Inspired By Fate
Alex19's inspiration to really play Melee in 2006 came from an infamous oldschool Fox main: Zeldagis. "I knew a lot of the advanced techniques but that really wasn't enough though." he told us. He would soon find another huge inspiration in a legend of Melee just one year later. "It wasn't until 2007 that I met Mang0 and found out he went to my school at John Glenn. Then I was itching to learn Melee competitively."
Unfortunately his life back then made things difficult for him. "I've been playing with Mang0 since 2007 and did go to tourneys but after a few tourneys I had to work. I stopped and pretty much would only play Melee on Tuesday's with Mang0, Lucky and S2J. That wasn't enough to keep me in tournament shape."
After that sporadic activity from 2009 to 2011 he really picked up momentum, slowly starting to move up and take strong placements. He managed to get into MIOM's SSBRank in 2014 and rose 25 places on the 2015 list. He has traveled to Australia to plat at BAM 7 where he placed 9th and when invited to last year's summit he placed 13th. At Genesis 3 this year he brought home a 17th place finish.
While he is growing he still admits that he has things he needs to work on and believes another chance at the summit could bring him to an entirely new level "I knew I had a lot of potential but playing in tournament, mentality, adapting to such different player styles, and characters is very important, nerves really come into play when you're not comfortable. I do believe Smash Summit 2 would help me continue to improve seeing that after I attended Smash Summit 1 my placing at tournaments have improved. I've caused some of the biggest upsets for where I'm ranked. I get to ask questions, play the best non stop, and its an incredible experience I'd like to have again."
He also wants the opportunity to prove just how strong of a competitor he can be and has his eyes set on Plup as someone he wants to challenge. "After the first summit I realized that I want to use my challenges as opportunities to prove myself. I want to beat anyone who people would be shocked to see me beat and not just people who are floating around my level. I think someone like Plup I'd like to play only because I played him a lot at summit and he is so good, really destroyed me and I know I'm much better now and would love to push myself to be able to be someone at that level."
The New Alex19
He leaves these final words for anyone wondering why he deserves their vote. "I feel like the Alex19 that went to the last summit compared to me now are completely different people. People I had a great time there and probably the funnest time from any tournament and I know I contributed as far as just being present and having fun with everyone; it was a great balance of people. I want to prove that it wouldn't be a mistake for me to make it in. I'll make upsets happen.
After Summit 1 I felt recharged motivated better than I ever had, I learned so much got to practice a ton and ever since then I stream/ practice a lot and so well at the nationals I've gone to. This will only make me better and I feel like everyone's seen my potential and as soon as a few mentality issues I'm working on are fixed you'll see me contending with the others and not see it as an upset but just simply on the same level. I'm the only player that's taken out 7 players that are ranked top 20 in the MIOM ranking in less than a year, and I'm ranked 67. I wouldn't call that luck. I think people should vote for me cause you'll see that everyone sleeping on me."
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Want to see Alex19 at Smash Summit 2? Voting for the first phase ends March 4th at 3PM PDT so be sure to go vote for his entry into the Smash Summit. Agree or disagree with his case to join the event? Tell us in the comments below and don't forget to stay tuned to Smashboards as other stars make their case to enter Smash Summit 2.