Ludwig announces $10K Melee tournament to be played using Slippi

The Melee community is trying to come together after Nintendo, the company responsible for the scene's lack of support over the years, has once again shown no intention of letting the scene thrive by forcing The Big House organisers to cancel their upcoming tournament.

Slippi, a third-party tool that allows Melee players to find matches online more reliably, and employing rollback netcode, is a forbidden tool that tampers with the integrity of the game - at according to the Japanese company - but that isn't stopping more organisers from coming up with their own events. 

The Big House being cancelled has sent ripples across the Melee community (Photo: The Big House)

One of them is Twitch streamer and former Melee pro Ludwig Ahgren, who, upon hearing of Nintendo's decision to cancel The Big House for using Slippi (with the company going as far as petitioning the entire event to be shut down, even if Ultimate was in the clear), decided to poke the bear even further by announcing the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series, to be played on Smash Bros Melee and boasting a $10,000 prize pool.

Of course, the tournament will be played using Slippi.

NOW ANNOUNCING LACS 3: CHARITY EDITION

A $10,000 EVENT WITH THE WINNER PICKING WHICH CHARITY THE MONEY GOES TO

ALL PLAYED THROUGH SLIPPI ONLINE

COMING TO YOU NEXT MONTH#FREEMELEE

— ludwig (@LudwigAhgren) November 20, 2020

LACS 3 will be played next month, tentatively using the original Big House dates. The tournament was last played back in July, with Zain Naghmi coming out on top, earning almost $9,000 in the process.

• Read more: Hungrybox urges Nintendo to support Melee scene as he wins Smash Summit 9

The intentions from Ludwig seem clear, try and force a reaction out of Nintendo and see how far they're willing to go to prevent the Melee community from running tournaments using modified copies of the game. In any case, top players like Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, and Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma have already shown their support for this event.

let's fucking go

— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) November 20, 2020

It remains to be seen if Nintendo takes action against Ludwig or not.

We'll keep you posted on any developments.