In a few days, hundreds of Super Smash Bros. players will travel to Bloomington, Indiana for Full Bloom 4, the first American Melee major since GENESIS 5. Although Full Bloom is a relatively young tournament series compared to standbys such as GENESIS or The Big House, its TOs have managed to draw seven of the top-ten SSBMRanked players, including gods Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, and William “Leffen” Hjelte.
While the aforementioned gods are easily the biggest contenders to win Full Bloom, lower-ranked players are still fighting for an important prize: the top 2 non-invited finishers will receive wildcard slots for May’s Smash Summit 6. Although Beyond the Summit hasn’t released the full list of invited players yet, historical precedent indicates that the top eight SSBMRanked players will be invited, meaning Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, Johnny “S2J” Kim, and Daniel “ChuDat” Rodriguez will be the highest-ranked players in attendance who qualify for the wildcard spots. Capturing those spots won’t be a cakewalk, though: they’ll have to face off against a horde of other top players, including Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel, Jack “Crush” Hoyt, and Joey “Lucky” Aldama.
Although the last few months have seen relatively low activity within the Melee scene, many of the top players in attendance have kept their skills sharp by attending smaller regional events in the interim. Just last weekend, Mang0, Leffen, and Hungrybox all participated in tournaments that have warmed them up for Full Bloom 4: Mang0 and Leffen both played semi-seriously at California’s The Mango, while Hungrybox hosted and won his own monthly event in Florida at Overlords of Orlando. With all three players in tournament shape, the Full Bloom 4 trophy is a toss-up. Tune in at Melee Everyday this weekend to get your share of the action.
