In an video posted yesterday, Adam “Armada” Lindgren announced that he will be competing in Smash Ultimate at Genesis 6, the first Smash major of 2019. The Melee legend, who retired from competitive Melee play in September citing burnout issues, put forth a barebones video including clips from his infamous Melee bracket runs at past Genesis events and clips of the Team Alliance-sponsored player facing off against top European Smash 4 player Dennis “iStudying” Kwarteng in Smash Ultimate. The video ended with the words “ARMADA ULTIMATE GENESIS 6.” Watch it below:
In addition to competing in Smash Ultimate at Genesis, Armada will be entering Melee doubles with his brother, Andreas “Android” Lindgren. The Swedish team, known as “Team UGS” due to their long-running affiliation with the Ultimate Gamers of Sweden crew, has long been considered one of the premier doubles teams in the world, and a focus on doubles could allow them to make quite the deep run. Furthermore, Armada might commentate at the event, though this is as yet unconfirmed.
There are plenty of reasons to believe that Armada will be a tournament threat in Smash Ultimate competition. Though Ultimate’s physics are much closer to those of Smash 4 than they are to Melee’s, the Swedish Sniper has plenty of experience in high-level Smash 4 competition. In 2015, he entered European Smash 4 major B.E.A.S.T. 5 using Diddy Kong and finished in an impressive fourth place, losing to Ufuk “cyve” Fidan and fellow Melee player William “Leffen” Hjelte.
Leffen, who has also shown an interest in competitive Smash Ultimate, has not yet confirmed whether or not he will compete in the new game at Genesis 6; on stream, he has stated that doing so would hurt his chances at winning the event’s Melee bracket, but that he is still weighing the benefits and drawbacks of entering both games.
Beyond his successes in the early Smash 4 metagame, Armada is a Smash legend who has shown his willingness to grind his way to the top in any game. After all, during the days when Melee was rivaled in popularity by the 3.02 edition of Project M, Armada quickly became one of the best players in the world and was notorious for his accurate use of Pit’s arrows—it’s how he initially gained his Swedish Sniper cognomen. If he turns his attention to Smash Ultimate, there’s no telling what he might accomplish.
Genesis 6 will go down between February 1 and 3, 2019, in Oakland, California. Whether you’re a Melee fan looking to see a familiar face compete in the new game or a Smash 4 player interested in seeing top players from that game face off against Armada, the Swede’s choice to enter a Smash Ultimate major is sure to shake things up and make Genesis an entertaining tournament for all.
