This weekend, competitive Smash fans can look forward to several exciting events featuring top-level talent in both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros for Wii U. Here’s a quick wrap-up of this weekend’s tournaments and why you should watch them.
Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo
This tournament, popularly known as EGLX 2018, marks the first time since GENESIS 5 that multiple “god-level” players will be in the same venue. Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman, and Justin “Plup” McGrath will be competing for the top spot at the Canadian tournament. All of these competitors have something to prove: Hungrybox will hope to justify his No. 1 ranking on the most recent SSBMRank by defeating Plup, while Plup will vie to keep up the momentum that he’ll be riding after his historic GENESIS victory in January. Mew2King has shown that he’s more than capable of defeating both of his rivals and this tournament is a good opportunity for the veteran god to take a tournament over two of the other top-six players. Other notable Melee competitors at EGLX include Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson, Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett, and many more top-100 players.
On the Smash 4 front, Panda Global Rankings top 10 players such as Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey, Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland, Elliot “Ally” Carroza-Oyarce, and Ramin “Mr. R” Delshad will be competing for the top spot. All eyes will be on Tweek to back up his recent victory at Arkansas’ King of the Springs 3. Other top players in attendance will include Eric “ESAM” Lew, Chris “WaDi” Boston, Tamim “Mistake” Omary, and more. With the recent controversy surrounding Bayonetta within the Smash 4 community, Mistake will surely be feeling some pressure as the event’s only top-level Bayonetta main.
Midwest Mayhem 11
This top-heavy Chicago Smash 4 tournament will feature the talents of top players Leonardo “MKLeo” Lopez and Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby, plus other heavy-hitters such as Brian “Cosmos” Kalu and Zack “CaptainZack” Lauth. With a $1000 pot bonus upping the stakes of the competition, it’s likely that the tournament’s Grand Finals will be a showdown between MKLeo and Dabuz. Both of these top players fell short of victory at the last tournaments they attended, and Midwest Mayhem 11 will offer one of them an opportunity to return to the winners’ circle.
This event will be streamed by Unrivaled Tournaments and Events2Compete.
Melee’s National Arcadian
In the same venue as Midwest Mayhem 11, Melee players will be gathering for America’s first National Arcadian, an event where players who have been ranked in the top 100 in any edition of SSBMRank are barred from entering. With a $1000 pot bonus and payout to the top 16 finalists, this event offers an opportunity for up-and-coming players to prove themselves on a national stage—and make big money while doing so. The competition is looking stacked, with underrated players traveling to Chicago from all over the countries. Some of the more recognizable names include Albert “A Rookie” Suafa, Jaycob “Cob” Applegate, and Jeffrey “EastCoastJeff” Yuan, but the brackets will be deep with other skilled players and the event has no clear favorite.
This event will be streamed by MeleeEveryday.
If you’ve got some downtime this weekend, be sure to check out one or all of these exciting events!
