Watch this professional gamer compete at Evo 2018 (original) (raw)

Every year for three days in the dry heat of summer, thousands of gamers gather in Las Vegas for the largest fighting game tournament in the world: the Evolution Championship Series (commonly shortened to Evo). The double-elimination tournament pits gamers of all levels from around the world against one another to battle it out in games such as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Street Fighter V. This year, Evo took place from August 3 to August 5 and hosted over 11,000 total competitors.

One of those gamers was Ludwig Ahgren, a pro gamer, streamer, world-record speedrunner, and a super-fast button masher. Yes, button mashing: the feat of finger dexterity that in which one hits a button as fast as they can in a given amount of time. For Ahgren, that means 1,000 “A” button mashes in under 60 seconds — impressive. Ludwig competes all over the country and has earned a free night’s stay with Hotels.com as a result of all his travels. He used his free night to head to Vegas to compete in Evo 2018 and try to take home the championship title.

So how did Ludwig do in his field of 1,400 Super Smash Bros. Melee competitors? Did his button-mashing skills pay off? Watch the video above to find out.