Even with one of the biggest cancelations in Super Smash Bros. history resting on the shoulders of Mainstage, the Melee looked just as good as it ever has—with Mang0 defeating iBDW 3-2 after an incredible weekend of bird-only matches.
In what will be the final Major, non-invitational style event of the year, Melee and Ultimate showed out, with top players fighting for the community, the Mainstage title, and six qualifying spots at their next respective Summit event.
Mang0 was a last-second addition to the tournament, having subgoaled his attendance with his Twitch chat once Beyond the Summit opened up registration again following the Smash World Tour’s sudden cancelation. And, in his own words, he only practiced three days heading into the competition and was carried by the fact he played only Fox players outside of one series in his singles bracket.
“Honestly, I got super carried by the fact I only had to play Falco and I literally only played [against] Fox,” Mang0 said. “I was the Hbox, I only practiced one matchup all week. I definitely go carried. That helped a lot.”
He did go through the Fox gauntlet, with wins over SFOP, moky, Leffen, and two on iBDW to close out his run.
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This was also a big tournament for several other Melee players like SluG, who will be attending his first Smash Summit following a top-five finish with his Ice Climbers play. But the main standout was iBDW, who entered the competition on the back of the SWT cancelation and drama covering Panda and Nintendo—leading to his decision to leave Panda and become a free agent for the first time since May 2020.
While competing in the top eight he wore a blank white shirt that said “Free Agent” on the front, declaring that his DMs were open for the right sponsor if anyone wanted to talk sponsorships.
As for what’s next? Ludwig’s Scruffed World Tour will run on Dec. 18 in support of the VGBootCamp team and the canceled SWT—and covering what would have been the Panda Cup Finale’s last day before it was postponed. It is set to feature many of the top players in the world who were highly ranked on the SWT scoreboard, but Mang0 has now claimed his year is done if Zain doesn’t attend.
Regardless of if he and Zain do attend Ludwig’s event, Mang0 is confident in the future of Melee and is looking forward to the future of the scene wherever it ends up being played out.
“Just remember one thing. You can try to take our Melee away,” Mang0 said. “You can take my controller, my Gamecube, my CRT. I’ll play Melee in my fucking mind. As long as Melee lives I will play.”
And if somehow the big stage is taken away, Mang0 says they will play in a sweaty garage with just 20 people, him facing Zain behind a 7-11 for $25. “That’s what it’s always going to be.”
