Smasher:Zain

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Zain "DontTestMe"
Zain2.jpg
Character info
Melee main Marth
Other Melee characters Roy, Fox
Ultimate main Roy
Team info
Sponsor(s) Moist Esports
Former sponsor(s) Golden Guardians, SovaSmashInc, Panda, Moist Moguls
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee SSBMRank Summer 2024: 1st
Best historical ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee SSBMRank 2022: 1st
Best tournament result Super Smash Bros. Melee 1st / 1552 at GENESIS 8
Winnings Super Smash Bros. Melee ~$130,934.70
Personal and other info
Real name Zain Naghmi
Birth date (age 28)
Location Blacksburg, Virginia United States

Zain (originally known as tekkenz) is a Melee Marth main from Reston, Virginia who is currently residing in Blacksburg, Virginia. He is considered one of the greatest Marth players of all-time, as well as one of the best Melee players during the post-netplay era, being ranked first in 2022 and 2024. In addition, Zain was considered to be the best player in North America in 2020, due to both his win at GENESIS 7 and his dominance in Project Slippi netplay events during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is known for his incredibly lethal punish game on space animal players and methodical play against floaty characters. He is currently ranked 1st on the SSBMRank Summer 2024. Aside from Marth, Zain is also known for defeating notable players both offline and online with Roy while under the alias DontTestMe.

On April 12th, 2018, Zain was signed by Panda,[1] but left on November 8th, 2019.[2] After being sponsored for the duration of GENESIS 7 by Mogul Moves, Ludwig's clothing brand, Zain was picked up by the Golden Guardians, the official esports affiliate of the Golden State Warriors NBA team on February 6th, 2020.[3] After three years, he would part ways with Golden Guardians on March 29th, 2023.[4] On April 6th, 2023, Zain was re-signed by Ludwig and joined Moist Moguls.

Tournament history[edit]

Zain started playing competitively in May 2014 and quickly climbed the ranks, notably winning the S@X Fall Arcadian. He gained recognition at the national level at The Big House 6 when he defeated Plup 2-0 in pools. He went on to place 17th after beating KJH and Tafokints. He notably took a set off of Leffen 3-2 at Smash 'N' Splash 3 placing 13th, and sets off of ChuDat and SFAT 2-1 and 3-0 respectively at Super Smash Con 2017, placing 5th at said event. At Smash Summit 6, he beat both Mango and Plup to take 3rd. Finally, at Shine 2018, Zain won his first major tournament, beating Mango and double eliminating Hungrybox, taking his first ever victories over the latter. Over a year later, he took his first set over Mew2King at The Big House 9, placing 2nd after losing two Game 5 sets to Mango in Grand Finals.

A few months after The Big House 9, Zain won his first supermajor at GENESIS 7 without dropping a set, defeating Hungrybox 3-1, Mango, and Hungrybox again 3-2. As tournaments switched to online play due to COVID-19, Zain continued to dominate, winning several large online events such as Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2, 3 out of the 4 Slippi Champions League events, and finally Smash Summit 10 Online to cement himself as the best online player in North America, with Mango serving as his primary rival for the title.

In 2023, following a series of victories by Cody Schwab, Zain, Cody Schwab, and Ludwig organized a first-to-10 match between him and Cody Schwab, the winner of which would be automatically given 1st on the SSBMRank 2023 rankings. Zain lost 7-10, ending Zain's dominant stretch and cementing Cody Schwab as best player in the world.

Other Smash games[edit]

Zain briefly dabbled in Ultimate in response to Hungrybox's 90-day Ultimate detox, with Zain choosing to play Ultimate for the same amount of time to "poison" himself. Zain's Twitch chat chose his main, and he ultimately went with Roy. Although his Ultimate activity was primarily in the game's online mode, Zain did see some competitive play at two Coinbox events, however he failed to win a single set.

Rankings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

SSBMRank/MPGR[edit]

Ranking Time period Rank Character(s) Notes
SSBMRank 2016 January 15th - December 4th, 2016 66th Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2017 SSBMRank December 10th, 2016 - June 18th, 2017 41st Marth (SSBM)
SSBMRank 2017 December 10th, 2016 - December 10th, 2017 22nd Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2018 MPGR December 15th, 2017 - July 1st, 2018 9th Marth (SSBM)
MPGR 2018 December 15th, 2017 - December 16th, 2018 7th Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2019 MPGR December 17th, 2018 - June 30th, 2019 6th Marth (SSBM)
MPGR 2019 December 17th, 2018 - December 8th, 2019 6th Marth (SSBM)
MPGRContenders North America 2021 S+ (Top 3) Marth (SSBM)
MPGR Summer 2022 March 1st - July 11th, 2022 1st Marth (SSBM)
SSBMRank 2022 March 1st - December 18th, 2022 1st Marth (SSBM)
SSBMRank Summer 2023 December 19th, 2022 - July 23rd, 2023 1st Marth (SSBM)
SSBMRank 2023 December 19th, 2022 - December 17th, 2023 2nd Marth (SSBM)
SSBMRank Summer 2024 December 18th, 2023 - July 14th, 2024 1st Marth (SSBM)

MD/VA Power Rankings[edit]

Ranking Rank Character(s) Notes
Spring 2016 12th Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2016 6th Marth (SSBM)
Fall/Winter 2016 5th Marth (SSBM)
Spring 2017 4th Marth (SSBM)
September 2017 2nd Marth (SSBM)
Winter 2018 1st Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2018 1st Marth (SSBM)
Fall 2018 1st Marth (SSBM)
Spring 2019 1st Marth (SSBM)Fox (SSBM)
November 2019 1st Marth (SSBM)Fox (SSBM)Falco (SSBM)Sheik (SSBM)
March 2020 1st Marth (SSBM)
Summer 2022 2nd Marth (SSBM)

Tournament placings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner Earnings
Smash @ Clarendon 5/23/14 May 23rd, 2014 33rd / 72
Smash @ Clarendon 6/6/14 June 6th, 2014 49th / 64
Smash @ Clarendon 6/19/14 June 19th, 2014 25th / 60
Smash @ Clarendon 7/18/14 July 18th, 2014 33rd / 88
Smash @ Clarendon 8/15/14 August 15th, 2014 33rd / 92
[1] October 4th, 2014 9th / 22
Virginia Tech 2v2 Tournament October 15th, 2014 3rd David
Grass Roots Monthly! November 8th, 2014 5th / 23 3rd ?
[2] December 3rd, 2014 2nd ?
Fueled By Melee December 6th, 2014 4th 7th ?
Grass Roots Monthly #2! December 7th, 2014 3rd / 13 ? ?
S@X 78 January 7th, 2015 17th / 69
Grass Roots Monthly #3! January 31st, 2015 3rd / 29 ? ?
PK Smash #1 February 18th, 2015 4th / 37
Fueled By Melee 3 February 21st, 2015 3rd / 18 ? ?
Fueled By Melee 4 April 12th, 2015 2nd / 18 3rd ?
Xanadu Arcadian May 16th, 2015 9th
S@X 98 May 20th, 2015 7th / 59
S@X 99 May 27th, 2015 13th / 55
S@X 101 June 10th, 2015 9th / 72
Super Smash Con 2015 August 6th-9th, 2015 33rd / 593
S@X 111 August 19th, 2015 7th / 108
Grass Roots Monthly #8! August 29th, 2015 3rd / 32
The Fall Arcadian October 17th, 2015 1st
Pound 2016 April 2nd-3rd, 2016 49th / 933 25th PRISON
S@X 151 May 25th, 2016 1st / 85
S@X 152 June 1st, 2016 4th / 81
S@X 153 June 8th, 2016 5th / 55
EVO 2016 July 15th-17th, 2016 49th / 2,372
Super Smash Con 2016 August 11th-14th, 2016 33rd / 940 17th SypherPhoenix
The Big House 6 October 7th-9th, 2016 17th / 1,563 33rd SypherPhoenix
S@X 182 December 28th, 2016 1st / 86
GENESIS 4 January 20th-22nd, 2017 33rd / 1704 17th Redd
Smash Valley V February 18th, 2017 5th / 253
Training Mode Tuesday 3 March 7th, 2017 1st
Smash @ Power 9 #22 March 9th, 2017 7th / 62 1st Captain Faceroll
CEO Dreamland April 14th-16th, 2017 17th / 333 9th SypherPhoenix
Smash 'N' Splash 3 June 2nd-4th, 2017 13th / 848 13th Junebug
Bad Moon Rising 2 July 1st, 2017 9th / 369 5th / 86 SypherPhoenix
Get On My Level 2017 July 29-30th, 2017 9th / 566 9th R2DLiu
Super Smash Con 2017 August 10th-13th, 2017 5th / 1092 13th SypherPhoenix
The Big House 7 October 6th-8th, 2017 17th / 1522 7th MilkMan
DreamHack Denver 2017 October 20th-22nd, 2017 7th / 310
MD/VA Melee Invitational November 25th, 2017 4th / 10
Pat's House 3 December 2nd-3rd, 2017 2nd / 299 9th Prince Abu
S@X 233 December 20th, 2017 1st / 36
GENESIS 5 January 19th-21st, 2018 13th / 1365 33rd R2DLiu $100
The Gang Hosts a Melee Tournament February 3rd, 2018 2nd / 238
Smash Valley: Lucky 7 February 17th, 2018 2nd / 229 4th MilkMan $458
Unity 19 March 3rd, 2018 1st / 64
Nimbus #8 March 8th, 2018 1st
EGLX 2018 March 9th-11th, 2018 9th / 181 $68
SWEET 31 March 17th, 2018 1st 2nd KJH $435
Full Bloom 4 March 24th-25th, 2018 9th / 354
Flatiron 3 April 21st, 2018 7th / 316
Smash Summit 6 May 3rd-6th, 2018 3rd / 16 7th HugS $2,751
Pound Underground May 12th-13th, 2018 1st / 216 5th MilkMan $864
S@X 250 May 16th, 2018 3rd
Get On My Level 2018 May 18th-20th, 2018 5th / 449 $179.60
Smash 'N' Splash 4 June 1st-3rd, 2018 5th / 924 $712
OMEGA II June 16th-17th, 2018 1st / 124 3rd MilkMan $1,503
CEO 2018 June 29th-July 1st, 2018 5th / 440 25th MilkMan $132
Aurora Blitz July 21st, 2018 3rd / 31 $91
EVO 2018 August 3rd-5th, 2018 9th / 1353
Super Smash Con 2018 August 9th-12th, 2018 9th / 1053 7th MilkMan $52.65
Shine 2018 August 24th-26th, 2018 1st / 904
The Roast of Hugo Gonzalez September 22nd, 2018 2nd / 256 $856
The Big House 8 October 5th-7th, 2018 4th / 1032 $825.60
GameTyrant Expo 2018 November 2nd-4th, 2018 3rd / 162 1st SFAT
Smash Summit 7 November 15th-18th, 2018 7th / 16 7th Rishi $1,417
The Parking Lot - Friday December 14th, 2018 1st / 83 $160
Don't Park on the Grass 2018 December 15th-16th, 2018 3rd / 546 1st MilkMan $546
GENESIS 6 February 1st-3rd, 2019 9th / 1113 65th Arris
Here Be Mid Tiers 5 February 9th, 2019 1st / 69 13th Arris
The Script 2 February 16th-17th, 2019 1st / 130 3rd MilkMan
The Gang Steals The Script March 9th, 2019 1st / 204 1st MilkMan
Full Bloom 5 March 23rd-24th, 2019 1st / 349 3rd Swedish Delight $1,556
Battle of BC 3: Pre-Weekly March 29th, 2019 2nd / 43
Battle of BC 3 March 30th-31st, 2019 2nd / 253 1st SFAT
Pound 2019 April 19th-21st, 2019 4th / 451 4th Chillindude $541
Come to Papa 3 April 27th-28th, 2019 1st / 106 1st Plup
Shell Shocked 20 May 4th, 2019 1st / 18 1st Hazy $182
Get On My Level 2019 May 17th-19th, 2019 7th / 420 7th Chillindude $157.50
Smash 'N' Splash 5 May 31st-June 2nd, 2019 4th / 838 7th Chillindude
The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0 June 8th-9th, 2019 17th / 253 9th Chillindude
Smash Summit 8 June 13th-17th, 2019 5th / 16 2nd Plup $1,578
Low Tier City 7 July 12th-14th, 2019 2nd / 303 7th DJ Nintendo
Super Smash Con 2019 August 8th-11th, 2019 3rd / 353 5th MilkMan $938
Smash Camp: End of Summer September 14th-15th, 2019 1st / 214
Mainstage September 20th-22nd, 2019 3rd / 289
The Big House 9 October 4th-6th, 2019 2nd / 909 $1,818
DreamHack Rotterdam October 18th-20th, 2019 1st / 154 1st S2J
Mango's Birthday Bash December 7th-8th, 2019 5th / 228 2nd Hungrybox $375
GENESIS 7 January 24th-26th, 2020 1st / 1110 5th Hungrybox $1,583
Smash Summit 9 February 13th-16th, 2020 4th / 16 $6,242
The Cave 2/24 February 24th, 2020 1st / 28 2nd Aglet
Pound Online Online April 24th-26th, 2020 1st / 979 $2,000
Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2 Online July 25th-26th, 2020 1st / 64 $8,250.33
Frame Perfect Series 2: ONLINE Online September 19th, 2020 9th / 155
Slippi Champions League - Season 1 Week 1 Online October 11th, 2020 2nd $800
Slippi Champions League - Season 1 Week 2 Online October 18th, 2020 1st $1,600
Slippi Champions League - Season 1 Week 3 Online October 25th, 2020 1st $1,600
Slippi Champions League - Season 1 Week 4 Online October 31st, 2020 1st $1,600
Smash Summit 10 Online Online November 19th-22nd, 2020 1st / 20 $4,605.30
Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 3 Online December 19th-20th, 2020 5th / 64
Galint Melee Open Online January 9th-10th, 2021 17th (DQ) / 270
Frame Perfect Series 4: ONLINE Online January 16th, 2021 9th / 183
Four Loko Fight Night Online March 6th-7th, 2021 1st / 549 $2,000
YourHouse Online March 27th, 2021 1st $225
The MD/VA Summit Online April 8th-10th, 2021 9th / 24
Summit Champions League - Season 2 Week 1 Online April 11th, 2021 2nd / 8 $320
Summit Champions League - Season 2 Week 2 Online April 18th, 2021 1st / 8 $640
Summit Champions League - Season 2 Week 3 Online May 2nd, 2021 2nd / 8 $320
Summit Champions League - Season 2 Week 4 Online May 9th, 2021 1st / 8 $1,600
Smash Summit 11 July 15th-18th, 2021 2nd / 16 $23,305.80
SWT: NA East Melee Regional Finals October 30th-31st, 2021 1st / 16 $1,600
Smash Summit 12 December 9th-12th, 2021 3rd / 16 $6,826.68
Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 4 Online January 29th-30th, 2022 1st / 2422
GENESIS 8 April 15th-17th, 2022 1st / 1522
Pound 2022 April 22nd-24th, 2022 1st / 282
Smash Summit 13 May 12th-15th, 2022 5th / 16 $1,779.78
Battle of BC 4 June 10th-12th, 2022 2nd / 281
Get On My Level 2022 July 1st-3rd, 2022 3rd / 493 $739.50
Double Down 2022 July 8th-10th, 2022 5th / 368
Phantom 2022 July 16th-17th, 2022 2nd / 188
Super Smash Con 2022 August 11th-14th, 2022 4th / 713 5th Rishi $570
Shine 2022 August 26th-28th, 2022 1st / 475 $2,921
Riptide 2022 September 9th-11th, 2022 5th / 449
The Big House 10 October 7th-9th, 2022 4th / 982 33rd Michael Quiggles $1,585.60
Ludwig Smash Invitational October 21st-23rd, 2022 1st / 32 $15,752
Smash Summit 14 November 3rd-6th, 2022 5th / 16 $3,186
Apex 2022 November 18th-20th, 2022 2nd / 461
Redemption Rumble December 30th-31st, 2022 5th / 16
GENESIS 9 January 20th-22nd, 2023 5th / 1253 $563.85
Collision 2023 March 10th-12th, 2023 2nd / 494 $1,796
Xanadu Legends - Xanadu 500 Edition April 29th, 2023 13th / 115 1st Jorge
Battle of BC 5 May 19th-21st, 2023 3rd / 409 $920.25
Tipped Off 14: Resurgence June 3rd-4th, 2023 1st / 344 5th / 79 moky $2,058
Wavedash 2023 June 16th-18th, 2023 7th / 234 $105
Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 5 July 7th-9th, 2023 2nd / 16 $10,000
Fête 3: By the Sea July 14th-16th, 2023 1st / 409 $3,222
Get On My Level 2023 July 21st-23rd, 2023 1st / 764 $2,321.26
Super Smash Con 2023 August 10th-13th, 2023 1st / 860 $3,870
Shine 2023 August 25th-27th, 2023 2nd / 683 $2,049
The Off-Season 2 September 23rd-24th, 2023 4th / 263 $2,000
The Big House 11 October 20th-22nd, 2023 4th / 1,011 $808.80
The Match: The Fight For No. 1 December 15th, 2023 Loss
It's Not You, It's Melee 10 January 28th, 2024 1st / 54 2nd / 18 Vintage
GENESIS X February 16th-18th, 2024 3rd / 1,544
Full Bloom 2024 February 24th-25th, 2024 1st / 351
Collision 2024 March 15th-17th, 2024 1st / 494
Battle of BC 6 March 29th-31st, 2024 3rd / 398 ???
Ohan's 25th B-day Bash April 20th, 2024 9th / 96 13th / 25 JackTheGiant
SoCal Star League 2: Division 1 April 23rd, 2024 1st / 16 $500
Mang0 In Progress 5 April 24th, 2024 1st / 63 $378
Pat's House 4 April 27th-28th, 2024 1st / 307 ???
Get On My Level X May 17th-19th, 2024 1st / 770 3rd / 128 MilkMan $2,403.68
Tipped Off 15: Connected June 15th-16th, 2024 5th / 513 $384.75
Eggdog Invitational August 29th-September 1st, 2024 4th / 20 $935.25
Riptide 2024 September 6th-8th, 2024 1st / 601 $3,606
Wavelength 2024 October 5th-6th, 2024 1st / 330 ???
The Function 4 October 26th, 2024 17th / 259
Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2024 November 1st-3rd, 2024 1st / 168 3rd / 36 Aklo ???
Don't Park on the Grass 2024 November 16th-17th, 2024 5th / 888 ???
Nounsvitational 2024 December 7th-8th, 2024 2nd / 16 $1,593.54

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 Placement 2v2 Placement Partner
Grass Roots Monthly #8! August 29th, 2015 9th 7th Xtian

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 Placement 2v2 Placement Partner
Don't Park on the Grass 2018 December 15th-16th, 2018 33rd Swedish Delight
The Coinbox #105Online June 12th, 2024 513th / 756
The Coinbox #106 - FINAL SMASH FIESTAOnline June 26th, 2024 257th / 593

Project M[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Grass Roots Monthly! November 8th, 2014 4th
Grass Roots Monthly #2! December 7th, 2014 3rd
Grass Roots Monthly #3! January 31st, 2015 5th ? ?
PK Smash #1 February 18th, 2015 2nd
Grass Roots Monthly #8! August 29th, 2015 9th 3rd Chase
The Spring Arcadian May 14th, 2016 5th

Trivia[edit]

  • Although the correct pronunciation of his name—and essentially his tag—is "Zan" (like the beginning of "Xanax"), Zain has stated that he is fine with both pronunciations.[5]
  • Zain has defeated 5 of the members of the 2018 MPGR top 6 (all but Armada):
  • Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Zain sometimes competes in online tournaments by sandbagging under the tag "DontTestMe", where he goes solo Roy in bracket, a character considered by many to be one of the worst characters in Melee. Despite this, he has won multiple netplay events over other MPGR-ranked players.
  • Zain's first gamertag was tekkenz. His father combined Zain's favorite game at that time, Tekken, with the first letter of his first name.
  • Zain has a knack for a variety of comedic sketches and impressions, the latter of which include Marge from The Simpsons and numerous Melee players (such as Wife, UnknownForce, KoreanDJ, and ChuDat).
    • He has imitated Chu's penchant for eating raw onions on stream, substituting an onion for an entire lime (skin and all) instead.
  • After losing to Axe at Apex 2022, Zain had only lost to 5 players since then in serious sets: aMSa, Jmook, Cody Schwab, Leffen, and Mang0. This streak ended at Luminosity Makes Moves Miami 2024, where Aklo's Link defeated Zain 3-1 in Winner's Semi-finals.

References[edit]

External links[edit]