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User:The Squirrel Conspiracy/sandbox/2

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Eric Lew (born November 17, 1992), also known as ESAM, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. player. He has competed in five Smash titles – Melee, Brawl, Project M, Wii U, and Ultimate. In the Panda Global Rankings, he was ranked the 17th best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player of all time, and was ranked the 16th and 14th best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player in the world for the first and second halves of 2019, respectively.

ESAM uses Pikachu as his primary character in Brawl, Wii U, and Ultimate, as well as in "low tier" competitions in Melee. He uses Samus Aran as his primary character in Melee and Project M, and as his secondary in Ultimate. He is regarded as the best Pikachu player in the world in both Wii U and Ultimate.

Career

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Early Career

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ESAM began competing in Super Smash Bros. Melee in 2005.[1] His first tournament result came in 2008, where he tied for 13th at a small Orlando, Florida tournament, FAST 1.[2] He continued to compete in Melee after other Super Smash Bros. titles were released, competing in both Melee and the newer title at the same event; notable placings include 4th at Low Tier City 4 in 2016,[3] tied for 5th at Tipped Off 11 in 2015,[4] and tied for 9th at DreamHack Montreal 2017.[5]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl released in 2008, and ESAM had a number of strong placings in that game. He took 4th at Major League Gaming's MLG Orlando 2010,[6] then 8th at MLG Columbus 2010.[7] The following year he tied for 9th at GENESIS 2.[8] He took 4th at APEX 2012,[9] and took 2nd at SKATAR later that year.[10] The following year he took 13th at APEX 2013 and 7th at SKATAR 2,[11][12] and in 2014 he finished 3rd at both APEX 2014 and SKATAR 3.[13][14] Following the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in 2014, ESAM competed in both Brawl and Wii U at Super SmashCon 2015, taking 2nd at both.[15] ESAM also competed in Project M, a fan mod of Brawl, at several events. In 2014, he took 9th at APEX 2014,[14] 4th at SKATAR 3,[16] 9th at CEO 2014, and 5th at Tipped Off 10.[17][18] He repeated his 5th place finish at Tipped Off 11 the following year.[19] His last major Project M competition was at Smashadeplhia 2017, where he tied for 17th.[20]

In addition to Smash titles, ESAM also competed in the fighting game Divekick, and won the Divekick tournament at CEO 2014.[21]

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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Characters

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Although he is best known for using Pikachu in competitive play, ESAM originally used Samus Aran in Super Smash Bros. 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He gravitated towards the character because his father's favorite game was Super Metroid for the SNES, and ESAM grew up watching his father player it. ESAM's handle is a portmanteau of Eric and Samus; he chose it after he began playing Melee, which had a four-character limit for in-game player names.[22] ESAM also used Fox McCloud and Pikachu in Melee, and used the latter specifically for "low tier" tournaments; competitions where players were only allowed to select characters that the community considered weaker options.[1]

When Super Smash Bros. Brawl released, he found it difficult to use Samus or Fox in the new game, but found he had an affinity for Pikachu. In an interview, ESAM stated that he saw himself as a "pioneer" and "innovator" with Pikachu, and went on to say "I've been doing all the broken stuff. I've been figuring out most of the combos because of my creative mind with the character."[1] He especially appreciates that Pikachu's high mobility allows the character to avoid taking damage in situations where other, less mobile characters would.[1] Pikachu became significantly stronger in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and esports journalist Jacob Wolf called ESAM "at the forefront of a meteoric resurgence in the power of Pikachu" in the runup to Evo 2015.[23] In Ultimate, Pikachu is considered one of the best characters in the game, and ESAM is considered the best Pikachu player in the world.[1][24] ESAM readily admits that Pikachu is incredibly strong in Ultimate, and frequently calls the character "broken" or "busted".[1][25][26] After his praise of the character became a meme, ESAM released a video of himself saying "Pikachu busted" for 10 minutes straight.[27]

Personal Life

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ESAM with MVG (left) in 2018

ESAM is from the Miami, Florida area.[28] His older brother also played competitive Smash Bros. under the handle "Nick Riddle", and the pair frequently contested the same Brawl, Project M, Wii U events.[29]

In April 2018, he and fellow professional Smash player Jestise "MVD" Negron, ESAM's frequent teammate in 2v2 competitions, moved from Miami to Norman, Oklahoma.[30][31] He is engaged to fellow Smash player Kokiri.[32][33]

He has a degree in genetics from Clemson University.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Gwilliam, Michael (18 May 2020). "ESAM: Why I main Pikachu in Smash Ultimate". Dexerto.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  2. ^ "FAST 1 Results/Shoutouts Thread!!!". Smashboards. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Low Tier City 4 | Melee Singles". smash.gg. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Tipped Off 11 | Melee Singles". smash.gg. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. ^ Grey, Jonathan (9 September 2017). "DreamHack Montreal 2017 results feat. NuckleDu, Nemo, Justin Wong, John Takeuchi, K-Brad". EventHubs. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Super Smash Bros. Brawl Event Recap". Major League Gaming. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 28 June 2010.
  7. ^ "MLG Columbus 2010 Results - Full Singles & Doubles Results NOW UP!". Smashboards. 5 June 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Official Genesis 2 Results thread". Smashboards. 23 July 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. ^ Strife, Alex (9 January 2012). "The Official APEX 2012 Results Thread! ALL RESULTS UP. International takes it all!". Smashboards. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  10. ^ King, Jr., Richard (15 July 2012). "SKTAR Results and Videos Thread". Smashboards. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  11. ^ Strife, Alex (16 January 2013). "Official Apex 2013 Results Thread | Jan 11-13, 2013 | New Brunswick NJ". Smashboards. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  12. ^ King, Jr., Richard (4 August 2013). "SKTAR 2 Results". Smashboards. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  13. ^ Taylor, Nicholas (17 January 2014). "Apex 2014 results, battle logs and stream archive featuring Mango, Mew2King, Armada, Dr. PeePee, Hungrybox, Wobbles, Leffen and more". EventHubs. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  14. ^ a b King, Jr., Richard (2 June 2014). "SKTAR 3 Results - Over 450 Unique Entrants!". Smashboards. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  15. ^ Taylor, Nicholas (7 August 2015). "Super SmashCon 2015 results ft. ZeRo, Leffen, Mew2King, Nairo, DaBuz, Axe, Westballz, ChuDat, HugS, Nakat, Colbol, DJ Nintendo, Bladewise and more". EventHubs. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Brawl, Melee & Project M - APEX 2014 Results - January 17-19, 2014 - Somerset, NJ". Smashboards. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  17. ^ Taylor, Nicholas (27 June 2014). "CEO 2014 results feat. Justin Wong, Ryan Hart, Infiltration, PR Balrog, Momochi". EventHubs. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Tipped Off 10 results thread!". Smashboards. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Tipped Off 11 | Project M Singles". smash.gg. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  20. ^ "SMASHADELPHIA 2017 | PM Singles". smash.gg. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Community Effort Orlando 2014 Results". Shoryuken. 29 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  22. ^ Lew, Eric (12 November 2018). "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Why Samus?" (Video). YouTube. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  23. ^ Wolf, Jacob (2 July 2015). "Meet ESAM, the best Smash 4 Pikachu player in the world". Dot Esports. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  24. ^ Hills, Dakota (16 June 2020). "ESAM holds nothing back with Pikachu in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate even against his fiancée". EventHubs. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  25. ^ Gordon, Justin (7 April 2020). "ESAM releases a tier list for version 7.0 of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". EventHubs. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  26. ^ Lew, Eric (20 September 2019). "I love how broken Pikachu is. God it feels good to not have to use your brain a lot of times cuz my characters options are just overwhelmingly good" (Tweet). Twitter. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  27. ^ Lew, Eric (10 October 2019). "ESAM Says Pikachu is Busted for 10 Minutes" (Video). YouTube. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  28. ^ a b Chuang, Tamara (20 October 2017). "Pro video gamers descend on Denver this weekend for DreamHack e-sports tournament". The Denver Post. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  29. ^ "MLG Finals 2015 Nick Riddle (Zero Suit Samus) vs PG ESAM (Pikachu)" (Video). YouTube. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  30. ^ Michael, Cale (10 August 2019). "MVD: "If they have no background fighting Snake, I can tell within 10 seconds of the game"". Dot Esports. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  31. ^ Viriyapah, Matthew (8 February 2019). "Talking with MVD, Smash Ultimate player". Sooner Esports. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  32. ^ Hills, Dakota (16 June 2020). "ESAM holds nothing back with Pikachu in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate even against his fiancée". EventHubs. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  33. ^ "CEO 2014 - Nick Riddle (Link) vs. ESAM (Samus)" (Video). YouTube. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2020.

See Also

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