Smasher:Westballz

Westballz
Character info
Melee mains	Falco, Fox
Other Melee characters	Captain Falcon, Marth, Donkey Kong
Project M mains	Falco, Fox
Other Project M characters	Wolf, Captain Falcon
Team info
Crew(s)	G2
Former crews	Team OXY, Tempo Storm
Rankings and results info
Most recent ranking	2015 SSBMRank: 8th SoCal Project M Power Rankings: 7th
Winnings	~$23,008.99
Personal and other info
Real name	Weston Dennis
Location	Burbank, California
Miscellaneous info
Skill	Top professional Top professional

Westballz is a professional Falco and Fox player with a strong Captain Falcon secondary from Burbank, California. He is currently ranked 2nd and 7th on the SoCal Melee and Project M Power Rankings, respectively, and 8th on the 2015 SSBMRank. Westballz notably caused an upset at MLG Anaheim 2014, where he defeated Mango 3-0 in pool play, and defeated him again 3-1 in losers' quarters at MVG Sandstorm, where he also defeated Hungrybox in losers' semis 3-2. Additionally, he beat Leffen 3-1 at Dreamhack Winter 2015. He is widely renowned as the most technical Falco player in the world. Westballz is considered to be among the best Falco mains in the world along with PPMD and Mango.

On July 2nd, 2015, Westballz was picked up by Tempo Storm alongside Axe.

Biography

Origin of the name

Westballz created his gamertag while watching his brother play Halo, and based it off his brother's gamertag "Nickelnutz", replacing "Nickel" with "West" and "nutz" with "ballz".

Playing style

Westballz is often seen as the most technical Falco player in the world in both Melee and Project M. He has a very aggressive, high-risk/high-reward playstyle in most matchups, and is recognized for his powerful punish game that arguably exceeds that of even Mango and PPMD. A very technical player whose playstyle heavily incorporates shield dropping, he generally tends to show off his tech skills as much as possible such as multishining on place even during a neutral position. Westballz has stated that his success against top-caliber players stems from his ability to condition opponents and mix-up his approaches. He will often utilize a certain set of approaches in friendlies to condition players while learning their playstyle, then when he plays those same opponents in tournament, he will completely switch his playstyle, keeping his opponents adapting while controlling the match. He is also known for his flashy secondaries, most notably his Captain Falcon, which he used to land a Sacred Combo on ZeldaFreak at Kings of Cali 3.

However, while Westballz has more wins against players like Mango and Leffen under his belt than most others of his caliber, he is infamous for losing sets to players far below his skill level (leading to popularization of the phrase "Westballz can defeat anyone, but anyone can defeat Westballz"). For example, after gaining a 3-stock lead on KJH in Grand Finals at Rubicon 2, he spent the rest of the match trying to "style" on KJH with unsafe attacks, allowing KJH to mount a 4-stock comeback. He also lost to Jake13, a mid-level Falco, at Low Tier City 2 after sandbagging and losing with Donkey Kong in game 1. He also occasionally becomes overwhelmed by pressure, making untimely self-destructs that lead to his defeat, such as in Loser's Semis at Pat's House 2 against Fly Amanita's lone Ice Climber in a last stock, last hit situation. Intending to input a back aerial, he accidentally inputted an unsafe down aerial in a Bombsoldier fashion that spiked Popo onto the stage while he self-destructed, ending his run.

Tournament placings

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Tournament	Date	1v1 Placement	2v2 Placement	Partner
Nice Shot Hugo	March 27th, 2010	—	25th	Dunk
Don't Go Down There Jeff	December 18th, 2010	17th	—	—
GENESIS 2	July 15th-17th, 2011	49th	7th	Baka4moe
Apex 2012	January 6th-8th, 2012	25th	17th	StriCNYN3
Northwest Manifest	March 24th-25th, 2012	4th	9th	Tafokints
The Big House 2	October 6th-7th, 2012	9th	13th	Scar
Kings of Cali	November 10th, 2012	7th	9th	Scar
Apex 2013	January 11th-13th, 2013	33rd	9th	Hax
Kings of Cali 2	April 13th-14th, 2013	7th	3rd	MacD
NorCal Regionals 2013	April 26th-28th, 2013	4th	—	—
EVO 2013	July 12th-14th, 2013	17th	—	—
Kings of Cali 3	December 14th-15th, 2013	5th	9th	HomeMadeWaffles
Apex 2014	January 17th-19th, 2014	33rd	17th	Aisengobay
SoCal Regionals 2014	February 28th-March 2nd, 2014	1st	5th	DEHF
The Next Episode	March 22nd-23rd, 2014	2nd	5th	S2J
Pat's House 2	May 24th-25th, 2014	4th	7th	ZeRo
SKTAR 3	May 31st-June 1st, 2014	5th	5th	Hax
SSS Lock-In	June 14th-15th, 2014	13th	—	—
MLG Anaheim 2014	June 20th-22nd, 2014	9th	—	—
Kings of Cali 4	July 5th-6th, 2014	7th	5th	ZeRo
EVO 2014	July 11th-13th, 2014	13th	17th	DoH
Mayhem	August 9th, 2014	3rd	2nd	Hungrybox
Low Tier City 2	August 16th-17th, 2014	2nd	1st	Wobbles
Mayhem	September 6th, 2014	2nd	4th	Jace
The Big House 4	October 4th-5th, 2014	7th	9th	Darkrain
Do You Fox Wit It?	November 15th-16th, 2014	17th	7th	Connor
Super Smash Sundays 29	December 7th, 2014	1st	2nd	Reno
Super Smash Sundays 30	December 21st, 2014	2nd	3rd	DEHF
Smash the Target	January 3rd, 2015	2nd	—	—
Paragon Orlando 2015	January 17th-18th, 2015	4th	7th	Axe
Apex 2015	January 30th-February 1st, 2015	33rd	17th	DEHF
Aftershock	March 28th-29th, 2015	4th	2nd	Gahtzu
SWEET XX	April 4th, 2015	2nd	4th	Deep C Squid
I'm Not Yelling!	April 11th-12th, 2015	5th	7th	Sung
MVG Sandstorm	April 18th-19th, 2015	2nd	7th	Gahtzu
Mayhem May 2015	May 2nd, 2015	2nd	2nd	Sung
Press Start	May 9th-10th, 2015	17th	9th	Sung
Mayhem June 2015	June 6th, 2015	1st	1st	MacD
CEO 2015	June 26th-28th, 2015	4th	4th	MacD
FC Smash 15XR: Return	July 4th-5th, 2015	5th	2nd	MacD
WTFox	July 10th-11th, 2015	5th	3rd	Wizzrobe
EVO 2015	July 17th-19th, 2015	13th	49th	MacD
Super Smash Con	August 6th-9th, 2015	4th	—	—
PAX Prime 2015	August 28th-30th, 2015	3rd	3rd	Nintendude
Paragon Los Angeles 2015	September 5th-6th, 2015	4th	—	—
Rubicon 2	September 12th, 2015	1st	2nd	Vro
DreamHack London 2015	September 19th-20th, 2015	2nd	—	—
Helix	September 26th-27th, 2015	2nd	2nd	Overtriforce
The Big House 5	October 2nd-4th, 2015	5th	9th	Axe
Smash Summit	November 7th-8th, 2015	9th	7th	Zhu
Eclipse	November 14th-15th, 2015	49th	7th	NamiNami
Kickstart 4	November 22nd, 2015	4th	1st	Plup
DreamHack Winter 2015	November 26th-29th, 2015	4th	17th	Baxon
Forte 3	December 19th-20th, 2015	2nd	—	—
GENESIS 3	January 15th-17th, 2016	17th	17th	Gahtzu
Smash @ Xanadu Wednesdays 1/20	January 20th, 2016	2nd	—	—
Frosty Faustings VIII	January 22nd-23rd	1st	—	—
PAX Arena	January 29-31, 2016	3rd	5th	Wizzrobe
B.E.A.S.T 6	February 19th-21st, 2016	3rd	—	—
Battle of the Five Gods	March 17th-19th, 2016	5th	—	—
Super Nebulous 4	March 27th, 2016	4th	—	—
Pound 2016	April 2nd-3rd, 2016	33rd	3rd	MacD
Smash Summit 2	April 21st-24th, 2016	9th	5th	Shroomed
Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo	April 29th-May 1st, 2016	9th	—	—
Get On My Level 2016	May 20th-22nd, 2016	5th	5th	MacD
Smash 'N' Splash 2	June 11th-12th, 2016	5th	2nd	Wizzrobe
WTFox 2	July 1st-3rd, 2016	9th	—	—

Project M

Tournament	Date	1v1 Placement	2v2 Placement	Partner
Super Smash Sundays 2-16-2014	February 16th, 2014	4th	—	—
Low Tier City 2	August 16th-17th, 2014	17th	9th	iPunchKidsz
The Big House 4	October 4th-5th, 2014	17th	—	—
Paragon Orlando 2015	January 17th-18th, 2015	4th	—	—
MVG Sandstorm	April 18th-19th, 2015	Top 3	3rd	iPunchKidsz
Paragon Los Angeles 2015	September 5th-6th, 2015	25th	17th	iPunchKidsz
Smash @ Xanadu Wednesdays 1/20	January 20th, 2016	3rd	—	—
Smash 'N' Splash 2	June 11th-12th, 2016	—	5th	Hungrybox

Trivia

• He is known for wearing a hoodie for most of his tournament matches.
• Westballz has placed 33rd at the past three Apex tournaments.
• Westballz has defeated 4 of the members of the top 6 (all but Mew2King and Armada), defeating Mango at MLG Anaheim 2014, Hungrybox at Sandstorm, Leffen at DreamHack Winter 2015, and PPMD at Battle of the Five Gods.
• He considers PPMD as his rival as all of their sets have been extremely close.