A day of wild upsets culminated into a top 8, where new talented players got a legitimate chance to win a Melee major. At the end of the day however, Joseph “Mango” Marquez was able to outlast everyone and win his second Big House title in the last three years.
Mango, as we’ve grown accustomed to, sends the crowd for a loop with his up-and-down play style. Mango ran through the winners bracket, but not without his fair share of hardships against his Swedish counterpart, Adam “Armada” Lindgren. Armada, in two separate sets, had Mango down to his last stock in game 5, but couldn’t manage to find the kill to take the set.
Mango also fell down 2-0 in his Winners Semifinals set against Armada and in the second set of Grand Finals, Mango found himself down 2-1. He managed to scrape by and win both of those sets despite the deficit. The overall set count was 7-7, which shows just how even these two were at The Big House 6.
Ice Freezes the Player Field
The big story was obviously Mango’s win, but Mustafa “Ice” Ackyara finishing third is also a major story. Ice joins Zac “SFAT” Cordoni, who he beat in this tournament 3-0, and Justin “Plup” McGrath, as the only players to finish inside the top-three at a premier tournament as a player ranked outside the top six.
He’s also the first German born player to make it this far at a major event. His run through the gauntlet of Fox-mains earned him his highest placing of his career. Ice has been an up-and-coming player since his top 8 breakout performance at Evo 2013, and now he’s starting to figure it out.
“I’m finally getting to the point where I can deal with my nerves,” said Ice on the VGBootcamp post tournament interview.
It was quite the tournament for Ice, considering he finished above Justin “Mew2King” Zimmerman and Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, who both rarely finish outside the top-three. In fact, it was only the third finish outside the top-three for Hungrybox in the last year.
Armada Finishes Second Again
Armada has had a tough stretch since the start of the Summer, and adding another second place finish at TBH6 won’t ease the pain soon. Armada was once again stuck in a state of disappointment as he couldn’t leave his chair after barely falling to Mango in the Grand Finals. It felt and looked like Armada at Evo 2016, where he left everything he had on the stage, and came as close as you can to winning a title, while finishing second.
Unfortunately, Armada finished second in both singles and doubles, and it’s becoming a theme for the Swedish legend. On top of that, Mango has consistently beat Armada in 2016.
Mango wins his sixth set over Armada in 2016
Mango has had an up-and-down 2016, but he’s had no trouble with the world’s most consistent player in Armada. The set count now moves to 6-3 in favor of Mango, and considering Armada’s record against everyone else, Mango has been his biggest hurdle this year.
Whether he goes Peach or Fox, Mango has had little trouble dealing with Armada. Mango’s struggles in 2016 come off losing to players ranked well below him, but he has winning records against every top player outside of Hungrybox in 2016.
Mango gets his third premier tournament victory of 2016 and his second win in his last three tournaments. He is starting to put it all together at the end of the season. But getting another TBH win shows he’s still arguably the best player in the world.
Here are the full top 8 results:
1. C9 Mango (Fox)
2. Alliance Armada (Peach, Fox)
3. Ice (Fox)
4. Echo Fox/MVG Mew2King (Marth, Sheik)
5. Liquid Hungrybox (Jigglypuff)
5. CLG SFAT (Fox)
7. COG Wizzrobe (Falcon)
7. CLG PewPewU (Marth)
