by Trent Murray
Genesis 5 is set to be the largest tournament in Rivals history. With a prize pool over $10,000 and the RCS championship on the line, players will be coming from all over the world to challenge the best of the best. One such contender will be Fable eSports’ MSB, an elite Kragg main from the early days of the competitive scene. We caught up with him to discuss his history with the game, his love of giant rock beetles, and how he’s preparing for the biggest tournament of his competitive career.
Tell us a bit about your competitive gaming history before Rivals?
MSB: I was a hardstuck platinum League player and a perennial 1-2 presence at Smash 4 locals. The only gaming-related event I was at before Rivals was Apex 2015, which ended up costing a nasty amount of money due to the relocation putting it an extra train away from where it originally was for me.
Only got to spend one day at the venue as well even though I intended for 3, and in order to catch the last train on Saturday night I missed nearly the entire salty suite. With those things in my mind, I kinda resolved to never spend that much going to an event again unless I had something more to get from it all.
What made you want to be a top Rivals player?
MSB: I went into Rivals without a lot of expectations, knowing that from my previous record in gaming that there wasn’t really much of a shot at going big time. But I ended up getting into it so early that everyone was really, really bad, giving me the time I needed to get comfortable without eating any big losses.
My mindset was the opposite of a growth one when I first started out, and being able to win a majority of my games drew me into it long enough for me to realize I could actually be something. I guess the simplest answer to why I wanted to be a top player was “because I could”. I’ve got nothing like it in any other game, and at this point I’m pretty content with how far I ended up coming.
What first drew you to being a Kragg main?
MSB: I saw him pillar to recover in the trailer and thought that was really cool; nothing like it was in any game I’d played before. Got the game after seeing it on a Mango stream and went into practice mode with grey-colored Kragg to see what his moves did. Then I beat up a level 9 Zetter by spamming forward air at the ledge and I was locked in.
What is your favorite memory from a Rivals tournament?
MSB: Got a few:
- Get Good 12 – It’s a meme tournament in 2017, but winning a stacked online tourney with people I’d never beaten before was a great moment when it happened
- Bigger Balc Losers Semis – Reverse 3-0 on someone I’d never beaten before, then instantly broke my own controller in the celebration and got washed in LFs. But I did get a trophy for 3rd place!
- The first 5 minutes of Winners Finals at Smashcon – Boy I thought I was hot shit for those 20 seconds in between games 2 and 3. Immediately followed up with my least favorite memory from a Rivals tournament.
- Heatwave – Whole day was a ride, a lot of crazy stuff happened this tournament. Aspiring above my 3rd place block was great.
Is there anything special you’re doing to prepare for Genesis?
MSB: Nothing especially, but a lot of general practice. There are people that play every character going there, so the best way to be prepared is to be more all-rounded. If I zero in on a particular thing I’m just going to get blindsided like I did at G4.
What other hobbies do you have outside of the game?
MSB: When I’m not playing anything I’ve usually got some kind of school/life project to be working on. But if there’s nothing to do I like taking walks.
Give us one movie or TV series that you would recommend that not everyone has seen? What do you like about it?
MSB: Oh man, I just straight up don’t watch TV or movies. But to make a game recommendation though, check out Slay the Spire. Rougelike deckbuilding is something I never knew I wanted until I picked that game up.
What’s one thing about you that your fans might not know?
MSB: The sunglasses pillow seen in a few images I have up is my travel pillow and I take it everywhere. It’s the exact right size to put in my bag without taking up too much space.
Anything else you’d like to say to the community?
MSB: Check out the Rivals Weeklies Show every Sunday at 7PM EST with me, Jarek, and a new guest every week! Not this Sunday though, Christmas and all.
Thanks again to MSB for taking the time to chat. Be sure to follow him and Fable eSports on Twitter. If you’d like to join MSB and the rest of the Rivals community at Genesis 5, registration is still open for a few more days over on smashgg: https://smash.gg/G5