Shine 2016 was, without a doubt, one of the finest Smash-centric events we’ve seen this year. The tournament had high production values, ran incredibly smoothly and had some of the most recognizable names in the community as attendants. Players like Tyler “Marss” Martins, Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios and Eric “ESAM” Lew (just to name a few) promised to put on a show the likes of which are only seen at the highest quality majors.
But there was a name that stood out amongst the usual suspects in the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U bracket; an unlikely challenger who few people knew and even fewer expected to see break into Top 8. A man who would come into the tournament as an underdog, but come out as a hero to all mid-tier players: Austin “EVB | Dath” Brown, the Robin main from Florida.
First finding his footing back in Super Smash Bros. 64, Dath started out as many of us did when we were young -- timed matches with the family during the weekends, items on and set to high. “Smash 64 tournaments weren’t much of a thing at the time, and Super Smash Bros. Melee sort of slipped by me growing up. I had no idea what competitive Smash even was until I started playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.”
Dath would soon learn about “All is Brawl”, an online ladder for the eponymous game, and started getting into the game’s online community. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last, and although Dath would go on to attend a few locals, a general lack of engagement with the game led to him retiring from the online scene just about a year after starting. It would take Smash 4’s release for him to decide he wanted to take the game seriously and actually start competing.
“Back when [the 3DS version] first came out, I would play Twitch viewer battles and join any online tournaments that popped up, but it wasn’t until the Wii U version came out that I went to a local tournament, where I met this player who was pretty big into the scene, Xaltis.”
Taylor “Xaltis” Rose would be the first person to introduce Dath to Versus Gaming Center, one of the main hubs for competitive Smash 4 in South Florida. Dath would become a regular there and, although he would describe his first few results as “underwhelming”, he slowly but surely rose through the ranks to become one of the most recognizable members in the community.
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Notsuchabadguy: Let’s talk Robin. Most players don’t think she’s capable of getting very far in tournament, and as such we don’t see her picked a lot. What drew you to her? How do you feel about the general perception the community has of her right now?
Dath: I was drawn to Robin ever since she was first announced. I’ve always been a pretty big Fire Emblem fan, and her playstyle seemed right up my alley. And I mean, she can throw fireballs and has this huge-*** magic sword -- that’s pretty cool.
I started playing her and she immediately clicked with me: Her moveset just feels so right in my hands, like I can adapt to any situation. I think the community heavily underrates her right now. ZeRo recently released a tier-list video where he ranks her at 28th, I think -- and I think even that’s selling her short by quite a bit. I think she’s top 20 for sure, possibly even higher.
N: What would you say is your biggest strength as a player? What sets you apart from the rest?
D: In my opinion, my biggest ability as a player is to adapt to any situation. I can start off by losing game one, but by game two I’ve already completely changed the way I play, and by game three there’s a good chance I can two-stock them.
D: I think the matchup is either even or very slightly in Robin’s favor. Sonic has to get in to do damage, he doesn’t have a choice about that, and Robin’s great at keeping people out -- you know, she has a big magic sword and Sonic has like… little, tiny hedgehog limbs, so you can do the math there.
Projectiles also help. Arcthunder is one of the few tools in the game that can beat side-b Spindash: that gives you a tremendous advantage, and can make it very difficult for Sonic to fight Robin. It also helps that I frequently team with True Blue, a Sonic main, for doubles: as partners, we understand each other’s characters very well and often practice together, which I think has helped me understand the matchup.
D:I want to be a national threat -- no, an international threat -- no, a GLOBAL threat. I want people that see me in bracket to sweat bullets. ‘What am I supposed to do with this guy? I don’t know Robin! Even if I do know Robin, this guy’s scary!’ I want people to fear facing me in tournament. Every single one of them.
N: What are your plans for the future? Should we be looking out for you at any future tournaments?
D:Yeah, actually: I’m gonna be attending Big House 6, I’m confirmed for Genesis 4 and I’m not sure about Civil War, but there’s a good chance I’ll be there too. Other than that, I’ve been starting up my stream a lot more and I’m also thinking about starting up a YouTube channel, but that’s still in the works.
N: Anything you wanna say to your fans?
D: I just wanna say thank you to the people supporting me. Every single time I meet fans at tournaments or talk to them online, it’s such a huge boost to my motivation. As you can imagine, playing Robin can sometimes be pretty exhausting sometimes and when I’m feeling down because I placed poorly at a tournament or didn’t do well in a match, having a fan approach me just lifts my spirits right up.
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We’d like to thank Dath for allowing us the time to do this interview. If you wish to keep up with him, be sure to check him out on Twitter @Dath_ly or, once again, follow his Twitch channel to see him play live.
Edited by A10theHero.
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