​ Evo 2016 was the biggest Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament to date. Over three days, two thousand and three hundred entrants were narrowed down to eight. For his fourth consecutive year, Juan " Hungrybox " Debiedma found himself in the top eight.





In every Evo he played in the three years prior, Hungrybox came as close as he could to becoming an Evo champion. He finished third in 2013, second in 2014, and then second once more in 2015.





He created a storyline for himself in his path to be the champion. No player was safe, and with a repeat of last year, Hungrybox ended Joseph "Mang0" Marques' attempt at "3v0," his third Evo title.

Sometimes the dreams you had when you were 13 actually come true.



I won EVO 2016. Thank you so much to everyone. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/GhNmbOZiXa — Juan DeBiedma (@LiquidHbox) July 18, 2016

Juan became "the one true god" in March at the Battle of the Five Gods, and months later that title remains safe.





We had the chance to ask him about what he did to prepare for Evo, his victory, and what's next.





Let’s start at the beginning. You came into Evo after a fifth place finish at WTFox 2 earlier in the month. What was your preparation like heading into this event and what in your mind did you improve on the most?





We definitely decided it was best for Luis (Crunch) to fly down to Atlanta and do a week-long boot camp. This included playing Melee each day, analyzing my WTFOX matches, relearning the Falcon matchup, cleaning up the Fox matchup, and attending a local event to get back in the groove of competing. We also just hung out and discussed the game and life. It was good to get back into a healthy mentality. We avoided going on social media too often. People will get any chance to bring you down after a bad loss, so I had to get over a big mental barrier.





You nearly got knocked into the Losers by Shroomed, and then in top eight Plup managed to send you to the Losers side. What is the hardest part of facing Sheik as Puff, and what is your approach to the matchup?





Shroomed and Plup are by far the two hardest Sheiks to fight. She just has such incredible aerials that you can’t rely on just winning the spacing war. Melee is about utilizing all of a character’s tools. Puff needs to get the Rest setups and the baits in order to destroy Sheik. Up-air chains are also very good on her because of her weight - but the setups are the most crucial part.





For the second year in a row you stopped Mang0’s “3vo". What’s it like playing with most of the stadium cheering against you? Does the pressure have any impact on your game?





At this point it motivates me. The crowd went crazy when Mang0 landed something cool, but a lot of people also cheered at my rests. I just need one person in the crowd to want me to win - that’s enough for me to stay motivated.





What was going through your mind in the moments leading up to your rematch with Plup in the Losers Finals?





“I’m not letting you take this moment away from me. You’ll have your chance in the future, but this is my year.” Something like that. I respect him immensely as a friend and player. But it was either him or me moving on.





Talk to me about the impact Crunch has had on your game. What is the biggest difference between having and not having a coach, and what are your thoughts on more coaches in Melee?





He keeps me in check. One of the most underrated difficulties of a tournament is the downtime between games. You have to stay focused for like, three days at a time and not get distracted by fans or events around you. You gotta stay warmed up and optimistic. I don’t have big friend groups in the Smash community, but having Luis around makes me feel at home and comfortable wherever. Obviously there is the in-game aspect as well. He can watch me play for five minutes and already have three or four things for me to practice right there. When I’m not playing well, I can’t tell why, but he knows EXACTLY why. It’s crazy. I really don’t get how he does it but it’s probably because he’s played me for ten years.





Your victory was four years in the making, and it happened after what will be dubbed one of the greatest bouts in Melee history. Being down 1-0 in the finals after the bracket reset, how did you maintain composure for the rest of the set?





Part of it is you having to accept what might happen. You have to be at peace with losing, BUT you also have to simply not give up. You might do a risky “screw it” move because you think you’re down, and 99 out of 100 times that will end your tournament run. When I was on my tournament stock, I didn’t do a “screw it” move - I waited, and waited for the proper opening and went for the guaranteed grab or aerial into a grab. Jigglypuff is a complete comeback character, and her ability to clutch matches is unprecedented. I treat her as such and use it to my advantage - Bleed out the opponent, then go in for the kill.





After a history of close calls and second place finishes, how does it feel to finally break the curse?





Relief. Closure. A very large weight off my back. I feel like I can play riskier now. It’s like getting the last accomplishment in a video game, and now you can have fun with it a bit more.

Life is this beautiful crazy thing

Sometimes you do go out like a buster. We all have. All of us.



But sometimes you rewrite history — Juan DeBiedma (@LiquidHbox) July 18, 2016

Being one of the only high level Jigglypuff mains, what are your thoughts on Tier List character ranking? With Puff being ranked 5th, is character comfortability truly superior to these lists? Will we ever see a Kirby main take an event?





Tier lists all need to be taken with a grain of salt. If Axe didn’t exist, Pikachu would still be low-tier. It’s people that push characters to their limits. I’m sure in another universe some guy is doing it with Ness. Kirby sucks a lot though.





And Fox is broken. Some things never change.





With Evo crossed off of your bucket list, what’s next?





SmashCon, Genesis, Big House, DreamHack, Summit, and around the circle we go again. I want one of every title. That would be wonderful.





And maybe when that’s done I’ll just be a full-time Ness main.