Austin "Verity" Karn

After seven runs of Super Smash Bros. Melee at Smash Summit, Beyond the Summit (BTS) has brought the invitational to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With talent from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Melee, Smash Ultimate Summit was a production bonanza. As always, the team behind BTS brought their best forward to entertain fans and players alike. With several events, including 1 vs. 1 Randoms, Squad Strike Crew Battles and Commentator Crew Battles, it was a full weekend of Ultimate fun and competitive spirit. Below are the final results, and some takeaways that will likely give insight to the future meta.

The Evolution Championship Series, or EVO, announced its main lineup for its 2019 tournament in Las Vegas occuring this August.

Frostbite 2019, the latest of the now three year old series, was a great showcase of where the current meta of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is headed. While Genesis was the first major to feature Ultimate, Frostbite is a whole patch removed, and players are more intimate with the game than before. In other words, Genesis was a good chance for high-level play to be explored, while Frostbite was a good look at how high-level play has adapted and will adapt. Beyond that, its high quality production was a delight to behold, and its Top 8 was a rollercoaster of close calls, flashy finishes and brilliant strategy. Here, we will look over the Top 8 finalists, and the journeys they took through Top 48.

Glitch, one of the more unique tournament series for Super Smash Bros., returned for its sixth and largest iteration on January 19th. Each tournament, organized by VGBootCamp and Xanadu Games, has a decent focus on side events that are a bit unconventional, such as 3v3 or Morph-Meter. The game of focus for past events has been Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but Glitch 6 was the first to mainline Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It’s also the first of the series to break over 255 entrants, and more than double it with 551 sign-ups. Here, we will give a brief overview of the players who finished Top 8, and the journeys they took through Top 128.

The Evolution Championship Series, or Evo, has come and gone once again, delivering another great iteration of one of the world’s biggest and best fighting game tournaments with Evo 2018. This year, Super Smash Bros. Melee earned a spot on Championship Sunday and the main stage at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. While the whole of the weekend delivered on tough matches and surprising upsets, Championship Sunday was where most of the excitement came to a head. Here, we will go over the journeys taken throughout Top 8 and where each player ended up in the end.

Viceroy Kicks, a brand running a Kickstarter for gaming-centric shoes, brought on two prominent names within the Smash community, Richard “Keitaro” King, Jr. and Tyrell “Nakat” Coleman, to help promote their brand by completing a challenge to win a pair of Viceroy Kicks for themselves.

On June 17th 2018, Echo Fox's Dominique "SonicFox" McLean made a public challenge aimed at Team SoloMid's Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, to face him in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Momocon is one of the biggest geek culture events in the Southeast region of the United States, and it returned for its second year as host to another exciting bracket for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Momocon 2018 had some of the world’s best players in attendance, mixed with a strong showing from the Southeast. Here, we will take a look through the Top 8 finishers, and the journeys they took through Top 48.

GameTyrant has announced the return of GameTyrant Expo for 2018, featuring Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Melee as headliners. The event is set to run from November 2nd-4th at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alongside the main titles, there will also be brackets for League of Legends, Dragonball FighterZ, Fortnite: Battle Royale, and Overwatch. There will be a $5,000 pot bonus for each Singles bracket of Smash titles, and a $1,000 bonus for every other bracket.

Get On My Level(GOML) has been the premier Canadian National tournament since 2014, and has managed to produce explosive sets throughout its run. GOML 2018 kept that going strong, with a fantastic bracket for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Top 64 proved to be a tough challenge for many, and there were interesting upsets littered throughout bracket. Here, we will take a look at the Top 8 finishers and their journeys through Top 64.

Beyond the Summit returned to present one of Super Smash Bros. Melee’s most anticipated events, Smash Summit 6. With a multitude of brackets, and the biggest names in Melee, Summit 6 proved to be another great iteration of the bi-yearly event. Yet, the point that created the most waves was Singles, where the level of play lifted itself into new heights. Plenty of upsets occurred, and the results were unlike anything before it. Here, we will look over the Top 8 finishers of bracket, and see the journeys they took throughout the weekend.

Flatiron 3 was the latest installment of the Flatiron series of Melee events, run by the CU Boulder Esports team. 2018 was a huge boost to the series, as Flatiron 3 was the first iteration to be categorized as a major. More impressive, the organizers were able to run Melee singles and doubles and Wii U singles and doubles for over 400 players within a single day. With close, pulse-pounding sets, great management, and a large amount of out of region players, Flatiron 3 was a rousing success. Here, we will look at the Top 8 finishers for Super Smash Bros. Melee, and look over their journeys within Top 48.

Esports Arena has been a new player on the Super Smash Bros. scene in organizing tournaments. Their latest venture, Noods Noods Noods: Oakland Edition, was in their new Oakland location, and pulled Nissan Noodles and Foodbeast on as sponsors. With some of the best players in attendance, Noodsx3 was an all day event of good production and even better Melee. Here, we will take a look at those who made the Top 8, and their journeys through Top 32.

Full Bloom 4 was one of the must see tournaments for competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee. Started in 2015, Full Bloom was a well received Midwest Regional that showcased what the scene had to offer. Since then, the IUB Smash team has been putting continuous effort towards improvement. In 2018, it has become a Major tournament with high level names throughout. Here, we will take a look at the Top 8 finishers, and their journeys through Top 48.

With the announcement of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch, many community figures have spoken out to give their thoughts on what they expect from the release. This now includes Calvin "Gimr" Lofton, president of VGBootCamp, who appeared as a guest on Sleep Talk Podcast.

Super Smash Bros. Melee at Genesis 5 was a rollercoaster of a ride. Over 1300 players entered this year, and pools saw fierce fights for survival. The level of competition has risen since Genesis 4, and not even those at the top could relax. If Genesis 5 is any indicator of Melee in 2018, then it’s looking like a good year for competitive advancement. Here, we will be looking at those who made it to Top 8, and their journeys through Top 64.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U returned to Genesis 5 for its third run at the prestigious tournament series. With the recent news about Zero’s retirement, this tournament was the perfect opportunity for the community to see just where the game’s future resided. The sets that played out there could set the tone for the future year in Smash 4, and possibly for far longer. Here, we look over the Top 8 finalists and the journeys they took through Top 32.

Super FamiCon 2017 was the successful return of the 2016 convention made to celebrate Nintendo. As part of its focus, the convention holds many tournaments for competitors. Among these is Super Smash Bros. Melee, which saw an increased amount of competitors of every level. Here, we will go over those who placed within the Top 8 and their journeys through Top 32.

For its first year, GameTyrant Expo had one of the toughest brackets ever seen. With a highly contested Top 48, players for Super Smash Bros. Melee had to claw their way towards even qualifying for Top 8. Here, we look at those who made these coveted slots, and the journeys they took to get there.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U had a very strong showing at GameTyrant Expo 2017. A bracket of twists, turns, and surprises led to one of the most nail biting Grand Finals the game has ever seen. Here, we will take a look at the journeys taken by the top 8 throughout GTX.