Last night, Zain “Zain” Naghmi won Maryland Super Smash Bros. Melee regional The Script 2 without dropping a set. The Marth main’s victory was the expected outcome for the event, where he was seeded first above challengers such as Charlie “AbsentPage” McKinley and Cody “iBDW” Schwab. But though the event went down in Zain’s home region, it was Avery “Ginger” Wilson, an out-of-region invader, who captured the hearts of the crowd during his run to grand finals.
After losing to local Peach main MoG in round one pools, Ginger buckled down for a long loser’s run, winning nine straight sets in order to earn his second-place finish. In Top 8 of the Falco-themed event, Ginger stunned the crowd with the high level of his play, leading commentators Hendrick “DJ Nintendo” Pilar and Kashan “Chillindude” Khan to dub him the leader of the “Falco Mafia.”
Ginger’s most impressive wins came towards the end of his run, where he upset iBDW and AbsentPage in consecutive sets in order to earn his shot at Zain in grand finals. There, Ginger took the Marth main all the way to game five, pulling out a high-percent comeback victory on Final Destination in game three.
In the end, however, it was Zain who carried the day, busting out flashy edge cancels and optimal edge guards in order to stifle Ginger’s attempt at a bracket reset. As the crowd roared, the hometown hero turned and raised his fist in victory—but only after giving Ginger a hearty congratulation of his own.
