Six Ways to Up Your Smash Game and Why There’s More to Smash Than Game,  by Chris Fabiszak

When I went two-and-out at my first tournament, I became obsessed with getting better. I swore to myself I would become a top ten player. I sacrificed my college social life, held no interest in classes, and jeopardized several relationships in the process. When I earned 10^th at the end of Major League Gaming’s 2006-2007 season, it felt great. But you know what? I turned around to find no one was watching.

In the meantime, the Smash scene was unable to hit the meager, sub 200 player caps MLG set for the events, and my family and non-Smash friends just saw Smash as the thing that took me away. So while there were impassioned and dedicated players, to be sure, the scene was so fragile that it nearly collapsed when Brawl was released.

Now that we’ve been given a second chance, we can do it right. And I’m here to tell you, a community made up of big egos, out to get theirs, won’t do it. There will always be top talent, but we owe our success to people like D1 and Prog, to Bach and GIMR, to Samox, etc. These are the heroes.

Samox. I could probably three stock him, but he has done more for the scene than any individual I can recall.

What the community needs right now is to grow. We need spectators. We need commentators and journalists. We need thinkers and content creators. We need entrepreneurs and business-minded people. Predicting the next step for Smash would require an entire series of articles, so let’s not get derailed here. But ask yourself – could you write it? Could you shape it? What talents do you have that this budding phenomenon could benefit from?

But maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “that’s as may be, Wifey, but I want to be the next Mango.” Well then fine, you egotist. Here is your training regimen. 

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Christopher “Wife” Fabiszak is a Melee enthusiast and author of Team Ben: A Year as a Professional Gamer