Evo is about who has been and who will become the champ. What we remember is the winner, and the rest will fade away. Genesis is a tale of Grand Finals, of matches that tug at your imagination and celebrate the spirit of Melee. Years from now, the victor will matter less than having watched the sets that two rivals played. Before the documentary, before Evo, the videos of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 Grand Finals inspired new players and breathed life into the scene.
Since Genesis, there have been sixteen premier tournaments. For Genesis 3, here are sixteen potential Grand Finals and what they’d mean (note that they are not necessarily order of preference). Part 1 is here.
(Note: When I first began writing this article, I assumed Leffen would make it to Genesis 3. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case, but there are still ten exciting matchups between the remaining members of the Top 6. I will leave the title untouched. One can hope, right?)
10. Hungrybox vs. PPMD (13-9)
The Past
PPMD’s first out-of-state tournament, Tipped Off 4, pit him versus Hungrybox. PPMD was still an unknown quantity, while Hungrybox had already begun gaining national attention, and it ended in a 3-0 loss for the Falco. He lost all 5 sets they played in 2009. There are stories that at tournaments, he followed Hungrybox around with a notebook and studied his matches. If it’s true, it paid off. He won Herb 3 over Hungrybox in 2010, and their record for the year was 3-3.
PP’s momentum continued over the next two years as the matchup shifted to 3-0 in his favor. It became Hungrybox’s turn to adjust and he did, breaking the streak at Zenith 2013. Some sets led to nailbiting Game 5s and others were lopsided, but they finished the year once again at parity: 3-3.
The Present
Their matches have grown scarce in recent years because of PPMD’s absence from tournaments. They’ve only faced off at Evo 2014 and Evo 2015, both sets won by Hungrybox. PP will do his best to take center stage, while Hungrybox navigates through a storm of lasers and threatened bairs to engage him. The longer Falco stays in the corner, the likelier he will be knocked offstage, and the more jumps Jigglypuff expends, the riskier her position. It’s a battle for control. The tension gradually builds up for whoever’s disadvantaged, until they have no choice but to make a dangerous play.
It is a mentally fatiguing battle. PP will be the underdog, an outsider missing the grit and endurance built by grinding out tournaments. Hungrybox will be sturdy, experienced, and accustomed with the challenges presented by today’s top-level competition.
The Stakes
So far, their Grand Finals have been reserved for regionals in the South. Only once have they been the last two players remaining at a major: Revival of Melee 2 in 2009. To play in Grand Final at Genesis 3, on the West Coast’s home court, would be a statement on where the future of Melee lies.
Their finals would also emphasize the importance of resilience in a competitor. In the past year, Hungrybox has placed second, third, second—again and again—until finally a breakout victory at Dreamhack Winter. PP has battled with a different kind of obstacle, one outside the game: depression, illness, exhaustion. And they both are familiar with the burden of a fickle crowd; both have had skeptics who doubted their abilities to overcome hurdles and emerge a champion.
Notable Set
Losers Finals at The Big House 3. The “Kanye Rest” set demonstrates the fragility of mindset. The characters inside the game can lose a stock at any moment; the players outside the game can fall apart at a second’s notice. Mental fortitude is vital to winning at top level, and some search for any edge to stay determined and composed.
9. Armada vs. Mew2king (12-1)
The Past
By Genesis, Mew2king was no longer best in the world, but most considered him the definitive second. Meanwhile, few Americans expected Armada to perform well at his first U.S. tournament, one exception being Mew2king himself. Perhaps it’s because he understood Armada’s Peach in a way few others did. The crisp execution, steady defense, and developed punish game were reminiscent of himself. In Winners Semifinals, a stunned crowd watched the last game as Mew2king, on Final Destination, on his most fearsome stage, was dethroned by Armada. “Words can’t describe the feelings that are in this room,” HomeMadeWaffles said.
In their first several encounters, Armada would always find the last adaptation, the last combo, or maybe a Stitchface to prevail. Over the past six years, Mew2king has tried three different characters—Marth, Fox, and Sheik—and won once. The gap since that first victory has grown, and the chance of a second win seems to slip further and further away.
The Present
A single flub with Fox can lead to a zero-to-death. Years of playing with his brothers has prepared Armada for Sheik. Possibly inspired by PPMD’s success in the matchup, Mew2king has returned to playing Marth versus Armada. However, Marth faces his own unique challenges. Mew2king is accustomed to having the advantage in the punish game and the potential to find a zero-to-death off any grab. Against Peach, though, he can only combo so hard. He can utilize juggles to keep her in the air, but it lacks the guarantee of a true combo.
Meanwhile, Armada’s punishes arguably have a higher ceiling, and they certainly are more consistent. The discrepancy in punishes becomes leverage in the neutral; it dictates what options they can or cannot risk. Armada can afford to get grabbed, but a stray dash attack could spell death for Mew2king. The classic strengths of Mew2king are turned against him.
The Stakes
Mew2king has lived in Armada’s shadow since that loss at Genesis. He was upstaged as Mango’s greatest rival. He grew more vulnerable to upsets, while Armada became heralded as a model of consistency. Some have even referred to Armada as Mew2king 2.0, a better version of the same player. Genesis 3 could be Mew2king’s opportunity to restore what was once his. Over the course of a single finals, Mew2king could win his first Premier Tournament, surpass his most difficult rival, and take back the crown for most terrifying punishes. With his demons extinguished, who knows what he could do next?
Notable Set
Winners Finals at The Summit. Their most recent set features Mew2king’s new resolve to play Marth against Armada . It presents the questions that he needs to address in their next match. Can he force Armada into prolonged juggle situations and convert? Will he be able to find consistent, strong punishes without the help of Mr. Saturn? Can he make Final Destination as strong of a counterpick for him as Dreamland is for Armada?
8. Mango vs. Hungrybox (25-7)
The Past
The most bitter rivalry in Melee began as a dispute about Jigglypuff. She was the character who propelled both of them into stardom, but through different means. Mango was known for taking risks and using Jigglypuff’s aerial drift to weave in and out of range to pressure his opponents. Hungrybox was infamous for sticking to guaranteed setups and building a wall with back airs to keep safe. It was no secret that Mango disdained Hungrybox’s playstyle, and it escalated into a feud, both inside and outside the game.
Much of the bad blood has faded away as both players have matured, but their matches are always heated. At Genesis 2, Mango unveiled his Fox versus Hungrybox. He was the first to consistently demonstrate Jigglypuff’s struggles in the matchup, and his strategies became instrumental in bringing about today’s metagame in which no high level Fox is a safe win for Jigglypuff. From 2011 to 2014, the set count was 16-3 in Mango’s favor.
The Present
Things became more even in 2015. They split sets 2-2 for the year, with Hungrybox winning the last two. Some called the win at Evo a fluke, saying Mango was the cause of his own demise, but it was followed by a more convincing victory at The Big House 5. In the past, Mango dominated at point-blank range. Now Hungrybox can hold his own in these skirmishes, unfazed by the frenetic change of pace between Mango’s lasers and rushdown. In turn, he can punish Mango’s bad habits, particularly his impatience at the ledge and his stubbornness in recovering high.
Mango is still strong in the matchup, though. As a former Jigglypuff main, he understands and reads her movement very well. He calls out aerials by running up and shielding them, then wavedashing out to take space. He catches her jumps and landings with stray up airs or up smashes. Whether Hungrybox’s new gains are an anomaly or a permanent change remains to be seen.
The Stakes
In an interview, Mango teased Hungrybox for being the giver of free Evos. It was a reference to Hungrybox’s many second place finishes at Premier Tournaments; his only win was five years ago, at Apex 2010. If the two meet in Grand Finals, Hungrybox will have to prove that his recent win at a major, Dreamhack Winter, was not a fluke and that he can recapture the same success at a tournament of the highest status. Meanwhile, Mango will want revenge. Hungrybox denied him a chance to three-peat at Evo. Denying him a second Genesis as well would be difficult to swallow.
Notable Set
Grand Finals at Evo 2014. Hungrybox had his best tournament of the year, defeating PPMD and finally overcoming Armada’s Young Link. One opponent, an old foe, was left. Mango was a set away from a repeat win at Evo, a feat few have achieved in the tournament’s history.
7. Hungrybox vs. Mew2king (26-15)
The Past
Fresh off his breakout performance at Genesis, Hungrybox defeated Mew2king for the first time at Tipped Off 5. He proceeded to win 13 of the next 14 sets. Jigglypuff had always been a natural counter to Mew2king’s style. The character can only be comboed so hard, and edgeguarding her to death at low percent is unheard of. At the same time, she can kill off a single mistake, punishing his risky grab attempts in the neutral. Mew2king tried to maximize his win percentage with Fox, statistically a strong choice versus Jigglypuff, but his Fox also lacked the consistency of his other characters.
It seemed like Hungrybox was an insurmountable matchup. At least the games against Armada were close; these were blowouts. But near the end of 2013, Mew2king defeated Hungrybox twice to win The Big House 3, sparking a mini-resurgence people affectionately titled “The Return of the King.” It was now Mew2king’s turn to go on a win streak, taking 10 of the next 12 sets. However, at CEO 2014 it shifted back into Hungrybox’s favor once more. He has won 11 of the last 12.
The Present
Of the four players in the Top 6 who use Fox against Hungrybox, Mew2king plays the campiest. He will relentlessly tack on percent with lasers until Jigglypuff can be killed, and then he fishes for an up smash or up throw into up air. It is simple, effective, and efficient, but his dedication to the strategy could also be called inflexibility. He runs the risk of backing himself into a corner more often than the other Foxes.
Hungrybox is willing to accept the percent from lasers in exchange for stage positioning and trapping Mew2king near the edge. He can force Mew2king to act and catch Fox’s escape route—will he go high and jump above Jigglypuff, or stay low and run underneath? It’s a guessing game where if Hungrybox is right, he might take a stock, and if he’s wrong, at worst they return to parity and the chase resumes. One good read and all of Mew2king’s laser damage sums up to less than the edgeguard or rest on Fox. It demoralizes him, but Mew2king must maintain composure to win.
The Stakes
It was Jigglypuff that ended Mew2king’s reign as best in the world. Mango’s, not Hungrybox’s, but a floating Pokemon menace all the same. Since then, he has insisted that she is one of the three best characters in the game, even as others have slowly lowered her on their tier lists. If Hungrybox and Mew2king are in Grand Finals at Genesis 3, Mew2king will have to overcome his first and greatest demon of modern Melee in order to finally win his first Premier Tournament. Hungrybox’s job, meanwhile, is to preserve the status quo. He must hold his win streak over Mew2king and hold Jigglypuff’s dominance over him.
Notable Set
Losers Finals at GOML. It was during Mew2king’s win streak versus Hungrybox, when the momentum of the “Return of the King” hadn’t ended. Recently, Hungrybox had only won a set at Shuffle V, a tournament where Mew2king ultimately won anyway. He needed to prove, to himself and to others, that Fox hadn’t become an unwinnable matchup in the metagame.
6. PPMD vs. Mew2king (18-6)
The Past
Mew2king would serve as the gatekeeper for yet another player trying to prove they could compete at top level. At Revival of Melee 3, PPMD and Mew2king met in Grand Finals. They had only played once, a year ago, in a set Mew2king handily won. But Mango was so confident in the rising Falco that he was willing to bet with anyone in the venue, at 1:1 odds, that PPMD would win two sets in a row and take the tournament. And he was right, marking the start of a long mental block that Mew2king suffered against PP. If Jigglypuff was Mew2king’s number one enemy Falco was second.
One of his few sources of comfort in the matchup was Final Destination, a stage that guaranteed him at least one match win per set. But PPMD began devising a plan. He trained his own Marth, radically different in style from Mew2king’s, to steal the counterpick away from him.
The Present
Once, the counterpicks were very rigid. Mew2king liked Final Destination, PPMD liked Pokemon Stadium, and both were fond of playing on Dreamland. Some stages featured Marth vs. Falco and on others they played Sheik vs. Falco. PPMD’s Marth has thrown a twist into the routine. In the past two years, his Marth has won all five games on Final Destination, overcoming Mew2king’s Marth, Sheik, and even a desperate switch to Captain Falcon.
Abandoned by his most familiar counterpick, Mew2king has been at a loss at how to proceed. He struggles in their Marth dittos due to PPMD’s command of the neutral. As Sheik, he is content to operate from the corner, but surrendering center stage for free plays right into PPMD’s hands. It’s cat and mouse. Mew2king stalks his prey for one fell swoop to take the entire stock; PPMD pokes and gnaws while trying to stay safe. Only in this case, the mouse’s teeth have venom and the minor gains add up.
The Stakes
Mew2king is unbeatable in Marth dittos. Final Destination is a guaranteed win against non-floaties. Marth is a heavy underdog to Sheik, and he is destined to fall out of the metagame. These were all old truths and old rules that once surrounded Mew2king. Now, many of his deep-rooted beliefs and ingrained habits in Melee have been uprooted and challenged. If PPMD’s Marth was the counterpoint to these ideas, their dittos were the debate.
PPMD spoke more convincingly, and it remains to be seen how Mew2king will fit in this new world. Their match at Genesis 3 could be a moment of change and reconciliation, or it could be one final argument. A win or loss might be the difference between the words “old-school” and “outdated.”
Notable Set
Grand Finals of Zenith 2012. In Winners Finals, Mew2king overcame the Falco matchup and broke PPMD’s 7 set winning streak over him. In Grand Finals, the foundations for their contemporary rivalry were beginning to form. To the incredulity of the crowd, PP’s Marth dared to duel Mew2king in the ditto for the first time. One of the king’s decrees had been violated, and it was time to quell the revolt.
5. Armada vs. Hungrybox (15-9)
The Past
For many years, Armada despised Jigglypuff. First, Mango’s Jigglypuff denied him victory at Genesis. Then at Apex 2010, Hungrybox planted a wall of bairs between Armada and the trophy. Soon after, he began scheming for their next encounter. He wanted a counterpick that could camp back, so they needed projectiles and speed. He wanted to eliminate matchup experience as a factor, so it had to be a character that few played well. A plot was hatched: Young Link. He trained his low-tier secondary in secret the next six months, hiding it from everyone except trusted members of the European Melee scene. At Pound V, he went all-in and revealed his hand. Hungrybox lost.
Over the next three years, Armada’s Young Link dropped only one set to its target. However, at a crucial moment, Hungrybox adapted. Once again Jigglypuff crushed Armada’s hopes and dreams, double-eliminating him from Evo 2014. There was no time to mourn; next came Fox. Armada rapidly learned the Fox vs. Jigglypuff matchup, and Hungrybox was once again overwhelmed. Extreme measures were taken. When Hungrybox took the lead, he stalled at the ledge and threatened to run out the clock. But a competitor always finds another way. With patience, Armada used Fox’s down tilt to exploit the timings of the strategy, and he conquered Jigglypuff as the last step in his triumph at Evo 2015.
The Present
There is always another way. Armada had countered the ledge stalling at Evo 2015 and The Big House 5, so now it was Hungrybox’s turn to adjust. At Dreamhack Winter, he debuted a strategy that Armada named “air planking.” Rather than play at the ledge, Hungrybox refreshed his jumps on the platforms and stayed high in the air. It was enough to break a curse of 2nd place finishes and finally win a major.
Armada will prepare new tactics for next time, and so will Hungrybox. In their games, it is crucial for both players to obtain an early lead. If ahead, Armada can force Hungrybox to come to him and take lasers in the process. If behind, he has to chase HBox through the air without getting caught by a sneaky aerial that could put him at an even greater deficit. The lead allows them to play radically different and grind the other down.
The Stakes
Armada would loathe the idea of Jigglypuff defeating him at another prestigious event. Hungrybox has had enough of the swarm of Foxes eliminating him from tournaments. They want to win, whatever it takes. Both are resourceful and have answered problems in ways that no one else would have considered. Young Link, timeouts, ledge stalls—anything that could lead to a win.
Perhaps this is why they have become the favorites to make Grand Finals; no one else has the right mentality. Another Armada vs. Hungrybox Grand Finals would show that Melee has become a contest of mental stamina and rapid innovation, and these two are at the forefront of this new metagame.
Notable Set
Grand Finals at Dreamhack Winter. As the most recent major, it will be lurking in everyone’s minds as Genesis 3 approaches. It establishes the terms of Armada and Hungrybox’s next ideas. Air planking is the latest development, so Armada will have to figure out a response. It then becomes an arms race, as Hungrybox tries to preempt with a counter of his own. And it won’t end there. Again, both competitors understand that whether it is planking, down tilts, or coaching, there is always another way.
4. Armada vs. PPMD (12-8)
The Past
They started as the pinnacle of Falco vs. Peach. Armada was the only Peach who didn’t fold to PPMD’s lasers in the neutral. PP was the only Falco who could match Armada in the punish game. In a fated collision at Pound V, PPMD solidified his case as one of Melee’s elite by winning their match in Grand Finals. But Armada never concedes. He waits and he outlasts. Despite PP’s flashes of brilliance, in prolonged sets Armada usually bested him. The Swedish Peach won 6 of their first 9 encounters, and it seemed like the lead would only grow after his dominating performance in Winners Finals at Apex 2013.
PPMD devised a new approach. Deciding he needed a longer dash, he switched to Marth and took one set in Grand Finals before ultimately losing. He began utilizing both characters versus Armada, protecting his Falco from chaingrabs on Final Destination and hiding his Marth from stages that restricted his dash dancing. By Apex 2015, Armada found himself outclassed in Peach vs. Marth. Like PPMD two years prior, he turned to dual maining and unleashed his Fox.
The Present
Armada and PPMD are now locked into a counterpick war that mixes and matches four different characters. At Apex 2015, it seemed like they had established a cyclic pattern: Peach beats Falco, Marth usually beats Peach, Fox usually beats Marth, and Falco beats Fox. At Evo and Summit, however, Armada’s Fox alone was sufficient to win. This Fox is a new riddle for PP to solve, like Armada’s Peach once was.
Some things, however, hold true regardless of matchup. Armada will have consistent, brutal punishes. PPMD will aim to control the ground game in neutral and force Armada to take to the air. Their goals, their expressions of Melee remain the same, but the particular combinations of stage and character determine how how hard or easily their objectives can be achieved.
The Stakes
A PPMD vs. Armada Grand Finals has the potential to redefine competitive Melee. It could shift the metagame towards dual maining, with carefully prepared stages and characters for counter picks. It could test the balance of power between different facets of play—can PPMD’s neutral compensate for his disadvantage in the punish game, or does he not hit hard enough to win at top level?
It could also be Genesis’s awaited rematch of America vs. Sweden; after all, Mango vs. Armada is not the only score tied 1-1 headed into Genesis. Round three comes after a rough year for American Melee. In 2015, nearly every U.S. major was won by Armada or Leffen, and the only person to defend a Premier event against Sweden was PPMD, at Apex 2015. If he does it two years in a row, he may deserve the mantle of Captain America that Mango has worn since Genesis.
Notable Set
Grand Finals at Apex 2015. They had already met in Winners Semifinals, but this was the first time they faced each other both as dual mains. Even though Armada’s Peach never appeared on screen, her presence still influenced the set. The prospect of playing Falco vs. Peach on Dreamland was enough to convince PP to switch back to Marth, despite his success playing Falco vs. Fox in the previous two games.
The rest will be included in Part 3.
[…] rest will be included in Parts 2 and […]