tofucake Profile Blog Joined October 2009 Hyrule 17807 Posts Last Edited: 2014-06-09 20:13:11 #1 Interview With Scar







MIOM | Scar



TeamLiquid.net recently had the opportunity to interview Bobby "MIOM | Scar" Scarnewman, a Captain Falcon main nicknamed "The People's Champion" for his electrifying, crowd-pleasing combos. Though he's no longer the national threat he used to be, he remains ranked







Hi Scar! I noticed that you attended a NorCal local tournament, SF Throwdown #1, this past weekend. Most Smashers were probably busy watching SKTAR3 instead, though; how was the tournament?



Yes, I did! SF Throwdown was awesome. NorCal has been missing a top-quality streamer and venue for some time, and Spencer and the SF Foundry venue are amazing. Tournaments with water and food available are always awesome



How do you feel about your performance?



So I got 5th, I went into it thinking that I had a shot at winning and I had a close set with L in winner's semis that basically didn't go my way. I feel pretty good about it, I think I put on a good show, minus my Loser's Semis set with HMW :'(



But commentary was a blast as always. I think I have more fun on the mic at this point, honestly.



I haven't seen you at many major tournaments recently; would you say your job at Twitch and recent marriage (congratulations again, by the way!) have reduced the amount of time you actually spend playing Melee and going to tournaments?



Thank you! I think that that is a stone cold fact. I think we all get more responsibility as we get older. It's like I have more things that I love now, but the same amount of time that I used to. I've also been spending a lot of time learning Street Fighter 4, so that's hurt my Melee time even further. It's gotten to the point where I'm barely able to watch tournaments, much less attend them.



I will say that learning SF4 has helped my Melee game and my knowledge immensely though; I'm happy I invested that time.



Do you view your role in the Smash community now as more of that of a "community leader," a la Prog and D1, than as a player?







I don't think that I'm relevant anymore as a player but that may change!! If the people of the Melee community would call me that I'd be honored to hear it and to fill that role. I think there are a lot of things that make our community really special, and it's awesome to have the podcast (Melee It On Me) and be able to bring up places where we can improve without getting yelled down.I don't think that I'm relevant anymore as a playerbut that may change!!



How do you think your skill level compares to how it was in 2009, when you placed 6th at Genesis ahead of rival Captain Falcon players Darkrain and Hax?







What they did to me was criminal!! Genesis hosted this double elimination bracket and added some weird tie-breakers at the end, so they tacked on this thing that forced me to play M2K for the division between 5th and 6th, but I refuse to accept it. I got 5th and I'm sticking to it



2009 was the height of my career, and most people know that I minimized the amount of time that I spent in class and studying in order to maximize the amount of time I could play and study the game. I think that 2014 Scar is actually significantly smarter and knows a lot more about the game – this is of course partially due to our community learning a lot more over time, but I think I've learned to care more about strategy and fundamentals than I used to. But to answer the question I think that I'm significantly worse than I was in 2009 because my movement is way worse (lack of practice) and everyone has gotten so much better! Still good enough for top 62 in the world according to Meleeiton.me, though. 5thWhat they did to me was criminal!! Genesis hosted this double elimination bracket and added some weird tie-breakers at the end, so they tacked on this thing that forced me to play M2K for the division between 5th and 6th, but I refuse to accept it. I got 5th and I'm sticking to it2009 was the height of my career, and most people know that I minimized the amount of time that I spent in class and studying in order to maximize the amount of time I could play and study the game. I think that 2014 Scar is actually significantly smarter and knows a lot more about the game – this is of course partially due to our community learning a lot more over time, but I think I've learned to care more about strategy and fundamentals than I used to. But to answer the question I think that I'm significantly worse than I was in 2009 because my movement is way worse (lack of practice) and everyone has gotten! Still good enough for top 62 in the world according to Meleeiton.me, though.



Hax has since lost faith in Captain Falcon's ability to succeed at the top level. Do you think that in today's metagame, Falcon players can place as high as you once did?



I think that Falcon has all the tools needed to place in the top 5 at a national tournament, but it's significantly harder than for the top 5 characters. We've all known that. But the thing about Falcon is that with a few good reads, he can beat anyone.



I think that the metagame has made life harder for sure, though. Players know how to tech, players have significantly better DI. Another thing that's changed is the ruleset – Falcon has a number of stages that hurt pretty badly vs Fox, Falco, and Sheik. Best of 5 without bans can be really hard.







Let's switch gears and talk a bit about the E3 Invitational. How do you feel about being announced as one of the commentators for the Nintendo E3 Invitational? What do you think of the format?







It feels like a new Nintendo, one that not only acknowledges the competitive scenes that their amazing games have created, but one that actively encourages it. It's like a new world. Most people might expect me to say that I'm not a fan of the format – I like to play Melee on Battlefield, and that's it. But I don't think that's the point of this tournament.



I think that the E3 Invitational's purpose is to celebrate Smash 4, and I think the only way to do that is to showcase some wacky stages, sweet items, and the resulting chaos that we all love in free-for-alls. I just hope that players can pair up with characters whose playstyle works with them – this is going to come down to luck but I think it's important that the players are enjoying their experience with their characters. I'm absolutely ecstatic about it – probably a predictable answerIt feels like a new Nintendo, one that not only acknowledges the competitive scenes that their amazing games have created, but one that actively encourages it. It's like a new world. Most people might expect me to say that I'm not a fan of the format – I like to play Melee on Battlefield, and that's it. But I don't think that's the point of this tournament.I think that the E3 Invitational's purpose is to celebrate Smash 4, and I think the only way to do that is to showcase some wacky stages, sweet items, and the resulting chaos that we all love in free-for-alls. I just hope that players can pair up with characters whose playstyle works with them – this is going to come down to luck but I think it's important that the players are enjoying their experience with their characters.



Do you expect Smash 4 to be a viable competitive game? Will you play it, even though Captain Falcon hasn't yet been announced?



As a matter of fact I'm super excited about Rosalina :3 – and LITTLE MAC! Those characters look so cool. I have high hopes. Having the Gamecube controller as a viable option is a real game changer.



I think that the Smash format is just so awesome – the percent system, DI, edgeguarding and recovery are all so complicated and fun. I think that those systems are at their best when players feel like they have complete control over their characters.



I think that Melee perfectly accomplished this, and that Smash 64 did to a large extent, too. I personally didn't like that Brawl's controls didn't feel as "tight", and I think that where Smash 4 lands on that balance will determine whether I love it or just like it.



What do you think will happen to the Melee and Brawl communities after Smash 4 is released?



I think that's completely up to Smash 4. I can't speak to Brawl, but I honestly don't see Melee going anywhere. For a while I see them existing side-by-side, like Melee and Brawl did in 2009/2010. After that, it's anyone's guess.



As a Twitch employee, you've no doubt been exposed to many different gaming communities. What do you think sets the Smash community apart from others?



I think that the fact that Smash is always played in person and not online gets rid of a lot of the hardcore trolls. There are categories of people in online communities (trolls, griefers) whose main goal seems to be to irritate others. You can do that in our community, but then you have to show up *in person* to the next tournament. You can guess how well that will go.



I also think that we've done an amazing job of leveling up our sensitivity in our language. Gamers are known to say some extremely offensive things, and I think it's still rampant in some circles, but I think Melee has taken real steps to getting rid of some of the major offenders.



One thing that we don't know how to deal with is money and sponsors. It seems like other gaming communities have already faced some of the problems that come along with money in the game. This is all very new to us.



Thanks to EVO 2013 and the Smash Brothers documentary, the Smash scene has been growing rapidly. What's your advice to local scenes as they integrate this new wave of players?



I think that advice has changed a lot in the past few months. I think that right now more than ever, we need to identify the people in our community who want to do more than just be players. The more active the tournament scene in the region, and the more people who will hold Smashfests, the happier new players will be. To do that we need people who are willing to spend time and money organizing. That's currently a big struggle, I think.



Immediately, though, I think it's a great practice to think about letting first-time attendees enter an event for free (like teams?), and it's always awesome to incentivize players who like to teach to sit at a setup for an hour or two for "new player only" games. We don't often do things like that, but when we do they always seem to be really well-received.



The community's growth has also attracted the attention of sponsors such as Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Cloud 9, Curse, etc., and more "mainstream" gaming organizations such as MLG and EVO. Is Smash on the road to becoming an "ESport" along the lines of StarCraft or League of Legends?



It's hard to say. League of Legends is the gold standard right now, it's a long road before any fighting game gets to that level.



The fact is that those scenes have the full support of their developers behind them. That means that money is being invested to get more people to watch the game being played, and to turn the game into a spectator sport. And I think that some decisions in Heart of the Swarm were made based on how fun the changes were to watch.



Melee is seeing more attention from the public than it ever has before. I think the biggest reason for this is Twitch's growth. I think that Melee has always been one of the best games ever to watch. But now there is a platform that's steadily pulling in people who like to watch games. So now we're finally seeing that we've been right about Melee all this time. Melee's potential is limited to what a grassroots community can do, though. Smash 4 may be different.



What does the Smash community currently do well, and what needs to improve in order to achieve "ESport" status?



I think we have some of the most passionate people around. We do a good job thinking that we're all on the same team, and that we're all working towards making Melee bigger and better.



As an aside – there are some dissenters, but I don't think they're a majority – in my opinion the types of people who think their Melee experience is being ruined because the scene is getting bigger is analogous to casual Melee players having their fun ruined by the existence of the competitive scene. I think we can live side by side.



But I think that our biggest problem is that we don't have an infrastructure in place that has people thinking about our strategy full-time. I don't know if we're alone in that or not, but I get the sense that gaming communities that are ahead of us (probably Street Fighter and Marvel, and definitely League / Dota / Starcraft / Hearthstone) do have people working towards growing their scenes full-time.



Many other Esports communities are split along national boundaries. Smash, however, has by far the biggest following in the United States, which is a large enough country to have developed disparate regional sub-communities. You've lived on both the East and West Coasts; what are the key differences between these scenes?



More specifically I was part of Tristate Melee (Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey), and NorCal (just the SF Bay Area). It's funny how many differences there are, even in playstyle.



I think that in my Tristate days, everyone was focused on playing Melee like it was a problem that needed to be solved. I think we obsessed over matchup details and over setups that would "work" no matter what – kind of flowchart play. After moving to NorCal I immediately noticed that people didn't talk or think about that – they talked and thought about figuring out the other players' strategies and how to counter them. One region played the game, the other region played against the opponent.



The other big thing is the travel – on the East Coast I would regularly travel 2+ hours for a tournament with 15 people. People would drive for hours just to play a few friendlies. Everything was far away. In the Bay Area, you hear people saying that they don't want to drive 25 minutes to an 8 person Smashfest. I regularly turn down driving to San Jose (about 1hr) for matches with some of the best players in the world. I can't believe I changed so much.



NorCal is a really strong region and everyone is really tightly packed; it just changes your expectations, I guess.







Which of the "big three" summer tournaments (MLG, EVO, CEO) will you be attending?







I unfortunately can't make MLG Anaheim :'( If there were a way I'd have found it. I'll be attending CEO and EVO, playing USF4 and Melee, and hopefully commentating lots of MeleeI unfortunately can't make MLG Anaheim :'( If there were a way I'd have found it.



What are your goals for CEO and EVO as a player?



I think for the next few months I'm going to be focusing on my movement. I want to get my tech skill back and I want to make some big plays – everyone knows I play for the people, just want the fans to be happy. I don't have any goals for how I place, really. I know what it feels like to get top 5, and I know what it feels like to get outplaced by Taylor Hicks. I've seen it all.



I want to make it out of USF4 pools, but I don't think that's likely. My current record for a Street Fighter tournament is 3 wins in pools, so let's see if I can beat that. And I'd give anything to commentate Top 8 of either of those amazing tournaments.



What's your predicted top 8 at MLG?



Of course the top 5 – MaNg0, PPMD, M2K, Hbox, Armada. That goes without saying. I do think that Leffen is the next best by a considerable margin. I think that he's got the mentality to not lose when he's the better player, something I think everyone else is lacking right now.



The open bracket system is so complicated that I have a hard time guessing who will come from there. I don't even understand the rules. I think that aMSa can definitely do it, but Hax and Westballz are the safest bets for the last 2.



What's Captain Falcon's most underrated move?



Underrated... wow. I'm just going to go ahead and say up tilt. Up tilt is kind of a disliked move amongst captain falcon players because it's too good for a CF move. It feels like a free edgeguard against most characters, but no one uses it.



What legal stage would you like to ban, and what banned stage would you like back?



Oh god, I don't know how to answer this without just saying that I strongly disagree with having no bans in best of 5 sets. Stage bans are such a good and healthy part of the competitive scene and make Best of 3 sets so interesting.



I think that I would probably just ban FD. It's iconic and it creates some really fun matches but it just changes certain matchups so heavily that it's kind of silly. It should really be a counterpick stage, like Stadium.



I don't think I would add any stages back, sadly. I've always said that if Melee were ever to be rereleased, the only change I would want to see is more tournament-viable stages. If I had to answer I'd say Termina Bay because it's the best stage in the game.



What's your favorite Melee set that you didn't play in?



I think that my answer has been the same since RoM – M2K vs Shiz at RoM 1. That defined Melee for me for a long time. A close second would be MaNg0 vs PPMD (RIP Dr. PeePee) at Zenith 2013. That comeback on Dreamland was just so incredible.



Are there any combo videos you like as much, or almost as much, as your I Killed Mufasa series?



I can't actually say the name of it but minus the title, Mang0's old combo video with Lucky and Romeo had some of the coolest Melee I've ever seen. I also am a big fan of most Falcon combo videos, but my favorites are $mike's and Hax's







Scar is also heavily featured in combo compilation videos, like It Takes Guts to Be AMAZING



Does your wife play Smash?



She does not, but she's getting more and more interested in watching! We watched a few sets of SKTAR 3 together – she loved PPMD vs Armada and nearly lost it at the end of Shroomed vs S0ft.



Most of TeamLiquid.net is new to competitive Smash. What's the best way for someone new to the scene to get started?



And what are the three most important things for a new Smasher to practice in order to become a competitive player?







I think if it's not specifically "be a player", definitely watch a few episodes of Melee It On Me – MIOM is specifically a platform to support Smashers who want to give back to the scene.



And if you want to learn the game, here's my opinion for what to do:

Pick a playstyle that's meaningful to you. Melee offers hyper-aggressive characters where you need to practice hard but have near limitless options. You can be a glass cannon, a tank, a character that can control space... you should know what you find rewarding first.

Watch Wak's Advanced How to Play and learn the advanced techs.

Find some top players who play your character and whose playstyle you think is awesome and watch videos.



You learn so much in fighting games from experiencing different situations, and by watching top players (I watch OBSESSIVELY), you can learn very strong responses to lots of situations without having to figure them out for yourself. I've always admired the SC2 scene for the different kinds of participants in the game. I think that the first step would be to figure out what kind of community member you'd want to be – do you want to be a player? Do you want to commentate? Do you just love watching? Do you want to build cool tools for the community to use? Regardless of your answer, immediately follow the Twitch channels for VGBootCamp ClashTournaments , and MeleeItOnMe , definitely check out the Smash Bros subreddit , and definitely join the Melee It On Me Facebook group I think if it's not specifically "be a player", definitely watch a few episodes of Melee It On Me – MIOM is specifically a platform to support Smashers who want to give back to the scene.And if you want to learn the game, here's my opinion for what to do:You learn so much in fighting games from experiencing different situations, and by watching top players (I watch OBSESSIVELY), you can learn very strong responses to lots of situations without having to figure them out for yourself.



Any last shoutouts?







Of course, shouts to Twitch for being such an amazing platform. I really think it's done so much work to bring Smashers together, and it's given people like GimR and Chibo some real income for doing something they love.



Shoutouts to The Rock and Captain Falcon for the years of inspiration, and shoutouts to the millions... AND MILLIONS of Scar fans! The emote is PeoplesChamp no space! Shoutouts to my team, Melee It On Me! The future of Melee feels so much brighter with Prog, Sheridan, Juggleguy, and Tafokints putting in work.Of course, shouts to Twitch for being such an amazing platform. I really think it's done so much work to bring Smashers together, and it's given people like GimR and Chibo some real income for doing something they love.Shoutouts to The Rock and Captain Falcon for the years of inspiration, and shoutouts to the millions... AND MILLIONS of Scar fans! The emote is PeoplesChamp no space!



Thanks for giving us some perspective on the Smash community, Scar, and best of luck in your upcoming Captain Falcon and Street Fighter endeavors!



TeamLiquid.net recently had the opportunity to interview Bobby "MIOM | Scar" Scarnewman, a Captain Falcon main nicknamed "The People's Champion" for his electrifying, crowd-pleasing combos. Though he's no longer the national threat he used to be, he remains ranked 62nd in the Melee It On Me rankings. Interviewer: ]343[

Editor: ]343[

Graphics: Shiroiusagi



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