Smasher:Isai

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Isai "malva, MevseC"
Isai.png
Character info
Smash 64 mains Pikachu, Fox
Other Smash 64 characters Kirby, Jigglypuff
Melee mains Captain Falcon, Sheik
Other Melee character Fox
Team info
Crew(s) CLASH Tournaments
Former crews MC
Personal and other info
Real name Joel Isai Alvarado
Birth date (age 39)
Location Northern California USA
Miscellaneous info
Skill Other Top professional
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Ken and Isai of team "El Chocolate Diablo." (Isai is on the right.)

Joel Isai Alvarado, often referred to as simply "Isai" (pronounced as "Isaiah"), is considered the world champion of Super Smash Bros. and was ranked 7th best in the United States in Melee before he retired. He mains Pikachu and Fox in Super Smash Bros, but can use the entire cast at a top professional level, Link being his most popular secondary. He mained Captain Falcon and Sheik in Melee, while using Fox as a secondary. He was also ranked first on the NorCal Power Rankings. Having retired from Melee, Isai now plays Smash 64 exclusively. As a result of his particularly high technical expertise and skill in both Melee and Smash 64, and for being virtually untouchable in the latter game to an extent beyond the top players in the other Smash games, the phrase "Isai is too good" became a meme in the Smash Bros. community.

Feats

Super Smash Bros.

Isai is the undisputed world champion of Super Smash Bros.. The only player to ever beat him in a 12 character battle is the Japanese champion Jousuke and the only other smasher who has shown true competition to his Pikachu is the Peruvian champion Gerson, who has taken multiple matches against Isai in dittos. Isai is currently ranked 3rd on the unfinished Smash 64 ELO Rating.

Isai traveled to West Japan in November of 2006 to play the professional players there. However, no sets against the Japanese champion Jousuke (nor many other top Japanese players) were recorded and as a result of this, Isai generally did not have any true competition.

Isai is in part responsible for the higher position of Link in the most recent tier list, due to his overall astonishing performance with the character, later confirmed at Apex 2012 where he managed to finish second by only using Link, only losing to SuPeRbOoMfAn's Captain Falcon and still winning a few matches against the latter. However, with the recent banning of Hyrule Castle in certain rulesets (including Apex 2014), this newfound position is again in jeopardy.

After winning Apex 2014 and defeating Moyashi, the player considered the best Kirby in the world twice, many again question Jigglypuff's tier placement.

Isai's online crew MC was considered the preeminent crew and recruited some of the best players before its disbandment, later seeding its best crew title to PPS.

Notable tournament placings

CT Live stream

Isai agreed in November 2013 to regularly stream online sessions of Smash 64 through CLASH Tournaments' Twitch channel in exchange of revenue based on viewership count. These take place on Tuesday nights at 8PM PST (11PM EST). Smashers regularly featured on the stream include Bane, Killer, Near, and SheerMadness among others.

Melee

Isai in his prime was regarded as the best Melee Captain Falcon player in the world. Although his placings at Melee singles tournaments lowered over time, he is one of the few players to have defeated previous Melee World Champion Ken Hoang multiple times.

Isai and Ken constituted El Chocolate Diablo, the strongest doubles team in the world circa 2004-2006. El Chocolate Diablo remained undefeated in tournament sets until their loss to Taj and Forward and placed 1st at every tournament they entered until placing 2nd behind Azen Zagenite and Chillindude829 at MLG Chicago 2006. However, Isai and Ken would later win the final MLG National Championship for Melee teams in 2006. Following this win, El Chocolate Diablo became inactive for almost a year until their final appearance at Super Champ Combo, where they placed 7th.

Loss of interest in Melee

Despite his success, Isai gradually lost interest in Melee. In early 2010, Isai expressed interest in playing Melee seriously again, but after smashing with Scar and entering a handful of tournaments, Isai still did not find it enjoyable anymore.

Notable sandbagging incidents

Isai has lost a few major Smash 64 North American tournaments to SuPeRbOoMfAn, such as Apex 2012 and GENESIS 2. However, he was clearly sandbagging in Apex 2012 by using Link for the entire tournament. He also used other low tier characters, including Yoshi and Luigi at GENESIS 2 and other tournaments.

At Apex 2012, he was unexpectedly convinced by the crowd to play a Melee exhibition match against the other Smash veteran Captain Jack. However, he only sandbagged and was 4-stocked by Captain Jack, much to the audience's dismay.

While he was able to defeat SuperBoomFan the next year in Apex 2013, Isai also lost to Kikoushi, but was sandbagging again to a lesser extent, using Mario. After later playing some friendlies against Kikoushi using Pikachu and Fox, the result was much different with the matches being much to Isai's favor. He even won some Kirby dittos against him.

Isai used only Jigglypuff at Apex 2014, which appears to be another sandbagging attempt. Despite this, he solidly won the tournament without losing a single set, defeating Moyashi in grand finals.

Trivia

  • He purchased Brawl but does not play it. Super Smash Bros. has always been Isai's preferred Smash Bros. game; he has been playing Smash 64 since 1999 and Smash 64 online since 2004.
  • Isai often used the in-game tags "VI" and "MEL" in Melee. In Super Smash Bros, his YouTube video tag is "malva" if it is an online match or "Isai" if it is a console match. His nickname "malva" originates from his mother's Windows login name (she used the initial 'm' for her name plus a shortened version of her last name, Alvarado or 'alva').
  • Isai's YouTube name is MevseC. This nickname originates from the fact that he plays Marvel vs. Capcom (MvsC). He added the two 'e' letters in the middle to make it look cooler and sound like a name.
  • From around 2005-2007, Isai was the leader of the then-top online SSB64 crew MC.
  • Isai calls online Smash "fake Smash" due to the delay and lag experienced online. He also calls it fake Smash because by definition, it is emulated and thus merely a copy or imitation of the real game on console.
  • Noticing that there were exceptional Smash 64 players in Japan and Peru, Isai traveled to both of these countries and played the the top players there (e.g. Jousuke, the Japanese national champion and Gerson, the Peruvian national champion). He is one of the few Smash 64 players to make a serious effort to travel internationally multiple times in order to play the top Smash 64 players from around the world.
  • Isai's favorite characters are Link, Mario, Fox, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Jigglypuff.

External links

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