Frame 13: Fresh starts and a bright future (Photo Gallery)

Frame 13 in many ways harkens in a new era for the region, especially for Melee.

The tournament took place on November 4, 2023, once again at Irondequoit’s Trinity Communion Church, bringing more than 100 competitors in 64, Melee, and Project+ from throughout the state to prove themselves and take part in the biggest event so far of the new Upstate Melee Champions Circuit.

Carpools from almost every active Upstate region made their way to the Rochester area, with many new faces making a splash.

With the region’s #1 Melee player in the process of moving to Los Angeles, Zanya and Agent met in-person for the first time in Winners Finals and Grands.

This comes after months of them only having met online, eluding each other at the last iteration of the tournament.

The two up-and-coming titans from opposite ends of the state fought hard in hopes of winning the event, with Agent taking his first set ever against Zanya to reset the bracket before falling to the sheik in a pop-off finish.

For Agent, this is his final regional living in Upstate, before moving to New York City, and for Zanya, this shows a retention of their skill after a period of inactivity and “retirement”.

The two, along with a great showing from Gio, staved off an Ontario invasion from the likes of Quiggles, Joey Bats and Maher.

64 got its own space, giving the much-beloved Rochester favorite the space it deserved. One of the greatest 64 players of all time -SuPeRbOoMfAn – even made an appearance, taking the event in the final bracket and winning doubles with etab.

From Bobakanoosh –

“I’d really like to thank everyone who came out and made 64 at Frame 13 so special!

Thanks to Silo for your continued support of 64 at your events, and for giving us our own space! Thanks to everyone who made the trip from out of town, it means more than you know to our local players, and to me!

To the Rochester folks that have given 64 a chance and continue to stick with it and help grow the scene, thank you, and I’m glad we can share in a game that I care so much about. Great showing from all of you this tournament – we’re makin a name for ourselves!”

In terms of the side events, Zanya and Higgins took doubles in a hard fought three sets against AyeVee and Legion and Agent took Project+ in stride.

Thanks so much to Silo, Bobakanoosh and all of the other TOs for such a great event!

Photo Gallery

Apologies for anyone missed in the photos! The direct link to the Flickr album can be found here.

Results

See final brackets here

VODs & Clips

Highlights:

In Melee…

• Agent finally taking a set from Zanya before moving to NYC
• Zanya’s shocking finishing combo in grand finals
• Moose making an incredibly impressive run, getting 4th overall over Gio, Cowbell, and MonkHB
• A crowd-gathering $100 money match to start the day between Conceit and Zuma
• Gio defending against Ontario in a heart-racing game 5 last hit set vs. Maher in front of nearly the whole venue cheering him on

In 64…

• xover beat wiseacre in 64, placing 3rd in his pool as the 5th seed, and cleanly making top 16 without having to fight through wildcard/last chance qualifiers. Vastly outplaced seed, getting 13th at the event.
• Bobakanoosh, after an average pools performance, upset Hotline (Global Rank #26) and Waxy:Joe (Global Rank #58) to make Winners side top 8, and finished 5th in the event as the 11th seed
• etab got 1st in his pool, upsetting Hotline (Global Rank #26). He then went on a monster run in top 16, beating dmolz, box (Global Rank #50), Waxy:Joe (Global Rank #58), and Hotline (Global Rank #26). He ended up getting 3rd as the 6th seed, losing only to SuPeRbOoMfAn and Robert, two of the greatest players to ever touch the game.

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