Smasher:Taj

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Not to be confused with Tai, another Marth player from Arizona
Taj
Taj.jpg
Character info
Melee main Marth
Other Melee characters Mewtwo, Fox, Link, Samus
Project M mains Mewtwo, Marth
Team info
Crew(s) AZC
Personal and other info
Real name Tony Jackson
Birth date (age 37)
Location Gilbert, Arizona United States
Miscellaneous info
Skill Super Smash Bros. Melee Top professional (semi-active)
Project M Top professional (retired)

Taj is an American smasher, internationally famous as the best Mewtwo player in the world in Melee, as well as being a notable Marth player. He is also the creator of the series of combo videos Shadowclaw. Taj is also a former moderator on SmashBoards, responsible for the Pichu and Mewtwo Character Specific Forums. He was formerly ranked 2nd on the Arizona Melee Power Rankings.

Some of Taj's most famous tournament placings are his runs through Apex 2010 and GENESIS 2. In Apex 2010, he reached 17th place by going solo Mewtwo, the highest placing of any Mewtwo main at a major tournament so far. In GENESIS 2 pools, he defeated various players including PPMD. In bracket, he defeated DEHF, Hax, MacD and even Mango. He was then defeated by Armada in winners finals and then eliminated by Mango in a losers finals rematch, rounding up to an astonishing 3rd place, out-placing other top players such as Hungrybox and Mew2King. He used Marth for the tournament. He's in a semi-retired state since 2014. He has recently entered Paragon Los Angeles 2015, getting top 64 using only Young Link. He has also attended The Big House 6 making it into bracket with Mewtwo and getting top 16 in teams with Axe.

He also got 9th in Project M at Apex 2014, the 2nd largest Project M tournament of all time. He was eliminated by Ally 1-2 in a last-hit situation.

Shadowclaw - A Mewtwo Combo Video

Although well-known locally, Taj's biggest impact on the global smash scene was his release of the Mewtwo combo video Shadowclaw.

The video illustrated professional Mewtwo play at a level not previously seen in wide distribution. Despite a few quiet claims to the contrary (and surprisingly little tangible evidence), he was almost ubiquitously considered the best Mewtwo player in the world for a long time, to the point where Taj is sometimes credited as being the sole reason for Mewtwo's later rise out of the bottom position on the later revisions of Melee's tier list. Forward later created a thread at SmashBoards called Taj is the best Mewtwo, which has since become a hub for question-and-answer sessions for Mewtwo enthusiasts.

Shadowclaw later received three sequels, though none have eclipsed the popularity or infamy of the first incarnation. The fourth video, Shadowclaw 4, was edited by former Mewtwo main V3ctorman.

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Champ Combo: NorCal Edition April 8th, 2006 4th 2nd Forward
MLG Dallas 2006 May 19th-20th, 2006 17th 9th Forward
MLG Anaheim 2006 June 23rd-24th, 2006 17th 3rd Forward
Zero Challenge 2 August 15th-17th, 2006 25th 7th Forward
NorCal Tournament 2 October 28th, 2006 4th 2nd Forward
Pound 2 June 16th-17th, 2007 7th 4th Forward
MELEE-FC Diamond July 12th-14th, 2007 5th 13th Forward
Zero Challenge 3 July 20th-22nd, 2007 17th 9th Wobbles
Super Champ Combo September 29th-30th, 2007 13th 5th Wobbles
Mango Juice March 21st, 2009 7th 2nd Wobbles
GENESIS July 10th-12th, 2009 33rd 13th DoH
Pound 4 January 16th-18th, 2010 49th 13th Axe
Apex 2010 August 6th-8th, 2010 17th 7th Axe
Don't Go Down There Jeff December 18th-19th, 2010 9th 5th Axe
GENESIS 2 July 15th-17th, 2011 3rd 5th Axe
Apex 2013 January 11th-13th, 2013 33rd 17th Wobbles
EVO 2013 July 12th-14th, 2013 13th — —
Smash the Target January 3rd, 2015 — 2nd Forward
Apex 2015 January 30th-February 1st, 2015 — 17th Wobbles
MVG Sandstorm April 18th-19th, 2015 — 5th Wobbles
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 September 5th-6th, 2015 49th — —
Rewired 2015 November 14th-15th, 2015 2nd 2nd Tai
GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016 — 25th Wobbles
The Big House 6 October 7th-9th, 2016 33rd 13th Axe
Rewired 2016 November 19th-21st, 2016 9th 5th Tai
Battlefield 10: 7 Days to GENESIS January 14th, 2017 3rd 2nd Forward
SPC 37 January 17th, 2017 1st — —
GENESIS 4 January 20th-22nd 2017 97th 65th Dr.Z
Boss Rush: Shroomed February 11th, 2017 4th — —
Boss Rush: Duck March 11th, 2017 3rd 3rd Applesmaush
Boss Rush: SFAT April 1st, 2017 — 1st Medz
Runback 2017 May 20th-21st, 2017 9th 5th VTS
Boss Rush: SmashG0D July 8th, 2017 — 1st Rishi
EVO 2017 July 14th-16th, 2017 65th — —
Esports Arizona: Talking Stick Resort 3 February 10th, 2018 — 1st Far!
Esports Arizona: Talking Stick Resort 4 June 23rd, 2018 — 4th Forward
Runback 2018 July 14th-15th, 2018 — 5th Forward
Suit & Tie March 23rd, 2019 — 1st Axe
Ascension VIII August 17th, 2019 — 1st Medz
Settle It! - Pizza Bites vs. Chicken Nuggets January 18th-19th, 2020 — 1st Axe
GENESIS 7 January 24th-26th, 2020 — 17th Medz

Project M

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Project AZ June 1st, 2013 1st — —
Salvation June 22nd-23rd, 2013 1st — —
Apex 2014 January 17th-19th, 2014 9th — —

Trivia

  • Due to his Mewtwo-related fame, Taj was sometimes used as a figurehead amongst anti-tier players; despite this, Taj is pro-tier, claiming that some matchups, especially in critical tournament matches, require the use of higher tiered characters to win.

External links

Gameplay videos

Super Smash Bros. Melee

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