Smasher:Mew2King
Mew2King "M2K" | |
---|---|
Mew2King.jpg | |
Character info | |
Smash 64 main | Kirby |
Melee mains | Sheik, Marth, Fox |
Other Melee characters | Peach, Mewtwo, Roy |
Brawl main | Meta Knight |
Other Brawl characters | King Dedede, Falco |
Project M mains | Fox, Mewtwo, Marth, Falco |
Other Project M characters | Sheik, Roy, Bowser |
Team info | |
Crew(s) | CLASH Tournaments, Empire Arcadia |
Personal and other info | |
Real name | Jason Zimmerman |
Birth date | |
Location | Cinnaminson, New Jersey |
Miscellaneous info | |
Skill | Smash 64: Professional Melee: Top professional Brawl: Top professional Project M: Top professional |
Mew2King, commonly known as M2K, is an American smasher hailing from New Jersey, who started playing competitively and attending tournaments in 2006 for Melee and 2008 for Brawl. He has worked up a reputation of being one of the best Melee and Brawl players in the world due to his great chaingrabbing, camping, and comboing skills, as well as his extremely technical and intelligent play style, earning him the nickname The Robot. He is widely considered to be the best Melee Sheik and Marth and also one of the best Brawl Meta Knight players in the world. Mew2King was also considered one of the best King Dedede players when he played him shortly after Brawl's release (whom he still uses along with Falco in MK-banned tournaments). He was ranked 3rd on both the discontinued Smash Panel Power Rankings and SSBPD, was ranked 1st on the discontinued North Atlantic Regional Power Rankings, and is currently ranked 1st and 2nd on the Tristate Melee and Brawl Power Rankings, respectively. He is also ranked 15th on the unfinished Smash 64 ELO Rating, and was voted 3rd best player in 2013 by panelists on the 2013 SSBM Player Rankings.
Mew2King was a major threat in Melee's tournament in the years before Brawl's release, consistently placing in the money at nationals. In the first few years of Brawl's lifespan, Mew2King dominated the national scene, rarely losing sets in tournaments, and remains one of the best players in both Melee and Brawl to date. During late 2013, after years of not winning a major Melee tournament, Mew2King went on a winning streak where he won almost every singles event he entered. This is commonly referred to as "The Return of the King".
Mew2King made many important discoveries about Melee on his own by testing several aspects of the game. This includes character weight, falling speed, attack knockback, priority, game physics, and so on. He stores this information here as a repository for Melee statistics, which, to this day, many casual and professional Smashers refer to alike for more information about their character's data and inner working.
Notable tournament placings
Smash 64
Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
Smashacre Gluttony | August 10, 2013 | 2nd | 3rd | Vex Kasrani |
D.D.O.S. | September 17, 2013 | 1st | ||
WHOBO 5 | October 19-20, 2013 | 1st | ||
Smashacre Frostbite | December 7, 2013 | 1st |
Melee
Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
MLG Chicago | July 21-22, 2006 | 3rd | 3rd | KoreanDJ |
OC2 Zero Challenge | August 15-17, 2006 | 4th | 3rd | KoreanDJ |
MLG Orlando | August 25-26, 2006 | 5th | 3rd | Vidjo |
MLG New York | October 13-14, 2006 | 5th | 2nd | The King |
MLG Vegas | November 18, 2006 | 4th | 3rd | The King |
Cataclysm 3 | March 3-4, 2007 | 1st | 1st | Isai |
*Pound* 2 | June 16-17, 2007 | 2nd | 1st | PC Chris |
MELEE-FC Diamond | July 12-14, 2007 | 1st | 5th | Isai |
OC3 Zero Challenge | July 20-22, 2007 | 2nd | 4th | Chu Dat |
EVO World | August 24-26, 2007 | 9th | ||
Super Champ Combo | September 29, 2007 | 1st | 4th | HugS |
*Pound* 3 | February 2-3, 2008 | 2nd | 1st | Azen |
FAST 1 | July 17–20, 2008 | 1st | 1st | Cort |
Revival of Melee | March 7–8, 2009 | 2nd | 2nd | Jman |
Apex 2009 | May 9-10, 2009 | 2nd | 1st | Jman |
GENESIS | July 10-12, 2009 | 5th | 1st | Jman |
Pound 4 | January 16–18, 2010 | 5th | 49th | Jman |
Apex 2010 | August 6-8, 2010 | 3rd | 2nd | Jman |
Revival of Melee 3 | November 20-21, 2010 | 2nd | 5th | Darc |
Winter Game Fest VI | January 22-24, 2011 | 5th | 1st | Dr. PeePee |
Pound V | February 19-21, 2011 | 5th | 1st | Armada |
Zenith | May 28-29, 2011 | 2nd | 3rd | Hax |
GENESIS 2 | July 15-17, 2011 | 5th | 2nd | Dr. PeePee |
Sudden Death IV | November 5, 2011 | 1st | 1st | Cactuar |
Revival of Melee 4 | November 19-20, 2011 | 3rd | 1st | Kage |
Apex 2012 | January 6-8, 2012 | 17th | 1st | Armada |
Zenith 2012 | May 26-27, 2012 | 2nd | 1st | Jman |
Revival of Melee 5 | November 17-18, 2012 | 1st | 1st | Chillindude829 |
United 1 | January 6, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Level 9 Luigi |
Apex 2013 | January 11-13, 2013 | 3rd | 1st | Armada |
Zenith 2013 | June 1–2, 2013 | 3rd | 1st | Hax |
EVO 2013 | July 12-14, 2013 | 5th | 1st | Hungrybox |
The Fall Classic | September 14-15 | 2nd | 2nd | The Moon |
The Big House 3 | October 12-13, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Hungrybox |
Youmacon 2013 | November 1-3, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Nakat |
Pound V.5 | November 9, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Mango |
Revival of Melee 6 | November 16-17, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Hungrybox |
Fight Pitt III | November 23, 2013 | 1st | 1st | VaNz |
Kings of Cali 3 | December 14-15, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Lucky |
KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 1st | 1st | PB&J |
McSmashter 3 | January 11-12, 2014 | 1st | 1st (Split) | Weon-X |
Apex 2014 | January 17-19, 2014 | 2nd | 1st | Hax |
Brawl
Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
X.E.S.T.I.C.L.E. | April 19, 2008 | 2nd | 2nd | Velocity |
Critical Hit 3 | July 5, 2008 | 1st | 2nd | Velocity |
Florida's Awesome Summer Tournament | July 17-20, 2008 | 1st | 1st | Cort |
Viridian City | January 31st, 2009 | 1st | 5th | Bum |
Clash of the Titans IV | February 7-8, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Lee Martin |
G.I.M.P.E.D. 1 | February 21, 2009 | 1st | 1st | NinjaLink |
WHOBO | April 10-12, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Inui |
Apex 2009 | May 9-10, 2009 | 2nd | 1st | Ally |
SCSA West Coast Circuit #4 | May 30, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Fiction |
TourneyPlay #2 | June 6-7, 2009 | 3rd | 1st | Fiction |
Smash In Nevada | June 13-14, 2009 | 1st | 1st | DieSuperFly |
GENESIS | July 10-12, 2009 | 2nd | 1st | Fiction |
EVO 2009 | July 17-19, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
No Maps! | August 8, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Inui |
S.N.E.S. | August 21-23, 2009 | 3rd | 1st | Ally |
Active Gamers | September 26-27, 2009 | 1st | 1st | Tyrant |
TourneyPlay #3 | October 16-18, 2009 | 1st | 3rd | Havok |
Viridian City #6 | October 24, 2009 | 2nd | 2nd | Tyrant |
Pound 4 | January 16-18, 2010 | 2nd | 1st | Ally |
TourneyPlay #4 | February 12-14, 2010 | 1st | 1st | DEHF |
Viridian City #7 | February 27th, 2010 | 3rd | 1st | Ally |
WHOBO 2 | April 2-4, 2010 | 2nd | 1st | Ally |
MLG Orlando 2010 | April 16-18, 2010 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
TourneyPlay #5 | May 8-9, 2010 | 1st | 1st | Fiction |
MLG Columbus 2010 | June 4-6, 2010 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
Apex 2010 | August 6-8, 2010 | 3rd | 1st | Lee Martin |
MLG Raleigh 2010 | August 27-29, 2010 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
MLG DC 2010 | October 15-17, 2010 | 3rd | 2nd | Ally |
Adventures of the Prima Vista | December 10-11, 2010 | 1st | 1st | Inui |
KTAR 4 | January 15, 2011 | 1st | 2nd | Inui |
Winter Game Fest VI | January 22-23, 2011 | 1st | 1st | Lee Martin |
Pound V | February 19-21, 2011 | 9th | 1st | Anti |
KTAR 5 | May 21, 2011 | 4th | 2nd | Lie |
Clash of the Titans 5 | June 25-26, 2011 | 2nd | 2nd | ADHD |
GENESIS 2 | July 15-17th, 2011 | 1st | 1st | Ally |
KTAR 6 | August 14, 2011 | 5th | 1st | Anti |
Apex 2012 | January 6-8, 2012 | 13th | 2nd | Anti |
SKTAR | July 14-15, 2012 | 9th | 1st | Trela |
Sun Rise Tournament | August 10-12, 2012 | 7th | 17th | Vinnie |
XSmash | December 22, 2012 | 2nd | 2nd | Fatal |
Apex 2013 | January 11-13, 2013 | 2nd | 2nd | Ally |
Smash Factor 2013 (Mexico) | July 19-21, 2013 | 1st | 1st | Wonf |
WHOBO 5 (MK-banned) | October 19-20, 2013 | 17th | 4th | Mekos |
Youmacon 2013 | November 1-3, 2013 | 1st | 3rd | RJ |
Fight Pitt III | November 23, 2013 | 1st | N/A | N/A |
KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 1st | 5th | Shaky |
Apex 2014 | January 17-19, 2014 | 4th | 7th | Lee Martin |
Project M
Tournament | Date | 1v1 Placement | 2v2 Placement | Partner |
---|---|---|---|---|
Winter Brawl 7 | February 23-24, 2013 | 1st | ||
Zenith 2013 | June 1-2, 2013 | 5th | ||
The Big House 3 | October 12-13, 2013 | 4th | 1st | Hungrybox |
Pound V.5 | November 9, 2013 | 1st | ||
Fight Pitt III | November 23, 2013 | 1st | ||
KTAR 8 | December 28, 2013 | 1st | ||
McSmashter 3 | January 11-12, 2014 | 1st | ||
Apex 2014 | January 17-19, 2014 | 2nd |
Controversies
Intentional forfeiting, match-throwing, and splitting
While Mew2King is one of the best players in both Melee and Brawl, he has deliberately forfeited, thrown tournament matches, and split tournament winnings with his opponents on multiple occasions in the past. To attempt to justify these actions in the face of his detractors, who claim that he only plays Smash for financial gain and little else, he often claimed that he was either fatigued, losing interest in the game that day, or prioritizing being a "nice person" over sportsmanship, which many claim he thinks is more important than the integrity of a tournament.
Many instances have been recorded of Mew2King splitting or throwing matches. At MLG D.C. 2010, after losing to Diddy Kong main ADHD in loser's finals, he accepted a $300 compensation from ADHD[1], which, to this day, he has not received. When MLG found out about this split, they banned both of the players from the 2010 MLG finals under the grounds of "forfeiting or conspiring to manipulate Rankings or Brackets." This event is frequently cited by observers to be one of the most probable reasons why Brawl was dropped from the MLG bracket in the next season. In May of 2011, Mew2King, ADHD, and Anti all received yellow cards under the Unity infraction system for bracket manipulation. This was in response to a situation at KTAR 5, where Mew2King had forfeited to Meta Knight professional Anti in Winners' Semis, defeated Olimar player Dabuz in Losers' Quarters, and then forfeited to ADHD in Losers' Semis, with all of them agreeing to split their winnings afterwards. This messed up the bracket for many players who were actually trying their best. It didn't end here, however: two months later, Mew2King received another infraction- this time a red card- under the Unity infraction system for "intentional under-performance" against Sade, a female smasher, by choosing Ganondorf and allowing himself to lose in pools at GENESIS 2 after dominating his pool with his usual Meta Knight. After receiving these infractions, Mew2King did not cause any more major controversies during tournaments for a while, but he was still carefully watched in case he would exhibit poor behavior later on.
Revival of Melee 5 controversy
After a decent length of time without major controversy, Mew2King caused a significant stir-up at Revival of Melee 5. Assuming that Dave's modified stupid rule was in effect, as it was with most other tournaments during that year, he counterpicked Final Destination (a stage he had already won on) for his game 5 against Unknown522 in Winners' Semis, which Unknown agreed to with skepticism. Once M2K won the match, Unknown went to the TO with what happened, and the TO ruled that game 5 was to be replayed - Unknown proceeded to win the replay. During the next match, it was reported on the tournament stream that Mew2King had forfeited from the tournament. After convincing from Hax, Mew2King did show up after a slight delay and played, though with an unusual amount of "button checks" and an extremely pessimistic attitude overall, which delayed the tournament and alienated most of the audience. During the following match in which KirbyKaze threw Winners' Finals halfway through the first game (presumably to give Unknown another fair chance against Mew2King that he was deprived of after the ruling), it was reported that M2K and Unknown had publicly agreed to split, with the two offering KirbyKaze monetary compensation later for the trouble; this only served to drag him into the already-heated situation, and people started blaming KirbyKaze for what happened during the tournament even though he had no role in it. The situation wrapped itself up near the end of the tournament, but the negativity exploded to a climax during Grand Finals, in which Unknown played with a clear losing effort. One of the main points of controversy regarding this situation is whether Mew2King was deliberately trying to cheat and reach Winner's Finals or whether he was legitimately mistaken over the rule, and many consider it to be mostly the TO's fault for forcing the players to replay the match and partly Unknown's fault for not checking the rule until after the game.
Perceived public image
Despite being considered one of the best players at Melee and Brawl, as well as having considerable knowledge about their inner workings, criticism has been leveled against Mew2King's supposed character and personality. Although this behavior has recently died down, Mew2King is known for making large amounts of excuses for why he loses tournament matches, especially ones in Melee, where only a few crucial errors are all it takes to cause a player to lose hundreds of dollars. He often claims that he could have won a certain tournament set, but became too nervous and made mistakes that cost him the match, and claims to suffer from a mental block against players who have had a history of defeating him in tournament, such as Armada and Hungrybox. Many of his fans are repeatedly disappointed by his poor mistakes in tournament matches, then become frustrated when he makes excessive excuses for losing. Mew2King had also threatened that he would quit Smash on multiple occasions, usually after losing an important tournament, which furthers his critics' arguments that he only cares about making money from the game.
In addition to claims that he had "tarnished" the competitive community of Brawl with his infamous bracket splitting and match throwing controversies, players have also claimed that Mew2King acts too immature both inside and outside of the community, and that he does not seriously consider his actions, only further harming the public image of Brawl players. In addition to several unverified claims about his unacceptable conduct at the residences of various Smashers, Mew2King's publicized trip to Japan proved to be a disaster. Mew2King poorly prepared for the trip, only bringing with him $200 in the hopes that he would win considerable money from money matches (which are illegal in Japan), as well as failing to bring any sort of plan to the country or learning about the culture or language.[2] Shortly after spending all his money less than a day in Japan and supposedly losing his cell phone, he later vomited on the futon of professional Japanese smasher Nietono, who had previously arrived at the United States in order to play at Apex 2012.[3]
Despite these allegations, some have come to Mew2King's defense. It is widely known that Mew2King suffers from an autism-spectrum disorder called Asperger's Syndrome, which causes the sufferer to have stunted social growth and adaptation (in addition to the technical obsessiveness that is exemplified by his Melee knowledge and testing). As a result of having the disorder, some claim that Mew2King's actions should not always be harshly criticized as he may not have the mental capacity to immediately adapt to certain social situations, or the social awareness and context to identify his actions as inappropriate or inconsiderate. Though the disorder has enough variance that such blanket statements cannot necessarily be assumed, his aforementioned behavior is highly characteristic of Asperger's. Others also claim that constantly criticizing Mew2King is itself causing the tarnishing of the Brawl community, with the claim that ganging up on Mew2King is itself not acceptable[citation needed].
In spite of these prior controversies, his character has been maturing over time. After being sponsored by CLASH Tournaments, his attitude towards tournaments, with his play and performance, has increased dramatically. Most recently observed were his top 3 placements in all four non-SSB64 Smash events at Apex 2013; additionally, despite his 2nd place finish in Brawl under an opponent he would have usually beaten, his response was very positive and optimistic, and said that he learned to never give up. Many players cite to have a new-found faith or respect for him after air time on CLASH Tournament's stream of Collision VI on January 5th, where he commentated two exhibition sets at the end of the tournament with fellow caster Keitaro.
Trivia
- Mew2King was initially an outspoken critic of Brawl, claiming that it lacked many of the elements present in Melee[4], although he later transitioned into being a top professional Brawl player.
- This does not mean that he enjoys Brawl as much as Melee, however; he has recently said that he finds the game extremely boring and dominated by cheap tactics instead of actual skill, frequently citing the Ice Climbers' infinite chain grab as an example, and even going as far as to say the Ice Climbers ruin the game. On The Big House 3's livestream, he stated that he was thinking about quitting Brawl in favor of continuing Melee as well as pursuing the goal of being the best Smash 4 player.
- Mew2King is currently the only active player to hold a winning record against Mango.
External links
- SWF public profile
- AllisBrawl profile
- Episode 7 of The Smash Brothers, a competitive Melee documentary, which focuses primarily on Mew2King
References
- New Jersey smashers
- Kirby professionals (SSB)
- Marth professionals (SSBM)
- Fox professionals (SSBM)
- Sheik professionals (SSBM)
- Peach professionals (SSBM)
- Mewtwo professionals (SSBM)
- Roy professionals (SSBM)
- Meta Knight professionals (SSBB)
- King Dedede professionals (SSBB)
- Falco professionals (SSBB)
- VIP players
- VIP contributors