A History of MD/VA/DC Smash
By: Chillin (Not Me, aka AlphaZealot)
H2YL: The Beginning
Ha Ha You Lose, AKA H2YL, was originally just the team name for Azen/Anden that Anden came up with at our original tourney in August 02. It expanded to become our crew name. I thought at that time that I was awful since I assumed Azen's skill level was average (lol), and back then Azen and Derrick/Eric always had close matches. I guess you could say Derrick and Eric were sort of like the modern day Ken and Isai, at least locally.
Azen and Anden had known each other since they were little (they lived on the same Air Force base). Mild met Azen in 7th grade, and I met Azen through Mild in late 2000, I believe. Azen met Jtanic online and Jtanic's friend lived within walking distance of Azen, so he went to play him (Jtanic had the typical best-within-group mentality: he thought he was the best in the world; Azen helped him "reshape his mentality", to put it nicely ). The rest of H2YL met JTanic through Azen. We all met Chu Dat at that JTanic tourney in December 02, and he gradually became a member of H2YL. It's also interesting to note that Ricky had seen Chu Dat at a small tourney held by a coffee shop or something (I forget exactly where, ask one of them) somewhere in the Fall of 2002, and we later met Ricky and Matt in 2003. Crazy coincidence.
H2YL remained this way until early 2004 when Chu Dat left. Soon after, NEO joined. However, Anden moved in the summer of 2004, and JTanic became busy with his job; NEO also left late in 2004 to join Team Ben. Now H2YL consists of only Anden, Jtanic, Azen, Mild, and myself, and of those only I am an active smasher anymore.
H2YL Characters
-Chillin: I played Sheik from when the game first came out up until Jtanic's first tourney, prior to which I changed to Fox. Recently I have been using Sheik more and more, but Fox has been my main since then.
-Mild: From the release of the game up until Jtanic's tourney, his character choices were sporadic. He finally settled on Falco for a while, which is what he used at his first tourney (Jtanic's Dec. 02 tourney). Sometime in 2003 he switched to Sheik and has stayed with her since.
-Anden: Anden was originally a Marth player but became more a Jiggs player as the first tournament approached, and that's who has always been his main; he has, however, been very diverse in his character choices.
-Jtanic: SAMUS 4 LYFE. Also Link sometimes, but mostly just Samus.
-Chu Dat: He has always been pretty diverse as well; he used Fox against Azen at Jtanic's Dec. 02 tourney. He started using Ice Climbers as his main in early 2003 and has stuck with them ever since.
-Azen: Master of diversity, what can I say? He used Link as kind of a main when the game first came out and used him all the way in the first two tourneys we attended (our first and Kengo's tourney). He used Falco for most of Jtanic's December 02 tourney. Since then he has been totally diverse.
MD/VA/DC Crews
DYCER
DYCER (at some points also called DYCEER and DYCE) consisted of, at its peak, Derrick, Yannick, Cirilo, Eric, Eugene, and Rob. DYCER was the first challenge that H2YL received, and for a time DYCER surpassed H2YL. At H2YL's first tourney, Eric used Yoshi of all characters and still managed to pull 3rd place, even taking Azen out of the winner's bracket. Yannick also attended that tournament. At Kengo's tourney that October, the DYC portion of DYCER was out in force as Derrick and Eric went 1-2 and Yannick finished top 10. Derrick's Sheik was very fast for its time and Eric had switched to (a very impressive) Peach. They followed up that performance by tying for 1st at Jtanic's tourney that December where Derrick and Eric stuck with Sheik and Peach, respectively. Eugene, another member of DYCER, impressed many with his Luigi, and Yannick kept pace with his Falco. All of DYCER that attended finished in the top 20. That was the peak of their smash career; at the next large tournament, DCSS1, although Cirilo finally showed, they had a less impressive performance, although still pretty good. Rob, to my memory, has still not showed up at a local tourney, although based on his crew I'm sure his Samus would have dazzled us. Still, DYCER had an impressive crew with well-balanced skill and an array of characters, and DYCER vs H2YL was the original crew rivalry. DYCER came back at Game Over and still had a decent showing despite rarely playing.
USB
USB consisted of, at one point or another, Chops, Cava, Vist, Rebel, Greg (whose screen name has slipped my mind), Kengo, and Cyrus. Chops has changed characters, Cava has always used Luigi, Vist has changed as well; Greg hasn't played in a while, but used Fox; Rebel hasn't played in a while, but used Fox; Kengo hasn't played in a while, but used Samus; and Cyrus (who I am not 100% sure was in USB, but he definitely associated with them) used Samus as well. USB had an impressive showing at Kengo's first tourney, with a few of them finishing in the top 10. At that point H2YL began a rivalry of sorts with USB, but it wasn't very fierce. The exception to this was Cyrus, whose arrogant style of posting incited arguments between H2YL and Cyrus. Unfortunately there was never a resolution to this rivlary as Cyrus quit in the time between Jtanic's tourney and DCSS. Now, Chops, Cava, and Vist are the only members of USB left, and still do a good job of representing their crew.
PU
PU originally was Muffin and Kiraki and AlphaZealot. Muffin came to a smashfest at Azen's house in 2003, and that was PU's first meeting with H2YL. Muffin had a very impressive Mario, and PU had a good showing at DCSS, as Kiraki even took out Anden with his quick Marth. Later that year, Muffin took tourney making into his own hands as he launched the Best Of Maryland's Best series, AKA BOMB. The first BOMB had a decent turnout and Kiraki and Muffin did well. AlphaZealot made his tournament debut at BOMB1, and although he didn't enter, he still turned some heads in exhibitions. All 3 members of PU still actively smash; since then, Chu Dat has also joined their crew.
Alcapwnz
Alcapwnz' main members are Mew2Matt and Ricky; CRZ, Matt's brother, also played, and some of their friends at Virginia Tech also smashed (Bobz and East Coast Eddie). Mew2Matt used Mewtwo, and Ricky used Link; two very difficult-to-use characters. They still managed to excel with them, however; when they first played H2YL in 2003, they impressed us with their skill. They followed up that with a good showing at Live or Die as Ricky placed 8th and Matt 11th. CRZ made his first tourney appearance at BOMB1 and did pretty well; Matt got 3rd and Ricky 7th. Since then, Matt has moved and Ricky has played less, but both are still good smashers.
Team Ben
Team Ben is NEO, Oro, Wife, and Husband who play Roy, Samus, Peach, and Marth respectively. They made their first tourney appearances at Live or Die, where NEO got 7th at his very first tourney and Oro got top 16. The Newlyweds, Husband and Wife, debuted at Game Over and did extremely well in teams. Since then Team Ben has fast become the dominant crew in the area. They are currently the crew to beat around here.
KM and Adwillia
I'm not sure whether these guys had a crew name, but they were definitely good. They both became good incredibly fast, keeping pace with Team Ben, and placed well in most tourneys they attended. Sadly Adwillia hasn't attended tourneys as much as KM, who is fast becoming the Fox to beat in the area.
Teams
Teams in this area from the beginning till Game Over was dominated by only one team: Azen and Anden, who basically decimated every team they faced. Since then there haven't been any solid teams with the same teammates, and the team crown of this area is currently up for grabs.
Old School Tourneys to New School
The very first tourney in this area (I think, at the very least it was our first tourney) was H2YL's first one (held at the same American Legion as GO). A modest 14 people attended, and the only ones of them that still play are DYCER. That was August 2002. Azen won that, with Anden 2nd and me and Eric tying for 3rd. There were no prizes, and items were on low, but it was double elimination.
After that, there was a tourney held by Kengo (I dunno if you guys remember him) in October '02, held in the hotel at which Kengo worked. About 30 people attended that and that was the first tourney where cash prizes were given out. Derrick won that with Eric in 2nd, Azen in 3rd, and Anden in 4th. I got somewhere near the bottom of the top 10. The tourney was single elimination and 1/1, though.
Then there was JTanic's tourney (the second H2YL tourney) held in December 2002 at Jtanic's house, the predecessor to LoD. That one was pretty big for its time as 40+ people were in attendance. A bad bracket system (thanks to yours truly ) ended up in a 3 way tie for 1st: Chu Dat, Derrick, and Eric. Azen pulled 4th and the rest of H2YL except Mild had respectable placings; Mild lost to me in the second round (again, single elimination and 1/1). That was JTanic's, Mild's, and Chu Dat's first tourney (although Chu Dat did attend another prior to that that wasn't very big).
After that, there was a six month period in which there were no big tourneys in the area. Unfortunately, this meant that most of the groups stopped playing as much. This was not the case with H2YL; we continued playing despite a lack of tourneys. Perhaps for this reason, we became considerably better as the other groups hardly progressed.
This was shown at the next big tournament, DCSS, held by M3D in July 2003. It was a chance for H2YL to show their improvement, and we did just that as H2YL swept the top 4 spots: Azen 1st, Chu 2nd, myself 3rd, and Mild 4th. Anden was upset by Kiraki (showing the advancement of PU), and ended up near the bottom of the top 10. At this point, H2YL took control of the rivalry between DYCER and H2YL, and unfortunately DYCER never returned to prominence.
Hoping to prevent another tournament slump, H2YL held its third tourney, Live or Die, less than two months later in August 2003. H2YL again proved its dominance as the 5 members of H2YL in attendance placed 1st (Azen), 2nd (Anden), 3rd (Mild), 4th (Jtanic), and 5th (Chillin). However, this tournament did show some new talent in the area: NEO made a strong showing at his first tourney, placing 7th, while Ricky & Matt pulled 8th and 11th, respectively, with the lesser-used characters Link and Mewtwo. Chops also proved that USB was not dead as he placed 6th.
In September, M3D and FLW brought back DCSS for a second time with DCSS2. This was the first tournament where out of area competition really had an impact as DA members Wes, Kamaal, and Jason placed top 10. DYCER also showed that they weren't out just yet as Derrick placed 7th and Cirilo and Eric managed top 17. Azen won the tournament, though, and all of H2YL in attendance made top 8.
One month later came the beginning of the BOMB tournament series held by PU. The turnout was a disappointment but the tournament still managed to be enjoyable. It was also an opportunity for the other members of H2YL to prove themselves as individuals as Azen wasn't in attendance. Mild took the top spot, and I placed 2nd. Matt and Ricky continued doing well, placing 3rd and 6th respectively, and Kiraki and Muffin got 4th and 5th. KM and Adwillia also made their debut.
The next area tournament was the biggest one to date: Game Over, held by H2YL in January 04. Ken and Isai finally came to a big east coast tournament and Ken managed to come from the loser's bracket to upset Azen in the finals. Isai managed 3rd, Dave 4th, and Wes and I tied for 5th. The top 10 was a mix of H2YL and DA members, an impressive showing by both crews. H2YL again showed their dominance as the lowest placing for any H2YL member was just out of the top 10 at 13th, impressive considering there were 6 members. This could be considered the peak of H2YL's performance as a whole crew. Also, sadly, it could be considered the peak of the MD/VA area smash community in terms of activity, since it has been downhill since.
There was another tournament slump for a while until BOMB2 broke it in April. Azen won again despite an exit from the winner's bracket early and I placed 2nd, with Chu Dat and Mild 3rd and 4th. Anden managed 7th despite being upset in the very first round by Wife. This showed the advancement of Team Ben; they were getting better and better as time went on.
BOMB2 was unfortunately followed by another long period of time without any big tournaments in the area. Chu Dat left H2YL, but NEO joined H2YL as his skill increased greatly. However, Anden moved away and JTanic got a job where he had to work for most of the time, so they became inactive. During this time, though, people from the area went out and did big things at other tourneys (Mild and NEO, 3rd and 5th respectively at Smash 4 Cash in New York; Azen and I, 1st and 4th respectively at MLG Atlanta; Azen and Chu Dat, 1st and 3rd respectively at TG6), but within the area nothing very big happened.
Then came DCSS3, which unfortunately did not have as many competitors as its predecessor. This showed the decline of the area as a community. Still, H2YL prevailed as Azen won yet again and I got 2nd; NEO got 3rd. Team Ben was still coming up, however, as Wife upset Mild.
Then Team Ben held their first large tournament with Gettin' Schooled in October '04. Azen, Chu Dat, and Mike G. tied for 1st with NEO in 4th. Only Azen, NEO and I attended from H2YL, as Mild had all but retired and Anden and JTanic no longer actively played. This tournament could be considered the death of the old age of smash in this area and the beginning of the new age, as Team Ben and newer crews begin to take over.
The only large tournament since GS in the area was MLG DC, where only one member of H2YL showed up (103 people total though): myself. I guess you can say that H2YL is done for; Team Ben has come to the forefront as the crew to beat in the area. As more tournaments approach, the new age of smash is upon us, and unfortunately most of us that have played competitively since the beginning wont be along for the ride.
The following are edits, the previous history, while good, is old and needs to be updated, which will be done soon.
Vist Edit: edit- UsB was originally just Chops, Cava, Rebel2000, and Greg. I joined them a while later. I dont believe Kengo and Cyrus were in UsB. Kengoshinakuma was part of 'The Three' along with adam (KidJester) and Kenny.
another tournament from back in the day was the Bob Tourney we had in ellicott city when a bunch of people had come. The results were 1) Azen 2) Anden 3) Rebel2000 4[tie]) Chu Dat/ Eric (marioandluigi) / Chops