Isai Alvarado

Joel Isai Alvarado (born March 17, 1985), known as Isai (often pronounced "Isaiah"), is an American Super Smash Bros. 64 player widely regarded as the greatest of all time.^[1] He is credited with developing the modern metagame and was considered among the ten highest ranked Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the United States until retiring in 2007. In the competitive gaming community, he is known simply as "Isai" or by his gamer tag "malva00". He is regarded as a team specialist in Super Smash Bros. Melee and garnered an almost three year winning streak with his teammate, Ken Hoang.^[2] The team won the Major League Gaming Las Vegas 2006 Melee doubles championship.^[3] His primary character in Melee was formerly Captain Falcon and used multiple secondary characters such as Sheik, Fox, and Marth.^[4][5][6]

Isai was formerly sponsored by CLASH Tournaments.^[7] He used to occasionally stream on their channel.^[8]

Career

Isai is predominantly a Super Smash Bros. 64 player, he became acquainted with the community surrounding its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, entering his first tournament, Tournament Go 4 (TG4), on January 19, 2003. He teamed with top ranked player, Ken Hoang in Tournament Go's fifth incarnation TG5, for Doubles events and continued to team with Ken in later tournaments beginning an undefeated streak which lasted from 2003 to 2006.

Isai is known for not taking Melee singles events seriously often referred to as 'sandbagging'. He later shifted his focus back to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64.

He is the champion of Apex 2014 for Super Smash Bros. 64, defeating Moyashi in grand finals using only Jigglypuff.^[9]

Personal life

Isai is of Mexican descent and is from San Jose, California.^[10][5] He was born on March 17, 1985.^[10] Alvarado is a graduate of San Jose State University and was the president of the school's chapter of Beta Alpha Psi.^[11]

Notable tournament placements

Smash 64

Melee

References