This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　Kings of Cali 4 was held on July 5-6 in Los Angeles, California and was streamed by VGBootCamp. The Kings of Cali series, run by Arian 'The Crimson Blur' Fathieh and the rest of Team Oxy, is the definition of a successful grassroots Smash Bros. event.

　　Kings of Cali is known for producing fantastic matches and generally being enveloped in hype. In an important sense, this tournament series is what brought the legendary Ken 'Ken' Hoang back into the Melee scene after his long hiatus. California is arguably the strongest SSBM region in the world, and all the local titans come out to compete for Kings of Cali 4. It also doesn't hurt that the events are usually held in a bar.

　　This tournament almost didn't happen when the venue contract fell through at the last minute, but Red Bull stepped up to sponsor the tournament by helping find a new location and waiving all entrants' venue fees. The tournament ended up moving to a Dave and Busters bar/restaurant and went on to attract 208 Melee Singles entrants despite only being able to give players about a week of prior notice.

　　

Melee Doubles Top 8

Losers Bracket Top 8 (for 7th): ZeRo (Fox) Westballz (Falco) [3 - 1] aMSa (Yoshi) PSpirit (Samus)

　　Masaya 'aMSa' Chikamoto clutches out game 1 by himself on Yoshi's Story (homefield advantage). Weston 'Westballz' Dennis then switches to Falco, and suddenly it becomes one-sided in the other direction. From here on Gonzalo 'ZeRo' Barrios and Westballz walk all over aMSa and PSpirit, shutting them down with superior speed and taking the set without too much trouble. Yoshi Samus seems to have trouble dealing with Fox Falco's raw power as a team.

　　Winners Semifinals: Fiction (Fox) MacD (Peach) [3 - 2] Mang0 (Fox) Scar (Falcon)

　　Shephard 'Fiction' Lima and McCain 'MacD' LaVelle start off strongly in game 1, but Joseph 'Mang0' Marquez and Bobby 'Scar' Scarnewman almost bring it back with a series of incredible plays. The commentators notice MacD spamming his favorite move: "This isn't Smash anymore, this is...Down-Smash." The two teams are closely matched, and the set goes all the way to game 5. Scar loses all his stocks first, and Mang0 is on his last one at 90% with MacD and Fiction still holding 3 stocks between them. Miraculously, Mang0 manages to finish off MacD and end up in a 1-on-1 with Fiction, also with only one stock remaining. Mang0 hits Fiction offstage, double-jumps after him with a B-air, hits him, and...falls and dies first. An impossibly close 3-2 win for Fiction and MacD.

　　Winners Semifinals: Mew2King (Sheik) Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Lovage (Fox) S2J (Falcon)

　　Despite Oscar 'Lovage' Nilsson's creativity and Johnny 'S2J' Kim's survival ability and sniped knees, Adam 'Armada' Lindgren and Jason 'Mew2King' Zimmerman simply overwhelm them. S2J and Lovage seem to start out well in every match, but then gradually start to lose steam, until by the end Mew2King and Armada have a huge stock lead. Mew2King and Armada need only hold their ground and keep doing what they always do.

　　Losers Bracket Top 8 (for 7th): DEHF (Falco) Ken (Marth) [3 - 0] Jace (Falcon) MikeHaze (Fox)

　　Ken 'Ken' Hoang edgeguards and holds stocks while Larry 'DEHF' Holland covers space and slowly, intelligently attacks. Michael 'MikeHaze' Pulido and Jace seem stronger while doing two 1-on-1s, while DEHF and Ken work better in positions where they can cover each other (though both teams did both at various times). All the matches were close, but you wouldn't know it from the final score.

　　Losers Quarterfinals (for 5th): Mang0 (Fox) Scar (Falcon) [3 - 0] ZeRo (Fox) Westballz (Falco)

　　All four pick "Fast-Fallers," for the first time in Top 8 Doubles. Game 1 is close, but then ZeRo and Westballz's counterpick to FD doesn't seem to be working for them. Game 3 on Pokemon Stadium is volatile for Westballz, who makes some key mistakes but also does tons of damage to Mang0. Mang0 and Scar are just a step ahead of them throughout, with Mang0 doing all the damage and Scar holding stocks while cherry-picking knees.

　　Losers Quarterfinals (for 5th): DEHF (Falco) Ken (Marth) [3 - 2] Lovage (Fox) S2J (Falcon)

　　Lovage and S2J have even better teamwork than Ken and DEHF, which isn't surprising since they've been teammates and friends for years. Teaming with a friend is always a great idea since it makes it so much easier to empathize and coordinate with each other. This set swings quickly back and forth, with Ken and DEHF taking game 1, then S2J and Lovage taking 2 in a row before Ken and DEHF even it up. Game 4 is especially impressive on both sides. In game 5 on Dreamland, Ken and DEHF take advantage of a few key situations to get snag surprise kills. DEHF in particular does a great job of preventing S2J and Lovage from shifting the momentum.

　　Losers Semifinals (for 4th): Mang0 (Fox) Scar (Falcon) [3 - 0] DEHF (Falco) Ken (Marth)

　　Again, Mang0 is basically fighting the whole other team by himself, with scar holding stocks and contributing stray moves here and there. Mang0 and Scar are just too good at dividing and conquering. DEHF and Ken's great teamwork is useless when they're constantly being separated and killed off individually. Mang0 and Scar move on to Losers Finals.

　　Winners Finals: Mew2King (Sheik) Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Fiction (Fox) MacD (Peach)

　　MacD and Fiction actually hold their own in the first match, but they get destroyed in the second. Mew2King and Armada get an insane 155% team combo on Fiction that takes his first stock less than 10 seconds into match 2. Concentrating on Fiction seems to be their team's main strategy, especially since Fox tends to lose stocks the quickest of these 3 characters. Even one of California's strongest teams can't seem to catch up, although, to their credit, they do have a few moments of stock advantage over the course of the set.

　　Losers Finals (for 3rd): Fiction (Fox) MacD (Peach) [3 - 2] Mang0 (Fox) Scar (Falcon)

　　One of this set's highlights is the ending to game 3. It's a 2-on-1 with MacD vs. Mang0 and Scar: amazingly, MacD manages to survive an edgeguard, kill Mang0 with a reverse Fair, then finish off Scar to win the match. Game 5 also goes down to the wire: this time, it's Fiction vs. Mang0 (118%) and Scar. Fiction edgeguards Mang0 then chases down Scar in the 1-on-1, following him all over the stage. Finally he gets a strange jab to Down-Smash which kills Scar, and Fiction and MacD move on to Grand Finals. MacD and Fiction definitely seemed to want the win more, based on their clutch comebacks and a few risky plays they were willing to attempt.

　　Grand Finals: Mew2King (Sheik) Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Fiction (Fox) MacD (Peach)

　　This one goes by even faster than their Winners Finals set. Fiction and MacD have a history of dominance in California Doubles tournaments, but Mew2King and Armada have yet to meet a true challenger. Both of these teams have great chemistry with each other, but Mew2King and Armada are clearly stronger as individual players, and MacD can't seem to protect Fiction from both of them at once. Not that Fiction is their team's weak point—he's simply playing Fox, a character that is much easier to combo and edgeguard than the other three on-screen, and Mew2King and Armada are zeroing in on him to take advantage of that. The set is over almost as soon as it began, and Mew2King and Armada take home 1st place.

　　

Salty Suite

A Salty Suite is an after-hours exhibition event which mostly consists of casual or "money matches," and features a generally laid-back atmosphere. One of the best parts this year was watching VGBootCamp's Calvin 'GIMR' Lofton call out The Crimson Blur, KOC4's head T.O., only for Blur to 4-stock GIMR on his own stream. GIMR did much better in the rest of their set, but TheCrimsonBlur still ended up winning it 3-2.

　　Undoubtedly, the highlight of the Salty Suite at KOC4 was the Mang0 vs. Armada "Iron Man" battle. This is essentially a crew battle with only two players—each picks 5 characters, and any stocks remaining when a match is won are carried over into the next.

　　The Mang0 vs. Armada Iron Man featured the following character choices:

　　Mang0: Marth, Mario, Fox, Falcon, FalcoArmada: Fox, Peach, Falco, Marth, SheikThe rest of the Salty Suite videos can be found on VideoGameBootCamp, or you can watch the full VOD here. Most of it is Mang0 beating up on people with Mario.

　　

Melee Singles Top 8

Winners Quarterfinals: aMSa (Yoshi) [3 - 1] Mew2King (Sheik/Fox)

　　If you only watch one set from this tournament, make it this one. aMSa's original claim to fame was his close set against Mew2King at EVO 2013. As always, aMSa's combos here are ridiculous, and he has both the live crowd and the stream viewers on his side. Mew2King shows some key adaptations, such as Up-Smashing with Sheik to get two hits and break Yoshi's Double-Jump Super Armor, and he does a better job of edgeguarding the character than most. aMSa's Up-Airs and Up-Smashes keep Mew2King vulnerable and positioned above his head. Mew2King switches off Sheik, the low-tier slayer and arguably his main, to Fox on Stadium. He gains some ability to approach, but his Fox gets combo'd even harder than his Sheik, and this is another 2-stock. Amazingly, aMSa makes Mew2King himself look defenseless.

　　Winners Quarterfinals: Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Lucky (Fox)

　　Joey 'Lucky' Aldama makes a lot of good plays with Fox, but he can't seem to actually kill Armada. Fair enough; few people can. In contrast, Armada ends Lucky's stocks nearly every time he ends up offstage. Lucky's Fox looks amazing when he's on his game, but he's playing with infrequent bursts of speed, whereas Armada is a freight train with infinite fuel.

　　Winners Quarterfinals: Fly Amanita (Ice Climbers) [3 - 0] Westballz (Falco)

　　Jeremy 'Fly Amanita' Westfahl has a good sense of when to alternate between defense and offense. Fly knows when to shut Westballz down and when to let him impale himself on Ice Climbers'...hammer. And whenever he does get a hit, Falco gets combo'd hard. Westballz switches to Fox and brings him to Stadium in game 3, leading to a closer match, but it's still a 3-0 for Fly.

　　Winners Quarterfinals: Mang0 (Falco) [3 - 0] Fiction (Fox)

　　Mang0 goes Falco (probably because he hates Fox dittos). All 3 matches are on Battlefield. Mang0 is one step ahead of him for the entire set; even when he's not sure how to punish Fiction's next move, it's still clear that he knows what it's going to be. The closest match is game 3, a 1-stock.

　　Losers Top 8 (for 7th):Lucky (Fox) [3 - 0] Westballz (Falco)

　　Both are all about tech skill, aggression and shield pressure. But Westballz looks a bit slower than usual, while Lucky's play is especially smart and controlling. One of Fox's strengths in this matchup is that he can stay on top of Falco with his greater movement speed and versatility, forcing Falco to play evasion and defense. Lucky's skill with the character just exacerbates this specific weakness. In the end, Lucky claims three consecutive 2-stocks, ending the set with a stylish Down-Throw to Up-Tilt to immediate Taunt (knowing that Westballz is at a high enough percentage to die from the Up-Tilt).

　　Losers Top 8 (for 7th): Mew2King (Sheik/Marth/Fox) [3 - 2] Fiction (Fox)

　　It's worth noting that Fiction actually defeated Mew2King the last time they played (at Super Smash Sundays 22). Both players are smiling when they sit down, but there's no way Mew2King isn't looking for revenge here.

　　Amazingly, Fiction still seems to have a read on Mew2King's playstyle as he defeats his Sheik in game 1. As usual, Mew2King brings him to Final Destination, where even Fiction's Fox can't beat Mew2King's Marth. In game 3, despite a 5% Self-Destruct, Fiction 2-stocks Mew2King in a Fox ditto. Then Mew2King dominates him with Marth on Fountain of Dreams. Mew2King has only been able to beat Fiction with his Marth, so he wisely stays on the character for game 5 on Pokemon Stadium. They both look jittery and desperate. But then, suddenly, it becomes a 2-stock for Mew2King.

　　Winners Semifinals: Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Fly Amanita (Sheik)

　　Fly goes Sheik to avoid the awful matchup of Ice Climbers vs. Peach (not to mention, by far the best Peach player). It's a somewhat slow and uneventful set, punctuated by Armada's great move strings that only push him further into the lead. Fly counterpicks to Pokemon Stadium twice, a wise choice since it has a low ceiling to aid Sheik in killing Peach off the top, and because the chaos of the transformations can be used to mix things up in general. Even so, Fly's Sheik just doesn't seem to have a legitimate chance of overthrowing Armada.

　　Winners Semifinals: Mang0 (Fox) [3 - 0] aMSa (Yoshi)

　　aMSa played amazingly well against Mew2King earlier, so this set against another Smash God is highly anticipated. But the first match, Fox vs. Yoshi on Yoshi's Story, is a clean win for Mang0. Apparently he just knows more about how and when to hit Yoshi. He's also able to avoid some of the devastating combos Mew2King was getting caught in earlier, mostly through better DI and Crouch-Canceling. aMSa's parries are helping, but sometimes Mang0 seems to just continue on through them. This set is notably less exciting than aMSa's other matches from today; it's basically Mang0 saying, "This is how you're supposed to play this matchup."

　　Losers Quarterfinals (for 5th): Mew2King (Sheik, Peach) [3 - 2] Fly Amanita (Ice Climbers, Sheik)

　　Fly takes a close 1st match vs. M2K's Sheik on FoD. M2K makes a key error when he targets Nana (the AI-controlled Ice Climber) instead of Popo and then misses the combo on Nana; Popo sweeps in and steals the kill. Then Mew2King switches to Peach and picks to Final Destination. Peach is too good at separating the climbers and floating safely in the air, coming down only to attack with Float-Canceled aerials. Mew2King stays Peach for game 3 and Fly switches to Sheik. Fly's great spacing and fundamentals win him a 2-stock, in contrast with his earlier matches against Armada. Another Peach vs. Ice Climbers win later and we're onto game 5, Sheik vs. Ice Climbers on Dreamland. Mew2King spends most of the match running away from Fly, making especially good use of the platforms for movement and camping a tent at the edge to take care of Nana. It's a close set, but choosing to finish on this large stage may have hurt Fly's chances in the end.

　　Losers Quarterfinals (for 5th): Lucky (Fox) [3 - 0] aMSa (Yoshi)

　　There are so many Up-Smashes and Up-Airs from Lucky—he must have realized that these strong launching moves are his best tools for breaking through Yoshi's Double-Jump Super Armor (which is what allows Yoshi to take a hit without budging an inch). Lucky actually looks pretty comfortable in this uncommon matchup, but aMSa's great spacing and combo extensions keep it even. Still, aMSa can't combo Lucky when he's getting hit himself. The third match swings in aMSa's favor, but two unfortunate Self-Destructs give Lucky the match. Lucky's win here isn't necessarily an upset, but few would have predicted that it would be so one-sided.

　　Losers Semifinals (for 4th): Mew2King (Sheik/Marth) [3 - 0] Lucky (Fox)

　　The real decider here is stamina. Lucky has what it takes to compete with Mew2King, but can he keep it up for an entire Best of 5 set? Lucky's Fox looks great when it's fighting Mew2King onstage, but as soon as the game moves toward the edges, Mew2King clearly has the advantage. It's a common pattern in Mew2King's sets for the other player to start out strong in the first match, barely lose, then be too mentally drained to compete with Mew2King in the next few matches. And it didn't help here that Lucky was clearly playing on tilt in game 2. Game 3 resulted in the pick Lucky was trying to avoid—Mew2King's Marth on Stadium—and it became clear why he was afraid of it when Mew2King started killing him out of nearly every grab. As good as Lucky had been playing throughout the tournament, this was still a quick 3-0 for Mew2King.

　　Winners Finals: Mang0 (Fox) [3 - 1] Armada (Peach)

　　Mang0 is in the lead for all of game 1, but a Back-Throw to edgeguard by Armada almost turns it around at the last second; Mang0 looks very relieved after his win. Game 2 on Dreamland is slower-paced, even though Mang0 isn't shooting very many lasers. "It's like watching Morpheus vs. Neo." Armada takes game 3, allowing Mang0 to counterpick to the much smaller Yoshi's Story and attack all he wants. As if out of nowhere, Armada pulls this match back to even as well. Tension in the room is high, but a storm of B-Airs finally gives Mang0 the win.

　　Losers Finals (for 3rd): Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Mew2King (Jigglypuff, Sheik, Fox)

　　Mew2King seems like he's lost this set before it's even begun. He first tries out Jigglypuff against Armada's Peach. It's certainly not his first time playing Puff—rarely (and usually as a joke) he'll counterpick it against other Jigglypuffs, which has at least given him some experience playing Jigglypuff vs. other floaties. Armada has also openly hated the matchup ever since he first played Hungrybox at Apex 2010 (the set that convinced Armada to pick up Young Link). That said, Mew2King doesn't seem to know the Peach matchup very well, as he slowly gets 2-stocked by Armada. He then tries out Sheik on Pokemon Stadium, which goes just as badly. Mew2King can't seem to get a word in edgewise, even though these two recently had much closer sets at CEO and MLG Anaheim. The third match is Fox vs. Peach on Stadium, and Mew2King seems to have regained some composure, but Armada is unstoppable at this point. He already has his eyes on the prize.

　　Grand Finals Set 1: Armada (Peach) [3 - 0] Mang0 (Fox)

　　This time, Armada takes game 1. Mang0 brings him to Yoshi's Story again, but...he's losing. And Armada isn't just punishing his mistakes; he's straight-up reading Mang0's movement and recovery. Armada takes a 3-stock on Mang0's counterpick, the stage on which he won Winners Finals. Game 3, on Yoshi's Story again, is a series of crazy edgeguards on both sides. Mang0 and Armada spend hardly any time on the actual stage. Just as it happened at CEO, Armada's 3-0 here is even more dominant than Mang0's 3-1 in Winners Finals.

　　Grand Finals Set 2: Mang0 (Fox) [3 - 1] Armada (Peach)

　　Immediately, Mang0 looks like he wants the win more. Armada's reaction time is as quick as ever, and he wastes no time in floating offstage to repeatedly F-Air Mang0 and steal low% stocks. Again, Armada is predicting Mang0's choices well ahead of time.Mang0 has certainly switched into defensive mode; the sense of potential loss is clear in his playstyle. More lasers, more B-Air spacing. When he gets the chance to go (yet again) to Yoshi's Story, Mang0 turns up his offense and mounts the first big lead of this set. He seems to be one of the few people in the world who can cause Armada's Peach to make technical errors. The last stock here mirrors that of Winners Finals, with Mang0 jumping on and off of a platform and spacing B-Airs against Armada's shield until he simply has no shield left.

　　Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that, after this tournament, Mang0 and Armada are perfectly tied at 8 set wins apiece for their entire competitive career. In terms of matches won, Armada has 33 to Mang0's 32. Many were hoping that EVO would be their tie-breaker, but thanks to Hungrybox's amazing performance, Mang0 and Armada still have a score to settle. Who will be the one to claim #9 and pull into the lead in Melee's greatest rivalry of all time?

　　

Results

Melee Singles (208 Entrants)

1. Mang02. Armada3. Mew2King4. Lucky5. Fly Amanita5. aMSa7. Westballz7. Fiction9. S2J9. MacD9. Bizzarro Flame9. MikeHaze[Bracket]

　　

Melee Doubles (44 Teams)

1. Mew2King Armada2. Fiction MacD3. Mang0 Scar4. DEHF Ken5. Lovage S2J5. ZeRo Westballz7. Jace MikeHaze7. aMSa PSpirit[Top 8 Bracket][Full Bracket Side A][Full Bracket Side B]

Videos

All Tournament Videos on VideoGameBootCampVGBootCamp Interview with Mang0VGBootCamp Interview with ArmadaIn conclusion, here's a video of Baby Mango. (The child of Joseph 'Mang0' Marquez is literally named "Joseph Mango Marquez.")