Smasher:Salem
| Salem | |
|---|---|
| Salem.png | |
| Character info | |
| Brawl main | Zero Suit Samus |
| Other Brawl characters | Snake, Marth |
| Project M main | Zelda |
| Other Project M character | Zero Suit Samus |
| Team info | |
| Crew(s) | CLASH Tournaments |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | Saleem Akiel Young |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey 
|
| Miscellaneous info | |
| Skill |  Top professional  |
Salem is an American smasher from New Jersey who mains what is considered to be the best Brawl Zero Suit Samus in the world. He has become infamous for his incredible usage of Zero Suit Samus's Power Suit Pieces to rack up damage at the beginning of matches. Before playing in the offline scene, he gained fame on the AiB ladder as an incredible Wi-Fi player, dominating the ladder with Zero Suit Samus. When he finally did enter an offline tournament, he made a large splash in his offline debut and got 5th in his first tournament, Concentrate II, where he defeated Nicole, Jbandrew, Will, and Kingtoon. He made more news a few months later at Apex 2012; while he did not advance very far in bracket, placing only 33rd, he managed to take a set off of Nick Riddle, who was then considered to be the best Zero Suit Samus player in the USA.
Throughout 2012, Salem continued to enter tournaments and place well, but never actually won or gathered much public attention until a dominating performance at Apex 2013, where he came out of nowhere to take first place. In his march to victory, he defeated top players such as mikeHAZE, Dojo, Mr. R, Otori (the Apex 2012 champion), Mikeneko, and Mew2King in both winners' and grand finals, the latter of which has been considered of the most intense sets witnessed in Brawl tournament play. In the grand finals set, both players took the other down to the last stock and last match, before Salem eventually won after a long, drawn-out war of attrition. This shocked the world, as he had not only won one of the most prestigious Brawl tournaments ever with a character who wasn't considered top tier, but had done so without winning any local tournaments in his region prior to the event. Since then, however, Salem has not placed in the top eight of any Brawl national tournaments since his Apex victory.
At Apex 2014, Salem placed 1st in his pool by defeating Mekos, and defeated fellow Zero Suit Samus main V115 before losing to ESAM in winners'. He proceeded to defeat Pwii and Koolaid before losing to ADHD 1-2 in a close set, placing 9th overall and outplacing Nick Riddle once again.
Salem is currently ranked 6th on the Tristate Brawl Power Rankings. Due to his aforementioned dominance at Apex 2013, CLASH Tournaments has recently recruited him into their crew as a top professional player.
Notable tournament placings
Brawl
| Tournament | Date | Singles Placement | Doubles placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concentrate II | October 30, 2011 | 5th | 2nd | Anti |
| Apex 2012 | January 6-8, 2012 | 33rd | 65th | Meekspeedy |
| SKTAR | July 14-15, 2012 | 17th | N/A | N/A |
| C5 | September 1, 2012 | 5th | 3rd | Chibo |
| Impact IV | September 6, 2012 | 5th | 2nd | Chibo |
| Apex 2013 | January 11-13, 2013 | 1st | — | — |
| SKTAR 2 | August 3-4, 2013 | 33rd | 7th | Vex Kasrani |
| KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 17th | 3rd | ZeRo |
| Collision VIII | January 11, 2014 | 3rd | 2nd | Vex Kasrani |
| Apex 2014 | January 17-19, 2014 | 9th | 9th | Vex Kasrani |
Project M
| Tournament | Date | Singles Placement |
|---|---|---|
| KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 5th |
| Collision VIII | January 11, 2014 | 1st |
