Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma won Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles at the Galint Melee Open on January 11. It was his first notable online tournament victory, and his first major victory of any kind since CEO Dreamland 2020.
Hungrybox had a bit of a rough path to top 16. He managed to eke out 3-2 wins over Jacob “Jflex” Pinto and Aziz “Hax” Al-Yami. However, Hungrybox got a good draw in Winners Quarters as he faced Vish Kumar. Hungrybox beat Vish 3-0 and advanced into top 8 on winners side.
In Winners Semis, Hungrybox had another close set against Kyle “Kalamazhu” Zhu, defeating the Peach main 3-2. Notably, Hungrybox has struggled recently against Peach, with two losses to Arjun “lloD” Malhotra at online events. These struggles have come even though his main, Jigglypuff, is traditionally considered to be Peach’s worst matchup.
Next, Hungrybox earned a commanding 3-0 victory over Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni. The two fought each other once again in Grand Finals. Though SFAT had a better performance the second time around, Hungrybox still won the set 3-2. Thus, Hungrybox claimed 1st place at the Galint Melee Open.
I WON THE GALINT OPEN!!!
FINALLY MY FIRST ONLINE MAJOR WIN!
And first big Melee win since CEO2020!!
And it was on 1/11 (Juan won one!)
🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/LavwQgYzYn
— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) January 11, 2021
Other results from the Galint Melee Open
SFAT looked incredibly solid throughout much of the Galint Melee Open. He beat Steven “Blues Clues” Joseph 3-1, Connor Nguyen 3-0, and lloD 3-0 en route to top 8. From there, SFAT defeated Jason “Gahtzu” Diehl 3-1 and Hax 3-2 while only dropping sets to Hungrybox.
Hax was initially hesitant to compete online at the start of the pandemic. However, he has proven that his offline skill still transfers over to netplay, as he placed 3rd at this event. Hax beat Isaac “bobby big ballz” P. 3-2, Matt “Mot$” Gaydos 3-0, Blues Clues 3-0, and lloD 3-2 to advance into top 8. Then, he eliminated Miles “Soonsay” Foster 3-1, Kalamazhu 3-2, and Dawud “Aklo” Rahman 3-2.
When Zain Naghmi dropped out of the Galint Melee Open, it left Aklo with a slightly easier bracket. Even so, Aklo accrued many impressive wins on his path to 4th place. He defeated Matt “Polish” Warshaw 3-2, Edgard “n0ne” Sheleby 3-2, Logan “LSD” Dunn 3-1, and Gahtzu 3-1. In addition to his main character, Fox, Aklo also made use of his secondary Link against Polish and LSD.
Gahtzu also scored a handful of upsets on his road to 5th place at the Galint Melee Open. Most notably, he sent n0ne to the losers bracket with a convincing 3-1 victory. Gahtzu also beat Kevin “Bones” Emm 3-1 and Soonsay 3-2.
