News

Collision 2023 preview: Ultimate pros vie for last Smash Summit spot ever

Plus, the players to watch during Melee’s debut appearance at Collision

03/08/2023

Provided by Collision Gaming Series via YouTube More than 1,000 players have signed up to attend Collision.

The competitive Super Smash Bros. community took another huge hit last week when Beyond the Summit co-founder David “LD” Gorman announced that the organization would soon close its doors. Beyond the Summit hosted tournament series like Smash Summit and Mainstage, along with streaming several independently-hosted Smash majors.

Later this month, Smash Ultimate Summit 6 is slated to be the final event hosted by Beyond the Summit. With 15 slots already filled, this weekend’s qualifier tournament will determine who will earn the final Smash Summit spot for the foreseeable future. With high stakes for the Ultimate players especially, here are the storylines to watch going into Collision 2023.

Frontrunners for the final Summit spot

If the Collision 2023 bracket plays out as projected, then the final Summit spot will go to Carlos “Sonix” Pérez, the highest-seeded player who has not yet been invited. Given his consistency at recent tournaments, Sonix is the safest pick to qualify by far.

So far this year, Sonix has placed in the top four of Let’s Make Big Moves, Genesis and LVL UP EXPO. Across these events, he has taken sets from Leonardo “MkLeo” López Pérez, Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez, Michael “Riddles” Kim, Pedro “Kurama” Alonso Jr., Kolawole “SALTONE” Aideyan, William “Glutonny” Belaid, Salvatore “Zomba” DeSena and Brian “Cosmos” Kalu.

Meanwhile, the only consistent thorn in his side has been Paris “Light” Ramirez Garcia, who he likely does not need to beat to qualify for Summit.

Only a matter of time till my offline results look like this too… https://t.co/3raOQD7Nf4

— LG Sonix (@UltimateSonix) February 23, 2023

Another potential candidate for qualification is Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby. Up to now, MkLeo and Dabuz have been the only players to compete at every iteration of Smash Ultimate Summit. Dabuz could very well tie for fifth with Sonix by getting an “upset” over Kurama, who he was 3-0 against last season. If it comes down to a tiebreaker set, Dabuz may be the favorite since he was 2-0 against Sonix last season.

Melee storylines at Collision 2023

The biggest stars of Genesis 9 for Melee, Kurtis “moky” Pratt and Jake “Jmook” DiRado, both have the potential for strong performances at Collision 2023. If he can conquer Arjun “lloD” Malhotra, moky’s projected winners quarters opponent is Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto, who he had a winning record against last year.

realistically won’t actually take a melee break after collision but playing almost only mario the past month was a much needed detox

rankings talk not being forced onto me in every conversation

the ability to show frustration at the improvement process without mass hate

bliss

— moist | moky (@moky_dokie) March 4, 2023

Meanwhile, Jmook has a chance at enjoying another bracket without Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, much like the one that culminated with his first major victory at Genesis. His projected road to winners finals goes through William “Leffen” Hjelte and Cody Schwab, both of whom he defeated the last time they played.

While aMSa could be a tough draw in winners finals, Jmook may be the potential benefactor of an upset from moky. In that case, Jmook would likely face Zain “Zain” Naghmi, who he also beat in their last set.