If Philippine Super Smash Bros. For Wii U champion Adrian "TSF | Enigwa" Marin has something to say, it's that he is here to stay. From the meta-game to the community community, Enigwa loves every single aspect of Smash!
Smashboards recently released it's interview with Myk "PBE | L1NK" Villaflor, the winner of the ESGS Brawlfest Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament. On the Super Smash Bros. For Wii U side, Wario main Adrian "TSF | Enigwa" Marin took the gold home, winning grand finals against Manila Cup champion Mikel "PBE | GodZ" Godinez. For insight towards the For Wii U community, the author conducted an interview with him.
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Popi: Hey Adrian,thanks for agreeing to do this interview! How are you doing today?
Enigwa: I'm good!
Popi: Let's start it off by you introducing yourself to our readers. Who is Enigwa?
Enigwa: I am Adrian "Enigwa" Marin, I'm 17 year old smasher in the Philippines, and a proud user of the WAA!
Enigwa (Left) and Arihead (Right) celebrate the former's tournament win. Taken from the latter's social media feed.
I grew up traveling all around the world at a very young age, with my Gameboy in hand. My brother (Arion "Arihead" Marin) introduced me into gaming at an extremely early age and I always, always hated losing against him (in games)!
One of my favorite games at the time was Bomberman for the Playstation, and of course, Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal and afterwards, Pokemon Sapphire.
Popi: How did you get into Super Smash Bros. and by extension, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U? Was it introduced to you by your brother?
Enigwa: Well, early on, my brother introduced me to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We played casually; I was still a kid back then. I was probably about 10 years old, but I don't actually remember. I used Mario, Pikachu, and Meta Knight.
With regards to Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, we were both very excited for it. I was already very aware of the competitive community before the game came out. We weren't aware of the Philippine community, of course.
Popi: Really? How did you know of the competitive scene?
Enigwa: I watched good players such as Mew2King and ESAM. My favourite Brawl player was actually Glutonny. Even though I never exactly used Wario back when I played BrawI loved his playstyle and hilarious animations, as well as his viability.
Popi: We all know you now as one of if not, the best Wario in the country. How did you get into him?
Enigwa: I wanted to annoy my brother! Hahaha!
Popi: Looking back into your past, you're actually pretty popular on Smogon for innovating a ton of Mr. Mime strategies. Did this tie into your choice of Wario?
Enigwa: That's actually a misconception, I am known as a prominent staller in the Smogon community.
Mr. Mime is my favorite Pokemon, and he happens to put up "walls," which is associated with my style of play; a very defensive and frustrating strategy, particularly to my opponents. This ties in with my mentality towards playing Wario.
Popi: How would you describe your play in general? Like, what do you see in yourself?
Enigwa: I think I'm a very defensive player that mainly spaces my opponents and looks for openings in order to punish my foes. Maybe that's a little vague, since I don't want to be stuck to a certain playstyle, I need to be dynamic.
Wario's air mobility and low traction allows him to punish foes easily, as well as condition opponents to approach due to his waft, as it is constantly charging and creates immense pressure.
Popi: Dynamic? Like adapting to the situation at hand?
Enigwa: Yes, just like you described it.
Popi: How did you find out about the competitive scene here in the Philippines? You described yourself as travelling a lot before.
Enigwa: We moved back here on July 2014. At the time, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U wasn't released yet. I learned about the community from my brother, it seems I really rely on him too much!
Popi: You entered the scene really quickly and won an Imperium monthly as your first tournament. What was your story?
Enigwa: I joined the tourney determined to do my best, but I honestly didn't expect to have much success due to my inexperience at the time. I think I was very lucky and I won because nobody really knew about the Wario matchup.
I'm glad I met such great people at Imperium Lounge and I really learned a lot that day.
Popi: Let's repeat, that was your first tournament?!
Enigwa: Yes, it was. I did challenge AceStarThe3rd online before that, as well as For Glory and other streamers. Those were my only competitive experience.
Popi: Man, you're something else! How did you practice for it?
Enigwa: I practiced mostly against CPU, For Glory, and most importantly, my brother.
Popi: Any advice you could give to people who haven't joined any tournaments before?
Enigwa: Just get out there and play, observe the best, and observe your opponents. I think it's best to think of matchups abstractly, as Smash 4 is still new.
Popi: You've pretty much won every tournament out there since you've joined. What's your secret?
Enigwa: WA WA WAAAH! But seriously, my brother helps coach me in my time of need. It helps to have another point of view.
Popi: A lot of people have described you as having a rock-solid mindset. What's your mindset towards playing the game?
Enigwa: To me, Super Smash Bros. is like Pokemon. I already knew about conditioning, reads, etc when I picked up the controller because, well, we do the exact same thing in Pokemon.
In Pokemon, you need to predict your opponent, exactly like a game of chess. I've observed many other players in Pokemon, and I guess it helps me predict opponents in Smash Bros as well.
Popi: What's the greatest challenge to you as a smasher?
Enigwa: Consistency, making the right decisions, and spacing perfectly.
Popi: Speaking of consistency, you've been winning a lot of tournaments. Do you ever let the winning get to you? Do you ever feel burnout or do you have a drive to keep on playing?
Enigwa: Out of the 7 major tournaments that I've participated in, I've managed to win 5, and those were really difficult wins.
The other two that I lost at kind of hit me hard, and gave me the determination to practice harder. It would be incredibly arrogant of me to let these wins get to my head, as I've only gotten better because of my opponents, my brother, and now The Smash Fort.
Popi: You've said a TON of amazing stuff. let's move on to the scene. What's your opinion of the Philippine scene?
Enigwa: I don't actually know any other scene, so I can't compare it to anything else, but I love the community here. I think there are a handful of really good, world-class players.
Popi: Who would you say are these players? Can they beat you any time soon?
The community at last month's ESGS Brawlfest tournament during the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit. Credits to Super Smash Bros Philippines for the images.
Enigwa: I think they can beat me in a heartbeat. Players such as Mikel "GodZ" Godinez (Mario), the Giron brothers (Mario and Peach), my brother (Villager), Justin "Cheese" Labad (Pikachu), Enzo "Stats" Prats (Sheik), Daniel "DJLive" de Jesus (Yoshi), and Enzo "GetSchwifty" Santos (Ryu), to name a few.
Popi: Do you think it's matchup familiarity or is there a skill gap? What do they need to do in order to advance forward?
Enigwa: Neither, sometimes it's down to other things, such as consistency and the ability to play optimally whilst pressured.
Popi: Who's the greatest opponent to you in the scene?
Enigwa: I'd say my personal rival is Mikel "Godz" Godinez. We've fought each other many times, we fought each other at the finals of ESGS, and he was defeating me during our casuals prior to ESGS, so I was quite nervous when I faced him.
Popi: What about the scene's growth? I mean, it's large now, but what do you think needs to be done in order for it to grow further?
Enigwa: I think we need to encourage players to join tournaments and most importantly, participate in events in countries such as the USA and Japan.
Popi: Where do you see yourself in one year?
Enigwa: I don't know how it's going to be next year, but I hope to be much better than I currently am. I also want The Smash Fort weeklies to become the most dominant group in the Philippines.
Popi: Thank you so much for doing this interview Adrian! What last messages would you like to give to our scene?
Enigwa: I love Smash Bros, I love Wario, I love The Smash Fort, I love Smash Bros PH, and I will do my best to continue winning!
Popi: How about to the world?
Enigwa: Everyone, Wario lacks representation for absolutely no reason! For God's sake, we need more Wario mains!
Popi: Again, thanks agreeing to the interview! I hope we can meet again soon. Advanced happy birthday Enigwa! Hope you have fun on the 24th!
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