Plup dominates Smash World Tour, beats Wizzrobe in the Grand Finals

Despite arguably missing the top 3 players in the world (Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, Cody "iBDW" Schwab, and Zain Naghmi), the Melee Smash World Tour finals delivered the goods in terms of gameplay, with Panda's Justin "Plup" McGrath taking home $20k of the $150k prize pool after beating Envy's Justin "Wizzrobe" Hallett.

Plup dominates Smash World Tour, beats Wizzrobe in the Grand Finals

Plup, who opted not to attend Mainstage, missed out on Summit 12 and proved that he's in the conversation for being considered one of the most consistent Melee players in 2021. 

Placing 4th at Summit 11, 2nd at Riptide, and winning the SWT West Regional Finals, the Sheik/Fox main came with enough momentum to be considered the fan-favourite for this event, which promised to bring together talent from across the world, as no other tournament has before.

Plup had very few complications throughout the event from the group stage onwards, apart from going to a game 5 against Mustafa "Ice" Akçakaya, although he managed to clutch it out in the end.

Once the Winners Quarters rolled around, Plup was unstoppable and demonstrated his in-depth matchup knowledge across the board paired with clean, almost perfect-like execution were no match for the rest of the competitors.

Congratulations to @Panda_Plup, the first ever Smash World Tour Melee Champion! ​#SWT2021pic.twitter.com/RBCM0aKe2p

— Smash World Tour Championships #SWTC (@SmashWorldTour) December 19, 2021

Dropping only four games against important names like Linus "Pipsqueak" Nordin, Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto, and Wizzrobe, who he defeated in the Winners and Grand Finals, Plup cemented his place as the first-ever Smash World Tour champion.

Smash World Tour Melee - Final placements

You can find the final Top 8 placements listed below:

• 1st.- Plup
• 2nd.- Wizzrobe
• 3rd.- Polish
• 4th.- Trifh
• 5th.- aMSa
• 5th.- Hungrybox
• 7th.- Pipsqueak
• 7th.- Faceroll

Congratulations to all the players and Plup for winning the Smash World Tour Melee!

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Featured image courtesy of Smash World Tour.