Tomorrow begins Balcy’s Palace bracket, which will be live here. One last player interview today with Giovanny “ilovebagelz” Garcia, a top player of Arizona! Learn about how he came to main Luigi, his thoughts on the skill of AZPM, and his future in this community.

You can get our schedule for the weekend here.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Why do you main Luigi?

I needed to learn how to wavedash and the guides I read recommended using Luigi to do so. It was in my very first weeks of playing that I found myself having fun with the character and then it hit me,”Has anyone won majors with him yet?” And I looked up Melee/PM Luigis and watched an excessive amount of VoDs. And came to the conclusion “No one has reached his potential yet, there’s a chance he could be pushed further than anyone thought possible, I’m going to be the one to push the Luigi meta and win a National with him, ” is what I concluded to myself. Sadly I didn’t have a good understanding of Smash at the time and didn’t realize the suffering- Err FUN that I set myself up for. Even now. I still believe he is capable in both games.

What’s dope about the AZ scene?

Dope? Weed isn’t legal in our state. So that’s a rough start right off the bat but what is dope about the scene is the RICH history that it holds. Both for PM and Melee. Many people forget about the time Hungrybox lived in Arizona for about 6 months only to get absolutely MOLLYWHOPPED by Heysuess, HF| Neon, K9, and SS. Our scene did a lot for the history of both PM and Melee, Birthing Axe leading up to a great set between him and IPK, the infamous exploration and exploitation of the character Lucas by our very own top tier enthusiast HF|Neon. The legends of the lost VoDs of K9 repeatedly 4 stocking Hbox. All that rich amazing history only to die off and conclude itself to two fraudulent Mid Tier players named Blue and ilovebagelz. All in all the culture is wonderful and will always be my true Smash Home above Melee, and we do of course have our fair share of hidden bosses.

Do you think you are the best AZPM player right now?

Yes. But with a thin margin between me and the rest of the scene. Skill level in this game is not a linear concept. For example, Dadpool excels at exploiting characters mechanics go favor himself (Platform Camping, Reserving Wafts and utilizing them for optimal placement), Blue excels at overwhelming his opponents with cross up projectiles and conditioned grabs leading to deadly situations. While I excel at movement and technical execution.

Do you have any goals for Balcy’s Palace?

I would like to make a hell of a run. I’ve had this quirk with me where I can take sets off of top players but always seem to fall short at a National ether due to a disfavored match up I’m not familiar with or myself simply being bad at the game.

What is your future in PM looking like?

I’ve juggled with the thought of dropping PM. But If I did that, I really feel like the Luigi Meta would slow down (not to toot my own horn, but I introduced strategies and a playstyle that got me the best results of any Luigi so far. Having taken sets from Sosa, N0ne, Oracle, Junebug, Venom, Gallo) I’ve decided I’m going to stay for at least another Year. Zman deserves a champion for all the work him and other community members (N8senpai, Heysuess, etc) have done for us.

Shout Out to any one AZ homie?

Kevin Rosas Hope. (Blue, Arizona’s former #1 and crowd harassment expert) He’s been a valued wonderful friend and fellow rival smasher for quite some time. His mindset and excellent gameplay is a treat to watch and analyze. While I give him shit for his lack of technical execution (he still rarely wavedashes) there is very few players that could compare to his style and approach to Smash. Not only did his skill and character help me in improving rapidly both in play and mindset. But the experiences and memories made with him really made an impact to me. I love the guy and I’m glad to call him my friend. I still remember drunkenly admitting he was one of my favorite players in the scene at the Big Balc after party. I don’t regret it because it remains true to this day. Be on the lookout for him, he’s more than capable of taking a National one day.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Balcy’s Palace is the Team Balcony hosted Project M regional going down September 9th and 10th in Vegas! Be sure to tune in here for our stream that will not only feature Project M, but Jenga, Mario party 4, and tons of other fun events.

You can get our schedule for the weekend here.