Arjun “lloD” Malhotra won Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles at Melee for Beirut on August 15. The event raised funds for the Lebanese Red Cross to help those affected by the recent explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.
lloD swept through pools at this event unopposed. In the process, he secured 2-0 wins over “Sevi,” Jake “Trill Jake” Severns, and Ethan “Nakamaman” Xiong. He also defeated Brandon “Panda” Orooji 3-0 in Winners Quarters.
lloD faced greater competition in top 8, going to game five against Isaac “bobby big ballz” P. Even so, lloD beat bobby big ballz 3-2. He repeated this performance with a 3-2 win over Avery “Ginger” Wilson in Winners Finals. In Grand Finals, lloD once again battled bobby big ballz. This time, he won 3-0, claiming 1st place at Melee for Beirut.
Other results from Melee for Beirut
On his path to 2nd place, bobby big ballz scored multiple impressive wins. He beat Andy “Pleasantries” Markantonatos 2-1 and Gary “Apollo” Meza 3-0 before dropping a set to lloD. Then in losers, bobby big ballz eliminated Dawud “Aklo” Rahman 3-1, Austin “Reeve” Reed 3-1, and Ginger 3-2. Ultimately, he fell to lloD again in Grand Finals.
Nico “Ryobeat” Rodriguez lost his very first match of the bracket to Apollo. Despite this, he went on a deep losers run in order to finish in 5th place. Ryobeat conquered opponents like Anthony “Preeminent” Braun and Carl “Bigbuffalo” Depole to make it out of pools. From there, Ryobeat defeated Martin “Lord English” Rakacolli and Panda, and won his rematch against Apollo before losing to Reeve.
Apollo entered Melee for Beirut as a no-name, and was projected to only win a single set. Despite this, he earned many impressive wins and finished in 7th place. Apollo won sets over Cullen “TheCullenaryArts” MacDonald, Ryobeat, Bigbuffalo, Tyler “Balloon Day” Pherson, and Joey “Joey Donuts” Farah. Meanwhile, he had respectable losses to bobby big ballz and Ryobeat.
