By Jason “Nardwell” Mani

Outfoxx’d is stacking up to be a clash of the Hoosiers this weekend. With a $200 dollar pot bonus on the line, and 16 of the 24 competitors hailing from the home state, the stage is set for a battle of the locals. A few of the strong locals you can expect to see at Outfoxx’d include Saltsizzle, Dogs_Johnson, Geno, Professor_Wizard, and B33F, all top contenders in Indiana. Notable out-of-staters include Kentucky’s Amida, Missouri’s WEEGRO, as well as the Ohioan duo of tyhiggz and cyoonit. Amida, with his imposing Kirby, looks like the man to beat in this weekend’s face off, coming off an impressive fifth place finish at Shuffle VIII two weeks ago. Cyoonit looks to redeem himself after drowning in pools, despite being placed as the top seed in his pool. Expect this talented player to bring his water wings this week. Look for tyhiggz to join him in a strong representation of Ohio as he looks to step up to the next level, following a second place performance in Shuffle VIII’s amateur bracket.

The local Smash 64 scene in Indiana is spearheaded by the Indy 64 Group, ND64. Led by Bacorn and Dasit Mane, this scene has seen rapid growth in the past few months, both in numbers and talent. The Indy 64 Facebook group has quickly grown to include 50 members, and they have helped to establish weeklies for their area in order to cultivate an eager and willing community. Multiple attendees look to build on their experiences at Shuffle, while some hope to use this as a warm up for Pound.

Several up-and-comers in the Indiana scene look to make a mark at Outfoxx’d. B33F, WalkerOfSky, PirateTrips, and Dasit Mane all rank in the top ten in the most recent Indiana power rankings on Smash.gg. Dasit Mane and Bacorn put their best effort into Shuffle recently; however, they were unable to make it out of pools. The weekend undoubtedly left them with a wealth of experience, which they hope to build upon at Outfoxx’d and Pound.

While Amida is the favorite to take it all this weekend, it will be interesting to see what the Midwest players gained from their experiences facing off against several heavy hitters from the East Coast at Shuffle VIII.

The Smash 64 bracket is set to kick off at 1PM on Saturday, March 26th. Unfortunately, the event will not be streamed but replays can be found on the Indy 64 YouTube channel.