CEO Dreamland started Friday at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Super Smash Melee singles pools kicked off Saturday, starting the tournament with over 330 entrants, boiling down to 16 competitors by the end of Day 2. The projected results didn't differ too much from the action that took place during Day 2 as many of the household names of competitive Melee are now comfortably placed in the top-12 winner's bracket.
The action began to heat up in the opening round of the winners bracket, as a confident-looking Hugo "Hugs" Gonzalez faced Zachary "SFAT" Cordoni, a Fox-main. Prior to this round, Hugs had beaten Canadian-native and crowd-pleaser, Edgard "n0ne" Sheleby, in pools, giving Hugs plenty of momentum heading into the pivotal match. The set between Hugs and SFAT was a pillar to post battle concluding on Pokemon Stadium in a Game 5 nail-biter; crucial errors from Hugs inevitably led to SFAT's to capitalizing, vaulting him into a top-12 placing while sending Hugs into the lower bracket. Hugs would survive Day 2, beating Justin "Syrox" Burroughs in the loser's bracket, but he still faces a treacherous path heading into Day 3. SFAT, although trumping Hugs, will have his work cut out for him against Tempo's Jeffery "Axe" Williamson, a Pikachu artisan, in his first set Sunday.
Justin "Plup" McGrath got the attention of many fans Saturday as he managed to advance to top-12 in winner's using only Luigi. Luigi, considered to be a low-tier character, showed his potential as Plup puppeted the Mario brother convincingly through pools, impressively taking out Michael "Nintendude" Brancoto's Ice Climbers in the top-48. As competition thickens, we'll see how Plup's Luigi fares Sunday starting with his first set against the skillful Sami "Druggedfox" Muhanna.
Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma also battled his way into the top-12, exercising many of his autograph rest combos to blitz through pools, as well as his opening winner's round matchup against Colin "Colbol" Green. James "Duck" Ma, a heavy projectile utilizer and Hungrybox's opening Day 3 opponent, figures to be a difficult matchup for the primarily Jigglypuff user.
One of the higher caliber matches expected to be played early Sunday will be Kevin "PewPewU" Toy vs. Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman. PewPewU, a Marth specialist, will face M2K, another Marth expert in the winner's quarterfinals. M2K, also formidable with Shiek, will have to decipher between using Sheik or engaging in a Marth ditto matchup with one of the best Marth swordsman known to the game. Melee singles bracket resumes Sunday at 11:00 am ET.
