On Sunday, seven American challengers will attempt to overthrow the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) throne at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
They will enter the top eight of Super Smash Bros. Melee, each vying for his own personal chance to make history.
Standing in their way is the one overseas competitor still alive on foreign ground, as defending Evolution champion Adam "Armada" Lindgren looks to retain his title and achieve back-to-back gold-medal finishes.
One Swedish champion versus seven American contenders. Who will exit Mandalay as the world's best Melee player?
Winners Bracket Semifinals
Adam "Armada" Lindgren vs. Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman
On Sunday, these two "gods" of Melee will battle it out to get a guaranteed top-three placing and a spot in the Winners Final. Alliance's Armada, the undisputed Melee champion of 2015, has had a less successful year in 2016; however, he has kept the same air of consistency that has him in the history books as one of the best players in the game's history. Mew2King, whose play is the opposite of consistent, can vary in form for all sorts of different reasons. Featuring two of the smartest players in the professional scene today, it's a matchup between veterans, with the Swedish champion entering as the favorite.
Yet, even with his mentality issues at times, Mew2King is someone you can't count out. An upset run to the finals and a championship win would be the pinnacle of a decadelong career of Echo Fox's Smash representative.
Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma vs. Justin "Plup" McGrath
It's now or never for Team Liquid's ace Hungrybox. A perennial finalist, he has earned the title as the "Silver King" of Melee at Evo, finishing as runner-up in both the 2015 and 2014 tournaments to Armada and eternal rival Cloud9's Joseph "Mango" Marquez, respectively. This year, however, has been the "Year of Hungrybox," as the Jigglypuff master has won eight tournaments and only grabbed a silver medal twice.
For Hungrybox, this tournament will shape how people view his legacy. Given his third-place finish in 2013 and his two silver finishes the past two years, another failure to grab gold in a year where he has routinely won championships will be looked upon as a missed opportunity. A title, however, would elevate him to the same status as Mango and Armada: an Evolution champion.
His opponent, Plup, is no stranger to playing with and against Hungrybox, as the two both come out of the Florida region and have been a prolific tag team before in Melee doubles. Plup's winners semifinals placement is his own statement that he's ready to take the next step in his career. A consistent top eight finisher, he had his first huge breakthrough during the last Evo, where he upset both Mango and Team SoloMid's William "Leffen" Hjelte to finish in fourth place (see Road to Evo: Plup). His road ended in the losers semifinals of that tournament when he fell to Hungrybox's Jigglypuff in a 2-0 sweep over his Sheik.
Losers Bracket Round 5
Weston "Westballz" Dennis vs. Johnny "S2J" Kim
This match could make the career of either competitor. In the only matchup in the top eight without one of the tournament favorites, G2 Esports' recently signed talent Westballz or Tempo Storm's S2J could push himself to the next level with a win.
Westballz, one of the better non-god or Leffen players in 2015 with top four finishes at various large events, has had more of a quiet 2016. He's placed outside the semifinals for a majority of the tournaments that he has played in, outside of his minor tournament victory in London over Germany's Mustafa "Ice" Akcakaya. S2J, out of all eight finalists, is the biggest long shot, having not finished above seventh-eighth place at a premier competition this year. His Evolution history has been good but nothing remarkable, hovering around the 13th to 24th position the past three years.
This year's Cinderella run could come from this matchup between Westballz's Falco and S2J's Captain Falcon.
Joseph "Mango" Marquez vs. Kevin "PewPewU" Toy
The final match of the top eight might also be its best. Mango, two-time Evolution champion, was thwarted from his three-peat last year and threw his participation medal into the crowd during the closing ceremony. Possibly the greatest American to ever pick up the game, Mango's desire and drive is to grab the "3vo" title that he failed to pick up last year. He has changed his training regimen around (see Road to Evo: Mango), and the C9 star is hoping that his more focused attitude and approach to the game will be what he needs to take home the title he covets so much. Coming out of the losers bracket, he'll need to win five straight matches on Sunday to make his dream a reality in front of a raucous crowd at the Events Center.
CLG's PewPewU, often seen as a tandem alongside club and doubles teammate Zachary "SFAT" Cordoni, is going it alone in the final eight at Evolution. His placement already will be the best in his career -- he's placed ninth-12th the past two years -- but Counter Logic's player doesn't want the run to end here. A win over Mango would boost PewPewU into the top six and give him the chance to take down multiple Melee gods en route to an unexpected title run.