This weekend saw the final Shine tournament go down, a Super Smash Bros tournament with a bigger focus on competitive Melee than the other games in the series. It’s always great to see these big events for one of the best fighting games of all time. The tournament has been a part of Melee for a few years now, but it’s coming to an end with Shine 2023, the final one in the series. Who took the last win at this Melee major though? Which player is leaving Shine as the final Champion?

After a tight final bracket, Cody Schwab managed to take the win at the tournament. Cody Schwab took the win, but Zain performed really highly here too. We also saw great performances from like aMSA and more. This is what went down at Shine 2023.

Cody Schwab Wins Final Shine Tournament

Cody Schwab might have claimed victory in the end of Shine 2023, but there were strong performances all over. Cody entered in the winners bracket but had a fight through here, in tighter matches he beat both Spek and KoDoRin, before sweeping SDJ 3-0. This locked his spot in the final bracket where he faced the 2022 champion Zain.

Zain lost the first match-up in the winners final, heading down to face Akio in the Losers Final. This was a much smoother ride for Zain though, easily moving forward with a 3-0 win. The Grand Finals was then set, with a rematch between Cody Schwab and Zain.

This is where things got really interesting. Opening up the Grand Finals, Zain came back and forced a full reset. He won 3-0, extending the match. He started this second round in similar form, grabbing the first set before losing one, Zain went on to win the second of the second set before Cody came back to take the next two and secure his win. Cody Schwab might have performed stronger and won, but Zain very close comeback was definitely a factor here too. The player only narrowly lost and Shine 2023 was home to one of the more entertaining final brackets we’ve seen in the series.

Shine 2023 Preview

The Shine series has grown a lot since it launched in 2016. The New England event series has become a major in the line-up for Super Smash Bros, but this year is going to be its final round. Shine 2023 is going to be a big tournament for quite some of the biggest fighting games this year.

The tournament is taking place over August 25-27. It’s going to be a huge tournament in person, but players can follow along at home on the official stream too. The whole tournament has a lot going on. If you want to know how it’ll work, and who the top players in each game are, this is what’s happening.

Shine 2023

There are other games this year, but Smash Bros is still the main event for Shine 2023. This is going to be a few tournaments. There are doubles and singles for both games. Although, there’s a bigger focus on Melee rather than Ultimate.

Melee

The Melee event at Shine 2023 is the biggest tournament, which isn’t often the case with more recent tournaments. Melee has the biggest prize pool at $10,230. It’s fittingly got some of the best Smash Bros players attending. There’s Zain, Cosy Schwab, Jmook, Mang0, aMSa, and KoDoRiN all attending.

Ultimate

Smash Ultimate will be the other major event at Shine 2023. It’s got a prize pool of $5,745 at stake, so about half of what’s here for Melee. Some of the major players like Light, Zomba, Dabuz, and Jakal are all going to be attending. It isn’t quite as big as Melee but this should still be a fun event at Shine.

Future of Shine

Shine 2023 is unfortunately going to be the final tournament for the series. Because of financial problems, this will be a finale for the event in its current form. Hopefully, the tournament is one to remember.