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The South by Southwest music festival (aka SXSW) is the largest festival of its kind in the world, having featured over 2,000 acts as of 2015 and boasting an attendance of over 28,000 each year. While the festival is mostly known for its music, South By Southwest features films and gaming sections as well. This year, SXSW Gaming has decided to launch a tournament with many of Melee’s top players called “Battle of The Five Gods”. Highlighting the event are none other than the Five Gods themselves: Mew2King, PPMD, Hungrybox, Mango, and Armada. Despite the name of the event, many other top players have been invited as well. These top players include MacD, Ice, Silent Wolf, DruggedFox, HugS, Westballz, Plup, Shroomed, Axe, and many more. The 20-man event will feature 3 stages of competition and an enormous prize pool of $25,000.
The format for the tournament is a unique one. There will be 5 groups with 4 players apiece, with the top player of each group advancing to the Final 8 bracket. The player that comes in second place in each group will be relegated to the “Playoffs Group”. The top 3 players from this Playoff Group will then move on to the Final 8 bracket, where the top seeds from the initial group stage will be waiting. No details have come out yet about whether the 3 stages will be Round Robin, Double Elimination, or how many games are needed to win a set.
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Are you excited to see Smash at SXSW? Who will take home the massive prize pot? Let us know in the comments below.