Ludwig announces Smash invitational on same day as Panda Cup Finale - Upcomer
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Ludwig and Panda Cup qualified player Zain at the Ludwig Smash Invitational

Ludwig announces Smash invitational on same day as Panda Cup Finale

The event will be a fundraise for VGBootCamp

Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren announced Friday that he will host the Scuffed World Tour, a Super Smash Bros. invitational meant to replace the recently-canceled 2022 Smash World Tour Championships. Ludwig will host this event on December 18, the same day as the finals of the Panda Cup Finale.

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Ludwig has invited the following players to his tournament:

  • Melee
    • Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma
    • Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto
    • Zain “Zain” Naghmi
    • Cody “iBDW” Schwab
    • Joseph “Mang0” Marquez
    • Shephard “Fiction” Lima
    • Johnny “S2J” Kim
    • Aaron “Professor Pro” Thomas
  • Ultimate
    • Leonardo “MkLeo” López Pérez
    • Carlos “Sonix” Pérez
    • Mashita “acola” Hayato
    • Angel “Onin” Mireles
    • William “Glutonny” Belaid
    • Paris “Light” Ramirez
    • Michael “Riddles” Kim
    • Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby

If any of the above players cannot attend, Ludwig will instead invite the next highest-ranking person on each game’s respective Smash World Tour leaderboards. During the event, Ludwig will raise money for VGBootCamp, the tournament organization team behind the Smash World Tour.

More about Ludwig’s event and the Panda Cup

According to the Smash World Tour organizers, Nintendo declined to grant them a license for the 2022 Championships and told them it expected them not to operate a commercial tournament without a license. Nintendo put out a formal response in the middle of the night on Friday, claiming that it verbally informed the Smash World Tour organizers that they were not required to cancel their event.

A couple hours before Ludwig announced his tournament, Panda Global put out a statement responding to accusations that CEO Alan Bunney threatened that Nintendo would go after TOs who didn’t add their events to the Panda Cup. The organization sided with Nintendo and did not announce any disciplinary action for Bunney. Panda’s statement has been met with widespread criticism from the Smash community, including players and content creators sponsored by Panda.

Because of the Smash World Tour’s cancellation and Bunney’s alleged actions, multiple people have called for a boycott of the Panda Cup Finale. Nearly half of the invited Melee players have publicly announced their intention to drop out already.

Now, Ludwig has scheduled his own event as a likely protest of the Panda Cup. The Scuffed World Tour will take place one week after Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing Championship.

Author
Image of Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate is an alumnus of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a gaming journalist with a love for Nintendo esports, particularly Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon.