“I don’t think I have a lot of innate talent, but I do have a ton of innate drive to get where I want to be, and that’s best in the world.”

Melee has seen the largest growth in the last three years since the dawn of its competitive existence. The boom in popularity can be attributed to many things: Smash’s return to EVO, the documentary, word of mouth. This new generation of “doc kids”, a name newer players are often generalized as, have found a niche in the scene. Despite the new-found growth, Melee stays true to its roots, and has one of the most established and long-standing scenes in all of esports. Many narratives, such as the Mango-Armada rivalry, are closing in on a decade in the making. Some community members have been playing and practicing since the game’s competitive introduction, and still struggle to see consistent results. With all of the history that’s surrounded the top players, why would anyone even try to become a top player? These factors can contribute to a more than intimidating obstacle for those who aim to be the best, but rather than be fearful, Griffin “Captain Faceroll” Williams has used this hurdle, not as an excuse, but as a means of proving himself.

Williams is the inspiration of doc kids everywhere; through a steady network of communication with top level players, optimization of his gameplay and character, and, most importantly, drive and willingness to compete, Captain Faceroll was able to gain recognition as the 110th best player in the world, according to MIOM’s SSBMRank 2015.

Drive

Starting his Melee career in early September of 2013, Captain Faceroll has quickly risen to many players’ “People to Watch” lists, and shows no signs of letting up any time soon. This improvement was not instant. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Captain Faceroll mostly relied on himself to improve because of the lack of regular competition in the Midwest, which is often considered one of the more Smash-desolate regions in the United States. The top level competition in his hometown, while still good practice, pales in comparison to scenes with inveterate players, and still has a long way to go before becoming a flourishing source of world-class Smash, such as the ones found in Florida and California.

Many of the weekly tournaments he attended were well out of his way. They were over an hour way and ended around midnight. Due to school, he would have to wake up at 6 AM. This was a big commitment but one he was willing to tackle.

“If someone wants to do something, they’ll always make time for it. If I knew I was going to have more homework than usual, I’d just do it at school to make sure I could make it to the weeklies without falling behind or stressing about school… Sacrifices had to be made, and I made them with no hesitation.”

Faceroll faced the same difficulties most people do when they first compete; The wins didn’t come automatically, and he drove long distances and paid money just to under perform. Despite his early inconsistencies, Faceroll stood firm in his mindset and goals. At this point, many people would give up on improving at a game as deep and unforgiving as Melee. Faceroll continued to enter tournaments  week after week to improve. As a new member of Midwest-founded esports team, Team Ixion,  he started winning sets over Chicago’s best players.

“One thing I did that most people don’t do is just go to as many events as possible. At first, I was limited to monthlies, but one event a month is more than most new players. Once high school was coming to an end, I started including the weeklies, which averaged out to about five tournaments a month. I feel like I just played more and competed more than most people.”

Smashboards’ player ranker puts Faceroll’s work ethic on full display. On Faceroll’s profile, Smashboards shows a log of over 150 tournaments  in the past two and a half years. Encompassed in these bracket results are wins over big names, from local to national, including Vro, Dart!, HugS, Kira, Reno, Ken, and Eddy Mexico.

Illinois to SoCal

“Shoutout to all of Irvine. Kira, Connor, Sherigami, Squid, Matt, PsychoMidget, all of them. They’ve all been really welcoming and have become a second family to me.”

After graduating, Faceroll soon departed to pursue his higher form of education. His Midwest home would soon be traded in for the comforts of southern California, where many consider to be the pinnacle of Melee communities. Names that usually end up placing top 8 at nationals headlined the weeklies and monthlies that he’d be attending. Top level competition went from being scarce to abundant. Between the prominent Super Smash Sundays bi-weekly, and the Mayhem monthlies, he has the opportunity to get many sets against the likes of S2J, MacD, Lucky, and Alex19.

Auspiciously for all parties involved, Faceroll now goes to school at the University of California Irvine, home to arguably the best collegiate Melee scene in the country. With attendees such as Connor “CDK” Nguyen, Matt “Matt” Tafazoli, Sheridan “Sherigami” Babcock, and Jeremy “Squid” Deutsch, the school won the most recent iteration of The Melee Games, Melee’s collegiate circuit led by MattDotZeb and Big Blue Esports. Of the players on the UCI team, Williams was two stocks behind Matt for the head spot of the “total stocks taken” category, with 43 over the course of the season. Despite the fact that the new competition he was facing had more to offer in some regards, Faceroll feels it’s unfair to tie his recent success to location only.

    “A lot of people think that the reason I’m so good is because I moved to SoCal, and it definitely helped, but I think I would’ve been just as good if I stood in Chicago, because it wasn’t the location making me good, it was me taking advantage of the resources I had.”

With 2016 already looking to be a good year for Sheiks, a studious Faceroll starts off the year with a ton of momentum. Never has there been as great an amount of top level Sheik footage to research as there is now, and Griffin is making sure to seize all of the information.

Advancing the Sheik Metagame and Closing Thoughts

“Druggedfox is someone that I talk to every single day about what to do in this situation, or how to do this better… At a certain point, I think there is more value in talking about Melee than there is in practicing tech skill.”

Known for his exceptional tech chase game, Faceroll has instilled fear into many of his opponents,  who believe that a grab can lead to a death.

The growth certainly wouldn’t have happened as rapidly without the recent increase in popularity of Sheik in the metagame. We have top players switching from their mains to pick her up, such as DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel with Doctor Mario and Justin “Plup” McGrath with Samus. Simultaneously, players like Sami “Druggedfox” Muhanna have contributed many hours to theorycrafting and blogging about optimal Sheik play.

Druggedfox and Captain Faceroll have been labeled as spearheads of the new-age Sheik meta. No longer are Sheiks throwing around dash attacks and forward tilts and expecting their opponents to run into them. The feigns and innovative new tech chase techniques make a grab from any of the aforementioned players lethal. In a game as researched as Melee, it’s hard to believe there are still ways to improve methods that have proven to work for well over 10 years, but players like Faceroll are making sure to do their part to prevent Sheik play from becoming stale over the course of their research and development.

Faceroll is a firm believer that talking about in-game situations with other Sheik mains is the quickest way to success. Challenging himself and having others do the same, positively reinforces the mindset to improve and compete. Keep an eye out for the placings of IX| Captain Faceroll in the years coming, as they’re sure to skyrocket.

 

“Come the end of 2016, I will be top 60 in the world, and top 10 in SoCal. It’s possible that right now, I’m 11 or 12, but there’s definitely an argument for me to be at 10. These goals are pretty superficial, like, the numbers don’t mean anything at the end of the day… I feel like I’ve almost already achieved these because they’re pretty much secondary goals. These are just stepping stones to becoming the best in the world.”

Captain Faceroll’s Twitter: @SSBM_Faceroll