After a long qualification process, all of the Super Smash Bros. Melee players slated to compete at this weekend’s Smash Summit 7 have been decided—and this fall’s Smash Summit promises to be one of the most stacked iterations of the invitational series yet.
All of the active “gods” of Melee will be in attendance at this weekend’s event. The first seed (and presumptive champion in many’s eyes) is Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, who will look to reestablish dominance at the event after an up-and-down year. Though Hungrybox is building off of momentum from his victory at The Big House 8 this October, he will have to contend with William “Leffen” Hjelte, whose strong summer makes him this weekend’s second seed. Last autumn, Hungrybox clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking with a win at Smash Summit 5, and he will look to do the same at Smash Summit 7.
Hungrybox and Leffen will be joined by fellow Melee “gods” Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Justin “Plup” McGrath, and Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman. Coming off of a rest period of relative inactivity, Mew2King will hope to recreate the stellar run that handed him a victory at Smash Summit 6 earlier this year. Notably, this will be the first Smash Summit event without the legendary Adam “Armada” Lindgren, who announced his retirement in September.
Aside from the five Melee “gods” in attendance, three other players were invited to Smash Summit 7 thanks to their high rank in the midyear Melee Panda Global Rankings. These players are Shine 2018 champion Zain “Zain” Naghmi, fan-favorite Japanese player Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto, and top Captain Falcon main Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett. Each representing a different character played at a high level, all of these players have the potential to upset one of the “gods” and cause a significant shake-up. At Smash Summit 6, Zain shocked the Melee community by placing third after a blistering run to winner’s finals that involved wins over both Plup and Mang0.
Two more “demigods” of Melee qualified for Smash Summit 7 thanks to high tournament placements: Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, who slid in after a third-place finish at The Mang0: Homecoming, and Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson, who defeated Charlie “AbsentPage” McKinley in a tiebreaker to qualify at The Big House 8. Connor “Bananas” Lamb, the top Ice Climbers player from Texas, also qualified at The Big House 8 after making an upset-filled run to winner’s semi-finals.
Smash Summit 7’s bracket is rounded out by five players who made it into the invitational through its infamous voting process. An impressive three of these five are from the tri-state region, known for its strong community and top-level players: Anthony “Slox” Detres, the veteran Connecticut Fox main, Rishi “Rishi” Malhotra, the Marth main who moved from the Maryland/Virginia region to New York City last year, and James “Swedish Delight” Liu, the top New Jersey Sheik player who etched his name in history earlier this year when he defeated Armada at Evolution Championship Series 2018. The other vote-ins are Kalindi “KJH” Jabari Henderson, the tech-mastermind Michigan Fox, and Bronson “DaShizWiz” Layton, an old-school Falco main mounting a comeback after spending time out of the scene due to a variety of life circumstances.
With tens of thousands of dollars on the line, Smash Summit 7 will likely be the biggest Melee event between now and the end of the year. Catch all the action between Thursday and Sunday on Beyond the Summit’s Twitch channel!
