Ultimate Insight 11 : Jix

1) One year ago you weren't a contender for the QLD40 but now you're minimum top 5 in the state. What did you do to make this happen?

> I always felt like Krool was holding me back, back then I wasn’t seeing any improvement in myself and during isolation, I was experimenting with other characters. Out of all the characters I tried out, Diddy Kong just seemed to click with me, his playstyle really coincides with how I like playing smash . With constant practice, hosting smaller bi-weekly events at my house to get constant offline play and already seeing improvement compared to Krool really showed me that a character swap could benefit me greatly. Diddy Kong single-handedly revitalised my love for Smash and greatly helped me improve my fundamentals.


2) Now that you've gotten such a high profile, do you feel more pressure at tournaments? How do you deal with internal and external pressure?

> If I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t feel as much pressure as people think I would, I still view myself in my head as a mid level smasher, so I won’t get distraught whenever I lose to a top player, sometimes I even forget I’m a PR level player. I feel like putting too much pressure on myself will destroy my mentality, creating expectations for myself will also put a lot of pressure on my shoulders, I tend to just go with the flow and if I place low, I don’t get phased, if I achieve top 3 at a local/monthly, I see it more as a bonus rather then an expectation.


3) How high do you think your potential ceiling is?

> I’ll always strive to aim higher in the ranks, I’m ecstatic with how well I’ve been playing these past couple of weeks, the obvious goal is to reach AUS PR, but in all honesty, I’m happy with where I’m at in this point of time, I’m more focused on having fun and enjoying the game rather than focusing on placements and numbers. I think everyone has the potential to be better and achieve high, it’s all about how much effort and time you want to put into the game to reach those goals. If I wasn’t having fun with the game and the Smash community as a whole, I would’ve left ages ago.


4) You've been a beloved member of the Gold Coast scene for almost two years and have recently joined the crew Bust a Move. How important is the community aspect of Smash to you?

> The Smash community is very important to me and I’ve made many great friends since joining the community back in 2019. Without the community treating me the way they did when I first entered tournaments, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. Accepting the invite to BaM was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, everyone in there is amazing and participating in crew battles is sooooo much fun. The community aspect is very important to me and having friends in the community is a great way to keep you going in your smash journey, the reason why I clip the ever loving shit out of people is just to hear the pop offs from my homies.


5) Which players do you see a lot of potential in?

> In general I reckon everyone has potential, QLD is improving so much as I can’t wait too see who rises above the rest and starts taking some big names. There were many players I had in mind but I had to narrow it down to three players. Mana has shown why Kirby can be a huge threat, he plays very smart, clean and efficient, taking some pretty big names like Ari, Leshy and Negima, he’s improved a lot since early 2020, with a brand new character and a brand new mentality towards the game, I’m excited to see how he improves in the future. Another player I see potential in is Junglio, her sexy wolf has gotten craaaazy over isolation, getting wins on players like Churropon and Mittens, I’ve seen only good things come out of her smash plays. But I feel like the player I see the most potential in is Dionysus, from being a 1-2’er pre-isolation to getting fairly good results in most recent tournaments. Some people may not being seeing him as a huge threat as of now, but mark my words if he keeps up the way he’s going, he’s boutta pop off any second now. He’s been my practice partner for ages now and seeing him improve and helping him get to where he is now is amazing. I’ve seen the amount of effort he puts into this game first hand, watching him lab setups in his spare time, reading up on tech and kill confirms, Dionysus will be a deadly threat towards Ausmash and you should never sleep on him otherwise he’ll bottle fsmash you into oblivion.

===

To see these clips that Jix mentioned, give him a follow on Twitter @Jix_SSB where he frequently posts compilations of his slick as heck play.