Player Profile Interview: Team Nick

Moomoo Mumosa here. Last night was yet another thrilling Fight Night at Arcade Legacy, but I'm still waiting for some storylines to pan out to be able to write another newsletter. Thankfully, I am ever vigilant to the needs of the masses. What needs you say? The thirst for content. The hunger for details. The cravings for INSIGHT!!!! All these clamorings, and to these I say: fear not, my friends -- Mumosa is on the case.
This week features an interview with S-tier's very own Team Nick. What stage is his favorite? Who does he like to play against the most? Who does he believe is a rising threat?
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This is Moomoo Mumosa here, beat reporter for the Arcade Legacy Ranbats, and I’m here today with a very special guest — one of our very own S-tier members, Nick Sampanis, AKA Team Nick. First of all, how are you doing today, Nick?

— Pretty good.

How’d you do today in S?

— Could’ve done better! (laughs)

I heard you and that Ambition fellow had a very close set.

— We did,, lost to Fox -- Ahh! I hate Fox. (laughs)

So how about you introduce yourself and maybe describe how you think you play.

— Um…yeah. I’ve been playing for about 2.5 years. I attended my first major tournament with Big House 3. Umm…I play, I try to play a pressure heavy Jiggs. I don’t like my opponents to have a lot of options coming out of what they’re doing. I’m definitely too aggressive — I’m a Jiggs player, so I always think I’m too aggressive — but…I think I’m too aggressive.

You can give one word answers for these, or very short answers if you want…what do you think is your best stage?

— Oooh…ahhh…honestly, the stage I’m most comfortable on is Battlefield, just because we always go to Battlefield. Like, that’s where most matchups start, and that’s the stage I have the most experience on. It should be Dreamland, but it’s not, so…

(laughs) So how about your worst stage is? FD?

— I used to like FD. Then I got good, and other people got good and then I learned that FD is not actually very good for Jigglypuff. She doesn’t have a lot of options, it keeps a lot of other players um…I don’t know.

They can come under her, pressure her for having no jumps, hard for her to change her angle because there’s no platforms…

— They can stay safe. And as long as they don’t mess up, I don’t get an opening.

So what do you think your most comfortable matchup is?
— (exhales, thinks a while). Sheik or Falco.

And what do you think your least comfortable matchup is?

— (immediately answers) Fox McCloud best character in the game. (snickers)

Fair enough. Okay, so now to some more long form questions. What are some things you’ve been working on recently?

— As I mentioned earlier, trying not to be so aggressive. Trying to feel out my opponent…ugh. I run into way too much stuff and I’m not — I mean, I was playing someone the other day, and they said “Oh, that just wasn’t safe,” and I said “ know, that wasn’t safe, why am I doing it”, like…it’s all about going in, but playing safe. It’s weird.

Which player do you enjoy playing against the most? Doesn’t have to be part of our scene, just — which player?

— Oh, um…I’d have to say Snap. He always comes out positive, no matter what happens, and he — it’s a learning experience for him. I feel like every time I play him, he gets better.

That’s good. So, who do you find the most frustrating to play?…Ragu?

— I’d have to say Ragu, and Village Mascot. They’re both very very patient, and when you’re more patient than the Jigglypuff player, then…that leads to very bad situations.

Alright, so…since you’re part of S-tier, this is going to be an S-tier specific question. Who do you think we should be looking out for within the A-tier? I know you might be looking out for I-19 [[Moo’s note: if you don’t know, that’s Tomosumi Sato]].

— Based on results from the last tournament we had, Burlap seems to be in the running. But in my eyes, it’s obviously Fox players. I-19…is there another one? Is Halfjack in A?

Yeah, Halfjack, Jeremiah Scott…

— Jerry. Jerry and Tomo. Jerry and Tomo are my two.

Right. So do you think they’re improving quickly, or…?

— Yeah! Yeah. I don’t even think Tomo was playing two months ago, was he?

No, he was a PM-only player, yeah.
(slight pause)
So you’re one of the strongest doubles players in Cincinnati and one of its biggest supporters. What do you enjoy about it so much?

— Doubles…doubles is a different game. It’s two separate battles on one stage. As Jigglypuff, you can apply more pressure because your opponents don’t have the stage that they want to stay safe. So basically, your opponents will make more bad decisions, and you can capitalize on that, and so it’s really fun. Um…granted, even when I played Marth, I really enjoyed doubles too, so…I think there’s a presence of stage control? There’s just all these factors that, like, are there in singles, but I feel like they’re more present in doubles. I dunno, chaos is fun.

So you team with Village Mascot a lot. Do you think he’s your most comfortable partner within the Cincinnati scene, or do you think Doctor X, or somebody else?

— Definitely used to be Doctor X. Matt and I have been teaming for a while now, since Steve stopped teaming, since he started running tournaments more seriously. And I think that definitely Village Mascot is good; I think it’s good to team with a Fox — or a Falco (Moomoo laughs) — it’s good.

Any tournaments that you’re planning on traveling to in the near future?

— I don’t know of any tournaments that are coming up in the near future.

I mean, would you like to travel?

— I always enjoy traveling. That’s how you learn, that’s how you expand outside of your region, that’s how you get better.

Okay, so that about wraps everything up. Do you have any advice to aspiring members of our scene, and next do you have any shoutouts…let’s start with some advice.

— Advice is: you might come across a matchup that you really, really don’t like. It’s possible, most likely; still not sure about Fox, heh. You might leave a tournament and say, why did I play so bad? Well, you can get better. And don’t just switch mains — that’s not going to help. Figure out the character you want to play, practice him, and then get better at the matchups. Learn the matchups, — learn all your tech first, then learn the matchups, then if you’re still in a slump…switch mains, do whatever you want. But I’d say, stick with what you want.

Okay. Shoutouts?
— Shoutouts to everybody that plays this game since it’s amazing.

Fantastic. That about wraps up our interview; this is Moomoo Mumosa signing out, here with Team Nick.