Smasher:Jmook

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Jmook
JMOOK.jpg
Character info
Melee main Sheik
Team info
Sponsor(s) FlyQuest
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee SSBMRank 2022: 6th
Winnings Super Smash Bros. Melee ~$28,657
Personal and other info
Real name Jake DiRado
Location Binghamton, New York USA
Miscellaneous info
Skill Super Smash Bros. Melee Top level

Jmook is a Super Smash Bros. Melee Sheik player from New York. Although he has been active in the scene since October 2014, he didn't gain prominence until 2022, where following a string of top 6 placements at majors, he cemented himself as not only the best Sheik player, but also one of the best players in the world in the post-pandemic metagame. His debut at 3rd on the MPGR Summer 2022 is the highest placing for a previously unranked player since the inception of the Panda Global Rankings. He is currently ranked 6th on the SSBMRank 2022. He is the first player to win a supermajor going solo Sheik at GENESIS 9.

On June 10th, 2022, Jmook joined FlyQuest.[1]

Tournament history

The beginnings

Jmook has been playing Melee since October 2014, however most of his results were limited to a regional level, and due to these results, he was ranked 14th on the Tri-state Power Rankings for the 2018-2019 season. His only appearance at a major during this period was at Super Smash Con 2017 where he placed 97th.

Jmook first came to prominence during the online metagame, specifically his performances at Hax's Nightclub (Season 2 Episode 1) and Four Loko Fight Night. At the former tournament, he defeated Magi, bobby big ballz, and a Zain who was playing secondaries, ultimately placing 4th. At the latter tournament, he defeated Polish, Ginger twice, and Aklo to place 5th. Jmook's first tournament offline following the end of the Netplay era was the Smash World Tour 2021 Last Chance Qualifier, where he qualified for the main tournament. He ultimately placed 13th, his first top 16 placement at a major at that time. Despite having seen strong performances online and having a breakout performance offline, these performance would soon be overshadowed by his performances in the following year.

2022: A sudden rise

Jmook entered GENESIS 8 without much fanfare, as eyes were on players such as Zain and iBDW, two players who were contenders for the best player in the world, as well as Mango, who was recently crowned as the best player in the world on the MPGRContenders North America list. Due to this, Jmook first shocked players by defeating Plup, who was considered the best Sheik player in the world at that time and had won the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships a few months prior. He then defeated lloD to qualify for top 8 where he was eventually defeated by Zain, falling to losers. He then shocked players once again by 3-0ing iBDW, but lost his runback to Zain to place 2nd. As the 21st seed, Jmook was the lowest seeded player to make it it to Grand Finals at a Melee major since Fly Amanita (16th seed) at Press Start and Bombsoldier (who was unseeded) at Jack Garden Tournament.

Following his Cinderella run at GENESIS 8, many players were excited to watch Jmook, and they didn't have to wait long, as due to his GENESIS run, he qualified for Smash Summit 13. Despite losing to Mango during Round Robin, Jmook entered the Winner's side of the Final Bracket after winning his Gauntlet round. His Final Bracket run was opposite of his run at GENESIS: he lost the runback against both iBDW and Plup, but eliminated Zain from the tournament. In addition, he also scored a win over Leffen and ultimately placed 4th. Despite losing to players he had defeated before, Jmook's Summit run proved that his GENESIS performance wasn't a fluke.

The rest of the season solidified Jmook's position in the top 5, where he placed top 6 at every tournament he attended. During this period, he notably scored 2 more wins against Zain and made 2 more appearances in Grand Finals, at both Get On My Level 2022 and Wavedash 2022. However, he failed to claim victory at a single national tournament, as at both aforementioned tournaments, his victory was snatched away by his bracket demon, Hungrybox. Thus, a "triangle" began to form amongst the three players: Hungrybox struggled against Zain, Zain struggled against Jmook, and Jmook struggled against Hungrybox.

2023: The Jaywalker

Despite placing in the top 10 the previous season, Jmook had yet to win a major, often falling to players such as Hungrybox and Zain in Grand Finals or losing to familiar demons such as aMSa. That was set to change in GENESIS 9, the first supermajor of the year, and the tournament series where he first broke out a year prior. Both Hungrybox and aMSa were upset in Top 64, while Jmook mostly cruised into Top 8 despite a close call with SFOP. He then defeated Zain 3-2, moky 3-0, and finally Cody Schwab 3-1 to take the tournament, marking the first supermajor win for a solo-Sheik player in Melee's history.

Jmook followed this historic feat with yet another major victory at Collision 2023. Although he fell to Loser's after losing to Cody Schwab, Jmook ran through the Loser's bracket, defeating a slew of Fox players and winning his runback against Cody before facing Zain in Grand Finals, where he defeated him 3-0 and 3-2. With two major/supermajor wins under his belt within the first three months of the year, many players began wondering whether Jmook could be ranked #1 in first half of the year.

Unfortunately, Jmook's hot streak ended at Battle of BC 5, where Jmook's bracket luck ran out as he ran into aMSa, who defeated him 1-3. Jmook then lost to Cody Schwab to place 4th. His next major -- Tipped Off 14: Resurgence -- was even more underwhelming, as he was upset by MOF in Winner's Round 1 and unluckily ran into aMSa in Loser's bracket, who eliminated him at 9th, Jmook's first finish outside the top 8 since the Smash World Tour 2021 Championships.

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament Date 1v1 Placement 2v2 Placement Partner Earnings
Syracuse Smash Biweekly #5 September 6th, 2015 7th
Cusetown Beatdown 5 February 20th, 2016 17th
NEW FISH May 7th, 2016 9th 5th Patches
EVO 2016 July 15th-17th, 2016 257th 33rd Patches
Next Level Smash Series 5 July 30th, 2016 2nd
Jalapeño Smash September 10th, 2016 3rd 2nd Patches
Cusetown Beatdown @ RetroGameCon 2016 November 5th, 2016 3rd 3rd GoodleShoes
No Friendlies 3 December 3rd, 2016 1st 3rd Patches
Ghost Pepper Smash April 22nd, 2017 9th 3rd Patches
Binghamton eSports with Passion 5 April 29th, 2017 1st
Super Smash Con 2017 August 10th-13th, 2017 97th 25th Patches
Nebulous Melee 100! October 21st, 2017 5th 3rd BIG KID
Binghamton eSports with Passion 8 November 12th, 2017 1st 1st Patches
Binghamton eSports with Passion 10 March 11th, 2018 1st 1st Patches
See Me On LAN March 31st, 2018 7th 5th Patches $25
Binghamton eSports with Passion 11 April 14th, 2018 1st 1st Patches
High DMG Output 5 September 2nd, 2018 1st 1st billyboy48
Binghamton eSports with Passion 12 October 27th, 2018 1st 1st Patches
See Me On LAN 2 November 10th, 2018 3rd 2nd Patches $124
Binghamton eSports with Passion 13 November 18th, 2018 1st 1st Camg
Reality Royale IV December 30th, 2018 1st
Binghamton eSports with Passion 14 February 24th, 2019 1st 1st Patches
See Me On LAN!! 3 March 16th, 2019 9th 2nd Patches
Binghamton eSports with Passion 15 March 30th, 2019 1st 1st Patches
Binghamton Esports With Passion 16 April 27th, 2019 1st
Omega III June 8th-9th, 2019 9th 9th Patches
See Me On LAN!! 4 September 7th, 2019 4th 2nd Patches $81
Hax's Nightclub (Season 2 Episode 1)Online January 2nd, 2021 4th
Four Loko Fight NightOnline March 6th-7th, 2021 5th $250
Smash World Tour 2021 Last Chance Qualifier December 17th, 2021 Top 8
Smash World Tour 2021 Championships December 17th-19th, 2021 13th $1,000
GENESIS 8 April 15th-17th, 2022 2nd 13th Sora
Smash Summit 13 May 12th-15th, 2022 4th
Battle of BC 4 June 10th-12th, 2022 5th 1st Aura
Get On My Level 2022 July 1st-3rd, 2022 2nd 1st iBDW $986
Quit Your Friendlies 4 July 16th, 2022 1st 1st Patches
Wavedash 2022 August 6th-7th, 2022 2nd
Shine 2022 August 26th-28th, 2022 2nd 3rd KoDoRiN $1,425
Riptide 2022 September 9th-11th, 2022 3rd 5th Zuppy
Frame 11 September 17th, 2022 1st 1st Faust $577
The Big House 10 October 7th-9th, 2022 7th 1st iBDW $594
The Off-Season October 15th-16th, 2022 2nd $5,000
Ludwig Smash Invitational October 21st-23rd, 2022 5th $3,150
Smash Summit 14 November 3rd-6th, 2022 5th $3,186
Scuffed World Tour December 18th, 2022 5th
GENESIS 9 January 20th-22nd, 2023 1st 2nd Cody Schwab $7,518
Collision 2023 March 10th-12th, 2023 1st 1st Cody Schwab $3,595
Frame 12 Apr 29th, 2023 1st 1st Patches $533
Battle of BC 5 May 19th-21st, 2023 4th 1st Cody Schwab $613
Tipped Off 14: Resurgence June 3rd-4th, 2023 9th / 344 1st / 79 Cody Schwab
Wavedash 2023 June 16th-18th, 2023 1st / 234
CEO 2023 June 23rd-25th, 2023 5th / 212

Trivia

  • Jmook is known for being extremely proficient at the Marth matchup, having never lost to a Marth player at a Melee tournament prior to fighting Zain at GENESIS 8.
  • Jmook has a positive record against Zain (7-4).
  • Excluding himself, Jmook has defeated all the top 8 ranked players of the SSBMRank 2022, defeating both Plup and iBDW at GENESIS 8, both Leffen and Zain at Smash Summit 13, Mango at Wavedash 2022, Hungrybox at Shine 2022, and aMSa at The Off-Season.
  • Similarly to Dabuz, Jmook is the subject of a number of popular chants in Twitch chat during tournament streams, which often bring attention to his good looks, immaculate posture, or his "FLY" sponsor tag being redundant due to already being dressed well.

References

External links