Tournament:Ludwig Smash Invitational

Ludwig Smash Invitational
Dates	October 21st-23rd, 2022
Venue	HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas
Address/City	Luxor Hotel & Casino, Luxor Dr Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance	168
Entry fees	Last Chance Qualifier: $40
Pot size(s)	$52,502 (Melee) $52,502 (Ultimate)
Results
winners	Zain 1v1
winners	MkLeo 1v1
Staff
Organizer(s)	Calvin, Anna Molly, Slime

Ludwig Smash Invitational was a Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate invitational tournament that was held on October 21st-23rd, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, hosted by commentator and YouTube streamer Ludwig. There were 24 players directly invited and 8 players qualified through a Last Chance Qualifier for each game, for a total of 32 players for each main singles event. The prize pool was initially advertised as $30,002 for both Melee and Ultimate, however due to a promotion from Capital One and additional funding from MrBeast, the pot was raised to $52,502, making it the sixth largest prize pool for a Melee tournament and the fourth largest for an Ultimate tournament at the time.

The event became known for its innovations in tournament logistics. It was one of the few majors to feature a Swiss system of pools, requiring players to win three sets in order to advance to the final bracket. The tournament's side streams featured a quad-view layout displaying four sets at once, allowing five sets to be streamed at the same time for both games; this feature was subsequently adopted at many future Smash tournaments.

Format

There were Swiss system pools and a final double-elimination bracket for each game. 24 directly invited players and 8 players qualifying through the Last Chance Qualifier made up 32 players for each game. The 32 players were divided into two pools of 16 players each, with the Top 8 placing players of each pool advancing to the final bracket. In the Swiss pools, each player played until they had won 3 sets, where they qualified for the final bracket, or until they lost 3 sets, where they were eliminated from the tournament. The 4 players that went 3-0 in sets in Swiss pools were able to draft pick their Winners' Round 1 opponent out of the 6 players that went 3-2 in sets (except for any players they already played in pools). The Top 16 played in the final bracket in a double-elimination format, with everyone starting Winners' side. All sets at the event were best of 5, in both Last Chance Qualifier and main singles.

The Last Chance Qualifiers on October 21st were double-elimination brackets capped at 64 players for each game, with the Top 8 players of each qualifying for the main singles event. The Last Chance Qualifiers were played up until Top 8, and did not play out the Top 8 bracket. The players that qualified through the Last Chance Qualifier received full reimbursement for their flight and accommodations, and were provided food on Saturday and Sunday. Group A and B Swiss pools and Top 16 Winners' Round 1 were played on October 22nd. The rest of the final bracket was played to completion on October 23rd, starting with Winners' Quarters and Losers' Top 16, with separated Ultimate Top 8 then Melee Top 8 being played.

Players invited/qualified

Melee

The following players were invited for Melee singles:

Aklo	aMSa	Axe	Fiction	Ginger	Hungrybox	iBDW	Jmook
KoDoRiN	Krudo	Leffen	lloD	Lucky	Magi	Mango	moky
n0ne	Pipsqueak	S2J	SFAT	SluG	Spark	Wizzrobe	Zain

The Top 8 players at the Last Chance Qualifier qualified:

Shroomed

Spud

Franz

Lunar Dusk

Soonsay

null

Joshman

Salt

Ultimate

The following players were invited for Ultimate singles:

acola	Asimo	Chag	Cosmos	Dabuz	Glutonny	KEN	Kola
Light	Maister	Marss	MkLeo	MuteAce	Myran	Onin	Riddles
Shuton	Sisqui	Sonix	Sparg0	Tea	Tweek	Zackray	Zomba

The Top 8 players at the Last Chance Qualifier qualified:

Kurama

MFA

Jakal

Goblin

Scend

Big D

Quandale Dinglelingleton

Lima

Declined players

Yoshidora was initially invited for Ultimate but declined. Plup was initially invited for Melee but was unable to make the event, so Spark was changed from being in the Last Chance Qualifier to being invited to the main singles event. Joshman for Melee and ProtoBanham for Ultimate were initially invited to the main singles event but dropped out, so Lucky and Myran respectively were changed from being in the Last Chance Qualifier to being invited to the main singles event. Joshman then registered for the Melee Last Chance Qualifier since his injured arm was recovering well, then qualified for the main singles event from Losers' side.

Results

Super Smash Bros. Melee singles

(32 entrants)
Final Bracket

Place	Name	Character(s)	Earnings
1st	Zain		$15,752
2nd	Hungrybox		$10,500
3rd	Leffen		$5,250
4th	SluG		$4,200
5th	Jmook		$3,150
5th	Wizzrobe		$3,150
7th	Mango		$2,100
7th	aMSa		$2,100
9th	Axe		$1,050
9th	Joshman		$1,050
9th	Aklo		$1,050
9th	iBDW		$1,050
13th	KoDoRiN		$525
13th	Pipsqueak		$525
13th	Magi		$525
13th	S2J		$525
17th	moky
17th	lloD
17th	SFAT
17th	Soonsay
17th	Fiction
17th	Lucky
23rd	Spark
23rd	null
23rd	n0ne
23rd	Krudo
23rd	Salt
23rd	Ginger
29th	Franz
29th	Spud
29th	Lunar Dusk
29th	Shroomed

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate singles

(32 entrants)
Final Bracket

Place	Name	Character(s)	Earnings
1st	MkLeo		$15,752
2nd	acola		$10,500
3rd	Kurama		$5,250
4th	Sparg0		$4,200
5th	Shuton		$3,150
5th	Onin		$3,150
7th	Sonix		$2,100
7th	Kola		$2,100
9th	Glutonny		$1,050
9th	Riddles		$1,050
9th	Zomba		$1,050
9th	Big D		$1,050
13th	Tweek		$525
13th	Dabuz		$525
13th	Light		$525
13th	Asimo		$525
17th	Cosmos
17th	Tea
17th	Quandale Dinglelingleton
17th	Jakal
17th	Sisqui
17th	Maister
23rd	Scend
23rd	Chag
23rd	Zackray
23rd	KEN
23rd	Myran
23rd	MFA
29th	Marss
29th	Goblin
29th	MuteAce
29th	Lima

Controversies

After losing his Losers Finals set against Hungrybox, Leffen went up to commentary to argue at length that the rules did not do enough against stalling and claimed that Hungrybox had largely won by abusing the ruleset. This was largely met with disapproval from both the commentators and social media, as Leffen's complaints were brought forth immediately after losing to Hungrybox for the first time offline since Smash 'N' Splash 5, after a final game where both players played rather defensively. Leffen was also accused of hypocrisy as he has also abused rulesets in the past and only points out these weaknesses when it benefits his opponents. Hungrybox addressed the situation later in the tournament by saying he won the match within the rules and everyone needs to simply move on. Leffen apologized for his comments afterwards on Twitter.

Many spectators during and after the tournament took to social media to express their criticisms of the commentators and their behavior. The main complaint was that they were not taking the event seriously and acted unprofessional in what should be a prestigious event. This reignited the classic debate over whether commentary is necessary for a Smash tournament. Several of the commentators later responded to these comments. Coney and TKbreezy both made videos on the subject and claimed that they will commentate the way they want to and that everyone is overreacting about the events of a single tournament.

Trivia

• Hungrybox is the only player in the tournament who entered both Melee and Ultimate singles. He was invited to Melee main singles, and also entered the Ultimate Last Chance Qualifier separately.
  • VoiD originally entered both Melee and Ultimate's Last Chance Qualifier, but later unregistered for Melee.
• On the day before the tournament, water started leaking from the ceiling of the venue, then the main sponsor for the tournament backed out at the last minute. MrBeast, one of the most subscribed YouTubers, then sponsored the tournament.
• During Melee singles, Pipsqueak became the first Swedish player outside Armada and Leffen to defeat Mango in bracket.
• Both Melee and Ultimate singles featured an Ice Climbers player in Top 16 (SluG and Big D, respectively).
• After Franz and Shroomed (the current and former best Dr. Mario players) qualified through the Last Chance Qualifier, both players planned to money match in the ditto for the title of best Dr. Mario. However, they were stopped right before they could begin due to the start of Melee singles bracket.
• Before the end of the final game between Hungrybox and SluG on Dream Land in Winners Quarters on the main stream, Ludwig had production switch over to Joshman and Magi's Loser's Round 1 set (which was already on the sidestream) as a joke.
• This tournament marks the first time MkLeo and acola have met in bracket, after a long period of anticipation where acola was considered a contender for Leo's status as best player in the world. MkLeo would ultimately win 3-0 against acola in both Winners Semis and Grand Finals.
  • This tournament also marks the first time acola and Onin have played each other in bracket, with the two being considered the top 2 Steve players in the world. acola would win their set with a 3-0.
• Out of all players who qualified for the main event (whether for Melee and Ultimate singles) through the Last Chance Qualifier, Kurama was the only player to make Top 8 (let alone Top 3) in either bracket (doing so in Ultimate singles).
• MkLeo, the winner of the Ultimate singles bracket, lost only one game (to Kurama) throughout the entire tournament.

External links

• start.gg page
• Teaser
• Announcement 1, Announcement 2