The HungryWall Part 1

Shortly after Apex 2010, a visibly upset Armada returned home to Sweden, empty-handed after losing 3-0 to Hungrybox in Grand Finals. Previously, Armada placed 4^th at Pound 4 and 2^nd at Genesis. Three trips to America, yet Armada had no victories to show for it. To the average player, Armada’s placements were spectacular, but the Swedish phenom never settled for anything less than first. For him to win a national, he would eventually have to figure out how to defeat Jigglypuff. Between Apex 2010 in August and Pound V (February 2011), Armada quietly slipped under the radar in Europe. Granted, he still won his fair share of tournaments during that stretch (B.E.A.S.T., SKN2, and SKN 3), but little did we know that Armada was prepping a secret weapon for Hungrybox.

Pound V

Pound 5: Another national with yet another Armada and Hungrybox set. This time they met in Winner’s Quarters of a stacked bracket. To the shock of everyone, Armada moved his cursor on the select screen to “Young Link”. Although people cringe at Armada and Hungrybox sets today, everyone was really hype to see this matchup happen for the first time. The Young Link choice made sense for certain reasons:

1. Young Link was really hard to gimp
2. Projectiles such as boomerangs and bombs were hard for Jigglypuff to deal with
3. Bombs had guarantee kill setups
4. Young Link can run away from Jigglypuff with minimal risk

Armada confessed that he hid his counterpick until Pound V and practiced with Hack for several months to master the Jigglypuff matchup. With the months of hard work, Armada convincingly won the set against Hungrybox 2-0, beginning a trend of Armada’s dominance over Hungrybox.

A Streak of Dominance

In the summer, Armada defeated Hungrybox at Genesis 2, 3-1, in Winner’s Semifinals. With a victory over Mango and PPMD to win the whole tournament, Armada seemed to have everyone’s number. Fast forward to Apex 2012, Armada met Hungrybox once again, this time in grand finals. Hungrybox, not willing to fall without a fight, learned how to properly zone against Young Link and, for the first time ever, took a set over Armada 3-2 before falling 3-0 in the second set of grand finals. Although Hungrybox made improvements, Armada demonstrated his trademark fortitude in adjusting to and defeating his rival. To give Hungrybox some credit, several of Armada’s victories were determined by one hit, giving him some hope for the future.

Low Tier Duel

Another year passed and rumor had it that Hungrybox was developing his own secret character to counter Armada’s Young Link. Most thought Sheik  was the logical choice because of her strong advantages in the matchup, with her ability to control the matchup with needles, high priority aerials, and a strong grab game. As the projector showed Hungrybox and Armada on stage at Apex 2013, we saw his cursor not on Sheik but Ness instead, to the surprise of nearly everyone.

In a match of two low-tier characters, Hungrybox managed several close matches with his Ness. In one, an unfortunate shy-guy stopped Armada’s trajectory from a throw just enough to give Armada a second breath and win one of the matches. After two defeats, HBox returned to his main and took a game, but in the final match, the set went to timeout with Armada taking it. With a 3-1 set victory, Armada narrowly defeated Hungrybox, which left him going back to the drawing board.

A Short Break

After Apex 2013, Armada decided to take a hiatus from Melee, citing a lack of motivation. Consequently, Hungrybox and Armada did not play each other in tournament for the rest of 2013. But as 2014 looked to be Melee’s most exciting year ever with MLG, CEO, and Evo all in one summer and the huge surge in the Melee scene, Armada decided to come back in full force for the summer.

The Summer of Smash

By 2014, Hungrybox began dabbling with other characters such as Falco and Fox. Many scoffed at his secondaries, citing Hungrybox’s lack of technical skill and ostensibly simple but effective playstyle. At several locals, he actually performed quite well with his Falco, but the question remained: what character would he pick if he played Armada again?

Armada and Hungrybox, to no one’s surprise, both qualified for the MLG Championship Pool and were on a collision course to play each other in pools. This time around Hungrybox abandoned Ness completely and played with his tried and true joy, Jigglypuff. Being zoned out by bombs in previous matches, Hungrybox played very aggressively, which surprised Armada. However, Armada quickly made the necessary adjustments and punished Hungrybox for overextending repeatedly and won another set, 3-0. Although Hungrybox lost, perhaps he learned a few more things that would serve him later.

20xx and HungryFox

Although several notable players such as Ice and Hax had switched to Fox in 2013-2014, Hungrybox would have been one of the last names on people’s lips for players likely to make the switch. Shortly after MLG, CEO attracted several top gamers for another treat for stream monsters everywhere. Armada and Hungrybox once again met in bracket, this time in Winner’s Semis.

After losing at MLG, Hungrybox surprised everyone by bringing out “HFox” to compete with Armada’s Young Link. Many scoffed at this choice and thought Armada would run away with a free win. Although that did eventually happen, Hungrybox managed to defeat his Young Link with his Fox. There was speculation on whether Hungrybox and Armada sets would delve into counter-pick character wars, but this was quickly shut down in Loser’s as Armada dominated Hungrybox’s Fox with Young Link and Peach, making his Fox counterpick useless.

CEO finished with Armada taking the crown and beating Hungrybox twice. To add insult to injury, the public perception of Hungrybox reached an all-time low with many believing he was slightly below Leffen in overall skill, despite having strong performances for years. With a little under a month before Evo, would Hungrybox be able to prove his doubters wrong?

To be continued in Part 2