Isai (gamer)
| Isai | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Name | Joel Isai Alvarado |
| Nickname(s) | Isaiah malva00 |
| Born | March 17, 1985 |
| Career information | |
| Games | Super Smash Bros. 64 Super Smash Bros. Melee |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Joel Isai Alvarado (born March 17, 1985), known as Isai (pronounced "Isaiah"), is an American Super Smash Bros. 64 player widely regarded as the greatest of all time.[1] He is credited with developing the modern metagame and is formerly among the ten highest ranked Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the United States until retiring in 2007. In the competitive gaming community, he is known simply as "Isai" or by his gamer tag "malva00." He is regarded as a team specialist in Super Smash Bros. Melee and garnered an almost three-year winning streak with his teammate, Ken Hoang.[2] The team won the Major League Gaming Las Vegas 2006 Melee doubles championship.[3] His primary character in Melee was formerly Captain Falcon and used multiple secondary characters such as Sheik, Fox, and Marth.[4][5][6]
After his retirement from competitive Melee in 2007, Isai played at GENESIS 2 where he teamed with Johnny "S2J" Kim and he lost an exhibition match at Apex 2012 against Ryota "Captain Jack" Yoshida after the crowd cheered for him to get on the stage.[5]
Isai was formerly sponsored by CLASH Tournaments,[7] and occasionally streamed on the CLASH Tournaments channel.[8]
Career
Isai is predominantly a Super Smash Bros. 64 player. He became acquainted with the community surrounding its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, entering his first tournament, Tournament Go 4 (TG4), on January 19, 2003. He teamed up with top-ranked player, Ken Hoang, in Tournament Go's fifth incarnation, TG5, for doubles events and continued to team with Ken in later tournaments beginning an undefeated streak that lasted from 2003 to 2006.
Isai is known for not taking Melee singles events seriously. He retired from playing the game competitively in 2007, and later shifted his focus back to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64.
He is the Super Smash Bros. 64 champion of Apex 2014, defeating Moyashi in the grand finals using Jigglypuff, a character considered to be worse than some of the higher-tiered characters such as Pikachu and Kirby.[9][10]
Personal life
Isai is of Mexican descent and is from San Jose, California.[11][5] He was born on March 17, 1985.[11] Alvarado is a graduate of San José State University and was the president of the school's chapter of Beta Alpha Psi.[12]
Notable tournament placements
Smash 64
| Tournament[13] | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MELEE-FC Diamond | July 12–14, 2007 | 1st | — | — |
| GENESIS 2 | July 15–17, 2011 | 2nd | — | — |
| Apex 2012 | January 6–8, 2012 | 2nd | 1st | Nintendude |
| Apex 2013 | January 11–13, 2013 | 2nd | — | — |
| Apex 2014 | January 17–19, 2014 | 1st | — | — |
| GENESIS 3 | January 15–17, 2016 | 4th | 3rd | Rith |
| Snosa II | June 18–19, 2016 | 3rd | 3rd | KeroKeroppi |
| Super Smash Con 2016 | August 11–14, 2016 | 3rd | 1st | Alvin |
| BEAST 7 singles | February 17–19, 2017 | 1st | — | — |
| Super Smash Con 2018 | August 9th-12th, 2018 | 3rd | 3rd | Sleepy Fox |
Melee
| Tournament[14] | Date | 1v1 placement | 2v2 placement | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament Go 4 | January 19, 2003 | 7th | - | - |
| Tournament Go 5 | August 2–3, 2003 | 3rd | 1st | Ken |
| Game Over | January 10, 2004 | 3rd | 1st | Ken |
| Tournament Go 6 | August 21–22, 2004 | 5th | 1st | Ken |
| MOAST 3 | January 15–16, 2005 | 1st | 1st | Ken |
| MLG DC 2005 | January 29–30, 2005 | 2nd | 1st | Ken |
| MLG San Francisco 2005 | February 26–27, 2005 | 5th | 1st | Ken |
| Jack Garden Tournament | August 20, 2005 | ? | - | - |
| Gettin' Schooled 2 | June 25–26, 2005 | 7th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG New York Opener 2006 | April 21–23, 2006 | 6th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG Dallas 2006 | May 19–20, 2006 | 13th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG Anaheim 2006 | June 23–24, 2006 | 4th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG Chicago 2006 | July 21–22, 2006 | 8th | 2nd | Ken |
| Zero Challenge 2 | August 15–17, 2006 | - | 1st | Captain Jack |
| MLG Orlando 2006 | August 26–27, 2006 | 4th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG New York Playoffs 2006 | October 13–14, 2006 | 6th | 3rd | Ken |
| NorCal Tournament 2 | October 28, 2006 | 9th | 1st | Ken |
| MLG Las Vegas 2006 | November 18–19, 2006 | 6th | 1st | Ken |
| Cataclysm 3 | March 3–4, 2007 | 13th | 1st | Mew2King |
| MELEE-FC Diamond | July 12–14, 2007 | - | 5th | Mew2King |
| Zero Challenge 3 | July 20–22, 2007 | - | 1st | The King |
| Super Champ Combo | September 29–30, 2007 | - | 7th | Ken |
| GENESIS 2 | July 15–17, 2011 | - | 13th | S2J |
References
- ^ Lindbergh, Ben (2015-02-18). "Fight Club: Catching a Beating at the Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros.'". Grantland. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
- ^ Holmes, Jonathan (2014-08-24). "Experts think competitive doubles could make it big in Smash Bros". Destructoid. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
- ^ "Carbon Wins the 2006 Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit National Championship, Taking Home $100,000". PRNewswire. Major League Gaming. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
- ^ Zentagon (2015-04-07). "Isai - The Gentle Giant of Smash". goldper10. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
- ^ a b c Travis Beauchamp (2013-10-11). The Smash Brothers. East Point Pictures. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
- ^ Kyle Magee (2006-08-09). "Isai". Major League Gaming. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
- ^ Walker, Ian (2014-05-22). "Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman and Adam "Armada" Lindgren Released from CLASH Tournaments Roster". Shoryuken. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
- ^ Sedda (June 4, 2015). "Smash of Ages: A Smash 64 Regional". Melee It On Me. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ CT Chibo (January 23, 2014). "CT Earns Top Placements at Apex 2014". CLASH Tournaments. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ "List of SSB tier lists (NTSC)". SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki. May 12, 2015. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- ^ a b "malva00". Smashboards. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ "STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS – MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (ELC) COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, Spring 2014" (PDF). San Jose State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ "Smash 64". SmashBoards. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ "Melee". SmashBoards. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.