Kalvar is currently the number one ranked player in the state of New Hampshire for Super Smash Brothers Melee and with the start of 2019, he earned his spot as the 79th ranked player worldwide. He's known for his consistent punish game against both space animals and proficiency against Ice Climbers. Kalvar placed 33rd at Genesis 6 recently and is looking to have a packed year full of events he's competing at.

Glad to have your time today! Lets start from the beginning, how did you get into Smash?

Kalvar: Been playing Smash all my life, started with Smash 64 with my brothers, then we played Melee casually, then of course, Brawl. I tried to get really good at Brawl and looked up Toon Link advanced tech and stuff, then I played PM for a very brief period of time before watching the Smash documentary, grinding out tech and going to some locals.

So it sounds like Smash was something that was close to your family, what do they think about your current relationship with the game?

Kalvar: They are all pretty supportive, both my immediate and extended family check in on how it’s going at reunions and I got a lot of congratulations from them when I got my rank. My flight to Genesis both last year and this year were Christmas gifts from some of my family pooling money together. They're pretty great.

That's awesome to hear they're so supportive of your passion. I've known you personally for a while, and I remember you having some hand problems awhile back. What happened? Are your hands doing okay?

Kalvar: Yeah, it’s just from playing a lot of video games (mostly Melee). I’ve gone to physical therapy a couple of times for it which has helped, but I need to be more diligent about my stretches. It’s starting to act up again because I’ve been trying to grind more. I can’t write or draw for more than a few minutes without pain so bad I want to stop, but typing is fine so it doesn’t bother me too much. The worst part is that I can’t play more than a level of Kid Icarus Uprising anymore without it getting bad.

Did you put a lot of those hours into practice? What was your practice routine like?

Kalvar: When I first started to practice basic tech, I did what Wife said in the Smash documentary. He would try to get 100 of whatever tech in a row (wave-dashes, L-cancels, whatever) and if he messed up he’d restart. Doing that was a bit brutal and time consuming but got fast results for some of the basics. I think the most important thing is to practice every day. I used to fight the 20XX AI with random DI and teching for about 30 minutes a day, I’ve fallen off that a bit lately but I’m trying to get back into it or at least netplay. Also, tech-chasing is something that you really have to practice constantly or you lose it a bit, which is a huge pain. Same with pivots.

What was a big obstacle in your way while competing, whether it was a match-up, player, or something outside of the game, and what did you do to overcome it?

Kalvar: Mentality has been tough, meditation helps me stay calm and sharp. I’ll usually do that for a few minutes before important sets, and sometimes I’ll take a moment in between games if I’m getting tilted. Some matchups really used to get to me, Captain Falcon in particular. Until I grinded out 0-death tech chases for so long, I never stood a chance against Capt. Falcon.

What do you think led the most to your personal improvement? Do you think you did something different, whether something to do with practicing, mentality, or strategy? Or another way to put it, when did you start noticing your personal improvements, and did you do anything in particular to keep improving?

Kalvar: Most of my improvement came from when I was practicing about 30 a day every day, just beating up 20XX AI and also going to a ton of weeklies. Also meditating before important sets/in between games to keep my mentality good.

What do you think is one of the worst habits that lower level players do, and what do you think they should do to fix it?

Kalvar: There’s a lot of stuff, but people really gotta just hold the ledge.

Which Marth players were inspirational to you when you were learning Melee? Which players are you keeping eyes on now?

Kalvar: When I first started Melee, Ken's Marth tutorial on YouTube is what got me started, but I think the Marth I've taken the most from is probably PewPewU, though I feel like a lot of things I learned through my own experimentation. If I had to pick just one player to watch out for, it's Joyboy. He's been very good for a long time but doesn't get the chance to travel, he beat a lot of players at Genesis and I think that will be a pattern.

Great! Any events we might be able to watch you play at this year?

Kalvar: Going to be going to Pound, Fight Pitt, GANG, Gamercon, NChi Ultra, SmashCon, Shine, and maybe Get On My Level (GOML).

Thanks so much for giving me the time for an interview, any shout-outs you'd like to give?

Kalvar: G-Town Tom is an absolute gift.

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