Smasher:aMSa

aMSa
VGBC aMSa.png
Character info
Melee main	Yoshi
Other Melee character	Falco
Smash 4 main	Greninja
Other Smash 4 character	Yoshi
Project M main	Lucario
Other Project M character	Yoshi
Team info
Crew(s)	VGBootCamp
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking	2016 SSBMRank: 32nd ;
Winnings	~$1045.47 ;
Personal and other info
Real name	Masaya Chikamoto
Birth date	October 27, 1991 (age 33)
Location	Miyagi, Japan
Miscellaneous info
Skill	Top professional ; Top professional ; Top professional

For the similarly named Dutch Sheik player, see Smasher:Amsah.

aMSa (standing) after beating ChuDat (sitting) in Winners Finals of their pool at Apex 2014.

aMSa is a Melee Yoshi player from Japan who entered the scene in February 2013. He quickly became known as the best Yoshi player in the world after his strong performances at EVO 2013 and Apex 2014, despite only having played seriously for a short amount of time compared to other professionals. aMSa has tournament results and wins that are unprecedented by other Yoshi mains, finishing top 32 at EVO 2013, 2014, and 2015, 9th at Apex 2014, and 5th at Apex 2015, while having tournament wins over renowned players such as Mew2King, SFAT, Ice, PewPewU, Lucky, Silent Wolf, Fly Amanita, and KirbyKaze. In May 2014, aMSa was signed by VGBootCamp.

aMSa is currently ranked 32nd on the 2016 SSBMRank and 2nd on the Japan SSBM Rank 2016.

Playing style

aMSa is a very technical and punish-heavy player, heavily incorporating double jump cancelling and parrying into his gameplay as Yoshi to escape pressure and create lengthy, damaging combos of his own. He is also dangerous at the ledge; he frequently utilizes the Egg Toss ledge stall to bait bad approaches, is able to ledgedash proficiently, and threatens early KOs by occasionally using ledge-hoped Egg Lays as a mixup. He also makes the most out of Yoshi's otherwise mediocre mobility with his fantasic platform movement and ledge snap tricks, as shown partially in his tech skill video. aMSa also has a large amount of game knowledge; he has compiled a detailed chart of KO percentages for all of Yoshi's smash attacks on every stage, utilizes port mechanics to gain extra frames to escape otherwise guaranteed chain grabs from Sheik, and has very precise aim with Egg Toss, especially when edgeguarding or extending combos. As Falco, aMSa focuses on precise and technical movement and grab setups to gain an advantage against those who counterpick to Yoshi's weaker stages.

aMSa's weaknesses stem from his higher reliance on gimmicks compared to other players of his caliber. As Yoshi has an inherently weaker neutral game than top-tiered characters, aMSa sometimes takes gambles that rely mostly on his opponents' lack of knowledge of Yoshi's hitboxes, such as throwing out up smashes in neutral as an anti-air. He also struggles against Peach players, and players with a more patient playstyle in general who can combat his egg zoning (such as Hungrybox). aMSa has more even sets against smashers with more familiarity with the Yoshi matchup, especially in Japan.

History

EVO 2013

After taking top 8 in a Japanese tournament using only Yoshi, aMSa piqued the interest of the international scene. He made his international debut at EVO 2013, where he managed to sweep through his pool without losing a set, knocking smashers such as Flow and Codi into losers' bracket and making it to quarterfinals on the winners' side. He then managed to take a game off of Mew2King in the second round of brackets, shocking many spectators, although Mew2King still ended up defeating aMSa 2-1. In losers' bracket, aMSa defeated another notable smasher in Mr. F, achieving a final placement of 25th after losing to DaShizWiz. He later played many other top players in friendlies, including Armada, Axe, and Hungrybox, managing to hold his own in each one (most of his matches went to the last stock); his most notable moment in these matches was when he 4-stocked SilentSpectre, which many other professionals have never achieved, in or out of tournament brackets.

aMSa's performance split the community's opinions on him; some claimed that he had the potential to take top 16 in his next national event, while others claimed that his relatively high placement was the result of a comparatively easy bracket compared to that of many other players. His stellar performance at EVO resulted in smashers voting him in at 77th best in the world on the 2013 SSBM Player Rankings; even there, however, panelists shared split opinions, with several top professional players arguing that he was overrated and would not perform as well in the future.

Apex 2014 and the pre-MLG season

aMSa returned to the United States to compete in Apex 2014. Defying all expectations again, he tore through winners' bracket in the first round of pools on the first day, beating Green Ranger 2-0 and ChuDat 2-1 for the winner's position, and defeated Kage in a best-of-5 exhibition match 3-2. The next day, he caused more enormous upsets by defeating Silent Wolf 2-1 and Fly Amanita 2-0, securing a spot in winners' finals of the pool. However, he was then defeated by PPMD in winners' finals and Colbol in losers' finals, resulting in his 9th place finish in the second largest Melee tournament at the time. After the tournament, he once again fought many other professionals in various exhibition matches, managing to take a game off of Tafokints, win best of 3 sets against MattDotZeb and Vish, and win best of 5 sets against SFAT, Westballz, and Mew2King's sandbagging choices. Although he did not perform as well in doubles with fellow Yoshi main V3ctorman, he still garnered an enormous amount of fan support for demonstrating unprecedented levels of play with his character.

aMSa would later attend the Japanese MLG Anaheim 2014 qualifier, Sumabato DX Melee 11, in May. However, he performed very poorly and did not win a single set, being taken out by his training partner Sheik in winners' bracket and then by Shippu in losers' bracket, finishing last at 13th place. This performance did not give him enough MLG points to qualify for the championship bracket, and although he took 2nd at KVO 2014 the day after, he needed to travel out of country again to accumulate enough points.

Two weeks later, aMSa traveled to France to attend Republic of Fighters 3, a 5000 point qualifier. At this tournament, he achieved a first seed in his second round of pools after defeating Däumling and Cyr 2-0, and defeated players such as porc, Trif, and Zgetto in winners' bracket before being knocked into losers by Armada. He then defeated Overtriforce 3-1 in losers' quarters, and knocked out Ice 3-0 in losers' semis (with a 3-stock lead at the end of game 1), before losing to Leffen 2-3 in an incredibly close set in losers' finals that went down to the last stock, to take 3rd place overall in the singles portion of the tournament. Placing 3rd at this tournament allowed him to gather enough points to qualify for the MLG Anaheim 2014 championship bracket. He also teamed with Cyr in doubles and placed 7th.

Summer of Smash 2014

At MLG Anaheim 2014, aMSa didn't do well in his pool; he brought several of his opponents, such as Fiction, Westballz, and ZeRo, to game 5 (often down 2-0 in his favor), but almost always lost in 3-game reversals. Even though the tournament weighed game counts as well as match counts, his stray wins were not enough for him to be seeded any higher than losers' round 1 in the championship bracket. In the championship bracket, he faced S2J first, and won the first two games. However, just like many other players in the championship pools the day before, S2J came back 2-3, knocking aMSa out and into a 17th place finish overall. aMSa also attended CEO 2014, but did not make it out of his bracket pool, losing to PorkChops 2-3 in winners' finals and Wenbo 1-3 in losers' finals of the pool, thus placing 33rd in Melee singles at the tournament. However, he did slightly better in Melee doubles, where he placed 9th with PL.

aMSa made his next appearance at Kings of Cali 4, where he defeated both MacD and Scar 2-0 in the second round of pools, and was seeded first coming out of his pool into the top 32 bracket. He defeated DendyPretendy 3-0 and Ken 3-0, setting up a match between him and Mew2King in winners' quarters. In a shocking upset, after losing the first game, aMSa was able to win the set 3-1. He then lost to Mango 0-3 in winners' semis, and to Lucky 0-3 in losers' quarters, however, resulting in a 5th place finish overall in singles. In doubles, he placed 7th with PL, losing to Westballz and ZeRo 1-3 in losers' top 8.

The following week, aMSa attended EVO 2014, and won a local tournament at Press Start Gaming Center shortly before the main event started, defeating Ice 2-0, G$, and Ice again 3-2 for the 1st place finish. Like the previous year, he swept through his round 1 pools without dropping a set, then defeated Tai in the second round bracket before losing to PewPewU's Fox 0-2. In losers', aMSa defeated Lambchops and Swedish Delight before losing to S2J again, ending his tournament at 17th place overall.

Apex 2015

aMSa first attended the Apex Qualifier Battle Gate Way 6 in December 2014, where he placed 2nd, losing to Sobameshi in Winner's semis before defeating the likes of K.F, Kounotori, Flash and Sobameshi in a rematch before being defeated by Shippu in Grand Finals. He did not attend any other Apex Qualifiers or major tournaments until Apex 2015.

At Apex, aMSa swept through his round 1 pool, getting 1st seed with no difficulty. In R2 Pools, he defeated top players such as Laudandus to make it into Top 48 bracket in Winner's side. There, he defeated Fly Amanita once again 2-0 before falling to Leffen 0-2. aMSa then made an amazing loser's bracket run, defeating Zhu 2-0, Lucky 2-1, and SFAT 2-0 to make Top 8, surpassing even his previous year's performance. In Top 8, he defeated KirbyKaze 3-1 before falling to Mango in a last stock, game 5 position 2-3 to end his run at 5th place, the highest placing competitor outside of the Top 6, at the biggest Melee tournament at the time, cementing his status as one of the best current players in the world.

Other Smash games

While aMSa is not known to play SSB64 or Brawl, he does play the Brawl mod Project M. He initially started with Yoshi, as he did in Melee, but later decided not to play as Yoshi competitively in said mod, stating that he wants to focus on the unique aspects of it instead of treating it as another Melee title, as well as stating that certain key aspects of the character didn't resemble his Melee appearance (Parrying, for example.) Thus, aMSa uses Lucario instead, and is considered one of the most technical and powerful PM Lucario mains in the world. He exhibits mastery over Lucario's many complex movement options and combos that not many other Lucario mains utilize in their playstyles, and has frequently been the highest-placing Lucario player in several large regional and international Project M tournaments.

With Yoshi, aMSa placed 65th at Apex 2014 in Project M singles, barely failing to make it out of his bracket pool. He later made his debut with Lucario at NINJA4, where he placed 2nd; he lost to Kaito in winners' semis, then defeated Shippu, Katiwari, and Opinthin to make it to Grand Finals against Kaito, where he lost again. He placed 2nd again at Republic of Fighters 3; he lost again in winners' semis, this time to Zen 1-3, then defeated Yomi 3-0, Clade 3-0, and Zen 3-1 in a rematch, then lost to Professor Pro 0-3 in Grand Finals.

At CEO 2014, aMSa placed 9th in Project M singles; he made it out of his pool on the winners' side, but lost to ZeRo and TheReflexWonder afterward. He also placed 7th in Project M doubles with DJ Nintendo.

aMSa was also a participant in the Super Smash Bros. Invitational at E3 2014, and was one of two international participants (along with ZeRo). Even with Yoshi unavailable for selection, he reached the four-way finals round using Olimar. He had the same score but less percent than ZeRo after the match ended, but it did not grant him the win under the Invitational rules; he was subsequently eliminated by popular vote in favor of ZeRo to take 3rd place overall. After the game's release, he picked up Greninja, and consistently places well in Smash 4 tournaments, placing 9th at Apex 2015, which included a 2-0 victory over Ally and close 1-2 loss to MVD, as well as defeating Boss, Nick Riddle, Rich Brown, and J.Miller in Round 2 pools. He also has a Yoshi secondary, but does not play him as often, as he is afraid that the dissimilarities between Yoshi's incarnations in Melee and Smash 4 will hinder his gameplay with both of them.

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament	Date	1v1 placement	2v2 placement	Partner
Battle Gateway 1	June 29th, 2013	2nd	—	—
EVO 2013	July 12th-14th, 2013	25th	—	Sheik
Apex 2014	January 17th-19th, 2014	9th	65th	V3ctorman
Sumabato DX Melee 11	May 4th, 2014	13th	—	—
KVO 2014	May 5th, 2014	2nd	—	—
Republic of Fighters 3	May 17th-18th 2014	3rd	7th	Cyr
MLG Anaheim 2014	June 20th-22nd, 2014	17th	25th	PL
CEO 2014	June 27th-29th, 2014	33rd	9th	PL
Kings of Cali 4	July 5th-6th, 2014	5th	7th	PL
PSG Tournament	July 10th, 2014	1st	—	—
EVO 2014	July 11th-13th, 2014	17th	33rd	PL
Sumabato DX 29	August 16th, 2014	4th	—	—
Sumabato DX Melee 12	August 17th, 2014	2nd	—	—
Battle Gate Way 5	August 31st, 2014	4th	—	—
NINJA5	September 13th, 2014	2nd	—	—
Battle Gate Way 6	December 13th-14th, 2014	2nd	—	—
Sumabato DX Melee 13	c. December 2014	1st	—	—
Apex 2015	January 31st-February 1st, 2015	5th	—	—
Battle Gateway 7	March 3rd, 2015	2nd	—	—
KVO 2015	May 2nd-4th, 2015	2nd	—	—
EVO 2015	July 17th-19th, 2015	25th	—	—
Battle Gate Way 8	August 9th, 2015	5th	—	—
CrazyHand 2015	August 14th-15th, 2015	2nd	2nd	Eggplant
CrazyHand Winter 2015	December 26th-27th, 2015	5th	2nd	Sanne
Battle Gateway 9	January 24th, 2016	4th	—	—
Battle Gateway 10	March 26, 2016	7th	—	—
Pound 2016	April 2nd-3rd, 2016	13th	33rd	Toph
KSB 2016	April 29th-May 1st, 2016	1st	—	—
Battle Gateway 11	June 23rd, 2016	5th	—	—
Smash @ Xanadu 8/10	August 10th, 2016	2nd	—	—
Super Smash Con 2016	August 11th-14th, 2016	9th	17th	Mr.II
Battle Gateway 12	September 4th, 2016	2nd	—	—
Battle Gateway 13	November 6th, 2016	1st	—	—
Chubu 5	December 6th, 2016	5th	5th	Watch
Nirai Kanai	December 10th, 2016	1st	1st	Shuta
Battle Gateway 14	January 8th, 2017	2nd	—	—
Shulla-bra 9	February 26th, 2017	2nd	1st	Gucci
Battle Gateway 15	March 5th, 2017	1st	—	—
MasterHand 24	March 11th, 2017	1st	1st	Nanashi

Project M

Tournament	Date	1v1 placement	2v2 placement	Partner
Apex 2014	January 17th-19th, 2014	65th	—	—
NINJA4	2nd	—	—
Republic of Fighters 3	May 17th-18th, 2014	2nd	—	—
CEO 2014	June 27th-29th, 2014	9th	7th	DJ Nintendo
Umebura 4.5	July 21st, 2014	3rd	—	—

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Tournament	Date	1v1 placement	2v2 placement	Partner
Super Smash Bros. Invitational	June 10th, 2014	3rd	—	—
Apex 2015	January 30th-February 1st, 2015	9th	13th	Abadango
KVO 2015	May 2nd-4th, 2015	9th	—	—
EVO 2015	July 17th-19th, 2015	33rd	Top 16	Mr.II
Pound 2016	April 2nd-3rd, 2016	65th	7th	Mr.II
KSB 2016	April 29th-May 1st, 2016	49th	—	—
Super Smash Con 2016	August 11th-14th, 2016	129th	25th	Mr.II
TSC Tokaigi Qualifiers	December 23th, 2016	13th	—	—

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Tournament	Date	1v1 placement	2v2 placement	Partner
Umebura 8	September 23rd, 2014	9th	—	—
Sumabato 0	October 25th, 2014	7th	—	—

Trivia

aMSa maintains a YouTube channel where he posts discoveries about new innovations in Yoshi's and Greninja's metagames. He also uses his channel to upload videos of friendlies and mostly local tournament matches, and occasionally uploads sets involving Japanese players in larger tournaments (such as EVO 2013) that weren't streamed.
In the Apex 2014 "Salty Suite", aMSa faced off against DJ Nintendo's Bowser in the "Battle of the Dinos" and won 3-0. When asked to give a statement before the match, aMSa replied "I play to win," repeating said statement after he won. This phrase, commonly deliberately misconstrued as "I pray to win" (due to "l" sound being pronounced like "r" in Japanese), has become a meme in the Smash community associated with aMSa, with his fans using the statement to cheer him on during tournaments or on streams.
- At Republic of Fighters 3, aMSa played throughout most of the tournament using the tag "IPTW", referencing this phrase.
Due to the similarities with the names of fellow smasher Amsah, they played a best of 5 "grudge match" in friendlies at Pound 2016, though with Amsah winning 3-2.
aMSa is the first non-American member of the VGBootCamp crew.