Life Ramblings of a Smasher
Unpublished Interview with PC Chris
before his third place finish at SCC in
Sept
- February 6, 2008 - 3:35am
Super Champ Combo is just around the corner and may be the last big national tournament for SSBM. PC Chris, the runner up at FC and winner of the 2006 MLG Championship has taken a moment to sit down and discuss his Smash career with MLG.
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[b]MLG:[/b] It's been awhile since our last interview, can we take a moment to catch up with what you've been doing? Smash, school, you name it?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] I just started school last week so I’m already getting a lot of work. I haven’t played much Smash, mostly because my friends just left for college but I always try to get some practice in when I can.
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[b]MLG:[/b] So far in this years Smash Circuit we've had three different winners, ChuDat, Mew2King, and KoreanDJ, but you've managed to make it into the top three every time, what seems to be holding you back from taking first?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] There are so many good players nowadays. A year ago I'd have to only worry about the big names such as Ken, Azen, ChuDat and others like that. Now I have to focus on every match like it’s the finals. I can’t underestimate anyone, but this also drains me by the time I make it to top three, making me feel like I've already fought a war. Then I have to fight players on my level or even better. I've been trying to adapt to this by switching around characters more while playing and this seems to work. ChuDat, Mew2King and KoreanDJ are all on my level maybe even better so I just try to do my best if I make it up to them.
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[b]MLG:[/b] You did manage to take first at OC3, one week after FC, could you tell us what happened there to make the difference?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] Yeah at OC3 I used my plan to help my tournament stamina last longer. I had a really hard bracket, having to fight Wolf, Edrees, and Forward, before I lost to Mew2King in the Winner’s Bracket. The Loser’s Bracket was only harder with HugS, Vidjo, Drephen, Ken, ChuDat, and finally Mew2King in two sets. I used many different characters during the tournament that are not usually seen from me. I went sheik and Peach against HugS, Marth against Vidjo, Fox against Drephen, Falco against Ken, and Fox against ChuDat and Mew2King. I feel like this helped me focus and helped my stamina a lot because I would get worn out playing the same character for a whole tournament. Using these new characters was almost refreshing for my mind and I was able to focus a lot better in the finals.
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[b]MLG:[/b] Of the three circuit events so far, which three moments would you say were your most challenging?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] The opener in long island. I got destroyed by Mew2King and I think nobody expected it. I've always done well against him in the past and I guess everyone expected that trend to continue but it didn't. He beat me in both the Winner’s Bracket and Loser’s Bracket. I believe that it opened my eyes a bit more and that I needed to step it up in future tournaments. The other two moments would also have to be against Mew2King as well. He’s been getting the best of me with the exception of one set at FC and at OC3. We had a very close set at Pound 2 which basically came down to last hit in the last match. I walked away happy even though I lost because I saw how much better I've gotten since the MLG opener. Then finally at FC I took a set off of him in the Winner’s Final and I was really happy about that but he came back from losers and beat me pretty badly in the Grand Finals. Mew2king has developed into a great player, quite possibly the best in the world so whenever I lose to him it motivates me to get closer to his level and that has been working.
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[b]MLG:[/b] What do you think about Ken's recent resurgence?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] I never underestimate anyone, especially Ken. I have to admit at OC3 when I beat him 2-0 for the first time he was a bit rusty. Then at EVO World when I had to fight him I knew he has been practicing but I didn't imagine he'd 2-0 me back. It surprised me but he had my style down, I felt like he knew exactly what I was thinking so he definitely deserved to beat me and win the tournament.
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[b]MLG:[/b] Let’s talk a little bit about doubles. FC was probably the most dominant doubles performance I have seen since Ken and Isai were teaming early 2006. Could you run us through what happened at the event?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] Coming into FC Cort and I were pretty confident we'd place high, we aimed for top 3. We got a major confident boost after beating Mew2King and Isai in pools, who were probably the favorite to take first in teams. After that we literally aimed for first. We made our way to the top of the bracket pretty easily, only losing two matches both on counterpick stages that weren't in our favor. We stayed Fox/Peach the whole time I believe and we played well throughout the tournament. Cort would hit people across the stage and I was playing so well I'd usually combo them. Cort would also save me with Peach's down air when I was recovering so we worked extremely well together despite not having that much experience in the past. We finally reached the finals against ChuDat and Chillin. We both love fighting Fox and Ice Climbers or at least on teams. We had a pretty easy time with them as we expected and went on to win 6-0.
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[b]MLG: [/b]Taking a look at Super Champ Combo, many of last seasons top teams are together once again for what appears to be a final showdown, what are your hopes going into the event?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] Yeah things are looking scary, it seems like the legendary team is coming back for one more time so Ken and Isai are probably who we’re most worried about. They have years and years of team experience and they've teamed at many important tournaments. Azen and Chillin are also a team we’re worried about. Azen always gave me trouble but on teams I guess it could be different. We’re hoping for first probably like all the top teams are, but we'd be happy with placing top three for sure. Cort and I have become really close friends from traveling together and we already proved were the top team on the East Coast at Melee-FC Diamond but now we want show the West Coast how good we are. The West Coast usually would win teams because of Ken and Isai and at OC3 everyone expected Mew2King and ChuDat to win but instead the West Coast prevailed once again. We want to bring first place back to the East Coast.
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[b]MLG:[/b] What character and stage combinations do you feel work best when working with Corts Peach?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] We've only really tried Fox/Peach against high level teams so I’m sure we'll stick with that unless one of our characters is having a really off day or something. The stage depends on who were fighting but we work well on all stages, though it’s usually better to have a bigger stage so Cort can preserve more stock. I guess dreamland would have to be our number one bet.
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[b]MLG: [/b]Moving to the singles side of things, who do you most dread facing at SCC and why?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] I’m really terrified of HugS. He's always done well against me and that surprises a lot of people because I play Wes' Samus so much. Their styles are completely different though and HugS gives me a really hard time but I think I'll be able to take him this time. His style is very defensive and hard to break because of Samus' Up -B out of the shield. You can't really attack her when she’s on the ground. HugS is a solid player all around and knows most match ups well. Other from that Mew2King, Ken, and ChuDat are always scary but I always look forward to playing them as well.
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[b]MLG: [/b]Since were coming into the final months of SSBM, how about your most memorable moment, ever?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b]Wow there are sooo many. A lot of people don't understand how much the community has developed. Most of us have been around for six years or so. I have so many good memories from meeting Ken and ChuDat when I used to be a scrub then two years later when I won at MLG Vegas. My favorite memory overall would have to be last years MLG season opener. I didn’t expect to win at all, let alone beat Ken and ChuDat. I also placed well with Wes, getting second in teams and taking a set off Ken and Isai which was awesome. All my friends were with me because it was close to New York, but I also got to spend time with people I usually can’t see. Overall it was the most enjoyable memory for me. Nowadays there’s a lot of pressure on top players to do well, where I have to focus on winning so much that I sometimes forget I have to have fun. Ath that New York tournament I really had an amazing time, weather it was playing Smash or something else. I'll never forget it.
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[b]MLG: [/b]What would you say was your most difficult defeat in all this time?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b]There’s so many...but the worst one was when Ken took back the title in MLG Dallas, everyone thought it wasn’t a fluke [that I won in New York] and I'd be the first one to beat Ken consistently but he beat me 3-1 and the matches he won weren't even that close. So I knew I couldn't be cocky at all and I had even more motivation to get better.
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[b]MLG: [/b]How did you feel after winning MLG Vegas and $10,000 last season?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] That was amazing! I was going in fighting Azen who I hadn't beaten previously so I didn't expect to win against him but I made it all the way. It’s a feeling like I can’t describe, it happened all too fast. Five years ago this was a game I'd play in my basement with my friends just strictly for fun. Now I’m able to help pay for my college with the money I've won. I remember after winning I just wanted to call my girlfriend at the time and my friends and my parents to tell them what happened. I think my heart was beating rapidly for at least two days after that. It was something you'd need to experience yourself to understand it completely.
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[b]MLG: [/b]Have you been following the news on Brawl? What’s your take on it?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] I've checked the site a few times for updates when I was bored but I’m not really sitting online till 3 am waiting for the new update like a lot of Smashers are. I don’t want judge the game too early because we wont really know until it comes out but usually I hate changes in anything so it'd probably take me a while to adapt to Brawl but hopefully I can enjoy it as much as melee.
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[b]MLG: [/b] Would you participate in ladder play online?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b]Yeah I think that'd be cool. I'd want to be ranked highly but I bet my $10,000 check Mew2King would be ranked number one. Any takers?
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[b]MLG: [/b] What would you say separates the top players from the rest of the field?
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[b]PC Chris:[/b] I believe there are a lot of things but overall experience is the most important in my opinion because so many little things come from experience. If you have a lot of experience you’ve usually played all types of different characters/stages/styles within tournament matches. You’re also able to keep your cool easier, a lot of people get so nervous they can’t play normally. Although pro's get nervous were able to perform just as well or at least closer to it.
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[b]MLG: [/b]What advice would you give to new players?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b] Basically just attend as many tournaments as you can. Doesn't really matter how small or big, the experience will still help. It’s always good to play with different people and people who are better than you because that will force you to think and adapt more rather then winning doing the same old thing. Other than that try watch some videos from top players and maybe set a few goals but most importantly try to have fun.
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[b]MLG: [/b] Alright, is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap things up?
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[b]PC Chris: [/b]Sure, I'd just like to say even though it may seem silly to some but developing into one of the best Smash players in the world over the last couple years has helped me a lot in many ways. My attitude about myself has changed from before I set goals about becoming a top player; I was a lot different than I am now. I was your typical video game nerd in high school. I knew I could do well in school but didn't really apply myself, I had friends but I didn't bother trying to meet new people. Once I set a goal to become a top player and finally reached that goal it opened my eyes. Although this is just a video game or a hobby why can't I apply this motivation and make goals for other things as well. Now because of this I have money to pay for college but I’m also doing well, I’m a lot more social and I only keep setting higher goals for myself in life and in Smash. I'd also like to let everyone know about how much people helped me in this community. So I'd like to thank my two best friends, Nick and Tom and my parents as well for always supporting me. Wes and Cort for being amazing friends I made through Smash and will be friends with long after Smash is gone. Also Milktea for always finding a way to pick me up when I’m down and for so many other things. Ken for always having someone to look up to and everyone else I've met along to way; this community wouldn't be the best one without you guys!
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[b]MLG: [/b]Thank you for your time.
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[b]PC Chris: [/b]Thanks it was my pleasure.
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Smash Pro Profiles from 2006
- November 22, 2007 - 7:57pm
Over the years I’ve written quite a few articles for MLG. Not everything makes it onto the MLG site, so happy thanksgiving everyone; here are the profiles that never went up on the site, they were scraped at the end of 2006. Sigh. Some have intros, some don’t, depending on when I received them in relation to when it became apparent the profiles wouldn’t go up.
------------------------- Long time veteran Azen returned from a brief hiatus in 2006 to take the MLG circuit by storm. Considered the most diverse Smasher in the nation, Azen has a tendency to use just about any character in a tournament, donning the nickname “the Master of Diversity” by his peers. Usually sporting slick backed hair and a button down shirt, he treats each event with an unusual amount of style and a professional demeanor. Always aspiring to learn and be the best at whatever he does, Azen’s will to succeed is only overshadowed by his good will and charm.
Most that meet Azen are surprised to find a player as down to earth and willing to play as much as he is. He can and will sit, hours on end, playing the same person, no matter their skill level. Most important to him are his friends, without them it is likely Azen would still be on hiatus. His mentality is to only play games while they are fun, and without having friends to play with, it isn’t fun. Few players have more raw skill and understanding for the game then Azen does, and it shows each time he makes a come back and each time he beats a new strategy.
Name: Christopher McMullen
Alias: Azen Zagenite
Birthday: 12/20/1986
Hometown: Alexandria, VA
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles/Teams
Pro Since: MLG Orlando 2006
Other Favorite Games: Other multiplayer games my friends like, RPG’s,
Step mania
Favorite Stages: FD, Pokemon Stadium, Kirby 64
Favorite Characters: Everyone
Least Favorite Match Up: Playing a sandbagger
Controller Color: Silver
X or Y: X
L or R: L
Strengths: Forward Smash
Weaknesses: Very predictable
Favorite Teammate: Chillindude829
Career Goals in Life: Something with computers, maybe games.
Smash Career Highlights: Beating Ken
Likes: Games, Computers, Music, Foxes
Dislikes: Manacloud, Satan
Origin of Handle: Role Playing Character
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Playing against friends in games since I
was little.
MLG Altanta 2004: 1st place teams (with Chillin), 1st place singles
MLG Boston 2004: 1st place teams (with Wes), 1st place singles
MLG Finals 2004: 2nd place teams (with Wes), 4th place singles
MLG Philly 2005: 2nd place teams (with Husband), 13th place singles
MLG Nashville 2005: 1st place teams (with Husband), 4th place singles
MLG Seattle 2005: 2nd place teams (with Husband), 1st place singles
MLG LA 2005: 2nd place teams (with Chu), 5th place singles
MLG Atlanta 2005: 3rd place teams (with Oro), 2nd place singles
MLG Finals 2005: 2nd place teams (with Chillin), 9th place singles
MLG Chicago 2006: 1st place teams (with Chillin), 4th place singles
MLG Orlando 2006: 2nd place teams (with Chillin), 1st place singles
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ChuDat became widely known in 2004 after taking 3rd place at SoCal’s highly anticipated TG6. Since then he has been a top 3 placer at almost every major tournament in the country, becoming Smash’s second most consistent singles player behind only Ken. Since entering the MLG scene in 2005, ChuDat has shown through his unique style that a character cannot be simply defined by its attributes, but instead by how it is used by the player.
He was one of the first players to ever experiment using characters once considered less-then-tournament worthy. After meeting success early and often though, many of these more obscure characters, like the Ice Climbers, Young Link, and Mr. Game and Watch, have become well known. ChuDat has coined the catch phrase “Yayuhz” within the Smash community to accentuate some of his more particularly impressive combos. Additionally his famous “ChuDat Pose”, where he uses his index finger and thumb to frame his face, is now widely copied. Definitely one of the most interesting players to watch, ChuDat continues to mature and evolve his style as the Smash scene changes.
Name: Daniel Mark Rodriguez
Alias: ChuDat
Birthday: January 16th, 1987
Hometown: Falls Church, Virginia
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY 2006 (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Advance Wars, Custom Robo, Rampart, Megaman
Favorite Stages: Final Destination, Pokemon Stadium
Favorite Characters: Ice Climbers
Least Favorite Match Up: Ice Climbers versus Peach
Controller Color: Special ChuDat Platinum controller
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Grabz
Weaknesses: Peach
Favorite Teammate: Manacloud
Career Goals in Life: Not sure yet, but hopefully I’ll be handsome and successful.
Smash Career Highlights: Winning MLG Nashville last season!
Likes: Ice
Dislikes: Fire
Origin of Handle: True that? Chu Datz!
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Local tournament at a little computer café place where I first realized I was good at a
video game, I later joined up with Chillin, Azen, Anden, Mild, and Jtanic to form H2YL.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2005 Washington DC: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Nashville Tennessee: 1st in singles, 4th with Oro in teams
Seattle: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Los Angeles: 4th in singles, 2nd in teams with Azen
Atlanta: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Chicago: 9th in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
New York (Championship): 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
SSBM – 2006
New York (Opener): 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Dallas: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Anaheim: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Chicago: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Orlando: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
New York (Play Offs): 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
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Name: Kashan Khan
Alias: Chillindude829
Birthday: 8/29/1989
Hometown: Alexandria, VA
Pro Player Of: Smash singles and doubles
Pro Since: Orlando (for singles)
Other Favorite Games: Mario games, Zelda games, Final Fantasy games, Tales of Symphonia, Guilty Gear, Advance Wars
Favorite Stages: Final Destination, Pokemon Stadium
Favorite Characters: Fox, Marth, Sheik, Falco
Least Favorite Match Up: Fox vs Peach
Controller Color: White/Blue
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: Both
Strengths: Mindgames, Grab combos, Aerial combos, Shinespiking
Weaknesses: Edge return
Favorite Teammate: Azen
Career Goals in Life: Not sure yet
Smash Career Highlights: Beating Ken at Game Over, beating PC Chris to win MLG Philly 2005, getting 1st in teams with Azen over Ken and Isai at MLG Chicago 2006
Likes: Games, Hanging out with friends, Laid-back people
Dislikes: People who talk too much about uninteresting things
Origin of Handle: I'm a dude who enjoys chilling once in a while
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Getting destroyed by Azen in SSB64
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
MLG Atlanta – 1st place teams (with Azen), 4th place singles
SSBM – 2005
MLG DC – 2nd place teams (with Neo), 13th place singles
MLG Philly – 1st place teams (with Oro), 1st place singles
MLG Finals – 2nd place teams (with Azen), 5th place singles
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY Opener – 5th place teams (with Neo), 17th place singles
MLG Chicago – 1st place teams (with Azen), 6th place singles
MLG Orlando – 2nd place teams (with Azen), 8th place singles
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Name: Eddie Howells
Alias: BigGman
Birthday: 4/16/79
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY
Other Favorite Games: MvC2, Mario Kart, Ms. Pac-man, Dr. Mario
Favorite Stages: Battlefield, Dreamland
Favorite Characters: Ganondorf, Falcon, Fox
Least Favorite Match Up: Ganondorf versus Falco
Controller Color: Black
X or Y: Y
L or R: L
Strengths: I adapt to people’s play style pretty quickly.
Weaknesses: My technical skills.
Favorite Teammate: Mew2King
Career Goals in Life: Honestly, I don’t have any. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering and feel that a job is a job. I work to live and not live to work.
Smash Career Highlights: Winning MLG Orlando in 2005
Likes: Playing hockey, listening to music (all kinds, but my favorite is rock)
Dislikes: Waking up early, going to work
Origin of Handle: At one tournament, I met a guy from Smashboards, and he kept referring to Ganondorf as the Big “G” man. Since at the time, I only played as Ganondorf, I thought it would be an ok screen name. But thankfully, no one calls me that.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: A tournament called Snexus. It was a small local tournament in Chicago, held in someone’s basement. There were about twenty people there. My team, which was Eduardo and I, won the team tournament and I placed second behind Eduardo.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2004
MLG Chicago, 4th in singles, 2nd in teams (teamed with Eduardo)
SSBM – 2005
MLG San Francisco, 5th in singles, 2nd in teams (teamed with DSF)
MLG Orlando, 1st in singles, 1st in teams (teamed with Mr. Silver)
MLG LA, 5th in singles, 4th in teams (teamed with manacloud)
MLG Chicago, 9th in singles, 7th? in teams (teamed with Eduardo)
MLG NY, 17th in singles, 13th in teams (teamed with DSF)
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY 17th in singles, 5th in teams (teamed with Mew2King)
MLG Dallas, 13th in singles, 9th in teams (teamed with Tink)
MLG Anaheim, 13th in singles, 9th in teams (teamed with Germ)
MLG Chicago, 13th in singles, 9th in teams, (teamed with Hugs)
MLG Orlando, 13th in singles, 9th in teams, (teamed with King)
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Hugs stands as one of the most unique players on the circuit. Known for his ability to bring his game up a notch when the situation demands it, HugS became the final person to secure one of seven automatic bids to Vegas in 2006. This is similar to his 2005 performance where HugS placed 1st in LA’s Last Chance Qualifier. What makes him stand out isn’t just his ability to play though, it is also who he plays as. Most Pro’s rely on multiple characters to win, using different counter picks and scenarios to overcome the opposition. HugS plays as Samus—and only as Samus, a rare feat in today’s world of competitive Smash. He is almost single handedly responsible for keeping Samus at the forefront of professional Smash.
An icon for what can be accomplished with work, effort, and experience, Hugs has started to give back to the community. Early in 2006, HugS became the West Coast reprehensive for Smash on gameing-lessons.com. Unlike his Halo counterparts, HugS must personally travel to another player’s location. Such is the level of his nearly unparalleled dedication, not only to his own improvement, but to his fellow players and the community.
Name: Hugo Gonzalez
Alias: HugS
Birthday: 01/21/1986
Hometown: San Fernando Valley, CA
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: Beginning of the MLG 2006 season. Since pro existed in MLG.
Other Favorite Games: Counter Strike, Resident Evil 4, Goldeneye
Favorite Stages: Battlefield, but it depends on the match up.
Favorite Characters: Samus
Least Favorite Match Up: Samus versus Falco
Controller Color: Platinum
X or Y or Both: Y
L or R or Both: Both
Strengths: Edge Guarding and defense
Weaknesses: Secretsies :)
Favorite Teammate: BloodoftheFallen (Omar)
Career Goals in Life: I haven't decided on what type of career I want to pursue in life. However, my ultimate goal is not to be rich, but to be happy. I'm still deciding on which means will create that particular end.
Smash Career Highlights: Being down over 100 points from the 7th place invite to nationals at MLG Orlando yet still clinching the 7th invite by taking out the 2 people that also had a shot at getting the 7th spot (Tink and Dope) and going through PC Chris and Chillin in the process.
Likes: Burritos, Sushi, Mars Volta, Tool, Comedy, Females
Dislikes: Bad rock, cocky kids who haven't earned it, underperforming
Origin of Handle: Back in high school people used to call me variations of my name, Hugo. It would range from Huggo, Huggles, Huggies, etc. So while playing Counter Strike one day, I decided to drop the nick "GreenLAntern" and started going by "HugS"
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Going to my first tournament at Ken's house. I went in thinking I was going to take everyone out, including ken. I ended up losing to a player named Panda and Ken's sister Helen who was 14 at the time. Yeah, I kind of got a reality check there.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM - 2004
MLG LA - 9th in singles/9th in teams (Gabe)
SSBM - 2005
MLG San Francisco - 4th in teams/9th in singles (Oro)
MLG Las Vegas - 7th in teams/9th in singles (Omar)
MLG LA Western Conference Championships
1st in LCQ
7th in CC Teams (Omar)
9th in CC Singles
SSBM - 2006
MLG NJ - 13th in Singles/13th in teams (Hayato)
MLG Dallas - 13th in Singles/17th in teams (Omar, DQ'd)
MLG Anaheim - 7th in Singles/13th in teams (Omar)
MLG Chicago - 13th in Singles/13th in teams (Eddie)
MLG Orlando - 7th in Singles/8th in teams. (Helios)
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One of the most legendary names in the Smash community, Isai’s career with MLG stems over three seasons as one of the top players on the circuit. While he is a strong singles player, most consider his greatest potential to be in doubles play. Usually using a mix of Sheik or Falcon, he is constantly aware of where his team mate Ken is on the stage, to such a degree that it is not uncommon to witness Isai save Ken several times in stunning, often unpredictable ways, during each match. Such consistent skill has earned him the reputation as the best doubles partner in all of Smash. Together, he and Ken hold the longest undefeated streak in Smash history, stemming over 2 years.
Aside from his ability in teams, when most people think of Isai, they think of one of the friendliest Smashers on the tour, as proof of his 2nd place award in the 2005 MLG Pro Choice Awards for friendliest Smasher. He approaches the game with a light hearted attitude but is known to turn it up a notch when it really counts. Looked up to for both his seniority and his innovative Falcon play, Isai is often asked for advice from fellow Smashers. His usual “don’t get hit” response has become a catch phrase in the Smash community to help explain, in simple manners, his key to success. Much of his success in Melee can be attributed to the previous Smash experience on the N64, where Isai is held as the best player in the world.
Name: Joel Isai Alvarado
Alias: Isai
Birthday: March 17, 1985
Hometown: San Jose, California
Pro Player Of: SSBM singles and doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Super Smash Brothers, Super Puzzle Fighter II X, Perfect Dark
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium, Icicle Mountain, Hyrule Temple
Favorite Characters: None
Least Favorite Match Up: Falcon versus Falco
Controller Color: 1/2 Orange 1/2 Clear
X or Y: X
L or R or Both: L for L-canceling R for blocking/air dodging/wavedashing
Strengths: Wavedashing with Samus that's about it.
Weaknesses: I kill myself a lot. I can rarely ground tech so just come and hit me after I hit the ground for easy damage/kills.
Favorite Teammate: Silent Spectre
Career Goals in Life: Understand the Bible
Smash Career Highlights: Saving my team from early elimination at MLG Chicago 2006
Likes: Nature, Anime, Basketball, Calistoga Mineral Water, Making people laugh, Big Juicy Hamburgers
Dislikes: Pickles
Origin of Handle: My middle name
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Participating in the Free For All tournament at Tournament Go 2 with my friend Johnny.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM - 2004
Chicago - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
San Francisco - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
Los Angeles - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
New York City - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
SSBM - 2005
Washington DC - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
San Francisco - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Seattle - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Los Angeles - 1st Singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Atlanta - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
New York City - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
SSBM - 2006
New York - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Dallas - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Anaheim - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Chicago - 8th place singles/2nd place doubles with Ken
Orlando - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
New York (playoffs) – 6th Place singles/3rd place doubles with Ken
---------------
Ken has been a force to be reckoned with since the early days of competitive Smash. He slowly moved from being the player to beat on the West Coast to asserting his dominance over an entire country, and eventually the world donning the kick name “The King of Smash”. Considered to have practically invented how the character Marth is played, Ken’s aggressive yet patient style has been mimicked by many but none have managed to duplicate it with the same success. He is known for his patented “Ken Combo” where he sets up the opponent for a series of F-air’s and finishes with a D-air spike. His ability to land such a combo repeatedly in tournament play is largely because of his precision spacing, allowing himself the perfect set up for devastating combos.
Until late in the 2006 season Ken had never lost a doubles tournament when teaming with Isai. Their winning streak lasted over 3 years and at tournaments all over the country. While this streak finally did end, they are still considered to be the absolute peak of what a Smash team can produce, largely from their years of teamwork with each other. Ken enjoys support from his family at just about every tournament he attends, including his brother Manacloud who is a pro doubles player.
Name: Ken Hoang
Alias: SephirothKen
Birthday: 10/10/1985
Hometown: The OC, California
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY 2006 (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Mario Party Series, Squaresoft Rpg's
Favorite Stages: Termina Bay
Favorite Characters: Marth
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth against Falco
Controller Color: Teal/Clear
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Ice Climbers, Marth
Weaknesses: Fox, Falco, Sheik, Peach
Favorite Teammate: Isai
Likes: Banana splits, Yaki Niku and sleeping
Dislikes: Waking up early, celery
Origin of Handle: N/A
First Competitive Gaming Memory: So far back I can’t remember.
Competitive Gaming History:
2004
1st - MLG 2004 Season Finals New York
1st - MLG 2004 Season points
2005
1st - MLG 2005 (Season Opener Tournament) DC 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (Season Tournament) San Francisco, 1st teams with Isai
2nd - MLG 2005 (West Coast Regional’s) Los Angeles, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (East Coast Regional’s) Atlanta, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (Central Regional’s) Chicago, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 Season Finals New York, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 Season points leader
2006
2nd - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) New York, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Dallas, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Anaheim, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Chicago, 2nd teams with Isai
5th - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Orlando, 1st teams with Isai
7th – MLG 2006 (Playoff Tournament) New York, 3rd teams with Isai
--------------------
Name: Daniel Hutchinson
Alias: (The) King
Birthday: 8/23/1985
Hometown: Concord, California
Pro Player Of: (Smash singles, doubles, or both) Smash Singles & Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas 2006
Other Favorite Games: Monopoly, Call Of Duty 2, Both Paper Marios, Super Mario RPG, Halo 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Soul Calibur 2, Earthbound
Favorite Stages: Fountain of Dreams, Dreamland, Mute City, Yoshi's Story, Brinstar, Mushroom Kingdom 2
Favorite Characters: Marth, Doctor Mario, Sheik, Captain Falcon, Fox, Ganondorf, and Jigglypuff
Least Favorite Match Up: (Character X versus Character Y, except not Pichu versus Marth if you catch my drift): Jigglypuff vs Sheik (it's so gay =/ )
Controller Color: All Gold.
X or Y or Both: Only X.
L or R or Both: Only L.
Strengths: I know everything about all of Jigglypuff's matchups, I have excellent execution, I take few unnecessary risks, I have excellent prediction skills, I read and catch onto opponent's tendencies very quickly, and I have crazy combos.
Weaknesses: I use Jigglypuff, I sometimes pass up kill opportunities just to attempt flashier kills/combos, I sometimes trust my approaches too much and don't fully think them through and rush into traps.
Favorite Teammate: A toss-up between fellow crewmates Germ, Zelgadis, and Bob$
Career Goals in Life: Receive Bachelors/Masters in Business and/or Economics, own a nice house =)
Smash Career Highlights: Winning my first Biweekly, Winning the majority of norcal biweeklies, placing 5th at MLG Dallas, Placing 9th in singles/teams and winning International Crew Battle at OC2, qualifying for singles/teams for NY Playoffs and qualifying for teams (and hopefully singles) for Vegas Nationals.
Likes: Good Company, People with a good sense of humor, Air Conditioning, Coke, Hamburgers, My two Cats, Roadtrips Dislikes: Arrogance, Hot/Spicy foods, Mustard, Humidity.
Origin of Handle: I used to main Link back in the day in SSBM, and one night my brother was complaining about how "cheap" link was, and said pick someone else because he'd never play my link again. So as I was bragging about how amazing I was to him (i was a total scrub back then in actuality), I just picked Jigglypuff for the first time ever, put on his Crown costume, and put my 4-letter tag to "KING". After beating him, I realized "maybe I've got something here". It's paid off nicely.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: It's hard to say when a game can go from "just for fun" to "competitive", but it would either have to date back to when I started playing Monopoly, or when I used to compete with my cousin over NES Tetris to see who could get the highest score.
Competitive Gaming History: (mention singles and doubles results, and who you teamed with, but only MLG events-I know it sucks but I can't do anything about it, sigh)
SSBM - 2004
N/A
SSBM - 2005
N/A
SSBM - 2006
MLG Dallas: 5th in Singles, 17th in Teams with Demised
MLG Anaheim: 9th in Singles, 7th in Teams with Mew2King
MLG Chicago: 13th in Singles, 5th in Teams with P.C. Chris
MLG Orlando: 13th in Singles, 9th in Teams with Eddie
------------
Name: Dan Jung
Alias: KoreanDJ111
Birthday: 3/23/1988
Hometown: Cambridge
Pro Player Of: Singles, Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas
Other Favorite Games: Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Guitar Hero, DDR
Favorite Stages: Onett, Final Destination, Yoshi's Story
Favorite Characters: Sheik, Falcon, Fox, Pichu
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth vs. Fox
Controller Color: Silver
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Fast reaction time.
Weaknesses: Yoshi!!!
Favorite Teammate: Jblaze (Rush Hour)
Career Goals in Life: Computer Engineer. Being a musician as a side/fun job.
Smash Career Highlights: Defeating Ken at MLG Orlando, 3-0 Ken and
Isai in teams at MLG Chicago, Shine Spiking M2K on VoD at MLG NY in
the Amateur brackets.
Likes: Guitar, girls, parties, recording with camcorder, beat making, occasional DJ-ing, boxing, fighting and music sim games, good anime shows in Japanese with English sub.
Dislikes: Bitter medicine. And music being played too loud. And Peach Soda. Origin of Handle: I'm Korean, and my initials is DJ, plus I'm a DJ (Disk Jockey), so put them together and make KoreanDJ. Dunno about the 111. It was my screename since way back, so I decided to toss it in for the fun of things.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: January 2005, Smash tourney in High School.
Competitive Gaming History:
MLG NY:
Singles: 9th Place
Doubles: 9th Place (teamed with Tope)
MLG Dallas:
Singles: 4th Place
Doubles: 6th Place (teamed with Jblaze)
MLG Anaheim:
Singles: 6th Place
Doubles: 9th Place (teamed with Tope)
MLG Chicago:
Singles: 7th Place
Doubles: 3rd Place (teamed with Mew2King)
MLG Orlando:
Singles: 3rd Place
Doubles: 6th Place (teamed with Jblaze)
MLG New York (Playoffs)
Singles: 4th place
Doubles: ??? (with Jblaze)
--------------------------
Coming into form at the end of the 2005 season, PC Chris was nominated as the break out player for 2006 season. He defeated Ken in a close 11 game set near his hometown of Port Chester, NY and almost repeated the feat later in Anaheim, narrowly losing in the last game of the set. PC Chris is one most exciting players to watch because of some of the insane combos he can pull off with Falco. He is known for performing long, high damage combos with fantastic finishes. Despite his late emergence on the competitive scene, he is now considered a real contender at each tournament he attends and is part of the elite group of players to actually defeat Ken in a tournament.
PC Chris’s fun loving personality and laid back style have helped him emerge as one of Smash’s first icons. He thirsts for victory at each tournament he attends and anything less than first is a disappointment to him. Between tournaments he enjoys playing with his friends in the New York area, but also actively travels to other locations to play and hang out with other Smashers.
Name: Christopher Szygiel
Alias: PC Chris
Birthday: 08/23/87
Hometown: Port Chester, NY
Pro Player of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY ‘06
Other Favorite Games: Mario bros. 3, Warcraft 3, DDR, Final Fantasy X
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium, Final Destination
Favorite Characters: Falco, Fox, Sheik, Marth, Ganondorf, Peach
Least Favorite Match Up: Falco versus Samus or Fox versus Marth
X or Y: Y
L or R: Both
Strengths: Crazy combos, Good directional influence, mediocre mind-games
Weakness: I’m not that patient anymore like I used to be, I like to attack.
Favorite Teammate: Wes
Career Goals in Life: Don’t have one right now, but for now to excel in college
Smash Career Highlights: Almost coming back from the losers bracket to beat ken in front of the huge screen. Last set, last game, last hit!
Likes: Chilling with my friends, playing games, going to my classes (so far), Milktea, sleeping, McDonalds, shopping, anime, penguins and probably a lot of other stuff
Dislikes: Arrogant new players, Peach (who doesn’t), fish, waking up early, and calories
Origin of Handle: My town name, Port Chester, friends called me PC Chris the nick name just kind of stuck to me I guess. First Competitive Gaming Memory: Being cramped up in an apartment just south of the city had all types of people squished in a little room with hardly any TV’s. Good times though.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2005,
MLG DC 17th singles, ??? place teams with husband
MLG Philly 2nd singles, 3rd place teams with neo
MLG Chicago 3rd singles, ??? place teams with Wes
MLG NY 3rd singles, ??? place teams with Wes
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY 1st place singles, 2nd place teams with Wes
MLG Dallas 3rd place singles, ??? place teams with sock ninja
MLG Anaheim 2nd place singles, ??? place teams with Kaiser
MLG Chicago 5th place singles, ??? place teams with king
MLG Orlando 13th place singles, ??? place teams with KillaOR
MLG NY (playoffs) 2nd place singles, ??? teams with Wes
---------------
Name: Roberto Aldape
Alias: ROBMONEY , ROB$
Birthday: September 8, 1984
Hometown: Crystal City, Texas
Pro Player Of: (Smash singles, doubles, or both) Smash, but hoping to the first Pro at both games next season. Pro Since: 06 Season
Other Favorite Games: Just mainly Super Smash bros. Melee and Halo 2. But I play madden and a few other RTS games.
Favorite Stages: Dreamland for Smash, Lockout and Midship For Halo 2
Favorite Characters: In order Falco, Sheik, Fox, Marth, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Doctor Mario.
Least Favorite Match Up: I hate playing Jigglypuff
Controller Color: Usually black but recently I have been using a silver one since my control broke. But hopefully a friend of mine can make me a custom.
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: BOTH
Strengths: Fast Fallers
Weaknesses: Samus
Favorite Teammate: Caveman
Career Goals in Life: Start my own business, Finish college , and if not to much keep owning at video games. Smash Career Highlights: Placing 5th place IN MLG 2005 Championships beating Azen. Getting First place in MLG Houston. Getting 2nd In MLG Las Vegas Forfeiting to My friend caveman my team’s partner.
Likes: (hobbies, ice cream, you name it) Playing Halo 2 and Smash with friends.
Dislikes: Cheaters,
Origin of Handle: First day I played Smash I was making my name in the game I was typing in ROB and it looked boring LOL So I added a $ symbol. All my friends where like “ROBMONEY” From that day on a lot of my friends would call me ROB$ at school
First Competitive Gaming Memory: I went to a tournament In San Antonio, Texas Where all of the best players in Texas showed up. My crew owned them all. No Johns if they say otherwise LOL
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
SSBM – 2005
First Place Singles MLG-Houston Beating Killaor
2nd Place Teams MLG-Houston Forfeiting to my other two Crew members. Team Partner SMiles
2nd Place Singles MLG- LAS VEGAS Forfeiting to my crew Member Caveman who got 1st Place Teams MLG – LAS VEGAS Team partner Caveman
5th Place MLG CHAMPIONSHIPS in 1vs1s
SSBM – 2006
------------------------------
Name: Wayne Gralewski
Alias: Tink
Birthday: 2/27/1988
Hometown: Hammond, IN
Pro Player Of: Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas
Other Favorite Games: Street Fighters, Final Fantasys, Zelda games, counter strike
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium and Dreamland
Favorite Characters: Falcon and Marth
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth vs. Sheik
Controller Color: Platinum, but I like Spice the best.
X or Y: X
L or R: L
Strengths: I’m very sound technically wise.
Weaknesses: I choke a lot and am predictable at times.
Favorite Teammate: level 9 CPU Falco that destroyed PC Chris and KillaOR at Orlando.
Career Goals in Life: To become a pharmacist.
Smash Career Highlights: Getting 4th at MLG NY.
Likes: Road trips, movies, and hanging out with friends
Dislikes: Spiders
Origin of Handle: I decided that I would go to the random name select and the next random I got would become my name, unless it was REALLY bad. It came up as Tink and I kept it.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: My friends and I just got on to Smash Boards, a message board for smash, and we decided to try to host a tournament in my friend’s basement. I guess we thought we were good. It was a good tournament, but we totally got destroyed.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
MLG Chicago- like my 2nd competitive tournament. Totally got destroyed in teams and singles. Teamed with GOTS.
SSBM – 2005
MLG Chicago- Singles-5th LCQ/Doubles (teamed with Unknown Force)- 13th
SSBM – 2006 MLG NY- Singles-4th/Doubles (teamed with Gabe)-9th
MLG Dallas- Singles 17th/Doubles (teamed with Eddie)-9th
MLG Anaheim-Singles 9th/Doubles (teamed with Pete Chen)-9th
MLG Chicago-Singles 9th/Doubles (teamed with Iggy)-8th
MLG Orlando-Singles 17th/Doubles (teamed with Dope)-5th
--------------------
As native Maryland, Wife has been privileged to grow up in one of the nations strongest and most diverse Smashing communities. Entering the community in late 2003 he began his quest with the mindset of becoming the best. By fully utilizing the surrounding community he slowly but surely broke into the higher Smash ranks. He and his teammate Husband—the Newlyweds—were among the first to train specifically for teams and began to see the results of their hard work quickly, often setting an example of the usefulness for different team strategies.
Outside of their teamwork, Wife and Husband helped found the Smash section on gaming-lessons.com, largely because of their great instructional skills (Husband is a personal trainer, and Wife is studying to be a teacher). Wife is known for using Peach for his entire Smash career, who meshes well with Husband’s Marth. Most revere him for his intelligence and consider him one of the smartest players to play the game. This helps bode well when doing instructions and teaching new players who need lessons how to play. In tournaments he is approachable, talkative, and nice to be around, almost always willing to offer some advice about the game.
Name: Christopher Fabiszak
Alias: Wife
Birthday: October 29, 1985
Hometown: Ellicott City, MD
Pro Player Of: Smash singles and doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY ‘06
Other Favorite Games: None
Favorite Stages: Final Destination and Green Greens
Favorite Characters: Peach
Least Favorite Match Up: Confess my weakness? No thanks .
. . Controller Color: Wario Controller
X or Y: X
L or R: Both
Strengths: "I play with the mind games, these games cause the migraines"
Weaknesses: People who don't know what they're doing.
Favorite Teammate: Husband.
Career Goals in Life: Teach Special Education
Smash Career Highlights: Two comebacks in a row against Ken at MLG Atlanta ‘05
Likes: Road trips, competition, Texas hold 'em, Azen's mom's cooking
Dislikes: Wasting time
Origin of Handle: My character fights in a wedding dress
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Live or Die, back in JTanic's house.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2005
MLG Atlanta: 7th in singles, 2nd in teams with Husband.
MLG NYC Championship: 17th in singles, 7th in teams with Husband
SSBM – 2006
MLG NYC: 13th in singles, 4th in teams with Husband
MLG Dallas: 9th in singles, 5th in teams with Husband
MLG Anaheim: 17th in singles, 6th in teams with Husband
MLG Chicago: 9th in singles, 17th in teams with Husband
MLG Orlando: 17th in singles, 4th in teams with Husband
MLG NY (Playoffs): ??? in singles, ??? in teams
------------------------- Long time veteran Azen returned from a brief hiatus in 2006 to take the MLG circuit by storm. Considered the most diverse Smasher in the nation, Azen has a tendency to use just about any character in a tournament, donning the nickname “the Master of Diversity” by his peers. Usually sporting slick backed hair and a button down shirt, he treats each event with an unusual amount of style and a professional demeanor. Always aspiring to learn and be the best at whatever he does, Azen’s will to succeed is only overshadowed by his good will and charm.
Most that meet Azen are surprised to find a player as down to earth and willing to play as much as he is. He can and will sit, hours on end, playing the same person, no matter their skill level. Most important to him are his friends, without them it is likely Azen would still be on hiatus. His mentality is to only play games while they are fun, and without having friends to play with, it isn’t fun. Few players have more raw skill and understanding for the game then Azen does, and it shows each time he makes a come back and each time he beats a new strategy.
Name: Christopher McMullen
Alias: Azen Zagenite
Birthday: 12/20/1986
Hometown: Alexandria, VA
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles/Teams
Pro Since: MLG Orlando 2006
Other Favorite Games: Other multiplayer games my friends like, RPG’s,
Step mania
Favorite Stages: FD, Pokemon Stadium, Kirby 64
Favorite Characters: Everyone
Least Favorite Match Up: Playing a sandbagger
Controller Color: Silver
X or Y: X
L or R: L
Strengths: Forward Smash
Weaknesses: Very predictable
Favorite Teammate: Chillindude829
Career Goals in Life: Something with computers, maybe games.
Smash Career Highlights: Beating Ken
Likes: Games, Computers, Music, Foxes
Dislikes: Manacloud, Satan
Origin of Handle: Role Playing Character
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Playing against friends in games since I
was little.
MLG Altanta 2004: 1st place teams (with Chillin), 1st place singles
MLG Boston 2004: 1st place teams (with Wes), 1st place singles
MLG Finals 2004: 2nd place teams (with Wes), 4th place singles
MLG Philly 2005: 2nd place teams (with Husband), 13th place singles
MLG Nashville 2005: 1st place teams (with Husband), 4th place singles
MLG Seattle 2005: 2nd place teams (with Husband), 1st place singles
MLG LA 2005: 2nd place teams (with Chu), 5th place singles
MLG Atlanta 2005: 3rd place teams (with Oro), 2nd place singles
MLG Finals 2005: 2nd place teams (with Chillin), 9th place singles
MLG Chicago 2006: 1st place teams (with Chillin), 4th place singles
MLG Orlando 2006: 2nd place teams (with Chillin), 1st place singles
---------------------
ChuDat became widely known in 2004 after taking 3rd place at SoCal’s highly anticipated TG6. Since then he has been a top 3 placer at almost every major tournament in the country, becoming Smash’s second most consistent singles player behind only Ken. Since entering the MLG scene in 2005, ChuDat has shown through his unique style that a character cannot be simply defined by its attributes, but instead by how it is used by the player.
He was one of the first players to ever experiment using characters once considered less-then-tournament worthy. After meeting success early and often though, many of these more obscure characters, like the Ice Climbers, Young Link, and Mr. Game and Watch, have become well known. ChuDat has coined the catch phrase “Yayuhz” within the Smash community to accentuate some of his more particularly impressive combos. Additionally his famous “ChuDat Pose”, where he uses his index finger and thumb to frame his face, is now widely copied. Definitely one of the most interesting players to watch, ChuDat continues to mature and evolve his style as the Smash scene changes.
Name: Daniel Mark Rodriguez
Alias: ChuDat
Birthday: January 16th, 1987
Hometown: Falls Church, Virginia
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY 2006 (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Advance Wars, Custom Robo, Rampart, Megaman
Favorite Stages: Final Destination, Pokemon Stadium
Favorite Characters: Ice Climbers
Least Favorite Match Up: Ice Climbers versus Peach
Controller Color: Special ChuDat Platinum controller
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Grabz
Weaknesses: Peach
Favorite Teammate: Manacloud
Career Goals in Life: Not sure yet, but hopefully I’ll be handsome and successful.
Smash Career Highlights: Winning MLG Nashville last season!
Likes: Ice
Dislikes: Fire
Origin of Handle: True that? Chu Datz!
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Local tournament at a little computer café place where I first realized I was good at a
video game, I later joined up with Chillin, Azen, Anden, Mild, and Jtanic to form H2YL.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2005 Washington DC: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Nashville Tennessee: 1st in singles, 4th with Oro in teams
Seattle: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Los Angeles: 4th in singles, 2nd in teams with Azen
Atlanta: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Chicago: 9th in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
New York (Championship): 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
SSBM – 2006
New York (Opener): 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Dallas: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Anaheim: 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Chicago: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
Orlando: 2nd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
New York (Play Offs): 3rd in singles, ??? with Manacloud in teams
----------
Name: Kashan Khan
Alias: Chillindude829
Birthday: 8/29/1989
Hometown: Alexandria, VA
Pro Player Of: Smash singles and doubles
Pro Since: Orlando (for singles)
Other Favorite Games: Mario games, Zelda games, Final Fantasy games, Tales of Symphonia, Guilty Gear, Advance Wars
Favorite Stages: Final Destination, Pokemon Stadium
Favorite Characters: Fox, Marth, Sheik, Falco
Least Favorite Match Up: Fox vs Peach
Controller Color: White/Blue
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: Both
Strengths: Mindgames, Grab combos, Aerial combos, Shinespiking
Weaknesses: Edge return
Favorite Teammate: Azen
Career Goals in Life: Not sure yet
Smash Career Highlights: Beating Ken at Game Over, beating PC Chris to win MLG Philly 2005, getting 1st in teams with Azen over Ken and Isai at MLG Chicago 2006
Likes: Games, Hanging out with friends, Laid-back people
Dislikes: People who talk too much about uninteresting things
Origin of Handle: I'm a dude who enjoys chilling once in a while
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Getting destroyed by Azen in SSB64
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
MLG Atlanta – 1st place teams (with Azen), 4th place singles
SSBM – 2005
MLG DC – 2nd place teams (with Neo), 13th place singles
MLG Philly – 1st place teams (with Oro), 1st place singles
MLG Finals – 2nd place teams (with Azen), 5th place singles
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY Opener – 5th place teams (with Neo), 17th place singles
MLG Chicago – 1st place teams (with Azen), 6th place singles
MLG Orlando – 2nd place teams (with Azen), 8th place singles
-----------
Name: Eddie Howells
Alias: BigGman
Birthday: 4/16/79
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY
Other Favorite Games: MvC2, Mario Kart, Ms. Pac-man, Dr. Mario
Favorite Stages: Battlefield, Dreamland
Favorite Characters: Ganondorf, Falcon, Fox
Least Favorite Match Up: Ganondorf versus Falco
Controller Color: Black
X or Y: Y
L or R: L
Strengths: I adapt to people’s play style pretty quickly.
Weaknesses: My technical skills.
Favorite Teammate: Mew2King
Career Goals in Life: Honestly, I don’t have any. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering and feel that a job is a job. I work to live and not live to work.
Smash Career Highlights: Winning MLG Orlando in 2005
Likes: Playing hockey, listening to music (all kinds, but my favorite is rock)
Dislikes: Waking up early, going to work
Origin of Handle: At one tournament, I met a guy from Smashboards, and he kept referring to Ganondorf as the Big “G” man. Since at the time, I only played as Ganondorf, I thought it would be an ok screen name. But thankfully, no one calls me that.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: A tournament called Snexus. It was a small local tournament in Chicago, held in someone’s basement. There were about twenty people there. My team, which was Eduardo and I, won the team tournament and I placed second behind Eduardo.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2004
MLG Chicago, 4th in singles, 2nd in teams (teamed with Eduardo)
SSBM – 2005
MLG San Francisco, 5th in singles, 2nd in teams (teamed with DSF)
MLG Orlando, 1st in singles, 1st in teams (teamed with Mr. Silver)
MLG LA, 5th in singles, 4th in teams (teamed with manacloud)
MLG Chicago, 9th in singles, 7th? in teams (teamed with Eduardo)
MLG NY, 17th in singles, 13th in teams (teamed with DSF)
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY 17th in singles, 5th in teams (teamed with Mew2King)
MLG Dallas, 13th in singles, 9th in teams (teamed with Tink)
MLG Anaheim, 13th in singles, 9th in teams (teamed with Germ)
MLG Chicago, 13th in singles, 9th in teams, (teamed with Hugs)
MLG Orlando, 13th in singles, 9th in teams, (teamed with King)
----------
Hugs stands as one of the most unique players on the circuit. Known for his ability to bring his game up a notch when the situation demands it, HugS became the final person to secure one of seven automatic bids to Vegas in 2006. This is similar to his 2005 performance where HugS placed 1st in LA’s Last Chance Qualifier. What makes him stand out isn’t just his ability to play though, it is also who he plays as. Most Pro’s rely on multiple characters to win, using different counter picks and scenarios to overcome the opposition. HugS plays as Samus—and only as Samus, a rare feat in today’s world of competitive Smash. He is almost single handedly responsible for keeping Samus at the forefront of professional Smash.
An icon for what can be accomplished with work, effort, and experience, Hugs has started to give back to the community. Early in 2006, HugS became the West Coast reprehensive for Smash on gameing-lessons.com. Unlike his Halo counterparts, HugS must personally travel to another player’s location. Such is the level of his nearly unparalleled dedication, not only to his own improvement, but to his fellow players and the community.
Name: Hugo Gonzalez
Alias: HugS
Birthday: 01/21/1986
Hometown: San Fernando Valley, CA
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: Beginning of the MLG 2006 season. Since pro existed in MLG.
Other Favorite Games: Counter Strike, Resident Evil 4, Goldeneye
Favorite Stages: Battlefield, but it depends on the match up.
Favorite Characters: Samus
Least Favorite Match Up: Samus versus Falco
Controller Color: Platinum
X or Y or Both: Y
L or R or Both: Both
Strengths: Edge Guarding and defense
Weaknesses: Secretsies :)
Favorite Teammate: BloodoftheFallen (Omar)
Career Goals in Life: I haven't decided on what type of career I want to pursue in life. However, my ultimate goal is not to be rich, but to be happy. I'm still deciding on which means will create that particular end.
Smash Career Highlights: Being down over 100 points from the 7th place invite to nationals at MLG Orlando yet still clinching the 7th invite by taking out the 2 people that also had a shot at getting the 7th spot (Tink and Dope) and going through PC Chris and Chillin in the process.
Likes: Burritos, Sushi, Mars Volta, Tool, Comedy, Females
Dislikes: Bad rock, cocky kids who haven't earned it, underperforming
Origin of Handle: Back in high school people used to call me variations of my name, Hugo. It would range from Huggo, Huggles, Huggies, etc. So while playing Counter Strike one day, I decided to drop the nick "GreenLAntern" and started going by "HugS"
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Going to my first tournament at Ken's house. I went in thinking I was going to take everyone out, including ken. I ended up losing to a player named Panda and Ken's sister Helen who was 14 at the time. Yeah, I kind of got a reality check there.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM - 2004
MLG LA - 9th in singles/9th in teams (Gabe)
SSBM - 2005
MLG San Francisco - 4th in teams/9th in singles (Oro)
MLG Las Vegas - 7th in teams/9th in singles (Omar)
MLG LA Western Conference Championships
1st in LCQ
7th in CC Teams (Omar)
9th in CC Singles
SSBM - 2006
MLG NJ - 13th in Singles/13th in teams (Hayato)
MLG Dallas - 13th in Singles/17th in teams (Omar, DQ'd)
MLG Anaheim - 7th in Singles/13th in teams (Omar)
MLG Chicago - 13th in Singles/13th in teams (Eddie)
MLG Orlando - 7th in Singles/8th in teams. (Helios)
------------
One of the most legendary names in the Smash community, Isai’s career with MLG stems over three seasons as one of the top players on the circuit. While he is a strong singles player, most consider his greatest potential to be in doubles play. Usually using a mix of Sheik or Falcon, he is constantly aware of where his team mate Ken is on the stage, to such a degree that it is not uncommon to witness Isai save Ken several times in stunning, often unpredictable ways, during each match. Such consistent skill has earned him the reputation as the best doubles partner in all of Smash. Together, he and Ken hold the longest undefeated streak in Smash history, stemming over 2 years.
Aside from his ability in teams, when most people think of Isai, they think of one of the friendliest Smashers on the tour, as proof of his 2nd place award in the 2005 MLG Pro Choice Awards for friendliest Smasher. He approaches the game with a light hearted attitude but is known to turn it up a notch when it really counts. Looked up to for both his seniority and his innovative Falcon play, Isai is often asked for advice from fellow Smashers. His usual “don’t get hit” response has become a catch phrase in the Smash community to help explain, in simple manners, his key to success. Much of his success in Melee can be attributed to the previous Smash experience on the N64, where Isai is held as the best player in the world.
Name: Joel Isai Alvarado
Alias: Isai
Birthday: March 17, 1985
Hometown: San Jose, California
Pro Player Of: SSBM singles and doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Super Smash Brothers, Super Puzzle Fighter II X, Perfect Dark
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium, Icicle Mountain, Hyrule Temple
Favorite Characters: None
Least Favorite Match Up: Falcon versus Falco
Controller Color: 1/2 Orange 1/2 Clear
X or Y: X
L or R or Both: L for L-canceling R for blocking/air dodging/wavedashing
Strengths: Wavedashing with Samus that's about it.
Weaknesses: I kill myself a lot. I can rarely ground tech so just come and hit me after I hit the ground for easy damage/kills.
Favorite Teammate: Silent Spectre
Career Goals in Life: Understand the Bible
Smash Career Highlights: Saving my team from early elimination at MLG Chicago 2006
Likes: Nature, Anime, Basketball, Calistoga Mineral Water, Making people laugh, Big Juicy Hamburgers
Dislikes: Pickles
Origin of Handle: My middle name
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Participating in the Free For All tournament at Tournament Go 2 with my friend Johnny.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM - 2004
Chicago - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
San Francisco - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
Los Angeles - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
New York City - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
SSBM - 2005
Washington DC - 2nd place singles, 1st place doubles with Ken
San Francisco - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Seattle - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Los Angeles - 1st Singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Atlanta - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
New York City - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
SSBM - 2006
New York - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Dallas - ??? place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Anaheim - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
Chicago - 8th place singles/2nd place doubles with Ken
Orlando - 4th place singles/1st place doubles with Ken
New York (playoffs) – 6th Place singles/3rd place doubles with Ken
---------------
Ken has been a force to be reckoned with since the early days of competitive Smash. He slowly moved from being the player to beat on the West Coast to asserting his dominance over an entire country, and eventually the world donning the kick name “The King of Smash”. Considered to have practically invented how the character Marth is played, Ken’s aggressive yet patient style has been mimicked by many but none have managed to duplicate it with the same success. He is known for his patented “Ken Combo” where he sets up the opponent for a series of F-air’s and finishes with a D-air spike. His ability to land such a combo repeatedly in tournament play is largely because of his precision spacing, allowing himself the perfect set up for devastating combos.
Until late in the 2006 season Ken had never lost a doubles tournament when teaming with Isai. Their winning streak lasted over 3 years and at tournaments all over the country. While this streak finally did end, they are still considered to be the absolute peak of what a Smash team can produce, largely from their years of teamwork with each other. Ken enjoys support from his family at just about every tournament he attends, including his brother Manacloud who is a pro doubles player.
Name: Ken Hoang
Alias: SephirothKen
Birthday: 10/10/1985
Hometown: The OC, California
Pro Player Of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY 2006 (Opener)
Other Favorite Games: Mario Party Series, Squaresoft Rpg's
Favorite Stages: Termina Bay
Favorite Characters: Marth
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth against Falco
Controller Color: Teal/Clear
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Ice Climbers, Marth
Weaknesses: Fox, Falco, Sheik, Peach
Favorite Teammate: Isai
Likes: Banana splits, Yaki Niku and sleeping
Dislikes: Waking up early, celery
Origin of Handle: N/A
First Competitive Gaming Memory: So far back I can’t remember.
Competitive Gaming History:
2004
1st - MLG 2004 Season Finals New York
1st - MLG 2004 Season points
2005
1st - MLG 2005 (Season Opener Tournament) DC 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (Season Tournament) San Francisco, 1st teams with Isai
2nd - MLG 2005 (West Coast Regional’s) Los Angeles, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (East Coast Regional’s) Atlanta, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 (Central Regional’s) Chicago, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 Season Finals New York, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2005 Season points leader
2006
2nd - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) New York, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Dallas, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Anaheim, 1st teams with Isai
1st - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Chicago, 2nd teams with Isai
5th - MLG 2006 (Season Tournament) Orlando, 1st teams with Isai
7th – MLG 2006 (Playoff Tournament) New York, 3rd teams with Isai
--------------------
Name: Daniel Hutchinson
Alias: (The) King
Birthday: 8/23/1985
Hometown: Concord, California
Pro Player Of: (Smash singles, doubles, or both) Smash Singles & Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas 2006
Other Favorite Games: Monopoly, Call Of Duty 2, Both Paper Marios, Super Mario RPG, Halo 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Soul Calibur 2, Earthbound
Favorite Stages: Fountain of Dreams, Dreamland, Mute City, Yoshi's Story, Brinstar, Mushroom Kingdom 2
Favorite Characters: Marth, Doctor Mario, Sheik, Captain Falcon, Fox, Ganondorf, and Jigglypuff
Least Favorite Match Up: (Character X versus Character Y, except not Pichu versus Marth if you catch my drift): Jigglypuff vs Sheik (it's so gay =/ )
Controller Color: All Gold.
X or Y or Both: Only X.
L or R or Both: Only L.
Strengths: I know everything about all of Jigglypuff's matchups, I have excellent execution, I take few unnecessary risks, I have excellent prediction skills, I read and catch onto opponent's tendencies very quickly, and I have crazy combos.
Weaknesses: I use Jigglypuff, I sometimes pass up kill opportunities just to attempt flashier kills/combos, I sometimes trust my approaches too much and don't fully think them through and rush into traps.
Favorite Teammate: A toss-up between fellow crewmates Germ, Zelgadis, and Bob$
Career Goals in Life: Receive Bachelors/Masters in Business and/or Economics, own a nice house =)
Smash Career Highlights: Winning my first Biweekly, Winning the majority of norcal biweeklies, placing 5th at MLG Dallas, Placing 9th in singles/teams and winning International Crew Battle at OC2, qualifying for singles/teams for NY Playoffs and qualifying for teams (and hopefully singles) for Vegas Nationals.
Likes: Good Company, People with a good sense of humor, Air Conditioning, Coke, Hamburgers, My two Cats, Roadtrips Dislikes: Arrogance, Hot/Spicy foods, Mustard, Humidity.
Origin of Handle: I used to main Link back in the day in SSBM, and one night my brother was complaining about how "cheap" link was, and said pick someone else because he'd never play my link again. So as I was bragging about how amazing I was to him (i was a total scrub back then in actuality), I just picked Jigglypuff for the first time ever, put on his Crown costume, and put my 4-letter tag to "KING". After beating him, I realized "maybe I've got something here". It's paid off nicely.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: It's hard to say when a game can go from "just for fun" to "competitive", but it would either have to date back to when I started playing Monopoly, or when I used to compete with my cousin over NES Tetris to see who could get the highest score.
Competitive Gaming History: (mention singles and doubles results, and who you teamed with, but only MLG events-I know it sucks but I can't do anything about it, sigh)
SSBM - 2004
N/A
SSBM - 2005
N/A
SSBM - 2006
MLG Dallas: 5th in Singles, 17th in Teams with Demised
MLG Anaheim: 9th in Singles, 7th in Teams with Mew2King
MLG Chicago: 13th in Singles, 5th in Teams with P.C. Chris
MLG Orlando: 13th in Singles, 9th in Teams with Eddie
------------
Name: Dan Jung
Alias: KoreanDJ111
Birthday: 3/23/1988
Hometown: Cambridge
Pro Player Of: Singles, Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas
Other Favorite Games: Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Guitar Hero, DDR
Favorite Stages: Onett, Final Destination, Yoshi's Story
Favorite Characters: Sheik, Falcon, Fox, Pichu
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth vs. Fox
Controller Color: Silver
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: L
Strengths: Fast reaction time.
Weaknesses: Yoshi!!!
Favorite Teammate: Jblaze (Rush Hour)
Career Goals in Life: Computer Engineer. Being a musician as a side/fun job.
Smash Career Highlights: Defeating Ken at MLG Orlando, 3-0 Ken and
Isai in teams at MLG Chicago, Shine Spiking M2K on VoD at MLG NY in
the Amateur brackets.
Likes: Guitar, girls, parties, recording with camcorder, beat making, occasional DJ-ing, boxing, fighting and music sim games, good anime shows in Japanese with English sub.
Dislikes: Bitter medicine. And music being played too loud. And Peach Soda. Origin of Handle: I'm Korean, and my initials is DJ, plus I'm a DJ (Disk Jockey), so put them together and make KoreanDJ. Dunno about the 111. It was my screename since way back, so I decided to toss it in for the fun of things.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: January 2005, Smash tourney in High School.
Competitive Gaming History:
MLG NY:
Singles: 9th Place
Doubles: 9th Place (teamed with Tope)
MLG Dallas:
Singles: 4th Place
Doubles: 6th Place (teamed with Jblaze)
MLG Anaheim:
Singles: 6th Place
Doubles: 9th Place (teamed with Tope)
MLG Chicago:
Singles: 7th Place
Doubles: 3rd Place (teamed with Mew2King)
MLG Orlando:
Singles: 3rd Place
Doubles: 6th Place (teamed with Jblaze)
MLG New York (Playoffs)
Singles: 4th place
Doubles: ??? (with Jblaze)
--------------------------
Coming into form at the end of the 2005 season, PC Chris was nominated as the break out player for 2006 season. He defeated Ken in a close 11 game set near his hometown of Port Chester, NY and almost repeated the feat later in Anaheim, narrowly losing in the last game of the set. PC Chris is one most exciting players to watch because of some of the insane combos he can pull off with Falco. He is known for performing long, high damage combos with fantastic finishes. Despite his late emergence on the competitive scene, he is now considered a real contender at each tournament he attends and is part of the elite group of players to actually defeat Ken in a tournament.
PC Chris’s fun loving personality and laid back style have helped him emerge as one of Smash’s first icons. He thirsts for victory at each tournament he attends and anything less than first is a disappointment to him. Between tournaments he enjoys playing with his friends in the New York area, but also actively travels to other locations to play and hang out with other Smashers.
Name: Christopher Szygiel
Alias: PC Chris
Birthday: 08/23/87
Hometown: Port Chester, NY
Pro Player of: Smash Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY ‘06
Other Favorite Games: Mario bros. 3, Warcraft 3, DDR, Final Fantasy X
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium, Final Destination
Favorite Characters: Falco, Fox, Sheik, Marth, Ganondorf, Peach
Least Favorite Match Up: Falco versus Samus or Fox versus Marth
X or Y: Y
L or R: Both
Strengths: Crazy combos, Good directional influence, mediocre mind-games
Weakness: I’m not that patient anymore like I used to be, I like to attack.
Favorite Teammate: Wes
Career Goals in Life: Don’t have one right now, but for now to excel in college
Smash Career Highlights: Almost coming back from the losers bracket to beat ken in front of the huge screen. Last set, last game, last hit!
Likes: Chilling with my friends, playing games, going to my classes (so far), Milktea, sleeping, McDonalds, shopping, anime, penguins and probably a lot of other stuff
Dislikes: Arrogant new players, Peach (who doesn’t), fish, waking up early, and calories
Origin of Handle: My town name, Port Chester, friends called me PC Chris the nick name just kind of stuck to me I guess. First Competitive Gaming Memory: Being cramped up in an apartment just south of the city had all types of people squished in a little room with hardly any TV’s. Good times though.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2005,
MLG DC 17th singles, ??? place teams with husband
MLG Philly 2nd singles, 3rd place teams with neo
MLG Chicago 3rd singles, ??? place teams with Wes
MLG NY 3rd singles, ??? place teams with Wes
SSBM – 2006
MLG NY 1st place singles, 2nd place teams with Wes
MLG Dallas 3rd place singles, ??? place teams with sock ninja
MLG Anaheim 2nd place singles, ??? place teams with Kaiser
MLG Chicago 5th place singles, ??? place teams with king
MLG Orlando 13th place singles, ??? place teams with KillaOR
MLG NY (playoffs) 2nd place singles, ??? teams with Wes
---------------
Name: Roberto Aldape
Alias: ROBMONEY , ROB$
Birthday: September 8, 1984
Hometown: Crystal City, Texas
Pro Player Of: (Smash singles, doubles, or both) Smash, but hoping to the first Pro at both games next season. Pro Since: 06 Season
Other Favorite Games: Just mainly Super Smash bros. Melee and Halo 2. But I play madden and a few other RTS games.
Favorite Stages: Dreamland for Smash, Lockout and Midship For Halo 2
Favorite Characters: In order Falco, Sheik, Fox, Marth, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Doctor Mario.
Least Favorite Match Up: I hate playing Jigglypuff
Controller Color: Usually black but recently I have been using a silver one since my control broke. But hopefully a friend of mine can make me a custom.
X or Y or Both: X
L or R or Both: BOTH
Strengths: Fast Fallers
Weaknesses: Samus
Favorite Teammate: Caveman
Career Goals in Life: Start my own business, Finish college , and if not to much keep owning at video games. Smash Career Highlights: Placing 5th place IN MLG 2005 Championships beating Azen. Getting First place in MLG Houston. Getting 2nd In MLG Las Vegas Forfeiting to My friend caveman my team’s partner.
Likes: (hobbies, ice cream, you name it) Playing Halo 2 and Smash with friends.
Dislikes: Cheaters,
Origin of Handle: First day I played Smash I was making my name in the game I was typing in ROB and it looked boring LOL So I added a $ symbol. All my friends where like “ROBMONEY” From that day on a lot of my friends would call me ROB$ at school
First Competitive Gaming Memory: I went to a tournament In San Antonio, Texas Where all of the best players in Texas showed up. My crew owned them all. No Johns if they say otherwise LOL
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
SSBM – 2005
First Place Singles MLG-Houston Beating Killaor
2nd Place Teams MLG-Houston Forfeiting to my other two Crew members. Team Partner SMiles
2nd Place Singles MLG- LAS VEGAS Forfeiting to my crew Member Caveman who got 1st Place Teams MLG – LAS VEGAS Team partner Caveman
5th Place MLG CHAMPIONSHIPS in 1vs1s
SSBM – 2006
------------------------------
Name: Wayne Gralewski
Alias: Tink
Birthday: 2/27/1988
Hometown: Hammond, IN
Pro Player Of: Singles and Doubles
Pro Since: MLG Dallas
Other Favorite Games: Street Fighters, Final Fantasys, Zelda games, counter strike
Favorite Stages: Pokemon Stadium and Dreamland
Favorite Characters: Falcon and Marth
Least Favorite Match Up: Marth vs. Sheik
Controller Color: Platinum, but I like Spice the best.
X or Y: X
L or R: L
Strengths: I’m very sound technically wise.
Weaknesses: I choke a lot and am predictable at times.
Favorite Teammate: level 9 CPU Falco that destroyed PC Chris and KillaOR at Orlando.
Career Goals in Life: To become a pharmacist.
Smash Career Highlights: Getting 4th at MLG NY.
Likes: Road trips, movies, and hanging out with friends
Dislikes: Spiders
Origin of Handle: I decided that I would go to the random name select and the next random I got would become my name, unless it was REALLY bad. It came up as Tink and I kept it.
First Competitive Gaming Memory: My friends and I just got on to Smash Boards, a message board for smash, and we decided to try to host a tournament in my friend’s basement. I guess we thought we were good. It was a good tournament, but we totally got destroyed.
Competitive Gaming History:
SSBM – 2004
MLG Chicago- like my 2nd competitive tournament. Totally got destroyed in teams and singles. Teamed with GOTS.
SSBM – 2005
MLG Chicago- Singles-5th LCQ/Doubles (teamed with Unknown Force)- 13th
SSBM – 2006 MLG NY- Singles-4th/Doubles (teamed with Gabe)-9th
MLG Dallas- Singles 17th/Doubles (teamed with Eddie)-9th
MLG Anaheim-Singles 9th/Doubles (teamed with Pete Chen)-9th
MLG Chicago-Singles 9th/Doubles (teamed with Iggy)-8th
MLG Orlando-Singles 17th/Doubles (teamed with Dope)-5th
--------------------
As native Maryland, Wife has been privileged to grow up in one of the nations strongest and most diverse Smashing communities. Entering the community in late 2003 he began his quest with the mindset of becoming the best. By fully utilizing the surrounding community he slowly but surely broke into the higher Smash ranks. He and his teammate Husband—the Newlyweds—were among the first to train specifically for teams and began to see the results of their hard work quickly, often setting an example of the usefulness for different team strategies.
Outside of their teamwork, Wife and Husband helped found the Smash section on gaming-lessons.com, largely because of their great instructional skills (Husband is a personal trainer, and Wife is studying to be a teacher). Wife is known for using Peach for his entire Smash career, who meshes well with Husband’s Marth. Most revere him for his intelligence and consider him one of the smartest players to play the game. This helps bode well when doing instructions and teaching new players who need lessons how to play. In tournaments he is approachable, talkative, and nice to be around, almost always willing to offer some advice about the game.
Name: Christopher Fabiszak
Alias: Wife
Birthday: October 29, 1985
Hometown: Ellicott City, MD
Pro Player Of: Smash singles and doubles
Pro Since: MLG NY ‘06
Other Favorite Games: None
Favorite Stages: Final Destination and Green Greens
Favorite Characters: Peach
Least Favorite Match Up: Confess my weakness? No thanks .
. . Controller Color: Wario Controller
X or Y: X
L or R: Both
Strengths: "I play with the mind games, these games cause the migraines"
Weaknesses: People who don't know what they're doing.
Favorite Teammate: Husband.
Career Goals in Life: Teach Special Education
Smash Career Highlights: Two comebacks in a row against Ken at MLG Atlanta ‘05
Likes: Road trips, competition, Texas hold 'em, Azen's mom's cooking
Dislikes: Wasting time
Origin of Handle: My character fights in a wedding dress
First Competitive Gaming Memory: Live or Die, back in JTanic's house.
Competitive Gaming History
SSBM – 2005
MLG Atlanta: 7th in singles, 2nd in teams with Husband.
MLG NYC Championship: 17th in singles, 7th in teams with Husband
SSBM – 2006
MLG NYC: 13th in singles, 4th in teams with Husband
MLG Dallas: 9th in singles, 5th in teams with Husband
MLG Anaheim: 17th in singles, 6th in teams with Husband
MLG Chicago: 9th in singles, 17th in teams with Husband
MLG Orlando: 17th in singles, 4th in teams with Husband
MLG NY (Playoffs): ??? in singles, ??? in teams
One Year with MLG
- October 23, 2006 - 12:49am
It's been over a year since I began working with MLG. In this time both Smash and MLG have changed a lot. My first article was posted on September 20nd, 2005. Since then there have been around 120 articles posted on the site. Of those articles, my work, and therefor most of the Smash exposure, accounts for 1/6th of the content. Here are the names, with links, to all the articles in that time period. Who knows where we will be a year from now.
Chillin Like a Fox: MLG Interviews Chillin
MLG Smasher Profile: Azen
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash Techniques: Part I
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash Techniques: Part II
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash: Part III
The King of Smash: MLG Interviews Ken
Memorable Moments in a Smashing Season
MLG Pro Smasher’s Choice Awards
Smash 2v2 Championships – The Legend Lives On
Guarding the Throne – The Smash 1v1 Title
The Pro Gaming Civil War: The East-West Crew Battle
PC Chris Stages One-Man Coup D’etat
Ken and Isai: Still Kings of the Hill
The Ever-Evolving Smash Character Tiers
MLG Anaheim Smash Wrap-Up
Digging Up Smash Roots
PC Chris – The East Coast’s Golden Boy
MLG Chicago Smash Wrap-Up
Azen and Chillin – The Great 2v2 Overthrow (Broken Link)
Azen Takes Smash 1v1 Title
Scratching the Record – The KoreanDJ Interview
A sneak peak at what is to come:
Azen Interview
HugS Interview
Skill Factor Article
Chillin Like a Fox: MLG Interviews Chillin
MLG Smasher Profile: Azen
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash Techniques: Part I
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash Techniques: Part II
MLG’s Guide to Competitive Smash: Part III
The King of Smash: MLG Interviews Ken
Memorable Moments in a Smashing Season
MLG Pro Smasher’s Choice Awards
Smash 2v2 Championships – The Legend Lives On
Guarding the Throne – The Smash 1v1 Title
The Pro Gaming Civil War: The East-West Crew Battle
PC Chris Stages One-Man Coup D’etat
Ken and Isai: Still Kings of the Hill
The Ever-Evolving Smash Character Tiers
MLG Anaheim Smash Wrap-Up
Digging Up Smash Roots
PC Chris – The East Coast’s Golden Boy
MLG Chicago Smash Wrap-Up
Azen and Chillin – The Great 2v2 Overthrow (Broken Link)
Azen Takes Smash 1v1 Title
Scratching the Record – The KoreanDJ Interview
A sneak peak at what is to come:
Azen Interview
HugS Interview
Skill Factor Article
MLG Orlando
- September 2, 2006 - 11:50pm
The flight into Orlando was direct, which always beats the alternative. I managed to pick up a Super Shuttle early around 12 on Friday. In my Shuttle were two other random people heading to MLG, I'm guessing people on a semi-pro team because they did a lot of name dropping once they found out I was heading for MLG as well (I didn't tell them I was staff and everything they said made no impression on me).
Once I got off the Super Shuttle I was greeted immediately by Ghandi, Karma, Gran Calc, Brain (from SV I think, I don't know his GT), and two other halo people (one coach and a girl, both whose names I can't remember). We went to eat at a nearby restaurant and the pancakes I bought were quite possibly the best I've ever eaten, not to mention how kick ass sprite tastes with pancakes (screw Milk, I lactose intolerant [yes, I can still eat products that use milk]).
[left to right: Brian, AlphaZealot
[Gran Calc
[left to right: Ghandi, Karma
Brunch was followed by about 4 hours of hanging out with Carbon, the Smashers, and a few of the other staffers, here are some shots of just what happens when we have nothing to do pre-tourney.
[Clap man-handling Ghandi
[Dave
[left to right: Pucket, Dyslexia, ???, Ghandi, Karma
Friday Night I did some preparations for Saturday, but most of the time was largely spent with Karma, Ghandi, Trunkers, and Shockwave. For a long time Shockwav3 and I did teams against Trunkers and Karma (and later we did it against Karma and Ghandi). We had success early, but soon I realized Karma was kicking a lot of ass. Ben has gotten mad good at Smash technically speaking, and with each game he learned how to use his technical skill more and more, and damn it's scary.
[left to right: AlphaZealot, Gran Calc, Karma, Jason
Ghandi and Shockwav3 ran off to do ffa, so Karma, Bach, and I went off to get dinner, at Dinner we met up with Rob$, Megan, and Megan's sister whose name escapes me. The McDonalds was freaking kick ass, it was all like, Disney oriented and good looking, and once you ordered your food appeared before you in like less than 15 seconds, it was unbelievable.
[left to right: Karma, Megan
Saturday was mostly work, I helped run registration at 8am, filled in for JV running a few pools, did some commentary, watched a lot of matches/people I would need to write about, and updated the site when key parts of the tournament finished/started. Another part of my job that is important as a writer is making sure I know what is going on with all the players. I have a few advantages in this department, considering I'm long standing friends with most of the EC players (Chillin, Chu Dat, Azen, Wife, Husband, the list goes on), but tournaments are nice to catch with other people like Rob$ and Ken. I was delighted to find out what a success OC2 was and just how well it was run, if Ken holds another one next year I'm making sure to attend. I also had a chance to play and talk with Helios, which was interesting getting a European Smashers opinion on the American Smash scene, his Fox plays very, very similar to Chillin/KoreanDJ's as well. Not to many pictures, but I did manage to find this one of Shockwav3 stalking Chillin.
[left to right: Chillin, Shockwav3
Saturday night we were suppose to run a staff game. I forget the exact teams, but I was suppose to play. Of course I would be the worst person in the game most likely, but I'm no where near as crappy at Halo as most people would assume. I've been privileged to play with a few good people through my MLG association, and I've learned a lot. I'm not a newb in terms of "you don't know how to move/control your character", I'm the kind of newb that gets stomped on by players who are smarter then me (most of the staff fall into this category unfortunately), even so, I was really looking forward to playing and I was upset to find out we couldn't do it. SMASH REPRESENT.
[left to right: Darkrain, JBlaze (Marcus), KoreanDJ, Ken
Sunday proved interesting, I was expecting the crowd to go wild when Ken lost, but then I remembered we were in Florida and not New York, so the reaction was a bit mixed and not as exciting as I thought it would be. Seeing Hugs tear through the losers bracket, including Tink and PC Chris was freaking awesome, Hugs has made up for his characters crappyness with his intelligence, something that is pretty difficult against Fox and Falco players (using Samus).
I also got to chat abit with Drephen and Watty, who are from Ohio. Drephen goes to Ohio State which is where I will be attending in the fall, so I'm hoping he will get me acquinted with the local scene fairly fast.
[left to right: Drephen, Watty
Watching Azen win was pretty sweet, but I wish it had been over Ken and not Chu Dat. This isn’t because Chu Dat isn’t a worthy foe, but because Azen has always wanted to beat Ken to win a tourney and has never done it. Also, Chu Dat versus Azen is a bit of a skewed match up because they are both very familiar with the others playing style (this favors Azen, because Chu Dat’s playing style is unique and part of his advantage is that most people don’t know how to deal with it).
This also being said, I think it’s important to note how consistent Chu Dat has been through out his career. This MLG season, he has placed 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and 2nd. This is just slightly worse then Ken’s, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 5th. PC Chris had a good run until he failed to place top 8 this tournament. I think as a whole the top 7 players heading into New York are a great core of players.
Ken: #1 Marth player in the world, top 2-3 Ganon and Fox player
Chu Dat: #1 Ice Climbers player in the world, top 2-3 Young Link and G&W player
PC Chris: #1 Falco player, top 5 Fox player
KoreanDJ: top 2-3 Fox player, top 5 Falco player, top 2-3 Sheik player
Mew2King: top 2-3 Fox player
Isai: #1 Falcon player, top 2-3 Sheik player
Hugs: #1 Samsu, and only Samus
The 8th spot, unless something drastic happens, will be Azen, who is a top 1-5 player of every character in the game. I see a few problems in him grabbing that 8th spot though.
[left to right: Chillin, Azen, Bach
Chillin: Could upset him, they play frequently so you run into the same skewed match up as Azen versus Chu Dat or Ken versus Isai [I antitipate Chillin winning the Open portion of the tournament, unless Neo shows up].
Wife: Azen doesn’t really like to fight against Peach players, I would anticipate Azen to go Marth or Peach, either would probably give him the victory, but I wouldn’t count Wife out completely.
Tink: He will probably want to make up for his poor performance in Orlando with a victory in New York.
King: Jiggly could throw Azen a curveball, but overall I don’t think Azen will have to much trouble if he stays Marth.
Back to Chu Dat’s consistency, I have been told his worst performance was 13th at an MLG last year. Outside this though, his worst performance that I can recall has been 3rd or 4th. His worst performance this year has been 3rd (as MLG NY and FC6 [IIRC]). Getting top 3 at every tournament he has been to is a huge feet, especially when you consider he has easily been to 2 dozen tournaments this year, including over half a dozen national (100+) sized tournaments.
Chu Dat is the second most consistent tournament placer there is, only behind Ken. Azen would be up there if he didn’t do his hiatus’s and his run with low tiers at a few tourneys that gave him 5th-9th placings where he should have taken 1st.
Sunday night was another fun staff writing party. Jason finished early around 12:30, but Trunkers and I weren’t out of there until past 2am. I joined up with Gran Calc and a few other staffers and played some Smash. Bach and I headed back to Joe’s room around 4am and we caught Synide watching Mean Girls, so we decided to stay and watch it with him (that movie kicks ass).
[left to right: Bach, Gran Calc, Synide
Monday I woke up around 9 to catch my shuttle for the airport. While I was waiting Jon came over and offered me a ride back with the production guys. I rode in the MLG rentel car to the airport instead of the shuttle, which was a lot nicer to say the least. My first flight was uneventful and I landed in Atlanta for my connection flight. At the airport I played some solitaire on my computer when I was greeted by a familiar voice. Ghandi came over and said what’s up. He and I are both from the Washington area, and this was apparently he second time we’ve been on the same plane. He apparently saw me on his way to New York back when he didn’t know who he was and was wondering why I was wearing a staff shirt.
[left to right: Ghandi, AlphaZealot
Once I got off the Super Shuttle I was greeted immediately by Ghandi, Karma, Gran Calc, Brain (from SV I think, I don't know his GT), and two other halo people (one coach and a girl, both whose names I can't remember). We went to eat at a nearby restaurant and the pancakes I bought were quite possibly the best I've ever eaten, not to mention how kick ass sprite tastes with pancakes (screw Milk, I lactose intolerant [yes, I can still eat products that use milk]).
[left to right: Brian, AlphaZealot
[Gran Calc
[left to right: Ghandi, Karma
Brunch was followed by about 4 hours of hanging out with Carbon, the Smashers, and a few of the other staffers, here are some shots of just what happens when we have nothing to do pre-tourney.
[Clap man-handling Ghandi
[Dave
[left to right: Pucket, Dyslexia, ???, Ghandi, Karma
Friday Night I did some preparations for Saturday, but most of the time was largely spent with Karma, Ghandi, Trunkers, and Shockwave. For a long time Shockwav3 and I did teams against Trunkers and Karma (and later we did it against Karma and Ghandi). We had success early, but soon I realized Karma was kicking a lot of ass. Ben has gotten mad good at Smash technically speaking, and with each game he learned how to use his technical skill more and more, and damn it's scary.
[left to right: AlphaZealot, Gran Calc, Karma, Jason
Ghandi and Shockwav3 ran off to do ffa, so Karma, Bach, and I went off to get dinner, at Dinner we met up with Rob$, Megan, and Megan's sister whose name escapes me. The McDonalds was freaking kick ass, it was all like, Disney oriented and good looking, and once you ordered your food appeared before you in like less than 15 seconds, it was unbelievable.
[left to right: Karma, Megan
Saturday was mostly work, I helped run registration at 8am, filled in for JV running a few pools, did some commentary, watched a lot of matches/people I would need to write about, and updated the site when key parts of the tournament finished/started. Another part of my job that is important as a writer is making sure I know what is going on with all the players. I have a few advantages in this department, considering I'm long standing friends with most of the EC players (Chillin, Chu Dat, Azen, Wife, Husband, the list goes on), but tournaments are nice to catch with other people like Rob$ and Ken. I was delighted to find out what a success OC2 was and just how well it was run, if Ken holds another one next year I'm making sure to attend. I also had a chance to play and talk with Helios, which was interesting getting a European Smashers opinion on the American Smash scene, his Fox plays very, very similar to Chillin/KoreanDJ's as well. Not to many pictures, but I did manage to find this one of Shockwav3 stalking Chillin.
[left to right: Chillin, Shockwav3
Saturday night we were suppose to run a staff game. I forget the exact teams, but I was suppose to play. Of course I would be the worst person in the game most likely, but I'm no where near as crappy at Halo as most people would assume. I've been privileged to play with a few good people through my MLG association, and I've learned a lot. I'm not a newb in terms of "you don't know how to move/control your character", I'm the kind of newb that gets stomped on by players who are smarter then me (most of the staff fall into this category unfortunately), even so, I was really looking forward to playing and I was upset to find out we couldn't do it. SMASH REPRESENT.
[left to right: Darkrain, JBlaze (Marcus), KoreanDJ, Ken
Sunday proved interesting, I was expecting the crowd to go wild when Ken lost, but then I remembered we were in Florida and not New York, so the reaction was a bit mixed and not as exciting as I thought it would be. Seeing Hugs tear through the losers bracket, including Tink and PC Chris was freaking awesome, Hugs has made up for his characters crappyness with his intelligence, something that is pretty difficult against Fox and Falco players (using Samus).
I also got to chat abit with Drephen and Watty, who are from Ohio. Drephen goes to Ohio State which is where I will be attending in the fall, so I'm hoping he will get me acquinted with the local scene fairly fast.
[left to right: Drephen, Watty
Watching Azen win was pretty sweet, but I wish it had been over Ken and not Chu Dat. This isn’t because Chu Dat isn’t a worthy foe, but because Azen has always wanted to beat Ken to win a tourney and has never done it. Also, Chu Dat versus Azen is a bit of a skewed match up because they are both very familiar with the others playing style (this favors Azen, because Chu Dat’s playing style is unique and part of his advantage is that most people don’t know how to deal with it).
This also being said, I think it’s important to note how consistent Chu Dat has been through out his career. This MLG season, he has placed 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and 2nd. This is just slightly worse then Ken’s, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 5th. PC Chris had a good run until he failed to place top 8 this tournament. I think as a whole the top 7 players heading into New York are a great core of players.
Ken: #1 Marth player in the world, top 2-3 Ganon and Fox player
Chu Dat: #1 Ice Climbers player in the world, top 2-3 Young Link and G&W player
PC Chris: #1 Falco player, top 5 Fox player
KoreanDJ: top 2-3 Fox player, top 5 Falco player, top 2-3 Sheik player
Mew2King: top 2-3 Fox player
Isai: #1 Falcon player, top 2-3 Sheik player
Hugs: #1 Samsu, and only Samus
The 8th spot, unless something drastic happens, will be Azen, who is a top 1-5 player of every character in the game. I see a few problems in him grabbing that 8th spot though.
[left to right: Chillin, Azen, Bach
Chillin: Could upset him, they play frequently so you run into the same skewed match up as Azen versus Chu Dat or Ken versus Isai [I antitipate Chillin winning the Open portion of the tournament, unless Neo shows up].
Wife: Azen doesn’t really like to fight against Peach players, I would anticipate Azen to go Marth or Peach, either would probably give him the victory, but I wouldn’t count Wife out completely.
Tink: He will probably want to make up for his poor performance in Orlando with a victory in New York.
King: Jiggly could throw Azen a curveball, but overall I don’t think Azen will have to much trouble if he stays Marth.
Back to Chu Dat’s consistency, I have been told his worst performance was 13th at an MLG last year. Outside this though, his worst performance that I can recall has been 3rd or 4th. His worst performance this year has been 3rd (as MLG NY and FC6 [IIRC]). Getting top 3 at every tournament he has been to is a huge feet, especially when you consider he has easily been to 2 dozen tournaments this year, including over half a dozen national (100+) sized tournaments.
Chu Dat is the second most consistent tournament placer there is, only behind Ken. Azen would be up there if he didn’t do his hiatus’s and his run with low tiers at a few tourneys that gave him 5th-9th placings where he should have taken 1st.
Sunday night was another fun staff writing party. Jason finished early around 12:30, but Trunkers and I weren’t out of there until past 2am. I joined up with Gran Calc and a few other staffers and played some Smash. Bach and I headed back to Joe’s room around 4am and we caught Synide watching Mean Girls, so we decided to stay and watch it with him (that movie kicks ass).
[left to right: Bach, Gran Calc, Synide
Monday I woke up around 9 to catch my shuttle for the airport. While I was waiting Jon came over and offered me a ride back with the production guys. I rode in the MLG rentel car to the airport instead of the shuttle, which was a lot nicer to say the least. My first flight was uneventful and I landed in Atlanta for my connection flight. At the airport I played some solitaire on my computer when I was greeted by a familiar voice. Ghandi came over and said what’s up. He and I are both from the Washington area, and this was apparently he second time we’ve been on the same plane. He apparently saw me on his way to New York back when he didn’t know who he was and was wondering why I was wearing a staff shirt.
[left to right: Ghandi, AlphaZealot
Chicago is a Smash Town
- August 4, 2006 - 11:35pm
My flight came in around 12pm on Friday. The day before, I thought everything was set for the transportation from the airport to the resort. Jason and two Halo judges were flying in and were suppose to arrive about 45 minutes before me. Another Halo judge was supposed to come in about 10 minutes before, and Smash Pro KoreanDJ was supposed to arrive 3 hours before me. Jason called me early though and informed me that their party would be delayed and he would have to miss the limo.
This was unfortunate, considering this would double the individual price for each person in the limo. Upon landing, I called the other Halo judge. No answer. About 30 seconds after hanging up the phone I was called by Azen and Chillindude829. They needed a ride to the resort and was wondering if I could provide (after a tip off from Jason). I met up with them and shortly after that KoreanDJ joined us. My first lesson of Chicago had been learned: Halo people are more likely to have delayed flights than Smashers, and in the end my old school Smash friends saved me a lot of money. The original limo plan was to have 2.5 Smashers to 3.5 Halo players (Jason counts as .5 each way). Instead it was 4 full Smashers.
{Left to Right: KoreanDJ, Chillin, Azen}
We spent most of the trip over reminiscing on past tournaments and funny stories, along with making predictions about what we would see in Chicago.
{Left to Right: KoreanDJ, AlphaZealot, Chillin, Azen}
Once we arrived at the resort I tried to check into my hotel room. It wasn’t ready yet, so we attempted to get into the venue. The venue wasn’t open yet for non-staff, so we decided to wait for PC Chris to get back and play in his hotel room. In true Azen style, Azen went to sleep for about an hour while we did teams and singles matches. I ended up taking a shower in PC Chris’s room before heading out to the venue around 6 or so. Bach ended up signing me into our room and giving me my key at the venue.
{Azen}
{Left to Right: Chillin, KoreanDJ, PC Chris}
The venue was looking tight, but Friday night for the Smash staff is usually prepping for the hectic Saturday events, which doesn’t take up to much time. I was left with a chance to look around the venue. I quickly came across and open Foosball table. I called over someone from the crowd to be my teammate (I forget who), and we ended up playing for about a half hour against one of the ogres and someone who pretty much rocked us hardcore. Clap looked on and made fun of how terrible we were. We lost 10-2, 10-0, and 10-1. I then decided I would play a few matches on the Boost Mobile plasma TV’s. The quarter second lag on the TV’s was pretty annoying, but you get use to it. I won a couple then lost in sudden death (w00t for two stock two minute timed matches).
This brings up a suggestion I think the people at Scion should hear. Learn from the other booths at the event. The Scion booth is the only one without a TV promoting video games. Even Boost Mobile has found a way to use video games, and cell phones have just about as much to do with video games as cars do. The hats were nice, but once you handed those out there was nothing else to attract players to the booth. In Anaheim there was a car, and that was sweet, but again the Booth was empty and had little or no attractive value. One question though, is how did they get the car to the second floor of the Anaheim convention center? Clap is mad strong. Scion, at least make an attempt to attract and keep kids at your Booth, it really is good publicity. I wear my MLG backpack that Boost Mobile gave out everywhere. I also wore my Scion hat a few times, but other things would certainly have more value.
Friday night usually offers the best chance for guys to play Smash, but as Jason, Young Danny, Trunkers, Omni, and I would discover, once the venue shuts down there are very, very few options. We tried to set things up in Jason’s room, but found out the TV would not switch to a video input. After a long time wandering around we eventually had to give up and head for bed (it was maybe 3 or 4 am at this point).
{Left to Right: Young Danny, Trunkers, Omni}
At some point Saturday morning before the event started I ended up playing team matches with Shockwave for about an hour. We played against KoreanDJ and Chillindude829 and actually managed to take a game or two (out of maybe twenty). The Halo Pros that are picking Smash up casually are getting a lot better, and it was nice to see members of Carbon and Final Boss taking breaks by playing with the Smashers. Husband took some time out to teach a few of them, and Shockwave even entered a pool for Smash and won a few matches. Now, if only Ken would play some Halo.
{Left to Right: Shockwav3, AlphaZealot}
Saturday night Jason, myself, Trunkers, Bach, Shockwave, a and Halo couch who’s name escapes me went out to eat at I Hop. It was 2am at this point, the choice was made after we realized we couldn’t find a TV to Smash on (DAMN IT AGAIN!). I Hop was pretty awesome though, and we caught a lucky ride home thanks largely to Strongside (who wants to walk home at 3am after an entire day of work (or play for some of them)?).
There aren’t many pictures during Saturday or Sunday because that is essentially Smash staff crunch time. Breaks are seldom, even for food. Most of my time was kept keeping an eye on my prospective Pro’s that I would need to write about, updating the site, checking in with Dyslexia, commentating matches, and filling in for judges when they would need a break (great thanks to all the Smash judges, you guys are awesome, Big C/Ombi/Watty come to mind, a few others helped I'm sure, also great thanks to JV for being awesome). Occasionally I would venture over to the Halo side and say hello to Trunkers or the few Halo players I knew.
Sunday night enters the real crunch time for the Writing Staff. After the tournament, most of the staff gets to head out to dinner with everyone else (being all the other staffers) and relax and take the night off. At around 9pm after each tournament, your ever faithful writing staff heads back to the hotel/resort and begins a 5 or so hour writing marathon.
{Left to Right: Jason, Trunkers}
{AlphaZealot}
Aside from Synide and Linds (I call him Lens half the time, after all he is our photographer) disctracting us here and there, the time is spent eating and writing. Jason finished about a half hour before I did and headed to Gran Calc’s room to Smash. For any Halo players who want to know, Gran Calc is deceptively good at Smash. At about 3am I joined Jason. For a few matches it was myself and Linds versus Jason and Karma. Linds is clutch in Smash, but so is Karma, so they were all close fun matches. Karma left and Linds went to sleep, while Gran Calc and Trunkers joined us.
We called it quits around 5:30am, walking back I remember seeing the sunrise, that was freaking sweet. At 8am, Bach and I woke up and went to meet everyone for the Limo.
{Left to Right: Bach, Trunkers, ???, Jason, Moore #2}
{Left to Right: AlphaZealot, Trunkers, Bach, Moore #1, Moore #2, Jason}
This was unfortunate, considering this would double the individual price for each person in the limo. Upon landing, I called the other Halo judge. No answer. About 30 seconds after hanging up the phone I was called by Azen and Chillindude829. They needed a ride to the resort and was wondering if I could provide (after a tip off from Jason). I met up with them and shortly after that KoreanDJ joined us. My first lesson of Chicago had been learned: Halo people are more likely to have delayed flights than Smashers, and in the end my old school Smash friends saved me a lot of money. The original limo plan was to have 2.5 Smashers to 3.5 Halo players (Jason counts as .5 each way). Instead it was 4 full Smashers.
{Left to Right: KoreanDJ, Chillin, Azen}
We spent most of the trip over reminiscing on past tournaments and funny stories, along with making predictions about what we would see in Chicago.
{Left to Right: KoreanDJ, AlphaZealot, Chillin, Azen}
Once we arrived at the resort I tried to check into my hotel room. It wasn’t ready yet, so we attempted to get into the venue. The venue wasn’t open yet for non-staff, so we decided to wait for PC Chris to get back and play in his hotel room. In true Azen style, Azen went to sleep for about an hour while we did teams and singles matches. I ended up taking a shower in PC Chris’s room before heading out to the venue around 6 or so. Bach ended up signing me into our room and giving me my key at the venue.
{Azen}
{Left to Right: Chillin, KoreanDJ, PC Chris}
The venue was looking tight, but Friday night for the Smash staff is usually prepping for the hectic Saturday events, which doesn’t take up to much time. I was left with a chance to look around the venue. I quickly came across and open Foosball table. I called over someone from the crowd to be my teammate (I forget who), and we ended up playing for about a half hour against one of the ogres and someone who pretty much rocked us hardcore. Clap looked on and made fun of how terrible we were. We lost 10-2, 10-0, and 10-1. I then decided I would play a few matches on the Boost Mobile plasma TV’s. The quarter second lag on the TV’s was pretty annoying, but you get use to it. I won a couple then lost in sudden death (w00t for two stock two minute timed matches).
This brings up a suggestion I think the people at Scion should hear. Learn from the other booths at the event. The Scion booth is the only one without a TV promoting video games. Even Boost Mobile has found a way to use video games, and cell phones have just about as much to do with video games as cars do. The hats were nice, but once you handed those out there was nothing else to attract players to the booth. In Anaheim there was a car, and that was sweet, but again the Booth was empty and had little or no attractive value. One question though, is how did they get the car to the second floor of the Anaheim convention center? Clap is mad strong. Scion, at least make an attempt to attract and keep kids at your Booth, it really is good publicity. I wear my MLG backpack that Boost Mobile gave out everywhere. I also wore my Scion hat a few times, but other things would certainly have more value.
Friday night usually offers the best chance for guys to play Smash, but as Jason, Young Danny, Trunkers, Omni, and I would discover, once the venue shuts down there are very, very few options. We tried to set things up in Jason’s room, but found out the TV would not switch to a video input. After a long time wandering around we eventually had to give up and head for bed (it was maybe 3 or 4 am at this point).
{Left to Right: Young Danny, Trunkers, Omni}
At some point Saturday morning before the event started I ended up playing team matches with Shockwave for about an hour. We played against KoreanDJ and Chillindude829 and actually managed to take a game or two (out of maybe twenty). The Halo Pros that are picking Smash up casually are getting a lot better, and it was nice to see members of Carbon and Final Boss taking breaks by playing with the Smashers. Husband took some time out to teach a few of them, and Shockwave even entered a pool for Smash and won a few matches. Now, if only Ken would play some Halo.
{Left to Right: Shockwav3, AlphaZealot}
Saturday night Jason, myself, Trunkers, Bach, Shockwave, a and Halo couch who’s name escapes me went out to eat at I Hop. It was 2am at this point, the choice was made after we realized we couldn’t find a TV to Smash on (DAMN IT AGAIN!). I Hop was pretty awesome though, and we caught a lucky ride home thanks largely to Strongside (who wants to walk home at 3am after an entire day of work (or play for some of them)?).
There aren’t many pictures during Saturday or Sunday because that is essentially Smash staff crunch time. Breaks are seldom, even for food. Most of my time was kept keeping an eye on my prospective Pro’s that I would need to write about, updating the site, checking in with Dyslexia, commentating matches, and filling in for judges when they would need a break (great thanks to all the Smash judges, you guys are awesome, Big C/Ombi/Watty come to mind, a few others helped I'm sure, also great thanks to JV for being awesome). Occasionally I would venture over to the Halo side and say hello to Trunkers or the few Halo players I knew.
Sunday night enters the real crunch time for the Writing Staff. After the tournament, most of the staff gets to head out to dinner with everyone else (being all the other staffers) and relax and take the night off. At around 9pm after each tournament, your ever faithful writing staff heads back to the hotel/resort and begins a 5 or so hour writing marathon.
{Left to Right: Jason, Trunkers}
{AlphaZealot}
Aside from Synide and Linds (I call him Lens half the time, after all he is our photographer) disctracting us here and there, the time is spent eating and writing. Jason finished about a half hour before I did and headed to Gran Calc’s room to Smash. For any Halo players who want to know, Gran Calc is deceptively good at Smash. At about 3am I joined Jason. For a few matches it was myself and Linds versus Jason and Karma. Linds is clutch in Smash, but so is Karma, so they were all close fun matches. Karma left and Linds went to sleep, while Gran Calc and Trunkers joined us.
We called it quits around 5:30am, walking back I remember seeing the sunrise, that was freaking sweet. At 8am, Bach and I woke up and went to meet everyone for the Limo.
{Left to Right: Bach, Trunkers, ???, Jason, Moore #2}
{Left to Right: AlphaZealot, Trunkers, Bach, Moore #1, Moore #2, Jason}
The Muffin King
- July 29, 2006 - 7:28am
Everyone gets their start somewhere, for me it came rather unexpectedly. My Friday afternoons always consisted of the same thing. I'd meet with my friends after school and we would walk to Jad's house, where we would either play Halo or SSBM. Lately, Jad had been getting mad good at Smash, since the end of freshman year. During this time he was showing us new tricks and things he had learned from going to tournaments and reading posts on Smashboards. At first I scoffed at the idea of playing Smash competitively. He told me about some of the deeper concepts, talked to me about the tier list, I even scoffed at this. When I correct new comers about the tier list it is with the heavy heart of knowing I use to think exactly the same way.
Jad and our other friend Erik were the first tournament goers, they attended M3D's: DCSS, H2YLs: Live or Die, M3D's: DCSS II, and H2YL's: Game Over. We formed a crew that same year called PU, sort of a play on words standing for Power Underwhelming, since Erik and I were both mad into Starcraft and we didn't expect Smash to become anything serious. Jad, through hard work and dedication rose the ranks in the Smash community, becoming known as one of the best Mario players in the US, if not the best at that time. So much so that when people talk about Mario players these days, his name is still mentioned despite having been in retirement for the last 9 months.
Erik progressed differently, as a Marth player he wouldn't be a standout, but he always placed oddly well at tournaments, including DCSS where he was one of the few unknowns to break the top 10. The same can be said for just about every tournament they attended. Meanwhile I was left in the dust. My parents were against endless hours of playing video games, so convincing them to go would not be easy.
When Jad ran his first tournament, BOMB1, it was a success. I was there for about an hour, sort of my tournament depute, and I still remember how Jad made me fight Chilindude829, where to both his and my surprise, I won (I was just a ghey Peach player then, and Chillin was a non-short hopping Fox). Later I would learn that Chillin took 2nd place, losing only to his brother Mild (he would receive grief to no end for this). I attended every BOMB after this, and I started going to other tournaments, working my way up the power structure within the local community.
Jad ran four iterations of BOMB, the last taking place in November of '05 with over 100 players in attendance. When it ran, it entered as one of the top 10 largest Smash tournaments of all time (and may still be there). It still stands as the third largest East Coast tournament, behind only GSII and MLG NY. MLG DC occupies the fourth slot. This last iteration though was more as a college resume booster than just for the love of Smash. Since Junior year, Jad had become engrossed in school. He took 6 AP courses his senior Year, 4 his junior year. He moved further and further away from the competitive Smash scene, meanwhile I had become more and more into it, largely from playing with Chu Dat.
From around the start of my Junior year until GSII at the end of it, Chu Dat became part of our crew PU. Before GSII we were playing a few times a month, usually once a week as I was being more and more liberal with my ability to drive. Jad attended GSII, along with Kiraki, myself, and Chu Dat. I placed 22nd, Jad and Kiraki 29th, and Chu Dat took 2nd, all were good performances given the large scale of the tournament. The point differences were little. I finished with 11 points, Kiraki and Jad had 10. To make the 21 man bracket you needed 12 points.
This would be Jad's last tournament that he actually played in seriously. He played at BOMB4, but only because we made him. What made Jad special was his initiative to blaze a trail and follow his own path. He became quite the English wizkid in highschool, and I'm sure had he not pursued other things he would be in my spot as MLG's Smash Feature Writer. He was accepted to a few schools, but Chicago became his love. That was until yet another chance for him to forge his own path showed itself.
He was offered the chance to go and write for a newspaper company. He spent his entire summer after junior year interning with them, beating me slightly in our then unknown race to see who would become the first published writer (September '05 is when I started work with MLG). Because of his success during the internship, the paper offered him another chance to work for them, this time for actual pay. Now faced with the choice between attending college or saying screw all that, I'm going my own way, Jad did what he did best.
He gave the world the middle finger and took his own course. Not worrying about his acceptance into Chicago, Jad took the job, but found out a few weeks later that Chicago would suspend his admission for a year. Still, his path would prove to be extraordinary. As a senior, he graduated high school with a 4.6 weighted gpa, and a 3.8 unweighted, falling short largely because of his deficiencies in math (he took AP English lit his senior year and received one of only 5 A's, but received a C in regular precalc, nor where is the difference between a right brain and left brain thinker more evident than with him). All this, yet he wasn't going to college. At our high school, the graduation rate is 99% and the college attendance rate similarly high, a student of his caliber is always steered toward college by every force imaginable.
What he didn't know about his decision then though was just what the future would bring. Everything would change when a few terrorists decided to cross Israel’s border and start up a firestorm.
Jad had chosen a writing position with a paper in Lebanon. He arrived just a week out of when the Israel-Hezbollah conflict spun out of control. Oddly, Jad's mom had always hated America, comparing it's safer with that of her country of Lebanon. The irony of the situation I'm sure is quite apparent to Jad as he is dodging bombs and hunkering for cover in the mountains of Southern Lebanon. This being the last I have heard from him, seems like the best place to leave off.
My heart goes out to the Muffin King, hopefully he will make it through over seas. If any Smashers from that part of the world happen to read this, try and find The Muffin King, he can teach you about the ways of an old school Mario. No one I know has ever gone to the extremes he has to stand out and separate himself from the crowd.
Jad and our other friend Erik were the first tournament goers, they attended M3D's: DCSS, H2YLs: Live or Die, M3D's: DCSS II, and H2YL's: Game Over. We formed a crew that same year called PU, sort of a play on words standing for Power Underwhelming, since Erik and I were both mad into Starcraft and we didn't expect Smash to become anything serious. Jad, through hard work and dedication rose the ranks in the Smash community, becoming known as one of the best Mario players in the US, if not the best at that time. So much so that when people talk about Mario players these days, his name is still mentioned despite having been in retirement for the last 9 months.
Erik progressed differently, as a Marth player he wouldn't be a standout, but he always placed oddly well at tournaments, including DCSS where he was one of the few unknowns to break the top 10. The same can be said for just about every tournament they attended. Meanwhile I was left in the dust. My parents were against endless hours of playing video games, so convincing them to go would not be easy.
When Jad ran his first tournament, BOMB1, it was a success. I was there for about an hour, sort of my tournament depute, and I still remember how Jad made me fight Chilindude829, where to both his and my surprise, I won (I was just a ghey Peach player then, and Chillin was a non-short hopping Fox). Later I would learn that Chillin took 2nd place, losing only to his brother Mild (he would receive grief to no end for this). I attended every BOMB after this, and I started going to other tournaments, working my way up the power structure within the local community.
Jad ran four iterations of BOMB, the last taking place in November of '05 with over 100 players in attendance. When it ran, it entered as one of the top 10 largest Smash tournaments of all time (and may still be there). It still stands as the third largest East Coast tournament, behind only GSII and MLG NY. MLG DC occupies the fourth slot. This last iteration though was more as a college resume booster than just for the love of Smash. Since Junior year, Jad had become engrossed in school. He took 6 AP courses his senior Year, 4 his junior year. He moved further and further away from the competitive Smash scene, meanwhile I had become more and more into it, largely from playing with Chu Dat.
From around the start of my Junior year until GSII at the end of it, Chu Dat became part of our crew PU. Before GSII we were playing a few times a month, usually once a week as I was being more and more liberal with my ability to drive. Jad attended GSII, along with Kiraki, myself, and Chu Dat. I placed 22nd, Jad and Kiraki 29th, and Chu Dat took 2nd, all were good performances given the large scale of the tournament. The point differences were little. I finished with 11 points, Kiraki and Jad had 10. To make the 21 man bracket you needed 12 points.
This would be Jad's last tournament that he actually played in seriously. He played at BOMB4, but only because we made him. What made Jad special was his initiative to blaze a trail and follow his own path. He became quite the English wizkid in highschool, and I'm sure had he not pursued other things he would be in my spot as MLG's Smash Feature Writer. He was accepted to a few schools, but Chicago became his love. That was until yet another chance for him to forge his own path showed itself.
He was offered the chance to go and write for a newspaper company. He spent his entire summer after junior year interning with them, beating me slightly in our then unknown race to see who would become the first published writer (September '05 is when I started work with MLG). Because of his success during the internship, the paper offered him another chance to work for them, this time for actual pay. Now faced with the choice between attending college or saying screw all that, I'm going my own way, Jad did what he did best.
He gave the world the middle finger and took his own course. Not worrying about his acceptance into Chicago, Jad took the job, but found out a few weeks later that Chicago would suspend his admission for a year. Still, his path would prove to be extraordinary. As a senior, he graduated high school with a 4.6 weighted gpa, and a 3.8 unweighted, falling short largely because of his deficiencies in math (he took AP English lit his senior year and received one of only 5 A's, but received a C in regular precalc, nor where is the difference between a right brain and left brain thinker more evident than with him). All this, yet he wasn't going to college. At our high school, the graduation rate is 99% and the college attendance rate similarly high, a student of his caliber is always steered toward college by every force imaginable.
What he didn't know about his decision then though was just what the future would bring. Everything would change when a few terrorists decided to cross Israel’s border and start up a firestorm.
Jad had chosen a writing position with a paper in Lebanon. He arrived just a week out of when the Israel-Hezbollah conflict spun out of control. Oddly, Jad's mom had always hated America, comparing it's safer with that of her country of Lebanon. The irony of the situation I'm sure is quite apparent to Jad as he is dodging bombs and hunkering for cover in the mountains of Southern Lebanon. This being the last I have heard from him, seems like the best place to leave off.
My heart goes out to the Muffin King, hopefully he will make it through over seas. If any Smashers from that part of the world happen to read this, try and find The Muffin King, he can teach you about the ways of an old school Mario. No one I know has ever gone to the extremes he has to stand out and separate himself from the crowd.
Super Smash Brothers: Brawl
- May 11, 2006 - 2:50am
After an annoying opening day of E3, hearing nothing about the love of my life, I had nearly given up hope. Nintendo, you guys are freaking basterds, and I love you for it.
At about 8pm (est) today, I went downstairs to play with my mistress (being H2) and then watch Lost. After this though, at approximately 10:23pm, I go online. Just what do I discover?
Super
Smash
Brothers
Brawl
Wha???
Ohh Nintendo, you devil you! At first glance, these are my impressions on the game (based on what little is known).
First and foremost: They are not going to use the new controller for this game, instead, it will be one of the first games on the Wii not to implement the motion sensing technology. They will also allow the use of the old gamecube controller, again, this is great because it leaves the essential move sets in tact.
Second: Solid Freaking Snake. Yea, thats right, a 3rd party character has entered the fray...or Brawl I suppose. His shield is a Box. A BOX. How awesome is that?
Third: Nintendogs getting owned, nothing could be cuter.
Last: Assuming they don't change anything dramatically in terms of moves/physics, Brawl would essentially be the same game as Melee with better graphics and more characters. I'm also sure they will add some random mini games and single player mode to appease the newbs out there. Still no mention of what its online capabilities are, but from previous announcements it will be online, that much is for sure. Hopefully they will cap themselves with about 12 new characters or less, and, hopefully, they will not create any characters that are broken. Only time will tell on that one.
If you can't tell, this announcement has put me on a mental high that has just about destroyed all my senses and ability to reason properly. I'll leave with one last thing to note...
Suitless Samus.
At about 8pm (est) today, I went downstairs to play with my mistress (being H2) and then watch Lost. After this though, at approximately 10:23pm, I go online. Just what do I discover?
Super
Smash
Brothers
Brawl
Wha???
Ohh Nintendo, you devil you! At first glance, these are my impressions on the game (based on what little is known).
First and foremost: They are not going to use the new controller for this game, instead, it will be one of the first games on the Wii not to implement the motion sensing technology. They will also allow the use of the old gamecube controller, again, this is great because it leaves the essential move sets in tact.
Second: Solid Freaking Snake. Yea, thats right, a 3rd party character has entered the fray...or Brawl I suppose. His shield is a Box. A BOX. How awesome is that?
Third: Nintendogs getting owned, nothing could be cuter.
Last: Assuming they don't change anything dramatically in terms of moves/physics, Brawl would essentially be the same game as Melee with better graphics and more characters. I'm also sure they will add some random mini games and single player mode to appease the newbs out there. Still no mention of what its online capabilities are, but from previous announcements it will be online, that much is for sure. Hopefully they will cap themselves with about 12 new characters or less, and, hopefully, they will not create any characters that are broken. Only time will tell on that one.
If you can't tell, this announcement has put me on a mental high that has just about destroyed all my senses and ability to reason properly. I'll leave with one last thing to note...
Suitless Samus.
Halo 2: No Johns and Week 1 Impressions
- May 6, 2006 - 5:33am
Today is my 7th day of owning xbox live. During this time I have played on average...about 2-3 hours of Halo 2 a day. In this span, I have learned some things that I had previously overlooked, and I will spend a little time today to dwell on them.
The most important thing comes first though: Halo 2 players need to learn a very simple theme that is abound in the Smash community but seemingly nonexistant in the Halo community. NO JOHNS. Simple. Refined. Easy to remember.
You lost because you don't have host? No Johns.
You lost because you were lagging? No Johns Man.
You lost because you got hacked/cheated/insert mod here? NO FREAKING JOHNS MAN.
I simply don't care if you lose. If you lose because you didn't have host, why do you have to tell everyone? You know why you lost, you know where your skill level is, and mainly, no one else really cares why you lost nor do they think less of you because you lost. So you lost because you/someone lagged, you know those shots woulda hit in an MLG game, right?
So you got cheated, so someone pulled a hack on you, again, does it really matter? You still know where you stand. The person that cheated certainly doesn't care that you lost, the people who also lost certainly don't care that you lost, it really just boils down to your own ego, and deflating it enough to realize that a loss is a loss and in the grand scheme of things the only time a loss matters is in tournament play.
Then, there is simply losing because of lack of skill and blaming outside factors/inherant game flaws. If there were outside factors, then again, you know you could have performed better, there isn't a need to tell the other people you played with though. Inherant game flaws are the worst though, this is a completely ignorant John (as most are). Losing because said weapon combo is cheap, or losing because said level is flawed in some way. Everyone is under the same rules. Everyone has the same abilities and weapons available. Outside spawn points, there is nothing to put you at any more of a disadvantage than anyone else. Learn, adapt, and if you lose, you lost because you were bested. Deal, move on, improve, and come back twice as strong and thoroughly beat the opponant the next time you play so that there will be no doubt as to who is better.
If you are really, sincerly better than an opponant, host shouldn't come into play, lag shouldn't come into play, none of that should matter. If you blame a loss on those factors at best you are of equal skill as the opponant, and not really good enough to warrent any significant skill commendations.
This all feeds from what I think is an inherant flaw in human nature. Halo 2 actually allows you to build your own ego. In Smash, you play with players face to face, yelling **** in the middle of your match won't get you very far, neither will being annoying in anyway. Winning a match you shake hands, your compliment, and unless the person is deserving, you ussually pass on encouragement or say nothing and move on. In Halo, you don't see your opponant face to face. You have solely their voice to base things on. Not only that, but the level system seems to be built toward raising peoples ego's to an unexpected level, then tearing them down when they get a match up against equal or higher skilled players.
I ran into this myself. After playing many, many team Hardcore games, and a few rumble Hardcore/MLG customs, I tried my hand at normal Rumble pit. In rumble hardcore, even at level one, I never finished first, nor did I ever really come close, the only reason I have moved up to level 5 is because, as I perceive, players quit and I am thusly thrown slightly up the rankings. These players quit because I think they are insulted that they are losing matches at such low levels and their previously inflated ego's cannot accept this. I, down on losing many many matches, decided I should try my hand at more relaxed gaming.
First game of rumble hardcore wasn't a challenge, I placed first. Same with the second game. I played a few more and placed top 4 in all but the most recent one, but after that second win, I felt something stir inside me.
My ego was growing. ****. Freaking ****. Luckily, I remembered that I was playing the bottom of the barrel players, but just thinking that I was actually better than peoples increased my own God complex. Being who I am and holding myself to certain standards though, I never put down other players that I had trampled because I am fully aware I can be trampled by 80% or so of the Halo 2 community. Sigh, Smash had its advantages, of the 6 or 7 million copies I was content knowing I could best 99.99% of other Smashers. In Halo 2, my previously modest goal of level 20 in teams and rumble hardcore must now be reduced. Level 10 for Rumble hardcore. Level 20 remains for team (my peak during this weak was 15). I will also try my hand at regular hardcore, where I will set the goal at 20.
All this aside, there were a few instances this week that stood out. Trunkers invited me into his clan and a few customs, and since everyone knew I sucked, it was a very pleasent and awesome expierance. Customs are 100% the way to go, which is also great because your ego isn't inflated by any level rankings.
Another player I ran across I suppose recognized my name from the here. We played in hardcore rumble and he went ahead and invited me into a custom to attempt to teach me a few things. After about 10 minutes he booted me, but he tried to teach me BXR/Plasma-BR combo stuff (most of which I knew but I commend him for trying).
Another group of players spent a few minutes telling me how unMLG I was, and at first I thought of telling them how little they know, but then I summed things up beautifully. "I just bought this, I a Super Smash Brothers Player". This quieted them down, they realized I wasn't some low level player feeding off the MLG name for attention and instead realized that I sucked and that this wasn't the game of my fortai (sp?).
Today I ran into quite possibly the most annoying player I had ever faced. Instead of cursing for the match, he did those swishy beats with his mouth and made music. For how long? Not a few minutes, but the entire game. Every once in awhile there would be a dramatic pause (only a few seconds), and he would exclain "****ing noobs", then continue his swishing around. I turned the volume down and continued to play, no worries.
What I have learned this week (these are all things I've come up with on my own, whether or not they work is ehh?):
Lead in with granades and try and predict where opponants are most likely to be.
It's generally worth it to throw then shoot, as opposed to shoot then throw. My previous style was shoot first, and if it was for sure that I was going to die, I would throw a grenade. By changing up the order I think I improve my chances.
Plasma Granades rock on Midship.
More headshots.
Spend less time hunting for power weapons and spend more time hunting for vulnerable players and players looking for the power weapons.
Don't rush into a fight, approach it with both equal caution and aggesiveness.
I don't want to be caught in the middle. I don't want to be caught within 2 seconds of good cover. I don't want to be in a position where I'm directly in someones most likely line of fire (read smaller bubbles on midship with the double plasma grenades).
I need to learn to BXR. I think I'm actually getting pretty good at double meleeing though, which is freaking sweet.
Firsts for this week:
I landed 1 BXR in Rumble Pit. I had my first killing spree, and I was one kill short of a running riot.
I had my first flag capture in a Team Hardcore Game.
I played with Trunkers for the first time.
I was BXR'd at least 10 times. This is important, because before I would wonder how I died, now I'm beginning to understand. Recognizing when I get BXR'd will be vital to me actually implementing the BXR.
What is this double shot ****?
My last thoughts: Freaking WIZARDS. How do you lose 2 overtime games in a row. They are the LEAST clutch team ever, with the most clutch player ever (Yea Gilbert)!
The most important thing comes first though: Halo 2 players need to learn a very simple theme that is abound in the Smash community but seemingly nonexistant in the Halo community. NO JOHNS. Simple. Refined. Easy to remember.
You lost because you don't have host? No Johns.
You lost because you were lagging? No Johns Man.
You lost because you got hacked/cheated/insert mod here? NO FREAKING JOHNS MAN.
I simply don't care if you lose. If you lose because you didn't have host, why do you have to tell everyone? You know why you lost, you know where your skill level is, and mainly, no one else really cares why you lost nor do they think less of you because you lost. So you lost because you/someone lagged, you know those shots woulda hit in an MLG game, right?
So you got cheated, so someone pulled a hack on you, again, does it really matter? You still know where you stand. The person that cheated certainly doesn't care that you lost, the people who also lost certainly don't care that you lost, it really just boils down to your own ego, and deflating it enough to realize that a loss is a loss and in the grand scheme of things the only time a loss matters is in tournament play.
Then, there is simply losing because of lack of skill and blaming outside factors/inherant game flaws. If there were outside factors, then again, you know you could have performed better, there isn't a need to tell the other people you played with though. Inherant game flaws are the worst though, this is a completely ignorant John (as most are). Losing because said weapon combo is cheap, or losing because said level is flawed in some way. Everyone is under the same rules. Everyone has the same abilities and weapons available. Outside spawn points, there is nothing to put you at any more of a disadvantage than anyone else. Learn, adapt, and if you lose, you lost because you were bested. Deal, move on, improve, and come back twice as strong and thoroughly beat the opponant the next time you play so that there will be no doubt as to who is better.
If you are really, sincerly better than an opponant, host shouldn't come into play, lag shouldn't come into play, none of that should matter. If you blame a loss on those factors at best you are of equal skill as the opponant, and not really good enough to warrent any significant skill commendations.
This all feeds from what I think is an inherant flaw in human nature. Halo 2 actually allows you to build your own ego. In Smash, you play with players face to face, yelling **** in the middle of your match won't get you very far, neither will being annoying in anyway. Winning a match you shake hands, your compliment, and unless the person is deserving, you ussually pass on encouragement or say nothing and move on. In Halo, you don't see your opponant face to face. You have solely their voice to base things on. Not only that, but the level system seems to be built toward raising peoples ego's to an unexpected level, then tearing them down when they get a match up against equal or higher skilled players.
I ran into this myself. After playing many, many team Hardcore games, and a few rumble Hardcore/MLG customs, I tried my hand at normal Rumble pit. In rumble hardcore, even at level one, I never finished first, nor did I ever really come close, the only reason I have moved up to level 5 is because, as I perceive, players quit and I am thusly thrown slightly up the rankings. These players quit because I think they are insulted that they are losing matches at such low levels and their previously inflated ego's cannot accept this. I, down on losing many many matches, decided I should try my hand at more relaxed gaming.
First game of rumble hardcore wasn't a challenge, I placed first. Same with the second game. I played a few more and placed top 4 in all but the most recent one, but after that second win, I felt something stir inside me.
My ego was growing. ****. Freaking ****. Luckily, I remembered that I was playing the bottom of the barrel players, but just thinking that I was actually better than peoples increased my own God complex. Being who I am and holding myself to certain standards though, I never put down other players that I had trampled because I am fully aware I can be trampled by 80% or so of the Halo 2 community. Sigh, Smash had its advantages, of the 6 or 7 million copies I was content knowing I could best 99.99% of other Smashers. In Halo 2, my previously modest goal of level 20 in teams and rumble hardcore must now be reduced. Level 10 for Rumble hardcore. Level 20 remains for team (my peak during this weak was 15). I will also try my hand at regular hardcore, where I will set the goal at 20.
All this aside, there were a few instances this week that stood out. Trunkers invited me into his clan and a few customs, and since everyone knew I sucked, it was a very pleasent and awesome expierance. Customs are 100% the way to go, which is also great because your ego isn't inflated by any level rankings.
Another player I ran across I suppose recognized my name from the here. We played in hardcore rumble and he went ahead and invited me into a custom to attempt to teach me a few things. After about 10 minutes he booted me, but he tried to teach me BXR/Plasma-BR combo stuff (most of which I knew but I commend him for trying).
Another group of players spent a few minutes telling me how unMLG I was, and at first I thought of telling them how little they know, but then I summed things up beautifully. "I just bought this, I a Super Smash Brothers Player". This quieted them down, they realized I wasn't some low level player feeding off the MLG name for attention and instead realized that I sucked and that this wasn't the game of my fortai (sp?).
Today I ran into quite possibly the most annoying player I had ever faced. Instead of cursing for the match, he did those swishy beats with his mouth and made music. For how long? Not a few minutes, but the entire game. Every once in awhile there would be a dramatic pause (only a few seconds), and he would exclain "****ing noobs", then continue his swishing around. I turned the volume down and continued to play, no worries.
What I have learned this week (these are all things I've come up with on my own, whether or not they work is ehh?):
Lead in with granades and try and predict where opponants are most likely to be.
It's generally worth it to throw then shoot, as opposed to shoot then throw. My previous style was shoot first, and if it was for sure that I was going to die, I would throw a grenade. By changing up the order I think I improve my chances.
Plasma Granades rock on Midship.
More headshots.
Spend less time hunting for power weapons and spend more time hunting for vulnerable players and players looking for the power weapons.
Don't rush into a fight, approach it with both equal caution and aggesiveness.
I don't want to be caught in the middle. I don't want to be caught within 2 seconds of good cover. I don't want to be in a position where I'm directly in someones most likely line of fire (read smaller bubbles on midship with the double plasma grenades).
I need to learn to BXR. I think I'm actually getting pretty good at double meleeing though, which is freaking sweet.
Firsts for this week:
I landed 1 BXR in Rumble Pit. I had my first killing spree, and I was one kill short of a running riot.
I had my first flag capture in a Team Hardcore Game.
I played with Trunkers for the first time.
I was BXR'd at least 10 times. This is important, because before I would wonder how I died, now I'm beginning to understand. Recognizing when I get BXR'd will be vital to me actually implementing the BXR.
What is this double shot ****?
My last thoughts: Freaking WIZARDS. How do you lose 2 overtime games in a row. They are the LEAST clutch team ever, with the most clutch player ever (Yea Gilbert)!
Posted by: ALcO
aZ is beatly thats all I have to say.
http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=481891623&;amp;player=xX%20AL cO
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http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=481891623&;amp;player=xX%20AL cO
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Halo 2 - What???
- May 2, 2006 - 2:50am
Each Sunday I have roughly the same routine (give or take mass). I wake up, I get dressed, I shower, I go on the computer and make my rounds at MLGPro and Smashboards, and then it's off to work.
This particular Sunday was odd though, when I woke up, I was greeted with a sudden urge to play Halo. Of course, having no one to play with and my controller still packed in my bag from MLG NY, I realized that something must be done.
On November 9th, the day of Halo 2's launch, I had pledged to purchase Xbox, Xbox Live, and Halo 2. However, a lack of a wireless router and high speed internet quickly crippled half of my dream. Last summer however, my family finally decided it was time to give in, and we purchased Cable Internet. Still though, I had lost the urge to purchase the required equiptment to get myself online.
On my way to work I always pass a Best Buy. So, with Halo 2 on my mind, I decided I would stop in. After saying hi to a friend that worked that I quickly found what I was looking for, but I stopped myself. I held the 12 month Xbox Live substription and the wireless connection thing-a-ma-giggy, all valued at over 170$, in my hand. The minutes passed, suddenly I realized I would be late for work. I put my items away and went on with my business.
After work though, feeling down with my Roller Hockey team's 6-3 loss, I felt pulled toward Best Buy. I don't know what came over me, but before I knew it I was in the check out line swipping my check card and much of my hard earned cash away.
The next 6 hours though were pure joy...at least as much as Match Making can be for someone who hasn't played Halo 2 in a long time.
I quickly found that making my gamer tag AlphaZealot MLG (cause some basterd took AlphaZealot), may not have been the best of ideas.
The main problem seems to be the letters MLG. Apparently Xbox players that have heard of MLG think they must be a certain caliber or quality of player, and any player that does not meet this distinction is therefor a nub, scrub, n00b, etc. Not only that, but players with the tag MLG must be copycats, or have little to no clue to exactly what MLG is.
I was even bested by a few players who claimed to be MLG players, of course at this point I would hope most Halo 2 players know what MLG is and consider themselves MLG players. The insults were mostly harmless, a few made me laugh, like the ones that thought I had no idea what MLG was.
Earlier today, during another 4 or so hour gaming lesson to chill before my weeks AP exams, I ran into my first down right dumbass of a player. His GT was something like Gap093247, he was stuck on my team, and during the whole game I had to hear him curse and send racial slurs toward a perfectly nice player on the opposing team named "mexican sniper". Not only did gap get last on our team, but he got lost in the whole game. It seems that when many Halo player do terrible, instead of focusing on the overall picture, they have selective memory and only hone in on the times they played well or got "lucky".
This reminds me of another player, one who would compliment himself whenever he killed someone, but when his team lost a game by a significant portion, all he had to say was "Well I ***** you bitches with my Killtacular."
My friend Kir4ki from Smash saved me a lil, he told me I could mute players specifically. This somewhat alleviated my problems. For the first two days of Halo 2 on XBL though, it has been quite an expierance. I am currently level 14 Hardcore Teams, and level 3 Hardcore FFA. While I know that Hardcore is not MLG, and that the players who play on these gametypes and in these games are again, not MLG players, my own personal goal is to get to level 20 in both these gametypes by June 23rd, which is my birthday and the date that I should be arriving in LA for MLG. I will not allow myself to be thoroughly trampled by MLG players in FFA again, like had happened in NY. I just want to put up a modest fight as least.
If anyone wants to help me, let me know. Currently I do that Melee reload trick *most* of the time. I've been working on BXR and Double Melee's, but I must admit I'm very shaky here. Last, I feel my strategy needs A LOT of work, mainly on Midship.
More to come on a Smasher's take to playing Halo 2.
This particular Sunday was odd though, when I woke up, I was greeted with a sudden urge to play Halo. Of course, having no one to play with and my controller still packed in my bag from MLG NY, I realized that something must be done.
On November 9th, the day of Halo 2's launch, I had pledged to purchase Xbox, Xbox Live, and Halo 2. However, a lack of a wireless router and high speed internet quickly crippled half of my dream. Last summer however, my family finally decided it was time to give in, and we purchased Cable Internet. Still though, I had lost the urge to purchase the required equiptment to get myself online.
On my way to work I always pass a Best Buy. So, with Halo 2 on my mind, I decided I would stop in. After saying hi to a friend that worked that I quickly found what I was looking for, but I stopped myself. I held the 12 month Xbox Live substription and the wireless connection thing-a-ma-giggy, all valued at over 170$, in my hand. The minutes passed, suddenly I realized I would be late for work. I put my items away and went on with my business.
After work though, feeling down with my Roller Hockey team's 6-3 loss, I felt pulled toward Best Buy. I don't know what came over me, but before I knew it I was in the check out line swipping my check card and much of my hard earned cash away.
The next 6 hours though were pure joy...at least as much as Match Making can be for someone who hasn't played Halo 2 in a long time.
I quickly found that making my gamer tag AlphaZealot MLG (cause some basterd took AlphaZealot), may not have been the best of ideas.
The main problem seems to be the letters MLG. Apparently Xbox players that have heard of MLG think they must be a certain caliber or quality of player, and any player that does not meet this distinction is therefor a nub, scrub, n00b, etc. Not only that, but players with the tag MLG must be copycats, or have little to no clue to exactly what MLG is.
I was even bested by a few players who claimed to be MLG players, of course at this point I would hope most Halo 2 players know what MLG is and consider themselves MLG players. The insults were mostly harmless, a few made me laugh, like the ones that thought I had no idea what MLG was.
Earlier today, during another 4 or so hour gaming lesson to chill before my weeks AP exams, I ran into my first down right dumbass of a player. His GT was something like Gap093247, he was stuck on my team, and during the whole game I had to hear him curse and send racial slurs toward a perfectly nice player on the opposing team named "mexican sniper". Not only did gap get last on our team, but he got lost in the whole game. It seems that when many Halo player do terrible, instead of focusing on the overall picture, they have selective memory and only hone in on the times they played well or got "lucky".
This reminds me of another player, one who would compliment himself whenever he killed someone, but when his team lost a game by a significant portion, all he had to say was "Well I ***** you bitches with my Killtacular."
My friend Kir4ki from Smash saved me a lil, he told me I could mute players specifically. This somewhat alleviated my problems. For the first two days of Halo 2 on XBL though, it has been quite an expierance. I am currently level 14 Hardcore Teams, and level 3 Hardcore FFA. While I know that Hardcore is not MLG, and that the players who play on these gametypes and in these games are again, not MLG players, my own personal goal is to get to level 20 in both these gametypes by June 23rd, which is my birthday and the date that I should be arriving in LA for MLG. I will not allow myself to be thoroughly trampled by MLG players in FFA again, like had happened in NY. I just want to put up a modest fight as least.
If anyone wants to help me, let me know. Currently I do that Melee reload trick *most* of the time. I've been working on BXR and Double Melee's, but I must admit I'm very shaky here. Last, I feel my strategy needs A LOT of work, mainly on Midship.
More to come on a Smasher's take to playing Halo 2.
Posted by: The Flash
For one, you represent MLG more than any other player out there, so your tag is quite fitting. People who are good always call themselves "Elite Sniper247"...everyone knows that
Two, welcome to the general Halo community where the only compliment spoken is only done in an attempt to applaud one's self esteem usually in the form of "RAAAAAAAPE" as he just assasinated you from behind.
As for you goal, Team Hardcore shouldn't be a problem, as it has been out for quite some time. Rumble Hardcore is a different story, however, because it was just released and the levels haven't evened out, nor are very high in general because of this.
For Rumble, the general strategy is to steal kills and hold Pink 2 as best you can without dying. Best of luck.
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Two, welcome to the general Halo community where the only compliment spoken is only done in an attempt to applaud one's self esteem usually in the form of "RAAAAAAAPE" as he just assasinated you from behind.
As for you goal, Team Hardcore shouldn't be a problem, as it has been out for quite some time. Rumble Hardcore is a different story, however, because it was just released and the levels haven't evened out, nor are very high in general because of this.
For Rumble, the general strategy is to steal kills and hold Pink 2 as best you can without dying. Best of luck.
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Posted by: AOR4LYFE
Halo 2 is nice and relaxing when people aren't being as annoying and immature. I haven't played in a while but I'll try and see if I can get a few games with you whenever I'm on, I'm not nearly as good as I was. Rob$, Jason and Overswarm all play, I think KillaOR tries to, but I'm not entirely sure.
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How to Approach Smash
- April 27, 2006 - 2:38am
During the MLG NYC Kickoff I came across a player under the title of 50 Caliber. He had only won 1 match during his entire pool play, but what impressed me about him had nothing to do with his Smash skill, but instead, his positive mindset in relation to the game.
Over the years I've been to around 20 tournaments, and have hosted/helped host 5 or so of them. During this time, I have come across many, many differant types of players. Frequently, before a tournament, there will be a casual Smasher who talks alot of **** on the boards (Smashboards). During the tournament they get there asses handed to them on a silver platter. For many the reaction is to all out quit Smash (at least for the trash talkers). Instead of facing the music and dealing with the sudden realization that they are, in fact, newbs at this game, they instead leave the scene, never to be heard from again. Or, worse case (say...SSBM Champ Style), they continue to talk trash despite having been thoroughly trampled.
50 Caliber did none of these things. He had the right approach to Smash, and to any competitive game in general. He knew about advanced techniques, but he hadn't progressed to the point of being proficient at them. He realized there importance before the tournament, but hadn't had a chance to really see them implemented outside of videos. Instead of taking the lazy way out, like most new players do, he new wholeheartedly that he should learn all the "advanced" techniques, because they would help him in the long run. He took the tournament as a learning expierance, and my advice to him was to give it time, and now that he had seen the techniques in action, he would be able to go home and improve at a much faster pace than before. I also let him in on a little secret: almost everyone gets their butts kicked at their first real tournament.
For keeping a positive attitude, despite only winning on match, 50 Caliber had won my respect. I hope I'll see more of him in the future, if not, good luck 50 Caliber, wherever you are.
Over the years I've been to around 20 tournaments, and have hosted/helped host 5 or so of them. During this time, I have come across many, many differant types of players. Frequently, before a tournament, there will be a casual Smasher who talks alot of **** on the boards (Smashboards). During the tournament they get there asses handed to them on a silver platter. For many the reaction is to all out quit Smash (at least for the trash talkers). Instead of facing the music and dealing with the sudden realization that they are, in fact, newbs at this game, they instead leave the scene, never to be heard from again. Or, worse case (say...SSBM Champ Style), they continue to talk trash despite having been thoroughly trampled.
50 Caliber did none of these things. He had the right approach to Smash, and to any competitive game in general. He knew about advanced techniques, but he hadn't progressed to the point of being proficient at them. He realized there importance before the tournament, but hadn't had a chance to really see them implemented outside of videos. Instead of taking the lazy way out, like most new players do, he new wholeheartedly that he should learn all the "advanced" techniques, because they would help him in the long run. He took the tournament as a learning expierance, and my advice to him was to give it time, and now that he had seen the techniques in action, he would be able to go home and improve at a much faster pace than before. I also let him in on a little secret: almost everyone gets their butts kicked at their first real tournament.
For keeping a positive attitude, despite only winning on match, 50 Caliber had won my respect. I hope I'll see more of him in the future, if not, good luck 50 Caliber, wherever you are.
Posted by: TurboEther
I'm in the same boat as 50 Caliber. MLG NY was only my second smash tournament, and I only won one match in pool play as well.
I didn't walk away with a malevolent mindset. After being exposed to such a high level of play, i'm now able to critique my strengths and weaknesses and apply them to my existing knowledge of the game. Part of playing any game competively is accepting and understanding defeat. You can't improve without realizing what needs to be improved.
Losing this past weekend has strenghtened my love for competitive smash and I plan on channeling this positivity into success at future tournies. It's a slow process, but i'm now determined to make it out to as many tournies as I can to further improve myself.
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I didn't walk away with a malevolent mindset. After being exposed to such a high level of play, i'm now able to critique my strengths and weaknesses and apply them to my existing knowledge of the game. Part of playing any game competively is accepting and understanding defeat. You can't improve without realizing what needs to be improved.
Losing this past weekend has strenghtened my love for competitive smash and I plan on channeling this positivity into success at future tournies. It's a slow process, but i'm now determined to make it out to as many tournies as I can to further improve myself.
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MLG DC - Smash Kickoff '05
- April 25, 2006 - 4:28am
This is an old story, posted before on the forums for all to read. I'm keeping it in my blog (as it's home so to speak), just so others can read it if they want, and if I manage to write my MLG NYC Smash Kickoff '06 blog like I plan to then this will be a nice look back. This is also sorta a test--thanks to Bach for getting me to this step. I'm hopeing this blog will be at the very least interesting to a few people on a rainy day, but I tend to drone on when I have infinite time to work. Anyways, time to post the story! This will be quite a read for some of you.
MLG DC 2005 Smash Kick Off Classic
“I'll be there at seven, sure thing babe”
Those words echoed in my mind. To say I didn't know what I was doing would be an understatement. It was nighttime and I was lost in Arlington, Virginia. To cap it off an un-forecasted snowstorm was quickly showing why nature deserves to be feared. As I was making rather large circles in the streets surrounding the Pentagon, I knew time was not on my side. A quick stop at a motel sent me on 395 South.. This was something I had been told to do earlier by a Sheraton bellman, but going south just never feels right with my house to the north. Fortunately, I was able to catch my bearings when the lights of 495 came into view. Feeling reassured as I made the slow merge onto 495 West, the day's events finally began to catch up with me.
I am a Smasher. I bide my time between tournaments playing the video game, Super Smash Brothers Melee with others like me and going to Smash Fests where groups of us get together to play. The DC Metro Area is known throughout the nation as the best place for Smash. We house three of the nations few elite Smashers. But the draw of Smash isn't so much the dynamics of the game, it's the community. People who you would never assume to play a competitive video game are Smashers, and they love it.
The community itself is like a ragtag underground Mafia. If you're on the East Coast and you want to head out west for a tournament, chances are you can catch a ride with another Smasher, and once you're there the housing is free. Never mind that you may have never met the people before; once you're a part of the community, you're part of one large extended family. Smashers don't use their real names either, we go by an alias, sort of like a writer's pen name. By tradition your alias is your identity inside the community: you almost never hear someones real name, even in person.
The community is global, spanning from America to Europe to Japan, and even to Australia. Caption Jack, a Smasher from Japan, has flown in on many occasions for Major League Gaming (MLG) tournaments, usually leaving with enough money to cover the trip, as well as experiences that last a life time. Would someone make the trip even without the payoff? Mr. Silver flies in from the Netherlands to compete, but he's never left with any money. The trip almost always sets him back a few weeks' wages. Yet he still comes. He comes for the experience, he comes for the love, and most of all, he comes for the community.
Major League Gaming is the full embodiment of competitive Smash. MLG runs tournaments all over the country, usually bringing the best talent to compete for the best payouts. When I heard MLG was coming to DC, I marked the date on my calendar months in advance. Initially the plan was to spend the entire day at MLG, but as the day approached I found it difficult to keep my priorities in line. An afternoon basketball game set me for a midday arrival, several hours after check in was to start. I wasn't going for the tournament though; I was going to see my friends and to chill with people who I see once in a blue moon. I figured the trip would be worth it, even if it was only a few hours, after all Jessica was expecting to see me that night.
The drive there was my first inside the Beltway. The ride along the George Washington Memorial Parkway could have made the trip worth it alone. The trees were just starting to show the first signs of buds, and most of the ride was along the Potomac River. I put the windows down for a little to enjoy the crisp air, that sort of stagnant yet refreshing blend of winter and spring that lets you know summer is only a ways off. The traffic was fairly light and I thought my trusty MapQuest directions would never fail me. They did. My confusion ran near the Pentagon. I ended up driving in so many circles I'm sure my car was flagged by the FBI. After half an hour and by a stroke of good luck I found the hotel.
The Sheraton National Hotel was more glamorous then I had expected. I parked my car in the garage underneath the building and took the elevator to the third floor. The room was lit with a bright gold tint, but this wasn't like the other tourneys. There wouldn't be any confusion over who played who. There wouldn't be TVs of assorted sizes, some with white lines running through them, some with fading pictures, and some with skewed colors. There wouldn't be sticky stains on the tiled floor from where some kid spilled his soda. There wouldn't even be a tile floor. There wouldn't be teenagers in street clothes attempting to orchestrate a sense of organization and crowd control. There wouldn't be a fourteen year old math genius sitting in a corner calculating the double elimination tournament brackets while dealing with constant interruption. There wouldn't be the dreary smell of kids who hadn't taken a shower in days, and if there was, it was masked by the hotel's array of perfumes and scents. No, this was Major League Gaming; this was Paradise. I had finally arrived at my Mecca.
Two thirds of the 10,000 square foot convention room were reserved for Halo 2 and some 300 young adults. The other third was reserved for Smash and our combined strength of 102 gang members, military officers, artists, musicians, body builders, actors, managers, construction workers, dropouts, and students. On our part were twenty brand new 27 inch Sony Wega TVs, each surrounded with half a dozen chairs. The mood had already begun to settle into a mesmerizing atmosphere of repetitive controller clicking and victory shouts. Crowds gathered around some of the TVs for a peek at some of the worlds foremost Smash talent.
I made my way to the sign in table. Even though I was almost two hours late, M3D, the tournament organizer, was able to place me in a tournament pool. In my haste from leaving home I had forgotten to bring money, and to my later distress, a map home. I asked my friend Chu Dat if he could spare $15. He was willing to help me out; he knew full well that he was leaving today with a few hundred dollars in his pocket. Chu and I haven't known each other for long. But, we became part of the same crew (Power Underwhelming) last summer, and since then we've been like brothers to each other.
I went through my pool matches as fast as I could because I was still expecting to leave early for Jessica. But after I got in the spirit of playing, I couldn't stop. Smash is like my drug for escaping the world, and once I get started it's hard to pull away, especially with all my friends cheering me on in the middle of matches.
After my pool play I noticed the time was seven o'clock. I called Jessica to let her know what was up.
I had first met Jessica that November at a friend's house. I soon became captivated by her and we hit it off. She wasn't like most of the girls I knew. She was Brazilian, with shiny brown hair. She usually straightened her hair, but often times I preferred she leave it curly. She also had five piercings, including a rather alluring tongue ring. I noticed almost immediately a sort of sullen defiance in her eyes. It wasn't until after I got to know her that I found out she was adopted and that her dad was dying from cancer. He died on New Years.
Lately we'd been fighting. I think she was taking out some of her anger over her dad's death on me. I didn't ever have the heart to stick up for myself, but eventually she got to me. The night before the tournament she ditched me to chill with some of her friends. Before I called her, I weighed my priorities between her and Smash, and decided I would stay. After all, Smash had never let me down.
I heard whimpering over the phone. I had told her I was staying at the tournament. She said that she had planned her entire evening around seeing me, and that she didn't understand why I was canceling. I had told her about all the times she had treated me like **** and that I had had enough, and that frankly I didn't even care anymore. She interpreted this as me breaking up with her. As I talked to her Chu Dat called me over, he said we were doing a crew battle against Team Ben for money, so I hung up the phone.
Team Ben named themselves after their friend Ben who past away. They are considered one of the better crews in the country, and one of the best in our area, so playing them wasn't only for money, it was for pride. I was selected to go first against Husband. The match started normal, trading hits for hits, but then Jessica called me back. I've always been good at multitasking, so much so that I learned to play Smash one handed. Instead of pausing the match, I continued to play one handed while I talked with her on the phone.
She said that if I didn't see her that night that our relationship was over. I told her that I guess it would be over cause I wouldn't be there. The whimpering started again, and she asked why I was doing this. I didn't have a response, and when I asked if we could talk about it later, I heard Neo in the background laughing. His laughter caused a spark in my brain. There I was, in front of 20 people, playing one handed and breaking up with my girlfriend over the phone. I knew it wasn't right. Muffin said I was getting distracted, so he hung up the phone for me.
After the match I informed M3D I would be leaving, and that I was sorry if I screwed up the brackets in any way.
The snow on 495 was almost blinding. There weren't any crews out salting and plowing the roads either. That wasn't going to stop me though. Considering the conditions, my speed was almost reckless. Almost two inches of snow had built up on the side lanes leaving only the two center lanes passable with a layer of slush. My hands were shaking and my mind was racing. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight as I made my way to Jessica's house, I didn't know what to expect.
I pulled up to her house in Bethesda some 45 minutes later. The air was calm and peaceful with the snow falling all around me and not a soul outside in the blackness of night. I knocked on the door. At first there wasn't a sound, but then I heard footsteps coming toward the door from the kitchen. The door opened slowly. We made eye contact, but didn't speak. There I was standing in the snow, and she, holding the door open for me. I noticed she was still wearing a yellow wristband we had gotten when we went ice skating. This was the only sign of hope in my mind, and I walked slowly inside. As the door shut we embraced each other with a long emotional hug and kiss.
I think we both knew it was over, even to this day though, she wears that yellow wristband.
MLG DC 2005 Smash Kick Off Classic
“I'll be there at seven, sure thing babe”
Those words echoed in my mind. To say I didn't know what I was doing would be an understatement. It was nighttime and I was lost in Arlington, Virginia. To cap it off an un-forecasted snowstorm was quickly showing why nature deserves to be feared. As I was making rather large circles in the streets surrounding the Pentagon, I knew time was not on my side. A quick stop at a motel sent me on 395 South.. This was something I had been told to do earlier by a Sheraton bellman, but going south just never feels right with my house to the north. Fortunately, I was able to catch my bearings when the lights of 495 came into view. Feeling reassured as I made the slow merge onto 495 West, the day's events finally began to catch up with me.
I am a Smasher. I bide my time between tournaments playing the video game, Super Smash Brothers Melee with others like me and going to Smash Fests where groups of us get together to play. The DC Metro Area is known throughout the nation as the best place for Smash. We house three of the nations few elite Smashers. But the draw of Smash isn't so much the dynamics of the game, it's the community. People who you would never assume to play a competitive video game are Smashers, and they love it.
The community itself is like a ragtag underground Mafia. If you're on the East Coast and you want to head out west for a tournament, chances are you can catch a ride with another Smasher, and once you're there the housing is free. Never mind that you may have never met the people before; once you're a part of the community, you're part of one large extended family. Smashers don't use their real names either, we go by an alias, sort of like a writer's pen name. By tradition your alias is your identity inside the community: you almost never hear someones real name, even in person.
The community is global, spanning from America to Europe to Japan, and even to Australia. Caption Jack, a Smasher from Japan, has flown in on many occasions for Major League Gaming (MLG) tournaments, usually leaving with enough money to cover the trip, as well as experiences that last a life time. Would someone make the trip even without the payoff? Mr. Silver flies in from the Netherlands to compete, but he's never left with any money. The trip almost always sets him back a few weeks' wages. Yet he still comes. He comes for the experience, he comes for the love, and most of all, he comes for the community.
Major League Gaming is the full embodiment of competitive Smash. MLG runs tournaments all over the country, usually bringing the best talent to compete for the best payouts. When I heard MLG was coming to DC, I marked the date on my calendar months in advance. Initially the plan was to spend the entire day at MLG, but as the day approached I found it difficult to keep my priorities in line. An afternoon basketball game set me for a midday arrival, several hours after check in was to start. I wasn't going for the tournament though; I was going to see my friends and to chill with people who I see once in a blue moon. I figured the trip would be worth it, even if it was only a few hours, after all Jessica was expecting to see me that night.
The drive there was my first inside the Beltway. The ride along the George Washington Memorial Parkway could have made the trip worth it alone. The trees were just starting to show the first signs of buds, and most of the ride was along the Potomac River. I put the windows down for a little to enjoy the crisp air, that sort of stagnant yet refreshing blend of winter and spring that lets you know summer is only a ways off. The traffic was fairly light and I thought my trusty MapQuest directions would never fail me. They did. My confusion ran near the Pentagon. I ended up driving in so many circles I'm sure my car was flagged by the FBI. After half an hour and by a stroke of good luck I found the hotel.
The Sheraton National Hotel was more glamorous then I had expected. I parked my car in the garage underneath the building and took the elevator to the third floor. The room was lit with a bright gold tint, but this wasn't like the other tourneys. There wouldn't be any confusion over who played who. There wouldn't be TVs of assorted sizes, some with white lines running through them, some with fading pictures, and some with skewed colors. There wouldn't be sticky stains on the tiled floor from where some kid spilled his soda. There wouldn't even be a tile floor. There wouldn't be teenagers in street clothes attempting to orchestrate a sense of organization and crowd control. There wouldn't be a fourteen year old math genius sitting in a corner calculating the double elimination tournament brackets while dealing with constant interruption. There wouldn't be the dreary smell of kids who hadn't taken a shower in days, and if there was, it was masked by the hotel's array of perfumes and scents. No, this was Major League Gaming; this was Paradise. I had finally arrived at my Mecca.
Two thirds of the 10,000 square foot convention room were reserved for Halo 2 and some 300 young adults. The other third was reserved for Smash and our combined strength of 102 gang members, military officers, artists, musicians, body builders, actors, managers, construction workers, dropouts, and students. On our part were twenty brand new 27 inch Sony Wega TVs, each surrounded with half a dozen chairs. The mood had already begun to settle into a mesmerizing atmosphere of repetitive controller clicking and victory shouts. Crowds gathered around some of the TVs for a peek at some of the worlds foremost Smash talent.
I made my way to the sign in table. Even though I was almost two hours late, M3D, the tournament organizer, was able to place me in a tournament pool. In my haste from leaving home I had forgotten to bring money, and to my later distress, a map home. I asked my friend Chu Dat if he could spare $15. He was willing to help me out; he knew full well that he was leaving today with a few hundred dollars in his pocket. Chu and I haven't known each other for long. But, we became part of the same crew (Power Underwhelming) last summer, and since then we've been like brothers to each other.
I went through my pool matches as fast as I could because I was still expecting to leave early for Jessica. But after I got in the spirit of playing, I couldn't stop. Smash is like my drug for escaping the world, and once I get started it's hard to pull away, especially with all my friends cheering me on in the middle of matches.
After my pool play I noticed the time was seven o'clock. I called Jessica to let her know what was up.
I had first met Jessica that November at a friend's house. I soon became captivated by her and we hit it off. She wasn't like most of the girls I knew. She was Brazilian, with shiny brown hair. She usually straightened her hair, but often times I preferred she leave it curly. She also had five piercings, including a rather alluring tongue ring. I noticed almost immediately a sort of sullen defiance in her eyes. It wasn't until after I got to know her that I found out she was adopted and that her dad was dying from cancer. He died on New Years.
Lately we'd been fighting. I think she was taking out some of her anger over her dad's death on me. I didn't ever have the heart to stick up for myself, but eventually she got to me. The night before the tournament she ditched me to chill with some of her friends. Before I called her, I weighed my priorities between her and Smash, and decided I would stay. After all, Smash had never let me down.
I heard whimpering over the phone. I had told her I was staying at the tournament. She said that she had planned her entire evening around seeing me, and that she didn't understand why I was canceling. I had told her about all the times she had treated me like **** and that I had had enough, and that frankly I didn't even care anymore. She interpreted this as me breaking up with her. As I talked to her Chu Dat called me over, he said we were doing a crew battle against Team Ben for money, so I hung up the phone.
Team Ben named themselves after their friend Ben who past away. They are considered one of the better crews in the country, and one of the best in our area, so playing them wasn't only for money, it was for pride. I was selected to go first against Husband. The match started normal, trading hits for hits, but then Jessica called me back. I've always been good at multitasking, so much so that I learned to play Smash one handed. Instead of pausing the match, I continued to play one handed while I talked with her on the phone.
She said that if I didn't see her that night that our relationship was over. I told her that I guess it would be over cause I wouldn't be there. The whimpering started again, and she asked why I was doing this. I didn't have a response, and when I asked if we could talk about it later, I heard Neo in the background laughing. His laughter caused a spark in my brain. There I was, in front of 20 people, playing one handed and breaking up with my girlfriend over the phone. I knew it wasn't right. Muffin said I was getting distracted, so he hung up the phone for me.
After the match I informed M3D I would be leaving, and that I was sorry if I screwed up the brackets in any way.
The snow on 495 was almost blinding. There weren't any crews out salting and plowing the roads either. That wasn't going to stop me though. Considering the conditions, my speed was almost reckless. Almost two inches of snow had built up on the side lanes leaving only the two center lanes passable with a layer of slush. My hands were shaking and my mind was racing. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight as I made my way to Jessica's house, I didn't know what to expect.
I pulled up to her house in Bethesda some 45 minutes later. The air was calm and peaceful with the snow falling all around me and not a soul outside in the blackness of night. I knocked on the door. At first there wasn't a sound, but then I heard footsteps coming toward the door from the kitchen. The door opened slowly. We made eye contact, but didn't speak. There I was standing in the snow, and she, holding the door open for me. I noticed she was still wearing a yellow wristband we had gotten when we went ice skating. This was the only sign of hope in my mind, and I walked slowly inside. As the door shut we embraced each other with a long emotional hug and kiss.
I think we both knew it was over, even to this day though, she wears that yellow wristband.