Crush is a semi-retired SSBM Fox player from Massachusetts, and is still considered the best player in New England. Crush was previously ranked 1st on the Massachusetts Power Rankings, 1st on the New England Melee Power Rankings, and 17th on the 2018 MPGR. He has wins over top players such as Plup, aMSa, Zain, SFAT, S2J, Lucky, HugS, Swedish Delight, PewPewU, and Westballz.
Crush quietly went on an unannounced hiatus from Melee in 2018, attending his last event of the year on June 5th, 2018; he had also registered for CEO 2018, but did not attend. Around this time, on June 28th, 2018, he deleted his Twitter account without any prior notice, cutting off most communication with the Melee community. Crush gave no indication as to why he left the scene, but it is speculated that he wanted to focus on college, or that he had achieved his goals within Melee.
Over a year after his hiatus began, in June of 2019, Crush entered two tournaments, a Boston weekly under the tag "Bagheera" on June 11th, and another larger tournament in New Hampshire under the tag "Kimba" on June 15th. He won both events (the latter of which had Hax, 2saint, and Slox in attendance) but he has not entered any tournaments since, and Crush never reactivated his Twitter account.
Playing style[edit]
- Crush is a highly savvy and technical Fox-user, distinguished by his "footsies"-based approach to the neutral game, to the degree that his gameplay resembles that of more traditional fighting games. After jumping, Crush tends to be very choosy about where he lands, typically drifting far enough away from the opponent to make his drills, back-airs and nairs safe. When he approaches, he is calculated, typically going for wavedash forward down-tilts or running shines (relatively safe options with a good reward); he is quick to pick up the cadence of his opponent to justify going for riskier options like SHFFL'd aerials and dash attacks. He is very good at finding precise grabs on whiffs and at using spot dodge judiciously to stay safe from being grabbed himself. Crush's dash dance and out-of-shield game are overlooked aspects of his repertoire, as he is more than capable of waveshining out-of-shield and also utilizing his dash back to stay clear of his adversary's threat ranges.
- The core suite of Crush's skills give him a natural resilience to the more common options that are typically seen in the current meta: that is to say, Crush's move choice and aerial drift allow him to consistently circumvent any would-be crouch cancel retaliation; they also put him at distances where he is essentially always safe from the opponent's out-of-shield options (e.g., shield grab or nair out-of-shield).
The most recognizable traits that Crush is known for:
- Laser lands for quicker platform movement.
- Empty land up-tilts (and down-tilts).
- Clean intangible ledgedashes.
- Jab cancels into turn-around up-tilts.
- Waveshining out-of-shield.
- Shield-drop or short hop drilling onto the opponent's shield, but drifting so as to land outside of shield-grab range.
- Wavelanding back to distort cadence and spacing.
- Picking good times to spot dodge, often finding correct moments to use it to circumvent shine-grabs and float-cancelled aerial-to-grab strings.
- Occasionally going for side-b out of shield to escape the corner.
Tournament placings[edit]
| Tournament |
Date |
1v1 Placement |
2v2 Placement |
Partner
|
| Revival of Melee 4 |
November 19th-20th, 2011 |
49th |
— |
—
|
| Apex 2012 |
January 6th-8th, 2012 |
129th |
— |
—
|
| Apex 2013 |
January 11th-13th, 2013 |
129th |
49th |
Ryobeat
|
| EVO 2013 |
July 12th-14th, 2013 |
79th |
— |
—
|
| Apex 2014 |
January 17th-19th, 2014 |
97th |
— |
—
|
| Northeastern Smash Attack 2 |
March 29th, 2014 |
17th |
— |
—
|
| MLG Anaheim 2014 |
June 20th-22nd, 2014 |
77th |
— |
—
|
| EVO 2014 |
June 11th-13th, 2014 |
129th |
— |
—
|
| BUST |
November 22nd, 2014 |
7th |
— |
—
|
| Super Nebulous 2 |
January 24th, 2015 |
13th |
— |
—
|
| Apex 2015 |
January 30th-February 1st, 2015 |
113th |
— |
—
|
| EVO 2015 |
July 17th-19th, 2015 |
49th |
— |
—
|
| Super Smash Con |
August 6th-9th, 2015 |
25th |
13th |
$mike
|
| Super Nebulous 4 |
March 27th, 2016 |
7th |
— |
—
|
| Pound 2016 |
April 2nd-3rd, 2016 |
25th |
17th |
Swiftbass
|
| Mass Madness 8 |
April 16th, 2016 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| DreamHack Austin 2016 |
May 6th-8th, 2016 |
13th |
— |
—
|
| New England Invitational |
June 4th-5th, 2016 |
1st |
5th |
S2B
|
| CEO 2016 |
June 24th-26th, 2016 |
25th |
17th |
$mike
|
| EVO 2016 |
July 15th-17th, 2016 |
49th |
— |
—
|
| Emerald City 4 |
July 23rd, 2016 |
2nd |
2nd |
Rustin
|
| Super Smash Con 2016 |
August 11th-14th, 2016 |
25th |
13th |
$mike
|
| Shine 2016 |
August 26th-28th, 2016 |
25th |
5th |
Slox
|
| GUTS 4 |
November 11th-13th, 2016 |
1st |
1st |
Slox
|
| Don't Park on the Grass |
December 17th-18th, 2016 |
33rd |
9th |
dizzkidboogie
|
| GENESIS 4 |
January 20th-22nd, 2017 |
17th |
33rd |
satdaddy
|
| B.E.A.S.T 7 |
February 17th-19th, 2017 |
9th |
9th |
HomeMadeWaffles
|
| TGL Monthly 14 |
March 11th, 2017 |
1st |
1st |
Blea Gelo
|
| Bean Town Lean House 1 |
April 8th, 2017 |
2nd |
1st |
Slox
|
| Flatiron 2 |
April 22nd, 2017 |
9th |
2nd |
Gahtzu
|
| DreamHack Austin 2017 |
April 28th-30th, 2017 |
13th |
5th |
MacD
|
| Function(2) |
May 6th, 2017 |
2nd |
1st |
Slox
|
| Royal Flush |
May 12th-14th, 2017 |
9th |
7th |
Slox
|
| Battle of BC 2 |
June 3rd-4th, 2017 |
9th |
3rd |
Bladewise
|
| GENESIS: RED |
July 9th, 2017 |
5th |
— |
—
|
| EVO 2017 |
July 14th-15th, 2017 |
25th |
— |
—
|
| DreamHack Atlanta 2017 |
July 21st-23rd, 2017 |
9th |
7th |
ZoSo
|
| Get On My Level 2017 |
July 28th-30th, 2017 |
13th |
9th |
Hax
|
| Super Smash Con 2017 |
August 10th-13th, 2017 |
17th |
5th |
Colbol
|
| Shine 2017 |
August 25th-27th, 2017 |
65th |
5th |
MacD
|
| Emerald City V |
September 9th, 2017 |
1st |
1st |
Captain Smuckers
|
| GameTyrant Expo 2017 |
September 29th-October 1st, 2017 |
25th |
5th |
MacD
|
| The Big House 7 |
October 6th-8th, 2017 |
9th |
7th |
MacD
|
| Too Hot to Handle |
October 28th-29th, 2017 |
2nd |
1st |
Plup
|
| Smash Summit 5 |
November 2nd-5th, 2017 |
9th |
7th |
Hax
|
| Melee at the MADE #51 |
November 17th, 2017 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| Pat's House 3 |
December 2nd-3rd, 2017 |
4th |
2nd |
KJH
|
| The Holiday Bash Smash Invitational |
December 15th-17th, 2017 |
1st |
7th |
KJH
|
| GENESIS 5 |
January 19th-21st, 2018 |
9th |
17th |
KJH
|
| The Gang Hosts a Melee Tournament |
February 3rd, 2018 |
3rd |
— |
—
|
| Nebulous Melee 115 |
February 24th, 2018 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| MMOM bi-monthly #11 |
March 3rd, 2018 |
1st |
1st |
Slox
|
| New Game Plus Ultra 22 |
March 6th, 2018 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| EGLX 2018 |
March 9th-11th, 2018 |
7th |
5th |
Swedish Delight
|
| Full Bloom 4 |
March 24th-25th, 2018 |
17th |
4th |
Ryan Ford
|
| GEMINI |
April 14th, 2018 |
1st |
5th |
JFlex
|
| The Scarlet Classic IV |
April 15th-16th, 2018 |
1st |
1st |
AbsentPage
|
| Flatiron 3 |
April 21st, 2018 |
4th |
— |
—
|
| Get On My Level 2018 |
May 18th-20th, 2018 |
9th |
— |
—
|
| New Game Plus Ultra 33 |
May 29th, 2018 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| New Game Plus Ultra 34 |
June 5th, 2018 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| New Game Plus Revolution 21 |
June 11th, 2019 |
1st |
— |
—
|
| Cold Hard Smash 6 |
June 15th, 2019 |
1st |
— |
—
|
|
|
