Armada Dominates Eclipse 2; Ice Has Another Breakout Performance

Eclipse 2 was business as usual for the European legend Adam “Armada” Lindgren, as he took home top honors without dropping a single game the entire tournament until his matchup with Mustafa “Ice” Ackakaya in Grand Finals.

Armada has once again made it clear who the best player in Europe is. He had little to no trouble throughout pools and top 64. As I said, Ice, who is currently in a rise similar to that of Zac “SFAT” Cordoni’s, was the only one to give Armada any trouble. He pushed the Swedish Peach player to game five. He ultimately came up short with Armada having the counter-pick advantage heading into the last game.

The overall set count in both winners and grand finals was 6-4 between these two. Ice played him extremely tough, but struggled once Armada got the chance to go to Dreamland (Armada got a three-stock on game five).

It was another breakout performance for the German Fox main. It’s only been a couple weeks since we saw Ice finish third at one of Smash Bros’. premier events in The Big House 6. He showed that he can beat any Fox main in the mirror matchup, and that was apparent again this weekend.

Ice vs. Leffen
From the look of it, William “Leffen” Hjelte is back playing Melee full-time. Unlike his last appearance in the United States (TBH6), Leffen went Fox the entire tournament and showed he was serious about winning. Unfortunately for Leffen, he ran into one of the hottest players in Melee who is specifically strong against Fox.

Leffen was double-eliminated by Ice. He lost 3-1 in Winners, and dropped a game five edge guard to lose in losers final set 3-2. Every game in that set went to last stock, including an insane game five last hit scenario on Yoshi’s island. It was about as even a set as I’ve seen this year, with both guys trading stocks the entire set.

Ice got up 2-0 in the set, playing his technical-heavy Fox, relying heavily on power shields and edge guard set ups. He’s become the leader in Fox shine spike technology. Leffen struggled to stay on-stage, until he got to counter pick Dreamland. When Ice was forced to play in neutral, he wasn’t as strong. Leffen carried his Dreamland win into another win forcing a game five.

The problem with getting down 2-0 is that leaves your opponent with three counter pick stages. Ice got to go to his most comfortable stage in Yoshi’s Island twice. Leffen actually outplayed Ice in these games, but Fox mirrors are so fluid and unpredictable that Ice managed to pull out a shine spike on last stock.

It was another huge victory for Ice before falling to Armada in Grand Finals.

Rest of the field
The event featured mostly European players, but North American players like Kashan “Chillindude” Khan and Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir did make the trip to Norway. Neither player did exceptionally well for their standards. Kage at least finished in the top five by getting 3-0’d by Leffen.
Chillindude, on the other hand, had a rough weekend. He fell to a French Fox main, Adam “Adamayonmike” Ayonmike in winners and Calle W, a Falco main from Sweden, in losers. He finished outside the top eight.