Smasher:Salem
| Salem | |
|---|---|
| Salem.png | |
| Character info | |
| Brawl main | Zero Suit Samus |
| Other Brawl characters | Snake, Marth |
| Smash 4 mains | Sheik, Zero Suit Samus, Villager, Robin, Lucina |
| Other Smash 4 character | Captain Falcon |
| Project M main | Zelda |
| Other Project M character | Zero Suit Samus |
| Team info | |
| Crew(s) | CLASH Tournaments |
| Personal and other info | |
| Real name | Saleem Akiel Young |
| Birth date | |
| Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey 
|
| Miscellaneous info | |
| Skill |  Top professional  |
Salem is an American smasher from New Jersey who mains what is considered to be the best Brawl Zero Suit Samus in the world, along with Choco from Japan. He has become infamous for his incredible usage of Zero Suit Samus's Power Suit Pieces to rack up damage at the beginning of matches, and his surprising victory at Apex 2013, one of the most prestigious Brawl tournaments in the United States.
Salem is currently ranked 6th on the Tristate Brawl Power Rankings. Due to his aforementioned dominance at Apex 2013, CLASH Tournaments has recently recruited him into their crew as a top professional player.
History
Before playing in the offline scene, he gained fame on the AiB ladder as an incredible Wi-Fi player, dominating the ladder with Zero Suit Samus. When he finally did enter an offline tournament, he made a large splash in his offline debut and got 5th in his first tournament, Concentrate II, where he defeated Nicole, Jbandrew, Will, and Kingtoon. He made more news a few months later at Apex 2012; while he did not advance very far in bracket, placing only 33rd, he managed to take a set off of Nick Riddle, who was then considered to be the best Zero Suit Samus player in the USA.
Throughout 2012, Salem continued to enter tournaments and place well, but never actually won or gathered much public attention until a dominating performance at Apex 2013, where he came out of nowhere to take first place. In his march to victory, he defeated top players such as mikeHAZE, Mr. R, Otori (the Apex 2012 champion), Dojo, Mikeneko, and Mew2King in both winners' and grand finals, the latter of which has been considered to be one of the most intense sets witnessed in Brawl tournament play. In the grand finals set, both players took the other down to the last stock and last match, before Salem eventually won after a long, drawn-out war of attrition. This shocked the world, as he had not only won one of the most prestigious Brawl tournaments ever with a character who wasn't considered top tier, but had done so without winning any local tournaments in his region prior to the event.
At Apex 2014, Salem placed 1st in his pool by defeating Mekos, and defeated fellow Zero Suit Samus main V115 before losing to ESAM in winners'. He proceeded to defeat Pwii and Koolaid before losing to ADHD 1-2 in a close set, placing 9th overall and outplacing Nick Riddle once again.
Notable tournament placings
Brawl
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concentrate II | October 22nd, 2011 | 5th | 2nd | Anti |
| Apex 2012 | January 6th-8th, 2012 | 33rd | 65th | Meekspeedy |
| SKTAR | July 14th-15th, 2012 | 17th | — | — |
| Impact IV | August 25th, 2012 | 5th | 2nd | Chibo |
| Collision V | September 1st, 2012 | 5th | 3rd | Chibo |
| Apex 2013 | January 11th-13th, 2013 | 1st | — | — |
| SKTAR 2 | August 3rd-4th, 2013 | 33rd | 7th | Vex Kasrani |
| Thanks for Playing 4 | December 21st, 2013 | 2nd | — | — |
| KTAR 8 | December 28th, 2013 | 17th | 3rd | ZeRo |
| Collision 8 | January 11th, 2014 | 3rd | 2nd | Vex Kasrani |
| Apex 2014 | January 17th-19th, 2014 | 9th | 9th | Vex Kasrani |
| SKTAR 3 | May 31st-June 1st, 2014 | 17th | — | — |
| Apex 2015 | January 30th-February 1st, 2015 | 4th | 2nd | Mew2King |
Project M
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thanks for Playing 4 | December 21st, 2013 | 3rd | 1st | ZeRo |
| KTAR 8 | December 28th, 2013 | 5th | — | — |
| Collision 8 | January 11th, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| SKTAR 3 | May 31st-June 1st, 2014 | 13th | 13th | Xzax |
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
| Tournament | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky's Smash 4 Invitational | November 20th-22nd, 2014 | 9th | 5th | K9 |
| Collision X | November 29th, 2014 | 5th | 5th | Chibo |
| Collision XI | January 3rd, 2015 | 9th | 7th | Chibo |
| EVO 2015 | July 17th-19th, 2015 | 25th | — | — |
