Smasher:Isai

Isai "malva00, MevseC"
Isai.png
Character info
Smash 64 mains	Pikachu, Fox
Other Smash 64 characters	Link, Captain Falcon
Melee mains	Captain Falcon, Sheik
Other Melee character	Fox
Personal and other info
Real name	Joel Isai Alvarado
Birth date	March 17, 1985
Location	Northern California
Miscellaneous info
Skill	Top professional

Ken and Isai of team "El Chocolate Diablo." (Isai is on the right.)

Joel Isai Alvarado, often referred to as simply "Isai", is considered the world champion of Super Smash Bros. and was ranked 7th best in the United States in Melee before he retired. He mains Pikachu and Fox in Super Smash Bros. and uses Captain Falcon and Link as secondaries. However, he has been known to be able to win using every character in the game. He mained Captain Falcon and Sheik in Melee, while using Fox as a secondary. He was also ranked first on the NorCal Power Rankings. Having retired from Melee, Isai now plays Smash 64 exclusively. As a result of his particularly high technical expertise and skill in both Melee and Smash 64, the phrase "Isai is too good" became a meme in the Smash Bros. community.

Isai in his prime was regarded as the best Melee Captain Falcon player in the world. Although his placings at Melee singles tournaments lowered over time, he is one of the few players to have defeated previous Melee World Champion Ken Hoang multiple times.

Isai and Ken constituted El Chocolate Diablo, the strongest doubles team in the world circa 2004-2006. El Chocolate Diablo remained undefeated in tournament sets until their loss to Taj and Forward and placed 1st at every tournament they entered until placing 2nd behind Azen Zagenite and Chillindude829 at MLG Chicago 2006. However, Isai and Ken would later win the final MLG National Championship for Melee teams in 2006. Following this win, El Chocolate Diablo became inactive for almost a year until their final appearance at Super Champ Combo, where they placed 7th.

Despite his success, Isai gradually lost interest in Melee. In early 2010, Isai expressed interest in playing Melee seriously again, but after smashing with Scar and entering a handful of tournaments, Isai still did not find it enjoyable anymore.

Isai has lost a few major Smash 64 North American tournaments to SuPeRbOoMfAn, such as Apex 2012. However, he was clearly sandbagging in Apex 2012 by using Link for the entire tournament, and as such, many players still considered him a better player than SuperBoomFan due to doing so well in such a difficult matchup. He also used other low tier characters, including Yoshi and Jigglypuff, in some other tournaments such as Genesis 2.

At Apex 2012, he was unexpectedly convinced by the crowd to play a Melee exhibition match against the other Smash veteran Captain Jack. However, he only sandbagged and was 4-stocked by Captain Jack, much to the audience's dismay.

Isai also lost to Kikoushi in Apex 2013, but was sandbagging again to a lesser extent, using Mario. After later playing some friendlies against Kikoushi using Pikachu, the result was much different.

He purchased Brawl but does not play it. Super Smash Bros. has always been Isai's preferred Smash Bros. game; he has been playing Smash 64 since 1999 and Smash 64 online since 2004.

Trivia

• Isai often used the in-game tags "VI" and "MEL" in Melee. In Super Smash Bros, his YouTube video tag is "malva" if it is an online match or "Isai" if it is a console match. His nickname "malva" originates from his mother's Windows login name (she used the initial 'm' for her name plus a shortened version of her last name, Alvarado or 'alva').
• Isai's YouTube name is MevseC. This nickname originates from the fact that he plays Marvel vs. Capcom (MvsC). He added the two 'e' letters in the middle to make it look cooler and sound like a name.
• Isai calls online Smash "fake Smash" due to the delay and lag experienced online. He also calls it fake Smash because by definition, it is emulated and thus merely a copy or imitation of the real game on console.
• Noticing that there were exceptional Smash 64 players in Japan and Peru, Isai traveled to both of these countries and played the the top players there (e.g. Jousuke, the Japanese national champion and Gerson, the Peruvian national champion). He is one of the few Smash 64 players to make a serious effort to travel internationally multiple times in order to play the top Smash 64 players from around the world.
• Isai's favorite characters are Kirby, Samus, Luigi, Fox, and Mario.

External links

• Isai's Smash 64 video place on YouTube
• Isai's Online Smash 64 Channel on Livestream
• Isai vs SuPeRbOoMfAn at Apex 2012
• Isai vs Kikoushi at Apex 2013