Team:The Smash Affiliates

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TSA's Mascot, Gundam Kitty.

The Smash Affiliates, also known as TSA, is an east coast crew based in New Jersey, with a branch in Pennsylvania. The crew is led by Warrior of Zarona and is known for their tournament series, SMASHTALITY. Currently, there are 14 active members.

Members

New Jersey Main Branch

• AngelCX
• Copycat
• Crismas
• Doyoung2win
• Emblem Lord
• Heart Break Kid
• Mud - Second in Command
• Muz - Second in Command
• Public Enemy No. 1
• RaptorHawk
• Sensei
• Sneak8288
• Warrior of Zarona - Crew Leader

13 Members

Pennsylvania Branch

• Cactuar - Branch Leader
• PakmanOnCrack - Branch Second in Command
• Scar

3 Members

Retired

• Odin
• Ghost

History

The Beginning

The Smash Affiliates began when Warrior of Zarona was driving home from a Princeton tournament with Copycat and two former TSA members, Odin and Ghost, on January 2006. WoZ, as he was known for short, randomly asked his passengers if they wanted to form a crew together, to which they all agreed. Though it was meant to be casual and unofficial, the nameless crew decided to train with each other to grow stronger.

In February of that same year, WoZ entered a tournament held by The Human Stampede, a former NJ crew. Discussing a name for WoZ's crew, Boocif, one of THS' members, jokingly suggested to call themselves "The Affiliates," where the crew would be directly affiliated to THS. WoZ enjoyed the idea and decided that this would be the name of the crew. Since it conflicted with Team Arlington's initials, "TA," WoZ decided to rename it "The Smash Affiliates." It was also at this same tournament where WoZ randomly asked Mud and Muz to join the crew. Ever since then, the crew had been training with each other on occasion, and every so often, WoZ would spontaneously ask someone to join TSA. Heart Break Kid would then be the next to join the ranks. WoZ also tried to convince Emblem Lord, at that time a THS crew member, to join TSA, but was refused multiple times. TSA also attended an unofficial crew battle in Deadly Alliance's tournament, the Gauntlet. It was after this crew battle that WoZ realized he wanted to organize the crew into an official group of players that would be recognized in the Smash community.

Development and Growth

In May 2006, WoZ created The Smash Affiliates Thread in the Atlantic North section of Regional Zones. It's purpose was to provide the members a way to communicate with each other upon crew matters, as well as allow other players to read about the crew and who they are. At this time, THS disbanded, and so Emblem Lord had finally agreed to become part of TSA as long as he was appointed the second in command. Along with Emblem Lord came his friend, Public Enemy No. 1, who also became part of the crew.

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The TSA Tag

Gundam Kitty was eventually introduced as TSA's mascot. A recruitment policy was created, where players were free to apply to become part of TSA, instead of the former method where WoZ would randomly invite players into the crew. Raptorhawk, Sensei, Doyoung2win, Cactuar, and Sneak8288 were some of the members that were recruited through this process. Unfortunately, Odin and Ghost were removed from the roster because of their loss of interest for the game.

TSA was soon known as one of the more highly active crews in NJ - crew meetings were held once every week, and players from both NJ and NY were soon aware of their presence. TSA was also known for their amazingly addicting animated, or the Triple A, signatures, as well as the TSA Tag, which is a badge worn by the members of the crew. During that summer of 2006, TSA continued to grow stronger as their reputation expanded - they entered into crew battles with Honey Roasted Peanuts, a former NY crew, as well as The Holy Pwnerers and the Whipped Cream Cobras, two NJ crews. To date, they have been undefeated in crew battles.

As the summer ended, TSA had a number of changes made to suit the majority of the members as the school season started:

• The role of Second in Command was transferred from Emblem Lord to Mud and Muz. The reason was that Emblem Lord felt he wouldn't be active enough to be able to fulfill his duty properly, and both he and WoZ felt that the brothers would do a far better job.
• With Cactuar going back to school in Pennsylvania, WoZ assigned a new Pennsylvania Branch, to which he would leave Cactuar in charge. PakmanOnCrack was one of the first to be recruited for this branch.
• Crew meetings were switched from Sunday to Saturday nights.
• A new recruitment policy was put into place - players no longer were able to apply freely into the crew, but instead recieved special invitations to join the crew. AngelCX was the first to join the crew through this method.

Tournaments and Competitions

SMASHTALITY

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SMASHTALITY III: July, 2007

On August 2006, TSA hosted its first SMASHTALITY, held at the CyberConXion in NJ. The tournament was planned during the course of the summer - the venue was found when TSA stumbled on a tournament held there by AngelCX, the store's tournament director, and a business relationship was created. The tournament started with rules similar to King of the Couch's with minor changes and adjustments such as an extended time limit and some of the store's house rules. The tournament was heavily promoted by WoZ in both SWF and the DC++ Hub. As a result, more than 53 people arrived for the tournament, making TSA's first event not only a huge success, but also aiding in boosting the crew's reputation even further. Noting that the majority of the players enjoyed their experience at the tournament, TSA quickly pulled together to organize their second event.

On October 2006, TSA hosted SMASHTALITY 2, once again held at CyberConXion. Looking forward to another success, as well as taking into account the mistakes made from the last tournament, TSA had planned on making the event twice as big, this time offering out of state players a chance to come and experience the event along with the NY/NJ players. One of the biggest changes was the ruleset, now similar to Major League Gaming's. TSA also had an art contest to help promote SMASHTALITY 2. To enter, a contestant must create an emblem or logo for SMASHTALITY that will be used in future events. The winner, phish-it, received free entry for events held at the tournament. SuperDoodleMan also made an appearance with the premiere of his highly anticipated video, Perfect Control 2. This time, more than 80 people arrived at the scene, marking the biggest event TSA has had yet.

Plans for SMASHTALITY III are currently in the works, but will most likely be pushed back to July of 2007.

TSA Biweeklies

Started in January of 2007, TSA began a series of mini tournaments that would be held every two weeks to inspire growth and development of the SSBM community in New Jersey. These tournaments are normally held in Edison, thanks to Emblem Lord's mother who lends the crew her apartment for the day.

Trivia

Crew Members' First Encounter with Each Other

• Warrior of Zarona first met Copycat, Odin, and Ghost through a friend, who invited WoZ to go to their school to "own nubs at Smash" back in late 2005. The next day, WoZ visited the school once more and met Emblem Lord.
• Emblem Lord met Mud and Muz on SWF and invited them to play at his house. This is also the first time where WoZ met the twins.
• Public Enemy No.1 is childhood friends with Emblem Lord and first met with WoZ at Emblem's house.
• Heart Break Kid met WoZ, who happened to be the first person he talked to, in his first King of the Couch tournament in early 2006.
• Sensei and Raptorhawk had met with WoZ in previous tournaments, such as Gauntlet and King of the Couch, but had never spoken to him personally until they both applied for TSA in the crew thread.
• Doyoung2win met with WoZ at one of the King of the Couch's.
• Cactuar first met WoZ on AOL Instant Messenger, and then later on in a King of the Couch tournament. The next day, he met with Doyoung2win, who was his ride to the TSA meeting.
• Sneak8288 was Copycat's friend and first met with WoZ when they were invited to play at Copycat's house.
• AngelCX first met with WoZ, Sensei, and Copycat at CyberConXion's first smash tournament.
• PakmanonCrack was Cactuar's friend and met the rest of TSA at the first SMASHTALITY.

Random Facts

• When Warrior of Zarona started playing SSBM in tournaments, he chose to be called "Drew B," which is based on his real name - he didn't call himself the shorter "WoZ" until years later, despite already having the tag registered at SWF.
• Warrior of Zarona has often killed his opponents without looking at the screen, much to the dismay of his opponents.
• Warrior of Zarona used to be terrible in teams, until the crew realized to simply stay out of his way while he rushed in for the attacks and kills. When Warrior of Zarona and Emblem Lord first teamed together in a Gauntlet on October 2005, they named their team Dead Aim, after WoZ's philosophy of powerful and precise attacks (a sniper rifle), as opposed to flashy and random ones (a machine gun).
• In a King of the Couch tournament, when WoZ was using the wall of pain using Zelda in a teams match, someone in the background yelled out, "WoZ of Pain"! Since then, the crew often refers to this term whenever WoZ is using Zelda's wall of pain.
• In the beginning, Copycat was completely new to the competitive scene, and WoZ personally took the time to train him in everything - from basic terms to advanced techniques. WoZ also brought him to every tournament that he's been to since then. One year later, Copycat is a completely changed and knowledgeable player that often surprises those who underestimate him. Because of the training, Copycat prefers WoZ to be his partner in teams.
• Mud and Muz are twins, and their tags are based on their real names.
• Mud and Muz worked on the signatures for the majority of the members, as well as the posters for SMASHTALITY.
• Mud and Muz often bring snacks to crew meetings, making WoZ giddy with delight.
• Copycat refuses to don a signature - the only exceptions are the TSA Tag and the Smashtality 2 Banner.
• Emblem Lord is often the target of many cruel inside jokes that are aimed at him in public, which lead some people to believe that TSA hates him, when in fact, it's true. Ouch. Just kidding, of course.
• In the same manner, WoZ is often jokingly accused by the crew as being a sandbagger. His response: "I just have my good days and bad days."
• Emblem Lord was once claimed as the best Marth in NJ. The same goes for Mud, who was hailed the best Bowser in the state.
• Emblem Lord refused to join TSA until he became the 2nd best player in THS. When he did, he changed his reasoning to besting Zanguzen before joining the crew. THS disbanded before it was possible to do so.
• Doyoung2win takes the pictures of the crew during the meetings and tournaments.
• In the summer of 2006, Doyoung2win was Cactuar's ride as a means of traveling to crew meetings and tournaments throughout NJ.
• Sensei is also incredibly skilled in the original Super Smash Bros. and often hosts tournaments frequently in NJ.
• Sensei came up with the name SMASHTALITY for TSA's tournament in one of the crew meetings. Later on, Public Enemy No. 1 and Emblem Lord once suggested the name "CYBER SMASHTALITY" because of the venue location. WoZ rejected the idea, believing it sounded a little too suggestive.
• Sensei created a TSA handshake akin to Team Arlington's Pound - two crew members take their right arms and strike them against each other in the form of an X, then rotate their arms downward into another X. To date, it has no official name.
• Cactuar tends to travel by hitching a ride with other people. Despite not driving anywhere, he's traveled around the region more than any of the other members of the crew.
• Cactuar's hair is often admired by many players in the community, especially when he tosses it around PC Chris-style.
• Copycat and Sneak8288 were both Halo players that played together before they switched to SSBM.
• Sensei admits to doing terrible in teams. Once in a crew meeting, Raptorhawk did better in teams with a Level 9 than he did with Sensei.
• When Sensei wants to be serious in a match, he takes off his watch and sets it on a table nearby. Once in a tournament, WoZ returned the favor by taking off his own watch. Sensei and WoZ then continued to remove other articles of clothing before they started the match, including their shirts, belts, and shoes.
• Public Enemy No. 1 now goes to school in North Carolina, but often comes back to NJ during holidays to play with the crew.
• Warrior of Zarona and AngelCX go to the same school at Seton Hall University. Emblem Lord and Copycat also go to the same school at Union County College.
• Heart Break Kid once imitated Ken's infamous "no hands" taunt when teamed with Copycat in friendlies at MLG NY. When he grabbed his opponent and Copycat jabbed infinitely with Sheik, HBK placed his controller on the floor and screamed "NO HANDS!" with his arms raised, giving nearby players high fives.
• TSA is known to be one of the most modest crews in the state. None of the members are willing to admit that they're good at the game, despite placing well in tournaments.
• There have been times when the majority of TSA entered and completely dominated a tournament: a local tournament called EC Smash, one of the King of the Couch's, and a tournament in a LAN Center called Terrabyte.

External Links

• The Smash Affiliates at SWF
• SMASHTALITY Results
• SMASHTALITY 2
• SSB64 - The Reckoning