We have finally concluded the votes for the inaugural Inven Global Smash Awards, which celebrated the best players, content, and talent in the competitive Smash scene. This was an important endeavor for Inven's Smash team since the community has been the driving factor keeping the esports scene alive. It's full of passionate players, fans, and TOs that care more about Smash than anything else.

The Inven Global Smash Awards are celebrating the Smash community and what makes us great. And we're starting with Super Smash Bros. Melee, which has now been around longer than 20 years. Throughout those two decades, the community has continued to grow, thrive, and remain in love with the technical fighting game that defined an era. 

We're now announcing the best Melee match of 2021, voted by a panel of experts, journalists, and pros from the scene. 

Best Melee Match: Mango vs. Zain — Smash Summit 11 Grand Finals

This match has been commonly dubbed the "greatest set of Melee ever played," including by our very own panel. And it's not hard to understand why. 

Zain and Mango are two titans of the game. Mango, a Melee God. An icon. In 2021, Mango was making his return to the top known in a spectacular way. Zain, often called the "world's best player." Hungry for greatness. When the two clashed at the Grand Finals of Smash Summit 11 it was one of the most breathtaking, nerve-wracking, beautiful matches in a long, long while. 

Mango and Zain are good friends and have a lot of respect for each other. They practice together quite often. But Mango was focused, serious... He was there to prove that Fox had what it takes. To prove that he had what it takes to still be the best. Zain had taken down the other Melee Gods but Mango ended his run in a very close and intense match. 

Best Melee Match: Community Vote

Zain vs. Mango — Smash Summit 11 Grand Finals: 100%

Yep, 100%! Every vote went to this moment of 2021 when Mango took down Zain at the Grand Finals of Smash Summit 11. No other match compared. No other match felt as important, as era-defining, as impactful. 

Throughout the match you could hear the audience screaming, crying in agony. It was one of the most incredibly tense moments in recent Melee. The caster saying he was "losing my brain" was basically what everyone in the Melee community was feeling, put into words. 

Mango won his first Smash Summit. And it was the best set in the history of Melee, a 20-year-old game. That's two decades of matches, of rivalries, rap battles, insane sets... And Mango is still here — and one of the best, if not THE best.