Name (aka Handle):

Gax

How old are you?:

19

Which characters do you play in SSF2? Why do you play these characters? (Note: do not list characters that are not currently in the game):

I currently main Fox, have marth, sheik, captain falcon, and chibi robo secondaries, and a pocket yoshi and zelda.
Fox: Why I started to main him is explained in the question pertaining to why I want to join the back room. I love his glass cannon playstyle. His quickness and combo ability allow me to have an exceptionally strong punish game. However, his status as a fast faller makes him easy combo fodder, meaning that one cannot be too reckless with him. His high risk and high reward playstyle are thrilling to me.
Marth: I started to learn him as a secondary to improve my neutral for fox. I began to love him, especially when playing against other foxes or marths, as his combo game is intricate and ever evolving. I'm always enjoying finding new ways to combo with him, and my favorite combo that I've performed was done with marth (link in additional information).
Sheik: original main, and current lag main. My technical fox is useless in lag, so when it's time to play an opponent who doesn't connect well with me, I go to sheik. She's saved me on countless occasions.
Captain falcon: nothing feels better than getting a knee, and also just a fun character to play in general. I also learned him to improve my neutral, but have since completely diverged from my original style (using him like I would use fox), and going for nutty and fun combos that sometimes work but mostly don't. Definitely my favorite character to try and style with.
Chibi robo: Wanted to prove I could be good with a low tier, so I started playing with him. I love his space controlling play style, and loved to use him as a way to develop my patience. Playing chibi recklessly always ends in failure, and I've tried to apply this cautious play style to my fox as well.
Yoshi: Wanted to learn a character that I had no clue how to play from scratch, it was a fun experience but I don't use him much anymore.
Zelda: admittedly, I only have a pocket zelda as a counter to kirbies that I can't beat with my fox. So far I've only ever had to use zelda in tournament against Tlord.
How much experience do you have with official Smash titles? (SSB64, Melee, Brawl. Include in this answer which characters you play/played.):

Before SSF2, I never played the other smash titles more than once. I wanted to get into smash, but didn't have any of the titles, so went to SSF2.

Have you ever attended any Smash tournaments? If so, give some details about the tournament (number of participants, which games, etc). How well did you place?

Offline I have never attended any smash tournaments, however I have played in multiple SSF2 online tournaments, with high placings at many of them. I was ranked #1 in the 2nd season of FCR, and my tournament placings can be found there.

Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... s/pubhtml#

When did you start playing SSF2?

I started playing SSF2 around June / July 2015.

What is your favorite stage in SSF2? Explain.

My favorite stage in SSF2 is Tower of Salvation. I like that there is a large flat portion, which allows for a lot of space to conduct neutral and the ability to perform chain grabs. What makes TOS more appealing to me than FD however, are the two platforms at both edges. They create a completely new dynamic in every matchup in my opinion. For fox, I use those platforms to finish some chain grabs into a 0 to death (a clip in my combo video demonstrates). They also provide an additional recovery option, and a platform to escape some characters (I mainly use them to run away from zelda).

Who, in your opinion, should be placed first on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a higher level than all others?

I believe metaknight should be placed first on the SSF2 tier list. Metaknight has great speed, recovery, punish ability, and out of shield options. His smaller hurtboxes and floatiness also make him difficult to be combod, while he has a great combo game himself. His multiple jumps also allow him to go deep for edgeguards, and his quick downsmash is a great kill move as well as a great "get off me" defensive option. All in all, he has more tools than any other character in SSF2, which is why he can deal with any character. His only downside is that he dies early vertically, but barring zelda, the characters with good vertical kill power (Fox Usmash, DK dsmash, mario upsmash, link downair, etc.) all have incredibly difficult matchups against metaknight since he wins so hard in neutral and in edgeguarding, so this weakness can't even be exposed to that great an extent.

Who, in your opinion, should be placed last on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a lower level than all others?

I believe wario should place last due to many reasons. In my opinion, wario has 4 critical weaknesses that make him worse than any other character. Firstly, his combo weight and hurtboxes make him an easy character to be combod. As a fox main, when I play wario, it literally feels like beating on a CPU every time I manage to get a successful uptilt, nair, or grab. I don't think this is a problem with my opponent's DI, as I have personally felt this while playing both experienced and inexperienced warios alike. His second critical weakness is his lack of kill power. From what I've seen, his only real reliable kill moves are side b, dash attack, fart, and downthrow. As for side b and dash attack, proper spacing and reactions allow these moves to be easily blocked, and the endlag for each of these moves is great enough that they can easily be punished on shield. Fart is tougher to deal with, however it's a move that can realistically only be used once in a competitive game, and if missed, takes too long to be used again. Lastly, his downthrow leads me to my third critical weakness of wario's; his grab. Wario's grab range is pitiful, and even shield grabbing becomes risky as it's very easy to misjudge the spacing of his grab (as bad as it is, it's even shorter than it looks). Even if he does get a grab, yes he can kill off downthrow, but in general his grab followups aren't that great, as really only maybe one follow up attack can be chained per grab. Finally, the fourth and last, and probably most obvious weakness, is his hitboxes themselves. They are terrible and have extremely low priority for the most part. All in all, his both terrible defensive and offensive game leads me to believe he is the worst character in the game.

If you could make only one change to SSF2 as it currently is, what would it be and why?

I would remove running uptilt (if possible). A large problem that most players in the community complain about is spam. I personally have always been of the opinion that if you lose to spam, it is your own fault. By definition, spam is easy to counter because the opponent is continuously going for the same option, which means if you can defeat that option, your opponent has no other way to hurt you. That being said, even I would agree that running uptilt spam is fairly difficult to deal with in some situations. Characters like fox, dk, marth, naruto, ichigo, etc. have running uptilts that are fairly easily spammable, while difficult to punish. If running uptilt were removed, I think SSF2 neutral and combo game would completely evolve, although I cannot say if it would be for better or for worse, as running uptilt is a unique aspect of this game that I actually happen to enjoy. However, from a competitive and fairness standpoint, I feel that as a community we would benefit from its removal.

What is your view on items in competitive play?

items provide an element of luck that most players hate with a passion. If you've ever felt anger at your opponent being saved by randall in yoshi's story, than you'd probably be infuriated when a 100% healing tomato (i think that's what it is?) appears in front of your opponent has he heals off more than double the percent you gave him from your crisp nair shine bair. Competitive play is meant to be a way in which you test your skills and beat your opponent. While some items can be used intricately and skillfully (thrown items for the most part), more items in general add an element of luck that is meant more for casual than competitive play, and thus should not be included.

Do you have or can you download Skype? You don't need a mic or webcam.

I currently have skype.

Why do you want to join the Smash Flash Back Room? What will you contribute? Why are you an exceptional applicant? Be as detailed as possible.

I want to join the Smash Flash Back Room because I want to improve again. When I first joined the competitive scene in October by going onto anthers, I was a terrible sheik main that spammed dash attack and had no fundamentals. I eventually progressed by playing ranked, and thought I was good: I was wrong. I eventually met Chaos0 and Arteck in ranked battles, and was obliterated by their foxes. Chaos0's technical prowess and quickness as well as Arteck's edgeguarding and punishes intrigued me, and I decided to start maining fox, with my goal being to combine both of their strong points by imitating their play and eventually surpassing both of them. I gradually learned techskill and punishes, and became the player I am today with those two to thank. Although Chaos0 doesn't play fox anymore, and arteck is belittled by a large part of the community, in my opinion, they were both strong players who helped me learn about fox, and how to improve with him. Recently, my improvement has stunted because I have not been able to play strong players like these, and thus stopped evolving. I want to join the Back Room because I've heard that multiple strong players reside there, and despite the differences and arguments I've had with some players in the back room, I want to start clean and start playing these strong guys again, so that I can continue to get better. I can contribute my experience to the back room, just as I wish for these players to bestow their experience unto me. I believe I am one of the strongest and most consistent players in SSF2 currently, and can help others improve by practicing with them. More importantly, I'm also a sociable and rational person. I'd love to continue talking to everyone that I've met through this game, and I'm rational enough to know that one point of this new chat is likely to avoid the drama from the old chats. That said, I would by no means cause any of this sort of drama, and if I were to, I would gladly be kicked out for it. Thus, for my rationality, desire to improve, and sociability, I believe I am an exceptional candidate.

Additional information (Include in this section anything relevant to your application. This could include links to videos of yourself playing.)

Here are few vids:
Back then...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L64iaeuHqYg&t=50s SORRY FOR SPAMMING UPTILT IN THOSE DAYS...
The progression to now...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuJTFhJsIf0 FOX COMBO VIDEO
https://gfycat.com/SlowMeagerIndianpalmsquirrel MY FAVORITE COMBO I'VE DONE

Use the following stagelist for discussion:




1. You're playing Fox and come across a solo Yoshi player. How do you think stage striking will go, assuming a 1-2-1 striking system and that you go first? Be detailed and specific.

2. Analyze the Yoshi-Fox MU in detail, including neutral game, offstage game, punish game, etc. Conclude with a ratio summarizing your analysis, such as 60-40 if Fox wins significantly or 45-55 if he has a slight disadvantage.

3. What is the most neutral stage in SSF2? Why? On the contrary, what is the least neutral stage in SSF2 (the competitive stagelist)? Why?

After further deliberation, we've decided that questioning would be superfluous in this case.

Welcome to the Back Room. We're looking forward to having you.

Thank you!