Last week, the world of competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee was temporary abuzz with excitement as popular commentators Robert “Scar” Scarnewman and Josh “Fendrick Lamar” Fendrick publicly trash-talked each other, each claiming that he’d easily dismantle the other in a publicized money match.
The beef began when Scar voiced his disrespect for Fendrick Lamar’s skill on an episode of The Reads, his popular netplay talk show co-hosted with Kris “Toph” Aldenderfer. In response to this challenge, Fendrick Lamar claimed that he’d destroy Scar in a money match while appearing as a guest on the Melee Stats Podcast. The beef quickly blew up on Smash twitter, with supporters of each player claiming that their pick would easily dismantle the other.
This past weekend, viewers of the Runback 2018 livestream were treated with a teaser for an actual money match between the two, to be contested on the Wednesday before Evolution Championship Series 2018. Though the proceeds will go to charity—and the beef is more playful than hateful—this money match is a pleasant harkening back to the days of salty suites and grudge matches. As undercards, the event will also pit Fendy against Toph and several of Scar’s secondary characters.
While Scar’s resume certainly outclasses Fendrick Lamar’s—the former was once a top-100 ranked player and has impressive major tournament performances under his belt, including a 6th place finish at GENESIS—Fendrick Lamar is the bookkeeper’s pick to win, remaining an active player with relatively top-100 wins while Scar only picks up the controller to play for his occasional streams. However, Scar has shown his prowess in high-profile money matches against Marths before, and any Melee fan would be a fool to count him out completely.
Come EVO, we’ll see who will come out on top: the people’s champ or the champion of esports. Stay tuned to find out!
