TSM ZeRo
Banned via Administration
Welcome everyone to ZeRo's 6th Pro Player spotlight. I am here with the Pokémon master, the one, the only, the best Pikachu in the world, ESAM!
ESAM at MLG Dallas 2010.
ESAM at MLG Dallas 2010.
ZeRo: Esam, my friend, how are you doing today?
ESAM:I'm doing pretty good. Little tired from WHOBO4 still, but good.
ZeRo: Awesome to hear! Congratulations on your win. Tell us, how did that go?
ESAM:The tournament was super fun. I had a little scare in pools with Mikeray, he took game 1 off of me and game 2 was last hit (Although game 3 wasn't very close), and a TX toonlink named Shadow1pj who was quite legit. My bracket was pretty entertaining, every single round was against a different set of characters: Denti's Olimar, MJG's Toon Link, Kain's Wolf, Will's DK, Gnes' Diddy/Toon Link, and then Ally's ICs/Wario. It was super entertaining.
ZeRo: Sounds like you had an awesome tournament experience. Getting all the exp you can before Apex, right? Isn't playing Pikachu at tournaments, harder when MK is not around? There's more Olimars and Ice Climbers, which are very bad MU's for Pikachu.
ESAM:Normally yes, but Rich Brown/Dabuz didn't go (the two best Olimars) and Vinnie travelled to Japan so the biggest threats of both characters were gone. Fortunately, since those people didn't go, I was able to use Pikachu in every set besides my set with Denti.
ZeRo: That's awesome. Would you call your win "lucky", being that your tournament threats weren't present?
ESAM:Not necessarily. It would have been more difficult, but I have the most recent win on all three of those players (I beat Rich Brown 2-1 at Genesis2, Dabuz 2-1 at one of the Xanadu Monthlies, and Vinnie 3-0 at SKTAR). The matches would've been hype for sure, but I think I was playing well enough to beat them.
ZeRo: Good stuff! Excellent records so far. You're by far, one of the most consistent pros in the scene. Why would that be?
ESAM:I'm just good, I guess. I consistently have high level practice partners in Seibrik (lives down the street) and Nick Riddle (lives in my house), as well as MVD, Shaky, and a few others (Tommy G, DJ Jack, Xaltis, 8bitman). Even from the very beginning I had high level players in Lambchops and Afro Thundah. I think a big part of it, though, is my current mentality. I noticed that all the events I did the best at I had a mindset of "whatever happens will happen" as opposed to forcing it. At the MLG's where I had that mindset (Orlando, D.C., and Dallas) I did the best with 4th, 4th, and 3rd respectively. Same with Pound V and Apex 2012, where I got 4th in both events. However, in events where I was really trying to prove myself, such as WHOBO3 and Genesis2, I didn't do as well (17th and 9th). Coming in with a good mindset really helps, especially if you already at a super high skill level.
ZeRo: I agree with that mentality, especially when it comes to super high level tournaments like Apex or Genesis. How do you prepare yourself for these events?
ESAM:I just play more than usual. I had 3 training sessions with Nick Riddle the week before the tournament, I played with Shaky/MVD/Seibrik before they left on their megabus trip, and I practiced some general movement things like Pikachu scarring, as well as ICs Chaingrabs (Although I dropped a fair amount in tournament).
ZeRo: You sound like a really time efficient person. For those reading that don't know what scarring is, could you explain it to them, and some of it's uses at a pro level?
ESAM:Scarring is pretty much a glitch (or something close to it) where characters can go through stages, most notably with Wolf's up-b. Pikachu has one to a very small degree with Quick Attack. The reason it is useful is because a major part of Brawl is edgeguarding and ledge pressure, so any type of ledge mix-up or a way to scare the opponent away from the edge to allow you back onstage is a great thing, especially with a character who's innate ledge options are surprisingly mediocre.
ZeRo: Very informative answer. Speaking about the mechanics of high level, what do you think are the key points to succeed at a pro level?
ESAM:Here are a few things. First off, and the most obvious, the knowledge of the characters in this game. It doesn't matter how technically proficient you are if you don't understand what you can punish and what you can't, where some ranges are, what the start-ups of some moves are, and things of that nature. A thorough understanding of most of the characters of this game is essential to being a top player (Hence why Match-ups are discussed so frequently between players). I guess tied or right below would be your technical skill. You can know how to punish things and what you can punish, but if you can't actually do the inputs then it doesn't matter. Next would be your mental game. Being able to predict, bait, and adapt is what truly separates the mid/high level players to the top level players. The last one is just the ability to control your mood. If you get really flustered in the middle of a match, your skill will drop mid-match and you will start losing and not being able to adapt as well as the person who is more calm. The last one is practice. You just have to play the game a lot and get used to all the different situations and react accordingly, that way you can autopilot certain situations where you KNOW a certain move will work so you can use your mental strength on something else.
ZeRo: Couldn't agree more with you here, my friend. From all of those, what was the hardest aspect for you to overcome, or be good at it?
ESAM:I mean, as the game gets older, the way people use their characters change, so I would have to say the character knowledge. As some of you may know, I am notorious for having a Peach problem, having lost to Illmatic (WHOBO3), Nicole (MM at Pound V), Vinnie (Xanadu) and Kyon (at some FL local). After watching videos and watching how other people play the MU, I was able to understand her better, which led to me 2 stocking Vinnie the most recent time we played, as opposed to getting 2 stocked. It was a good feeling (Although I'm still happy I didn't run into Illmatic at WHOBO4)
ZeRo: What exactly troubles you about Peach? Do you feel that it's only the character that gives you troubles, or the players' style coupled with using Peach?
ESAM:It's just the character, she is just weird. She isn't really punishable, her shield pressure is really good and yet I can't react and punish with something like a nair OOS. Her aerial mobility always surprised me and for some reason I could never react to hit her before her moves come out. It's just...blah.
ZeRo: Would you say that this MU problem is related with your reaction time?
ESAM:I mean, I'm just not used to having to test them THAT much so constantly. Also, her nair being invulnerable on start up makes me 2nd guess my reads, so i have like...7-8 frames to react to her using a move and punish accordingly or I get slapped or something. I hate that character so much! My reaction time is pretty good normally, I guess I just have, or had, a mental block on her.
ZeRo: I see. Since Pikachu has a short range he will have to deal with Peach's N-Air pretty often. How do you currently play the MU?
ESAM:Well I play ICs and just do ICs things and it works because ICs are godlike.
ZeRo: Ic's doing the Ic's! Speaking about them, what is your take on them at a pro level?
ESAM:They are stupid. The main thing about Brawl is that reward is generally super low. You might get a hit and then a read for a *gasp* 2-3 hit string. With ICs, you read them once or you capitalize on an opponents mistake and you kill them. They can still mess up a few times and not suffer too hard (Nana might die, but she also might not) while the opponent has to play super perfect. I messed up twice against Ally game 2 at WHOBO4 and I lost 2 stocks because of it, as opposed to maybe taking a snake f-tilt or a random characters F-smash.
ZeRo: That's true. Do you think that they're the best characters in Brawl?
ESAM:2nd, but I still think MK is the best. He barely even has risks on a majority of his moves due to their range, speed, and ability to cancel in one another. Also, him not ever being edgeguarded is nice too considering that is a huge factor of characters that lose (including Ice Climbers).
ZeRo: The ledge is indeed a big factor. Do you think he should be banned in Singles? What about doubles?
ESAM:I'm really impartial to the ban. There will always be a best character in the game, and MK happens to be it. Unregulated he is broken, but with the regulations he is fine; really good, but fine. I support a ban on the double MK team, though, since it it just too, too safe.
ZeRo: Interesting opinion. Let's twist the question a bit: What about banning Ic's? Or banning/limiting their grab?
ESAM:I mean, regardless of what I say it is going to sound biased since I use them frequently at nationals, haha.
I think banning something that inherent to a character's design is stupid as long as it doesn't actually break the game. MK on the ledge breaks the game, ICs grabs don't, especially considering there are a multitude of circumstances where they don't work. If you banned ICs grab they would be a butt character, and it is unfair to arbitrarily do that. If you ban ICs grabs, do you ban D3's? Pikachu's? Falco's? What about near death combos like Zero Suit Samus' D-smash lock on Fox/Sheik/Falcon? Once you start banning techniques integral to several characters in the game, you start picking things based off of subjective reasons and it is just a mess for the rulesets.
ZeRo: That's a good argument. Keeping the reasoning behind things "balanced". I like this.
Esam, what advice would you give to up and coming Pikachu players wanting to succeed at the pro scene, like yu do?
ESAM:Just play. If you play, you WILL get better (not necessarily quickly, but it will happen). As you get better, your friends wil get better. As your friends get better, you will get better, etc.. That's what happened with me/nick riddle/seibrik/mvd/shaky. We all played each other, got better, and then got even better because our constant competition was forcing us to get better. I'll find a quote I made on the boards a few days ago, which is relevant to Teen Titans (a cartoon, so godlike). "Did Teen Titans not teach you anything? When Cyborg said he couldn't lift more than 100%, he failed. When he didn't set a limit on what he could do and knew that no matter what he could surpass it, he did. You can do better than your best, always, because there is never a cap."
ZeRo: So true! And Teen Titants was an awesome show. I loved it. Any chance of you giving out private pro lessons?
ESAM:Nah. First off, I'm not sure how good of a teacher I am in general. I'm better at saying what you SHOULDN'T do than what you SHOULD do. 2nd off, I always play my best at all times, so people don't have to worry about paying me to play/teach them extra serious. If they want advice, I will give it to them, and I frequently do at the locals. Sometimes, though, people know their character enough but get outsmarted, and the only way you can overcome that is by playing a lot. The only way you can break habits is by recognizing you have them and then actively NOT doing it when you are put in a situation you want to (Like my sidesteps..they used to be so much worse).
ZeRo: Awesome stuff right here. Very nice of you to help out Smashers who want to get better. How can people contact you outside of the tournaments?
ESAM:Well you can hit me up on facebook (Eric ESAM Lew), AIM (Ercyman), or Skype (TrixiESAM). Or you could be awesome and come to a Florida tournament, but that is pretty impractical...
ZeRo: Great. Now, to wrap up this very informative interview, any shoutouts you want to give?
ESAM:Shoutouts to Nick Riddle, obviously, for being too godlike and helping me progress as a player. Shoutouts to Seibrik for being the one to really push me into the greats (I had to beat that ***** eventually). Shoutouts to MVD's hair for letting MVD be good enough to have the privelage of teaming with me and giving me Snake experience. Shoutouts to all of FL for being 2godlike and fun. Shoutouts to...pretty much all the smasher's I've ever met for being chill, fun, and just generally awesome. Shoutouts to all the TO's that make this community have a place to meet up and compete. Uh...yeah, that's about it. #Smashers2gud
ZeRo: I asked ESAM about a video that he thinks, or feels, displays his skill level, or just a match that he's proud of how he performed at. This is what he said about it:
ESAM: This VIDEO was pretty much my defining moment. It is me beating Lee Martin at MLG D.C.. Every time I watch this video I get hype. It pretty much exemplifies the "stay calm" mentality. Also, Lee Martin was the person I feared the most out of the history of my Smash career, so it was nice to get over that hurdle. Shoutouts to Lee.
ZeRo: Indeed, shoutouts to Lee! We have a 1$ MK vs TL MM pending Lee!
![[FBC] ESAM](/data/avatars/l/92/92614.jpg?1365783210){kind=avatar}
. Lee Martin where you at?!!
