; Character(s): Random)
28. TheLegendaryJash (Score: 1727, with 20-4; Character(s): Toon Link)
29. Bizkit (Score: 1723, with 28-6; Character(s): Snake)
30. Zori (Score: 1722, with 16-4; Character(s): Olimar)
31. Purgatory (Score: 1712, with 9-1; Character(s): Meta Knight)
32. Jbandrew (Score: 1711, with 11-5; Character(s): Meta Knight)

Notes:
-DracoBlaze has knocked ANTi out of first place! But with only a two-point difference, it's still anyone's game!
-ANTi, lloD, and NAKAT still have their solid streaks. Perhaps they are invincible? Only time will tell!
-A good majority of the players seem to be slightly inactive. Be careful not to let yourselves get too far behind the new faces!


*1. Otori + Kakera (Players: FOW + Childish Gambino; Score: 1835, with 21-1; Characters: Meta Knight and Diddy Kong)*
2. Aloeism (Players: Keeby + Waldo; Score: 1720, with 19-4; Characters: Kirby/Mr. Game and Watch/Meta Knight and Snake/Ike)
3. Haters make us famous (Players: Colette + DracoBlaze; Score: 1698, with 26-5; Characters: Double Meta Knight)
4. Satisfaction (Players: -Randum- + Purgatory; Score: 1481, with 7-5; Characters: Lucas and Meta Knight)
5. -No Fear- (Players: -Zodi the ForSakeN- and PentaSalia; Score: 1479, with 5-1; Characters: Meta Knight/Wolf and Mr. Game and Watch)
6. DIP (Players: Zak + Eden; Score: 1313, with 3-1; Characters: Meta Knight and Marth)
7. Game&Gas (Players: Uli + super beans; Score: 1290, with 12-6; Characters: Wario and Mr. Game and Watch)
8. ←XVVV→ (Players: RnaD + Negga; Score: 1232, with 5-5; Characters: Ike and Mr. Game and Watch)
9. 8j (Players: SmashG0D + lloD; Score: 1208, with 6-3; Characters: Samus and Peach)
10. WIFI PENGUIN AND PLUMBER (Players: Shes not a tree + Excel-ISM; Score: 1089, with 5-6; Characters: King Dedede and Luigi?) 
11. If it lags its you (Players: xMARx + wonf; Score: 1058, with 4-3; Characters: Diddy Kong/Meta Knight and Marth)
12. Oblivion (Players: Crow. + Blaze.; Score: 1022, with 9-11; Characters: Peach/Snake/Zero Suit Samus and Snake)
13. YOU KNOW WHY; CUZ WE DEM BOYS (Players: Zog + Uno.; Score: 953, with 3-0; Characters: Samus and Mr. Game and Watch/Meta Knight)
14. ShadowTl's team (Players: ShadowTl + PikaForLife; Score: 922, with 4-2; Characters: Toon Link and Pikachu)
15. For DynaDash (Players: GenoSamus + Blazerlicious; Score: 871, with 6-7; Characters: Samus and Kirby)
16. watr (Players: Goten + Jules; Score: 821, with 4-6; Characters: Meta Knight/Snake and Olimar)

Notes:
-FOW and Childish Gambino are still in the lead, but it looks like Keeby and Waldo are catching up.
-Looks like Zog and Uno. are the only team with their streak still intact. Keep up the good work, you two!


Well everyone, that's it for this ladder update. Stay tuned for more developments as they happen, and keep playing to meet the match requirements!

Hello, one and all of All is Brawl! After waiting SOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG for the next ladder, neal finally emerged from his cave and gave us a new season. Since content, especially ladder content, has been dead lately, I'll kick off the update train to which my cohorts will continue every other week. Let's get started, shall we? (Note: these rankings taken from today's stats, at 12:35 PM, and are based on feedback, signatures (if applicable), and past experiences (for those that most likely will never change their crew). If anything needs to be corrected, let me know with a comment in this article or PM.)

Playoffs are just three days away, and with participants having a chance to win an extra $50 to $300 this season will truly be exciting. Since this season is different from the others I wanted to talk about some things and give everyone an idea on what's going on before the playoffs actually begin.

First, the ladder will be closing on November 20, 2011 at 11:59pm PST. Playoffs will not have it's first schedule match until December 5th! This gives everyone a chance to enjoy their Thanksgiving break.  I will try to have the brackets up by some time on the 22nd to give everyone about two weeks to get matches done early. I understand December is a very busy month for everyone. Between finals in the beginning of the month and holidays at the end of the month people won't have much free time. Unfortunately, we are under a very strict schedule, so we have to get all matches done on time. If you make it into the playoffs but don't think you'll be able to participate please let me know. It's one less person I have to worry about during the playoffs, and this way I don't have to burden you with the all the PMs I send to the playoff participants. Anyways, lets get to the playoffs schedule!

Events specifics

Allisbrawl Apex Fall Playoffs 2011 Singles.
Host: Enrish

All players meet up in Tournament Chat 3 at 8 PM EST  the following dates:

Monday December 5th. Round 1 and round 2 of the singles bracket will be played out.

Tuesday December 6th. Round 3 and round 4 of the singles bracket will be played.

Wednesday December 7th. Round 5 of the singles bracket will be played.

Monday December 12th. Round 6 and 7 of the single bracket will be played.

Tuesday December 13th. Round 8 of the singles bracket will be played.

Wednesday December 14th. Round 9 and 10 of the singles bracket will be played.

Thursday December 15th. Losers finals  and Grand Finals will be played.




Allisbrawl Apex Fall Playoffs 2011 Doubles.
Host: Enrish

All players meet up in Tournament Chat 4 at 9 PM EST the following dates:

Monday December 5th. Round 1 and round 2 of the doubles bracket will be played out.

Tuesday December 6th. Round 3 and round 4 of the doubles bracket will be played.

Wednesday December 7th. Round 5 of the doubles bracket will be played.

Monday December 12th. Round 6 of the doubles bracket will be played.

Tuesday December 13th. Round 7 of the doubles bracket will be played.

Wednesday December 14th. Round 8 of the doubles bracket will be played.

Thursday December 15th. Losers finals and Grand Finals will be played.


A friendly reminder that there is a match requirement for both singles and doubles to get into the appropriate playoffs. You must play 30 matches in singles ladder and get top 60 in order to get into the singles playoffs. You must play 20 matches (with your current team) in doubles ladder and get top 30 in order to get into doubles playoffs. Yes, that means the doubles requirement will not be lowered from 20.

You'll have one last good chance to get doubles matches in with Doubles Weekend happening this weekend. Reminder that Doubles Weekend is generally three Doubles Night back-to-back-to-back. There will be a set time for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and if you play three matches during the set time of any of the three days you will be awarded the double dater badge! This means you must play three matches during the set time in one day. You can't play one match each day and get the badge. Along with the double dater badge you will given the chance to get the new weekend warrior badge. In order to get this badge you must play two matches during the set time of all three days. Yes, that means two matches Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. Please message me with a link of your team's ladder profile to get the badges.

Doubles Weekend will be happening this weekend, Nov. 18 to Nov. 20. The set times are:
Friday 4pm EST to 1am EST
Saturday 1pm EST to 2am EST
Sunday 1pm EST to 11pm EST

*Remember that while Doubles Weekend set time is in Eastern Standard Time, the ladder closing is based on Pacific Standard Time. For those who don't know EST is three hours ahead of PST, meaning ladder will close at 2:59am EST on November 21st.

Good luck to everyone and I look forward to seeing you in the playoffs!

As many of you know, we've been hosting Doubles Night throughout this season to help teams reach the 25 game requirement to get into the playoffs. Those nights have helped some teams, but because of the specific time and date of those nights others have been unable to participate. It's this reason I felt a new event was needed. Doubles Weekend! Doubles Weekend is generally three Doubles Night back-to-back-to-back. There will be a set time for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and if you play three matches during the set time of any of the three days you will be awarded the double dater badge! This means you must play three matches during the set time in one day. You can't play one match each day and get the badge. Along with the double dater badge you will given the chance to get the new weekend warrior badge. In order to get this badge you must play two matches during the set time of all three days. Yes, that means two matches Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. There is currently ten days left in this season and Doubles Weekend will be occurring the remaining two weekends. Please message me with a link of your team's ladder profile to get the badges.

The first Doubles Weekend will be happening this weekend, Nov. 11 to Nov. 13. The set times are:
Friday 4pm EST to 1am EST
Saturday 1pm EST to 2am EST
Sunday 1pm EST to 11pm EST

Because the set times are so long there will be no designated host. Staff members are welcome to go into the chat and do some trivia or any other side event during the set time if they'd like. Since Doubles Weekend will be taking up the remaining weekends of this season Doubles Night will now be hosted sometime during the week. Hopefully we can host another night or two.

As many of you should remember, and as referenced to above, there is a match requirement to get into the playoffs. The match requirement for singles is currently set to 30. With more than 2/3rds of the top 60 meeting the requirement and so many within five matches of meeting it I will not be changing the requirement for singles. If you plan on sneaking into the top 60 last second I suggest you leave yourself enough time to meet the requirement.

The doubles requirement is currently set to 25 matches, as stated above. It seems many teams are having trouble meeting that requirement, so I'm going to go ahead and lower the requirement to 20. It's certainly not that big of a difference, but many teams aren't far from meeting the requirement and there's still 10 days left in the season. If I feel too many teams will be held back because of the requirement I will lower it again, but not by much. If I do decide to change it I'll say something next week. Meanwhile keep doing your best!

For past articles regarding this season's ladder please take a look at the links below.
http://allisbrawl.com/news/newspost.aspx?id=1263
http://allisbrawl.com/news/newspost.aspx?id=1280
http://allisbrawl.com/news/newspost.aspx?id=1283

Greeting one and all, and welcome to this season's first Doubles Night! I know how hard it is to find people to challenge in the Doubles Ladder chat sometimes, but I also know how important this ladder is, so we're going to host a few Doubles Nights this season to get things moving.

Doubles night is just a time to come to the doubles chat, play as many matches to your heart's content and earn a cool badge for doing so. This Doubles Night event will be hosted Friday, September 30, 2011, and will run from 6 PM EST – 12 AM EST. Participants at this event will have a shot at earning the double dater badge! To acquire the badge, participants will need to complete a minimum of 3 Doubles Ladder rank matches this Doubles Night, and send me (or host Miles of SmashWiki) a PM after the event if you think your team fulfilled the requirements to obtain the badge. Just have the team captain PM one of us, since it's not really necessary for both members of the team to send me the same PM.

As an added bonus hosts of the night, Miles of SmashWiki and Fandangox, will be hosting Non-Smash Trivia during Doubles Night. For those who are unfamiliar with how Non-Smash Trivia works, it is a contest for knowing certain pieces of information relating to Nintendo games.  For those who know how it works, Miles and Fandangox will be doing things a little differently at this event. Since this is a 6 hour event, we don’t want people just coming by to play three matches for the double dater badge, and calling it a night. We want everyone sticking around the whole night, playing rank matches, earning badges, and having fun; so throughout the night, Miles and Fandangox will be randomly asking Non-Smash Trivia questions. They’ll give notice before asking questions, but if you miss one, you’ll have many more chances throughout the night. All standard Non-Smash Trivia rules apply. Whoever answers first gets a point, they'll keep track of points throughout the night, etc. The top scoring individuals will receive cards, as will whoever correctly answers the difficult Challenge Question!


Now for the new ladder rules!!! Yes, in addition to last articles.

1. If your partner is banned from the site then you are unable to participate in doubles ladder. You can not substitute your partner, unless you disband. This means if your partner gets banned from the site for a month then your team can not participate in ladder for that month.
2. You cannot play against family members, or anyone in the same house, but you can play with them as a team.
3. No one person can play the same team more than once in 24 hours regardless of you switching teams.

And for this season alone, until further notice, we have decided to use Apex's stage list. It was decided since stage lists are already so close and it is the Apex ladder there is no reason not to use Apex's stage list.

Neutrals:

• Battlefield
• Final Destination
• Yoshi’s Island (Brawl)
• Smashville
• Lylat

Counter Picks:

• Castle Siege
• Delfino Plaza
• Halberd
• Pokemon Stadium 1
• Frigate Orpheon

For anyone unfamiliar with the recent changes made to the ladder please check out, "The Road to Apex: Online Edition!". As I've stated before Neal is the only one that can change the ladder rules page, and because of his busy schedule I'm unsure how soon he'll be able to change it. Until further notice (or he changes the page to match the updated rules) please refer to this article and the one linked above for the rules. Anything not addressed in the articles can be found in the FAQs or Rules. If you are unsure of anything after reading everything please feel free to ask me.

Once again please give big thanks to our sponsors vVv-Gaming, and Apex2012 for making this ladder so special! We hope to see everyone at Doubles Night, and good luck to everyone!

It's nice to see people are taking full advantage of what we offer this season (with help from our sponsors vVv-Gaming, and Apex2012) by jumping on ladder right away. Before everyone gets a little too comfortable with the current ruleset for this season I wanted to introduce some changes to this season's ruleset!

First of all, the stages! Finally the stage that everyone hates is finally getting taken off the stage list. Yes, it's that particular stage that everyone hates because of the constant movement. Of course everyone knows I'm talking about Jungle Japes, right? The constant moving river sends everyone who falls into it to their untimely deaths. Along side Jungle Japes will be Pictochat. We felt that due to the seriousness of this season it was about time we had stage list have a more traditional tournament feel. Also, we've been receiving a lot of questions regarding the change to the stage list.  Aside from being a sort of out-adted list, we decided to go ahead with the change so that our Apex Online qualifier will be more in line with the qualifiers around the country.

Now on to the general rules of ladder!

1. Use the chats provided! If you report a match we referees feel is too short you will be disqualified from the ladder and unable to participate in this season's playoffs, which means no prizes for you. 
2. If you receive more than three dishonor points this season you will be disqualified from ladder. Dishonor points are given based on the results of a dispute. There are some exceptions, but that will be on a case by case basis. By the way, referees have been informed to be more "strict" on disputes, meaning more chances of dishonor points so please be careful when reporting.
3. No substituting of any kind is allowed! Regardless of an opponent approving or not, if we find out that you had someone or something else play for you and/or your teammate you will be disqualified. 
4. This season we're going to have a minimal requirement on how many matches you/your team have to play in order to participate in the playoffs. This will prevent higher level plays from waiting until the last week and playing eight people barely making it into the playoffs. In order to participate in the singles playoffs you must play 30 matches in singles ladder this season. In order to participate in the doubles playoff your team has to play 25 matches. 

That should do it for the changes! If you are unsure of anything please feel free to ask me or one of the other referees, but please make sure you check the rules and FAQs before asking.

Good luck, and be sure to check out the next update on Apex 2012 Thursday!

P.S. Yeah, we're taking Rainbow Cruise off the stage list as well.