Top Pittsburgh Super Smash Bros. Melee player Steve “Abate” Abate will no longer be competing at Genesis 6, per a statement tweeted by the player this morning.
On January 2, the nationally ranked Luigi player suffered from hairline fractures on his hand after colliding with a bicyclist while jogging near Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Though the injuries are not a threat to Abate’s ability to play in the long term, he says that he still needs to tape parts of his hand as it heals.
Abate, who was ranked No. 57 on SSBMRank 2017, has been to every Genesis event since the series made its return in 2016. At last year’s Genesis 5, he defeated James “Swedish Delight” Liu and Eduardo “Eddy Mexico” Rincon before losing game-five sets to James “Duck” Ma and Nick “Stango” Stango for his third consecutive 25th-place finish at a Genesis event.
Abate has the distinction of being the Luigi player to achieve the highest-ever placement at a Melee supermajor, having finished in 7th at The Big House 5. He is currently a member of the Pittsburgh Knights. Though 2018 was a year of relative inactivity for Abate, he has publicly expressed interest in return to more regular competition this year; fortunately, he will have plenty of time to heal during the post-Genesis break.
