Smasher:Axe

Axe is a smasher born in Germany who is currently living in Avondale, Arizona, and is considered to be one of the best Melee players in the world. He mains, being widely recognized as the best Melee Pikachu player of all-time, in addition to being the best player in the world, and he used to employ a strong  secondary as well. Since his first major in 2009,, Axe's play with Pikachu has drawn a lot of attention, as he has placed in the top eight of large nationals several times and has beaten many of the best players in the world with Pikachu. Axe is widely credited for Pikachu's movement up the tier list from a mid-low tier character to a solid mid-high tier character. He was also the first ever Pikachu player to win a major Melee tournament. He is currently ranked 17th on the SSBMRank Summer 2023 and was formerly ranked 1st on the Arizona Melee Power Rankings.

Axe also plays in Project M, and is considered to be one of the best Pikachu players along with.

Axe was picked up by Mortality eSports on July 9th, 2014, but ultimately left the team on April 9th, 2015. He was picked up by Tempo Storm alongside on July 2nd, 2015.

2009-2010
Axe's breakout performance occurred at GENESIS in 2009, where he defeated 2-1 in the second round of winners' bracket, who was considered one of the best players in the United States at the time. However, he did not make a long run after that, losing to and then to, placing 33rd in the tournament. Axe later surprised many by placing 17th at Pound 4, where he defeated (then known as Dr. PeePee) 2-0 in the winners' bracket, before losing to  and then to Linguini once again.

Axe later attended Apex 2010 and defeated in winners' bracket before losing to  0-2. He made a stellar run through the losers' bracket, defeating, , , and Jman before losing to Armada 1-2 in losers' quarters, ending his run at 5th place. By this time, Axe had surprised many by taking sets off of top players using what was usually considered a mid-low tier character at the time.

2011-2013
Axe placed 4th at Pound V, defeating, , and 2-0 in winners' bracket before losing to Armada 1-3 in winners' semis. He defeated 2-1 in losers' quarters, with a 3-stock victory in game 3, before losing to  0-3 in losers' semis.

Axe did not perform as well at the nationals he later attended, although he was still able to hold his own against top players. He placed 17th at GENESIS 2, losing to 1-2 in the first round of the winners' bracket, and then defeating  2-0 before losing to  0-2, and 33rd at Apex 2012, losing to  1-2 in the first round of winners' bracket and then defeating Linguini in losers' bracket before losing to  0-2.

Later in 2012, he placed very highly at MELEE-FC10R Legacy, where he reached 3rd place. At said tournament, he made it to the final round-robin bracket, where he defeated 3-0,  3-2,  3-1,  3-1, and  3-1, but lost to Hungrybox 0-3 and Mango 0-3. He once again placed 3rd at Kings of Cali, where he made a long run through losers' bracket after losing to 0-2 in the third round of winners', defeating, , SFAT 2-1,  2-1, PewPewU 3-0 (with a 4-stock lead at the end of game 3), and Shroomed 3-1, before being taken out by PPMD 2-3 in a last game, last stock situation in losers' finals.

At Apex 2013, Axe defeated and then S2J 2-0 in winners' bracket before losing to  0-2. He then took out and  2-0 in the losers' bracket before losing to Hax 0-2, placing 9th. He also placed 7th at Kings of Cali 2, losing to 2-3 in winners' quarters and to SFAT 2-3 in losers' top 8.

At EVO 2013, Axe defeated 2-0 and  2-0 in the winners' quarterfinals pool, before losing to Mango 1-2. He then defeated Fiction 2-0 in the losers' quarterfinals pool to secure a spot in the losers' semifinals pool, where he was knocked out by Shroomed 1-2, ending his run at 13th place.

Pre-summer 2014 season
Axe placed 9th at Apex 2014, defeating 2-0 and PewPewU 2-0 in the second round of pools after losing to  1-2. He was taken out by Hungrybox 0-2 in the losers' finals of the pool.

Axe later placed 7th at Pat's House 2, losing to 0-3 in the winners' bracket and to SFAT 0-3 in the losers' top 8, and 4th at Super SWEET, defeating  3-1 in winners' quarters before losing to Mango 1-3 in winners' semis, and then defeating Kels 3-0 in losers' quarters before losing to Mew2King 0-3 in losers' semis.

MLG Anaheim 2014 and EVO 2014
Although Axe had previously maintained high placings at nationals, he surprised many with an extremely stellar performance at MLG Anaheim 2014 in the summer of 2014. In the open winners' bracket, he defeated 2-0 to secure one of the four available spots in the championship pools. In his pool, he defeated Hax 3-1, Colbol 3-0, Remen 3-0, 3-0, and Mew2King 3-2 in a large upset, although he lost to Leffen 1-3 and PPMD 2-3. Seeded in the losers' bracket in the championship bracket, he secured a spot in the top 8 by defeating Lucky 3-0. However, Axe's largest upset came shortly after; in losers' top 8, after losing the first game against Hungrybox, he closed out the set 3-1, before losing to Mew2King 0-3 in a rematch in the losers' quarters, ending his run at 5th place.

Axe managed to repeat this performance at EVO 2014. In the winners' quarterfinals pool, he defeated 2-0,  2-0, and  2-0, before losing to Mango 1-2 in a set that went down to the last stock. He made it into the top 8 by defeating 2-0 and then proceeded to eliminate  2-1 in losers' top 8, including a 4-stock in game 3 that took only 55.51 seconds to complete. Axe then lost to Armada 1-2 in losers' quarters in a set that went down to the last stock, placing 5th once again. By this time, many considered Axe to be one of the "Demi-Gods" (along with players such as Leffen, Hax, and Westballz), as he had taken sets off of three of the "Five Gods" (PPMD, Hungrybox, and Mew2King), and individual games off of the other two (Mango and Armada).

Post-summer 2014 season
At Zenith 2014, Axe placed 4th in Melee singles. He lost to 1-2 in winners' quarters, though he still managed to defeat  2-0,  2-1, and  2-1 to make it to losers' semis, where he lost a close set to  2-3. Axe also placed 2nd in Melee doubles with, losing to Mew2King and Hax in winners' finals, then winning a close set against Zhu and in losers' finals before losing to Mew2King and Hax again in grand finals.

At the Apex 2015 qualifier Tipped Off 10, Axe placed 5th in Melee singles and 4th in Melee doubles, teaming with. In Melee singles, Axe beat Wizzrobe 3-1 to enter Top 8 in the winners' side, but later lost to 1-3 in winners' semis, and to  0-3 in losers' quarters to end his run.

At the Midwest major The Big House 4, Axe placed rather low at 9th in Melee singles, 5th in Melee doubles (teaming with ), and 13th in Project M singles. In Melee singles, Axe defeated Colbol 2-1 to reach winners' quarters, but then lost to 0-3. In the losers bracket, performed a surprising upset on Axe, where Axe fell 1-3 and did not reach top 8. In Melee doubles, Axe and SFAT faced Colbol and in winners' quarters and lost 0-2. They then defeated and  2-0 to reach top 8, and  and  2-0 to reach losers' quarters. The team then lost to and  1-3. In Project M singles, Axe was sent to losers' bracket by 1-2. He defeated 2-0 and  2-1 to reach top 16, but was then beaten by  0-2.

Early 2015
At the Apex 2015 qualifier Paragon Orlando 2015, Axe placed 7th in Melee singles and 7th in Melee doubles with. Axe was able to reach winners' quarters by beating 2-0. He then faced, where he lost 0-2 and was sent to the losers bracket. He was able to eliminate to reach top 8, but was later eliminated himself, by  in a close 2-3 set. In Melee doubles, Axe and Westballz reached winners' quarters only to lose to Leffen and 0-2. They defeated and  2-0 to reach top 8, but then they were eliminated by  and.

At a local tournament held by MVG, Axe reached winners' finals against in Melee singles and lost 1-3. He reached the grand finals for a rematch and was able to take 2 consecutive sets off of Mew2King, the second set being a 3-0.

At Apex 2015, Axe placed a somewhat disappointing 13th place in Melee singles. He lost early in the bracket to, beat 2-1, but then lost to  0-2, being double eliminated by NorCal residents.

At Sandstorm, Axe placed a phenomenal 3rd place in Melee singles, and 4th in Melee doubles with. He was able to take down for the first time in winners' quarters 3-1. He then made an unexpected feat by defeating 3-2 in Top 8. Axe was then defeated 0-3 by, and eliminated by in a 1-3 set. In Melee doubles, Axe and Forward defeated and  2-1 to reach top 8. The team was later defeated 0-3 by Leffen and and sent to the losers bracket. Axe and Forward then beat and  2-0, and then were eliminated by Hungrybox and Silly Kyle in a losers' semis rematch.

Late 2015
At the Eclipse tournament, Axe faced in Top 8. He won the first and third games in a best of 5 set, he went to game 5 to a last-stock match and was defeated 2-3. He finished 3rd in what was the largest European tournament of all time. Despite this, he won the doubles tournament along side in which they won 3-1 against Leffen and.

At DreamHack Winter 2015, he paired up with to win the doubles tournament.

2019
Axe was finally able to take his first major tournament win at. This also marked the first major where a solo Pikachu main (or Pikachu in general) won a major.

Playstyle
As the best Melee Pikachu in the world, Axe is an aggressive and technical player. Axe pursues options that will pressure the opponent off center stage. He will often pursue horizontal combos that push the opponent offstage, where Axe's technicality shines. Specifically, his precision of Pikachu's up air hitboxes allows him to safely edgeguard and semispike opponents. In stages with three platforms, Axe's punish game provides a mixup where a string of up airs can force the opponent to the top platform and net a kill with an up smash.

While this playstyle can net quick and easy kills, it has polarizing weaknesses. Opponents who can wall out Axe can often stuff out his aggressive approach. Opponents that can match Axe's speed and precision will often space out Axe's aggressive options and then punish accordingly. These weaknesses, however, are also attributable to Pikachu, as Pikachu has low range.

Trivia

 * It was a joke within the Arizona and California Smash communities that there needs to be a tournament match to decide the best person named Jeff - or Axe.
 * Axe is the subject of a meme in the Melee community concerning his resemblance to pop artist Drake. This came about when someone in the Arizona region took a picture of Axe working at the department store Walgreens, then used that picture to make a page on Facebook entitled "Walgreens Drake", proclaiming that the two look very similar. People familiar with the Smash scene quickly found that page and pointed out that it was in fact the professional Melee player, and linked to that page on other social media, causing the moniker "Walgreens Drake" to become very widespread.
 * After Axe 4-stocked at EVO 2014, commentator  made a reference to this meme: "That was emphatic... that was amazing. Mortality! Are you watching? This boy, Walgreens Drake, says Take Care; you guys can Thank Me Later!"


 * Axe has defeated 5 of the members of the 2018 MPGR top 6 (all but ), defeating at Zenith 2011,  at MLG Anaheim 2014, both  and  at Sandstorm, and  at GENESIS 6.
 * He has also defeated at Pound 4, but PPMD was not in contention for "god status" at the time, with Axe also not counting the win.
 * Axe's father, Johnny Williamson, is a professional martial artist.
 * Axe did not lose to a player in a full tournament set with  from 2013 when he lost to  at  to 2022 when he lost to  at.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

 * "The AXE Effect", an Axe combo video
 * Axe vs Wizzrobe