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GhaudePhaede010: Genesis II is upon us. Genesis II is upon us. This means there are epic players coming from all over the country to enjoy at least a weekend of sun, babes, babes, and video games in the wonderful Northern California vistas. With that said, I am joined by one of thee ICONS of todays Brawl game. A tournament legend! A native TEXAS resident (lol Texas). A national threat, a doubles mastermind. THE SNAKE GURU and MY BROTHERS FAVORITE SMASH BROS. PLAYER!!! OMFG get hype for thee one and only ULTIMATERAZER!!!!! ULTIMATERAZER, thank you so much for joining me today and allow me to start this off by saying I hope you get the Karma from this interview to place top 100 at Genesis II. THANK YOU!

UltimateRazer: Haha no problem. Nice intro ^__^, and I'll at least be getting top 8 ;)　　.

GhaudePhaede010: Before we get too far into Genesis and the whole nature and atmosphere of this amazing tournament, I have to ask; Wii remote and Nunchuk? Why that control scheme and how did it make you feel when MLG decided against allowing for use of any control scheme other than Gamecube controller? Also, I am thee only high level Melee player to convert to Brawl and use a controller other than Gamecube controller (Classic is what I use). Did you play Melee at high level at all?

UltimateRazer: Well these two questions sort of relate to each other (why wiimote/nunchuck and if I played melee at high level). I've played smash since I was 4 starting with Smash 64. Naturally my brothers and I bought Melee. Being the case, I used the GC controller. I never actually played Melee competitively because of how young I was. I didn't even know tournaments existed. Toward the release of Brawl's release (2006-2007), I picked up Melee again after I stopped playing. My brothers and I began to play again with FFA items on Hyrule Castle and such. It slowly began to evolve though. We started doing teams on Hyrule with items on sudden death. It eventually evolved into 1v1 on FD with no items. I was very competitive so I wanted to win all of these. I used Samus/Sheik. I thought I was the best, but I always lost to my cousin who used Fox. After a while, we move towards Brawl's released. I was SUPER hyped for the game and followed the Dojo every day. Whenever I found out there was going to be a tournament at the Gamestop release, I began practicing like crazy with the GC controller. A day or two before the release, I found out that wiimote/nunchuck would be the scheme used in the tournament. I got worried and quickly looked up the controls for the wiimote/nunchuck and tried to visualize it. After losing, I played GC controller for about a week at home, then I switched to wiimote/nunchuck and slowly began to use it (I didn't know there was a competitive scene yet). From there on, I used wiimote/nunchuck.When MLG banned it...I was quite discouraged. I refunded my plane ticket for Orlando and never bothered to spend the money to go. I went to MLG Dallas though with 2 weeks of GC controller practice. Plus, the wiimote/nunchuck is so much more comfortable than the GC controller :]

GhaudePhaede010: Amazing stuff right there. Look at Gamestop actually contributing to gamers instead of raping our wallets... what a company. And as far as MLG, I live in Florida and I was not at all excited about that announcement since I use the Classic Controller. What a failure on ruleset and planning. Seriously, a Wii game and I cannot use Wii controls? Makes no sense. Moving on... I plan on watching the livestream of Doubles Brawl from start to finish because playing Brawl as closely as I do, I prefer thee action and pace of doubles to singles. The reason I play the game is because it offers 2v2 and I think that is thee best idea in a fighting game ever. Do you prefer singles or doubles and why? Who is your doubles partner going to be for Genesis II? Also, if given the chance, I would team with Inui, Shu, or yourself over anyone else in the world, who is your favorite doubles partner and who would you absolutely love to team with that you have yet to team with for whatever reason?

UltimateRazer: Exactly what I thought: A console that can't use it's own controller? Forced to use a controller that doesn't even sell anymore? Ugh, but it's all over now. Hmmmm. I believe doubles is more fun than singles, but I prefer singles still. I prefer it because, I've always thought of singles as the main event since I've begun the competitive scene. I always wanted to be the best and wanted to prove it. It's been a long road, but I'm not even nearly there yet. No matter how I win in singles, it is still fun to me. For Genesis 2, I will be teaming with my static partner, Gnes. My favorite doubles partner is...Gnes lol. We have so much synergy. Hmmmm, either M2K, Ally, or Anti. I've only teamed with one pro MK at something big (Dojo). M2K cause he's M2K lol. Anti is a good MK and extremely good at doubles. I would only team with Ally ONLY if we do double snake. I would never ever do double snake, but he's an exception. It could go really bad or really rape xD.

GhaudePhaede010: Ally double Snake? THAT WOULD BE RAPE right there. As a fan, I would love to see that! Aright, I am not sure if you have tuned into my other interviews or not but as I told illmatic when I interviewed him, I ****ING HATE TEXAS. Weather, people, location, smell, attitude, horses, smog, dental care, all of it sucks in Texas. I hate LaBron and I am hyper glad he did not win the title this year but losing to TEXAS is just as crappy as him winning the title. How do you manage to stay in that crap-hole err I mean, state? Why have you not run away? And do you think getting out to Cali for Genesis II will influence you to stay the eff out of Texas? Please say yes. Help me get the last three good people in Texas OUT of Texas.

UltimateRazer: LOL. I think you have the wrong impression of Texas. Besides the hot weather, Texas is AMAZING. Although I wasn't going for the Mavs nor the Heat. I was born here and will probably stay here. All those negatives you've listened are probably in every state. We will be fine where we are at thank you very much. Sorry to disappoint!

GhaudePhaede010: Ewwwww. I gotta say, that is pretty disheartening. And on the topic of Genesis II, do you feel extra hype about this tournament? I know when I talked to people about tournaments like Apex, they tend to feel extra hype; like they are going to be part of something epic and amazing. Do you get the same sensation with Genesis or is it honestly more of a, "Business as usual" approach? How do you prepare for large tournaments such as this one? And what do you think is a key to keeping you locked in once you get to the site itself?

UltimateRazer: Yes, I do. I don't travel OOS unless I'm hyped for it. Genesis 1 was the best Smash trip of my life, so I'm hoping this will be amazing too. For nationals...of course you need to practice with humans, but I prepare my mind set the most. It's happened before. If you aren't mentally prepared, you will absolutely crumble just as I did at Apex. You need to rid yourselves of the nerves, have perfect execution, and think things through. You apply this with your game training, and you are ready for a national. When I get there, I have to uphold that mindset, SLEEP, and EAT. I forgot to eat at Genesis 1 on singles day and paid the price xD. All of this is essential to doing well at tournaments.

GhaudePhaede010: When I travel for video game tournaments, or any reason lately, I try to take in the community around me (except in Texas. I run from the fat, white hillbilly women and try to stay indoors as much as possible). Do you plan to try to get anything in other than video gaming while in California for Genesis II? Not that you have to give me your plans in detail or anything, but when you travel (and I know you do, I met you at Winterfest), is there any sort of trademark thing you like to do or experience when you get there? For example, I like to pee in a public toilet not related to the hotel I am staying in. Even a McDonalds across the street. It gives me a chance to say I saw something outside of the limited box I almost feel prohibited to, you know?

UltimateRazer: LOL there are like none of those [fat white women] here. I don't know where you were, but you need to try Houston or something xD. As much as I want to, I won't be able to =/. We got our flights coming in Thursday night and leaving Monday. Whoa you did? Sorry I don't remember =/. Wait a second...now FLORIDA is a HORRIBLE STATE. I want my Winterfest money T___T. Wow wth? Lmao that's weird...nah I don't plan nothing special...just to go to In N Out and enjoy the hotel and tournament.

GhaudePhaede010: I am from California. I had just moved to Florida and yes, it is a ****stain of a state that conducts bad business on the daily (Editor's Note: Florida ain't paying them Texas queers a ****ing penny). But I am NOT Floridian, I am a Californian that has lived in Florida for a few years now. As you mentioned, at Apex you were not on your best game. How do you handle shaking off a tough loss or the feeling of general underperforming? What advice can you give to players new to the pressure situations on how to learn from the growing pains of trying to make it to the next level? Also, since you are a benchmark within this community as a person and player, how do you feel about people throwing out your name when assessing BIG wins in their tournament careers? I assume sometimes it must be frustrating?

UltimateRazer: California is 2nd best state after Texas so you're excused. Well first, you have to accept the loss. No matter what happened, you gotta realize that you lost and try to think about what you did wrong or what happened. You then need to think about what you could have done better and what you need to work on. Later on, if there are videos, watch those and study what happened. I tell them, LOVE the pressure. Being able to handle that pressure is what makes you grow to the next level as a player. Of course, it can be frustrating at first but I just shrug it off. It's the past and I just focus on revenge or the next tournament. Boasting big wins doesn't mean much if you lose at the next event to that player or someone lower. Always keep on improving.

GhaudePhaede010: As a stream monster, I have developed players I want to see win, story lines, and match analysis of all my favorite players. When you are not at big tournaments, who do you prefer to cheer for or root against? Do you have a loyalty system in place? And since you will be at Genesis II, who are you looking forward to seeing again and meeting for the first time (maybe)? Do you still get starstruck when meeting good players in the community and how does it make you feel when you find out someone is a big fan of yours?

UltimateRazer: Hmmm, I prefer to cheer for my Texans lol. Gotta cheer for my brethren ya know? Who do I root against....? That will be kept secret xD. But naturally, I would root against my threats and such. I'm looking forward to seeing the WC people again. Haven't seen them in a while. Nah I don't...I've met most of the top players, and it doesn't intimidate me as much. Although, I'm hyped to meet out of country people. Ah that's who I forgot. I'm excited to see Rain and Earth again. I loved the Japan guys. I feel honored when someone say's they are a fan of mine. Also gives me a little boost to keep playing lol. Gotta keep them happy ^__^.

GhaudePhaede010: First of all, who you root against should be no secret. That sucks. Everyone knows I root against Mew2King. Like any sport, there will be players, teams, whatever that people will root against. I am a diehard Lakers fan so how do you think I feel about the city of Boston? I think you get the picture. Anyway, when I interviewed Fatal, he considered you a better Snake main than him. He even went as far as to say he looked up to you within the community. Personally, getting that answer was a fond moment because it showed how honest and human the top level players are. Most people see you guys as computeresque with no human emotion and no life other than video gaming. Who do you look to for inspiration? Are there any players that you look up to within the community? And what do you do outside of video gaming that keeps your engine running?

UltimateRazer: Lol okay okay. Let me see...hmmm. I root against D3 players lmao. I hate that character. I root against top players in general if I have to fight them early...I think that is wack..but farther into the bracket, I do want to play them. I would root against FL like ESAM and Seibrik, but like I said, I like to take revenge on my losses, so I do want to play them. I don't really have a specific person or persons I root against. It's all situational. Wow, that was really cool of Fatal. That's a common misconception about players. The only player I look up to is Dojo. Back in the day, he was my goal and target. We had similar aggressive styles, so it was always cool to clash. He also has the same drive and will as I do. He was always getting better. I had to keep up. Hmm during school, I do school lol. I go to movies with friends, go out with my family, etc. I recently started volunteering (something for school) and I do running as well. Being a top player doesn't always mean you have no life and spend 24/7 practicing. It's not true at all.

GhaudePhaede010: Thank Ghaude you come in and say that. Most people truly have that common misconception of the basement dweller being the best player and I know it is not true. I have a family, three daughters, a job, am fairly well liked (although weird) and come off as fairly normal when people meet me. Alright, moving on and off topic but I gotta ask know because the world wants to know: What kind of women get you? I love white women, and Persian women (ohhh yes) and hispanic women are growing on me madly. What kind of women do you want to sexually, "exploit" in the near future?

UltimateRazer: LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The world really wants to know this? Lool, well I think prefer Hispanic then Whites, then Asians. Maybe some mixed or a foreign race, but we'll see!

GhaudePhaede010: Yes the world wanted to know. That is all mostly everyone wants to know when I ask them about what to ask you (editor's note: That is a total lie. Nobody wanted to know that except GhaudePhaede010). I hate the Brawl Unity rule set. It infuriates me to no end and shows exactly why a community vote is necessary over a governing body. As far as Genesis II goes, I am not sure if they decided to use the unity rule set or not but it is imperative that I ask you, as I have asked EVERYBODY I have interviewed: how do you feel about the Brawl Unity ruleset and if you could make any adjustments, what would they be?

UltimateRazer: Hmm. I don't really care for the unity rule set. It doesn't really effect me and actually helps me (LGL on all characters). I would change the stages though or some of them. Also the issue on splitting is iffy. Other than that, it seems alright to me.

GhaudePhaede010: Wow. I must admit, I did not see that answer coming but good **** surprising me. Since this interview is in the main spirit of Genesis II and getting top three is obviously your goal, how do you want the rest of your fail... errr Texas brethern to perform? Is there a certain level of pressure or expectation placed on any of you and if so, are you feeling it yet? Do you get the tournament nerves before big tournaments or does it mostly come up during tournament and matches?

UltimateRazer: I want them to get at least top 8 (Gnes and Trela). The lower ones I want a reasonable goal of top 16 or even upsets! Denti has been rapidly improving so hopefully he can pull some stuff off. I think Texas expects Me and Gnes and Trela to rape...I think they expect Gnes and I to get top 5 so there's a hidden pressure. It's weird..I don't feel the pressure from them until after I lose..then I feel like I've let them down. Nah, after Apex I don't get nerves at the tournament anymore. It mostly comes up right before the match or during a match against a top level player.

GhaudePhaede010: Being that you have full on rockstar status, is there a grind to raising the money for you to get out to big tournaments across the country like Genesis II? I have a full time job so it is not as difficult because I can just set money aside and gradually pay for my trips but for thee average gamer, there are times when I wonder, "how in the **** did you get the money together to get out here?" So, what do you do and what are some of the crazier things you have heard of people doing to raise the money to get out to big tournaments (insert male stripper and jiggalo stories here)?

UltimateRazer: Lmao. Yeah see I did the smart thing and saved my money when I began winning it. I always have enough or just barely enough to make the trip. I'll make this one and hopefully win some and more back. Hmmm, the craziest thing I've seen is someone get a job where they dressed in some chicken or fish suit or something and danced on the side of the road for like 2 weeks in scorching heat. That's about all I know of.

GhaudePhaede010: That is pretty insane but to get to Genesis II or a tournament of this scale, I would do it. I mean, wouldn't you? Since you have done some traveling in your career, I can ask you this and feel confident: Where have you been to that you absolutely want to revisit (for me, Maryland)? Where have you been that you never want to go to again for any reason whatsoever (for me, Texas), and where have you NOT been that you would love to experience if only once (for me, Australia)?

UltimateRazer: Of course I'd do it! Honestly...California lol. Greatest trip of my life and the state is amazing its self. Flordia.....you know why xD. I HATE NJ as well because there is NEVER anything to eat around the venues ugh. Or there is just like only one thing to eat all weekend. My stomach always shrinks when I visit. That is why Wendy's is off my list forever -.-. I would LOVE to go to Japan..but it will be a lot harder after the disaster and all.

GhaudePhaede010: Yea, that was a pretty tragic event. My brother is stationed in Okinawa and he has been to the mainland many times to give help and support. It is totally a desperate situation over there. It gets downplayed in the states : (

UltimateRazer: Ah sorry to hear that =/. Hope he's safe.

GhaudePhaede010: He is. And thank you. I wish everyone over there well. My brother is pestering me to ask you so I am going to have to: he is learning Snake and wants to know any good advice for Snake players. Not simple everyday tips, but what it takes to really break the mold as a Snake player? And why have you not taken up a second main (aka Metaknight ala ALLY THE SELLOUT)?

UltimateRazer: Haha. I'll tell him now the the life of Snake is a hard one. Not many players stick to him all the way. First off, MASTER your basics...like this is so important to the snake meta game. Master execution and tech skill with him as well. Messing up a jab to turn around grab or utilt can be very costly for him. Find different ways to recover...Ally was so good at this. You need to use all your options to escape the air safely otherwise you'll be damaged heavily. Learn stage control with explosives. Learn when and when not to attack with certain moves...ftilt is not safe at all. LEARN YOUR MATCH UPS. Snake vs X (not the Sonic lol) can change dramatically. Like D3 vs Snake is different than Falco vs Snake. Lastly, learn snake and all of his options...it may sound simple but it is not. I havn't taken up a second character cause I love Snake too much in tournament. Always will stay Snake forever.

GhaudePhaede010: Well that answer makes him so happy. And since I broke format by asking a question on behalf of my brother, I decided to do something different here: Questions from the fans. I have five questions here from random people in the free play chat room and after this, we will conclude thee interview:

GhaudePhaede010: Should Metaknight be banned? Do you think he hurts the metagame? - El Fude, Florida

UltimateRazer: This one is iffy. Sometimes I feel as if he should be banned, but other times not. A strict rule set limiting him could be effective. I'd like to see a six month ban to see the results of the tournaments before and after the ban. When they plank and scrooge and time out people, then that is hurting the metagame. So he can hurt it and cannot if that makes sense.

GhaudePhaede010: How do you feel about thee, "alleged" rapture coming on October 21? EternalTempest, Florida

UltimateRazer: Lol, I feel like it's not going to happen. No one can know when the end of the world occurs.

GhaudePhaede010: With all the new found techs in brawl do you think it will come anywhere close to competitive play in melee? - Premofire101, south carolina

UltimateRazer: Unfortunately no. Melee game wise will be more competitive than Brawl. Mind set wise though (player wise), Brawl can be just as competitive.

GhaudePhaede010: What was your first video game console? numonezeldafan, canada

UltimateRazer: My first video game console was the SNES :).

GhaudePhaede010: Favorite tournament ever attended and what made it so special? Que, Japan

UltimateRazer: Genesis 1 was my favorite. I had a BLAST with my fellow Texans. The hotel was amazing, the tournament was amazing, and the state of California was amazing. I just overall enjoyed everything and the community.

GhaudePhaede010: Thank you guys so much for being a part of this interview.

GhaudePhaede010: ULTIMATERAZER, thank you so much for doing this interview in the spirit of my favorite tournament and two of my favorite tournament promoters. I am so honored to have you in my presence and hopefully sometime in the near future, especially if you continue to perform so strong on a national scale, you will have time to set asied and do another, more detailed interview. You are the man. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! If you have any shout-outs and/or e-hate let it be known now!

UltimateRazer: No problem!

UltimateRazer: Shout-outs to Gnes for being so gay with Diddy and helping me train. Same goes to Trela but with Lucario. Shout-outs to Zori for being based and Sync for being my cousin. Shout-out to you for interviewing me.

UltimateRazer: E-hate to D3 players and Snake counters lmao

GhaudePhaede010: For Iyolah! For Eternity!

GhaudePhaede010: Allisbrawlers, I am joined today for two more firsts in my interviewing career. It seems I can die and have, "Mission Complete" written on my tombstone because ALL I HAVE WANTED IS TO PROMOTE A CALIFORNIA tournament. And what better tournament to promote than GENESIS? None you say, damn right you are! I have also never interviewed two people at one time so that means EPIC AWESOME must ensue. On that note, with me today are the BIG DADDIES of the tournament organizing scene SHERIDAN and BOBACK join me for what will culminate as thee epitome of interviews for me. SHERIDAN, BOBACK, thank you so much for gracing me with your presence. I am so honored and flattered to have you two here with me right now.

Boback: Haha no problem man thanks for having us.

Sheridan: Glad to be interviewed, I'm happy to hear that Genesis means that much to people.

GhaudePhaede010: I will go ahead and get the main and most important question out of the way right off the top. Will the money be there or are you two going to pull a Plank (no call-out but MAD CALL-OUT)?

Sheridan: Boback's been dealing mostly with that aspect of the tourney so I'm going to let him handle this one.

GhaudePhaede010: Lol! Boback?

Boback: I actually already bought myself a Ferrari, so I'm going to need all that money soon. So hurry up and pre-reg. LOL no but really, 100% of all of the money being taken in from the pre-registration (which you can find on genesisdbr.com) will be going straight back to the winners of the tournament. Last time we paid the winners with cold hard cash, but due to certain circumstances and safety issues, we will be sending out checks after the tournament. I really was trying to avoid sending out checks, but it seems like its the only way to do it for us this time around.

GhaudePhaede010: I can respect that. I would have settled for the BatMobile with that kind of money but I guess a Ferrari will have to do.

Boback: After what happened with Pound 5, we were blasted with questions asking about what were going to be doing to ensure the payments. The situations are really different. Plank paid a lot of things out of pocket, and had a lot of things go wrong for him due to having to rely heavily on the hotel room situation.

GhaudePhaede010: Plank's situation was different because he paid nobody and you guys ARE going to pay people. So, you two are huge in the tournament scene and you run the biggest tournament on the West coast; How did you get so successful and what can we expect from Genesis this time around?

Boback: To be honest, the first time we thought about running Genesis, we thought maybe 100 people would show up. Hosting the first Genesis was an amazing opportunity. I think the Melee finals played a big part in hyping up the tournament to what it has become today.
Boback: A lot of things went wrong internally: pools not finishing, not doing more than 1 round of pools, not enough televisions or consoles, and other minor issues that just added up to a big problem. This time around we are making sure to buy our televisions before hand, and run that schedule to a tee. I am going to do everything within my power to make sure that what we promised before hand will happen for sure this time.
Boback: I can guarantee one thing though, the hype surrounding this tournament is overwhelming, and there is no doubt in my mind that the sets played at Genesis 2 will go down in history as some of the most hyped and epic in Smash history.
Boback: I'd like to add that it was no ones fault specifically, it was just a lot of little things that added up to to delay the pools.

Sheridan: First, I have to say that we had a great staff at the first Genesis. Neal made some improvements to Tio just for us, and the Norcal community in general was absolutely amazing with assisting in things like running pools. As for myself, I have had a ton of experience running local and regional tournaments, and so I knew what had to be done to make the tournament run successfully, it was just a matter of scaling things up to a tournament of 500+ people. Easier said than done of course.
Sheridan: Yeah, like Boback said, we had to deal with a ton of issues during the tournament, from lack of televisions, to no pre-reg, major rules disputes mid-tournament, and so-on. But it seems that people have focused on the amazing gameplay that happened during the tournament, which is great to hear. Of course, at the same time we recognize that there are a ton of improvements we could have made and we hope to be able to address all of those at Genesis 2.
Sheridan: But if the first Genesis is any indicator, what really truly makes a tournament amazing are the super-hype matches, and those can only happen if we get all the talent, so I hope everyone will show up!

GhaudePhaede010: I know that running a tournament comes down to a lot of breaks but running a successful tournament series is truly a testament to talent and hard work.You guys run heavily focused and successful Melee tournaments. I also know you guys are Melee first guys so what keeps you involved in the Brawl community? Is there a good amount of money in it? Is there a great hype and turnout for the tournament?

Boback: As a Melee player I try not to make things biased in the communities eyes. I try and keep tabs on the Brawl community as much as possible, and try to remain at the forefront of trends within the community. Since I am hosting a multi-game tournament which includes Brawl, it is my job as a host to do so. Last time Brawl didn't receive as much play time on the main projector, (no thanks to that chant we heard when we put it up on the projector) but this time, instead of having to share the projector, we will be having two projectors. One for Brawl and one for Melee.
Boback: As for turn out, were expecting roughly 300-320 for Brawl, and roughly the same for Melee. The community still remains strong, and we are doing everything within our power to have both games presented as equally as possible. Just don't blame me if one side is louder than the other. =)
Sheridan: Well, obviously the intersection of the set of Brawl players and that of Melee players is very small, so to be honest, while I do go on AiB on most days and try to keep up with the goings-on, I don't presume to be a big part of the community. However, I think it's important to bring all of Smash together because like it or not, Brawl and Melee are each others' closest relatives in the grand scheme of things. Making our community, bigger and stronger; in whole and in part, is what we need to do to keep Smash alive for a long time. To that end, we're trying to involve some of the main people in the Brawl community in making sure the Brawl tournament is done right and gets the attention it deserves.
Boback: As for money, if we we get the expected number of entrants, Brawl singles and teams would receive a pot size of roughly $10k- $12k.

GhaudePhaede010: 10-12k... I may pass out. That ain't hype, that is my mortgage for a year.

Boback: Lol yeah. That's another reason why we can't have cash on hand this time around, hahaha. We would need some beefy security.

GhaudePhaede010: Ya, no doubt.
GhaudePhaede010: Very honest answers and good solution. How do you really manage all those people and turnout? 300+ per game is absolutely stunning. Second, speaking of those trends, the new Unity rule set is out. Now, I am not trying to tell you how to run your tournaments, but in all honesty, the ruleset has gained a lot of backlash and criticism from the Brawl community. Do you guys intent to use this rule set or are you planning on maybe, "altering" those rules a little bit?

Boback: As you have noticed, we haven't released our ruleset yet. The main reason for this is we wanted to release all of them at once. (Melee, Brawl, 64, Project:M, crews). Our main hold up now, is as you could have guessed is the Brawl ruleset. I don't want to get into specific details, but last year I was asked to use the Brawl Unity ruleset, and back then I agreed to it. This was before all of the controversy that surrounds it, and right now as bad and flakey as it sounds, we are still discussing on whether or not we should use it, or modify to our liking, and most importantly to the communities liking.
Boback: We are first and foremost servants of the community. We want to please everyone as much as possible, but we know that's not realistic. This is a huge deal as far as topics go, so we have to handle it with care and make sure we make the right decision and not rush it.

Sheridan: At first, we decided that since we weren't involved and knowledgeable about Brawl, it would be best to leave it to the BBR-RC as far as the ruleset. However as I've been on AiB more often, it seems that it's not quite that simple and that there is some dispute in the community about the ruleset, so I don't want to say that we've 100% committed to the Unity ruleset at this point. I clearly can't argue with the ruleset on the basis of things specific to Brawl, but I think I (or anyone else) can legitimately argue some points based on general principles of gaming and rules. Of course, we will be involving the community in the final decision: I recently was in on a Skype chat with a dozen other members of the Brawl community to discuss the ruleset and understand the community's take on it. We plan to get in contact with the major players and try to figure out the best solution very soon.
Sheridan: Just a clarification about what I said regarding the BBR-RC. I do respect the BBR-RC and the reason we decided to leave it to them in the first place was that their opinions would probably be a good representation of the most well-argued opinions of the community but from my perspective, it seems that this ruleset has generated a lot of discord.
Sheridan: And we became more concerned about this especially when I observed the backlash from the community after the statement that only tournaments running this ruleset would be able to be featured on AiB.
Sheridan: But again, I want to emphasize that I could be under a misapprehension about all this, which is why we intend to talk to some of the major people in both sides in the near future.

GhaudePhaede010: To be honest, that is a great way to handle things. I would hate to see the tournament of the year have all the right elements and then the wrong ruleset to hold thee enjoyment back. Plus, with you guys playing it carefully, maybe the rest of the community will hear the cries. And Sheridan, your answer is exactly what should have happened in the first place. I think the community was left out. I am glad to know you guys do care that much to play it a little more closely. Now as far as Melee goes, I expect this to be the biggest turnout for Melee by far. What are you doing so right to attract all this Melee interest?

Boback: I think it all has to do with those Grand Finals the first time around. That set was by far the most epic, hyped up and LOUDEST, Grand Finals I have ever witnessed in the last 7 years of playing this game. I think Mango and Armada's Grand Finals set single-handedly hyped the Melee community to turn out this time around. People just don't want to miss what will most definitely happen again.
Boback: I seriously still get chills watching the videos from those finals

Sheridan: Boback nailed that answer.

GhaudePhaede010: That is probably the most epic Melee set I have ever seen. Shiz/M2K is a distant second. Missing out on all the hype and excitement is what makes me want to go out there. I am not going to lie to you, last time around, the ride situation was a bit chaotic. While some people said it was solid, some felt it was very hectic and not as well planned out as it could have been? On this topic and as we have already addressed with projectors, are there any major improvements you guys are looking to make within this tournament?

Boback: It was chaotic. It was our first tournament, and in our defense it was the biggest tournament anyone has ever seen. Lol, so a lot of things we had planned and wanted to do didn't get to happen due to the time constraints. It definitely could have been a lot more organized on my part, which is probably the main reason we decided to do Genesis 2. I wanted to make up for the **** that went down last time, I feel responsible for it, but at the same time there were a lot of things that were simply out of my hands.
Boback: As for major improvements, online pre-reg is one major thing. Last time we didn't have online pre-reg, as far as payments go. So we spent 4 hours on registration, and not to mention on the spot seeding that held up the schedule as well. All of that is being done well in advance this time so we don't have to waste time doing that day of. I am also going to be very strict on DQ's this time around.
Boback: Every minute we can cut corners on and save time, we will be doing it. From having waves of pools from different games being simultaneously run, to having more TV's, and also having people on deck to play their sets.
Boback: People registered for more than one game will be put in alternating waves of pools so we don't hold up a pool because they are playing in another pool for another game.

Sheridan: During one of our planning sessions, we spent a lot of time scrutinizing Genesis and asking ourselves what needed to be better, and made a huge list of all the things we needed/wanted to do better; so I could spend a lot of time answering this question. The main thing above all though, is making sure we get enough setups. If there's one complaint people had about Genesis, it's that there wasn't enough time and space for friendlies. I went to Apex in 2010, and their setup situation was phenomenal, and it made the overall experience great for everyone since you could hop on a setup whenever you wanted. We want to be able to have the same thing at Genesis 2, but it's going to take a lot of co-operation from the community to bring those setups.
Sheridan: Of course, while the community is usually good about that, we can't expect them to do all of it for a tournament on a scale like this, so we've been coming up with ways on our end to make it happen too. Televisions don't seem to be too hard to find, and GameCubes are fairly cheap, but Wii's are still expensive and that's the one thing we're really gonna need people to bring to help out.
Boback: Yeah so far we have roughly 40 televisions already confirmed for Genesis 2. That's not including the televisions people are bringing. PLEASE bring televisions, Wii's and GameCubes. This is basically the ONLY thing we are relying on the community for, because its mostly out of our hands.

GhaudePhaede010: Now, one thing I never get complaints about was the venue. The venue itself was a masterpiece. I am not up to snuff but are you still using the same venue? Seriously, that was a great find, how do you guys lock that down?

Sheridan: That was all Boback and DBR so I'ma let him answer.

Boback: Back when we were planning the first Genesis, we spent months and months trying to find a venue for the tournament. We tried looking at hotel ballrooms, community centers, school gyms, churches, and even arenas (LOL waayyy out of our price range but it was still fun). When we found the venue (Contra Costa County Fairgrounds) we thought it might have been too far from local transportation, and from the bay area in general. The price though, was right. It was a lot less expensive than the other options we had, and VERY lenient in what we could get away with. From the outside it looked kinda run down and old, but that was just one thing we had to deal with for the price. The one thing we didn't have was internet access, which was why we didn't have a livestream. One of the main reasons we liked it so much was the closeness of the Ramada Inn, and all of the other great places to eat. BART (local metro) was relatively close, and it just worked for us.
Boback: We plan on using the same venue this time around as well mainly because of how successful the hotel situation was last time. This time around we got the WHOLE hotel reserved for Genesis. If you stayed at the hotel last time, it basically made the tournament what it was. The ability to just walk around, find people smashing in rooms with their doors wide open, was just an amazing thing to take part in. The management there was EXTREMELY lenient in what happened there (I think I saw a room with 20 people in it) so it just made it our decision that much easier.
Boback: GERM and I visited the venue a couple days ago just to check up on things, and managed to work in a 9 row bleacher stand to put in the venue for the grand finals.
Boback: Oh.. and they also told us they installed high bandwidth internet (which they didn't have last time) ... SOOOOOO.. were going to have a livestream this time at Genesis 2 =)
Boback: Team spooky style streams, because that **** is legit.

Sheridan: I want to bring up something that everyone needs to understand, which I also posted on SWF.
Sheridan: Some people have asked about things like the venue's and hotel's alcohol policy and things like that. Of course, the official policy is, 'Don't do anything illegal,' and I'm going to encourage people to follow that. I know you guys want to have fun given that we have the whole hotel to ourselves, but that's also a good reason why everyone needs to not do anything stupid that will get cops over there. It might only take one stupid person to screw up things for hundreds of people. If you are responsible for cops coming and ruining other people's fun who weren't involved, I can almost guarantee your eviction from the tourney/hotel. So please, don't do anything stupid, and if you absolutely MUST do something stupid, please, please, please do it in the confines of your own room. Do not walk around with open liquor for extended periods of time. Do not break bottles, especially not where people are likely to be barefoot. And do not disrespect the hotel itself, which has been so accommodating to everyone.
Sheridan: Also, while having the hotel to ourselves also means that noise complaints aren't an issue, you still need to be respectful of your neighbors. The people in the room next to you might need a lot of sleep after a long trip, or get good rest for their bracket matches on Sunday. There will be plenty of rooms with Smash going on in them, so if you want to be loud, do it someplace where nobody else cares. So, guys, have fun, but don't be stupid. Seriously.

Boback: I figured you were going to touch base on that lol.
Boback: Yeah last time a certain someone COUGHPHANNACOUGH decided to break an alcohol bottle in the jacuzzi so non of that ****.

Sheridan: Hahaha.

GhaudePhaede010: LOLOLOL
GhaudePhaede010: Sweet on the LIVESTREAM! And wow, a bleacher stand? That is innovation right there and kind of leads into my next question. You guys may not know this but I am from SoCal. I love everything about California. It is a different pace and a faster culture than most places in the world. Tournaments in California are run in respect to the culture of California which is a bit more upscale and faster paced. Do you see your culture and your environment as playing any part in your successful ventures?

Sheridan: Well, obviously I'm biased, but I think California is one of the best places on Earth; and that's even including Socal (jk, I lived in lovely Santa Barbara for 4 years). People in general here are more chill and accepting of other people, and we hope that comes through in the experience people have at our tourneys. We've got a lot of people coming here from all over the world that want to have fun in the area beyond just playing Smash, and we're hoping to do our best to accomodate them.

Boback: I have always thought of California as one of the best places on earth, if not the greatest place on earth. Some of the best tournaments I've attended have been in California, and we just want people who come to California from abroad to enjoy themselves, and to leave with a lasting and great memory from their time here in California.
Boback: Being of Persian decent, (as you may know yourself) I'm brought up in a home full of expectations. Failure is not an option for me, and that directly applies to everything I do in life, which most definitely includes Genesis. Beyond my culture playing into the success of Genesis, I simply could not live with the fact of letting down the best gaming community in the world. That is definitely not something I would want to face, so I'm doing everything in my power to make sure everything runs smoothly, everyone has a great time, and Genesis 2 goes down as the BEST tournament of ALL time.

GhaudePhaede010: Wait! Back the hell up! Hot tub? This brings me to the second most important question of the night: Will. There. Be. Strippers. Boobs. And. Nana!!!?!?!?!? Come on now, the whole community wants to know these things.

Boback: I think the person to ask here would be PB&J and DJN. Rumor has it they had a pretty fun time in their hotel rooms last time.

Sheridan: Lmaooo

Boback: We will be having DBR girls though on the first day ,

Sheridan: Yes, DBR girls. =D

GhaudePhaede010: Close enough for me!!!! GAMERS! REAL. LIFE. BOOBS. AWAIT. YOU. GO TO GENESIS. : )

Boback: LOL

GhaudePhaede010: I am a man of many expectations myself, you guys say you love this community, but what has really kept you within it? As one gets older, sometimes it is easy to let these things, and people go. Is that not the case for you two? I am 28 and I cannot let the community go. I love everything about it, especially the friends I have made (even Inui who jilted me tonight).

Sheridan: Absolutely, it's the community. I'm also 28, and being a Smasher has been invaluable as far as making friends and learning values from competition. I'm also involved in education, so as a senior member of the community I also feel like it's my responsibility to give back to it and improve it for everyone else, and to provide a little guidance to younger people if I can. Even if I stop playing Smash altogether, I can't see myself dissociating from the Smash community because of all the great relationships I have with people.
Sheridan: And it's also an amazing feeling to know that because the Smash community is so tight, I can go almost anywhere in the country and have a friend there already waiting.

Boback: I can say that this community is by far the best I've seen. Some of the people I've met have become life long friends, the tournaments I've been to have really been some of the best times of my life (especially Genesis), and places I've been because of this game is just icing on the cake.
Boback: But all things have to come to an end. With real life responsibilities taking up more and more priority, attending tournaments, and staying competitive becomes harder and harder. I'm turning 26 this summer, as well as the GERM. We both decided that with conclusion of Genesis 2, the conclusion of our competitive smash career must come as well. That doesn't mean I'll be cutting myself off completely. I met a lot of people within the community and that is something I cannot just cut off.
Boback: Yeah that's also an awesome thing. You got friends all over the world.

GhaudePhaede010: Could not have said it better myself.
GhaudePhaede010: As far as tournaments go, Genesis is obviously at the top of everyone's list. I know this is a bit premature but after this tournament, where do you think you can go? Also, are there any plans for international talent to make a showing at this Genesis?

Sheridan: As far as my plans after Genesis 2, I can't really say. Like Boback, I'm also dealing with a lot of "real life" responsibilities as I'm working on a Ph.D. I've been able to maintain a good presence in the community so far, but once I graduate, I don't know where my next job will take me. I might just go somewhere else in California, or I might move to another country. I'll have to focus on what comes next for a while, but like I said earlier, wherever I go, I hope to still be connected to the community even if I'm not involved in tournaments.

Boback: I don't think we will be doing another Genesis after this, but who knows? I said the same thing after the first one. Lol. as for international talent, I know roughly 10-12 people from Sweden are attending, a few from Japan, South America, a few from Mexico, Canada, UK, Italy, Australia, and many, many other places.

GhaudePhaede010: Is thee international talent coming more for Brawl or Melee?

Boback: I think its leaning toward the Melee side. The majority of the people who have asked me questions regarding traveling and housing have been for Melee. And there are also a bunch of people coming specifically for Smash 64.

GhaudePhaede010: I will admit, reading that you two are starting to step back is definitely damaging and almost made me want to stop thee interview. I feel like I am delivering the bad news of sorts. In that case, I truly hope you guys make this the most impressive tournament ever and I am not sure there is ever going to be another 1-2 punch like you two. I know that you two are directly related to everything involving these tournaments so I will ask you, what advice can you give me, and others like me (people trying to break into tournament organizing) on how to run a successful tournament?

Boback: GERM and King are also deeply involved in the tournament planning as well =) It's a collective effort on all fronts by all of us.

GhaudePhaede010: By the way, GERM I hope you read this and know I ****ING LOVE YOU! Mad homo there.

Boback: Loooll
Boback: As far as advice goes, Sheridan has a lot more experience running tournaments than I do, so he might be better suited in giving advice. But what I can say I have learned from all of this is to not do it for yourself but instead do it for the community. Listen to the community and ask for help when needed because you can't do it all alone. And just be cool. It is very easy to stress the **** out and lose your cool during certain situations. Planning ahead of time with back up plans just in case something goes wrong is mandatory. The little details in planning a tournament will quickly add up, and if you are not on top of it all, you will fall behind on things, and it will show in your execution.

Sheridan: Well, like anything else, the biggest thing is experience. Ask yourself about tournaments you've been to, what things made it a great experience or made it a sour one, and take these into consideration. Start getting involved with your own local tourney series. Learn from current Tournament Organizers and hosts what things they have to do to make it happen. Try running your own tournaments, or at least maybe offer your local Tournament Organizer a break and take over his duties a couple times. You ARE going to make mistakes. What makes someone great at what they do is their ability to recognize their mistakes, learn from them, and avoid repeating them.
Sheridan: To do this, most of all you're going to need to be honest with yourself about your mistakes and willing to criticize yourself; but not so hard that you give up. Self-honesty by the way, is in my opinion, the most important value anyone can have. You're also going to be involved in lots of debates, and you need to be able to communicate your ideas and honestly consider the ideas of others. Boback also has a great point in saying, don't do it for yourself, do it for the community. Do not do things to win favor points from others, because people see right through that, and I don't trust people like that. You also have to learn to live with the fact that there are ungrateful people out there and people who complain about anything the first chance they get. If you're really doing it for the community, you'll have a much easier time keeping cool, and getting on with your business.

Boback: Oh damn LOL I knew Sheridan would go big on that question.

GhaudePhaede010: Alright I will wrap this up by asking you guys if there are any surprises in store that you want to share now, or even if there are secrets to be released in the future? Any players I should be on the lookout for? Are there any deals for pre-reg or rooms or anything like that you can promote?

Boback: As far as the actual tournament goes, we have some surprises in store for everyone. It won't feel like a tournament. It'll feel like an event; an experience you will remember forever. I also want to make sure everyone knows about the pre-registration situation. The payment system in place right now is for United States residents only (https://www.wepay.com/tickets/genesis2). They do not accept payments from outside of the United States, so we set up a registration on the genesisdbr.com site for international players who plan on attending to fill out. Payment will be done in person for international players at the venue when they arrive.

Boback: http://www.genesisdbr.com/?page_id=2 is the link for the international registration.

Sheridan: PLEASE VISIT WWW.GENESISDBR.COM FOR ALL ANSWERS TO ALL OF YOUR GENESIS RELATED QUESTIONS! Pre-reg links are also available on the Genesis website as well as other key info people want/need to know.

Boback: Oh and I want to give a special shout-out to SABERGAMING (Vts on smashboards) for sponsoring Genesis 2 with 6k in prizes for Brawl and Melee.
Boback: Melee/Brawl Split Singles:
1. $1000
2. $500
3. $250
4. $100
5. $50
5. $50
7. $25
7. $25
Boback: Melee/Brawl Split for teams:
1. $500
2. $250
3. $150
4. $100
Boback: This is an added bonus to the already ridiculous prize pot.

GhaudePhaede010: Oh wow. Shout-out indeed. BIG LOVE BABY!!!!!

Boback: I think in total we are expecting nearly 30k in prizes.

GhaudePhaede010: WHAT??? :::FAINTS:::
GhaudePhaede010: Thank you both for coming in and making this one hell of a fun experience. The first Genesis was something special and now this one is sure to be one I will NEVER FORGET. I love you both so much for gracing me and making my year. I cannot thank you enough, THANK YOU. If you have additional shout-outs and/or e-hate, please send it out right now.

Boback: Thank YOU this is awesome =D I feel all special and ****.

Sheridan: My first shout-out goes to the one and only nealdt, tournament organizer extraordinaire and developer of software that Genesis could not exist without, not to mention a very intelligent and insightful human being.

Boback: Oh my god yes, Neal should be awarded with the greatest human being award.

GhaudePhaede010: He is cool but he aint ALL THAT.

Boback: Also want to shout-out the other Tournament Organizers who will be helping out, Champ, AznLep, Sheridan and Zoap.

Sheridan: Also, big ups to my homies in Deep Norcal, the greatest crew in the history of history, and the amazingly awesome Norcal Melee community in general. I love you all.

Boback: Oh e-hate huh? This is some e-ego deflation...
Boback: Alex Strife, you need to get off your high horse, and sit the **** down. That is all =D

GhaudePhaede010: WOW

Sheridan: Lmao

GhaudePhaede010: West Coast SHOWING OUT!!!!! Love it.

Boback: GENESIS BABY
Boback: Did I mention www.genesisdbr.com =D
Boback: Add us at facebook.com/genesis.dbr
Boback: DBR FOR LIFE. And follow us on twitter @genesisdbr

Sheridan: Thanks again so much for the interview. Thanks to everyone on AiB that makes it happen. And thanks to YOU, the player.
Sheridan: Also norcal > socal just throwing that out there; no reason.
Sheridan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BluTtvG32Iw
Sheridan: It might be the best thing ever.

At Evolution 2009, the biggest story going into the tournament was that 1,040 people registered to play Street Fighter IV. This massive amount of entries clearly broke all past records in fighting game history.  The community has came a long way from the local arcade scene. To think that over 23,000 people of all races, ages and levels of interest in Street Fighter tuned into the Evolution stream to watch the final match between Japan's Umehara Daigo and America's Justin Wong is just unimaginable. While Daigo's victory in SF4 ended this brief chapter in international fighting games, the make up of that five-digit number tells a greater, more significant tale.

At times like this, I reflect on something that UK Street Fighter player HarmoNAZ says about fighting games being a global community.

"One thing that motivates me (to keep playing) is meeting the people. How many other things can you offer me, where you can say that I can go to any random place. I can meet a guy of any nationality, religion and belief. And we could not care less. It's like 'Mate, get out your stick. Let's play."

Back in the day, and I know many players like us started out like this, our scope of the video game scene started off small. Who was the best in the block? Who was the best at the arcade? Who was the best in the region? Back then, when one person travels from another city or state to compete, that person suddenly personifies how everyone in his region plays. Now our scope has gone significantly bigger thanks to the Internet bridging the gap between regions and even countries under one common interest. The beauty with fighting games is that no one will have the same background, upbringing, culture, style as the next person in the bracket.

I once played a Mexican gamer who could not speak an ounce of English. For those who don't know me, I'm this 20-year old Filipino dude, and in Street Fighter that's pretty young. This man I was playing was significantly older and probably lived in a completely different town as me. However, we understood each other perfectly when we walked up to the sticks to play our match. Each of us thought along the lines of, "I want to win this tournament, so I'm going to defeat you to do so." Many thoughts analyzing each situation of the match raced through my mind, and I bet that the person standing next to me was thinking the same things, just only in Spanish.

To me, I think this single sense of unity is what made the fighting game genre survive going into its second decade. If there was any further proof of this unity, lets take some of the winners of this pass Evolution. Street Fighter IV champion, Daigo Umehara hails from Japan. Soul Calibur IV champion Johnathan "Malek" Ledy was the only person from France to crack top eight to take the whole event. Abdulatif "Latif" Alhmili was born in Saudi Arabia and won the Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core+ singles tournament. African-American player Sanford Kelly finally wins his first Evo Marvel vs. Capcom 2 tournament. The week before at Genesis, Swedish Smash player Armada shocked the American Melee scene by giving undisputed American champion Mango a run for his money. Every corner of the world has represented in their respective games and shows that that pool of talent is deep in diversity.


So as gaming moves forward, it's great to see that no one is alone in this community. Sure this person standing next to you in the sign-up line may be of a different race, a different age or different lifestyle but in video games it doesn't really matter. We're all gamers with controllers or joysticks in this big world of talent.

Looking for a single-post wrapup of (most) everything that went down at GENESIS this past weekend? Look no further! (For full brackets and results see the AiB tournament page.)

Brawl
Top Brawl stories:

• Singles event size: 294 entrants, the second largest Brawl tournament ever.
• Ally takes Brawl singles after losing the winners finals match to Mew2King. After moving the grand finals matches back to the hotel, Ally triumphs in two sets over M2K to take top placing of GENESIS Brawl. Videos are available here!
• In similar fashion, Mew2King and Fiction come back from losers bracket to beat Ally and Sean in two sets to win doubles grand finals. (Still waiting on videos!)
• Only 3 of the top 8 placings were from Metaknight mains, and those placings were from arguably the 3 best MKs in the nation.
• A big argument/controversy over excessive stalling broke out during the losers bracket set between DEHF and Dojo. The Smash Back Room held a private discussion and held a vote to give the set to Dojo.
• Due to the delay over the DEHF/Dojo incident, the tournament did not finish at the venue. The singles and doubles grand finals had to be played out back at the hotel.
• Several crew battles were run during the 3 days but no conclusive winner was found. Pacific Northwest (OR/WA) lost to Puerto Rico and Midwest beat NorCal. SoCal and Atlantic North had to stop due to time constraints but Atlantic North later forfeitted. South demolished the International team.

Melee
Top Melee stories:

• Singles event size: 290 entrants, the largest Melee tournament in history.
• Armada lives up to the hype with flying colors, taking winners bracket sets against DaShizWiz, Mew2King, Mango, and others. His incredible Peach -- a character that no one has considered a tournament winner in a very long time -- impresses greatly and will likely inspire a new generation of Smashers.
• Mango bounces back and takes grand finals from Armada in two of the greatest sets ever played in Melee. 
• East Coast defeats West Coast in crews, Canada beats International, and South takes out Canada. EC vs. South doesn't happen because no one feels up to it after the amazing singles grand finals events.
• Mew2King and Jman come back from losers bracket to defeat Scar and Darc in doubles grand finals, giving East Coast the top 2 doubles placings and Mew2King a clean sweep of the doubles events at the tournament.
• The Mew2King/Armada winners semifinals match is marred by controversy when the two players play a best of 3 set when the rules call for a best of 5. DBR decides that the match stands, as in general any game played with improper rules can only be objected to during the game/set and not after. (This is a summary argument; both sides of the debate had excellent points and this tournament organizer is glad he did not have to make the final decision, and would also like to thank all parties involved for (mostly) keeping their cool during the discussion. Just watch out for Tonberry, that dude is scary when he's angry :))
• Zhu later defeats Mew2King in losers bracket, making him only the second West Coast player to take a set off off M2K in the modern Melee scene. Zhu ends up placing fourth overall.
• Florida represents with a ton of talent at the top of the Melee bracket, including dark horse Hungrybox at 3rd.
• Tope ruins the Silent Spectre vs. darkrain hype by defeating SS in bracket. GOOD GOING TOPE :P.
• Melee videos are slowly being released via this YouTube channel.

Community
Top community/miscellaneous stories:

• Ramada Inn Antioch is overrun by Smashers. Other guests flee the area facing the onslaught of foul-mouthed teenagers. Miraculously, no one is arrested.
• Douchebag pricks who are likely from this very community break into Idaho/Churro's car in the parking lot and steal several TVs and Wiis. Rot in hell you pieces of trash.
• CreepyFingers' prosu burgers sell like wildfire, with people having to wait up to 30 minutes for their order to come in.
• Registration for 500 people takes about 90 minutes thanks to 7 registration stations and some tio additions to support multi-laptop event registration.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

A lot is riding on the results of Genesis. Players will be flocking from all over to prove their might.
Among these players stand the best of the best, the pros. M2K, Ally, Tyrant, FICTION, NinjaLink, Typh, and many others will be attending. There will be so much talent all in one place. Anything can happen!
Will M2K once again rise above all others? Will Ally knock him down?
Today I bring you an interview with three top players. Two come from the East and one from West!

Atomsk-Don't get grabbed!
Zolga: To start things off, who are you?
Atomsk: I'm Atomsk. I'm mostly known for my King DeDeDe but I'm trying to play the Ice Climbers more because I find them more fun.
Atomsk: I still have a very good King DeDeDe though. People tell me I look like I'm thinking really hard when I play him.
Zolga: You put on your serious face; Brawl is serious business remember?
Atomsk: I guess you could say that.
Zolga: Now to a topic that we all are interested in. How do you feel about the huge amount of Brawl talent that will be attending Genesis?
Atomsk: I think it will be an interesting experience.
Even when I was just starting out, I always wanted to meet out of state players. Just to meet new people. I loved to see the difference in playstyles.
Zolga: Thats good, do you feel you made a good impression?
Atomsk:Yeah, I'm glad that most people have liked me so far.
Zolga: Spread the love Atomsk.
How do you feel the international players will do?
Atomsk: For Brawl?
Zolga: Both Melee and Brawl please.
Atomsk: I believe that the ones playing Melee will do well, but I'd expect America to out place most of them.
Japan scares me though.
Zolga: Do you think our talent will be too much for them?
Atomsk: Whenever you go into enemy territory its natural to feel overwhelmed. As long as you keep calm and play smart you will do just fine.**
Zolga: What do you think about the low tier mains?
Atomsk: To be honest I know I'll get hate for this.
Low tiers are nothing but gimmicks in this game.
Few low tier characters have potential.
Zolga: You know I main a low tier *ANGER*
Zelda/Shiek kicks butt.
Atomsk: Good, I think that they are underrated.
Zolga: Most low tier mains moan and whine about how high tiers are cheap. Personally I like the challenge.
Atomsk: Most of them are scrubs. To be honest in this game being challenged by characters like Meta Knight, Diddy Kong, Wario, and the Ice Climbers are actually really fun.
Zolga: I love playing Meta Knights actually.
Atomsk: Me too, NJ has so many scrub Meta Knights.
Zolga: I feel that to beat high tiers you just need to learn the matchup.
Atomsk: Yeah, if you don't feel like putting in the effort to learn matchups you shouldn't call anything cheap.
Zolga: My fellow low tier mains will hate me for this, Go learn a high tier! Stop crying and moaning!
Atomsk: That'd honestly be a good thing.
Zolga: What do you think about the Melee talent?
Atomsk: I think there will be a good amount of it.
I want to see M2K beat Mango for once.
I gotta believe in my East Coast buddy.
Zolga: East Coast for the win!
Zolga: Which region do you think brings the most to the tournament?
Atomsk: In Brawl, I think EC is bringing a lot of talent.
In Melee WC is bringing the skill.
Zolga: Who do you think will triumph in Brawl Singles?
Atomsk: M2K or Ally to be honest.
I hope I do well though.
Zolga: A couple more then we are done.
What do you prefer Brawl or Melee?
Atomsk: I like both equally, I'll play Brawl more only because I am better at it.
Zolga: What do you think are the chances of some unknown player rising to the top?
Atomsk: For Brawl it's possible. Often WiFi players do good in tournaments.
Zolga: Last one.
Will Genesis even finish?
Atomsk: Hell no.
Zolga: Any shoutouts?
Atomsk: I love you Mike Haze! Eggz and his "ADD"!
I'm looking forward to meeting FICTION.
Zolga: Thank you for taking time to be interviewed.

Jem-Fear the Tornado!
Zolga: Let's get this started! Who are you?
Jem: I'm Jem, a MetaKnight main from Washington.
Zolga: A MetaKnight main? How original!
Jem: PLAY TO WIN! No, I'm kidding he is just fun.
Zolga: How do you feel about the boatload of talent that is going to be at Genesis?
Jem: I think it will be really exciting. Every character has a few really good representatives. Even the low tiers, I have a feeling that a lot of the top tier players will be caught off guard. It's cool that even Australians are coming.
Zolga: What about our players?
Jem: I'm very excited for Ally/M2K/DSF/Tyrant/DEHF/Fiction and all the other pro talent to be at one tournament to see who's the best.
Zolga: How do you think the international players will adapt to our style?
Jem: I personally haven't kept up with the out of country talent. I know Japan is really good, but I'm not sure if Australia is any good. I guess we will find out. I feel that our talent will be too much for them though.
Zolga: What do you think about the low tier mains?
Jem: I think because most low tier mains study the high tier matchups, they can cause some upsets.
Zolga: I'm a low tier main myself, but even I don't think they have much of a chance agianst the high tiers.
Jem: M2K, Ally, DSF, and Tyrant are too good.
Zolga: At the top of the crop we have your very own main, MetaKnight. How do you feel the non-Meta players will do?
Jem: Everyone studies the matchup so it's hard to win even as a MetaKnight main like myself
Zolga: I just feel if you learn the matchup you have a shot at winning; don't whine about how they are so cheap
Jem: Yeah that's pretty much how I feel too. A lot of people just want tournaments to be easier. I still don't see Metaknight getting banned though even if he wins. Sure some of us play this at or near a pro-level, but there's never been a character ban in Smash before. Everyone knows Smash is considered a party game forced competitive, so I don't see it happening, its still fun.
Zolga: What do you think about the Melee talent?
Jem: I think that the Melee talent is incredible.
I personally don't see anyone beating Mango though. I am rooting for some underdogs, particularly from Washington. I hope Silent Wolf and Eggz do well. I see M2K maybe taking a set in finals if Mango sandbags, but not the final set.
Zolga: Which region do you think brings the most skill to the tournament?
Jem: California, hands down. California has the best melee player in the world, and arguably the best brawl players(s) in the world. I think most the regions showing up to Genesis are strong, considering all that's on the line. We're about to show you that Washington is a strong region too.
Zolga: Gotta represent your region.
Jem: I love Washington!
Zolga: Do you think M2K will rape singles?
Jem: I've been talking with M2K lately. I think it's fifty-fifty on if he'll win. Ally proved it's possible to beat M2K, even when he's trying. I know DSF has been practicing hard to reach the top again. I'm going to go ahead and say that I do think M2K will win singles. Though I think a few can give him a good run for his money.
Zolga: A few more questions.
Do you prefer Brawl or Melee?
Jem: I prefer Brawl but I think Melee is the better game.
I'm pretty good at Melee too and I do think it is more fun.
Zolga: I like that attitude; I feel both bring different things to the table.
Jem: Absolutely. It's too bad the communities hate each other.
I'm a big fan of both.
Zolga: I suck at Melee but I still think it's fun.
Last one.
Zolga: Do you think Genesis will even finish?
Jem: I predict it will finish at 4 AM in the morning.
Better reschedule those Sunday morning flights.
Jem: I'm confident in Sidefx and D.B.R. to do a good job.
Zolga: Thanks for taking time to talk with me. Do you have any shoutouts?
Jem: Shoutouts to Eggz, Washington, my SoCal friends, and everyone who's rooting for me! Thanks a bunch and everyone COME TO GENESIS. And come to TOURNEYPLAY in October! Tyrant/M2K/DSF are coming! You'll have fun in Washington!

Inui- Master of Doubles
Zolga: Let's get going! Who are you?
Inui: Inui (Lucas DeLorenzo), I main Meta Knight, Snake, and Ike.
Those are the characters I use in tournaments.
Zolga: I heard you prefer doubles to singles; Why is that?
Inui: I find doubles to be a lot more fun, so I'm more motivated. I think it takes a lot of actual skill instead of just abusing top tier characters and camping the whole time. I like teamwork and having a lot of things happening at once.
Zolga: Who would you say has been your best partner?
Inui: Mew2King and Atomsk by far. I almost always team with Atomsk. We have opposite play styles and know the other's style so well. It works out. I can play any role and team with anyone good and be pretty successful, though. I've been with ksizzle, ChuDat, teh_spamerer, Bum, to name a few.
Zolga: What are you excited for at Genesis?
Inui: Brawl doubles and regional crews. I'm the captain for Atlantic North, so there's a lot of pressure on me to lead my team to victory. I'm worried that if we lose, West Coast will think they're better even though we're using a lot of B team players and are deprived of many powerhouses while they won't be. In Brawl doubles, I need to make cash because I'll be far in the hole if I don't make my money back.
Zolga: What do you expect from Brawl Singles?
Inui: No idea, really...I'm going to actually try this time, even if it means camping and being all boring. I'm hoping Atomsk, NinjaLink, Mew2King, ADHD, and the other powerhouses from my region do well. I'm especially hoping they stop the Meta Knights from taking all of the top spots. I expect Mew2King to win and for Ally to place extremely well, but everything else is up for grabs between the top players.
Zolga: What about Melee Singles?
Inui: I really hope Mew2King finally beats Mango, but he probably won't because he plays way too much Brawl.  Mew2King needs to realize that his 2007 skill won't beat Mango. So, I'm expecting Mango to win and for Mew2King to take second. After that, I don't have any idea. I want to see Kage win because I love Ganondorf and admire the way Kage plays and his sportsmanship.
Zolga: What do you think of all the international players coming to Genesis?
Inui: I'm really excited about that!  I want to see how they stack up against us. I got into the SBR not too long ago and got to know and interact with some of the best minds in Europe and Australia. I'm looking forward to meeting them.  Their metagames are different, so I want to see how they play.
Zolga: Do you think that any international players will place well?
Inui: I don't really expect it, to be honest. They might, and I'm not saying they're bad, but I just believe that the skill level here is higher. Their lack of high level Meta Knight experience may hinder there ability to place.
Zolga: Speaking of Meta Knight, how do feel about his potential ban?
Inui: I'm extremely anti-ban. I'm even working hard on the anti-ban team in the SBR right now. Because I see him lose so frequently to other characters here, I don't believe he should be banned. I'm hoping that our Meta Knight slayers take out all of the Meta Knights at Genesis to prove it. Go Atomsk, ADHD, NEO, Pierce, Vex, Malcolm, and NinjaLink!
Zolga: Meta Knight slayers, the community will love that.
You don't expect any Ganondorf's to be winning?
Inui: Um...he's the worst character by far. All of his moves are slower than reaction time, meaning he can't ever win against anyone with a brain. It's really sad since he's my favourite character ever. At least he's usable in Melee.
Zolga: Which region do you feel brings more to the tournament?
Inui: West Coast because it's their home region. They will have all of their powerhouses there and have a big advantage.  Mew2King also said their top players are a bit better than ours. I'm excited to see what happens. I hope Atlantic North brings a strong anti-Meta Knight metagame to their attention and wins.
Zolga: What do you think are the chances of some unknown placing well?
Inui: It's almost impossible. The established top players are too good and too numerous
Zolga: Do you even think Genesis will finish?
Inui: Yeah. The hosts seem to really know what they're doing, and I'll gladly help them if they need it.
Zolga: Which game do you prefer?; Melee or Brawl.
Inui: I have more fun playing Melee, but Brawl has more people and more money right now.
Zolga: What do you think of people calling Brawl a party game?
Inui: It is. Just like Melee and 64. They're all party games than we limited and created rules for in order to make them competitive by our own definition of competitive.
Zolga: That was a very well thought out answer. I expected you to go into "rage mode".
Inui: I try to be logical.
Zolga: Well we are done here, do you have any shoutouts?
Inui: Well... I've already shouted out my Atlantic North homies, no? I'm looking forward to meeting people like Praxis, Fiction, SK92, and other West Coast pros. I'm super excited for this weekend.  SHOUTOUT TO THE WHOLE COMMUNITY!  LET'S MAKE THIS THE BEST TOURNAMENT EVER!

**Very Good Advice
Special thanks to UmbreonMonarchy for proofreading this.

Tensions are at an all time high in the Smash community. The biggest tourney to ever grace the scene is just around the corner, and the most heated debate in Smash history has divided the community into two camps: those in favor of banning Meta Knight, and those in favor of keeping him in the game. Both sides have debated fiercely for months, and with Genesis this weekend, there is no better time to get a good bearing on what exactly each side has to say about this crucial subject, and what Genesis could mean for the future of the metagame.

Those in favor of banning Meta Knight feel that he is just too good to be legal. They claim that he breaks the counter-pick system, has an unfair recovery, and a moveset with capabilities far beyond what they view to be the norm for the game. The pro-ban side also feels that Meta Knight over centralizes the Brawl metagame and greatly reduces character diversity and viability. Those who are against banning Meta Knight, however, feel that Meta Knight fits in the competitive brawl scene. The anti-ban side believes that Meta Knight does not defy the laws of the game, that diversity is not a necessity, and his abilities do not put him outside the normal constraints of the Brawl metagame.

Everyone has heard these arguments before. What matters to a lot of people, though, are tournament results. Meta Knight has been the clear leader in tournament placings. Genesis, though, is an entirely different kind of tournament. Top players from all over the world will be in attendance. Record breaking numbers of players are expected to participate. Huge sums of money are up for grabs. The entire community eagerly awaits the results to see if Meta Knight continues his dominance, or if the metagame has changed. The results of the tournament could have a huge impact on the community’s consensus on the ban. According to one top player -- who will not be identified -- as many as seven out of the top eight placements could easily go to Meta Knight players, and results this overwhelming would certainly help solidify the argument for banning Meta Knight. Another top player, again unnamed, doubts the results will be clear-cut, potentially making progress towards a final decision even more difficult. A top anti-ban player feels that Genesis is the tournament where Meta Knight finally tumbles a bit. He expects several other characters to place highly, averting what he deemed “the disaster”, or a near sweep of the top placings. He does admit, though, if Meta Knight were to take many of the top placings, his own position may be forced to change and a ban may be imminent.

With all this buzz, and top players strongly divided over this issue, it looks to be Genesis that will decide the future of Brawl as we know it. Will Meta Knight continue his dominance and force the issue for a ban? Can top players of other characters finally put him back in his place and prove, once and for all, that all the discussion of a ban was unnecessary? We'll see this weekend!

GENESIS Week on All is Brawl continues today with a look at the Super Smash Bros. Melee side of the tournament. Over 200 Melee players from around the world are expected to visit Antioch, CA for three days of intense competition. The game may be over 7 years old but the tournament community is still alive and kicking. GENESIS figures to cause a huge resurgence in Melee interest and will be a great time for any new members of the community to check out Brawl's older cousin. To celebrate this amazing opportunity we're bringing you five reasons to get super hyped about the GENESIS Melee tournaments.

Without further ado...

1. Can anyone stop Mango?
With a tournament win streak dating back to *Pound* 3, Mango is one of the most dominant players in any era of competitive Melee play and has mastered opponents around the United States since his breakout tournament of Super Champ Combo. Initially known for his Jigglypuff, Mango has recently shown tournament-winning Fox, Falco, Sheik, and Captain Falcon characters in addition to a few dozen high-level alternates. He is fully expected to continue a tournament win streak that includes his own Mango Juice tournament plus east coast events Revival of Melee, Mass Madness 16, and Gigabits Freedom to Melee (Florida). No one has shown a serious threat to Mango's dominance in a long time... will the resurgance of international Melee talent at GENESIS finally give the kid from Norwalk a reason to worry?



2. Flight of the Falcons
The nation's top Captain Falcon mains in SilentSpectre, darkrain, Scar, and Hax are converging on Antioch with the speed of a raptor in pursuit of prey. The veteran darkrain hasn't been seen on the west coast in years -- if ever -- and it will be interesting to see how his classic Falcon play has adapted to changes in the metagame; SilentSpectre, a fellow legend, has been overshadowed a little by members of his Home Team but will look to bring his thrilling unpredictableness to center stage; Scar, an east coast powerhouse, will try to back up his Revival of Melee commentary johns/****-talk when faced with the inevitable hostile west coast crowd; and Hax, the 8 year old Falcon prodigy, will try to live up to the hype coming from the stereotypically vocal/abusive New York community.



3. The Armada sails
The oft-hailed best Melee player in Europe, Armada, is making his first trip to the 'States to see how he compares to America's best. A lot is resting on the youngster's shoulders as he fights for the honor of the European Smash community, which for years has been brushed off as insignificant next to the American and Japanese scenes. Throw in a lot of trash talk, "stupid Americans," "no one has cared about Europe for 200 years," etc., and you've set the stage for an important showdown between the Old World and the New.

As a Peach player, Armada's biggest challenge at the tournament will likely be adapting to playstyles native to the North American version of Melee; unlike Brawl, the European release of Melee featured many game balance changes that indirectly strengthened Peach by decreasing the threat of her biggest matchup problems in Marth, Fox, and Sheik. Armada will need to quickly adapt to the subtleties of NTSC Melee play or risk losing to Fox's stronger u-smash and u-air or Marth's deadly d-air spike (which can be Meteor-Canceled in Europe).

Armada will be joined by several other Europeans traveling across the Atlantic. Slhoka, Doraki, and a few others are coming from France, and there are rumors that Amsah (Nihonjin) will also make the trip. Throw in a bunch of talent from Canada and an Australian contingent led by the lovable CAOTIC and you're looking at easily the most international Melee tournament since 0C2.



4. The home team
The west coast has never shown itself as the dominant region in Melee despite being home to the unquestioned top individual players in the nation for several years (SephirothKen in the early years and Mango in the later, broken up by Mew2King's 1.5 - 2 year dominance until 2008). But things may have changed this year with the shrinking of the Melee community due to Brawl's influence. California consistently holds the largest Melee tournaments in the US and undoubtedly has a larger community. Household names like Mango and SilentSpectre figure to perform well against any opponent, but which other west coast all-stars will turn heads at GENESIS?


Zhu: perhaps best known for being on the receiving end of the Wombo Combo (Happy Feet?), Zhu is one of the most likeable members of the Melee community and the center of a game of tug-of-war between NorCal and SoCal, each of which claims Zhu as part of its regional crew. (He grew up in NorCal but moved to SoCal for university life.) Zhu turned a lot of heads when he traveled east with Mango for Revival of Melee and will be looking to make an equally big impact at GENESIS. His numerous matches as Fox and Falco against SilentSpectre have become all-time Melee classics; expect sparks to fly should we be treated to a match between Zhu and any of the top Captain Falcon talent attending the tournament.

Pink Shinobi: a little-known Peach player from Davis, CA, Pink Shinobi is currently ranked #2 in NorCal (behind SilentSpectre) following amazing performances against Zhu, SS, and other top California talent. His Peach reminds us of Cort in its speed and FC nair abuse and will be looking to abuse anyone unused to his aggressive edgeguarding or brutal counterattacks.

Killa For Cash (KFC): another unknown-outside-the-region NorCal player, KFC came out of nowhere with an impressive showing at West Coast Smash League, where he took out NorCal favorite TANG and came a shine away from beating Zhu. As a subscriber to the Azen/Drephen School of Thought, KFC's Marth is a frighteningly-patient flurry of tippers and edge-guards. East coast players may be accustomed to Cactuar's faster style of Marth play, so KFC has a shot at ruining a few OOS players' runs through the bracket.



5. The visitors
This is a VERY SMALL SUBSET of the rest of the amazing Melee talent expected at GENESIS:

• The super old school: D.B.R. itself (Zelgadis, GERM, King, Bob Money, sidefx), Wife (sans Husband), HugS, Darkrain, Drephen, Caveman, DoH
• The middle sibling: Mew2King, Silent Wolf, Eggz, SilentSpectre, Xif, Xelic, Cactuar
• The kids: Lucky, DaShizWiz, Kage, PKMVodka, Darc, Pakman

 

We don't know if Melee crews will happen, but even without them there's going to be plenty of regional pride on the line. Will the old-school names show the kids how they dominated back in the day? Or will the younger generations show how Melee continues to evolve and expand to this day?

neal's challenge to both communities
GENESIS is a rare opportunity for all sections of our community to come together to celebrate an amazing family of games. Most Brawl/Melee combined tournaments turn into petty verbal fights between the two game crowds, with the "Brawl kids" facing off against the "Melee elitists," fighting for pride involving video games designed for children. Very mature, right? Why don't we try setting aside that antagonism for three days and enjoy each others' company?

Brawlers: take a break from watching unimportant pool matches to take a peak at the Melee side of the room. Try to catch a few singles bracket matches. Melee is a very fun game to watch and I guarantee you'll be entertained should you be lucky enough to find a match with a skilled Captain Falcon player.

Melee players: there will be 400 potential converts at the tournament for you to reintroduce to Melee. They're obviously interested in competitive Smash, so show them how fun and exciting Melee is and maybe you'll win a few new community members. It happens every day.



See you Friday!

Welcome to the week of July 5, 2009, henceforth known as GENESIS Week! That's right, D.B.R. Presents: GENESIS is in 5 days, and to celebrate the largest Smash tournament in history All is Brawl is running a week of content bringing you the biggest news and hype leading up to the showdown in Antioch, California. We'll be interviewing top pro Smashers and lining up a team of writers and analysts who will let you know what to expect from the nation's elite players.

Continue reading GENESIS Week on All is Brawl! Interview with sidefx!

Yo Everyone! So I have a lot to talk about, a lot of big and important things, so without further ado I will just get going!

1. EVO!

July looks to be a very sick month to be a competitive smash player. A damn good time to be a gamer. Genesis looks amazing. I know Greg from NVGA personally and Supercon is their big event of the year. There will be sponsors all over and it should be one heck of an event. And last but certainly not least is AiBs very own sponsored brawl tournament at Evo2k9. We are talking one of the best cities in the world with Vegas (VEGGGASSSSSS!), a chance to see and meet thousands of gamers, the bar none best venue you will see all year for a smash tournament. Make sure you register right away though, the venue cost jumps twenty dollars($20) after May 31st, so save yourself some cash and do it this week!

 

2. The Community in General

Its absolutely great just how far things have come. Looking back at the competitive melee roots, its just crazy to me. I can still remember when tournaments everywhere were just hosted in some guy's parent's house, basement, garage, or wherever we could get. Tournaments were far and few between. You literally penciled it in months away and you couldn’t wait for it to happen. Players came from your state or the closely bordering states with the die hard smashers mixed in that would drive hours, fly in, or whatever for a thirty person tournament. Venues were rarely, well, real Venues (we had like no LAN center and those types of places for support). If you  were lucky enough to have had a National Size (sixty-ninety people) tournament somewhere around you that was the event of the year for you and you were probably petting your lucky four-leaf clover every night before bed. You were one of the very lucky few who had a national size tournaments somewhere around you!

I lived in a couple different places back then (then being the early origins of the community). Michigan mostly and North Carolina for a little while. I dug the game, I thought Smash/Melee was amazing, and I just really wanted to compete. There weren’t any tournaments around me (I either held or was directly involved in pretty much all the first ones in those states), in fact there weren’t really even players to compete against that you didn’t already know at first. I literally was trying to recruit people on Gamefaqs, Ign, anytime I saw someone looking at any gamecube game in a store, hell any game period. So what if I might have been the only one bumping my own topic on all these forums. All the “Play smash in Michigan?”, “Michigan Smashers!”, “Any North Carolina Tournaments” topics. Sometimes with zero replies or people coming out of it, but I kept plugging away trying to find smashers. So yeah it had to look really desperate being the guy with all these topics. But I figured out awhile back in life that you do what makes you happy, the stuff you like and don’t worry about what other people think. For me at that point a big part of that was smash, competing, improving, and having fun. I knew there were other people like that, so I did what I could to find those people. I was willing to show any player anything about the game (DI, Wavedashing, Grab combos/chains, Lcanceling, etc.) so they could learn to compete at the level where they didn’t get JV 4 stocked (Yea that’s me) and get so frustrated they never want to play competitively again. I tried to give them a foundation so they stuck with it, make things so they could have fun. I wanted a large group to play with, I wanted big tournaments. Now a lot of players came and went (There are some crazy Vets I know from seven-eight years ago that are still going strong) since then but ultimately the whole experience is nothing I would ever change.

Now a days tournaments are everywhere and happen almost all the time (unless you live in a dead or extremely rural area) That's the great thing about our online ladders. They give you a great community in itself to get that experience from. It is so important that people don’t lose the grassroots mentality. Do everything you can to find new players! Show them about the community (Be it our great online community, Stadium community, or Live play), really show them the ins and outs of competitive play. Welcome players, stratch that don’t welcome, recruit new players! Get them to your smashfests, tournaments, online practice sessions, our ladder. If we really want to continue to grow with this, if you want to see your peers (or maybe you) on TV playing smash one day, have thousand people tournaments with big sponsors it needs to be everyones mission to keep getting people into the community. On a whole everyone needs welcome them I don’t want to see people pulling that elist shit, not here. This isn’t something we can do as a site, this is something where everyone needs to do their part.

So with that I have 3, 4, and 5 talking about some specific ways things we have going on that sort of go towards this this goal/vision of continuing to really grow this community.


3. The Street Team

This is something that has been mentioned in the past, that we are ready to get off the ground. Now what is it? A group we are putting together here on AiB of people that really want to get the word out about the community. Creative people willing to spend some of their time coming up with various initiatives, doing crazy stunts, or whatever. Basically just people that care about this stuff, willing to meet with the group weekly and throw around some ideas, and help turn those ideas into things we can do as a group or present to the community at large. You interested? Put in a request (telling me why you should be in) to join the group today!


4. A Tournament Host Group

With such a large increase in tournaments, some great national ones popping up all over, we really need to get better organization and communication between hosts. A lot of hosts from different regions simply don’t communicate with one another and that’s something that should not be happening. Spacing National Tournaments far enough away from each other, turning your tournament attendees onto other regions big events, discussing learning experiences you have had as a host, venues, rulesets, etc. These guys are instrumental in making the scene function and they should be working together.

So I am looking for 1 or 2 people to lead the group, to make it happen. Well known and respected tournament hosts that know the scene. Someone willing to give the group direction, go out and get the rest of the tournament hosts to join the group. So if you are interested shoot me a pm and I will get back in touch with you.

5. The Pro Lounge

Long has it been home to some of the top online players out there (Although many are top live players as well like Ally, Anti, Atomsk, Holy, etc) over the next coming week we will be admitting our very first batch of live players (so if you think you are the man when it comes to live play keep your fingers crossed about an invite alert coming) to the private permission only room. And with that we want to roll out some new things within the room. A couple of which are a direct link to our content team and admin staff for site interviews and input and all that good stuff. The other thing being sponsorship information. Ive been around some different gaming communities and ive seen my fair share or people get sponsored. Smash is big enough and some of you are good enough to where there is no reason some of you guys cant do the same, cant get sponsored as well. So in the Pro Lounge there will be some information I put together that hopefully will help it become a reality.

6. Advertisments

By now a lot of you have seen the some of the news advertisements and advertisement types (skins for the site, bigger ads) floating around. In a perfect world me and Neal would be such ballers that we could just pay for the site out of our own pocket for the good of the community and run it adless. Ads and people clicking on them make a large difference for us. Its nice for me not to have just been cutting checks for server costs, ladder prizes, contests, month after month with very little coming back in. Our new ad provider has honestly made a large difference. So anything you see I hope everyone can understand how this is really benefiting the site and the community at large. That said we do have less up front control over the ads that show up at any given moment. So if there is anything innapropiate, technically incorrect (crashing your browser, showing up over normal site navigation, etc), or just is really impacting your experience on the site post about it in our new ad feedback topic and send in a request to correct it. As much as it is great to get checks in and not just out we don’t want to do anything the really hurts your experience with the site.

Continue reading Lots o AiB news!