Ludwig Ahgren announced the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2 in a tweet on June 30. The LACS 2 will be an online Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament with a prize pool of at least $15,000. Notably, this will be the largest prize pool of any Smash event since the beginning of the year.
Ludwig hosted the first edition of his Championship Series in December 2018. This was a 16-man netplay invitational, with two of those players getting in through a qualifier event. The LACS 2 will work similarly, albeit on a much larger scale. This event will have 64 players competing, with 24 making it in through two qualifiers on July 11 and 12. Notably, these qualifier tournaments will be part of Brandon “homemadewaffles” Collier’s Rona Rumble series.
So far, Ludwig has confirmed nine of the players that will compete in the LACS 2. The star-studded lineup includes Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, Joseph “Mang0” Marquez, Zain Naghmi, Justin “Plup” McGrath, Cody “iBDW” Schwab, Johnny “S2J” Kim, Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, Edgard “n0ne” Sheleby, and Kevin “PewPewU” Toy. In addition, other players not mentioned in the announcement video will likely receive automatic invites.
$15,000 PRIZE POOL MINIMUM
WE'RE ABOUT TO POOR THOUSANDS ON THOUSANDS INTO SMASHhttps://t.co/NM6I34Lwfchttps://t.co/nZWl3AbUNL pic.twitter.com/CkxmPmVc8R
— ludwig (@LudwigAhgren) July 1, 2020
More about the LACS 2
The LACS 2 is possible thanks to recent changes to Slippi. Developer Jas “Fizzi” Laferriere recently introduced rollback netcode and integrated matchmaking to online Melee through the latest Slippi build. This allows for a smoother netplay experience across longer distances. Previously, Melee netplay tournaments could only run effectively with entrants limited to a specific region. But now, the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series can incorporate all of the United States and other parts of North America.
Alongside the LACS 2 announcement, homemadewaffles announced Rona Rumble Crew Battles. This winner-take-all event will take place from July 9 – 10, and it features a $5,000 prize pool. It will pit 12 regions against each other, with five players competing from each region. Here are the team captains from each region, who will select the remaining four players for their crews:
- Mang0 (Southern California)
- Zain (Maryland / Virginia)
- Hungrybox (Florida)
- iBDW (Tristate)
- PewPewU (Northern California)
- n0ne (Canada)
- Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson (Southwest)
- Avery “Ginger” Wilson (Midwest)
- Sasha “Magi” Sullivan and Albert Luu (South)
- Steven “FatGoku” Callopy (Pacific Northwest)
- Anthony “Slox” Detres (New England)
- Jonathan “Bimbo” Rocha (Mexico)
Better late than never but wanted announce this along with Rona Rumble: LACSQ
Rona Rumble Crew Battles!
5K Prize
Winner Take All!!!!
12 Regions in North America
Told yall we was cooking up!!
Kudos to the homie @turndownforwalt for making the video for us! pic.twitter.com/leJTOrIoro
— GG | Brandon Collier (@YungWaff) July 1, 2020
