Ok, here we go
MVG SANDSTORM PREVIEW
Basics:
- April 18th (today) and 19th, in Arizona
- Melee, PM, and Smash 4
- Bracket, schedule, and stream
- Notable Players: Armada, Mang0, Leffen, Mew2king, JimJamFlimFlam, Hungrybox, Axe, Wobbles, Westballz, MacD, HugS, Gahtzu, PC Chris, Forward, Tai, Medz
I don't really feel like doing a full writeup, but I'll link the excellent one done by
MeleeItOnMe (if you're into Melee at all, their
site and podcast (available onsite or on iTunes) are great resources for keeping up with events and the metagame. Their
youtube channel is currently hosting a series of guides called Zero to Hero that I would recommend for anyone trying to get into competitive Melee).
As for predictions, Armada is the overwhelming favorite in my mind. PPMD is really the only person who is consistently successful against both of Armada's characters, and he's notably the only god not in attendance. Mango tweeted about the possibilty of breaking back Jigglypuff to improve his
dreadful results against Armada's Peach, but I think he'll save that surprise for EVO. Leffen is another easy pick for top 3 who is really only liable of getting upset by Marths (after nearly losing to PewPewU at I'm Not Yelling), but the only notable Marths in attendance are M2K (who has been recently inactive and unfocused due to splitting time with streaming and Smash 4) and Tai (who doesn't have a win of that caliber to my knowledge). If you like mid-tiers, Axe is likely to do some damage on his home turf, and Wobbles was good enough to make EVO top 3 despite being a somewhat inconsistent player.