With only a week left until Balcy’s, we are going to continue showcase the thoughts of some of the talent that is coming through! Neil “Filthy Casual” Goel, the top player of New Mexico, gives insight to his recent wins, his switch to his current main, and who he aims to upset at Balcy’s Palace.

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How long have you been playing PM?

Longer than almost every other top player! I discovered PM with Ronald, an old friend back home, some time in August 2012. This dates back to right after the release of Demo 2.1. So I’ve been playing since before commonplace top-tier threats like Diddy Kong and Meta Knight were even in the game!

Who do you main? Why the switch from Falcon?

I started out Melee in 2007 with Falco, and after 2 years of mild local success, I replaced him with Captain Falcon in 2009. In the back of my mind, I knew Falco was still an overall better character, but I just gravitated towards CF’s playstyle anyway. I liked his burst movement and heavy tech-chasing game. So you can see I’m naturally attracted to the aggressive rush down archetype. And once I discovered PM in 2012, Wolf was the ideal solution. He was the model character for me. People sometimes describe Wolf as a weird hybrid between Falco and Falcon anyway. It’s a lazy summary, but it works. Wolf maintained CF’s strengths of burst movement and offstage play yet suffered none of CF’s weaknesses. It was goddamn perfect. There’s abundant footage of me experimenting with Wolf that early, too. Just like Melee Falco, I knew in the back of my mind that Wolf was the more promising top-tier investment. I nonetheless chose CF because he was easier to master. I was just too scared to commit with Wolf at out-of-state brackets. And even with his lower ceiling and more limited theoretical potential, CF worked. I got some notable wins at the time. Sosa, IPK, and Machiavelli fell for my cheap tricks of air-wobble-into-knee. It couldn’t last forever, though. Hax’s 20XX anti-Falcon crusade took hold in the community. 2016 didn’t afford me any more crazy upsets with the Captain. And at the same time, the 3.6 metagame developed and Wolf became more optimized. I ultimately decided … “Fuck it. We’re gonna have fun with this thing.”

What event do you think you’ve done best at this year?

My best victory in recent memory is Jose V, which according to the quickly-outdated PM Rank 2016, is Top 10 in the world. But Evo was not my best performance. It’s an odd pick, but the IAB weekly before LTC5 is my strongest display over this summer. Here is the STACKED 65-person bracket. I beat Phresh, Tealz, Aidan, and Shokio to get 4th place, right under titans like Sosa and Malachi. Speaking of Malachi, I’m confident I can beat him. It’s a pathetic john to make, but I suicided at 0% on Game 1, and then due to my ignorance, I counterpicked the wrong stage on Game 3. When people make excuses, they conveniently forget their opponent probably had their own share of handicaps too. I’m conveniently leaving out the chance that he might have played while still recovering from an injury leftover around Supernova 2. Lesson learned, though. I’m coming back next time with a vengeance ;)

How do you feel about taking 1st at Evo?

I remember drinking too many Fat Tuesdays :) In all seriousness, while it’s a breakout victory and serves as major supporting evidence for my inclusion in the next PM Rank, I feel bittersweet. For one thing, I’m really happy with my interview. I’m also proud to make this cheeky claim: I have more Evo titles under my belt than fucking Mew2King for Melee. And obviously I’m thrilled to be recognized more whenever people discuss top players, but now I’m also painfully aware of reality. I need to work harder than ever before to continue improving. The hierarchy is shaped like a pyramid. If each brick represented a player and the height represented mastery, then clearly many players exist at the foundation and only a few make up the peak. You’ve probably heard this analogy before. What’s interesting, though, is visualizing that pyramid upside-down. Useful comparisons show up here, too. Very few blocks of time and effort are needed at the bottom echelon. But as you climb, literally metric tons of hours are necessary to achieve national treasure. I want to be crowned with more prestigious brackets than the Evo side event. Ever since I came home from Las Vegas with that prize, I started researching the game more thoroughly. I plan to be more involved on Discord, and possibly Reddit or Facebook (really wherever the information gold mine is). I even started gathering data in a Google spreadsheet. It’s like 20XX for Wolf, but I’m not sure if I like the name 20Raul or 20Awoo yet. Don’t bother asking about it though, it will be the secret to my future success ;) The other sad thing about winning Evo? I doubt people will moneymatch me as often now :( I just need to create more favorable odds now. People out there need to know I’m willing to do something reckless like being a stock down or something :P

Who would you like to beat that is travelling out to Balcy’s Palace?

Both players on my mind are Californians. Ever since our famous — and criminally underrated — set at Rewired last year (which some people called “the best set of 2016”) ThundeRzReiGN has been lucky to dodge me in bracket. He even ADMITTED that he’s scared of me on camera. He just doesn’t want to deal with my laser camping. Sure, I was playing uncharacteristically well in our best-of-3 encounter (hitting multiple frame-perfect shortens, some even off-stage), and he was playing below his standard, but I’ve refined my punishes and gained so much new matchup knowledge since then. I respect his talent and recognize him as our undisputed champion, but no one should ever respect Donkey Kong. The other person is the one who blocked me from meeting ThundeRz in bracket most recently, namely Blank at Low Tier City 5. He double-eliminated me. Not by beating me in winners and then again in losers, but in the sense that we knocked me out on Thursday at that stacked weekly (I mentioned it in an earlier answer) before the national, and then again on Saturday night — when it mattered more — just before Top 8 qualifiers. I didn’t travel ALL THE WAY to Texas just to lose to the same guy in the ONLY 2 tourneys I entered over that trip! Now that I know how to edgeguard him, I’m looking forward to making him suffer even worse than I did. Brian is way too arrogant for his actual skill level, and it’s time I shut that kid the hell up and put him in his place.

Shoutout to any New Mexico homie?

Kateri Eisenberg. She is the joy of my life and I’m proud to be hers. People like to imagine that I got her into smash, when in reality, she found the game herself, motivated me to un-retire, and convinced me to start traveling for PM. Dumber people like to think that she’s “just my girlfriend” — in reality, she’s the best TO in the world (even if no one else understands that yet) and a kick-ass Charizard by her own merit. We’re a happy couple. Successfully TO’ing a major regional tournament like Salty Juan’s 3 in a state like New Mexico with little help is an incredible feat. Kateri and I did it together without any real frustration at each other. It’s like we passed the relationship test. Seriously, if you can organize a national for smash with only your significant other to rely upon and not get pissed, you’ve got a keeper. Salty Juan’s 4 is our next event and will represent a radical milestone for New Mexico, and most importantly to me, our relationship. I hope everyone reading this can make it and join us for this truly special occasion.

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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.

Feel free to email teambalconysmash@gmail.com for any questions or if you need assistance in getting a ride to the event or hosing. Registration is open until Friday, Sept. 8th.

Stay tuned for more hype ass articles featuring the top talent their stories in the days to come.