Isai Alvarado

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]

Isai
Joel Isai Alvarado
Personal information
Born (1985-03-17) March 17, 1985
HometownSan Jose, California
Nickname(s)Isaiah
malva00
Career information
StatusSemi-active
LeagueMajor League Gaming
Apex
GamesSuper Smash Bros. 64
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Career highlights and awards
  • Apex champion (2014)

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]Date1v1 placement2v2 placementPartner
MELEE-FC DiamondJuly 12–14, 20071st——
GENESIS 2July 15–17, 20112nd——
Apex 2012January 6–8, 20122nd1stNintendude
Apex 2013January 11–13, 20132nd——
Apex 2014January 17–19, 20141st——
GENESIS 3January 15–17, 20164th3rdRith
Snosa IIJune 18–19, 20163rd3rdKeroKeroppi
Super Smash Con 2016August 11–14, 20163rd1stAlvin
BEAST 7 singlesFebruary 17–19, 20171st——
Super Smash Con 2018August 9th-12th, 20183rd3rdSleepy Fox

Melee
Tournament[14]Date1v1 placement2v2 placementPartner
Tournament Go 4January 19, 20037th--
Tournament Go 5August 2–3, 20033rd1stKen
Game OverJanuary 10, 20043rd1stKen
Tournament Go 6August 21–22, 20045th1stKen
MOAST 3January 15–16, 20051st1stKen
MLG DC 2005January 29–30, 20052nd1stKen
MLG San Francisco 2005February 26–27, 20055th1stKen
Jack Garden TournamentAugust 20, 2005?--
Gettin' Schooled 2June 25–26, 20057th1stKen
MLG New York Opener 2006April 21–23, 20066th1stKen
MLG Dallas 2006May 19–20, 200613th1stKen
MLG Anaheim 2006June 23–24, 20064th1stKen
MLG Chicago 2006July 21–22, 20068th2ndKen
Zero Challenge 2August 15–17, 2006-1stCaptain Jack
MLG Orlando 2006August 26–27, 20064th1stKen
MLG New York Playoffs 2006October 13–14, 20066th3rdKen
NorCal Tournament 2October 28, 20069th1stKen
MLG Las Vegas 2006November 18–19, 20066th1stKen
Cataclysm 3March 3–4, 200713th1stMew2King
MELEE-FC DiamondJuly 12–14, 2007-5thMew2King
Zero Challenge 3July 20–22, 2007-1stThe King
Super Champ ComboSeptember 29–30, 2007-7thKen
GENESIS 2July 15–17, 2011-13thS2J

References
  1. Lindbergh, Ben (2015-02-18). "Fight Club: Catching a Beating at the Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros.'". Grantland. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  2. Holmes, Jonathan (2014-08-24). "Experts think competitive doubles could make it big in Smash Bros". Destructoid. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  3. "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.
  4. Zentagon (2015-04-07). "Isai - The Gentle Giant of Smash". goldper10. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
  5. Travis Beauchamp (2013-10-11). The Smash Brothers. East Point Pictures. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  6. Kyle Magee (2006-08-09). "Isai". Major League Gaming. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  7. Walker, Ian (2014-05-22). "Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman and Adam "Armada" Lindgren Released from CLASH Tournaments Roster". Shoryuken. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
  8. Sedda (June 4, 2015). "Smash of Ages: A Smash 64 Regional". Melee It On Me. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  9. 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.
  10. "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.
  11. "malva00". Smashboards. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  12. "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.
  13. "Smash 64". SmashBoards. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  14. "Melee". SmashBoards. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
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