By Daniel “Tafokints” Lee

Some of the world’s top Smash Bros. Melee players are headed to Los Angeles this weekend to partake in the Smash Summit 3. Not sure what it is? Here is a quick reference guide to everything related to the upcoming event.

What is it?

Smash Summit is a bi-annual invitational event hosted by the Beyond the Summit team in Los Angeles, traditionally known for running Dota 2 events. The invitational focuses specifically on top players, which is a departure from the usual open brackets of Smash events. This year’s event, Smash Summit 3, runs from November 3-6, beginning at around 12 PM PST and wrapping at 10 PM PST each day.

Fun side events, such as “Blind Melee,” are hosted on the first two days to provide a lighter atmosphere, as a four-person commentary couch provides insight and humor. On the final two days, the 16 players participate in a traditional doubles and singles bracket for prize pools funded by Beyond the Summit and a crowdfunded compendium. And it’s all streamed on Twitch.

Here’s the schedule of events:

November 3 – Blind Man Challenge, Hot Bid Challenge, Iron Man, Fan Exhibition Doubles, Mafia

November 4 – Rivals of Aether, Around the World, Draft Crews, Mafia

November 5 – Doubles, Singles, Mafia

November 6 – Doubles, Singles, Mafia

Who’s playing?

Beyond the Summit chose ten of the competitors based on recent performances. This year’s event features:

Joseph “Mango” Marquez

Adam “Armada” Lindgren

Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma

Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman

William “Leffen” Hjelte

Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni

Justin “Plup” McGrath

Weston “Westballz” Dennis

Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel

Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson

In addition, six players were selected by a voting process. To be eligible for nomination, a player needed either a MIOM SSBM Top 50 ranking or a top 16 finish at The Big House 6, Get On My Level 2016, CEO 2016, Super Smash Con 2016 or Heir 3. After a week of campaigning, the following six players were voted in.

James “Mafia” Lauerman

Johnny “s2j” Kim

Kevin “PewPewU” Toy

James “Duck” Ma

Edgard “n0ne” Sheleby

Ryan “The Moon” Coker-Welch

View photos Adam “Armada” Lindgren takes on Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma at EVO 2016 (Stephanie Lindgren) More

The 101 on Melee Singles

“Who will finish the year in first place on SSBMRank?”

This is the biggest question on the minds of Smash fans. Armada, Hungrybox, and Mango each make compelling cases for why they deserve number one on this year’s SSBMRank. As the year comes to a close, Smash Summit 3 and a few other events will greatly impact their overall resume before panelists make their final decisions.

Armada is the favorite. The winner of the the first two Smash Summits aims for a three-peat at this event, and he is slowly coming into full form with a win at Canada Cup over Mew2King and Hungrybox. The latter is always a threat, having won Battle of the Five Gods, Evo 2016 and a slew of other U.S. majors. Mango started off slowly, but comes into the Smash Summit 3 with confidence thanks to recent wins at The Big House 6 and Super Smash Con 2016.



While they each make strong cases for number one, Mew2King has quietly put on a nice summer with victories at Shine 2016 and Clutch City Clash. His mentality has improved significantly in 2016 as he seems to be in high spirits. Leffen has been largely absent in 2016 due to his visa issues, but he impressed earlier this year at Get On My Level 2016 where he defeated four of the gods in consecutive sets. The big question is whether we will see him perform at peak level again despite the lack of practice.

Recent months have been nice for Plup and SFAT, who continue to separate themselves from the rest of the Top 15. Although Plup slumped at The Big House 6, he performed above expectations during the summer where he finished third at Evo 2016, defeating Hungrybox and Mango along the way. SFAT continues to show breakthroughs as he conquers his inner demons and improves his mental game. In recent months, he has taken sets over Hungrybox and Mango while also having several close sets with Mew2King. We may see some surprises from these two at Smash Summit 2016.

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