It wasn’t long ago that the world didn’t know much about Edgar “EMG N0ne” Sheleby, who has been a hidden boss within the Ontario, Canada Smash scene since he moved from Nicaragua in August 2014. Now after a number of breakout performances in 2016, two decisive tournament wins at Smash Factor 5 and SoCal Colosseum 2, he’s become a household name for Melee fans.
“I show up 19th there so that’s not bad,” N0ne talking about the recently released Glick rankings, “I think I can still step it up a bit, but it all depends on my luck in these future tournaments. As long as I don’t have like bad seeding, I can make it far.”
The list of names taken out by N0ne in the last few weeks alone prove that he’s made a huge jump from his 58th place ranking on the 2015 Melee It On Me top 100. He’s taken out Khasir “Liquid Chillindude” Khasar (54 MIOM ranking), Mike Haze (40), Javier “Smash Factor Javi” Ruiz (26), and double-eliminated S2J who finished fifth at Evo 2016. That’s not even mentioning his wins over CLG’s Kevin “PPU” Toy, and Echo Fox’s Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman in the past year (all of whom rank in the top 15). He’s starting to make a strong case to make into the top-20 for 2016.
“I think I played like an eight out of ten,” said N0ne on his performance these last two weeks, “I personally think I can be better.”
N0ne is saying this after winning back-to-back semi-major tournaments for this first time in his long Melee career showing that he’s not done improving. Even after his strong showing this Summer, he’s still not completely content with his play.
“All these tournaments I had tough brackets [EVO, CEO, GOML], but I’ve been doing alright,” said N0ne. “I’ve been beating the people I’m supposed to beat and if I lose usually it’s not an upset. But probably next year when I get a better seeding or, I’m sorry, a better MIOM [Melee It On Me] ranking it will help out my seeding so we’ll see.”
N0ne on the changing Captain Falcon meta-game
In the rotating carousel that is the rankings for best Captain Falcon main, N0ne has made it clear that he’s a top three Falcon and that Falcon is a viable character in today’s Fox-heavy meta-game. “You got Wizzrobe doing good, you got Johnny doing good as always,” said N0ne,” Between the three of us, and the other Falcons, people are starting to pull out new tech. Like tech I only used to back at home with my homies, nobody used to do it here.”
“I noticed after my Mew2King set, everyone is crouching cancelling now. That’s like a personal thing I’ve noticed. The meta will always keep switching around. I even noticed stuff I used to do back in like 2006 got to a point where it didn’t work anymore and nowadays it works again. It’s like options people forget about. It’s like everything is going in a circle. You just have to find the right calls on what to use,” said N0ne.
N0ne went on to explain why Captain Falcon mains have been making it further it brackets recently, “I guess just all the Falcons complement each other. I guess we just work together in unison and that overall helps the meta for Falcon and that’s why he’s making it pretty far lately”
In terms of fan favorites, N0ne has quickly risen to the top of a lot of peoples list. His play style with Captain Falcon is not only conducive to bringing out the hype in crowds, he also shows that he’s capable with low-tier characters like Ganondorf, who he pulled out Sunday at Smash Factor 5 against Hugs.
“Sometimes that’s just the way it is. Like if you saw the sets, he was messing up my Falcon,” said N0ne,” I couldn’t get anything off…and I don’t know, I’ve used Ganon against him before and I felt it worked.”
N0ne lost 3-0 in Winners Finals to Hugs with Falcon, so a character switch to Ganondorf in Grand Finals was needed. “Alright, let’s see what happens. I don’t know what it is, if it’s a completely different play style or what his match up experience is, but it definitely paid off,” said N0ne talking about his gusty switch to Ganon.
(Courtesy of youtube.com/VGBootcamp)
N0ne reset the bracket in the first set of Grand Finals 3-2, barely edging out Hugs on Fountain of Dreams on game before switching back to Falcon on the second set and taking that losers bracket momentum to beat Hugs 3-1 in the second set.
“Against Hugs, I actually like his Samus a lot but it’s frustrating as hell. It was a long set, it was interesting to see how we were exchanging hits. It was like power shields all over, lots of defense on his side and lots of aggro on my side,” said N0ne.
N0ne has had to come from losers in both of his tournaments to bring home the win. “I don’t’ know, whenever I get sent to losers I get that focus,” said N0ne. He talked about how the set he lost to S2J in Grand Finals really woke him up and forced him to play better. N0ne also commented on the edge guarding during that set…
“The ledge was free.”
The life of a Melee Pro
N0ne becoming a well-known player and traveling all across North America has taken a toll on him, “It’s nice at the beginning man, because who doesn’t like traveling,” said N0ne. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about back when I was living in Nicaragua, looking at everyone, but right now I haven’t slept much and I’m kind of wrecked”
He continued on explaining the little amount of time to himself before each trip, “I basically come back, do laundry and fly out to Columbia,” said N0ne, but he still has an appreciation. “Overall it’s nice, you meet new people, new cities, new cultures. It’s stuff you haven’t seen before so it’s all exciting”
It’s been an insane ride for N0ne, who comes from a Nicaraguan scene that has 15 players at most at their locals. He transitioned from a Smash scene that didn’t take tournaments and placings as seriously and focused more on the game and having fun. His upbringing definitely shines through his play style, where he plays the high risk-reward game which translate to a more fun game for both N0ne and the crowd cheering him on.
What’s next for N0ne?
“I’m going through a bit of, uh, I was like a month out of my house, and now that I’m home I’m getting into real life problems right now, real life situations,” said N0ne. “I might have to take a step away from Smash for a little bit, but in the mean time I’ll be at Heir 3, Dreamhack Montreal and The Big House 6.”
As the summer of Smash comes to a close, most players will have to get back to reality like N0ne, but as he pointed out to me he’ll be back for most of the major events. Unfortunately, N0ne will not be able to make Super Smash Con, but will be attending other major events in September and October.
Follow N0ne on twitter at @n0ned and look for one of the most explosive Melee players right now at Heir to the Throne 3 at the end of this month.
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