Beating Armada: Set Analysis of Armada vs. Swedish Delight at EVO 2018

January 18th, 2010: Armada drops a set to someone outside of the pantheon of the gods.

August 4th, 2018: He does it again.

For those outside of the Smash community, Swedish Delight’s win over Armada at EVO might seem like a weird pick for one of the biggest upsets in Smash history. After all, the #16 player in the world beating the #3 player hardly seems far-fetched. But of course, those with a knowledge of Armada’s remarkably consistent history understand how significant this upset was; it was an upset eight and a half years in the making.

Many players have come close to dethroning Armada, especially in the past year. However, even those who had managed to force Armada to that last game failed to seal the deal. In the final, game-changing moments, they faltered. But Swedish did not. This being the case, it is important to note that Swedish Delight’s victory was a result of mental fortitude just as much as it was technical ability. In this article, I will go over some of Swedish Delight’s in-game decisions in his set against Armada and try to piece together how a combination of strong mental awareness and precise execution led to a seemingly impossible victory.

Spacing in the Neutral:

Throughout the set, Swedish Delight took advantage of Sheik’s strengths in the neutral, doing an excellent job at positioning himself outside of Armada’s range (particularly against Armada’s Peach, although he tried to similarly space himself away from Armada’s Fox). In the neutral, Swedish would throw out lots of forward-airs and back-airs as a safe, non-committal sort of approach. If Armada attempted to approach, his approach would get stuffed, and Swedish could opt to either initiate a combo sequence or retreat to look for another opening. When the aerials didn’t connect, it was simply because Armada stayed at a distance. Because Swedish Delight didn’t push into Armada’s space aggressively, he left himself open for getting punished infrequently.

Swedish Delight would also utilize forward tilts in a similar vein to his aerials, pushing Armada away anytime he came into Swedish’s range. This option also gave Swedish freedom to determine his next move, as he could either open up a combo or simply reset the neutral, depending on which option seemed most beneficial at the time. In general, Swedish Delight positioned himself in such a manner as to control the pace of the match by keeping Armada’s every move in check.

His patience and careful positioning in the neutral can be seen quite well in the above gif. By dash dancing just outside of Armada’s immediate range, Swedish gave himself plenty of space to avoid any raw approach from Armada, while also staying close enough to punish Armada if he were to attempt to pull a turnip. Indeed, up until the last stock of game one, Armada struggled to pull turnips as frequently as he typically would, perhaps because Swedish Delight rarely gave him the breathing room to do so.

Understanding When to Keep Pushing and When to Retreat:

Like his spacing, this aspect of Swedish Delight’s play was much more noticeable against Peach, where the pace of the game was overall much slower than against Fox. On numerous occasions, Swedish proved he had a solid understanding of how much he could safely get off of each opening. As a result, a lot of Swedish Delight’s openings led into one- or two-piece combos, since Swedish was unwilling to take unnecessary risks in his gameplay.

Of course, other openings, such as the one featured in the above left gif, resulted in rather explosive punishes. Not only did Swedish know the exact buttons he could press, but he also knew the exact buttons he should press, allowing for Swedish Delight to secure the maximum amount of damage he could safely rack up in many of his interactions with Armada (of course, he was smart enough to understand that, in many instances, this maximum amount wasn’t very much).

The above right gif shows another example of this keen aspect of Swedish’s mental play. Immediately after landing his back-air, Swedish dashes away, predicting the punish attempt from Armada, and is able to counter-punish Armada with a grab of his own. In cases such as these, Swedish Delight proved he was quite adept at predicting Armada’s response and appropriately responding himself.

Even when Armada turned Swedish Delight’s game plan on its head, he was not shaken as many others would have been. On the final stock of game one, Armada managed to create more space between himself and Swedish than Swedish had allowed throughout the majority of the match, giving Armada the opportunity to pull lots of turnips. Despite this, Swedish did not get antsy and feel the need to approach recklessly (which many would have, especially considering Armada was already at a high percent). Instead, he kept his distance, throwing Needles while trying to dodge Armada’s turnips, and waiting for the right moments to inch closer, ultimately landing the hits he needed to force Armada offstage and secure the first game for himself.

Near Flawless Edgeguards and Impressive Juggling:

The next notable aspect of Swedish Delight’s play was his ability to keep Armada in a disadvantage state for extended periods of time, something which held true against both Armada’s Peach and his Fox. Swedish did an excellent job catching Armada’s landings, forcing him back into the air multiple times and continually juggling him, making it difficult for Armada to reach a comfortable position in the neutral.

One of the defining characteristics of Swedish’s winning playstyle was his ability to consistently edgeguard Armada. He employed several different edgeguarding techniques over the course of the set, such as tilts from the edge of the stage and ledgehop aerials. Swedish Delight seemed to always know exactly which option would catch Armada and send him back offstage. The placement of his moves was impeccable, whether it was connecting a back-air right as Armada’s Peach floated into his range or launching Needles to eat the Up-B of Armada’s Fox and force him to Up-B again from an undesirable angle.

Just as in pretty much every other aspect of Swedish Delight’s play, he did not get reckless when edgeguarding. If it took multiple interactions at the ledge to seal the stock, then he was willing to play out (and win) every single one of those interactions. Armada truly proved to be a hassle to kill; the last stock is a notable example of this, as Swedish Delight had to land numerous hits forcing Armada towards the edge of and ultimately off of the stage before he could finally take the final stock. Despite Armada attempting to snag multiple second chances at life, Swedish Delight ultimately never allowed Armada to turn the situation around on him. Throughout the entirety of the set, Swedish Delight displayed an uncanny prowess for seeing an edgeguard sequence through to completion, no matter how long it took.

Smart Tech Chasing:

A key feature of Swedish Delight’s play against Armada’s Fox was his smart decision-making and precise execution when it came to tech chasing. He reacted to just about every option Armada would mix in while trying to escape. While Sheik’s grab was naturally the crux of his tech chases, he employed other tech chase openers, such as forward tilt, when appropriate. In addition, he found ways to incorporate unorthodox options in the midst of his tech chases, always looking to throw out moves which Armada wouldn’t expect. See the gif above, where Swedish Delight manages to connect a double up smash in his tech chase and then begin applying massive pressure upon forcing Armada onto a platform.

As with other aspects of his game plan, Swedish Delight portrayed a very clear presence of mind in his tech chasing. On those rare instances when a tech chase did fall through, Swedish Delight would not scramble to pick it back up and throw himself into a dangerous situation. Instead, he would retreat, trusting in his own ability to win the neutral again. Even on the last stock of the set‒no doubt a stressful, high pressure moment‒Swedish continued to tech chase, trusting in the decision-making and execution which had given him success up to that point. Even though he could not finish the job with one clean tech chase, he did not falter, and was able to maintain control until Armada’s stock was gone.

Capitalizing on Key Opportunities:

I’ve made reference to it throughout this article, but I’ll reiterate again in this section; Swedish’s victory came about as a result of the successful amalgamation of a focused mental game and well-executed gameplay. Anytime an opportunity to apply big damage presented itself, Swedish Delight seized it, taking a mile out of every inch Armada gave him. For this section, I’ve prepared several gifs, showcasing a few examples of moments where Swedish Delight gave himself the advantage simply by being aware of the situation and reacting properly.

In the top left gif, Swedish Delight finds himself above Armada, a position most players would be quite frightened to find themselves in. Rather than air dodging in an attempt to land safely, he instead falls into Armada with a down-air. Not only is he able to land as a result of this aggressive landing option, but he forces Armada into the air, initiating a juggle sequence, and he is able to double Armada’s percent before Armada can regain his footing.

The top right gif shows a simple to understand, yet difficult to perform, turnaround sequence. As Armada drops his turnip, Swedish Delight picks it up, and is able to use it successfully in his own edgeguard. Swedish was able to react pretty much on the fly to obtaining Armada’s turnip and managed to take a stock because of it. The bottom left gif also shows Swedish reacting on the fly and doing so well; even though the Stadium transformation interrupted what could have been an otherwise fruitful tech chase, Swedish Delight still made the most out of the unfortunate occurrence, following Armada’s landings and racking up a respectable amount of damage regardless.

The bottom right gif showcases Swedish Delight’s ability to link together all the strongest aspects of his gameplay. What started as a tech chase became an opportunity for Swedish to catch Armada’s tech roll on a platform, which then became an edgeguard that forced Armada onto his last stock. At no point in the sequence does Swedish Delight overextend, and Armada even makes it back to the stage a couple times as a result. And yet, Swedish never loses control of the situation. His ability to smoothly transition from each portion of his gameplay is quite evident here, and it points back to Swedish’s ability to make the most out of each and every situation.

Looking back on the set, I notice that I never really felt like Swedish was going to win until the very last moment. Not that he ever falls terribly far behind Armada, but he lacks a lot of big moments. Sure, there are a few really exciting openings where he racks up big damage or snags a crucial edgeguard, but really, these aren’t the defining moments of the set. Instead, it’s the little moments that really define what allowed Swedish to overcome Armada.

From his perfect awareness of Armada’s movement patterns and his constant capitalization on Armada’s mistakes, to his refusal to make mistakes of his own for which Armada could severely punish him, Swedish Delight displayed a remarkable control over even the most minute interactions between himself and his opponent. Each little thing he did right‒each time he caught Armada’s landing, each time he connected a back-air offstage, each time he read Armada’s tech roll‒was on its own impressive, yet not enough to win such a crucial set. But what made the difference was the fact that he managed to win these little interactions over and over again.

As we think back on this set in the years to come, we may only remember the explosive final two stocks of game three, leading up to the monumental moment when the word “Game!” flashed onto the screen. But ultimately, it was the little moments where Swedish one-upped Armada which laid the foundation for the upset we’ll still be talking about eight and a half years from now.

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