Upon entering the Melee scene of Upstate New York in December '06, I dreamed of a bustling community. A healthy and vibrant and active community. A community integrated with the rest of the Smash scene, one that could compete with the best regions in terms of size and skill. For the first time ever I can say we are well on our way.

Upstate's history has been one of struggle in my opinion. If you were to ask anyone who's been around long enough in the Melee scene that has any knowledge of our history, they'd probably describe us as a region with a longtime lack of any significant talent or skill. As much as it pains me to say this, it would be hard for me to argue that description in a lot of ways. It pains me even more to reflect on my career in this region and see all the things I could have done differently to steer us in a different direction.

On one hand, there's only so much one person can do and I understand that. These days I don't do a lot of beating myself up about the past. I've come a long way in that respect. I've done a lot of reflection and a lot of growing. I've come to terms with what went wrong and why things went the way they did. I'll go more into detail in upcoming articles. I have a few of them planned. One is where I'm at in my career and where I'm going from here. The others...Well those are a secret ;)

For now, though, I'll sum it up by saying that for a long time I was the most motivated player in the region with the most ambition to reach the highest level possible in this game and in the community. If I'd have reached my potential the spotlight would have been on us more than it ever was. From that excitement breeds growth, and I believe this is where I failed.

That's just me being brutally honest. I try to accept truth head on even when it comes to the hardest of truths, otherwise growth can't occur. There are other factors though that were out of my control completely that I think played a big factor in Upstate's struggle.

We're a splintered region and that's a big deal. We have Rochester which is closest to Canada, and then forty minutes away we have Buffalo. Bridging the gap between Buffalo and Rochester throughout the years has gone on and off from being something that happens frequently, to something that only happens once in a while. Depends on the mood of Upstate at the time, the level of activity and excitement, etc. There have been time periods where Buffalo would be here every tournament we had. Recently though Buffalo has actually grown enough to the point where they're more active than we are, so there's no real point for them to travel here as much.

Syracuse is an hour and a half from Rochester which if you didn't know is where I'm from. We make the trips to Syracuse, especially more these days after Manalord rejuvenated the scene. He's built up Syracuse into the most active single area of Upstate and at this point that's where we all kind of rally around, since it's in between Capital region and Rochester/Buffalo.

Historically, Rochester only saw Capital region (Albany, Troy, Binghamton, Ithaca and more I'm sure I'm forgetting, sorry guys) once in a great while. It's about a four-hour drive to and from so it's understandable.

Probably the greatest thing to happen to Upstate is Mana taking control of Cuse, and holding consistent tournaments that have only grown and grown. I think it's the single biggest reason why we're getting closer and closer to realizing our potential. I've always been of the opinion that the distance between Upstate in the grand scheme of things is irrelevant if we have the right systems in place and the health of the community overall is strong. I think we have that combination stronger than ever now.

To begin with, the competition is fiercer than ever now and it's amazing. I'm coming off a recent loss to a sixteen-year-old in Jmook, and I don't come off of recent losses to anyone living in Upstate...well, almost ever. Jmook's a product of the Platinum Era of Smash. He trains with 20XX, shield drops ridiculously well, perfect tech chasing with Sheik etc. He's also extremely dedicated and has watched videos even stretching as far back to the MLG days of 2005, so that's not to take anything away from him at all. He's an example of where we're at, though. For a player like him to spring up in Upstate is one of the best things that could happen to us, and it's a testament that for however much inactivity or lack of high-level play we've had over the years, we've kept enough of a pulse and heartbeat alive even in the most dreary of times to give new players the opportunity to become a part of something great.

We have IBDW from NYC and Vino as well. IBDW lives in Rochester and Vino in Buffalo. Both players are up to date with the community and are extremely young with a ridiculous potential of a future ahead of them. Watching them battle it out along with Jmook in the upcoming years will be a privilege for me. Also attempting to keep my crown among this crowd for however long I'm playing will be an exciting and worthy challenge. Jank and JKJ from Buffalo are also players that I consider to be a part of this crowd. Goodleshoes from Syracuse, Chess$ and Poonslayer that came from Long Island, Rochester's very own Mask who's on a well-deserved break right now, we have Ferris from Columbus Ohio...The problem with shouting out individual players is that there are so many these days I'll probably miss so many. That's a problem I'm more than happy to have, though.

I do want to point out though that before this crowd came along and built themselves up to the strength they're at right now, contrary to whatever it looked like from the outside looking in over the years, Upstate has always kept me sharp and on my toes. Between Lefty, Manalord, Asylum, PikaPika! and others I'm sure, I've always had to perform my best to be able to continue winning.

Regardless, I think it's safe to say that a new era of Upstate smash is solidifying. It's September of 2016 and school's started up again. I think the key to bringing out the potential of Upstate right now is for as many people as possible to get to however many tournaments they can whenever they can. Always come prepared to perform your best and have as much fun as possible, sapping the most out of every tournament for improvement and memories.

I love this region and for all the darkness I look back on, I look back on some hella good times and moments that I wouldn't trade for anything. There's nothing like Smash tournaments as far as memories and experiences go. There's always been a lot of warmth and hilarity in Upstate. We may have been trailing behind all of these years in skill and exposure, but just like the biggest and best regions in Smash history we've always had crazy experiences and unforgettable moments. We'll never be any different in that respect.

That was probably the perfect note to end this article on but I just remembered one of the most important pieces of Upstate history and that's Gravy. Gravy came up in Upstate, trained here at the apartment with me and everyone else and worked his way up the ladder. He made the best decision of his life in moving to Florida, where he's been able to train with some of the best competition the world has to offer.

Recently he placed 17th at EVO, the most ridiculous accomplishment anyone in Upstate Melee can lay claim to. He was featured on ESPN as well in their e-sports section of their website. Gravy had the same ambition I did, arguably more. Either way he certainly made better strategic moves in pursuing that ambition and he's laid waste to huge names in Melee including Axe (Love you Axe if you ever read this), Nintendude who has stomped me out over the years so he avenged me on that one, DruggedFox, Duck, The Moon, KEN THE PLAYER WHO INSPIRED ME TO PLAY...He also has either the first or second best, most historic comeback in ALL of Melee history vs KDJ when KDJ first got signed by Team Liquid. It's either that comeback or the Amsah vs EK comeback.

I'll never forget the early days of my Melee career. They contained the most magic by far, and the lens through which I viewed the world and the game back then was so pure and amazing. I'm awake at 4 AM in my room, in the basement of the condo I lived in until I was 19 every night whether I had school or not. I'm just mesmerized watching all of these Smash videos of the legends back in the day. Azen, Ken, KDJ, PC, M2K and so many more.

I'd replay the Amsah vs EK match like it was the best movie I'd ever watched. The adaptation, the patience, the calm confidence of Amsah during those stocks. That was the type of magic that filled my young heart back then, that in a way, made me who I am today in so many ways. To think that I ended up passing that down to someone, and to watch them create their own magic vs. the same legends that I used to watch every night in that basement, makes every second of this journey more than worth it.

Gravy may have been the first to do great things, but he certainly won't be the last. With the new talent in the region and the growth that it will create, we're well on our way to doing great things. I'll be doing what I can until it's (actually, truly and finally) time for me to walk away as well. The good news is though, I could walk away right now and Upstate would continue to thrive and blossom into everything I ever wanted it to be, regardless of if I am here or not.

Mission Compri.

-Last minute update - Poonslayer wins vs. Jmook as the young prodigy is confronted with a hard loss. GSO beats Poon. That's what I mean, Upstate getting cray.