Smasher:Ken

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Ken "SephirothKen"
Character info
Melee main	Marth
Other Melee characters	Fox, Captain Falcon, Roy
Smash 4 main	Ganondorf
Other Smash 4 character	Marth
Project M main	Marth
Team info
Crew(s)	Team Liquid
Former crews	Socal Elite 4
Personal and other info
Real name	Ken Hoang
Birth date	October 10, 1985
Location	Westminster, California
Miscellaneous info
Skill	Top professional

Ken Hoang (born October 10, 1985), also referred to as just Ken, SephirothKen, or a variety of other nicknames, such as "The King of Smash" and "The Asian Sensation", is an American professional smasher of Vietnamese descent. Often cited to be the World Champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee during his prime, Ken is said to have earned well over $40,000 USD playing the game. His main character since his debut in Tournament Go 4 has been Marth, and he uses Fox as an alternate character. The two-time national champion of Major League Gaming, two-time winner of Tournament Go and winner of many other tournaments, Ken was officially ranked the best Super Smash Bros. Melee player in America during his heyday. He was also widely regarded as the best player in the world, having defeated reputable players from around the globe, including top Japanese players such as Captain Jack, Masashi, Aniki, Bombsoldier, and Korius in the summer of 2005. He is also Manacloud's younger brother. Ken is currently ranked 10th on the SoCal Melee Power Rankings.

Ken was considered the most consistent player during his prime, and had the most impressive tournament track record earning him the nickname "The King of Smash" within the community. Aside from his personal achievements, Ken is a member of El Chocolate Diablo, which was the top-ranking doubles team, and a member of the Socal Elite 4. Ken is also notable for innovating a highly influential combo named after him.

Biography

World Champion Ken (left, holding two trophies) with a check for $5000.

Ken started playing Super Smash Bros. when it was released for the Nintendo 64. He made his gamertag "sephirothken" after the main villain of Final Fantasy VII. He was naturally talented at the game and became fluent in the gameplay and style of Smash. However, he was never able to compete in major tournaments for the Nintendo 64 version of Super Smash Bros. due to the lack of a competitive scene. When Melee was released for the Gamecube, Ken initially did not enjoy it, but the game grew on him after a period of a few months. By the time he attended his first tournament, he had already built up an impressive reputation in his town as the best Smash player. This tournament, hosted at a local gaming store known as Game Square, employed completely different rules from today's standardized rules. It was a free-for-all tournament, and everybody else teamed up against Ken because he was considered the best. Despite the combined efforts of the other participants, however, Ken still ended up winning the tournament.

In 2002, a moderator on SmashBoards by the handle of Matt Deezie hosted the Tournament Go (TG series), which was one of the first lines of major tournaments. Up to that point, there had been three installments in the TG series, with each new incarnation being more popular than the last. Recipherus, a Sheik main, was the favorite to win the fourth installment that would come in early 2003. However, interests turned as Matt Deezie read posts by Ken, who boasted that he was unbeatable at Melee due to his tournament win at Game Square. Matt Deezie and Recipherus challenged Ken to a $200 money match, and while the two competitive smashers were more versed in advanced, technical aspects of the game, Ken was more adept in adaptation, and defeated the duo. After the money match, Ken learned of the Tournament Go series, and planned to travel to Northern California to claim his first major tournament win.

Ken later attended Tournament Go 4, where even with his lack of experience in any strong competitive scene, he managed to defeat players who had attended previous TGs and take first out of a record 89 players at that time. He also placed second in teams with his brother Manacloud, losing to TG1 and TG2 singles winners J.R. Castillo and Justin Junio.

Seven months later, in August 2003, Ken attended and won TG5. This was the first tournament where he teamed with Isai for doubles (otherwise known as "Malva00"), who was considered one of the best Melee players in the country in his prime. Their victory in the doubles tournament started a two-and-a-half year winning streak. They won every doubles tournament they entered until MLG Chicago 2006 in July, where they were defeated by Azen and Chillindude829 in the finals and received second place. However, they reclaimed their title later that year in August at MLG Orlando 2006 where they defeated Azen and Chillindude829 6-3 in the finals.

For the next two years, Ken continued to win nearly every competition he entered. The worst loss he ever garnered in his competitive career was in August 2004 at TG6 where he placed 9th out of approximately 128 competitors. After that, he did not place below 2nd until MLG Orlando 2006 in August where he placed 5th and then MLG New York Playoffs 2006 where he placed 7th, and in teams he got 3rd teaming with Isai making it his all-time low in singles and doubles at MLG events.

Ken is notable for having fame outside of the Smash games. In September 2006, Ken was nominated as one of five members of "The Dangerous Five" by Electronic Gaming Monthly; he was notable as being one of only two gamers on the list who did not specialise in the Halo games, alongside Michael Brandt, who played Tekken. Ken was referred to as "The Duper", due to his quick, smart, and aggressive playstyle. Additionally, Ken managed to land a spot as a contestant on the 17th season of Survivor.; in the final standings, he won fifth place.

Ken briefly joined the tournament scene for Brawl, with respectable standings, including a second place finish at EVO 2008. EVO 2008, however, proved to be his last Brawl tournament; his AllisBrawl profile lists him as inactive, and in a Q&A session with ESPN, Ken stated that he needed a "a big break from gaming", and that he needed to pursue his career in illustration. Ken, however, also suggested that there existed a potential for him in joining the Brawl tournament scene if it got picked up by the MLG again, though this never came to be.

After five years away from competitive Smash, Ken temporarily chose to rejoin the scene in the 2012 tournament of Kings of Cali. In his return to Melee, however, Ken underperformed in singles, getting a 33rd place finish. His doubles run, however, ended in a third place finish with Dr. Peepee, and he provided the deciding KO in the NorCal - Socal 8 on 8 battle against PewPewU; Ken was initially not supposed to appear in the battle for SoCal, but a six stock lead by his team caused team captain Mango to switch out Lucky for him.

Although still no longer as active in the Melee scene as before, Ken has made a handful of appearances since Kings of Cali; while unable to continue his previously dominant standings from the past, Ken continues to be seen in the top 64 of finalists in singles sets, along with solid doubles standings.

On March 18th, 2014, Team Liquid, an eSports team in the Netherlands famous for its StarCraft II and Dota 2 teams, opened a Melee team and signed Ken and KoreanDJ as its first members, with Smash Brothers director Samox producing Team Liquid's official announcement video.

He was also invited to participate in the E3 2014-held Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. He used Marth in the tournament.

Ken in 2014 has made a resurgence in many tournaments, including EVO 2014, MLG Anaheim 2014, SSS Lock-In, SKTAR 3, CEO 2014 and Kings of Cali 4. In each, he has finished with decent placing, as well as holding set wins over the likes of MacD, Lucky, Westballz, DEHF, Bizzarro Flame, Fly Amanita and more, with close set losses and game wins against the likes of S2J, fellow top Marth mains The Moon and PewPewU, and even one of the world's best Armada at CEO. He has also regularly been attending Super Smash Sundays throughout the year, where he has been consistently placing top 8 or 9th place in singles and Top 8 in doubles.

Notable tournament placings

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Melee

Tournament	Date	1v1 Placement	2v2 Placement	Partner
Tournament Go 4	January 19th, 2003	1st	2nd	Manacloud
SoCal Inland Empire SSB:M		1st	—	—
Tournament Go 5	August 2nd-3rd, 2003	1st	1st	Isai
Game Over	January 10th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
Zero Challenge	January 17th-18th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
MLG Chicago 2004	June 19th-20th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
MELEE-FC1	July 9th-10th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
Tournament Go 6	August 21st-22nd, 2004	9th	1st	Isai
MLG Los Angeles 2004	September 25th-26th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
MLG New York 2004	October 24th, 2004	1st	1st	Isai
MOAST 3	January 16th, 2005	2nd	1st	Isai
MLG DC 2005	January 29th-30th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
MLG San Francisco 2005	February 26th-27th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
Gettin' Schooled 2	June 25th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
MELEE-FC3	July 10th-12th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
Jack Garden Tournament	August 20th, 2005	1st	—	—
MLG Los Angeles 2005	October 14th-16th, 2005	2nd	1st	Isai
MLG Atlanta 2005	November 25th-27th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
MLG Chicago 2005	December 16th-18th, 2005	1st	1st	Isai
MLG New York 2005	February 24th-26th, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
Champ Combo: Yayuhzzz Edition	March 25th, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
Champ Combo: NorCal Edition	April 8th, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
MLG New York Opener 2006	April 21st-23rd, 2006	2nd	1st	Isai
MLG Dallas 2006	May 19th-21st, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
MLG Anaheim 2006	June 23rd-25th, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
MLG Chicago 2006	July 21st-23rd, 2006	1st	2nd	Isai
Zero Challenge 2	August 15th-17th, 2006	1st	7th	Rob$
MLG Orlando 2006	August 25th-27th, 2006	5th	1st	Isai
MLG New York Playoffs 2006	October 13th-15th, 2006	7th	3rd	Isai
NCT2: The Big One	October 28th, 2006	1st	1st	Isai
MLG Las Vegas 2006	November 17th-19th, 2006	3rd	1st	Isai
Super Smash Royale III	April 28th, 2007	1st	1st	Isai
Comrades 2	June 9th, 2007	1st	1st	CAOTIC
Sushiman's Westminster Tournament	July 14th, 2007	1st	1st	Manacloud
Zero Challenge 3	July 20th-22nd, 2007	4th	2nd	Bombsoldier
EVO World 2007	August 24th-26th, 2007	1st	—	—
Super Champ Combo	September 29th-30th, 2007	7th	7th	Isai
Kings of Cali	November 10th, 2012	33rd	3rd	Dr. PeePee
Kings of Cali 2	April 13th-14th, 2013	—	17th	Hairynipples
EVO 2013	July 12th-14th, 2013	49th	—	—
Kings of Cali 3	December 14th-15th, 2013	25th	5th	HugS
SoCal Regionals 2014	February 28th-March 2nd, 2014	9th	9th	Lil Fumi
Super Smash Sundays 5-18-2014	May 18th, 2014	9th	1st	Fiction
Pat's House 2	May 24th-25th, 2014	17th	9th	HugS
SKTAR 3	May 31st-June 1st, 2014	25th	9th	KoreanDJ
SSS Lock-In	June 14th-15th, 2014	9th	5th	KoreanDJ
MLG Anaheim 2014	June 20th-22nd, 2014	21st	9th	KoreanDJ
CEO 2014	June 27th-29th, 2014	33rd	7th	KoreanDJ
Kings of Cali 4	July 5th-6th, 2014	13th	4th	DEHF
EVO 2014	July 11th-13th, 2014	33rd	—	—
Super Smash Sundays 29	December 7th, 2014	9th	5th	DEHF
Apex 2015	January 30th-February 1st, 2015	81st	25th	KoreanDJ
I'm Not Yelling!	April 11th-12th, 2015	25th	5th	Lil Fumi
MVG Sandstorm	April 18th-19th, 2015	17th	9th	OkamiBW
Press Start	May 9th-10th, 2015	25th	7th	Kira

Project M

Tournament	Date	1v1 Placement	2v2 Placement	Partner
CEO 2014	June 27th-29th, 2014	25th	7th	KoreanDJ

Trivia

• Ken is one of the three Marth players that has been able to take a set off of Fly Amanita's Ice Climbers in tournament, with the others being PewPewU and The Moon.

External links

• sephirothken SWF Public Profile
• AiB profile
• News Article, GotFrag DPad