Tournament:Apex

Apex
Info
Founded	2009
Region	United States
Format	Double elimination
winners	Sensei (2010)  SuPeRbOoMfAn (2012, 2015)  Kikoushi (2013)  Isai (2014)  Stranded (2016)
winners	Jman (2009)  Hungrybox (2010)  Armada (2012, 2013)  PPMD (2014, 2015)  Mew2King (2016)
winners	Ally (2009, 2015)  DEHF (2010)  Otori (2012)  Salem (2013)  Nairo (2014)
winners	Armada (2014)
winners	ZeRo (2015)  Dabuz (2016)
Most successful player(s)	Armada (Melee 2012, Melee 2013, and Project M 2014)
Website(s)	http://apex-series.com/

Apex is an ongoing tournament series, held in New Jersey, that has attracted worldwide attention. The series was founded by Alex Strife, and has featured some of the largest Smash tournaments to date.

History

The Apex series started in 2009 with Apex 2009, mainly featuring Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Melee, as well as other side games, including the Brawl mod Brawl+.

In 2010, Apex 2010 was hosted, once again featuring Brawl and Melee, as well as brackets for Smash 64, Brawl+, and Brawl-.

After a year-long absence, the Apex series returned in 2012 with Apex 2012, where it became an Evo qualifier event, leading to massive Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Street Fighter IV tournaments. Apex 2012 hosted the largest Brawl tournament of all time (with 400 entrants), as well as what was then one of the largest Melee tournaments (with 318 entrants), and the largest All Brawl tournament. It had the most attendance of foreign players in a United States tournament since Zero Challenge 3. It was also the first Apex to feature qualifiers, with a "Road to Apex" circuit featuring Melee and Brawl tournaments across the globe that gave players seeding points, which has been continued with every Apex after it.

In 2013, Apex 2013 was hosted, featuring the third-largest Brawl tournament of all time (with 338 entrants), the then-second-largest Melee tournament of all time (with 336 entrants), and the then-largest Smash 64 tournament of all time (with 96 entrants).

In 2014, Apex 2014 was hosted, featuring the then-second-largest Melee tournament of all time (with 629 entrants), the second-largest Brawl tournament of all time (with 370 entrants), and the then-largest Smash 64 tournament in the United States (with 157 entrants). It also included the Brawl mod Project M for the first time, and was the largest Project M tournament at the time (with 382 entrants).

In 2015, the sixth tournament, Apex 2015, was hosted, and it featured the then-largest Melee tournament of all time, with 1,037 entrants, making it the first individual game event with over 1000 enterants. Smash 4 was also introduced to the series, with around 700 to 800 entrants for its first tournament. However, due to numerous allegations of abuse and harassment, Alex Strife stepped down as the TO of Apex 2015, which proceeded without him. While the tournament was also sponsored by Nintendo of America, it was further marred by complications during the event. On day one of the tournament, the original venue was found to be unsafe and lacking the required permits, and was shut down by the local police and fire department. The tournament and all the equipment was then relocated to a new venue, secured with the help of Twitch, and the entire first day of Apex was virtually lost. The previously three-day event was condensed down to two days, leading to many delays in scheduling, and several hundred entrants were disqualified from the bracket after being unable to show up to the new venue.

The catastrophes of Apex 2015, combined with criticism of previous Apex events, as well as Alex Strife's departure from the community, have stained the reputation of the tournament series; the Apex tournaments have consistently been viewed as being poorly run and managed by inexperienced TOs. While Apex 2016 was hosted by a new team of tournament organizers, it attracted much diminished interest compared to the previous years despite being a three-day event. Melee singles shrunk to a regional-scale event, with only players from the Northeast in attendance, while only a handful of top Smash 4 players travelled to the tournament. The Smash 4 event saw similar numbers and top player attendance to Texas' Low Tier City 4 the same weekend, however, the Melee event was eclipsed in entrants by that same tournament. Unlike previous events, Apex 2016 was met with far more positive feedback from its attendees.

List of tournaments

Event	Date	Attendance	Games
Apex 2009	May 9th-10th, 2009	200+
Apex 2010	August 6th-8th, 2010	400+
Apex 2012	January 6-8th, 2012	1,000+
Apex 2013	January 11th-13th, 2013	500+
Apex 2014	January 17th-19th, 2014	700+
Apex 2015	January 30th-February 1st, 2015	1,600+
Apex 2016	June 17th-9th, 2016	500+

Champions

Smash 64 Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2010	Apex 2010	22	Will	Sensei		Nintendude
2012	Apex 2012	64	Daniel Hoyt	SuPeRbOoMfAn		Isai
2013	Apex 2013	96	unknown name	Kikoushi		Isai
2014	Apex 2014	157	Joel Alvarado	Isai		Moyashi
2015	Apex 2015	188	Daniel Hoyt	SuPeRbOoMfAn		tacos
2016	Apex 2016	54	Thomas Speziale	Stranded		Star King

Melee Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2009	Apex 2009	52	Jesus Fernandez	Jman		Mew2King
2010	Apex 2010	220	Juan Debiedma	Hungrybox		Armada
2012	Apex 2012	318	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Hungrybox
2013	Apex 2013	336	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Dr. PeePee
2014	Apex 2014	629	Kevin Nanney	Dr. PeePee		Mew2King
2015	Apex 2015	1,037	Kevin Nanney	PPMD		Armada
2016	Apex 2016	159	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		Mafia

Brawl Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2009	Apex 2009	210	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally		Mew2King
2010	Apex 2010	269	Larry Holland	DEHF		Brood
2012	Apex 2012	400	Ishikawa Kenta	Otori		Nietono
2013	Apex 2013	338	Saleem Young	Salem		Mew2King
2014	Apex 2014	370	Nairoby Quezada	Nairo		ZeRo
2015	Apex 2015	176	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally		Nairo

Brawl+ Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2009	Apex 2009	36	Daniel Rodriguez	ChuDat		Yes!
2010	Apex 2010	25	Elliot Carroza-Oyarce	Ally		HolyNightmare

Brawl- Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2010	Apex 2010	49	Nairoby Quezada	Nairo		Zucco

Project M Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2013	Apex 2013*	16	Luis Torres	TheReflexWonder		Wizzrobe
2014	Apex 2014	382	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Mew2King

*Project M was a side-event at Apex 2013.

Smash 4 Winners

Year	Event	Entrants	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2015	Apex 2015	837	Gonzalo Barrios	ZeRo		Dabuz
2016	Apex 2016	309	Samuel Buzby	Dabuz		VoiD

External links

• Apex website
• Twitter
• YouTube channel