The contest for greatest Melee player of all time is no longer hyperbole when it comes to Armada (Adam Lindgren). The Swedish sniper, taking home another title at Beast 7 over countryman Leffen (William Hjelte), is another example of how far he’s taken his game in the past three months. He’s dismantling opponents.
Surprise Regions Make Top 8
Regardless, Armada’s strong play is not the main story of Beast 7. How can something so predictable be the main story? The main story was the strong play out of specific regions around the world. New England had its strongest tournament, possibly ever, with Slox (Anthony Detres) finishing top 8 and beating SFAT (Zac Cordoni).
Additionally, Europe showed up and played well. It was an all Europe top three, with Ice (Mustafa Akcakaya) taking down The Moon (Ryan Coker-Welch) to send the Americans home disappointed. On top of those three, Armada’s younger brother, Android (Andreas Lindgren), made the top 8 at his first major. He fell to the legendary European Sheik Amsah (Amsah D. Augustuszoon) but also finished first in doubles. It was a good weekend for the Lindgren clan as they were all there to celebrate the win in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Next, the Northern California trio of SFAT, Nintendude (Michael Brancato), and DizzKidBoogie (Kyle Athayde) had a rough weekend. SFAT failed to make his second consecutive top 8 at a major, losing to TheMoon and Slox. The two Ice Climber players failed to make it out of round two losers. It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the NorCal Melee scene.
Armada’s Switch to Fox vs. Leffen
Finally, let’s return to the grand finals and an extremely exciting top 8. The set between Leffen and TheMoon that provided viewers with an absolute bananas game five. The game on Pokémon stadium will be remembered for its intensity. Let’s now look at Armada pulling out the Fox and still managing to hold off Leffen long enough to win.
Two game fives. One in winners finals, the other in Grand Finals. Armada displayed a strong punish game in the Fox ditto, and a liking for Pokémon stadium’s vertical kill prowess. Armada showed he preferred to play the dash dance game by winning three games each on Dreamland and Pokémon Stadium. Leffen had his opportunities, but as Armada has shown in the past, he has the ability to win in those high intensity moments.
Armada is clearly on a hot streak and not even Leffen can slow him down. It’s hard to see anyone stopping his run of dominance any time soon. He seems to have figured out Hungrybox (Juan DeBiedma) for the time being, but players like Leffen, Mango (Joseph Marquez), and even potentially PPMD (Kevin Nanny) are lurking. Slaying the dragon that is Armada will be the story this year, IF, and that’s a big if, Armada loses. I wouldn’t bet on it.
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