The reign of one of the greatest Super Smash Bros. Melee players of all time came to a close yesterday, as a new Smash king was crowned at DreamHack Winter.
Swedish Smash god Adam “Armada” Lindgren fell to American Team Liquid player Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma in one of the most historic sets of the year.
Lindgren’s winning streak began after a victory at EVO in July this year, where he defeated Debiedma in the grand finals. Since EVO, Lindgren has won every tournament he’s attended—that’s a four-month winning streak, which is almost unheard of in Smash.
Yesterday, Debiedma and his fabled Jigglypuff were out to end Lindgren’s streak. Lindgren put up a strong fight, taking the first set of the grand finals off Debiedma in a 3-0 victory. But because Debiedma came into the match-up from the winner’s bracket, the grand finals went to a second set—and his full hand hadn’t yet been shown.
Debiedma had discovered a new type of playstyle for Jigglypuff—which Lindgren later called “air planking” on social media. And by executing the technique, he took home the overall victory in the second set.
Still shaking. Thank you everyone pic.twitter.com/drxNIxzm3V
— Juan DeBiedma (@LiquidHbox) November 28, 2015
Following his victory (and winning $10,000) Debiedma was interviewed by popular caster and Twitch staff member D’Ron “D1” Maingrette. Through tears, Debiedma said how much the victory meant to him after lots of practice with his coach, failing to beat Lindgren in other tournaments (such as EVO and The Big House 5), and a dispute with his father shortly before he passed away.
But the singles victory wasn’t the end of DreamHack Winter for Debiedma. He also took home the doubles title (which include a $2,500 prize per player), with American Pikachu player Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson of Tempo Storm. This was the first time the two players had teamed up, as Debiedma’s longtime duo partner Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman didn’t attend the tournament.
For now the focus remains on the singles titles. The rivalry between Debiedma and Lindgren just got hotter, and the next time the two players could potentially face off is at the winter major Genesis 3 tournament on Jan. 17.
Photo via DreamHack/Flickr
