This past weekend, Brawlhalla hosted one of its biggest tournaments of the year: North America - Mammoth Invitational . The tournament was comprised of the top 32 players on the Brawlhalla rankings. The tournament also had a staggering prize pool with $20,000 on the line.
Stingray was one of those players, and he is currently ranked within the top five in the world. The up incoming 16 year old had a lot to prove going into the Mammoth Invitational. He had a stellar 2020 where he put himself in contention for being among the best in the game. A win at Mammoth Invitational would not only lead to a massive payday for Stingray, but also he may very well put himself in the conversation as the best player in the world.
Stingray began his tournament run stupendously. Using Xull, he breezed through Van Thurl 3-0 and ImLlama 3-1 to make it to winners quarters. There, he faced off against the three time Brawhalla world champion and the current #1 player, Sandstorm.
Instead of going with Xull, Stingray opted to use Ember to fight Sandstorm who uses Magyar, a greatsword wielding ghost knight that deals massive damage at close-quarters. This looked like a daunting matchup on paper for Stingray, but he showed that he belonged in the top cut by solidly beating Sandstorm 3-1 to advance to winners semis. A major part of his win was because of Ember's long range bow attacks to keep Sandstorm at bay while stuffing out all his attacks. Sandstorm tried to switch to Mordex to trip Stingray up, but it in the end, Stingray still emerged victorious.
In the winners semis, Stingray played Cody Travis who is another well-respected and strong top 10 player. This would be the first time during the tournament that Stingray would be pushed to game five. Stingray lost the first two games of the set and was facing a 0-3 loss. But in spite of a huge deficit, Stingray found the way to mount an impressive comeback and defeated Cody Travis and his Reno with a stunning reverse 3-0; he won the set 3-2 to make it to winners finals.
In winners finals, Stingray played Phazon, a talented Mordex player. Just like in the Cody Travis set, Stingray once again was on the receiving end of a brutal 0-2 setback. However, again, just like in the Cody Travis set, Stingray managed to dig his way out of the hole and snatch the victory from the jaws of certain defeat and sent Phazon to the losers bracket 3-2.
His opponent in grand finals was the man he defeated in the winners quarters, Sandstorm. Sandstorm was coming off of a massive five set win streak since going to losers, only dropping two games the entire time. He was certainly riding a fearsome amount of momentum going into grand finals, but if Stingray could beat Sandstorm again, he would certainly cement his claim to being the best player in the world.
The first set of grand finals didn't fare well for Stingray. He went with the same strategy he used from the winners quarters set by using Ember to keep Sandstorm at a distance, but Sandstorm adapted well. He closed the distance much better than in winners and took the first set 3-1.
The second set didn't go as well for Stingray either with Sandstorm sealing out the set and the tournament with a dominant 3-0.
He might've not gotten the win, but after beating the best player in the world and surmounting two reverse 3-0 comebacks, it is not hard to imagine Stingray as potentially being a favorite to win the next major he attends.
Written by Hank Strandberg
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Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/stingray516
Twitter: @lolwitty1
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