Beyond the Summit’s Smash Summit 11 has broken every record in the franchise’s esports scene, becoming both the largest prize pool in Super Smash Bros. history and the first competition in the game to reach a $100,000 prize pool. The milestones come just after the second round of crowdfunding by fans who want to help sponsor their favorite players’ entrance into the event. 

Summit voting season is a hectic time in the Melee community, with players and streamers pulling out every challenge, gimmick, and incentive to try and get their communities to secure a spot at the event. 

Crowdfunding, as evidenced by its name, lets fans vote for their favorite players in the voting pool by spending money on merch or subscribing to the BTS Smash Twitch channel. Although there are free votes, a player’s community organizes the majority of votes and drops them strategically in large “Spirit Bomb” movements to try and secure a spot. 

The process is split into three different segments, with two players being locked in every two days after the voting period begins. Hungrybox and Logan “LSD” Dunn were the first two players voted in this year, with Axe and Dawud “Aklo” Rahman getting in along with the record-breaking surge. 

Related: Leffen unable to attend Smash Summit 11 due to visa issues

In total, the event has a total singles prize pool of $102,016, on the back of $244,099 shop purchases and donations, which is 90 percent crowdfunded. This also helped fund some of the more elaborate content fans will see on stream, like Mario Party (but with real money) and the always popular Mafia nights. 

With only two spots left on the board, the movement behind Nick Yingling has the Arizona everyman well ahead of S2J, n0ne, and Wizzrobe. The final voting period ends on July 5, and you can find full voting details on the Smash Summit 11 smash.gg page. 

Prior to this event, Smash Summit 5 was the biggest prize pool for any Smash event, sitting at $83,758 back in 2017, and was the only Summit event on the top five spots on the list, according to Esports Earnings. 

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