Smasher:Zain

Zain (shortly known as tekkenz), also known as DontTestMe, is a Melee main from Reston, Virginia who is currently residing in Blacksburg, Virginia, and is currently considered to be the best Marth player in the world, and was considered the best Melee player in the world in 2022. He is known for his incredibly lethal punish game on space animal players and methodical play against floaty characters. He is currently ranked 1st on the MD/VA Melee Power Rankings and the SSBMRank Summer 2023, though he will automatically be ranked 2nd on the SSBMRank 2023 due to the results of.

In 2020, Zain was considered to be the best player in North America, due to both his win at and his dominance in Project Slippi netplay majors during the COVID-19 pandemic (winning, 3 of the 4 weeks of , and ), with Mango serving as his primary rival for the title.

On April 12th, 2018, Zain was signed by, but left on November 8th, 2019. After being sponsored for the duration of GENESIS 7 by Mogul Moves, 's clothing brand, Zain was picked up by the, the official esports affiliate of the Golden State Warriors NBA team on February 6th, 2020. After three years, he would part ways with Golden Guardians on March 29th, 2023. On April 6th, 2023, Zain was re-signed by Ludwig and joined.

Tournament history
Zain started playing competitively in May 2014 and quickly climbed the ranks, notably winning the S@X Fall Arcadian. He gained recognition at the national level at when he defeated  2-0 in pools. He went on to place 17th after beating and. He notably took a set off of 3-2 at  placing 13th, and sets off of  and  2-1 and 3-0 respectively at, placing 5th at said event. At, he beat both and Plup to take 3rd. Finally, at, Zain won his first major tournament, beating Mango and double eliminating , taking his first ever victories over the latter. Over a year later, he took his first set over at, placing 2nd after losing two Game 5 sets to Mango in Grand Finals.

A few months after The Big House 9, Zain won his first supermajor at without dropping a set, defeating Hungrybox 3-1, Mango, and Hungrybox again 3-2.

In 2023, following a series of victories by, Zain, Cody Schwab, and organized a first-to-10 match between him and Cody Schwab, the winner of which would be automatically given 1st on the SSBMRank 2023 rankings. Zain lost 7-10, ending Zain's dominant stretch and cementing Cody Schwab as best player in the world.

Trivia

 * Although the correct pronunciation of his name—and essentially his tag—is "Zan" (like the beginning of "Xanax"), Zain has stated that he is fine with both pronunciations.
 * Zain has defeated 5 of the members of the 2018 MPGR top 6 (all but Armada):
 * at (and later beating him again at  after Plup's ascension to "god-level")
 * Leffen at
 * Mango at Smash Summit 6
 * at
 * at
 * Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Zain sometimes competes in online tournaments by sandbagging under the tag "DontTestMe", where he goes solo in bracket, a character considered by many to be one of the worst characters in Melee. Despite this, he has won multiple netplay events over other MPGR-ranked players.
 * Zain's first gamertag was tekkenz. His father combined Zain's favorite game at that time,, with the first letter of his first name.
 * Zain has a knack for a variety of comedic sketches and impressions, the latter of which include Marge from The Simpsons and numerous Melee players (such as, , , and ).
 * He has imitated Chu's penchant for eating raw onions on stream, substituting an onion for an entire lime (skin and all) instead.