Tournament:Smash Summit (series)

Smash Summit
Info
Founded	2015
Region	California, United States
Format	Double elimination
winners	Armada (1, 2, 3, Spring 2017)  Hungrybox (5, 7, 9)  Mew2King (6)  Axe (8)  Zain (10 Online)  Mango (11)  iBDW (12)
winners	MkLeo (1, 2)  Tweek (3)  Sparg0 (4)
Most successful player(s)	Armada (Melee 1, 2, 3, Spring 2017)

The Smash Summit series, starting with Smash Summit in 2015, is a series of national-level invitationals focusing on Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Summit tournaments span several days, with singles and doubles on the final days. The first days feature various side events focusing on its main Smash game as well as other games, in addition to other activities such as Mafia, all of which is streamed on Beyond the Summit's Twitch channel.

16 Summits have taken place so far (12 for Melee and 4 for Ultimate). Smash Summit 13 is planned for Melee in Summer 2022. Although a crossover Summit between the two games was planned for 2020, it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the idea was scrapped.

Format and scheduling

Typically, 16 different players are selected to participate in each Smash Summit. 8 to 10 players are automatically invited based on their placement in preceding major tournaments, or based on power rankings such as SSBMRank. The other competitors qualify through either a voting phase or through qualifiers. In the former, fans can buy merchandise or donate cash, which grants them the opportunity to cast votes for certain players; the money then contributes to the event's prize payout. At the end of each voting deadline, two players are eliminated, while starting from the third voting round, two players are invited; this repeats until all vote-ins have been selected. Although the invitation process remained roughly the same, there has been irregularities such as in Smash Summit 10 Online, where the majority of players qualified through qualifiers.

Smash Summit presents itself as a unique opportunity for fans to watch the players interact with each other on a personal level. The competitors are invited to commentate other sets and give interviews after each set. Each Summit has its own theme and art design, often based around a real-life event or holiday occurring at a similar time.

Smash Summit tournaments typically run over four days, from Thursday through Sunday. The first day is often referred to as a "Media Day", as it is mostly dedicated to filming comedic skits with the invited players, which are aired throughout the event, as well as lighter side events. Pool play is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, along with doubles, side brackets, and non-Smash-related events. The final singles bracket is played out on Sunday.

Smash Summit has used multiple tournament formats, but pool play generally consists of either a swiss or round-robin format. The players are then usually seeded into winners' or losers' for the final bracket based on their performance. The final bracket is a typical double-elimination bracket, with the winner being crowned on Sunday evening.

Side brackets include doubles brackets, commentator brackets, secondary/low-tier brackets, Squad Strike, and unique rulesets (such as the "swag bracket", where fans vote for the "most entertaining" player to advance to the next round). Non-Smash events include other video games, such as Mario Party; party games, such as Mafia; and athletic competitions.

Champions

Melee singles winners

Year	Event	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2015	Smash Summit	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Mango
2016	Smash Summit 2	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Hungrybox
2016	Smash Summit 3	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Hungrybox
2017	Smash Summit Spring 2017	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Hungrybox
2017	Smash Summit 5	Juan Manuel Debiedma	Hungrybox		Armada
2018	Smash Summit 6	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		Armada
2018	Smash Summit 7	Juan Manuel Debiedma	Hungrybox		Leffen
2019	Smash Summit 8	Jeffrey Williamson	Axe		Wizzrobe
2020	Smash Summit 9	Juan Manuel Debiedma	Hungrybox		Plup
2020	Smash Summit 10 Online	Zain Naghmi	Zain		Mango
2021	Smash Summit 11	Joseph Manuel Marquez	Mango		Zain
2021	Smash Summit 12	Cody Schwab	iBDW		Mango
2022	Smash Summit 13

Melee Doubles Winners

Year	Event	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2015	Smash Summit	Kevin Toy	PewPewU		Zachary Cordoni	SFAT		Armada		Mew2King
2016	Smash Summit 2	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		Hungrybox		Plup
2016	Smash Summit 3	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		SFAT		PewPewU
2017	Smash Summit Spring 2017	Adam Lindgren	Armada		Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		Leffen		Ice
2017	Smash Summit 5	Adam Lindgren	Armada		William Hjelte	Leffen		Mew2King		Plup
2018	Smash Summit 6	Adam Lindgren	Armada		William Hjelte	Leffen		SFAT		Mango
2018	Smash Summit 7	Jason Zimmerman	Mew2King		Justin McGrath	Plup		Hungrybox		Bananas
2019	Smash Summit 8	Joseph Marquez	Mango		Johnny Kim	S2J		Plup		Zain

Ultimate singles winners

Year	Event	Player	Tag	Character(s)	Runner-up	Character(s)
2019	Smash Ultimate Summit	Leonardo Lopez Perez	MkLeo		Dabuz
2019	Smash Ultimate Summit 2	Leonardo Lopez Perez	MkLeo		Samsora
2021	Smash Ultimate Summit 3	Gavin Dempsey	Tweek		MkLeo
2022	Smash Ultimate Summit 4	Edgar Valdez	Sparg0		Light

Players with multiple appearances

Melee

Tag	Appearances
Mango	12
Axe	11
Hungrybox	11
Plup	11
SFAT	10
Leffen	8
Wizzrobe	8
aMSa	7
Mew2King	7
S2J	7
Zain	7
Armada	6
n0ne	6
Shroomed	6
iBDW	5
PewPewU	5
Westballz	5
Ginger	4
Lucky	3
Magi	3
2saint	2
Duck	2
Hax	2
HugS	2
Ice	2
KoDoRiN	2
moky	2
Pipsqueak	2
Spark	2
Swedish Delight	2

Ultimate

Tag	Appearances
Dabuz	4
MkLeo	4
Light	3
Maister	3
Tweek	3
VoiD	3
Zackray	3
Armada	2
Cosmos	2
Glutonny	2
Leffen	2
Marss	2
Nairo	2
Samsora	2
Sparg0	2
Tea	2

Trivia

• Mango and Plup have played against each other at every Smash Summit for Melee, with the exception of Smash Summit 6 and Smash Summit 12.
• Hungrybox and aMSa have played at every in-person Smash Summit for Melee starting with Smash Summit 5. To add to the intrigue, as of Smash Summit 12, every odd numbered summit that the two have played, Hungrybox has won, and at every even numbered summit that the two have played, aMSa has won. And, finally, Hungrybox has only won a Smash Summit only if he had beaten aMSa earlier that weekend (5, 7, 9).
• Zackray and Dabuz have played against each other at every Smash Summit for Ultimate, with the exception of Smash Ultimate Summit 4.
• Only six players - Armada, Leffen, Mew2King, Mango, Plup, and ESAM - have attended a Smash Summit for both Melee and Ultimate.
• The winner of each offline Smash Summit has been invited to the following Summit with the exception of Smash Ultimate Summit 3, where the winner Tweek qualified for Smash Ultimate Summit 4 at Mainstage 2021.
• Olimar is the only character with a main in every Smash Ultimate Summit, being played by Dabuz each time.
  • Dabuz has also played Rosalina & Luma in every Smash Ultimate Summit, though he didn't main her until after the first Smash Ultimate Summit.
• Tweek is the only person to place both last and first in a given game's Smash Summit, placing 13th at Smash Ultimate Summit 2 before winning Smash Ultimate Summit 3.