Seventeen year old Emil "Jibbmil" Johnsen traveled from his home country in Norway to Gothenburg, Sweden to compete at Beast 6 last weekend and never expected to be in the spotlight for choosing Random in a tournament setting. "I told my friends that I was going to go full Sheik and try hard at Beast," he told us. "But I couldn't keep it together."
He finally broke when, after beating a Link player, he was given the opportunity to go on stream to fight Flamjam. The pressure was already on as he had nearly lost against a team with Flamjam earlier that day in doubles. "Going up to the stream chairs was more chill than expected," he confessed. "It was all good. I was around my friends, there was laughter, smiles." This was where he told himself, in his own words, "**** it, I'm going random."
The excitement was real and Jibbmil got lucky with a character he knew for his first match, but when he pulled Zero Suit Samus for match two, he ran into one of the bigger problems of going random: getting a character you can't use. "That match is the whole reason I don't main Zero Suit Samus, because I always SD." Then the final match came and the nerves set in: "I was a bit nervous the last game. I really wanted to win so I was praying to the Smash Gods that I didn't get a character like King Dedede or Pac-Man."
The Shieldbreak Of Destiny
Fortunately for him, he pulled Ness, a character he knew. He not only won the match but pulled off a stunning shield break that got the crowd going. While it was tough to lose on stream, Flamjam couldn't help but be impressed herself. "This man is unstoppable," she said in a post detailing the match on Reddit.
Unfortunately, he eventually would end up being taken down by MVD with the most memorable match giving him Ganondorf as MVD agreed to play on Gamer. He still found his day to be a success. "I mean I played on stream and became a hero for one day and I played against MVD as Ganondorf on Gamer," he told us. "Placing isn't that important."
With this match under his belt and having won the hearts of the crowd, he has decided to go Random full time in all future events. "I'm actually a decent player, but playing random is way more fun," he said. He also plans to take up a serious training regimen for random practice even though going Random was not that unusual for him. "I go random in nine out of ten friendlies. To get good, I'll have to play janky friendlies at least three times a week. I mean all the jank, random on Pac-Land kind of jank."
He also thinks a Random main could actually be successful. "I believe that if you truly went random at tournaments for two years in a row or maybe one you could do decently in tournaments," he told us. He cannot resist the allure of going random. "The downside is you can get a terrible character, but that's also the funnest thing about it. It's risky and fun."
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For those who want to see more of this newfound Random main, Jibbmil is often seen at events taking place in Sweden and Norway and occasionally on the Smash Norge stream. To keep up with Jibbmil, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Youtube channel. His final word to his new fans: "No one can counterpick Random, so why not? Go random, have fun, and pray to get a Ness shieldbreak."