Celebrating the players of the Edmonton Smash Bros Community

James "JV" Vo

 

"Yo! My name is James and I go by the tag: JV. I only play Melee because I feel like it is just the superior game---no offense to you PM or Brawl players. I play the one and only Fox because, you know, the 20xx hype! I've been playing this game since I came out of my mother's womb *laughs*. I actually got into this game because of my cousin, Scythe. He whooped me a bunch of times before and after learning about how deep and intricate the smash games are, I slowly started grinding the game--oh, and the Smash Brothers documentary also played a influential role in me picking up the game. I have only recently actually started to take this game seriously, putting in hours in the lab and whatnot."

"When you first joined our scene you used to main Peach. Just last weekend you pulled out your fox for the first time for tournament. Care to elaborate on the details behind your switch to Fox?"

"Peach attracted me because of how little technical skill was required at the lower levels. I switched to Fox because I want to be able to see my tech-skill progression. When I play Peach, I don't really need to L-cancel and other things of that nature, but when I play Fox, I have to L-cancel, or else I'll get punished for missing it. Maybe when my mechanics are better i'll switch back to Peach *laughs*"

"Oh come on man! Peach is plenty technical with all those float cancel mechanics. Anyways, Fox is indeed a very mechanically intensive character that has a tremendously steep learning curve that requires time in the lab to master. How often are you practicing, or I suppose, 'hitting the lab'?"

"*laughs* yeah, those float cancel fairs really take a toll on my hands. My Smash setup is right behind my desk , so it's really accessible; I'll usually practice my fundamentals in thirty minute increments about two or three times a day."

Aside from Smash, you're really active with league of legends. In fact, you're Diamond 1 which puts you at the top 2% percentile of all league players in north america. Do you think any of your skills, mentality, or any other attribute that factored towards your success in league, can be transferred to melee?"

"Definitely. Having the right mindset whenever you practice is vital. When I was learning League, I would set clear goals in my mind whenever I practiced and I feel like this helps me immensely when I practice Smash as well."

"What are your current goals in terms of competitive smash?"

"I aim to be able to beat Scythe"