While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is widely considered a global game, Melee has had a hard time reaching those same heights due to its lack of online options and its age working against it as newer titles release. Now, two of the biggest names in Smash are working to change this for European regions by putting what equates to a bounty on the top-ranked spot.
You’ve likely heard Leffen and other top EU talent talk about how hard it is to cultivate a strong Smash scene for Melee in Europe.
Thankfully that has become easier since Slippi, a community-made mod, added high-quality online matchmaking to Melee and continues to revolutionize how the 21-year-old game is played.
Slippi has made it easier to practice the game, play with other players who might have been out of reach before, and compete in online events. And, just last month, Fizzy and his team launched Slippi’s ranked mode, giving the Melee community another reason to grind the game. However, it seems that wasn’t enough incentive in Europe.
According to Leffen, Slippi ranked is “almost a wasteland for Europe right now” with a number of the top players in the region having 40 or fewer total games played on their accounts. This makes it harder for other talented players to find matches and not having a thriving online scene is negatively impacting the scene.
To prove his point, Leffen took the top three spots on Slippi’s EU ranked ladder and changed each accounts name to point players to his Twitter for his new initiative to try and fix this: E.U. I.S. L.A.Z.Y. or the European Union International Smash Leffen Attendance Zoomer Youthfund.
Playing off of an older Smash meme about EU being a lazy region, Leffen’s “program” will reward the top-ranked EU player with a paid trip to a North American Smash Major of their choice. This will include full coverage for flight and hotel, with additional money for food. This will run from now until the Slippi Ranked beta ends in around two months.
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Not only that, but Leffen will also reward the player with the most ranked games played from Jan. 11 until the beta ends by giving them $500 and a travel stipend too. Ludwig has pitched in to add an additional $500 to this reward for each winner to further promote the push for more ranked competition.
There are a few stipulations for how the program is being run, with some of it being subjective to Leffen and whoever reviews things at the end of the contest:
- Leffen can’t win. If Leffen is ranked in one, or multiple, of the top spots it will go to the next eligible ranked player.
- Dodging specific players, consistent ragequitting, or playing on Wi-Fi/poor internet connection will disqualify you.
- Secondary or challenge accounts will not be accepted.
- Players must play mostly using their main characters they would normally use in tournaments as an effort to try and ensure that this is treated as serious practice for everyone else playing.
- Secondary characters will be allowed to an extent, but Leffen notes that players trying to win should focus on their mains.
- Leffen will select the “most games played” winner for the travel fund based on a number of factors to ensure the “biggest grinder” is rewarded.
- “There is no rank requirement for this one, I’m just going to reward the biggest grinder,” Leffen said. “If someone top 10 has 1000 games but is in queue constantly, maybe they get picked above a gold 2 with 1200 games.”
Hopefully, this bounty will encourage some players to pick up their controllers a bit more often and gun for a top spot so they can potentially make the trip out to an NA Major—with a shot to show just how good EU Melee really is.
