Within the nook of the GENESIS X3 conference, with eight CRT TVs, no stage, no livestream, and no microphone, was a match for an 18-year-old sport with a $450 prize pool on the road. And it meant the world to the 45 or so gamers who competed.
That is Tremendous Smash Bros. Brawl. That is every little thing, particularly for Christina “Chia” Korsak, ranked #4 within the SSBBRank as of Summer season 2025. She flew to San Jose to compete in Brawl – to show one thing to herself, to lastly get first at a GENESIS, as a result of she will be able to’t assist however really feel compelled to compete.
However she advised me that if she received this match, it is perhaps the tip of her Brawl profession.
“The win would oddly be serendipitous,” she stated to Esports Insider. “With the problems I’ve skilled within the scene, I’m extremely contemplating that, if I win, I’ll announce that I’m retiring from the sport. With the caveat that I’ll come again if the neighborhood is handled. It’s not an ultimatum. However I’ll really feel I’ve achieved sufficient that I can go a yr or two with out enjoying Brawl and really feel advantageous.”
This may finish her almost 25-year profession in Smash.
“I Simply F***ing Love the Recreation”
Chia has been competing in Tremendous Smash Bros. since Melee’s launch in 2001. However when Brawl got here out in 2008, she made the soar together with many professional Melee gamers. The entire large names had been competing in Brawl, enthralled with the aggressive meta of its early days – earlier than Meta Knight took over, after all.
Nonetheless, the aggressive scene began to decelerate in late 2013 when Tremendous Smash Bros. 4 was introduced. With a brand new sport popping out in six months and Mission M gaining momentum, Brawl was already beginning to fade out. Solely in Smash would a mod be bigger than the official video games. With extra technical parts and a wider vary of viable characters, Chia was a type of Smash gamers who made the change.
However she by no means left Brawl.
It was all the time within the background, even when Tremendous Smash Bros. Final got here out in 2018. That sport had all of the hype for some time. The neighborhood was dying to know who the subsequent DLC fighters can be and the professional scene was thriving, that includes a primary Leonardo “MkLeo” Perez. There was no denying it was the Smash sport for some time.
However there was one thing about Brawl.
“That combination of being in a aggressive scene when it first got here out, being probably the most try-hard of try-hards. Me, Mew2King, and Velocity used to drive from Philly to Brawl tournaments twice a month throughout New England, Virginia… His gamertag was Velocity as a result of he drove actually quick. We’d simply discover any large match, getting observe and publicity towards individuals in Majors throughout the nation,” she recalled.
And who might neglect these limitless summer season nights the place she’d simply hear Meta Knight utilizing Mach Twister over and over as Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman practiced? The dude spent hours labbing, calculating precise projections for when characters had been knocked again by sure strikes at particular injury percentages. For higher or worse, that reminiscence doesn’t depart you.
There’s simply one thing about Brawl that made her maintain attempting. All through the years, the Brawl tournaments have been getting smaller and smaller. Fewer persons are flying out to compete. Some Majors don’t also have a stream. The Brawl match at GENESIS X3 had only a handful of spectators whereas Melee and Final had a whole lot of individuals watching a large display screen on stage, screaming so loud you can barely hear the poor TO name names out for Brawl units.
“I simply f***ing love enjoying this sport,” Chia stated. “It’s bizarre the way it can nonetheless entice my consideration, much more than the present titles. Greater than each different sport. I’ll get sucked right into a Zelda sport for, like, three hours today. However should you sit me in entrance of a Brawl bracket, I’m hooked without end.”
Brawl is a sport of obsession and grit. After I even requested her what the prize cash was, she didn’t know. I don’t suppose she even cared. Brawl is for the neighborhood. It’s for the love of the sport. The rivalries, the storylines. I’ve all the time marveled at how video games like Melee and Brawl have esports scenes fueled solely by ardour. There’s actually no cash available, no sponsors, no groups, no huge crowds.
All Chia wanted was a CRT TV and long-time opponents to beat. That was sufficient to take the flight.
Relentless Hate and Toxicity in Brawl Neighborhood Will get within the Method
Regardless of the clear quantity of ardour it takes to play a sport competitively for almost twenty years, Chia admitted that a few of the ardour has left her over the previous few years.
Whereas Brawl’s lack of help from Nintendo and main sponsors is what makes it so grassroots, it’s additionally what makes it a bit harmful. There aren’t any strict rules that apply to each occasion. Crappy individuals can generally slip by the cracks, Chia stated, as a result of each match organizer has their very own guidelines and bans in place.
This is usually a downside if you’ve handled “relentless hate” like Chia.
“I’ve a number of supporters and folks will defend me,” she stated. “However there may be a lot toxicity, and I can’t actually attain out to TOs and inform them about points with individuals. It seems like a unending loop of whether or not they’re allowed or not. It all the time seems like weekly discussions on stuff they’ve carried out to me two years in the past at occasions.
“It’s bizarre that being in such a unique area of interest – a prime 10 participant on this planet – and I nonetheless obtain hate and nothing can really be carried out about it besides banning them from my personal occasions…. If a prime participant in Melee was harassed like I used to be, they’d be banned and within the media. In Brawl, it by no means will get handled.”
It frankly will get exhausting to maintain combating to enhance the neighborhood. And it’s simply as exhausting to compete when there are individuals saying sure issues that ship you into shock, throwing round lifeless names and slurs. Chia doesn’t need to lose her aggressive consolation sport, however she’s getting “too outdated” to take care of these items. It’s not value her time to compete towards somebody who’s sending her into fight-or-flight mode throughout brackets. She might simply change to Smash 6 when it comes out and be left alone.
She didn’t enter Supernova’s Brawl match final yr – regardless of it being the biggest in measurement and ability – to guard her psychological well being. She was additionally invited to a Brawl Invitational final yr that included the 2 individuals she doesn’t need to take care of, so she missed out on the match (and the free flight that was provided to her).
“It simply sucks that almost all of these items occurred just a few years in the past, nevertheless it’s by no means been ‘dealt with.’ I need to transfer on as effectively. However I need to stick up for myself and different minorities locally,” she stated. “These downside individuals don’t have a private difficulty with me; they speak very down on different LGBTQ+ members of the neighborhood.
“Once they’re allowed, I simply don’t enter.”
The 20-Plus 12 months Grind and the Hate That Could Cease It
Once you consider the most well-liked esports scenes on the market – VALORANT, League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2 – you understand that the gamers retire fairly early. It’s not fairly often that you simply see execs competing for over twenty years.
Though Brawl has some points (Meta Knight, floatiness, tripping), gamers have continued to compete for years. What makes Smash gamers so devoted? What retains them enjoying the identical sport for 20 years?
“A method is that, whether or not we understand it or not, we had been educated for this,” Chia advised me. “Smash has been round 25 years or so now. In contrast to different aggressive video games that get a brand new model each one to 3 years, our wait durations are 5 to eight years.”
In contrast to video games like Marvel Rivals, which get frequent updates, Smash has remained the identical for years. The characters haven’t modified, the meta hasn’t actually modified, and the gameplay has modified. However that’s the solely Smash sport you’ll have for years, so that you gotta keep it up.
And also you received’t be alone. With no high quality on-line play, Brawl observe and tournaments are all the time in-person. This made fixed grinding extra rewarding, understanding you’d be part of the neighborhood and journey everywhere in the world.
Even whereas training at residence, forward of GENESIS, Chia advised me she might go on Discord and ask different aggressive gamers to observe and there was all the time somebody prepared. For Chia, the problem earlier than the tourney wasn’t actually the sport itself. It was psychological.
She didn’t actually compete for over a yr as she labored on the psychological points she felt had been holding her again. Whereas training, consuming effectively, and sleeping had been all useful, being constant was nonetheless a battle for her. She realized that she would usually really feel that sense of combat or flight towards lesser gamers, spiraling if she felt herself slipping towards somebody she is aware of she ought to beat.
“Somebody will play worse with a gun pointed at your head. Taking part in throughout that worry… I’ve to do this for each bracket set,” Chia stated. “Now I observe my coronary heart fee variability – decrease means your physique goes by it. Regular is like 40-50 coronary heart fee.”
She was within the single digits.
“Me and You: Finals”: Confidence, Victory, By no means Letting Go
You’d by no means know Chia was that terrified should you noticed her at GENESIS X3. She appeared fully in her factor, speaking with different execs and training forward of units. However perhaps that’s all a part of the method. A part of getting out of your head.
Nonetheless, Chia advised me she was apprehensive concerning the third seed of the match, ISH, a mid-tier Wolf participant ranked round 14th-18th on the time. Chia beat them ultimately yr’s GENESIS, however admittedy dropped some video games. R.O.B., Chia’s fundamental, has some points with Wolf. Each are “sh***y mid-tier” fighters, and the combat isn’t baked into her muscle reminiscence simply but. Final yr, Chia needed to whip out King Dedede to complete the job.
All through the weekend, Chia appeared fairly assured. She stated every little thing wanting “I do know I’m going to win.” Even different opponents knew. They felt it. Kurobi, a prime participant from Japan, pointed at Chia after watching her bracket, saying: “Me and also you, Finals.”
Chia had received large occasions main as much as GENESIS X3, however by no means a serious of this measurement. Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma had beforehand advised her: “After you have confirmed you are able to do it, you are able to do it once more so much simpler.”
However would Chia stick round after profitable GENESIS X3? Main as much as the Grand Finals, she stated she nonetheless couldn’t resolve. There have been some attractive occasions lined up after GENESIS X3 she didn’t need to miss. However, she wasn’t positive she might take care of the drama behind the scenes for one more decade.
Whereas the uncertainty of her future in Brawl remained, Chia was clearly very targeted on the current. She wiped ISH 3-1 within the Winners Finals. She then confronted Kurobi within the Grand Finals. It was shut, however she beat him 3-2. The emotional, tiring, and thrilling weekend was lastly carried out. She took residence $225. It wasn’t streamed. Barely anybody was round to observe her pop off.
Nevertheless it wasn’t about that. It was about lastly profitable GENESIS.
After profitable GENESIS X3, I requested Chia once more whether or not she was going to retire. It didn’t appear to be it. Perhaps a break. Perhaps a bit extra selective with which tourneys to attend. On X, she nonetheless talks a bit about her rank in Brawl and the state of the sport, however she’s been largely competing in Pokémon and spending time together with her new girlfriend.
However is she absolutely carried out with Brawl? Is she retired? I’d enterprise to say no. It will be arduous to depart a small scene after you received a large match. It’d be arduous to depart a small scene you’ve been part of for many years. That’s simply the best way it goes for Smash. You don’t depart. You’ll be able to’t.
Chia, I’ll see you on the subsequent Brawl main.
