Smasher:Azen

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Azen Zagenite "Azen"
AzenZagenite.jpg
Character info
Melee main Marth
Other Melee characters Falco, Sheik, Captain Falcon, Fox, Peach, Mr. Game & Watch, Luigi
Brawl main Lucario
Brawl doubles mains Marth
Other Brawl characters Diddy Kong, Meta Knight, Peach, Luigi, King Dedede
Smash 4 main Lucario
Project M mains Marth, Roy
Other Project M character Falco
Team info
Former crews H2YL, The Godfathers
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee RetroSSBMRank 2008: 3rd
Best historical ranking Super Smash Bros. Melee RetroSSBMRank 2006: 2nd
Best tournament result Super Smash Bros. Melee 1st / 208 at MLG New York Playoffs 2006
Super Smash Bros. Brawl 2nd / 112 at Critical Hit 3
Super Smash Bros. 4 17th / 744 at Super Smash Con 2015
PM Icon.png 65th / 405 at Paragon Los Angeles 2015
Winnings Super Smash Bros. Melee ~$20,751.55
Personal info
Real name Christopher McMullen
Birth date (age 37)
Location Alexandria, Virginia United States

Azen Zagenite ("AH"-Zen- ZAYG-night) or just Azen, is an American professional smasher who mains Marth (and formerly Sheik) in Melee and Lucario in both Brawl and SSB4. Azen was considered one of the best players in the world, as well as the best player on the East Coast in the early years of competitive Melee from around 2002 to his initial retirement in 2007. Although he primarily used Marth and Sheik in Melee tournaments, Azen was known for his ability to use multiple characters at the competitive level, leading some to call him The Master of Diversity and similar nicknames. He was formerly ranked 18th on the MD/VA/DE Melee Power Rankings.

Tournament history[edit]

2002-2006: Rise to fame[edit]

Before Azen attended TG5, he won events like DCSS and Smashfests hosted by JTanic. Azen and Anden were the best players around MD/VA in 2002, as Chillin, Mild, and ChuDat reached Azen and Anden's level in 2003.

Azen legitimized himself to the community at large by placing fourth at Tournament Go 5 in August 2003. Shortly after, Azen placed 2nd at Game Over, defeating Chillin and Isai to make it to grand finals before losing to Ken in both sets of grand finals, and 2nd at MELEE-FC1, where he once again lost to Ken in grand finals. Azen's first national victory occurred in August 2004 at Tournament Go 6, where he defeated Captain Jack twice to claim victory. Throughout 2005, he placed 3rd at Gettin' Schooled 2, 9th at MELEE-FC3, 2nd at BOMB 4, and 2nd at MLG Atlanta 2005.

Azen placed 4th in singles at MLG Chicago 2006, and managed to win doubles with Chillin, defeating Mew2King and KoreanDJ in winners' finals and then shocking the community by taking out the largely dominant team of Ken and Isai in grand finals. Later, Azen was then victorious at MLG Orlando 2006, where he defeated PC Chris, Drephen, ChuDat, KoreanDJ, and ChuDat again in grand finals to take the tournament without dropping a set. Azen then proceeded to win MLG New York Playoffs 2006, defeating Ken, KoreanDJ, and PC Chris twice, successfully qualifying for the MLG 2006 Championships. He eventually placed 5th at MLG Las Vegas 2006, where he defeated ChuDat in a rematch from MLG Orlando in losers' top 8, but lost to PC Chris in winners' bracket and then to Ken in losers' quarters.

2007-2011: Brawl career and retirement[edit]

Throughout 2007-early 2008, Azen continued to place highly at Melee nationals, placing 9th at Super Champ Combo, 1st at Viva La Smashtaclysm, where he defeated KoreanDJ, PC Chris, and ChuDat twice, and 7th at Pound 3. In March 2009, he attended Revival of Melee, and placed 7th.

Azen picked up Brawl on its release and attended several early nationals. He played numerous characters at a high level, but was most well-known for his Lucario. He was considered the top Lucario player in Brawl's early metagame, and it is largely a result of Azen's dominance that Lucario was considered a high tier character in Brawl's early metagame. During his time in Brawl, Azen placed 2nd at Critical Hit 3, defeating DieSuperFly 2-0 before losing to Mew2King in grand finals, 2nd at Cataclysm 4, where he became the first player to knock Ally out of losers' bracket, and 17th at Clash of the Titans IV. He is also the first player to have won a large tournament with Lucario (C3 tournament), where he defeated Korn 3-1 in grand finals.

Azen temporarily retired from competitive Smash in August 2009, claiming that he lost interest due to most of his friends no longer playing the game. He then made his first Smash tournament appearance in over a year at Pound V in February 2011, where he reached 49th place in Melee singles and 9th place in Melee doubles with longtime doubles partner Chillin. Around this time, both Azen and Chillin stated that they had become active in the Melee scene again, though neither was as prolific as prior to their retirements.

2014-2015: Return to the Smash scene and SSB4 career[edit]

In April 2014, the trailer for the Melee and Project M event Bar Wars: The Region Strikes Back featured clips of Azen towards the end, with Chillin claiming that Azen would return to the Melee scene at the event. However, Azen did not actually show up at the event. Two months later, Chillin once again stated that Azen would be returning to the Melee scene at the 6/3 weekly edition of the event Smash @ Xanadu. Azen indeed showed up at this event, and won Melee singles in a dominant fashion, defeating Chillin, ChuDat, and DP. He also placed 9th in Project M singles. Azen has since attended a handful of local tournaments in his area, and also placed 5th in Melee singles at the 8/19 weekly edition of Smash @ Xanadu.

On May 28, 2015 Azen announced on Chillindude's Twitch stream that he would make another return to the Melee scene. On the stream, it was confirmed that Azen would go to EVO 2015 if a donation goal was met. The following day Azen confirmed with his first post on his Twitter account that the goal had been met. Another donation goal was set for Azen to attend CEO 2015, and that donation goal was met as well.

Azen has also entered some SSB4 tournaments as well, where he mains Lucario like in Brawl. His most notable result is Super Smash Con, where he placed 17th out of 744 entrants.

Ever since then, Azen often travels to major tournaments, still making a good impression.

Playing style[edit]

In Melee, Azen mains Marth, and formerly mained Sheik as well; despite this, he can play nearly every character in the game at a high level. In some tournaments, Azen has used Samus, Link, and Pikachu in order to place high, while other characters have been used in lower-stakes matches. In doubles, Azen still often uses Marth and Sheik, though he had been known to use Peach and Falco in some doubles matches.

In Brawl and SSB4, Azen mains Lucario.

The "Azendash"[edit]

Captured with GifCam, from YouTube video.
The Azendash.

The act of airdodging off an edge in an attempt to ledgedash is sometimes referred to as an "Azendash," after Azen infamously committed a critical technical error in a tournament match against Captain Jack. Azen (as Marth) held a slight advantage over Captain Jack (as Sheik); both had three stocks, but Azen had a percent lead of over 60%. After Azen was thrown off the stage, he recovered with Dolphin Slash, then immediately tried to ledgedash backwards to grab the ledge again, presumably with the intention of playing defensively and keeping his lead; however, he ended up airdodging down and away from the ledge instead, causing him to self-destruct. After this error, Azen lost to Jack by two stocks; this was especially significant because it was the last game of their set, so this mistake was seen as Azen essentially throwing away his chances at advancing further in the tournament.

This maneuver has also been associated with Mew2King in recent times, due to his tendency to also commit this error while attempting to ledge stall in high-pressure situations.

Tournament placings[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
American Legion Tournament August 17th, 2002 1st
DCSS #1 July 12th, 2003 1st
Tournament Go 5 August 2nd-3rd, 2003 4th
Live or Die August 23rd, 2003 1st
DCSS #2 September 20th, 2003 1st 1st Anden
Game Over January 10th, 2004 2nd 2nd Anden
MELEE-FC1 July 10th-11th, 2004 2nd 2nd Dave
MLG Atlanta 2004 July 24th-25th, 2004 1st 1st Chillin
Tournament Go 6 August 21st-22nd, 2004 1st 2nd Wes
DCSS #3 September 25th, 2004 1st 1st Mild
MLG Boston 2004 October 9th-10th, 2004 1st 1st Wes
Gettin' Schooled October 14th, 2004 1st (tie) 1st Wes
MLG New York 2004 October 24th, 2004 4th 2nd Wes
Gettin' Schooled 2 June 25th-26th, 2005 3rd 5th Wes
MELEE-FC3 July 10th-12th, 2005 9th 7th Caveman
MLG Philadelphia 2005 July 28th-30th, 2005 4th 2nd Husband
MLG Nashville 2005 August 27th-28th, 2005 4th 1st Husband
MLG Seattle 2005 September 10th-11th, 2005 1st 2nd Husband
SMYM 4 September 24th, 2005 1st
MLG Los Angeles 2005 October 14th-16th, 2005 5th 2nd ChuDat
BOMB 4 November 12th, 2005 2nd 9th Anden
MLG Atlanta 2005 November 26th-27th, 2005 2nd 3rd Oro
MLG New York 2005 February 25th-26th, 2006 9th 2nd Chillin
MELEE-FC6 July 13th-15th, 2006 13th 2nd Chillin
MLG Chicago 2006 July 21st-23rd, 2006 4th 1st Chillin
MLG Orlando 2006 August 25th-27th, 2006 1st 2nd Chillin
C3 September 2006 September 2nd, 2006 1st 1st Chillin
MLG New York Playoffs 2006 October 13th-15th, 2006 1st 1st Chillin
MLG Las Vegas 2006 November 17th-19th, 2006 5th 5th Chillin
EGL DC January 20th, 2007 1st 4th Kaiser GL
ChuDat Birthday Biweekly 1/27 January 27th, 2007 2nd 2nd Plank
C3 Smash Battle February 3rd, 2007 2nd 1st ChuDat
C3 August Adios August 18th, 2007 2nd 4th Anden
C3 Smash Attack September 22nd, 2007 2nd 1st ChuDat
Super Champ Combo September 29th-30th, 2007 9th 1st Chillin
C3 A Tournament In October October 20th, 2007 5th 1st ChuDat
UMBC VI October 27th, 2007 1st 2nd ChuDat
Viva La Smashtaclysm November 10th-11th, 2007 1st 1st Chillin
Shell Shocked November 17th, 2007 1st 1st Chillin
C3 December December 22nd, 2007 1st 3rd Chillin
C3 January 2008 January 12th, 2008 1st 1st Chillin
Pound 3 February 2nd-3rd, 2008 7th 1st Mew2King
C3 February 2008 February 23rd, 2008 1st
ChuDatz Final Biweekly August 3rd, 2008 2nd 1st Cactuar
ChuDat's Special Haunted Halloween Biweekly November 1st, 2008 1st (split)
Shell Shocked III: Balboa December 6th, 2008 1st 1st Chillin
Revival of Melee March 7th-8th, 2009 7th 7th ChuDat
Shell Shocked IV October 10th, 2009 7th 2nd Chillin
Zenith 2011 May 28th-29th, 2011 9th 5th Chillin
Pound V February 19th-21st, 2011 49th 9th Chillin
Revival of Melee 4 November 19th-20th, 2011 7th 7th Chillin
Apex 2012 January 6th-8th, 2012 49th 13th Tope
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 6/3 June 3rd, 2014 1st
Thanks For Playing 7 June 7th, 2014 9th 3rd Chillin
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 8/19 August 19th, 2014 5th
Smash @ Clarendon 8/29/14 August 29th, 2014 5th
Smash @ Xanadu Tuesday 9/2 September 2nd, 2014 7th
Defend This House June 13th, 2015 9th 1st Chillin
CEO 2015 June 26th-28th, 2015 65th 9th Chillin
EVO 2015 July 17th-19th, 2015 33rd 5th Chillin
Super Smash Con 2015 August 6th-9th, 2015 49th 9th Chillin
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 September 5th-6th, 2015 49th
GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016 97th 17th Chillin
EVO 2016 July 15th-17th, 2016 129th 13th Nintendude

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
ChuDat's Birthday Biweekly January 19th, 2008 2nd
Critical Hit 3 July 5th, 2008 2nd 1st Chillin
ChuDatz Final Biweekly August 3rd, 2008 2nd 1st Mew2King
XII.E.S.T.I.C.L.E August 10th, 2008 1st 5th Cort
Critical Hit 4 September 6th, 2008 1st 1st Mew2King
HOBO 11 October 4th, 2008 2nd 1st Mew2King
C3 ECRC November 22nd, 2008 4th 3rd Chillin
Critical Hit 4.5 December 13th, 2008 1st 4th Chillin
Cataclysm 4 January 9th-11th, 2009 2nd 1st Mew2King
Clash of the Titans IV February 7th-8th, 2009 17th 4th ChuDat
C3 August Assault August 15th, 2009 1st 1st ChuDat

Project M[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Thanks For Playing 7 June 7th, 2014 17th 3rd Sethlon
Paragon Los Angeles 2015 September 5th-6th, 2015 65th (DQ) Chillin

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Xanadu Smash 4 Invitational November 6th, 2014 13th

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

Tournament Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
EVO 2015 July 17th-19th, 2015 129th
Super Smash Con 2015 August 8th, 2015 17th
GENESIS 3 January 15th-17th, 2016 513th
EVO 2016 July 15th-17th, 2016 385th

External links[edit]