Super Smash Bros. Melee’s 2022 will be looked back at as a year of runs, with different players hitting their peaks throughout a turbulent season that ended in a messy way. One such player is Japanese phenom aMSa who closed out a drama-filled year for the Smash community with another Major victory at the Scuffed World Tour.
The Japanese Yoshi player is likely who many will think back on as winning 2022 overall, with his strong closing run involving not only his first-ever Major win but also multiple consecutive top finishes as he finally broke through to the top of the competitive scene.
Since winning The Big House 10 in October—his first Major win and the first Major won in Melee history with Yoshi—aMSa has only placed outside of the top three once at any event he has competed in. This includes a second Major win at Apex 2022 and now a third if you count invitational-style events like the SWT as Majors.
During his run at the final Melee Major of the year, aMSa showcased exactly why he is now considered among the best in the world, taking wins over Jmook, Leffen, Mang0, and Hungrybox to win it all. The only difference between this and his previous Major victories is that he did drop a set, with Hbox forcing a bracket reset in the grand finals before aMSa finished it out with a 3-1 win.
As for the Smash community, this was a last-second change to their end-of-year schedule as Ludwig and the Mogul Moves team had to step in and host the Scuffed World Tour following the sudden cancelation of the Smash World Tour in late November.
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That event, which was being put on by tournament organizer VGBootCamp and some of its partners, could not continue operating the SWT for its 2022 Championship event and the entire 2023 Tour due to a lack of an official license and other pushback from Nintendo. As a result, the entire thing was called off and VGBC canceled all plans for tournament hosting in the near future—leaving the team’s future uncertain amid financial blowback as multiple moving parts had already been locked in for the SWT Championships.
Ludwig and his team put together the Scuffed World Tour on short notice, bringing together 16 of the best Melee and Ultimate players in the world to compete in place of the original SWT—offering a $25,000 prize pool for each game and raising money for the VGCB team through donations. They also ended up being the only event to run during this timeframe as the Panda Cup was indefinitely postponed due to additional drama surrounding the SWT’s cancelation and the part Panda’s ex-CEO allegedly played in it.
In total, the community has raised over $26,267.63 for the VGBC team, hopefully giving them some form of help as they try to pick things up heading into 2023.
You can’t really ask for a more poetic end than for the VGBC-sponsored player to win it all at the event supporting his org. And now the top players will now go their separate ways—likely not competing in any large events together until the next competitive year really kicks off with Genesis 9 in late January.
