Zain ‘Zain’ Naghmi has won Supernova 2025’s Super Smash Bros Melee tournament, the largest ever SSBM by entrants, with over 4580 sign-ups for the event.
Zain defeated an in-form Cody Schwab 3-2 in the Grand Final to claim the Supermajor title. Supermajors are Smash Bros tournaments with large prize pools. In this instance, Zain won $10,899 with Schwab claiming $6,055. Legendary Jigglypuff main, Juan ‘Hungrybox’ Debiedma, finished third in the competition.
Zain came into the final having only dropped one set in the bracket to Cody, who had been the esports betting sites favourite prior to the event. The players are deeply familiar with each other, with Zain noting in the post-game that they frequently practice against each other, giving the game a mental aspect, where Zain was aware of when Cody knew he was nervous.
Despite being brought to Game 5, Zain won the Grand Final on the fifth set with two stocks in hand, winning the trophy in front of a jubilant crowd.
The event took place in the Dulles Expo Centre in Chantilly, Virginia. To say Zain, a Virginia native, was the hometown hero of the event is to understate it. Zain grew up just a few mere miles from Chantilly, in Reston, VA.
Zain balances content and competition to obtain SSBM glory
Prior to the competition, Zain had spent two weeks playing only Kirby on stream in what he titled “The Suckathon,” the quest to get top 50 on Slippi Leaderboards while only using a green Kirby he called “Suck Tuah.”
However, in a post-game interview, the Marth main said that playing floaty ball hadn’t harmed his chances at the event, stating that Kirby’s fast style wasn’t that hard to adjust back from, and that balancing competition and content creation worked well for his mental fortitude.
Content creation was central to Zain’s event, as the Marth main represents Shopify Rebellion. The esports organisation, co-owned by content giants Charles ‘MoistCr1TiKaL’ White Jr. and Ludwig Ahgren. Ahgren, who has a competitive Smash background himself, was co-streaming the event and congratulated his player after his victory.
Shopify Rebellion was founded in 2021 by Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke. In January of this year, Ahgren and Moist were announced as co-owners of the org alongside Lütke. Moist Esports merged with Shopify Rebellion as part of the deal. Moist and Ludwig have 17.1M and 6.72M YouTube subscribers, respectively, also actively streaming to 5.7M and 3.5M Twitch followers.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
