Good Luck to BPow at SiiS6!

Today, Iowa's own Brandon "BPow" is in Cincinnati, Ohio to compete in one of Smash's major tournaments-- School is in Session 6. Alone in his endeavor, he will have a tougher time competing with virtually no in-person support. Let's all wish him good luck and safe travels home. Make Iowa proud!

Iowa Smash Invades Kansas City- Results from Midwest Net WARZ, 8/13/11

Over the weekend, Iowa drove a caravan of 7 players to Kansas City for Midwest Net WARZ, a Smash tournament hosted by perennial Kansas tournament host, Delux. While unfortunately I was not among them, I find this worthy to report for two reasons. First, Iowa outnumbered every other state at this tournament. This fact is not only hilarious to me, but it also makes this tournament a de facto Joker's Monthly due to the August edition of said monthlies being canceled. Second, one of Iowa's players did very well-- taking first in Brawl doubles teaming with MJG. Results after the break.

Video of Grand Finals Set From Brawl Doubles at Joker's Monthly 4/23/11

I recommend watching this on Youtube, PCity has provided nice time tags that take the video to the start of each game in the set.

Full Results - Joker's Monthly #21, Des Moines, IA, 4/23/11

Brawl Singles (22 entrants)


1. Fino (Olimar)
2. Joker (Snake)
3. Future (MK, Marth, ICs)
4. Trent (Sonic)
5. FAE (Lucas, MK)
5. Razor (DDD, MK)
7. MetalMusicMan (Falco)
7. Tmacc (Diddy, MK, DDD, Rob)

Brawl Doubles (8 entrants) Bracket

1. Joker & PCity (Snake + Diddy)
2. MetalMusicMan & FAE (DDD + Lucas)
3. Bpow & Future (Wario + MK)
4. JLo & Becca
5. Thugz & MegaRobMan
5. CBK & BC
7. Yink & Wang
7. Tmacc & JoWii

MvC3 (6 entrants) Bracket

1. Joker (Wesker/Dante/Task)
2. Blank Mauser (Dante/Doom/Phoenix)
3. NGamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun)
4. Captain Love
5. Uli
5. CBK

I don't know my placing in singles because the bracket disappeared. Well, I do technically because I didn't win a single set for the second consecutive Smash tournament (Lost to Bpow and Tyser)! I received copious amounts of byes in losers bracket-- whatever that means.

Once again traditional fighters received no love, the future of this side tournament is not bright.

UPDATED: Full Results from Aura's Monthly 2/19/11, Omaha, NE

Even though yours truly is not at the event, Stock Tank has the scoop on some unofficial results. Apparently due to low turnout, Brawl singles was round robin.

Brawl Singles

1. Joker (Snake) (7-1, loss to Trent)
2. MegaRobMan (Wolf) (7-1, loss to Joker)
3. Trent (Sonic) (6-2, loss to BPow, Rob)
4. BPow
5. DarkYosh
6. GameGenie
7. Wang
8. Aura
9. Nom

Brawl Doubles


1. Joker & BPow
2. DarkYosh & Aura
3. Wang & Nom

Project M Singles


1. Joker (Link)
2. Sm3esh (C. Falcon)
3. MegaRobMan (Link)
4. JBM
5. KyloWinter
5. MK Mike
7. DarkYosh
7. GameGenie
9. Wang
9. Aura
9. ShermanTheTank
9. BPow

HPiLC, Mt. Mercy University- Cedar Rapids, IA 1/29/11 -Full Results

Brawl Singles (20 entrants)

1: Joker ($60.00) (Snake, Wolf)

2: Kuares ($30.00) (Fox)

3: BPOW ($10.00) (Wario)

4: NGamer3k (Meta Knight, Yoshi)

5: Twink (Marth)

5: Mushrooming (Sonic)

7: Soran (Marth)

7: Zephyros (Falco)

9: Nick

9: Mook

9: NoM

9: Dr. Slash

13: Fistr

13: Dan

13: Wang

13: BDJOR

17: Zeal

17: Mom

17: Dylan

17: Dad

Brawl Doubles (8 teams)

1: Cyberdyne Systems (BPOW/PCITY) ($48.00) (Wario/Diddy)

2: MOTHER Gear Solid (Joker/Yink) ($24.00) (Wolf/Ness)

3: Can't Let You Do That (Zephyros/QRS) ($8.00) (Falco/Fox)

4: Twink/Mook

5: Saros/Musrooming

5: BDJOE/Zeal

7: Team Gimp(ed) (Wang/NoM)

7: Team Sandbag (Dr. Slash/Nick)

Blazblue: Continuum Shift (7 entrants) aka Best Jin in Iowa

1: Saros (Ragna)

2: NGamer3k (Jin)

3: Kuares (Jin)

SSF4 (5 entrants, RR/Winner take all)

1. NGamer3k (Sakura)

2. Kemps (Boxer)

3. David (Claw)

Highest Point in Linn County - Mt. Mercy, Cedar Rapids, IA Event Today

This is Eastern Iowa's 2nd event we have hosted in three months. This is going to be an all-Iowa Brawl event with SSF4 and BB:CS thrown in on the side. Joker is the far and away favorite to win it, so the singles tournament will be largely a race for second place.

There hasn't been an Iowa tournament without strong out-of-state representation for a very long time, so this event will provide a good benchmark of skill for the Iowa players not named Joker. This is also Eastern Iowa's chance to show what they can do against the traditional power of Des Moines area smash.

I will be helping to run the event and will run brackets for SSF4 and BB:CS. Stay hungry!

Grand Finals from Brawl Doubles - Joker's Monthly #20

This was an epic grand finals between Iowa's own Joker and PCity (losers) vs Kansas' Fino and 4rce (winners) that went two sets. Iowa takes back the title after a long drought. There was even drama during the tournament that I'll detail later. Game 3 of set 1 was lost. Enjoy the videos after the break. Or if you don't want to watch them here, I've arranged all the videos in a convenient playlist.

Set 1

Joker's Monthly #20 1/15/11 - Des Moines, IA - Full Results

Brawl Singles (30 entrants) Bracket


1(Split): Cook (Olimar)
1(Split): Fino  (Olimar)
3: Nicole (Peach)
4: Nappy (Snake)
5: Brezzy (Ganondorf, Falco)
5: YoshQ (Luigi)
7: TMACC (DDD)
7: Joker (Snake, Marth)
9: Rob
9: Amarze
9: Moe
9: Fource
13: Mushroomring
13: Ironhand
13: BPOW
13: Silver
17: JBM
17: Gamegenie
17: Mook
17: Zeal
17: Triple R
17: Soran
17: Trent
17: Ndrl
25: Aura
25: NGamer3k
25: Hills
25: Twink
25: Rockstar
25: Wang


Brawl Doubles (10 teams) Bracket
1: Dirdy D / 515 / DMI (Joker / PortCity) (Snake + Diddy)
2: Fulltiltbrawler.net (Fino / Fource) (Olimar, MK + Diddy)
3: Fino Is a Douche. (YoshQ / Moe) (Luigi + MK)
4: Minnesota's Finest (Amanze / Nappy)
5: I Hate My Teammate (Nicole / Cook)
5: Team 69 (CBK / TMACC)
7: RRR / Breezy
7: QWOP (Brandon / Greg)
9: Twink / Mook
9: Wang / Spoge


Melee Singles (21 entrants) Bracket
1. (Split) Ironhand/Tyser (Random)
1. (Split) JBM (Falco, Marth)
1. (Split) Mexi (Falco)
4: Majoras (Samus)
5: Moe (Falco)
5: Triple R (Kirby)
7: ULi (C. Falcon)
7: Amanze (Samus)
9: Joker
9: Nappy
9: Tmacc
9: Rob
13: Breezy
13: MushroomRing
13: GameGenie
13: Nicole
17: Zeal
17: Fino
17: NGamer3k
17: Mook
17: Twink


SSF4 (8 entrants)
1. Grog (Honda, Blanka)
2. NGamer3k (Sakura, Rose, Ryu)
3. the SPRINKLER (Gen)

Videos from Mt. Mercy Casuals- SSBB - 1/9/11

With Joker's Iowa Monthly coming up in a week, Eastern Iowa's players met up for a Smash session to get ready. Here are the highlights of the night, featuring players like myself, Kuares, and Zephyros. Full playlist here. More after the jump.

Why Request Double Blind Pick? (Part 2)

This has two effects. First, it displays ability for multiple characters. This deters anyone who thinks calling for the rule is a big charade. Essentially, it gives meaning and force behind my action. The second effect stems largely from the first. It changes how my opponents think about playing me. They may feel more compelled to choose their main, or in the coup de gras of calling for a blind pick, it may make opponents second guess themselves so much about my character choice that they deviate from their main whilst I have all along decided to choose my main. Like I mentioned earlier, the mind games have begun well before the match even begins. Not only that, but by being the initiator, I have the psychological advantage even though I am literally in the same character choosing dilemma as my opponent.

Why Request Double Blind Pick? (Part 1)

Since I've made several announcements that I intend to utilize the double blind character select rule in all of my future tournament matches in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, I'd like to kick off my new blog by explaining my reasoning behind this. Even though I haven't been directly inquired as to why I intend to be "that guy" who calls tournament directors over to his station before each match, I fancy many have been wondering.