Hungrybox takes down Mang0 to win PAX Arena

Some of the world’s best Super Smash Bros. Melee players competed in Twitch’s PAX Arena tournament this weekend, but only one came out a champion.

Sixty-two players entered the tournament at PAX South in San Antonio, Texas—one of the biggest games conference franchises in the world. But it was Team Liquid’s Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma who took first place.

Debiedma beat Cloud9’s Joseph “Mang0” Marquez three-to-two in the grand finals. The series was a rematch of the loser’s finals from Genesis 3, the latest Smash major, where Marquez won.

Today Debiedma looked in proper form with phenomenal play on Jigglypuff, his signature character. Debiedma also took down Counter Logic Gaming’s Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, and Tempo Storm’s Weston “Westballz” Dennis throughout the bracket stage.

The final standings placed Debiedma first, Marquez in second, and Dennis third. Dennis’s teammate Jeffrey “Axe” Williamson took fourth, while Smash god Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman and his teammate Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett placed fifth. Cordoni and Southern California player Johnny “S2J” Kim rounded out the top eight, both taking seventh.

Well-known players Robert “Wobbles” Wright, DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel, Joey “Lucky” Aldama, and Daniel “Tafokints” Lee placed outside of the top eight.

PAX Arena is the first of many regional tournaments before the next major Smash event, DreamHack Austin. Along the way tournaments like Beast 6 and Pound 2016 should give us a glimpse at how the players are stacking up. But if PAX Arena and Genesis 3 were indicators of what is to come in 2016, Super Smash Bros. Melee competition should be at an all-time high this year.

Photo via DreamHack/Flickr (All rights reserved, used with permission)

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