Mang0
Sometimes called “The Kid,” Mang0 is a fan favorite not only for his play, but for doing things like throwing his shirt into the crowd. His tattoos, long hair, and NSFW reputation make for a good player profile as the “bad boy” of Smash, but in the past year The Kid has cleaned up. He shaved his beard, landed a major sponsorship, and even became a proud father. He’s got more on the line than ever before.
Listen for: “Mang0” chants, or even louder “USA” chants when facing off against the Japanese or Swedish.
Mew2King
Dubbed “The Robot.” Originally known for compiling vast amounts of obscenely accurate game data, M2K eventually made a name for himself by using his frame-perfect play to become the top player in the world (for a short period of time, but by a terrifyingly wide margin).
Watch for: his trademark rocking back and forth during matches, then elation at his wins and devastation at his losses.
PPMD
Watch an interview with PPMD, and *try* not to be charmed by him. No really, that’s a challenge. His boyish and humble demeanor belong to a newcomer just happy to be included, and give no hint of his steady, seven-year climb to the top, nor to his headline victories over the past year.
Listen for: The “stack it up” chant when his Falco goes off with those seemingly endless combos.
Hungrybox
You saw him on stage at E3, getting into it with Nintendo’s president at the famed Nokia Theater. Well-spoken and well-groomed, Hungrybox has grown up inside the competitive Smash community, but breaks the gamer stereotype. While likeable as a person, he is often cheered against for his character and play style (would you root for this thing?), he has developed a habit of wearing headphones while he plays to block out the crowd.
Watch for: Head bopping to Kanye West and maybe even some silent rapping.
Armada
The Swedish Sniper. The Beast from Sweden. By far the most successful European player of all time (reference theChampionship Belt for illustration), and the only player to win major tournaments with Princess Peach . . . ever. Armada is coming off of a hiatus, and is still getting his swag back, but you’ll never hear him make excuses.
Watch for: His quiet face of concentration and focus, contrasted by fist pumps after a job well done.
Leffen
The Villain. Certainly the only competitor on this list who was banned from competing by an entire country. Since those (purposely not aforementioned) incidents a while back, Leffen has made efforts to rebuild burnt bridges, but not necessarily to rehabilitate his image. No, this player seems to relish his reputation for being a dick brutally honest, the same reputation which inspired a mock Twitter account for his ego that has over 1,000 followers.
Watch for: Aggressive tweets from the real Leffen, even mid-tournament; perfectly coiffed hair.
Zero
Gonzalo “Zero” Barrios and his white scarf have moved to the United States to beat you in video games. The cherry was placed on his budding competitive career when he won Nintendo’s invitational tournament earlier this year.
Watch for: The scarf. Zero explains that it was a gift from his mother before he left Chile, and it represents strength, support, family, and country.
Soft
While some of the players on this list qualified for MLG in one event, this up-and-comer earned his autobid by putting in work all throughout the grassroots season, traveling all across the US and inspiring lots of people to say “wait, Soft is there? I thought he lived in Georgia??”
Watch for: his trademark play-to-win attitude.
Hax
Hax started in the Smash community when he was so young that his first team name was “The Little Rascals.” As the years have ticked by, he has enjoyed dramatic improvement, but remains unable to break down the final barrier and secure a spot among the highest tier of players. Hax recently switched his character main to achieve this, which has resulted insome challenges, and an initial step backward.
Watch for: 2 steps forward.
Remen
The wild card. Remen is the Dutch player who qualified for MLG Anaheim by winning the Japanese qualifier event. That event is the first tournament he has won in 9 years. A stroke of luck? The start of something new? After all, he was just picked up by LowLandLions.
Watch for: Other champions sleeping on the one player they don’t know.
Westballz
“He’s so hot right now.” This extremely technical and extremely incendiary player from Burbank is gunning to cause a huge upset. Over the past year, he has earned the rank of #1 in the most densely skilled region in the world right now, Southern California.
Watch for: High highs and low lows – it’s all or nothing with Westballz.
aMSa
Hailing all the way from Miyagi, Japan, here is a prime example of the kind of player that brings excitement to video game tournaments. What’s more, his humility, infamous kindness, and uncommonly used character have earned him a tremendous fanbase in a short amount of time; much of his travel this summer has been crowd-funded by his fans. It seems like everyone wants to rally behind The Red Yoshi.
Listen for: His deliberate-but-still-developing English. Earlier this year, he accidentally coined the phrase, “I pray to win.”
(originally published on MLG's blog, June 19th, 2014)