All the details on Smash Summit 11 and how to tune in

Nearly two years in the making, the first Super Smash Brothers Melee LAN since the COVID-19 pandemic began, is finally here. Smash Summit 11 features the biggest prize pool in Melee history, along with 16 of the world’s greatest players. The four-day tournament includes numerous events from the main bracket, “Olympic Doubles”, Mario Party events and more. Here is a breakdown of everything going on at Smash Summit 11.

Main Bracket Format

Unlike other Melee majors, the team at Beyond the Summit is a using unique format for its main bracket. This time around, BTS is creating a three-tier approach with three stages. The tournament itself will feature all 16 invited players, including the six vote-ins.

The first stage of the main bracket includes a group stage. All 16 players are placed in groups of four, based on past performance in the online events heading into Smash Summit 11. These groups of four play against each other in a single round robin format. Each player in each group will move onto stage two, but stage one results determine the seeding.

Stage two is the Gauntlet stage. In this stage, all the players are shuffled into four new groups based on their performance in stage one. Each group will have one player who was first in their stage one group, one who finished second and so on. In these new groups, the first round will pit the third and fourth seeded players against each other. The winner moves on to to play the second seeded player, and the winner of that match will fight the first seed.

Like in the group stage, every player in the gauntlet stage will move onto the final bracket, but with a twist. The bottom two players in each group of the gauntlet stage will start in the losers side of the bracket. The top two will start on the winners side.

The final bracket will consist of a standard double-elimination tournament, with half of the players starting in the losers bracket. The winner of this bracket will be crowned the Smash Summit 11 champion.

Schedule and side events

Day one of the event kicks off on Thursday July 15, at 1 p.m. ET. Day one will consist of the opening ceremonies and side events. The first side event will feature Olympic Doubles, followed by the USA vs The World crew battle. The other three side events consist of 2v2 basketball, an obstacle course and Mario Party to close out the night.

Day two on Friday, July 16 will start with a show match between Golden Guardian’s Zain “Zain” Naghmi and Panda Global’s Cody “iBDW” Schwab, using each other’s main characters. When that wraps up, the group stage will start as all four groups play. Groups A and B will kick things off at 1:45 p.m. ET, and day two will end with Mafia, a Smash Summit classic.

On day three, Saturday July 17, there will be another show match. This time it’ll occur between Tempo Storm’s Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson and Dawud “Aklo” Rahman, in a Link battle. Day three will also feature the Gauntlet stage of the main event. This is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. ET, with Mafia once again closing the day out.

Day four on Sunday, July 18 will include a commentator crew battle, a VIP bracket for players and guests who flew out to attend the in person event and of course the final bracket. The Final Bracket will play from 3:30 p.m. ET until the conclusion. The winner will take home over $40,000 of the over $140,000 total prize pool.

Where to watch Smash Summit 11

The Smash Summit 11 event will broadcast via a live stream on twitch, presented by Beyond the Summit. The stream will also feature commentary from some of Melee’s best casters and talents. For a full list of talent, check here.