From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
The Midwest is a Smash region located in the United States. It is by far the largest Smash region in the United States in terms of land area, encompassing fourteen different states. Due to this, the region has sometimes been split into four additional regions: Great Lakes East, which includes Kentucky, Ohio, and west Pennsylvania, primarily the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and sometimes includes West Virginia; Great Lakes West, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin; Heartland North, which includes Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and Heartland South, which includes Iowa, Nebraska, and northern Kansas and Missouri, primarily the Greater St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas. Tournament activity in the Midwest is the most active in the Chicago and Detroit metropolitan areas, although many other metropolitan areas also have notable scenes, such as Cleveland, Madison, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City.
Historically, the Midwest was a strong yet relatively secluded region. During Melee's Golden Age, the Midwest had several notable players including Darkrain, Drephen, and Vidjogamer, and several tournament series such as the long-running Show Me Your Moves series; however, the scene's overall size was less than the sizes of the other major American Smash scenes at that time. This changed around the early 2010s with the rise of The Big House series in Michigan, which eventually became Melee's premier end-of-the-year supermajor. In addition, many other large tournament series began as the decade progressed, including Frostbite in Michigan, Midwest Mayhem in Illinois, and Smash 'N' Splash in Illinois and Wisconsin, and many FGC events such as Combo Breaker and Frosty Faustings in Illinois began seeing greater entrants count for their Smash events, all the while many more Midwest players began making their mark on competitive play, such as Ginger, KJH, Lunchables, Ned, and Zinoto. At its peak, the Midwest's tournament activity rivaled some of the biggest regions in the United States.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the Midwest's impact on the competitive scene diminished, in part due to the conclusion or hiatus of many big tournament series such as Frostbite, The Big House, and Smash 'N' Splash, while newer tournament series such as Riptide were unable to properly fill that void. As such, the Midwest scene in Ultimate infamously failed to hold a single major between The Big House 10 in October 2022 and Riptide 2024 in September 2024, a stark contrast to the game's first year, when the Midwest held three supermajors. Nevertheless, the Midwest retained a slew of strong talent that have made strong impacts in their respective titles, including ApolloKage, Onin, and Ossify.
Smashers[edit]
- See also: Category:Illinois smashers, Category:Indiana smashers, Category:Iowa smashers, Category:Kansas smashers, Category:Kentucky smashers, Category:Michigan smashers, Category:Minnesota smashers, Category:Missouri smashers, Category:Nebraska smashers, Category:North Dakota smashers, Category:Ohio smashers, Category:Pennsylvania smashers, Category:South Dakota smashers, Category:Wisconsin smashers
The following players are currently or were previously ranked. Their highest placement is listed.
Globally ranked players[edit]
Nationally ranked players[edit]
Other notable players[edit]
Tag |
Character(s) |
Notes
|
AlphaZealot (Ohio) |
   |
Tournament organizer for the Brawl MLG Pro Circuit and on All is Brawl. Owner of SmashBoards from 2012 to 2023.
|
AmiiboKing313 (Michigan) |
  |
Prominent tournament organizer from Michigan, best known for running the Showdown: Battle Royale series and Smashfield Weeklies.
|
D. Disciple (Minnesota) |
   |
Prominent tournament organizer from Minnesota and the Midwest as a whole, having helped organize events such as Combo Breaker 2015 and Frostbite 2017.
|
DLA (Illinois) |
  |
Perhaps the best Ganondorf player in Brawl, using Ganondorf to place highly at several majors.
|
Foghorn (Iowa) |
|
Notable tournament director in Iowa in the late-2000s. Better known on SmashWiki as Clarinet Hawk.
|
Fonz (Ohio) |
 |
Best known for being the only Ganondorf player to win a legitimate tournament in Brawl.
|
Gooshi (Michigan) |
  |
Founder of Michigan streaming organization GooshiGaming.
|
Jaaahsh (Michigan) |
  |
Talent Strategist at Team Liquid. Former Director of Talent Management for Panda and an organizer for the Panda Cup.
|
Juggleguy (Michigan) |
 |
Head tournament organizer for The Big House.
|
Jv3x3 (Michigan) |
 |
Michigan tournament organizer during the MLG era, known for coining the term "JV".
|
Keitaro (Ohio) |
 |
Originally from New Jersey, and was a prominent commentator in Smash 4 and Ultimate. He was banned due to sexual misconduct allegations.
|
Kirk (Illinois) |
  |
One of the earliest Ike players in Brawl and the best Bowser player in Project M in his prime, having won The Big House 3.
|
Linus and Lucy (Michigan) |
/   |
One of the best Ultimate doubles teams known for their synergy. Most notably won Get On My Level 2022 doubles.
|
Lordy (Michigan) |
  |
One of the few legitimate Captain Falcon players in Brawl.
|
LSDX (Illinois) |
  |
Previously ranked as a HM on the PMRank 2019; however, his ranking was rescinded after being banned for sexual misconduct.
|
MagicScrumpy (Michigan) |
  |
Disgraced former YouTuber primarily focused on mods and TAS for Melee.
|
M3D (Indiana) |
|
Founder of MLG's Smash Bros. division and was a member until 2007. He helped form a standard Melee tournament ruleset and began professional commentary for Melee.
|
ninja1167 (Michigan) |
   |
Organizer for the SSBBRank after 2020 and the online Brawl series The Return
|
Ori (Michigan) |
     |
Tournament organizer for several Apex and The Big House events.
|
Pooch (Illinois) |
  |
Head organizer for Tripoint Smash.
|
Raiser (Kentucky) |
 |
Tournament organizer in Kentucky, having organized Bourbon State Gaming events and some of Kentucky's largest events such as QCS: One Night Stand.
|
SKUNCH (Illinois) |
  |
Known for Brawlternative, a popular YouTube channel dedicated to Brawl.
|
SmashBroPro (Illinois) |
 |
The first notable tournament organizer in the Midwest, organizing events as early as 2002.
|
TacosBrick (Ohio) |
 |
Co-founder of the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank alongside Cloudhead.
|
trade war (Illinois) |
 |
Tournament organizer and associate to Luminosity Gaming's LumiRank branch.
|
Triple R (Minnesota) |
   |
Arguably the most successful Kirby player in competitive Melee.
|
Unsure (Illinois) |
 |
Main tournament organizer for Melee events in Chicago until the end of 2023.
|
Vayseth (Michigan) |
|
Co-founder and head tournament organizer of Frostbite. GENESIS vendor manager and a member of the EVO translation team.
|
Xiivi (Indiana) |
 |
Known for organizing some of Indiana's largest events, including Landlocked and OUTFOXX'D.
|
Tournaments[edit]
- See also: Category:Illinois tournaments, Category:Indiana tournaments, Category:Iowa tournaments, Category:Kansas tournaments, Category:Kentucky tournaments, Category:Michigan tournaments, Category:Minnesota tournaments, Category:Missouri tournaments, Category:Nebraska tournaments, Category:North Dakota tournaments, Category:Ohio tournaments, Category:Pennsylvania tournaments, Category:South Dakota tournaments, Category:Wisconsin tournaments
Notable tournament series[edit]
Tournament series that have achieved recognition outside their local region.
Notable tournaments[edit]
Tournaments that featured at least one game at a superregional level.
MELEE-FC1 (Indiana) |
July 9th-10th, 2004 |
98 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
MELEE-FC3 (Indiana) |
July 10th-12th, 2005 |
186 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
MLG Chicago 2005 (Illinois) |
December 16th-18th, 2005 |
~120 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
MELEE-FC6 (Indiana) |
July 13th-15th, 2006 |
250+ |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
MLG Chicago 2006 (Illinois) |
July 21st-22nd, 2006 |
184+ |
 |
— |
 |
—
|
MELEE-FC Diamond (Illinois) |
July 12th-14th, 2007 |
256+ |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
Show Me Your Moves 10 (Illinois) |
August 1st, 2009 |
124 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
MLG Columbus 2010 (Ohio) |
June 4th-6th, 2010 |
250 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
School is in Session 4 (Ohio) |
January 8th, 2011 |
115 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
MELEE-FC10R Legacy (Indiana) |
August 12th-14th, 2012 |
146+ |
— |
 |
 |

|
The Big House 2 (Michigan) |
October 6th-7th, 2012 |
140+ |
— |
— |
 |
|
The Big House 3 (Michigan) |
October 12th-13th, 2013 |
240+ |
— |
  |
— |
—
|
Shuffle V (Ohio) |
February 22nd-23rd, 2014 |
160+ |
— |
 |
 |
|
Fight Pitt IV (Pennsylvania) |
April 19th, 2014 |
174 |
— |
— |
 |
|
Super SWEET (Michigan) |
June 7th-8th, 2014 |
165+ |
— |
— |
 |
|
The Big House 4 (Michigan) |
October 4th-5th, 2014 |
709 |
  |
— |
— |
—
|
Smash 'N' Splash (Illinois) |
June 13th-14th, 2015 |
650+ |
— |
— |
 |

|
FC Smash 15XR: Return (Indiana) |
July 4th-5th, 2015 |
289+ |
— |
— |
 |
|
The Big House 5 (Michigan) |
October 2nd-4th, 2015 |
2,040 |
  |
— |
— |
—
|
Dismantle 2 (Illinois) |
January 2nd-3rd, 2016 |
337 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem (Illinois) |
March 19th, 2016 |
273 |
— |
— |
 |
|
OUTFOXX'D (Indiana) |
March 26th, 2016 |
329 |
— |
— |
  |
|
Full Bloom 2 (Indiana) |
April 16th, 2016 |
299 |
— |
— |
 |
|
Midwest Mayhem 2 (Illinois) |
April 30th, 2016 |
272 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Smash 'N' Splash 2 (Illinois) |
June 11th-12th, 2016 |
798 |
— |
  |
  |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem 4 (Illinois) |
July 9th, 2016 |
296 |
— |
— |
 |
 
|
Endgame (Illinois) |
August 20th-21st, 2016 |
380 |
— |
— |
 |
  
|
Little Big House 2 (Michigan) |
October 6th, 2016 |
161 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
The Big House 6 (Michigan) |
October 7th-9th, 2016 |
2,772 |
  |
— |
— |
—
|
Boss Battle 2 (Indiana) |
November 12th-13th, 2016 |
103 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
UGC Smash Open (Illinois) |
December 2nd-4th, 2016 |
556 |
 |
 |
— |
—
|
Eden (Illinois) |
December 10th-11th, 2016 |
191 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Showdown: Battle Royale (Michigan) |
December 10th-11th, 2016 |
225 |
— |
— |
 |
  
|
Midwest Mayhem 6: SoCal Invasion (Illinois) |
January 7th, 2017 |
303 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Frostbite 2017 (Michigan) |
February 25th-26th, 2017 |
385 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
Full Bloom 3 (Indiana) |
March 25th, 2017 |
410 |
— |
 |
— |
|
Shuffle: Battle of the Midwest (Ohio) |
April 1st-2nd, 2017 |
353 |
— |
— |
 |

|
Midwest Mayhem 8: North American Tour (Illinois) |
April 8th, 2017 |
338 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Smash 'N' Splash 3 (Wisconsin) |
June 2nd-4th, 2017 |
1,701 |
— |
    |
— |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem 9: Old vs New (Illinois) |
July 1st, 2017 |
326 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Boss Battle 3 (Indiana) |
September 30th-October 1st, 2017 |
123 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
The Big House 7 (Michigan) |
October 6th-8th, 2017 |
2,495 |
  |
— |
— |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem 10 (Illinois) |
November 25th, 2017 |
307 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Frostbite 2018 (Michigan) |
February 9th-11th, 2018 |
872 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem 11 (Illinois) |
March 10th, 2018 |
288 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Full Bloom 4 (Indiana) |
March 24th-25th, 2018 |
539 |
— |
 |
— |
|
Aegis (Ohio) |
April 21st, 2018 |
293 |
— |
— |
 |
|
Smash 'N' Splash 4 (Wisconsin) |
June 1st-3rd, 2018 |
2,231 |
 |
   |
— |
|
Showdown: Battle Royale 3 (Michigan) |
July 14th-15th, 2018 |
230 |
— |
— |
 |
 
|
Boss Battle 4 (Indiana) |
September 28th-30th, 2018 |
62 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
The Big House 8 (Michigan) |
October 5th-7th, 2018 |
1,828 |
 |
 |
— |
—
|
Midwest Mayhem 12 (Illinois) |
November 3rd, 2018 |
212 |
— |
— |
 |

|
Midwest Mayhem Ultimate (Illinois) |
December 29th, 2018 |
411 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Frostbite 2019 (Michigan) |
February 22nd-24th, 2019 |
1,260 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
Full Bloom 5 (Indiana) |
March 23rd-24th, 2019 |
605 |
— |
— |
  |
—
|
Combo Breaker 2019 (Illinois) |
May 24th-26th, 2019 |
450 |
— |
— |
 |
  
|
Smash 'N' Splash 5 (Wisconsin) |
May 31st-June 2nd, 2019 |
2,443 |
   |
 |
— |
—
|
2GG: Run it Back (Ohio) |
September 7th, 2019 |
267 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
The Big House 9 (Michigan) |
October 4th-6th, 2019 |
2,230 |
  |
 |
— |

|
Frostbite 2020 (Michigan) |
February 21st-23rd, 2020 |
1,303 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
Undertow (Ohio) |
September 11th, 2021 |
195 |
 |
— |
— |
—
|
Riptide (Ohio) |
September 10th-12th, 2021 |
2,861 |
 |
 |
— |
—
|
LEVELUP Arena 4 (Kansas) |
March 19th-20th, 2022 |
333 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Combo Breaker 2022 (Illinois) |
May 27th-29th, 2022 |
488 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
COST 2022 (Ohio) |
June 18th-19th, 2022 |
309 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Riptide 2022 (Ohio) |
September 9th-11th, 2022 |
1,191 |
— |
 |
 |
—
|
Undertow 2022 (Ohio) |
September 10th-11th, 2022 |
159 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
The Big House 10 (Michigan) |
October 7th-9th, 2022 |
1,554 |
 |
 |
— |
 
|
Invincible VI (Wisconsin) |
July 16th, 2022 |
405 |
— |
— |
 |
 
|
Joey's Birthday Bash 2 (Illinois) |
January 27th-28th, 2023 |
107 |
— |
— |
 |
|
Wisdom Melee (Minnesota) |
May 6th, 2023 |
120 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Gateway Legends 2023 (Missouri) |
May 26th-28th, 2023 |
373 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Invincible VII (Wisconsin) |
July 15th-16th, 2023 |
328 |
— |
— |
 |

|
Undertow 2023 (Ohio) |
September 8th-9th, 2023 |
120 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Riptide 2023 (Ohio) |
September 8th-10th, 2023 |
1,167 |
— |
 |
 |
—
|
The Big House 11 (Michigan) |
October 20th-22nd, 2023 |
1,492 |
 |
— |
  |

|
Honeypot 6: Winter is Coming (Iowa) |
December 2nd-3rd, 2023 |
372 |
— |
 |
— |

|
Full Bloom 2024 (Indiana) |
February 24th-25th, 2024 |
541 |
— |
— |
 |

|
Sweet Spot 8 (Kansas) |
March 2nd-3rd, 2024 |
291 |
— |
— |
 |

|
Diamond Dust (Michigan) |
April 6th-7th, 2024 |
290 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
COST 2024 (Ohio) |
June 21st-23rd, 2024 |
241 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Riptide 2024 (Ohio) |
September 6th-8th, 2024 |
1,621 |
 |
 |
— |
—
|
Undertow 2024 (Ohio) |
September 6th-8th, 2024 |
220 |
— |
 |
— |
—
|
Ring Out (Ohio) |
November 9th, 2024 |
176 |
— |
— |
 |
—
|
Afterburner 2025 (Indiana) |
January 11th-12th, 2025 |
367 |
— |
— |
 |
|
Largest singles events[edit]
Rank |
Tournament |
Date |
Game |
Attendance |
Winner |
Character(s)
|
1 |
Smash 'N' Splash 5 |
May 31st-June 2nd, 2019 |
 |
1,610 |
MkLeo |
|
2 |
The Big House 6 |
October 7th-9th, 2016 |
 |
1,563 |
Mango |

|
3 |
The Big House 7 |
October 6th-8th, 2017 |
 |
1,522 |
Hungrybox |
|
4 |
The Big House 5 |
October 2nd-4th, 2015 |
 |
1,317 |
Armada |

|
5 |
Frostbite 2020 |
February 21st-23rd, 2020 |
 |
1,280 |
MkLeo |

|
6 |
Frostbite 2019 |
February 22nd-24th, 2019 |
 |
1,239 |
Tweek |
 
|
7 |
The Big House 8 |
October 5th-7th, 2018 |
 |
1,032 |
Hungrybox |
|
8 |
Riptide |
September 10th-12th, 2021 |
 |
1,024 |
MkLeo |

|
Riptide 2024 |
September 6th-8th, 2024 |
 |
Sparg0 |

|
10 |
The Big House 9 |
October 4th-6th, 2019 |
 |
1,017 |
Zackray |
   
|
See also[edit]