By Daniel “Tafokints” Lee

An unprecedented field of 2,372 Super Smash Bros. Melee entrants was trimmed down to just one at Evo 2016. After a grueling grand finals, Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma overcame his inner demons to defeat Adam “Armada” Lindgren and win his first ever Evo tournament. Moving forward, what does this mean for Smash?

View photos Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma at Evo 2016 (Stephanie Lindgren) More

The undisputed king

For starters, it’s safe to say that Hungrybox is currently the best Smash player in the world.

Sure, other top players such as William “Leffen” Hjelte or Kevin “PPMD” Nanney weren’t there to fight for the title, but the world isn’t built on “what-ifs.” Hungrybox’s bracket route was no cakewalk, either, as he defeated a game Joseph “Mango” Marquez in losers semis and then Armada twice in grand finals.

Players tend to underperform at Evo, where the nerves and pressure reach new heights, but the top 8 showed an overall solid level of play. What really stood out, however, was Hungrybox’s resilience. He found himself in high pressure situations and substantial deficits, yet he consistently found a game-breaking rest whenever he needed it. His opponents played fearfully when the games went down to the wire, and Hungrybox quickly recognized how to play off of their fear. He’s encountered these situations thousands of time in practice and it was up to him to identify which of his tools he needed at crunch time. Hate his character or his playstyle all you want, but you have to respect the sheer mental fortitude that he exhibited during the finals.

Hungrybox’s naysayers often point out that most of his 2016 wins were against weaker competition. But that argument is now moot, as he had outplace Armada, Mango, and Mew2King to win Evo. The victory brings him to a total of eight major wins, which surpasses Armada’s three wins and Mango’s two. Hungrybox attends the most events and wins the majority of them. His accomplishments and records put him safely above everyone else, including Armada, for 2016.

View photos Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma at Evo 2016 (Stephanie Lindgren) More

Mentality and coaching

Several players, including Hungrybox, played poorly on Day 2. Armada had close calls with Joey “Lucky” Aldama and Rishi “SmashG0d” Malhotra, while Hungrybox struggled with Dajuan “Shroomed” McDaniel. Uncharacteristic errors and questionable decision-making ran rampant as thousands of fans wondered what was going on.

Hungrybox went back to the drawing board with newly signed dedicated analyst Luis “Crunch” Rosias to break down sets and rejuvenate Hungrybox’s mentality. In a post-finals interview, Hungrybox mentioned that Crunch is his voice of reason and reassures him that he can win when his mind believes otherwise. That support helped him persevere after he lost to Justin “Plup” McGrath and when he fell behind against Armada in multiple games.

Team Liquid took a risk in hiring Crunch as the first ever Melee analyst, but their investment has definitely paid off. In a tweet, Kevin “PewPewU” Toy gave high praise to Crunch and the amount of work that he contributes to Hungrybox’s overall success.

Shoutout to @Liquid_Crunch, the most undercreditted & underreported person at #Evo2016 I hope Smash is moving in the direction for coaches — Kevin Toy (@CLG_PewPewU) July 18, 2016

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