Team Liquid’s Hungrybox Wins Smash Melee CEO 2025 Despite Controller Issues

Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma won the Super Smash Bros. Melee bracket of CEO 2025 after beating Justin “Wizzrobe” Hallett. Throughout the top 8 bracket, Hungrybox was having problems with his controller, which led to him losing games and eventually throwing his controller away.

During the winner’s final against Aly “MOF” Oquendo, Hungrybox’s controller malfunctioned. He still won the set and thanked MOF for her sportsmanship, saying that he only won because she allowed him to switch controllers mid-game, mid-stock, and gave him another handwarmer.

The grand final against Wizzrobe was the same story. He tried his original controller once more for game one, but it continued to malfunction. Hungrybox made the decision to jump off the map and give Wizzrobe the win because of it.

This is where Hungrybox looked for a replacement controller to continue the grand final with. He lost 3-0 against Wizzrobe, which reset the bracket and put him in a difficult situation. Hungrybox was able to bounce back and win the tournament 3-2.

Melee is one of the fighting games where precise inputs are very important. This means that the controller a player is using can dictate how well they’re going to play in the tournament. If they’re not used to the controller they’re using, it’s a huge detriment to their performance. Hungrybox using another controller to win CEO 2025 is a huge achievement, especially against Wizzrobe, one of the best Melee players in the world.

Additionally, this is Hungrybox’s eighth time winning CEO. Alex Jebailey, the tournament organizer of CEO, posted on his X account that Hungrybox won the very first CEO event for Melee back in 2010. A full 15 years apart, and Hungrybox has finished in the top 8 of every iteration of CEO.