Smash Ultimate Summit V brought together a handful of top Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pro players to compete for a 17,586 USD prize pool. 10 players were invited, four of them were crowdfunded, and with two players qualifying, the 16-man invitational major tournament took place from Sep 15-18, in Los Angeles.

Among the players that finished top eight in the tournament, there were two players from Moist Esports; Paris “Light” Ramirez Garcia and Kolawole “Kola” Aideyan finished second and third respectively. Mashita “acola” Hayato and Naoto “ProtoBanham” Tsuji were the two Japanese players that placed in top eight, as they’ve proven why Japan is one of the strongest regions in Smash Ultimate.

ProtoBanham’s performance in 2022, especially in recent months, has been something to keep a sharp eye on, as he won back to back in the majors that he participated in the United States . Back in July 2022, he faced MKLeo in Grand Finals from the Loser’s side and still took the victory over him. He came from the Winner’s side to face Light in the Grand Finals of Summit V; despite the 3-0 bracket reset by Light, ProtoBanham found his momentum to take the 3-1 victory.

After announcing a break from competition in June, Faze Clan’s Edgar "Sparg0" Valdez returned to competition at Smash Ultimate Summit V. He placed 7th alongside TSM FTX’s Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey, while Team Liquid’s Michael “Riddles” Kim and Solary’s William “Glutonny” Belaïd finished 5th place.

The biggest upset of this tournament came from T1’s Leonardo “MKLeo” Lopez Perez. He got out of the group stage in 2nd place, and lost to Glutonny in the Gauntlet stage 2-3, thus starting his bracket run from the Loser’s side. He lost to Tweek 2-3 in Loser’s Round 2, finishing the tournament in 9th place. Widely considered to be the best Smash Ultimate player in the world, this major was the first time since 2019 [offline results] where MKLeo placed outside of top 8. Shortly after his loss, he shared his thoughts on his performance in the tournament via Twitter.