Smash World Tour unveiled

2020 is shaping up to become a huge year for Super Smash Bros. fans everywhere. Besides Nintendo’s support of more events and Beyond The Summit doubling down on Smash events, we now have the first major Super Smash Bros. international tournament circuit.  

Created by prominent and longtime members of the Super Smash Bros. community like VGBootCamp, Smash World Tour 2020 will combine the existing Smash Melee and Ultimate scenes in a tournament circuit that will span the globe with over 25 community events. The circuit features a combined prize pool of $250,000 and will commence in March with CEO Dreamland and end on December 17 in the Smash World Tour Championships. The top 31 players on the Smash World Tour Leaderboard by the end of the 10-month circuit will attend the grand finale.  

Participating events will be divided among Platinum, Gold, and SIlver tiers, which, similar to the PGRU, will be ranked according to the number of attendants and how many top players will be in attendance. Each tier will determine how many points these events will reward participants, with Platinum providing the most. 

The Smash community has managed to thrive without official support from Nintendo for such a long time now. So it comes as no surprise that the Smash World Tour will continue to give fans from around the world the opportunity to participate. Tournament organizers across the world may join the World Tour as Silver-tier events so long as they have more than 32 players in the Singles bracket and opt-in on the official Smash World Tour Smash.gg event page. 

Here is the current tournament schedule for Smash World Tour 2020:  

Gold

• CEO Dreamland (Melee & Ultimate), March 13-35
• MomoCon 2020 (Melee & Ultimate), May 22-24
• Battle of BC 4 (Melee & Ultimate), June 19-21
• CEO 2020 (Ultimate), June 26-28
• Colossel 2020 (Ultimate), July 11-12
• Fete 2020 (Melee), July 23-26
• Glitch: Infinite (Ultimate), September 19-20
• The Script Trilogy (Melee), October 10-11
• Apex 2020 (Melee & Ultimate), November 20-22
• Port Priority 6 (Ultimate), TBA
• Japan Event (Ultimate), TBA
• Japan Event (Melee), TBA
• Japan Event (Melee), TBA
• West Coast Event (Melee & Ultimate), TBA
• Mexico Event (Melee & Ultimate), TBA  

Platinum

• HFLan Melee Edition (Melee), March 28-29
• Pound 2020 (Melee & Ultimate), April 3-5
• Umebura Japan Major (Ultimate), May 4-6
• Get On My Level 2020 (Melee & Ultimate), May 15-17
• Battle Arena Melbourne 12 (Melee & Ultimate), May 29-31
• Double Down (Melee & Ultimate), June 5-7
• Low Tier City Expo 2020 (Melee & Ultimate), July 10-12
• Smash Factor 9 (Melee & Ultimate), July 24-26
• Super Smash Con (Melee & Ultimate), August 6-9
• Europe Event (Ultimate), TBA 

A Last Chance Qualifier event will be held for both games right before the Smash World Tour Championships. All 32 players competing in the finale will be split into four groups based on their final scores and take part in best-of-five, double elimination brackets. The top four players from each group will then advance to the Playoffs from which the champion will emerge. The prize pool also isn’t fixed, meaning that it could grow much higher as we approach the end of the tournament circuit. 

Here’s a look at the current prize allocation for both games in the Smash World Tour Championships:

• 1st  - $40,000 
• 2nd - $20,000 
• 3rd - $12,000 
• 4th - $9,000 
• 5th - $6,000 
• 7th - $4,000 
• 9th - $2,000 
• 13th - $1,400 
• 17th - $800 
• 25th - $500 

The Smash World Tour 2020 isn’t currently associated with Nintendo, but it shouldn’t take too long for that to change, considering the scope and breadth of the circuit. The official website states that “one of our goals with the Tour is to offer a unified way for Nintendo to support the competitive scene directly.” The tournament circuit brings all the dangling pieces of the Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate competitive scenes into one package that doesn’t leave any fans out. It helps that this aligns with Nintendo’s approach to esports.

Sponsored by Twitch and Smash.gg, the Smash World Tour 2020 will begin on March 13 with the Gold-tier event, CEO Dreamland in Orlando, Florida. You can find more information on the official website here, and registration is currently live on Smash.gg here.