Apex 2022 Winners Quarters - Axe (Pikachu) Vs. Zain (Marth) - SSBM Melee Tournament

[@vgbootcamp]

Apex is still live! Check it out here: "www.twitch.tv/vgbootcamp"

[@supermegaultrabanaan]

Ok so Axe is responsible for the top three hypest moments this tourney so far: 1. Time out with 2Saint where he took the lead in the last ten seconds. 2. Ridiculous 1v2 comeback in Doubles. 3. Beating Zain again for the first time since offline majors returned. What a god.

[@Amaling]

Congratulations to Zain for being the first ever Marth to make Axe pop off after beating them No seriously, it’s unreal how much this guy has pushed forward the realm of possibility for Marth in a 20+ year old game

[@BlackDeathBlade]

Believe it or not, even before Zain started beating Axe, Axe has actually popped off on Zain quite a number of times.

[@beszt95]

Axe is so good, love seeing him do well in bracket

[@sharsasuke01]

To be honest I think Axe is more Zain's rival than Mango. His record against Marth is just too intimidating.

[@MuiltiLightRider]

I feel like Axe is more Zain's demon than rival and Mango (or Cody) is his actual rival. Since Axe's record against Axe is extremely in Axe's favor and Zain and Mango tend to go more back and forth

[@spacevadr10]

idk about Rival cause they don't have a history like that after Zain entered top level. I could see it happening after a few more sets tho. This is Axe's first one on Zain as a top player

[@Zimx02]

@@spacevadr10 No it's not. During Axe's summit win, Zain was already considered top if not the best already.

[@cedricrust9953]

@@Zimx02 Zain was not considered the best in 2019, my dude

[@eddiestilll]

axe's pop off at 12:25 is so joyful LOL so much nice guy energy in the room

[@Guts1022]

That was so hype. Bro I want axe to win this tourney. I can feel it. He's winning this

[@voodooedits785]

If his fox is ready for hbox and if he has an answer to amsa then he can win.

[@tysonfontanez]

the bracket looks really tough, he's got hbox into amsa (if he wins) or into winner of iBDW Jmook. Axe is favored against Jmook but then after that set it would Zain rematch and I don't think Zain will take this loss lying down so it will definitely be harder. I believe in Axe though, let's see if his fox can go all the way against hbox

[@heath6825]

He has a tough ass bracket, but I believe !!

[@voodooedits785]

@SmiffyLel amsa destroyed axe at summit and LSI

[@mrm64]

@@heath6825 deadass man, I want this man to WIN THIS! 2019 was his last major win, we NEED THIS in the Axe nation!!

[@fdthqwerty]

For the better part of a decade, Marth/Pikachu was theorized to be even or even slightly Marth favored, but Axe was so much more practiced on his side of the matchup that he made it look tough for the Marth. For the first time in post-COVID Melee, Axe makes a triumphant return to form against the best Marth in the world.

[@olie567]

Incredible comment!

[@coolpool4191]

LETS GO AXE MY GOAT 🐐

[@rockzyk1291]

LOVE seeing Aximus Maximus back. Huge win.

[@FlamingZelda3]

I think the traditional marth playstyle (against fastfallers, floaties, shiek) doesn't translate well into the pikachu matchup. I don't know if he wins the matchup of not, but I think he has to use his tools differently than he's used to which makes the matchup feel unusual.

[@FlamingZelda3]

Like as a marth player I think grabs are harder to get and don't net as much, I think the nair is not helpful, but I think fair and fsmash/f-tilt pull a lot of weight against pikachu

[@FlamingZelda3]

I think marth has to play it like he does against mid-tiers (which we all know means getting kills is tough) but pikachu has more range and options than a lot of other mid-tiers.

[@thebarbelllifestyle1478]

Definitely agree. Probably a pace issue too. Letting pika control the pace means trouble. Marth has to slow down a bit and interrupt those nair approaches from pika to be more viable in the matchup. To me, pika has a slight edge against Marth.

[@MessengerOscars]

Best commentary I’ve heard on this matchup

[@vTropic]

how did Zain do the shield turn around at 10:57?

[@rat4992]

How can you not love a good axe pop off

[@BlackDeathBlade]

If there's one player who could 3-0 Zain, it would be Axe. Even amongst the top 10, I don't think they have better odds of performing such a feat.

[@RIStar-ds7wr]

This matchup went from the most underdeveloped matchup to being pushed to one of the most developed matchup.

[@AlexRoseGames]

download complete

[@stirling3523]

Sick win, great finish

[@RIStar-ds7wr]

Axe could win the tournament. All he has to is beat Hbox (which he came close to recently). Beat either Amsa, Jmook or Ibdw which he can in winner’s final. All doable but hard.

[@DesTr069]

Image Axe vs aMSa grands. What a timeline this would be

[@orionhernandez3850]

And that's the exciting thing about melee right meow

[@sharsasuke01]

He has a winning record against both Amsa and Jmook so those are doable. Though Cody would be his biggest obstacle. Hes just too good at the MU.

[@ThisIsStillWEB]

Axe was hitting some crazy angles on the last stock!

[@ErebusX1]

Axe is really good with the quick deaths lol. Pretty sure few months back he made Asma have a really quick death as well

[@DizzyFlakes]

0:03 seconds.... and a stock is already taken... wow

[@cross25011990]

Hope to see axe win a major again

[@Zion122]

He finally finished a 3-0

[@tysonfontanez]

only time Zain has been 3-0'd by anyone this year

[@Zimx02]

I can't believe axe got that NASTY counterhit for the final kill

[@gomjabbar6246]

can you just not side b to recover as marth in this mu? I don't remember seeing it much at all.

[@bruh9505]

I'm sure pikachu could just nair since he can go so far offstage and STILL make it back

[@phoenixflower1225]

now I know why pivot tipper is so good after watching Kodorin's video on dashback invincibility for Marth. Avoid a get up attack with invin and then retaliate with a ranged tipper f smash (pivoting perfectly ranges for that)

[@prizm9515]

You don't see Axe pop off very often.

[@WolfxE1998]

As a Zain fan 🥲

[@phoenixflower1225]

Oh no was F9cking epic

[@ninjapacman26]

9:55 Zain may have pulled another reverse 3-0 if not for this godlike edgeguard.

[@heath6825]

I love Axe so much dude

[@pedrohdalla]

Axe is such a freak of nature wtf

[@TrevsTreehouse]

I feel like cc has been a huge thing since I started playing around 2017 but it could be because I'm primarily a sheik/peach and I watched Armada a lot.

[@heyitsmort7744]

AXE IS BACK BABY

[@Diispaceyone]

lets fucking go axe!!!!!!!!!

[@DanielSabzghabaei]

how tf that upsmash hit lmaooo

[@Padthai_Shrimp]

Jeez is pika ungimpable?

[@phoenixflower1225]

if you look at Zain's popoff against Hungrybox - he was doing the same thing Axe did - so in reality it was retribution for the 3-0 against Axe :PPP

[@nikoadventures]

Spoilers: Wow.if zain doesn’t doesn’t make top 8,Mang0s gonna have a field day with this

[@greencow4]

He’s easily making top 8 lol

[@nikoadventures]

@@greencow4we’ll see man,pretty early in bracket,zains potentially has one of the toughest losers brackets I’ve seen for a top player in a while.Mang0 didn’t make top 8 genesis and ibdw didn’t make top 8 in luds.not hating on zain,it’s just that this era of melee is tough

[@greencow4]

@@nikoadventures yeah true but he just has to beat rishi or none so I think he’s making top 8 unless there’s a crazy upset

[@paolosworld99]

Mang0 probably wants aMSa, Hbox or someone else to win, since if Zain or iBDW win then they will probably take the #1 ranking above him

[@nikoadventures]

@@greencow4 tru,tru just looked at the bracket.kinda miscalculated on the bracket my b there lol but we’ll see

[@ssbpd1]

How was Axe ranked 29. Biggest joke. Solidly playing as a top 10 player

[@HappyTofu2424]

He did really bad by his standards for the first half of the year. He took a 3 month hiatus and came back with a vengeance, he's been playing amazing and should get top 10, top 15 at the worst.

[@TrevsTreehouse]

I also think it's slight Marth or an even matchup. I think Zain knows this matchup the best out of the top Marth's but he still doesn't really know it. I feel like the only matchup that I feel like I really know completely is versus Marth because my homie mains him but when I play a pro marth that kind of goes out the window loll. When I say he doesn't know it I mean he may know a general theory or game plan for the matchup but he doesn't every nook and cranny of it like Axe does because there are just so many Marths. For instance, I think there are certain reactions on up bs Zain and other Marth's could hit if they knew more about how it worked but there are so many angles and unique hitbox mechanics that its really hard for a character like Marth with little move duration to find the spots where he needs to hit Pikachu. Also, Marth edge guarding off ledge isn't good enough to cover it that way and that's the best way to edgeguard it.

[@elibonham4388]

Its so funny how yoshi and pikachu amsa and axe beat zains marth, one of the best players of all time

[@duck___e]

imagine casually having an advantage over arguably the best player.

[@splooooooop]

letsgo axe

[@emmbeesea]

/light sigh Just like old times. Pika pika!

[@DionysusBrew]

I was there. So insanely hype. Let's go Axe.

[@BopWalk]

Great win Axe!

[@thikdikriky1559]

LFG AXE

[@phoenixflower1225]

that was INCREDIBLEEEE PLAY by AXXEEEEE!!!

[@davidolinger3948]

AXEMUS MAXEMUS

[@bladefox5082]

the world is healing

[@racebase9146]

Call an exorcist, Zain’s bracket demon is back!

[@LLsunflower]

Casters don't know what they're talking about with this matchup lol

[@fupalover]

I'd love to see swift talk shit now😴

[@JacienV]

azaxeActivate

[@SPMask]

(Last Game) How Axe felt after that Thunder connected off the screen...kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKuzoWVppZylh9E&ab_channel=SPMask

[@musicmashups]

Pikachu-Marth is 60-40

[@Midneight0]

When Zain starts consistently hitting downtilt on pika sweet spot ledge then it's probably gg for axe forever. Hope he gets his wins in before then

[@goge7a163]

I’m so happy Axe played well. I also have to say HomeMadeWaffle is so bad at commentating. He just talks about matchups and not the actual game plus he’s clumsy with his words. It really took away from the exciting and close match.

[@afroduckaka4pf593]

The fact one of these commentators actually thinks pikachu wins the matchup against marth just shows me he doesn’t watch melee

[@ono446]

Axe has been around a while, maybe it's axe wins the matchup but they definitely do

[@supwititproductionz3738]

the fact that you don't know who HMW is shows me you don't watch melee

[@afroduckaka4pf593]

@@supwititproductionz3738 kinda irrelevant to what I was saying, but just bc homemade waffles has been around for a while doesn’t mean his opinions are always right

[@ono446]

@@afroduckaka4pf593 it really is relevant, hmw clearly watches a lot of melee which was your first point. That was just wrong