Smasher:Westballz

Revision as of 08:59, April 18, 2016 by 66.203.20.82 (talk)
Westballz
Westballz.jpg
Character info
Melee mains Falco, Fox
Other Melee character Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Marth
Project M mains Falco, Fox
Other Project M character Captain Falcon
Team info
Crew(s) Tempo Storm
Former crews Team OXY
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee 2015 SSBMRank: 8th
Project M SoCal Project M Power Rankings: 7th
Winnings Super Smash Bros. Melee ~$21,723.33
Personal and other info
Real name Weston Dennis
Location Burbank, California United States
Miscellaneous info
Skill Super Smash Bros. Melee Top professional
Project M Top professional

Westballz is a professional Falco player with strong Fox and Captain Falcon secondaries from Burbank, California. He is currently ranked 2nd and 7th on the SoCal Melee and Project M Power Rankings, respectively, and 8th on the 2015 SSBMRank. Westballz notably caused an upset at MLG Anaheim 2014, where he defeated Mango 3-0 in pool play, and defeated him again 3-1 in losers' quarters at MVG Sandstorm, where he also defeated Hungrybox in losers' semis 3-2. Additionally, he beat Leffen 3-1 at Dreamhack Winter 2015. He is widely renowned as the most technical Falco player in the world. Westballz is considered to be the arguably best Falco main in the world along with PPMD and Mango.

On July 2nd, 2015, Westballz was picked up by Tempo Storm alongside Axe.

Biography

Origin of the name

Westballz created his gamertag while watching his brother play Halo, and based it off his brother's gamertag "Nickelnutz", replacing "Nickel" with "West" and "nutz" with "ballz".

Playing style

Westballz is often seen as the most technical Falco player in the world in both Melee and Project M. He has a very aggressive, high-risk/high-reward playstyle in most matchups, and is recognized for his powerful punish game that arguably exceeds that of even Mango and PPMD. Often using Falco's walk with uptilt to start combos. A very technical player whose playstyle heavily incorporates shield dropping, he generally tends to show off his tech skills as much as possible such as multishining on place even during a neutral position. Westballz has stated that his success against top-caliber players stems from his ability to condition opponents and mix-up his approaches. He will often utilize a certain set of approaches in friendlies to condition players while learning their playstyle, then when he plays those same opponents in tournament, he will completely switch his playstyle, keeping his opponents adapting while controlling the match. He is also known for his flashy secondaries, most notably his Captain Falcon, which he used to land a Sacred Combo on ZeldaFreak at Kings of Cali 3.

However, while Westballz has more wins against players like Mango and Leffen under his belt than most others of his caliber, he is infamous for losing sets to players far below his skill level (leading to popularization of the phrase "Westballz can defeat anyone, but anyone can defeat Westballz"). For example, after gaining a 3-stock lead on KJH in Grand Finals at Rubicon 2, he spent the rest of the match trying to "style" on KJH with unsafe attacks, allowing KJH to mount a 4-stock comeback. He also lost to Jake13, a mid-level Falco, at Low Tier City 2 after sandbagging and losing with Donkey Kong in game 1. He also occasionally becomes overwhelmed by pressure, making untimely self-destructs that lead to his defeat, such as in Loser's Semis at Pat's House 2 against Fly Amanita's lone Ice Climber in a last stock, last hit situation. Intending to input a back aerial, he accidentally inputted an unsafe down aerial in a Bombsoldier fashion that spiked Popo onto the stage while he self-destructed, ending his run.

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament Date 1v1 Placement 2v2 Placement Partner
Nice Shot Hugo March 27th, 2010 25th Dunk
Don't Go Down There Jeff December 18th, 2010 17th
GENESIS 2 July 15th-17th, 2011 49th 7th Baka4moe
Apex 2012 January 6th-8th, 2012 25th 17th StriCNYN3
The Big House 2 October 6th-7th, 2012 9th 13th Scar
Kings of Cali November 10th, 2012 7th 9th Scar
Apex 2013 January 11th-13th, 2013 33rd 9th Hax
Kings of Cali 2 April 13th-14th, 2013 7th 3rd MacD
NorCal Regionals 2013 April 26th-28th, 2013 4th
EVO 2013 July 12th-14th, 2013 17th
Kings of Cali 3 December 14th-15th, 2013 5th 9th HomeMadeWaffles
Apex 2014 January 17th-19th, 2014 33rd 17th Aisengobay
SoCal Regionals 2014 February 28th-March 2nd, 2014 1st 5th DEHF
The Next Episode March 22nd-23rd, 2014 2nd 5th S2J
Pat's House 2 May 24th-25th, 2014 4th 7th ZeRo
SKTAR 3 May 31st-June 1st, 2014 5th 5th Hax
SSS Lock-In June 14th-15th, 2014 13th
MLG Anaheim 2014 June 20th-22nd, 2014 9th
Kings of Cali 4 July 5th-6th, 2014 7th 5th ZeRo
EVO 2014 July 11th-13th, 2014 13th 17th DoH
Mayhem August 9th, 2014 3rd 2nd Hungrybox
Low Tier City 2 August 16th-17th, 2014 2nd 1st Wobbles
Mayhem September 6th, 2014 2nd 4th Jace
The Big House 4 October 4th-5th, 2014 7th 9th Darkrain
Do You Fox Wit It? November 15th-16th, 2014 17th 7th Connor
Super Smash Sundays 29 December 7th, 2014 1st 2nd Reno
Super Smash Sundays 30 December 21st, 2014 2nd 3rd DEHF
Smash the Target January 3rd, 2015 2nd
Paragon Orlando 2015 January 17th-18th, 2015 4th 7th Axe
Apex 2015 January 30th-February 1st, 2015 33rd 17th DEHF
Aftershock March 28th-29th, 2015 4th 2nd Gahtzu
SWEET XX April 4th, 2015 2nd 4th Deep C Squid
I'm Not Yelling! April 11th-12th, 2015 5th 7th Sung
MVG Sandstorm April 18th-19th, 2015 2nd 7th Gahtzu
Mayhem May 2015 May 2nd, 2015 2nd 2nd Sung
Press Start May 9th-10th, 2015 17th 9th Sung
Mayhem June 2015 June 6th, 2015 1st 1st MacD
CEO 2015 June 26th-28th, 2015 4th 4th MacD
FC Smash 15XR: Return July 4th-5th, 2015 5th 2nd MacD
WTFox July 10th-11th, 2015 5th 3rd Wizzrobe
EVO 2015 July 17th-19th, 2015 13th 49th MacD
Super Smash Con August 6th-9th, 2015 4th
PAX Prime 2015 August 28th-30th, 2015 3rd 3rd Nintendude
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 September 5th-6th, 2015 4th
Rubicon 2 September 12th, 2015 1st 2nd Vro
DreamHack London 2015 September 19th-20th, 2015 2nd
Helix September 26th-27th, 2015 2nd 2nd Overtriforce
The Big House 5 October 2nd-4th, 2015 5th 9th Axe
Smash Summit November 7th-8th, 2015 9th 7th Zhu
Eclipse November 14th-15th, 2015 49th 7th NamiNami
Kickstart 4 November 22nd, 2015 4th 1st Plup
DreamHack Winter 2015 November 26th-29th, 2015 4th 17th Baxon
Forte 3 December 19th-20th, 2015 2nd
GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016 17th 17th Gahtzu
Smash @ Xanadu Wednesdays 1/20 January 20th, 2016 2nd
Frosty Faustings VIII January 22nd-23rd 1st
PAX Arena January 29-31, 2016 3rd 5th Wizzrobe
B.E.A.S.T 6 February 19th-21st, 2016 3rd
Battle of the Five Gods March 17th-19th, 2016 5th
Super Nebulous 4 March 27th, 2016 4th
Pound 2016 April 2nd-3rd, 2016 33rd 3rd MacD

Project M

Tournament Date 1v1 Placement 2v2 Placement Partner
Super Smash Sundays 2-16-2014 February 16th, 2014 4th
Low Tier City 2 August 16th-17th, 2014 17th 9th iPunchKidsz
The Big House 4 October 4th-5th, 2014 17th
Paragon Orlando 2015 January 17th-18th, 2015 4th
MVG Sandstorm April 18th-19th, 2015 Top 3 3rd iPunchKidsz
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 September 5th-6th, 2015 25th 17th iPunchKidsz
Smash @ Xanadu Wednesdays 1/20 January 20th, 2016 3rd


Trivia

  • He is known for wearing a hoodie for most of his tournament matches.
  • Westballz has placed 33rd at the past three Apex tournaments.