Brandon “YungWaff” Collier announced many of the details for the second annual Black Empowerment Melee Invitational on Tuesday, including information about invited players, qualifying brackets, tournament format and more.
Here’s everything you need to know about the latest entry in YungWaff’s tournament series.
What is the Black Empowerment Melee Invitational?
The Black Empowerment Melee Invitational is an online, Smash Summit-esque Super Smash Bros. Melee invitational that exclusively features Black players and commentators. YungWaff created the series in 2021 to celebrate Black History Month.
During this year’s event, YungWaff will raise money to donate to Black-owned businesses and Black-centric charities.
Announcing the return of one the realest events ever.
Black Empowerment Melee Invitational: An Online Summit feat ALL Black talent in the smash community – players, commentators, content, and more!
All donations during made the event go towards Black charities and businesses. pic.twitter.com/OjTVcpp4zK
— GG | Brandon Collier (@YungWaff) February 3, 2022
Players to watch
The 2022 edition of the tournament will feature a total of 20 players. The first 12 players received automatic invitations, while an additional eight will qualify through an open bracket.
Each pool will feature three of the automatic invitees, as well as two qualified players. Here are the pool line-ups for this tournament so far:
- Pool 1 – Malachi “mvlvchi” Markos, DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel and Justus “Justus” Rivers
- Pool 2 – Kalindi “KJH” Henderson, Christian “Salt” Rennie and Michael “King Momo” Morales
- Pool 3 – reigning champion Jonathan “TheRealThing” Clinton, Jeffery “billybopeep” Palmer and Bab Activated
- Pool 4 – Toussaint “2saint” Turnier, Erick “Flash” Washington and Ryan Ford
Additionally, Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson received an invitation to the Black Empowerment Melee Invitational 2022. However, he had to drop out due to a recent thumb injury that prevents him from playing Melee.
Here are our 12 amazing invited players, along with each pool for BEMI 2022
1. @Shroomed08 , @_mvlvchi_ , @JustusXYZ
2. @spotdodge_shine , @Rennie0009 , @KingMoMo321
3. @MA_TheRealThing , @billybopeep_ , @Bab_Activated
4. @2Saintt , @0hio_Flash , @Ryan_Ford522 pic.twitter.com/GRQPsi6BCQ
— GG | Brandon Collier (@YungWaff) February 15, 2022
Tournament format and schedule
Competition at the Black Empowerment Melee Invitational 2022 will begin with the open bracket qualifier at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday. Then, the round robin pools phase of the main event will begin at 1 p.m. on Feb. 25 and run the whole day. One player from each pool will be eliminated during this phase.
On Feb. 26, the remaining 16 players will compete in a gauntlet phase beginning at noon. Each player will be seeded into one of four gauntlets based on their performance in pools. In addition, one player from each gauntlet will face elimination.
Finally, there will be a standard double-elimination bracket for the top 12 players starting at noon on Feb. 27. Outside of these matches, viewers can also expect a number of content blocks throughout the event.
