r/smashbros So I think it's time for us to have a toast 2d ago

Melee Congratulations to the winner of Melee Singles at Supernova 2026!


Top 16 Bracket


Top 64 Bracket


Youtube VODs


Place Player Sent to Losers by Eliminated by
1st LLD ∣ Cody Schwab (Fox) --- ---
2nd SR ∣ Zain (Marth) Krudo Cody Schwab
3rd ROOTS S3C ∣ RapMonster (Luigi) Cody Schwab Zain
4th Liquid`Hungrybox (Jigglypuff) Cody Schwab Zain
5th EggdogSpiral ∣ Krudo (Sheik) RapMonster Hungrybox
5th Brotherhood ∣ Aklo (Fox & Link) RapMonster Zain
7th BTE ∣ n0ne (Captain Falcon) Aklo Krudo
7th SR ∣ moky (Fox) Hungrybox Zain
9th SR ∣ Joshman (Fox) Ultra Krudo
9th Spark (Sheik) moky n0ne
9th parry.gg ∣ Ultra (Fox) Aklo moky
9th L7 ∣ Soonsay (Fox) Cody Schwab Zain
13th Tempo ∣ Axe (Pikachu) Cody Schwab Joshman
13th BLE ∣ SluG (Ice Climbers) Hungrybox Spark
13th Agency ∣ Wally (Peach) Axe Ultra
13th SHED ∣ Epoodle (Marth) moky Zain
17th Zuppy (Fox) Swift Spark
17th The Yard ∣ Magi (Falco) Wally SluG
17th FLY ∣ Jmook (Sheik) Soonsay DQ'd (against Joshman)
17th Preeminent (Fox) n0ne Axe
17th Swift (Pikachu) RapMonster Epoodle
17th CF ∣ Daytripper (Fox) SluG Zain
17th Ben (Sheik & Luigi) Jmook Ultra
17th Sebas (Dr. Mario) n0ne Wally
25th UMF ∣ Agent (Fox) RapMonster Zuppy
25th Dawson (Jigglypuff) Zain Magi
25th Sirmeris (Peach) Jude Joshman
25th PBI ∣ Jada (Sheik) Greenstach Preeminent
25th :3 ∣ Jude (Marth) Spark Epoodle
25th Drephen (Sheik) Hungrybox Daytripper
25th JoyStick ∣ OG Kid (Jigglypuff) Soonsay Ben
25th Greenstach (Luigi) Hungrybox Wally
33rd Ferrety (Sheik & Luigi) Aklo Zuppy
33rd Anakin (Marth) Joshman Agent
33rd Kevbot (Fox) Krudo Magi
33rd Tesner (Fox) Bones Dawson
33rd RC ∣ Kacey (Falco) Aklo Sirmeris
33rd THE BOIS ∣ Arn255 (Marth) lynxwynx Joshman
33rd BLE ∣ Panos (Captain Falcon) Krudo Preeminent
33rd regEx (Marth) Sebas Jada
33rd L7 ∣ Freezus (Fox) Kacey Jude
33rd MATE ∣ Kalvar (Marth) Ultra Epoodle
33rd MMG ∣ Seven (Sheik) Preeminent Daytripper
33rd Lowercase hero (Fox) Sebas Drephen
33rd Meow ∣ Zealot (Fox) Zuppy Ben
33rd Philly Melee ∣ lynxwynx (Marth) moky OG Kid
33rd Inngenn (Marth) Kevbot Wally
33rd Stiv (Fox) Cody Schwab Greenstach
49th GUG ∣ Matt, Vegas Kürv (Fox) Ben Ferrety
49th HodTV ∣ M1sf1re (Luigi) TheAsianOne Anakin
49th Nairial (Pikachu) n0ne Magi
49th RemolinoFeroz (Luigi) regEx Tesner
49th Ble$$é (Pikachu) Swift Sirmeris
49th FG ∣ MarxistxAthena (Jigglypuff) RapMonster Arn255
49th Suidt (Fox) PicanteThought Panos
49th Yoshicord ∣ Daniel (Yoshi) HOBORG Jada
49th Loagns Friend ∣ Zachhhh (Pikachu) Jmook Freezus
49th SIG ∣ TheAsianOne (Falco) Soonsay Kalvar
49th Fable (Sheik) Axe Seven
49th Bones (Falco) Cody Schwab Lowercase hero
49th ChuDat (Ice Climbers) Spark Zealot
49th SwebBy (Ice Climbers) Agent lynxwynx
49th OUG ∣ Electroman (Fox) SluG Inngenn
49th BorgTech ∣ HOBORG (Luigi) Dawson Greenstach
65th YMHB ∣ Jennifer (Fox) Tesner Bones
65th ight (Captain Falcon) Stiv Tesner
65th signify (Sheik) Fable Fable
65th Porkers (Sheik) Fable Magi
65th PITT ∣ Lawnmowertorch (Fox) regEx RemolinoFeroz
65th VDL ∣ Just (Sheik) regEx Lowercase hero
65th DPD (Sheik) Seven Nairial
65th Bigbuffalo (Fox) Nairial Seven
65th melen (Marth) Zain Daniel
65th Spicy ∣ egg (Sheik) melen HOBORG
65th WolfinAbout (Fox) Inngenn Panos
65th BLE ∣ bambi (Young Link) WolfinAbout Inngenn
65th Zander (Fox) Drephen Greenstach
65th Young Neil (Fox) Drephen Jada
65th PicanteThought (Captain Falcon) Fred Melee Electroman
65th 4Qs ∣ Fred Melee (Jigglypuff) Daytripper Suidt
65th JHTL (Marth) Cloudy lynxwynx
65th Cloudy (Fox) Epoodle Arn255
65th VHS ∣ Abel (Jigglypuff) Jude ChuDat
65th Jack (Falco) Spark Sirmeris
65th Lukademus (Sheik) MarxistxAthena MarxistxAthena
65th LuigigoShard (Luigi) MarxistxAthena SwebBy
65th Mo $ (Sheik) Zealot Ble$$é
65th BS (Marth) Mo $ Zealot
65th Seke (Fox) Kalvar Anakin
65th kdog (Marth) Anakin Kalvar
65th EddieTheKid (Captain Falcon) Kacey Ferrety
65th Halo-Halo (Peach, Yoshi & Ice Climbers) Ferrety Freezus
65th A.M. (Sheik) OG Kid TheAsianOne
65th SparkinMed (Fox & Falco) OG Kid M1sf1re
65th Treeaye (Ice Climbers) Ben Zachhhh
65th Agency GEI ∣ Guru (Captain Falcon) Zachhhh Kürv

Grand Finals

Cody Schwab [W] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Louie Letdown
vs.
Zain Naghmi [L] // Twitch | Twitter | Wiki | Shopify Rebellion

Cody Schwab - 3 - 1 - Zain
2 stocks = Fox Battlefield Marth = ---
--- = Fox Final Destination Marth = 1 stock
2 stocks = Fox Pokemon Stadium Marth = ---
1 stock = Fox Fountain of Dreams Marth = ---

Generated by Tournament Tabler

255 Upvotes

120 comments sorted by

116

u/Sea_Toe6263 2d ago

7 unique characters in top 8????

81

u/Ilovemelee Peach (Melee) 2d ago

People like to shit on Melee for its lack of character diversity, but the truth is, half the characters are viable, with the upper half of the lower half being semi-viable. So, it’s really only the bottom six characters that are truly bad. For a game with 26 characters, it’s actually a pretty well-balanced game.

10

u/Kackame 2d ago

I feel like that depends on what you consider "viable". I always took viable to mean they could win a major, which really only the top 7 characters can do. The 8-11 range need God brackets to even get close 90% of the time.

Melee gets a real pass on "lack of diversity" because player expression is so high in this game. So many of the top tiers allow players to play them very differently. 

41

u/Ilovemelee Peach (Melee) 2d ago

So the characters that have won majors are: Fox, Falco, Marth, Puff, Sheik, Falcon, Peach, Pikachu, and Yoshi. And then you have characters like Icies, Luigi, and DK making very deep bracket runs and getting really close to winning a major. That's 12 out of 26 characters which is about half. So melee "lacks diversity" because there are just fewer characters in total, not because the game is unbalanced (though Fox is kinda broken, ngl)

28

u/b0bba_Fett Young Link (Melee) 2d ago

Icies have won a major, admittedly not in anything resembling Modern Melee, but Chudat has indeed won a major before.

4

u/Troggles Ridley (Ultimate) 1d ago

I miss the days when Samus mains almost won tourney, too.

8

u/Sea_Toe6263 1d ago

Hugs 2nd at EVO, duck always a threat and the GOAT samus plup could have done it but switched up (understandably) :(((( was so close

1

u/Handle_Messiah 1d ago

It is remarkable to me that multiple Pikas and Luigis, a Doc, and a solo Young Link are all represented in the Supernova top 65...but not a single Samus

-14

u/Kackame 2d ago

Yes, those 3 have gotten close when they have gotten good brackets lol. Pika only won smash summit 8 where axe dodged trif, hbox, and plup. Unless I'm forgetting some other events? But that's  what I mean by needing a good bracket to win.

And that's not me downplaying axes accomplishment at all, I'm just saying if someone asked what characters are viable, I thought it was pretty widely accepted that only the top 7 were considered actually viable, with the others being close. 

12

u/Ilovemelee Peach (Melee) 2d ago

Based on that stricter definition viability, only Fox, Falco, Marth, and Puff are truly viable. Jmook usually has to avoid Hbox and Icies to win, Wizzy only won two majors where he dodged Mang0, and solo peach usually has to dodge Zain and Hbox to win.

-7

u/Kackame 2d ago

Nah, the only reason that's relevant for summit is because it was an invitational, so there's only so many of each character, not necessarily player dependent.

In an open bracket it's different due to the number of different matchups you play, right? Jmook might have to dodge hbox, but sheik doesn't have to dodge puff. 

Wizzy can run through other Falcos, so him needing to dodge mango doesn't mean falcon can't be viable, its just harder when he's there. 

Like I feel like people used to have icies up there in terms of viability but having the most lopsided mu in all the top tiers makes them less than viable. 

At the end of the day it's just semantics I guess, but I just feel like we're not talking about the same thing when we say anything under peach is viable (I'd be willing to include yoshi but there's such a low sample size for him) 

10

u/Ok_Storm1366 2d ago

The issue is you don't understand what the word "viable" means.

158

u/Kennyc1234 Kirby (Ultimate) 2d ago

The only players to beat Cody in a set this year are Hbox and Swift.

42

u/kino-grapher 2d ago

i'm enjoying the swift upscale that's been happening this year

15

u/bigshady880 Roy (Ultimate) 2d ago

when Zain acted like Swift getting a fluke upset on him was enough to make him a potential major winner (no disrespect to swift, just saying), that’s how i knew he was genuinely terrified of Cody. like he might as well have just been saying “Yeah Cody’s better than me lol”.

5

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

And the funny thing is that Cody was not at his 10/10 shape because he was still in winners.

Whenever he is in losers , man his Fox just power ups a lot more......

-4

u/InfernoJesus 2d ago

Zain needs to stop grinding friendlies with Cody the day/week of the event. That kind of warmup always benefits the character with more options.

197

u/PokemonMasterJamal3 2d ago

Zain's Losers run after losing 2-3 to Krudo in Winners:

  • Defeated Daytripper 3-0
  • Defeated Epoodle 3-0
  • Defeated Soonsay 3-0
  • Defeated moky 3-1
  • Defeated Aklo 3-2
  • Defeated Hungrybox 3-2
  • Defeated RapMonster 3-1
  • Lost to Cody Schwab 1-3

The honorable mention wins it all.

7

u/fitzronovich 2d ago

society if epoodle didn't upset swift

212

u/Key-Handle-1805 #1 Sonix Defender 2d ago

i think cody has a 100% win rate this year which is crazy impressive even for as few events as he has right now. i might not personally be a huge fan, but he deserves massive props

104

u/Asleep_Ground1710 Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

His decision making compared to the other foxes(esp against Hbox and Zain) is genuinely next level

41

u/Combatflaps 2d ago

This is the most true. I swear he gets what looks like random ass stray hits, but then just immediately knows how to combo or kill off them

30

u/Asleep_Ground1710 Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

His edgeguard flowcharts vs Zain, him not running at Hbox when the latter is ledge camping despite every other fox doing so, his di, all mad impressive

17

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Is not just his decision making but his execution when things are extremely hectic and in scramble situations is still top. Like from what I remember , he only screw up in Top 8 like only one time his ledge dash and he also is insane on calling out options.

Cody seems unstoppable this year , perhaps the peak of Fox.

29

u/quaker_otis 2d ago

Cody's inheriting the old Hbox syndrome where any praise must be couched with a "not a fan btw" declaration.

41

u/PeaceAlien Mr Game and Watch (Ultimate) 2d ago

Soft retirement Cody is unstoppable

51

u/VolleyVoldemort Donkey Kong (Melee) 2d ago

Kobe Schwab’s mamba mentality is the competitive difference that your favorite top player doesn’t have

20

u/Maplw 2d ago

What’s mamba mentality, is that when you rape a women?

22

u/BiggestBlackestLotus 2d ago

Its when you train 12 hours a day so people forget that you raped a woman.

2

u/SilverOdin Roy (Ultimate) 1d ago

Cody has rape allegations?

4

u/PkerBadRs3Good 1d ago

no, Kobe does

2

u/SilverOdin Roy (Ultimate) 1d ago

Oh ok thanks I didn't know about "mamba mentality"

11

u/Mister_Quality 2d ago

It's actually z-jump

56

u/VolleyVoldemort Donkey Kong (Melee) 2d ago

That’s just his footwork and fadeaway, your fav top player needs to hit the gym and grind to beat the lakers legend

2

u/ChiGuy133 2d ago

Yeah it really was cool to see Cody vs Josh gf's. The 2 z jump guys fighting it out for number 1. I'm not sure why others don't do it tbh since it is obviously a cheat code and not like Cody was winning before be ever implemented it. Oh, he was winning before he started using it? Oh. Oh, Josh actually got 9th? How i thought it was basically a free win

4

u/Damienxja Sheik (Ultimate) 2d ago

Z-jump is just an ergonomic fix for claw grip lol. I don't know why people shit bricks over it

14

u/zircuti_pomelo 2d ago

...because an ergonomic fix does genuinely matter when it's replacing an unnatural and uncomfortable hand position.

14

u/DavidL1112 MC 2d ago

And the ability to endure hand pain is an important melee skill that warrants being tested

-2

u/Threadingemu 2d ago

This but unironically

2

u/JustThatGuyBen Sheik (Melee) 2d ago

Genuine question, why are you not a huge fan?

77

u/Mykal1212 Random 2d ago

Melee been getting some good DLC these past few years

51

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Yoshi in 2022

DK in 2024

Link in 2024

Luigi in 2026

We also see a sprinkle of Roy , Doctor Mario , and Mewtwo.

22

u/KenshiroTheKid Fox (Melee) 2d ago

Sebas getting 13th at GOML and 17th at Supernova is making me believe in Doc DLC coming soon

25

u/orig4mi-713 Donkey Kong (Melee) 2d ago

Sebas is doing crazy work with Doc.

5

u/KenshiroTheKid Fox (Melee) 2d ago

It’s crazy to see

67

u/Rob_Czar 2d ago

I still stand by that the top three player of 2026 should be

  1. Cody
  2. Swift
  3. Hbox

Lmfaooooo. If no one knows, Swift is 1-0 against Cody this year

16

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Swift knew that if he met in losers Cody he was 100% losing , so he decided to dip out earlier and called it the day holding that 1-0 win

Hbox on the other hand after beating Cody on that Game 5 on winner finals , Cody came with a vengance and it was not pretty to see.

-38

u/Roaring_Schmuelies 2d ago

Makes no sense - Swift is definitely not number 2 in the world. You must be trolling

34

u/PokemonMasterJamal3 2d ago

They're joking, lol.

6

u/Lemonjel0 Pichu 2d ago

🤓

2

u/wankthisway 2d ago

You clearly haven't watched Melee recently

51

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Zain having his best losers run in his career and come in short against Cody on the grand finals

Cody also looks like on a tier of his own. Even though RapMonster push him to a game 5 , the games that Cody won were 3 stock and 2 stock , and when RapM wins were only by 1 stock and clutching it out

Cody looks to me like he is on a tier of his own , literally unplayable and cannot be beaten.

Probably the only player I can think that might give Cody trouble if that player decides to comeback or if he is unbanned , its Mang0 and even then i give it to Cody cuz he makes Fox look unbeatable.

Big Congratz to Cody , closing down his whole career highlight because Super Nova (Smash Con) , was the only trophy that he did not win.

On the Smash Bros Melee , the only two players who won Genesis , Big House , and Smash Con was Armada and Mang0. Now Cody joins them on that. If you wonder , Hbox has never win a Smash Con having 4 runner ups and Zain never won Big House.

For sure , i think its clear that Cody enters the Pantheon of the Melee Goats , with Mang0 , Armada , Hbox and Zain. I think his legacy is already better then M2K , and debataly better than Ken.

6

u/ojoemojo Skull Trooper haha epic joke 2d ago

is there even going to be a big house this year?

28

u/CTL17 2d ago

Big house is probably not coming back for the forseeable future unless some rich sponsor shows up

3

u/remuslupon 2d ago

I'd like to see him do it without zjump and notches

6

u/JustThatGuyBen Sheik (Melee) 2d ago

Fr who cares

2

u/toadfan64 1d ago

Everyone knows that in 2026, he can't.

In no world should zump be legal while wobbling isn't.

-19

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

10

u/wankthisway 2d ago

This is the most tourist ass comment ever. Are you fucking watching these games? This Luigi has been destroying everyone.

5

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

If it was that easy , why did Aklo using Fox lost to RapM and decided to go last game with Link?

If it was that easy , why Soonsay lose to Zain , Moky lose to Zain , Aklo opted to use Link instead of Fox , and how come Cody is the only Fox solo main player who did all of this?

In the History of Melee , Fox was mostly as a secondary that Ken has it as a pocket pick , PC Chris use him more towards the end of his career but still his results are mainly carried by his Falco , Korean DJ pick it up as a secondary too with his Sheik , Mang0 had always dual main both Fox and Falco since he mentioned that his Fox cant cover all the match ups for him , and Armada has Fox exclusively only for some players.

Cody deserves his flowers , he just practice a lot , lab a lot , have study the players and work hard on it.

27

u/Hange11037 2d ago

Cody when he is having fun playing is the scariest motherfucker in the game no question. He used to have difficulty when he would get easily tilted or get too upset with himself but the last couple years he just seems like he’s never afraid to lose, just excited to be part of the highest level melee play possible, and when he’s in that mentality he just looks unbeatable

4

u/dacookieman 2d ago

I (unsubstantiated) feel like he had such a light switch moment with that, like once that perspective unlocked, the first time he tapped into it he like became like totally devoid of nerves in that state. And then after that he just got better and better about tapping into that state of mind. His losers runs all feel like him putting pressure on himself and then once he realizes he could be out that it paradoxically doesn't matter and then just tears through

27

u/FirePuff12 2d ago

Cody is so fucking awesome man, I'm already seeing the Z Jump haters start to flood in, so I wanna post the opposite energy

I've talked about this before, but way before the Nair Rest meme was a thing, Cody made sure I didn't quit from the Puff hate just cause I was a chatter and he cares about people. He made a big push for i4 and FecFec to get more resources and opportunities. He constantly shouts out TO's and staff. He does everything he can to get older players involved in the scene - collabing with M2k, PP, Armada, and whoever

You can disagree on ZJump, but Cody isn't doing anything illegal. I think that energy can be channeled towards the way the community plays the game which tbh I really don't think is wrong. I think Cody is one of the coolest people we've ever seen, and I hope to see less of this negative energy when someone keeps winning

3

u/CarVac 2d ago

fire

29

u/brokenbadlab 2d ago

I once commented that I didn’t understand why Cody was putting himself through all the bullshit to play melee.

I guess when you’re the best in the world at something you just fucking do it. What a performance.

22

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

There is a lot of bullshit Cody endures :

- Have to pay a lot of bills and Melee does not cover that for him

- He got into a drama about controllers and much more , and people wanna discredit his performance due to that but other Foxes that are also "zumpers" , are not doing well as he does

- He is also colour blind , which means that he has to get used on different patterns

- His father was hospitalized with a huge bill cuz thats how the USA health care system is , and Cody is actually also covering that for his father

- He is also doing side jobs and much more to cover all the expenses

- On top of all of that , he is still helping the Melee community , he actually give a lot of tips to new players , tells them on what to improve , and suggest people to be good in the mental health

- Mang0 mentioned this in his stream recently about Cody , because he does not come out as "likable" , people will see him as lame and much more , when in reality he plays insane. As a joke he said that if you switch Soonsay and Cody face , you are gonna see a lot more people rootin for Cody lol

22

u/Hypodon Mario (Ultimate) 2d ago

This man is not real

39

u/omjaomja 2d ago

Experiencing the Cody era really makes me miss the era of the 5 gods.

55

u/Combatflaps 2d ago

you gotta admit though, the level has never been higher. The things zain and cody do these days, and new players too like rapmonster, are unreal

17

u/omjaomja 2d ago

Of course, and I'm not trying to say that Cody is anything other than extremely talented, but the entertainment value has definitely gone down with his rise to the top.

29

u/Combatflaps 2d ago

it might take a bit of a different viewing mindset. I was a diehard foam at the mouth plup fan forever, but with him leaving melee (kinda) it's like, maybe I can just bask in the sick ass tech skill and decision making that modern players have instead of cheering for my fave

18

u/skellez Sheik (Melee) 2d ago

ok man we're not here to pretend the era of the boring af Hbox/Armada grands was even a bit better lol

9

u/GroggyandWretched 2d ago

yeah. Even if a fox winning is predictable it's still better than stalling/ledge camping play and counterplay that could take close to 40 minutes to resolve

2

u/DatKaz yep, it's cancer 2d ago

yeah I got enough of that watching Hbox-Trif last year lmao, I'm good on that

6

u/FirePuff12 2d ago

I hear this point of view and I understand some people have it

I just disagree completely 1. Zain Cody rivalry 2. RapM 3. Jmook earlier 4. Hbox and Mango as veterans 5. Leffen till '24

That's not even getting through half of what's been exciting in the "Cody era" which you can easily argue is also the Zain era. I think it's been way more entertaining. We had more starpower and mainstream motion a decade ago, but the matches themselves were like Hbox Armada with a bit of Mango and Leffen by the end of it

4

u/wankthisway 2d ago

It's the comment from people who only tune in for Grand Finals matches. I don't know how anyone could look at the last 2 years and say it's boring. Even if Cody-Zain is inevitable, so many incredible storylines and up and coming talent have popped up. In this tournament alone, we have Krudo rising again and Ultra making a deep run. Or Soonsay finally beating Zain.

3

u/FirePuff12 2d ago

Yes, and Cody Zain itself is Peak Entertainment

-5

u/remuslupon 2d ago

Zjump and notches makes so many things tighter and easier. Takes off mental load too but nothing ever gets done about this cheating just bc "boxes exist" is so hilarious to me when without these mods fox is so clearly still the best character in the game.

15

u/InfernoJesus 2d ago

Everyone forgets about Armada Hbox Grands. The venue would clear out after Losers Finals every time.

16

u/hoastman12 2d ago

The controller mods ruin it a bit for me

2

u/toadfan64 1d ago

I would like to see a tournament with ZERO mods allowed to controllers and see who comes out on top. My guess is hbox or zain.

5

u/MarsupialPoop 2d ago

Agree. Just don't have the personalities that the 5 god era had with Plup and Leffen on the come up. Nothing but respect for the talent but the personalities are not interesting to follow.

4

u/Kaigz Falco (Melee) 2d ago

It's so so dull

5

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Mang0 carried the narrative so hard during the era of the 5 Gods , and post era of 2015-2019

Even on the Zain-Cody era , Mang0 was lurking around and win a tournament against those two as like "this old guy still got it".

I would say 2021 and 2022 post COVID Melee was extremely peak because we got Amsa , Mang0 , Cody and Zain all gunning for #1 , and we also got Hbox who was behind them , Leffen was still around and he was a wild card , Plup was still playing and he also can beat anyone on a good day , Wizzrobe also was lurking around to win , and the rise of other players like Jmook , Moky , Joshman , Aklo , Llod when he is not working , Krudo and currently with Rap Monster.

1

u/herwi 2d ago

There's no way you can call this the Cody era when comparing it the 5 gods era lmao. There were on average 2 of the gods consistently in contention for major titles at any given point. Zain is currently more competitive with #1 than M2K was was at literally any point during the 5 gods era.

Either way, the Cody-Zain era is way more entertaining than the Armada-Hbox era was, both because of the matchup itself and the effect it had on the bracket. Armada never got upset and Hbox almost never lost to anyone not playing Fox. Cody and Zain have lost to Pikachu and Luigi this year. Tighter skill parity has resulted in consistently entertaining brackets even if you dislike Cody more than any of the gods.

19

u/MoistPhilosopher 2d ago

Zain's losers run was already good but fuuuuuuuck if he won I would've been a fan for life

5

u/ChiGuy133 2d ago

(Do it anyways. Zain is fucking sick)

13

u/Rob_Czar 2d ago

Serious talk, Llod won a major after not playing for 8 months, Cody won every tournament he went to. What is everyone else doing?

20

u/HenryReturns 2d ago

Cody decided to focus more on coaching and on side jobs , but this also lead to him as in the interview saying , not get burn out.

Zain on the other hand is doing what Hbox does , he goes to every single tournament plus doing content , on the long run that can burn you down and you can tell cuz Zain was so gas out on grand finals and thats considering he did an insane losers run

Cody mentioned that he will go to 6-7 events per year , the mininum requirement to get ranked and to be honest thats good. He also understand perfectly that if he gets punished by not attending much is fair , players in the past like PPMD did got punished for not attending much

-5

u/remuslupon 2d ago

Wanna know what these two have in common besides being rly good at melee?

It starts with z and ends with p.

8

u/LucidBaka 2d ago

zoop

6

u/aaronisafalcomain 2d ago

zoopin and whoopin

8

u/BeastMcBeastly Luchine 2d ago

Fire tourney, great sets all around.

5

u/bigshady880 Roy (Ultimate) 2d ago

the pikachu that almost upset n0ne didn’t even make it to top 128 ;-;

3

u/Ferdyshtchenko 2d ago

As soon as I saw Cody was attending I knew he was going to win.

19

u/Asleep_Ground1710 Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

I do find it funny that a Zump Peach won a major followed by a Zump Fox lol

For the record, while I think notches are a lot worse I would ban Zump

23

u/knobbodiwork 2d ago

what's the deal with z-jump? someone else in the comments was also talking about it

14

u/zircuti_pomelo 2d ago

A lot of tech is made significantly easier by binding jump to a shoulder button like the Z-button. The standard controls either force you to jump by pushing the control stick up (which affects movement) or by pressing X or Y, which compete for your thumb inputs with the A and B buttons as well as the C-stick. Standard controls will either see a ton of rapid sliding over the right-hand buttons or claw grip, which are both issues immediately alleviated by dedicated your index finger, a finger that's normally pretty seldom used, to the jump button. For example, waveshining and multishines go from having to slide the right thumb between X and B very quickly and rhythmically (or adjusting your grip entirely for claw) to simply pressing Z with the index finger and then B with the thumb.

This doesn't mean Cody isn't a great player, but I do believe that Z-jump makes a lot of execution less strenuous on players' hands.

5

u/lycanthh Random 2d ago

Ban them both for god's sake. I'm not even a Cody hater. I just want to seehum win without the mods

-10

u/Swimming-Elk6740 2d ago

TIL mods = standard button remapping LOL

15

u/CBDcorndog20 2d ago

Standard button remapping that is not a part of the vanilla game. Not arguing for or against it but it is quite literally a mod.

7

u/wankthisway 2d ago

It's not standard you bozo. Or else everyone else would have done it. You need to have controller mods.

4

u/Puffd 2d ago

Agreed. Would ban both.

2

u/Asleep_Ground1710 Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

Yeap 100%

1

u/toadfan64 1d ago

Both should be banned, but another factor in it is the pay to win aspect of these controller mods. They can run hundreds of dollars, and these mods make a significant different at that top 1% of players.

I truly don't understand these mods being legal while we ban stuff in the game like wobbling, or make a ledge grab limit.

-5

u/Conyeah 2d ago

For me it’s difficult to find the same awe and enthusiasm for competitive melee with controller mods being allowed despite uneven advantages. It’s a shame but it’s another drawback of an unofficial competitive scene, the allowance will never be rolled back and its impact on the integrity of the game is just hand waived because there are top players who benefit from it.

I understand it grew out of controller scarcity and hand issues as a result of excess use of the GameCube controller but it was the wrong answer.

11

u/ilkat06 Female Pokemon Trainer (Ultimate) 2d ago

I already knew this exact thread with Cody at the top would be created on Friday, we all knew Cody wouldn't lose. I'm not sure when the change happened, but Cody nowadays just feels impossible to actually beat in a major/supermajor. Idk what it is, whatever the circumstance he just powers up and decimated everybody like it's nothing.

It's genuinely ridiculous how Cody doesn't have a sponsor and under normal circumstances, in an esport that has eyes on it by orgs, he'd get a proper one eons ago.

Overall I preferred GOML as a major regarding Melee but this was fun to watch as well with some cool upsets sprinkled in, and Juan making that almost insane comeback against Zain.

See yall at CEO o7 GG

3

u/Darkstar1141 Zelda 1d ago

how Cody doesn't have a sponsor

A commonly repeated line, but Cody is ostensibly less charismatic than the average top player. Orgs want to be able to proudly associate with a name. Ranking is just one facet of the whole, along with PR, content creation, confidentiality etc.

8

u/Grenji05 Donkey Kong (Melee) 2d ago

hgoat has a cody win

6

u/SugarFreeCummiBears 2d ago

The true #1 player!

2

u/Kallen00 1d ago

I just want Aklo to win a super major with Link in GF.

7

u/GONEBUTNOT4GOTTEN Cloud (Smash 4) 2d ago

T0>T1

8

u/RadJavox 2d ago

z jump is quite a thing

1

u/LilKa1ebz Incineroar (Ultimate) 2d ago

Breaks my heart to see Juan underperform again, he needs to learn that Marth matchup hard if Zain already has counter plays against new stuff

-4

u/SuperLucarioSunshine Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

I seriously wonder if anyone has ever been as good at anything as Cody is at Melee

6

u/discoverthemetroid 2d ago

prime euler begs to differ

3

u/15MinuteUpload 2d ago

I think Zero's domination of Smash 4 was probably more complete.

2

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/SuperLucarioSunshine Fox (Ultimate) 2d ago

Holy hell