Tournament:Afterburner 2026
| Afterburner 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Dates | January 16th-18th, 2026 |
| Venue | Kruse Plaza |
| Address/City | 5634 Opportunity Blvd Auburn, Indiana 
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| Attendance | 358 |
| Entry fees | Early: $50 Regular: $60 Late: $70 Emergency: $80 |
| Results | |
 winners
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regEx 1v1 voorhese & HPR 2v2
|
 winners
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 Carmelo 1v1 Lui$ & Peabnut 2v2
|
| Staff | |
| Organizer(s) | Odyssey Esports |
Afterburner 2026 was a Super Smash Bros. Melee regional and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate major held in Auburn, Indiana, from January 16th-18th, 2026.
Tournament summary[edit]
This event was noted by many competitors and spectators for its large character diversity in top 32. Aside from Falco, who had four representatives, no other character had more than two players, with R.O.B., Diddy Kong, Wolf and Palutena each having two. Additionally, the tournament featured impressive runs from multiple low-to-mid tier characters. After losing his second set in round 1 pools, Wes went on an impressive 5 set losers run, which included a reverse-3-0 over Mystearica, to place 25th. TWITCHY! placed 25th as well after a nail-biting 3-2 win over Char. TWITCHY!'s performance especially stirred up anticipation for their upcoming participation in Vars Ultimate Summit 1.
The best low-tier run however was that of Zelda player Free KayFlock. KayFlock entered top 32 on the winners side after defeating both Soul and Arkdee. Despite losing to Carmelo 3-0, he defeated the remaining Falcos Dr. Kirb and Dice before losing to ApolloKage to finish 9th, tying both Yn and Ven for Zelda's best placement at a major.
This tournament was known for being Lui$'s cinderella run with Palutena. After losing to Miya 3-0 outside of Top 8, Lui$ would go on a rampage to reach Grand Finals. He would defeat Beastly to make Top 8, then defeat ApolloKage 3-1 for 7th, Miya in the runback 3-1 for 5th, Zomba 3-0 for 4th, Peabnut 3-1 for 3rd, and then reset Grand Finals against Carmelo 3-2. Carmelo would take the second set with a very close 3-0 that saw every game go to last stock, giving Carmelo his second major victory and his first of 2026. Luis$'s run saw him defeat 4 of the Ultrank 2025's Top 20 players, including 3 of the Top 10, making his run one of Palutena's best results since the post-pandemic metagame, and the second to make it to Grand Finals since Raflow's run at SmashMania 2025.
First seed Miya would underperform. After making it to Top 8, he would lose to Peabnut 3-0 in a very tight set, then lose his runback to the aforementioned Lui$ 3-1 for 5th. Interestingly, due to the event's Top 32 being divided into two pools, this caused Miya and Lui$ to be put in the same side of bracket one round sooner after Top 12.
Conversely, though top 32 still featured numerous high and top-tier characters, there was a notable lack of Steve players. The only Steve to successfully make top 32 was Carmelo, with the only other Steve in all of top 64 being Char.
Results[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee singles[edit]
(33 entrants)
Top 12 Bracket
| Place | Name | Character(s) | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | regEx |
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| 2nd |  Chibe |
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| 3rd | Ober |
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| 4th | voorhese |
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| 5th | Kola |
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| 5th | HPR |
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| 7th | nitus |
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| 7th | Bard |
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Super Smash Bros. Melee doubles[edit]
(3 teams)
Bracket
| Place | Name | Character(s) | Name | Character(s) | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | voorhese |
HPR |
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| 2nd | nitus |
Bard |
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| 3rd | ShadyJ |
Shiny |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate singles[edit]
(325 entrants)
Top 32 1 Bracket
Top 32 2 Bracket
Top 8 Bracket
| Place | Name | Character(s) | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Carmelo |
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| 2nd | Lui$ |
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| 3rd | Peabnut |
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| 4th | Zomba |
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| 5th | Miya |
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| 5th | Jakal |
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| 7th | ApolloKage |
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| 7th | Kola |
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| 9th | Free KayFlock |
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| 9th | Geist |
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| 9th |  MKBigBoss |
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| 9th | Beastly |
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| 13th | Dice |
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| 13th | Dany |
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| 13th | ATATA |
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| 13th | Ikan |
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| 17th | Woulphy |
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| 17th | Apple Reviewer |
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| 17th | AnthonyIsntCool |
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| 17th | Andrik |
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| 17th | Arkdee |
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| 17th | Soul |
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| 17th | Dr. Kirb |
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| 17th | Pharaoh |
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| 25th | TWITCHY! |
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| 25th | Suspect |
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| 25th | Wes |
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| 25th | Eclipz |
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| 25th | nazura |
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| 25th | Izaiah |
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| 25th | Nexus |
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| 25th | spickles |
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| 33rd | MoarD |
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| 33rd | Mystearica |
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| 33rd | Sytonix |
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| 33rd | + |
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| 33rd | MkGaeo |
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| 33rd | rydra |
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| 33rd | HyperKirby |
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| 33rd | Silcy |
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| 33rd | JeJaJeJa |
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| 33rd | Sir Dank |
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| 33rd | DOCTOR STANK |
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| 33rd | Yeast |
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| 33rd | BBBeans |
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| 33rd | Char |
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| 33rd | Finraal |
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| 33rd | Ravenking |
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| 49th |  Thorn |
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| 49th | Rob. |
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| 49th | Drewish |
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| 49th | Gus |
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| 49th |  Echofire |
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| 49th | Lux |
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| 49th | CJFrozen |
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| 49th | duck190 |
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| 49th | apple |
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| 49th | Uno |
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| 49th | RiskTKR |
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| 49th | Bray |
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| 49th | fair |
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| 49th | Aster |
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| 49th | TM4 |
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| 49th | yash |
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doubles[edit]
(56 teams)
Top 16 Bracket
| Place | Name | Character(s) | Name | Character(s) | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Lui$ |
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Peabnut |
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| 2nd | Carmelo |
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Miya |
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| 3rd | Free KayFlock |
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Zomba |
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| 4th | Lima |
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BBW |
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| 5th | Pharaoh |
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Apple Reviewer |
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| 5th | CJFrozen |
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Dany |
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| 7th | Woulphy |
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apple |
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| 7th | Lombardi |
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Rob Gucci |
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| 9th | Aster |
Zammo |
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| 9th | RiskTKR |
MKBigBoss |
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| 9th | ATATA |
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ApolloKage |
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| 9th | Drewish |
Suspect |
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| 13th | Bubbros |
Morly! |
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| 13th | Gus |
TM4 |
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| 13th | Diamond |
TWITCHY! |
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| 13th | yash |
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Daveid |
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