Though only in its third year, Genesis is already destined for greatness. As of this writing, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U both have over 1,000 registrants, a feat only Evo 2015 has accomplished thus far. In fact, Genesis 3 is just under 100 players shy of surpassing Evo as the largest Melee tournament of all time. This is great! Amazing even! Unfortunately, the organizers are set to waste this opportunity with a costly experiment that stands to diminish the validity of their eventual champions.
As it was explained to us by a source close to the tournament that wishes to remain anonymous, pool play at Genesis 3 is broken up into three phases. The top 64 players attending the tournament included in Melee It On Me’s year-end Melee rankings will automatically be placed in the second phase, bypassing the first because of their competitive status. The same will be done for a group of 32 Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players, the selection process of which has yet to be divulged.
Since this terminology neatly obfuscates what’s actually going on, this basically boils down to Smashers being floated through an entire round of competition due to their status as “top players.” Obviously, discussion exploded regarding this decision, both in the Smash scene and the fighting game community at large, with many decrying the format as a departure from what makes our tournaments great: the ability to step into the bracket on equal footing with the best of the best and make a name for yourself.
While they do good work, Melee It On Me is far from an official governing body in the Smash community. Though frequently an accurate representation of the competitive landscape, their lists are, at the end of the day, based entirely on the opinions of the panelists selected that given year. But even that is streets ahead of trying to determine the 32 best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players, as the breadth of the talent in that game is much too wide to narrow it down that far, especially taking its relative youth and constant updating into account.
This problem intensifies when you start looking for more detailed information. While a mention of the floating was first made in a post on Reddit last month, many overlooked this information because it was attached to an announcement for a crew battle. In fact, if you visit any of Genesis 3’s three information hubs (Smash.gg, Genesis.gg, and Facebook) for a ruleset two weeks out, you’ll be greeted by absolutely nothing but some ‘Coming Soon!’ text.
That’s…helpful?
To close things out, we want to put forth two real-world scenarios that would likely have not occurred if rules like this were in place at their respective tournaments.
The first, put forth by DC on r/SmashBros, involves a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U match at The Big House 5. While MVD is a current player who ranks among the best in Florida, he was defeated by a lesser-known (and apparently inactive) player by the name of Coco in the first round. While perhaps not the most intense of upsets, MVD’s regional ranking could have been used as an excuse to move him past that round automatically, totally erasing Coco’s chances of playing spoiler.
And if that’s not good enough, let’s look at the Ultra Street Fighter IV match between Alex Valle and Bonchan at Evo 2015. While Bonchan was all but certain to move past Valle in the quarter-finals, a surprise character choice and some amazing reads were enough to move the veteran past the Japanese competitor in what was perhaps the most exciting match in Las Vegas that weekend. If the organizers were to look at our Street Fighter rankings (shameless plug) and think, “Well, Bonchan deserves to move forward a round without playing,” the landscape that resulted in that tremendous upset could have been washed away in favor of a more sterilized environment.
When pressed for more information, Genesis co-organizer Sheridan Zalewski stood behind their decision. “I did not know whether the Wii U community would find it acceptable. Therefore I approached a group composed of top players and community leaders,” Zalewski said on Facebook. “After explaining why we were doing it for Melee and what effect it might have on the bracket, I let them decide whether they thought this would be good for Wii U as well. They seemed to think it would work. So I feel I’ve done my due diligence as the director of tournament operations.”
“I’m not stressing over missing 1 or 2 upsets. You guys will have a chance to find out how right or wrong we are by comparing the bracket results after [Genesis 3],”Zalewski continued. “Nothing is changing. If shit does go wrong, then we will learn a lesson. If it doesn’t, cool.”
Attempts to reach out to Zalewski and other Genesis 3 staff members remain unanswered, but we will update this article with further details should they respond.