This series is a tribute to standard “Monday Morning Quarterback” columns in traditional sports. In it, I discuss my quick takeaways from the last week of the Smash community. Consider this a mix of news and mild takes. Featured image from The Big House’s Twitter. Apologies for the delay.



In the weekend before The Big House 8, Melee had a few regionals and small tournaments of note. Fiction successfully invaded Washington with a first place finish at Emerald City 7. iBDW defeated La Luna twice to win Apollo XV in New York City. Japanese Peach Shippu won Japan’s Battle Gateway #22. As expected, Drephen took home first place at West Virginia’s Almost Heaven, though the event featured a strong performance from local Peach hero Sirmeris, who defeated veteran talents like Vudujin and the traveling homemadewaffles to finish fourth.

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1. Fiction wins and other Emerald City Takeaways

It’s the story every non-Fox player is sick of hearing: the rise of Fiction. The SoCal Fox has officially gone from local hidden boss to the player your favorite player is afraid of facing in bracket.

I’ve mentioned his in-region dominance before, but Fiction only dropped one game before winner’s finals, and that was to the regional defender Luigi Ka-Master. Yet another consecutive set over AbsentPage doesn’t hurt either.

I won emerald city from winners!! Beat absent page twice, both 5th game. Crazy sets, knew i could do it! 170 entrants i think. Won doubles with ap also :)))) — Fiction (@FictionIRL) September 30, 2018

It appears that Fiction has taken Leffen’s spot as “rising scene-shaker Fox.” (while Leffen is now far more established and a contender for best player in the world). I’m excited to see more of him as the year goes by.

Here are my other miscellaneous notes:

Losing to Luigi Ka-Master and British Columbia No. 1 Fauxhebro, Moky finished a somewhat disappointing seventh place. But in the same way he rebounded from Evo with a strong fourth at DreamHack Montreal a month later, I expect Moky to have a big showing at The Big House, as well as potentially gain his region’s support all the way to Smash Summit 7.

Underrated feat of the tournament: FatGoku sweeping Bladewise in two sets.

Man; Cactuar really threw away that set against Bladewise. In another universe, that was a clean 3-0.

Moky vs. Quaff is the set of the tournament. Check it out if you haven’t.

When can we get Don’t Park On The Grass 2 already?

2. A Brief History of The Big House in Haiku



In the past, I’ve written a heavy two-part article series on the history of everyone’s favorite Midwest supermajor. And with its eighth installment coming up soon, I’ve decided to make a new version again – this time in Haiku format. Here goes nothing.

The Big House SoCal came to town VanZ tried to defend the fort I miss peak Lovage The Big House 2 Mango coasts with ease

Did Hanky really beat Scar?

Never forget Fly The Big House 3

Yes; the king is back

Hbox BMs poor PP

Where was Michigan?

The Big House 4 Makings of a GOAT The man, the myth, Kelly Smith No Juan, no problem The Big House 5 RIP Leffen

Upsets galore in phase 2 Adam drops three games

The Big House 6 The sky is falling

What’s his name; R2Dliu? Epic grand finals The Big House 7 New gods and old gods New England makes a big splash Hbox breaks our hearts



3. Edwin’s Top 8 Wild Predictions for The Big House 8

ChuDat will finish 49th or lower. Bananas will finish in the Top 16. Neither Florida nor SoCal will win crews. SFAT will finish 17th or lower. Colbol will make top eight. If they play against each other, Duck will defeat Leffen. Mango and Lucky will win Melee doubles. Neither Hungrybox nor Leffen will win The Big House 8

4. I Am Attending The Big House 8 + A Personal Note

Similar to last summer, I will be attending The Big House 8. If you’re a fan of my work – or conversely hate what I have to say and would want to tell it to my face – and are at the event, feel free to approach me and say hello. Please keep in mind, however, that it’s been a relatively rough period of time for me.

In addition to stress that’s come from my minor, but somewhat notable involvement within the Nightmare fiasco, I’ve felt overwhelmed and dejected from my “Melee content” schedule. Tomorrow marks the last episode of season one for the Melee Stats Podcast, but my team and I are also releasing the next edition of the Melee Stats Power Rankings later this week.

I’m going to keep writing these weekend recap; and as far as the future of the podcast is concerned, we all want to return for season two. But all of us can safely say that we need some time off to gather ourselves and make a clear roadmap to success.

We’re extremely grateful for the people that support our work – our backers on The Big House compendium have ensured that we have quite a bit coming up in the Melee Stats pipeline, be it the regional scouting reports or podcast special guests of the future.

Thanks for reading, everyone. No mailbag this week.