Genesis 4: Super Smash Bros. Melee Draft crew rankings

By Daniel “Tafokints” Lee

Genesis 4 kicks off this weekend. Per tournament tradition, the anticipated Smash event will play host to a single elimination SSBM tourney consisting of eight five-player crews. The team captains selected their crews and one substitute earlier this week.

Unlike last year, this year’s teams are much more evenly matched. The crews can reasonably compete with one another, and many of these matches will likely come down to a specific stock or a counterpick. How do the teams stack up?

8. Team Chillindude

Kashan “Chillindude” Khan – Fox
William “Leffen” Hjelte – Fox
Edgard “N0ne” Sheleby – Captain Falcon
David “KirbyKaze” MacDonald – Sheik
Daiki “Rudolph” Ideoka – Marth/Fox

Chillindude turned heads by selecting his former rival, Leffen, with his first round pick. This crew features three fast fallers in Chillindude, Leffen, and n0ne. They all have the potential to hard carry the crew. Leffen is a nuisance to deal with for many players, and n0ne could go off and take six to seven stocks alone. KirbyKaze provides some variety as he can handle the floatie and mid-tier characters from other teams. Rudolph is also another wild card that can do good work, but his recent performance at Don’t Park On the Grass should make fans of this crew a bit nervous. The team has potential, but their outcome is up in the air.

7. Team Nintendude

Michael “Nintendude” Brancato – Ice Climbers
Justin “Plup” McGrath – Sheik/Samus
Johnny “s2j” Kim – Captain Falcon
Michael “MikeHaze” Pulido – Fox
Aaron “Professor Pro” Thomas – Fox

The roster shakeup has led to an unfavorable position for Team Nintendude, who swaps out Axe for s2j. The loss of Axe means they lose a strong counterpick on Final Destination to take out a Fox, Falco, or Captain Falcon. Though s2j is an explosive player, he will need to repeat his performance from The Big House 6 if this team wants to move deep into the bracket. MikeHaze and Professor Pro have improved considerably in 2016, and hopefully that carries over into this crew battle. Plup and Nintendude have the potential to build minor leads, but everyone will need to be on point for this team to move up.

6. Team Duck

James “Duck” Ma – Samus
Weston “Westballz” Dennis – Falco
Mustafa “Ice” Akcakaya – Fox
Kalinidi “KJH” Henderson – Fox
Abhishek “Prince Abu” Prabhu – Jigglypuff

Duck’s team provides an interesting mix of top 15 level players and friends from the Midwest region. KJH comes off a recent win at Apollo and is one of the biggest wildcards of the tournament. He is competent against Samus, Fox, and Sheik, so hopefully the team can slot him against these characters. Westballz, Ice, and Duck are also very matchup dependent, but they shine when they’re comfortable. However, a recent finger injury may hamper Westballz’ ability to play at full capacity. With a bit of a handicap, each player will have to play to their max potential to make it out of the first round.

5. Team SFAT

Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni – Fox
Kevin “PewPewU” Toy – Marth
Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel – Sheik
Austin “Azusa” Demmon – Peach
Justin “Syrox” Burroughs – Fox

SFAT drafted a core group of NorCal pros in PewPewU, Shroomed, and Azusa. PewPewU and SFAT have proven themselves in past crew battles, but the big question mark on this crew is Shroomed, who has historically struggled in crew battles. Azusa is not well known nationally, but has a wealth of experience in almost all of the top tier matchups and can stock trade to wear down better players. Syrox is the rising star in this group, and though he’s a bit of a gamble, he can provide some explosiveness, particularly against other fast fallers.

4. Team Zhu

Julian “Zhu” Zhu – Falco/Fox
Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman – Marth/Sheik/Fox
Sami “DruggedFox” Muhanna – Fox
McCain “MacD” LaVelle – Peach
Santiago “Santi (El Fuego)” Pinon – Falco

With the recent roster shakeup, Zhu has a fairly diverse team that revolves around Mew2King getting a hard counterpick against a Fox or Falco. Druggedfox slots nicely here as a stable pick against several matchups, and MacD is a safe choice against unorthodox matchups such as Ice Climbers. Santi is a little risky given his relative lack of experience, but he has gone toe-to-toe against SoCal’s top players at recent locals. The crew will rely on starting strong and allowing Mew2King’s strong counterpick to extend a lead.

3. Team ChuDat

Daniel “ChuDat” Rodriguez – Ice Climbers
Adam “Armada” Lindgren – Fox/Peach
Joey “Lucky” Aldama – Fox
Sam “Laudandus” Rohrer – Sheik
Charles “Cactuar” Meighen – Fox/Marth

With the overall first pick, ChuDat went with a serious powerhouse in Armada. Other teams will be forced to send in minion fodder to trade stocks and hope to stem the bleeding. Lucky and Cactuar are slightly risky picks given their lack of recent performances, but they can still pack a punch. ChuDat is the team’s X-Factor; with a proper counterpick, he can easily take a lead against unsuspecting Fox and Falco players. Laudandus rounds this team out as a stable Sheik that can take out other floatie players and hold his own against spacies.

2. Team Silent Wolf

Otto “Silent Wolf” Bisno – Fox
Joseph “Mango” Marquez – Falco
Ryan “The Moon” Coker-Welch – Marth
Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez – Samus
Teddy “Bladewise” Seybold – Peach

Silent Wolf’s team provides five unique characters that should be able to cover any character combination. Silent Wolf can handle Sheiks and Marths, while Mango and The Moon can play against other Fox and Falco players. Bladewise can handle the uncommon low tiers and Ice Climbers, while HugS provides some stability with Samus. All the players can pull their weight, but the big X-factor is what type of Mango we will see at this event. On a good day, he can take out two players by himself and win the entire event. At The Big House 6, he needed his crewmates to pick up his slack. Overall, this is an incredibly strong team that also has a cerebral coach in HugS, who can slot his players into favorable matchups.

1. Team Hungrybox

Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma – Jigglypuff
Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson – Pikachu
Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett – Captain Falcon
Stephen “Abate” Abate – Luigi
Colin “Colbol” Green – Fox

Even with a late round pick, Hungrybox chose a well-rounded team for this crew battle. He will still need to carry his weight here, but an injured finger will inhibit him from playing at one hundred percent. Wizzrobe continues to rise and can hold serve against many of the “gods.” Axe can murder a space animal on Final Destination and build a tremendous lead. Abate is a mystery with the lack of recent major appearances, but Colbol as a fourth round pick will pay dividends as the team should be able to slot him into a preferred matchup such as Ice Climbers, Samus, or Captain Falcon. Overall, this is the team to beat.

Daniel “Tafokints” Lee currently coaches Cloud9 SSBM player Joseph “Mango” Marquez. He is on Twitter @tafokints.