McSmashter 5 postpones indefinitely amid rising Omicron cases

McSmashter 5, Canada’s upcoming Super Smash Bros. major, has been indefinitely postponed due to rising Omicron cases. The tournament organizers, Angry Burly Bros, originally planned the event to run from Feb. 12-13 in Burlington, Ontario.

An update regarding McSmashter 5 in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Y7GFaR7qHF

— McSmashter (@McSmashter) January 12, 2022

McSmashter 5 was one of Canada’s premier Super Smash Bros. majors before Get On My Level surpassed it as the biggest Canadian Smash event. Its fourth iteration boasted 255 entrants for Melee Singles, the most of any Canadian Melee tournament up to that point. However, the series went on hiatus after McSmashter 4. McSmashter 5 was going to be the first edition of the tournament series since 2015.

Angry Burly Bros have become the first team to indefinitely postpone a major Smash tournament as a result of rising Omicron cases. For example, Glitch Infinite organizer Calvin “GimR” Lofton previously announced that he would delay the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate major by one month. However, he said that other TOs would likely find difficulty in canceling or changing dates for their events.

“Most organizers (including ourselves) have contracts they cannot get out of and it should not be expected of them to cancel their events and take on that kind of debt,” GimR said in a statement on Jan. 4.

McSmashter 5 indefinitely postpones

McSmashter 5 was going to include Singles and Doubles events for Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ultimate and Project+. Additionally, it was going to be a qualifier for the Project M Theatre, an upcoming Project+ invitational in the vein of Smash Summit.

HeartswapTV, the organization behind the Project M Theatre, announced that there would not be another open qualifier to replace McSmashter. Instead, they will directly invite two more players to compete at the Project M Theatre.

“Due to COVID-19, we feel it is unwise to promote travel,” HeartswapTV tweeted. “To minimize this, we will be inviting two players decided by some TOs to attend in place of the two qualifier spots. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but we believe [it’s] the best option.”