The Northern Knockdown Series has been announced, a new event billed as ‘Ulster’s largest Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournament’.
Organisers have told Esports News UK that the March 26th event – organised by Esports Northern Ireland (EsportsNI) and Big Fish – will have a host of top players from Northern Ireland and Ireland. The top 10 ranked players in Northern Ireland will attend, including Colm, Wombat and RavenRabbit, who are ranked third, second and first respectively.
The event is a 64-entrant regional held at the Currys store in Sprucefield, and acts as Esports Northern Ireland’s first step into the Smash space. It costs £5 to attend and £10 to enter the bracket.
The entire £10 bracket fee will be put back into the prize pool of the event, so if it reaches the 64 player cap, there will be a £700 prize pool (which also includes a sum from Esports Northern Ireland). And organisers say any additional profits made will be given back to Big Fish and the Smash community to help run more events.
Sign-ups for the Northern Knockdown Series opened last night:
‘We’re extremely excited to launch the Northern Knockdown Series’
Michael Smyth, Team Manager of Esports Northern Ireland, told Esports News UK: “We are extremely excited to launch the Northern Knockdown Series. It’s fantastic to be able to showcase the top talent of the island of Ireland and those that are travelling to the competition.
“All credit goes to the fantastic team behind the scenes organising this event.”
Graham, a Level 3 BMET Esports Student and Head of Smash Bros at EsportsNI, added: “When I entered the Smash scene, not only was I new and unaffiliated, but not even the best player. Nonetheless, in a short amount of time I was integrated into the scene and have made so many long lasting friendships that it’s overwhelming. It has ignited massive passion within myself and I hope the Northern Knockdown Series gives a taste of what I hope I can bring to this scene.”
Od (aka YAMCHAD), a Head TO for the Northern Knockdown Series, commented:
“It’s an exciting step for Big Fish and a huge victory for grassroots fighting game communities.”
YAMCHAD, the Northern Knockdown Series
Graham instigated the partnership with Big Fish and also acts as one of the Head TO’s for Northern Knockdown Big Fish Belfast – a Smash Bros community based in Belfast which acts as the scene for Smash within the Ulster region. They hold weekly events every Sunday with around 10-15 entrants per week, and a monthly event at the end of each month known as ‘There’s Always A Bigger Fish’, which can see anywhere from 20-30 entrants.
There’s also NoodleJuice, another Head TO of Northern Knockdown, and MonTyyy9, TO and Broadcast Manager.
Esports Northern Ireland competed at the Commonwealth Esports Championships last year, in association with the British Esports Federation, and Northern Ireland eFootball player Emma ‘Emzii’ Rose won a gold medal. Overall, the UK Home Nations won 11 medals at the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham.
The news comes after East London Smash announced a new national tournament series Rise.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
