Joseph “Mang0” Marquez won Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles at Ludwig Ahgren’s LACS 3 on December 20. Its $25,002 prize pool was the tenth-largest in Melee history, intentionally surpassing the LACS 2 by one dollar.
Mang0 conquered his first opponents dominantly. He made it to Winners Quarters with 3-0 wins over Justin “DarkGenex” Cohen, Luis “TheSWOOPER” Olivo, and DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel. Then, Mang0 beat Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma 3-1 to secure a spot in winners side of top 8.
Mang0 continued to look nearly untouchable in top 8. He defeated Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson 3-1 and Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett 3-0 en route to Grand Finals. Finally, Mang0 earned another 3-1 win against Cody “iBDW” Schwab. As a result, Mang0 won the LACS 3 without ever going to a game five.
Leading up to and during Ludwig’s tournament, the Super Smash Bros. Melee community raised money for Games For Love. Games For Love partners with children’s hospitals with the mission of easing children’s suffering through various video game-related programs. Between the LACS 3 and the 5 Days of Melee, the Smash community has raised over $300,000 for charity in the past week.
Since receiving the Cease&Desist from Nintendo regarding @TheBigHouseSSB on November 19th (32 days ago), the Smash Bros. community has raised $317,800 & counting for charity
$261,000 from LACS 3 to @GamesForLoveorg
$56,800 from 5 Days of Melee to @DirectRelief #LongLiveMelee
— Matt (@DotZeb) December 21, 2020
Other results from the LACS 3
After an unexpected loss to Kyle “Kalamazhu” Zhu, iBDW found himself in the losers bracket before top 32. However, iBDW was able to make a deep losers run all the way to 2nd place at the LACS 3. He reached top 8 by defeating Ryan Ford 3-0, Joey “Lucky” Aldama 3-0, Arjun “lloD” Malhotra 3-0, and Hungrybox 3-2.
To kick off top 8, iBDW eliminated Edgard “n0ne” Sheleby with a commanding 3-0. Then, he won a slog of five-game sets over Johnny “S2J” Kim, Axe, and Wizzrobe before Mang0 finally defeated him.
Axe had his best online tournament performance all year at the LACS 3, placing 4th. On the way to top 32, he beat Steven Joseph “Blues Clues” 3-0 and Dawud “Aklo” Rahman 3-2. Axe then beat Avery “Ginger” Wilson 3-1 and Kalamazhu 3-0 before losing to Mang0. In addition, Axe scored a 3-1 win over Zain Naghmi in Losers Quarters.
Zain placed 5th at the LACS 3, his worst placement since Mang0’s Birthday Bash over a year ago. In the process, he suffered upset losses to S2J and Axe (the latter of whom Zain has never beaten). Prior to this event, Zain had only dropped one set at an online tournament all year.
