The final set, the final stock, the final hit—that is what it took for Mang0 to take down Zain in the grand finals of Smash Summit 11. And, not only was it an incredible final series to end one of the first LAN events back for the Super Smash Bros. Melee community, but with his win, Mang0 finally claimed his first Summit title.
Summit 11 was the largest prize pool in Super Smash Bros. history and the first competition in the game to break $100,000 overall. In total, the Melee singles bracket had a final prize pool of $155,640, with Mang0 taking home $46,692 for first place.
To put the prizing into perspective, Wizzrobe and iBDW made more than $9,300 for finishing in a tie for fifth, which was more than Mew2King got for winning Smash Summit 6 in 2018.
The tournament itself featured a majority of the top Melee players in the world, barring some like Leffen who couldn’t attend due to visa issues, and was the first time many of them had competed at a high level in-person since Smash Summit 9 last February.
For Mang0, this was his 11th Summit appearance, having finished in the top four at all but three events. At Smash Summit 10 Online, he took second to Zain, falling just short of a bracket reset and his first Summit win.
Fast forward eight months and the two players considered to be the best in the world are back in the exact same situation, with Mang0 making a loser’s bracket run to reach Zain in the grand finals. However, this time, Mang0 managed to force the bracket reset, taking three games straight to end set one, including the final two on Final Destination despite playing at a perceived disadvantage against Zain’s Marth.
The opening of the grand finals reset was close, with Zain taking a 2-1 lead heading into a matchup on Yoshi’s Story, where Mang0 managed to keep his tournament life alive by cleaning up a tight 1-0 game.
In the tenth game of the finals, both players looked exhausted and dropped multiple tournament-winning combos in another final stock game. One specific whiff on shield from Zain gave Mang0 enough time to drop from the top platform of Battlefield, get a few good hits in, and finish things off with Shine.
“I don’t know, I just never thought I’d win a Summit,” Mang0 said.
On his way to winning Summit, Mang0 won five straight sets after being knocked into the loser’s bracket by Plup to make it into the finals, where he beat Zain 3-2 twice. Since 2015, Mang0 has won four different events making five-game runs through losers, including Summit 11, never finishing lower than third in any such run, according to PGstats.
Beyond the Summit will be back with Smash Ultimate Summit 3 in from Aug. 26 to 29, with Mainstage 2021 in November also leading into Smash Summit 12 in December.
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