According to an announcement on Melee It On Me's social media, the Smash Bros. organization will be hosting GenAssist — a fundraiser designed to support the Genesis crew following the supermajor's multi-month delay. The post details that the team responsible for 5 Days of Melee — on online event in Dec. of 2020 that raised over $60,000 for direct relief — will be handling the events of GenAssist.
Events for the fundraiser include matches from the Ludwig Aghren Championship Series 4, showmatches (including a Melee set between Leonardo "MkLeo" Lopez Perez and Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez, and gameshows like Meleeionaire featuring guests such as Cody "iBDW" Schwab and Kris "Toph" Aldenderfer. The stated goal of the event will be to raise $100,000 for the Genesis staff.
The event comes in response to Genesis 8 being postponed. Due to concerns over the safety of the tournament because of the Omicron variant, the crew made the decision to move the date of the tournament three months later to mid-April.
According to the announcement, the decision was of great financial strain to the organizers, stating, "By postponing, we will be incurring costs into the six figure range. Any other alternative would have shut our doors for good, and we would not be able to do another Genesis event again. Thankfully, we are fortunate to have a venue that could accommodate us and move the event to a viable date, something that not all events operating in this omicron peak have the opportunity to do, and we ask that you extend your understanding towards them." Genesis has for years been considered one of the premier tournaments in the Smash scene — one of the most prestigious events for several different communities.
The excitement begins Jan. 27, going through to Jan. 29.
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