While at Super Smash Con 2019, Dexerto talked with Ramin ‘Mr.R’ Delshad about the difficulties of Smash players practicing in the European region, as well as his origins of joining the pro scene.
Mr.R is one of the top Chrom and Snake players in the world, ranking 36th on the Spring 2019 PGRU, and taking 13th-16 during EVO 2019.
The Dutch-based pro opened up to D’Ron ‘D1’ Maingrette about his early start getting into Smash, as well as the challenges of practicing in Europe compared to other countries.
The difficulties of practicing in the European region
The Smash pro talked about the difficulties of training in Europe, due to less top players in the region overall.
“There is a gap. There is more top players in Japan and the US, than Europe. So for every 2 to 3 top players, there is 10 here. We have top players, just not as many, and we don’t travel as much either.” he said.
Mr.R then explained further about the gap that exists between top players and casuals in the region: ”Practicing in Europe is a little bit harder, because average play if you just practice with anybody the average player is way worse than those in Japan or America.” he said.
“But if you practice with the right people, you can still get better. It requires more effort, more traveling as well.”
His introduction to the European pro scene
When asked about his start as a pro Smash player, Mr.R admitted he started out as a casual player, but got serious once Brawl released.
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“I used to play Melee a lot when I was a kid. As a casual player, I played against CPU’s all day. I played against like two level 9 CPUs, and I was like I can handle three level 9 CPUs, I must be like the best player in the world. Little did I know I was far from that,” he said.
The Chrom main also detailed how he became connected to other players in the Netherlands: “Then Brawl came out and I played online a lot, and I played on this website called ‘All Is Brawl’, and there was this online ranking which I competed in, and behind your nickname on the website you could see your flag and where you were from.”
“I got top 10 on the ladder worldwide and had a Dutch flag behind my name. A good friend of mine ‘Gregs’ who is from the Netherlands, he saw my name on the top 10 list. So he sent me an invite to one of the local tournaments.” he explained.
:studio_microphone:️ @Mr_RSmash on why it's difficult to practice as a Europe-based player, w/@xD1x :video_game:
w/ @elgatogaming | #SSC19 pic.twitter.com/HTFziz3DHl
— DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) August 9, 2019
Mr.R recently took 13-16 at EVO 2019 on August 4, and 5-6th at Smash Factor 8 on July 7.
Super Smash Con 2019 runs from August 8 – 11, so make sure to stick with Dexerto for more updates, interviews, and more.