by Trent Murray
In Rivals of Aether, most of the competitive conversation revolves around the United States. This is where all the major tournaments take place and where, most believe, all the best players in the world currently reside. However, thanks to the generosity of the Rivals community, two players will be traveling across the world to challenge that claim. Shine 2017 offered a compendium with ambitious goals to fly out the best player in Europe, and the best in Australia. Surpassing all expectations, the Rivals community stepped up in a big way, funding every compendium goal, including our two world warriors.
In the first of our Shine 2017 interview series, we talked to the Australian legend himself, Gabe. Coming from so far away, Gabe’s compendium goal was significantly higher than his fellow competitors. Being fully funded, it’s clear that the community has high expectations for Australia’s best player. Currently ranked #1 in AU, Gabe shares his competitive history, some insight on the Australian community, and why he’s excited to make his way to the United States.
Trent: Tell us a little about your competitive history before Rivals.
Gabe: Unsurprisingly, the first game I ever tried to get good at was Smash Bros (On the N64). I used to play the hell out of that game and I even thought I was pretty good, beating my older brother and his friends 3v1, winning all the little tournaments they hosted for their friends. “Thought” was the key word there, though. Sometime in high school (year 11) one of my mates mentioned he knew a dude named Yitzi who lives nearby that’s pretty good, and in my hubris I went to Yitzi’s house to trash him in some smash. Needless to say I got consistently 5-stocked and figured out just how bad I was.
A little later I moved on to melee and then found out there was a competitive scene [from the documentary] where I started to go to tournaments and get better (I even invited Yitzi to a tournament just so I could knock him out). Eventually I became one of the better players in my region playing [Game and Watch] in melee and made it to the national PR for Project: M and started running/helping run tournaments for my local scene. This is pretty much where RoA came in.
Trent: What made you want to be a serious competitor in Rivals?
Gabe: When I first saw alpha footage of RoA I got pretty hyped, since I’ve always liked pixel art stuff and SNES games. My excitement was justified once I finally got my hands on the game in early access and I immediately started to foster a local scene for it. My goal was never really (and still isn’t) to be a serious competitor in RoA, I was more interested in having an outlet to play via growing a scene for the game.
I just played a lot, since the game is fun. And since I played so much I eventually got good. Since I’m also the main TO for my state, I also attended every tournament, so I got more tournament experience than most other players. Me also being a beta tester got me to analyse frame data and how different characters interact a lot deeper than most players. So while I never really had a drive to be the best in Aus it just sorta happened with how involved I was with the competitive scene and the making of the game. But hey, I guess making some bus money from winning tournaments is nice as well.
Trent: What other hobbies do you have outside the game?
Gabe: Most of my time nowadays is taken up by doing my PhD (In population genetics). Sitting in my office at uni writing (As I’m doing right now) is my main activity outside of video games. Apart from Uni and RoA/Smash I also enjoy ceramic art, messing around with electronics, going to independent art galleries, heading to the pub with some mates or just watching some dank movies.
Trent: Tell us a little bit about your local scene. Are there any other players that you think would compete with the top of the U.S. if they got to travel?
Gabe: The Australian scene is pretty special compared to the rest of the world. I think we’re the only big scene that mainly focuses on offline play, as opposed to the U.S. and E.U. which are all online. We have consistent offline events, which is pretty great. The game is just so different offline and once you try it you never want to touch netplay again.
As a consequence of an offline scene, we’re all pretty close and friendly. It’s not rare for the best players in the country to invite newer and intermediate players over for some games which has led to even our newest players having a pretty solid understanding of the game, which is great. As for players that would compete with the best over in the states, I’d say Dave and SNC would probably do better than I if they went over. For one, both of those guys would take it a lot more seriously than I am but they’re also extremely good players. From what I can tell, SNC is the best Kragg player in the world and he’s been on a big grind recently. Dave also played the game like nobody I’ve seen in the states (thankfully), he’s more than happy to just sit there doing nothing while you screw up an input, with [really passive play].I’d also love to see Jet play over there, because he’s my boy.
Trent: Is there anything aside from the tournament you’re excited about during your visit to the US?
Gabe: While I’m excited to get to compete in these tournaments, I’m even more excited to meet the community. My main goal in heading to the US is to finally meet all the people I’ve interacted with online via RoA. I’m most keen to meet MSB, Handbutt, Etalus, Youngblood, Kaos, the food server guys, Dan the man himself and Etalus again.
One place I’ve always wanted to visit in the USA is New York City (which has been described to me as The Sydney expansion pack) and thankfully my man Toko (an EC RoA player and certified top bloke) offered to house me in Queens for the entire month, so that worked out perfectly. I think MSB is going to stay with us for a while so we should be able to get in some good practice in between tournaments. Since I’ve got housing, I’ll also be able to go to Super Smash Con, and hopefully meet even more cool people there.
The other thing I plan to do is a little networking at a New Jersey university, attempt to find some not-trash coffee in New York, and meet Qerb (The best melee GnW player in the world). So I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.
Trent: Which players are you most excited to face in bracket?
Gabe: It’d be nice to play Fullstream, just because he’s considered the best at the moment. Being able to knock him out would lend some pretty solid legitimacy to the AU RoA scene and I just love the Wrastor vs Zetterburn match up. if I manage to knock [him] out, I’d just laugh. It would be the greatest kek the RoA community has ever seen.
Trent: Which players are you hoping to avoid in bracket?
Gabe: The only players I don’t want to play in bracket are MSB and Toko. Not because I think they’ll be able to beat me, but because I’m going to be spending so much time with them over my stay that I’d prefer to play some other people once I’m at the events. Apart from that, I’m fine with whoever I get to play. I’ve never been to a US RoA tournament, so everyone is a new and fun match up.
Trent: What does it mean to you that your compendium goal got funded?
Gabe: It’s nice to know that people care about the Australian scene enough to fly me out, so it does lend a lot of legitimacy to our scene. More than that though, I see this as some sort of affirmation that I’ve made a significant and positive impact on the global RoA scene and it’s really encouraged me to keep on doing whatever I can to help the scene grow (both in Australia and internationally).
Trent: What are your expectations for your performance at the tournament at Shine 2017?
Gabe: I honestly have no idea. I’ve heard predictions from top players saying I’ll place anywhere from 15th to 2nd, so it’s a pretty wide range to go off. Since I’ll be in the states for the whole month I’ll have time to learn some new stuff, practise with MSB and figure out a realistic goal for Shine. No matter how I do though, I’ll be pretty happy, since I’m there for the people not the prize money.
Trent: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?
Gabe: I’m sure I’ll get the chance to say plenty to them all IRL , so for now I’d just like to say: Thanks for flying me out and I’ll see you soon.
Thanks again to Gabe for his time and wonderful insight! Follow him at @GubbaFlubba and watch him compete at Super Smash Con next weekend, as well as at Shine 2017 on August 25th-27th. Be sure to keep your eyes right here on rivalsofaether.com for more interviews leading up to Shine 2017.
Editor’s note: Shine registration closes on 8/6 so there’s still time to sign up! If you want to come play Rivals with Gabe, the devs, and everyone else coming out for this gaming experience make sure you sign up on smash.gg.