Riptide 2025 has washed over the Super Smash Bros. Melee community and a winner has emerged. Zain Naghmi is continuing his dominance in the 2025 season with another Major victory – his fourth in a row.
“OH GOODIE!!!! Riptide champ,” Zain tweeted. “From now on, please refer to me as Mr. 4Peat or Mr. Riptide.”
An Incredible Top 8 Shows Zain’s 2025 Dominance
Riptide was absolutely stacked over on the Melee side, with the best competitors in the world heading to Ohio to fight for the top spot in the SSBMRank. In fact, the top four pros in the world fought their way to an intense Top 8: Cody Schwab (#1), Zain (#2), Juan ‘Hungrybox’ DeBiedma (#3) and Joshua ‘Joshman’ Lyras (#4).
Cody Schwab’s Fox had been dominating all weekend, which was an impressive run for the pro after previously hinting that he could be taking a step back from the pro scene very soon. In the Winners’ side of Top 8, he took down Jake ‘Jmook’ DiRado with a clean sweep but then suffered the same fate from Zain’s Marth.
This brought him down to Losers, where he awaited whoever survived the gauntlet. Pikachu main Jeffrey ‘Wizzrobe’ Williamson eliminated Hungrybox from the tournament, a pretty surprising result that left the Jigglypuff God in his feels on X. Joshman then took out Wizzy, continuing his exciting return to Melee after a long absence. Unfortunately for anyone hoping for a Joshman Major win, Jmook took him out 3-2 in a close fight.
This put Jmook right in Cody’s sights, but Cody was determined to claw his way back to the Winners side and get his chance at redemption against Zain. After a 3-1 win, Cody faced Zain in the Grand Final.
This is one of the most intense Grand Finals we’ve seen in quite some time, with the two highest-ranked pros in the world fighting for the W. Cody Schwab is known for winning a lot of tournaments after doing Losers’ runs, clearly determined and focused when in a tough spot. But would he have what it takes to defeat Zain in his prime?
A small blunder from Zain when the two were down to one stock saw Cody take advantage of the situation in a big way. After beating Zain 3-1, Cody Schwab managed to reset the bracket. Then the two had to fight in a best-of-five one more time.
It seemed like Cody’s Major to win at this point; he was reading Zain like a book and edge-guarding him in expert fashion. However, Zain looked extremely focused going into this final battle. He took the first game off of Cody, who was starting to look a bit nervous. While the back-and-forth fighting continued to be masterful, with Cody continuing to edge guard Zain like nobody else can, Zain could not be held back from getting another Major win.
By the last match, Cody Schwab was losing momentum. He was down to one stock while Zain had three. It was a tough ending for Cody, but yet another exciting victory for Zain. According to casters, this Riptide win has Zain tied with Adam ‘Armada’ Lindgren for most Major wins. The Major win streak still goes to Hungrybox, but Zain is close to taking that record as well.
At this point in 2025, Zain may have dethroned Cody to become the best Melee player in the world.
