Smash World Tour Finals: Schedule, format, prize pool, how to watch, and more

After a rocky 18 months, the future is looking bright for the Smash community, and there's no better way to cap the year than with the Smash World Tour finals.

Initially set to take place in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organisers to delay the long-awaited circuit, which kicked off early 2021 with a mix of both offline and online qualifying events. 

Looking to crown the best Smash Ultimate and Melee players in the world, the SWT finals will feature plenty of action over the coming days.

The schedule might get a little hectic, so let's walk you through everything you need to know about the event. 

Smash World Tour finals - Schedule and format

It all kicks off on 17th December with the first group stage matches and the Last Chance Qualifiers for both Ultimate and Melee.

On 18th December, the second half of the group stage and early bracket rounds will be played. Finally, the Top 8 for both Ultimate and Melee will be played on 19th December.

In terms of format, a total of 40 players will compete in the finals. They are divided into eight groups of five. The winner of each group advances to the final bracket winners side, second and third place will do so via losers, with the remaining players being eliminated from the event.

Each LCQ will have eight spots up for grabs. Once the players are decided on 17th December, they will play their group matches on the 18th.

These are the Smash Ultimate SWT groups:

And here are the Melee groups:

SWT LCQ winners

At the moment, both Ultimate and Melee's LCQ are being played, we'll update this page once we have the eight qualified competitors for each game.

Smash World Tour finals - Prize pool

The entire event features a $150k prize pool. However, we have no information regarding how it will be distributed. 

Smash World Tour finals - Where to watch

There are plenty of streams to catch all the Ultimate and Melee action, including dedicated Spanish, Japanese, and French broadcasts.

We have embedded the main stream down below as well as provided all the broadcasts for both Melee and Ultimate.

• VGBootCamp
• VGBootCamp 2
• VGBootCamp 3
• VGBootCamp 4
• Spanish stream
• French stream
• Japanese stream

Read more: Nintendo partners with Panda to sponsor Smash Ultimate and Melee tournament circuit

Featured image courtesy of Smash World Tour.