For most of the United States, Memorial Day evokes the scent of grilling meat, the sight of a checkered tablecloth, and the sound of family and friends mingling -- and most of all, a day of remembrance. For the fighting game community, the holiday heralds an entirely different form of celebration.
On May 26, nearly 2,000 fighting game players will travel to St. Charles, Illinois' Pheasant Run Resort & Convention Center for Combo Breaker 2018, the fourth iteration of one of the fighting game community's largest annual events. Held inside the resort's spacious Mega Center, Combo Breaker features over a dozen popular fighting game titles, including a small but stacked Super Smash Bros. Melee bracket.
Despite the friction that occasionally arises between Smash players and other factions of the fighting game community, Combo Breaker has featured a Melee bracket since the series' debut in 2015. Following a second-place finish to Hendrick "DJ Nintendo" Pilar at that inaugural event, James "Duck" Ma has monopolized the series, defeating high-level challengers such as longtime Chicago No. 1 Kelly "Kels" Smith and training partner Kalindi "KJH" Henderson on his way to first place finishes in 2016 and 2017.
Though Duck's Combo Breaker victories in past years are certainly impressive, they're far from surprising. Thanks to his devastating combo game and patient neutral, the Samus main has dominated the Midwest for years.
The last few months have been relatively quiet for Duck, but he's managed to post respectable results throughout the year, including ninth-place finishes at both Full Bloom 4 and last weekend's Get On My Level 2018.
"I'm excited to play and I'm hoping to win," said Duck. "I feel good about the tournament and I'm fairly ready."
Unfortunately for Duck, Combo Breaker 2018 will be no cakewalk for the Michigander. This year, alongside the usual field stacked with Midwestern talent, he will have to contend with an invader from the far reaches of Southern California: Johnny "S2J" Kim.
Ostensibly the tournament's first seed, S2J will be the highest SSBMRanked player in attendance at Combo Breaker thanks to a stellar summer and fall that earned him the 2017 world No. 10 ranking. However, S2J has stumbled slightly during the first half of 2018, finishing at a disappointing 17th place at both Genesis 5 and Flatiron 3. In March, S2J made Top 8 at Full Bloom 4, but he did so without making any upsets, losing a close Loser's Round 6 match to Zachary "SFAT" Cordoni.
Despite these middling performances, it's important to note that the player who S2J 3-0ed immediately before falling to SFAT at Full Bloom 4 was no less than the perennial Combo Breaker champion himself, Duck. In fact, S2J has a spotless career record over the Midwestern Samus, having defeated him in six consecutive sets since their first meeting in 2015.
This, too, is unsurprising. Duck has long considered Captain Falcon to be his worst matchup, often voicing his distaste for the character via Twitch and Twitter. There's no doubt that Duck is a world-class competitor, and he certainly has the skill necessary to pull out a win against anyone -- but, as a player who has only taken three tournament games off of S2J in his entire career, his best shot at a third Combo Breaker title might be for someone else to upset the Falcon main before Winner's Finals.
The tournament's top three seeds are rounded out by James "Swedish Delight" Liu, the grab-happy Sheik main from New Jersey. Ranked No. 21 on the most recent edition of the Melee Stats Rankings, Swedish has fluctuated recently between impressive performances, such as his first-place finish at The Mango, and disappointing results, like his fourth-place finish at New Jersey regional The Scarlet Classic IV. At his most recent major, he reached fifth place at Flatiron 3, defeating the hot-commodity Marth Zain "Zain" Naghmi but losing 3-0 to Kevin "PewPewU" Toy's Fox.
Though he is Combo Breaker's third seed, Swedish Delight has a considerable shot at winning the entire event. The former New Jersey No. 1 has lifetime winning records over both S2J and Duck, and has won his last three sets against the Samus. However, his middle-of-the-pack results in recent months make him this tournament's biggest wild card.
"I have always wanted to go to CB because of its amazing legacy," he said, "so I hope my play can match the expectation of the tournament."
Combo Breaker 2018 is a tournament without any gods, but that's exactly what makes it this weekend's most exciting event. All three of the top seeds are players who are often ranked in the 10-20 range, all of them have had relatively lukewarm performances this year, and any one of them can take the tournament. While other high-level players such as KJH and Avery "Ginger" Wilson have an outside shot at winning as well, these three are easily the most likely contenders.
There's far more than just bragging rights on the line at Combo Breaker: rankings, sponsorships and even careers are made when players at the edge of the elite meet at events like this. With all the chips on the table, all that's left to find out is who will stand victorious at the end of the weekend.