In just over a month, sixteen of the world’s best Super Smash Bros. Melee players will travel to Southern California for the seventh iteration of Smash Summit, a fan-favorite invitational event whose entrants are decided through a mixture of invitation, tournament qualification, and voting. So far, ten entrants have been confirmed for the Beyond the Summit-hosted invitational: Mew2King, Hungrybox, Wizzrobe, Plup, aMSa, Mang0, Leffen, and Zain by invitation, and Bananas and Axe thanks to their high placements at The Big House 8.
One more entrant will be determined via tournament placement at The Mang0: Homecoming, on November 10-11. However, five spots remain up for grabs, to be assigned through Beyond the Summit’s infamous voting system. On Thursday, 10/11, the opt-in period closed, and the full list of candidates was released. 26 players are currently in the running: Gahtzu, KJH, Trif, moky, Rishi, bobby big ballz, Slox, S2J, DaShizWiz, ChuDat, ARMY, Fiction, Westballz, Swedish Delight, Levingy, Michael, ORLY, Darktooth, Jerry, Magi, KPAN, Travioli, Zeo, Not Doug, Russell, and Mr. F. Of these players, several, including Mr. F, Russell, and Magi, seem to admit that their campaigns are not serious in their short self-written descriptions.
Regardless, there are many viable candidates to choose from. Some, such as Westballz, Swedish Delight, and S2J, have already been voted into a previous iteration of Smash Summit, while others, such as Rishi, have attended as guests, coaches, or in other capacities. S2J has a strong shot at making it in via the voting stage; he’s never failed to make it into a Smash Summit in the past. However, his SoCal vote might be split thanks to the inclusion of other heavy hitters from the region, including Fiction, ARMY, and the ever-popular Westballz. Similarly, Chicago’s vote may be split by Michael and ORLY, and Swedish Delight, Darktooth, and Slox may have to battle it out for the tri-state area’s vote (though Slox will likely have the support of many from his other region of New England). Other contenders, including DaShizWiz and ChuDat, have strong fan bases that they may be able to wield in order to get themselves into Smash Summit 7.
Smash Summit 7 will probably be the last full-scale major of the year, and its results will have lasting implications as Panda Global puts together 2018’s year-end rankings. If you want to have a say, head to smash.gg and nominate your favorite candidates by sending out a tweet in their support. Twitter nominations end—and voting begins in earnest—at 2pm on Tuesday, 10/16. Choose wisely!
