It’s the dawn of a new era in competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee, and leading the way is Zain, the best Marth player in the world.
Genesis 7 marks the beginning of the 2020 Melee season, with 1110 competitors for the event, and what a tournament it was; players such as Axe and iBDW, who both placed in the top 10 for the 2019 rankings, finished at 33rd and 13th, respectively. Longtime veteran Hax saw a return to form when he defeated Leffen and almost knocked out Hungrybox, ultimately finishing at 4th place.
But the main story was Zain, who is a free agent after parting ways with Panda Global. Zain had a dominating run through the bracket, defeating players such as S2J and Shroomed to make top 8 on Sunday.
Zain had to face off against Hungrybox, who had defeated him in their last seven sets. He would knock Hungrybox into the loser’s bracket in a 3-1 set before facing off against Mang0. In a nail-biting set, Zain clutched out the win over Mang0 3-2 to sit comfortably in Grand Finals.
His journey wouldn’t end without a fight though; Hungrybox crawled through the loser’s bracket to face off against Zain in a very tense Grand Finals. It would go to game 5 with an incredibly close ending; a fitting end to what’s become a very hype rivalry.
This crowd reaction of the last moments of game 5 perfectly capture how the community feels about Zain’s performance:
We will have to see if Zain can continue to add to his tournament wins this year, but for now, it’s an exciting day for Marth players and Melee fans in general.
Be sure to check out the Beyond the Summit YouTube channel for all the Genesis 7 videos!