This past Sunday, the EVO Championship Series concluded its Super Smash Bros. Melee finals with Alliance’s Adam “Armada” Lindgren emerging the victor for the first time ever in his professional career.
This year’s Evolution Championship tournament for the 14 year old game Super Smash Bros. Melee had a total of 1,869 entrants, surpassing the record set by EVO 2014 and becoming the largest Melee tournament of all time.
All of the big names were there, including 5 of the 6 “gods” of Smash, named such for consistently high placings in major Melee tournaments. Among them were Armada, Team Liquid’s Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Cloud 9’s Joseph “MaNg0” Marquez, Evil Geniuses’ Kevin “PPMD” Nanney (formerly Dr. PeePee), and Team SoloMid’s William “Leffen” Hjelte were all in attendance setting the stage for one of the most explosive Melee finals to match the huge field. Kingpin Jason “Mew2king” Zimmerman of COGnitive Gaming was one of the few notable names not in attendance.
The finals bracket culminated with Armada facing off against Hungrybox in the EVO grand finals. What proceeded was a grueling back and forth best of five series, pitting Armada as Fox versus Hungrybox’s infamous Jigglypuff. The godly players took each other through all five games, but the pink puff was bested by the furry space pilot in the end and Armada claimed the championship title and over $11,000 in prize earnings.
This does mark the first time that Armada has won an EVO tournament in his career. No doubt he will be looking to carry this momentum into upcoming major tournaments in the future and beyond. Check out the video below to see the explosive finals series in its entirety.