With Smash Ultimate dropping on a Friday, you knew JTS was going to plan something big!
Handpicked is going to be an invitational style tournament with 12 players, each character locked into one of the original 12 characters introduced in Smash 64. This event is being held to celebrate our region's players and help them establish their character enthusiasm for Smash Ultimate. We will be allowing players to nominate themselves as potential candidates to represent a character, and then follow it up with a vote on this SmashGG page so players can vote on who they'd like to see represented!
Please make sure you follow our Twitter page to stay up to date with all of the voting and announcements! Click here to see our Twitter page!
As the characters get announced, we will be updating the section on this page with the players' names, so you can stay tuned here to see the lineup!
How to Qualify
We will be making Tweets on our page asking who will be interested in participating in the event, and as which character. We ask that anyone interested in this event reply to that Tweet letting us know.
We will limit players to a maximum of three nomination spots for this event as to avoid clutter of players attempting to just get into the event without caring about the character they get in for.
How Will Voting Work?
On the date we have scheduled to start voting for each character (see the schedule), we will have each player available as a game to sign up for on this SmashGG page. Each sign up for a game will count as a vote. For the sake of the integrity of the event, we will be heavily prioritizing in-region voters and only using out of region votes to settle tie breakers.
On the scheduled date to select that character, we will make an announcement for the winner and add them as an attendee on this SmashGG page.
Registering to Vote:
Managing Registration and Votes:
Other Events?
Xanadu will be holding a freeplay day on the same day as Handpicked to have players come in and unlock help unlock characters on the venue's setups. More details about this will be announced closer to the release of Smash Ultimate.
Character Schedule:
09/07
- Start Mario Voting
09/14
- Announce Mario Player (Congrats to DIRq and runner up DunNoBro!)
- Start DK Voting
09/21
- Announce Donkey Kong Player (Congrats to TopRamen and runner up Chrome Kingfisher!)
- Start Link Voting
09/28
- Announce Link Player (Congrats to SoVA Unknown and runner up Ben!)
- Start Samus Voting
10/05
- Announce Samus Player (Congrats to SainT and runner up Osiris197!)
- Start Yoshi Voting
10/12
- Announce Yoshi Player (Congrats to Blob and runner up Broseidon!)
- Start Kirby Voting
10/19
- Announce Kirby Player (Congrats to Diddler and runner up RK!)
- Start Fox Voting
10/26
- Announce Fox Player (Congrats to Professor Guppy and runner up Primid!)
- Start Pikachu Voting
11/02
- Announce Pikachu Player (Congrats to Mickey and runner up FireWater!)
- Start Luigi Voting
11/09
- Announce Luigi Player (Congrats to ZD and runner up Dnnr Pants!)
- Start Ness Voting
11/16
- Announce Ness Player (Congrats to Coreo and runner up Pauleke!)
- Start Captain Falcon Voting
11/23
- Announce Captain Falcon Player (Congrats to Gravon and runner up Bonesaw!)
- Start Jigglypuff Voting
11/30
- Announce Jigglypuff Player (Congrats to Lost1ntime and runner up Grinch Who Stole Minecraft!)
Things to Consider When Voting
Now that we have official rules laid out, let's clear up some misconceptions of what we're looking for in the voting of character representation. Here's a few characteristics that the player should have one or more of:
Character Loyalty:
This is an obvious one. These are the players who very obviously are loyal to their character and either solo main or seldom use their secondary or pocket characters. People who play this character because of their love for the character either in and/or out of Smash as a series. People who, because of their character loyalty, are excited to represent this character again in Smash Ultimate.
Player Skill:
People have the idea that the talent of the player shouldn't be considered. While I don't think it should be an end-all-be-all for who makes it in, we should be considering how the player has done with their results in Smash 4. We want the tournament to be an exciting event that leaves people really wondering who will make it out on top. Remember that these are the players who you are looking to showcase these characters in the first tournament for Smash Ultimate.
Community Involvement:
People who have become well known, not exclusively through results or upsets. This is the point which closest resembles this voting system as a popularity contest. We want not just players who are loyal to their character, and not just players who have talent, but also players who viewers and spectators can relate to and are excited to see represent their character in Smash Ultimate. Nobody should ever be asking "Who is that...?", save for some players who don't get to travel outside of their region and get less exposure by proxy. We're very happy to welcome players from SoVA and SWVA despite them not making the trek to MD often, as they make themselves known in their part of the community and should be celebrated all the same.
The Fighting Polygon Team
For all of the players who get 2nd place in the polls, we will be adding them to the side event, The Fighting Polygon Team.
The Fighting Polygon Team will join together to face off against each of the 12 players who won their character polls for Hand Picked in a crew battle. This crew battle will be character locked just like the main event, so players can show everyone watching why they should have taken the throne!
As the results progress and more characters are announced, we will be updating the crews here:
| Character | Hand Picked Winners | Fighting Polygon Team |
|---|---|---|
| Mario | DIRq | DunNoBro |
| Donkey Kong | TopRamen | Chrome Kingfisher |
| Link | SoVA Unknown | Ben |
| Samus | SainT | Osiris197 |
| Yoshi | Blob | Broseidon |
| Kirby | Diddler | RK |
| Fox | Professor Guppy | Primid |
| Pikachu | Mickey | FireWater |
| Luigi | ZD | Dnnr Pants |
| Ness | Coreo | Pauleke |
| Captain Falcon | Gravon | Bonesaw |
| Jigglypuff | Lost1ntime | The Grinch Who Stole Minecraft |
Events
Handpicked
Fighting Polygon Team
Location
Xanadu Games At Laurel Park (Grand Stand Entrance)
Click here for our Laurel Park Map
Once you get here and park you want to follow the side walk next to the building until you find the Grand Stand Entrance. The Grand Stand entrance is in between the Carriage Room Entrance and the Club House entrance. DO NOT enter the building through any other entrance. You will get lost. Once you get in walk forward towards the Long-Shots bar and Xanadu Games will be to your left.
All you have to do is go through these doors and make a left
DRIVING
You can get to Laurel Park from:
295, 29, 95, 32, 197, 198, & Route 1
So if there is traffic there is probably some way to get around it.
There are 4 entry ways INTO Laurel Park
198
Route 1 North
Route 1 South
Whiskey Bottom Road
198 is by far the best entrance.
The Route 1 entrances connect to each other and lead to a bumpy road. This road then leads to an underpass which goes under the Marc Train stop and brings you into Laurel Park right at the Grand Stand Entrance. You can check out the Laurel Park Map to get a better understanding
PARKING
There are two places to park. A big lot and a small lot. The small lot is closer to Xanadu Games Grand Stand Entrance but there aren't a lot of spots Get there quick! You can check out the Laurel Park Map to get a better understanding
METRO AND BUSES
The Green Belt Metro is the only Metro that has a bus that drops off near Laurel Park. A Bus takes about 50 minutes and stops off at Town Centre Laurel every hour. This about half mile from Laurel Park.
You can use the Metro Trip Planner to figure out bus times. Buses stop running after 10PM on Weekday 6PM on Weekends and
MARC TRAIN
The The Westbound Camden line of the Marc Train Stops off at Laurel Park 3 times during weekdays. It comes out right in front of the Xanadu Games Grand Stand Entrance. For more info Check out this site. There seem to be plans in the works to make it an official stop but that probably won't come to fruition for the next couple of years. There is also a much more active Marc Train about 15 minutes walking from the track called the "Laurel Train Station"
WEATHER ADVISORIES
Laurel Park rarely ever closes. To stay up to date on when Xanadu Games will not be operating at normal hours make sure and join our Facebook Group which we update regularly.
Prizing
Handpicked
View full event prizing1st
2nd
3rd
Fighting Polygon Team
View full event prizing$10 will be given as a participation prize for each member of the winning team.
Each stock that a player takes will reward them an additional $3 if they are on the winning team.
The winning team will have their very own custom digital poster commissioned by Maama Bratt!
More prizes will be announced throughout the voting phase of the tournament. The first prize announced will be a $100 pot bonus for Top 3 of the event:
- 1st: 60%
- 2nd: 30%
- 3rd: 10%