Picture Credit score: GENESIS / X
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 recreation 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 the whole lot, particularly for Christina “Chia” Korsak, ranked #4 within the SSBBRank as of Summer time 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 instructed me that if she gained this match, it is likely to be the top 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 group 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 bounce together with many professional Melee gamers. All the huge names had been competing in Brawl, enthralled with the aggressive meta of its early days – earlier than Meta Knight took over, after all.
Nevertheless, the aggressive scene began to decelerate in late 2013 when Tremendous Smash Bros. 4 was introduced. With a brand new recreation 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 at all times within the background, even when Tremendous Smash Bros. Final got here out in 2018. That recreation had all of the hype for some time. The group was dying to know who the following DLC fighters could be and the professional scene was thriving, that includes a main Leonardo “MkLeo” Perez. There was no denying it was the Smash recreation 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 essentially 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 huge match, getting apply and publicity in opposition to folks in Majors throughout the nation,” she recalled.
And who might overlook these infinite summer time nights the place she’d simply hear Meta Knight utilizing Mach Twister time and again as Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman practiced? The dude spent hours labbing, calculating actual 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 actually have a stream. The Brawl match at GENESIS X3 had only a handful of spectators whereas Melee and Final had tons of of individuals watching a large display screen on stage, screaming so loud you might barely hear the poor TO name names out for Brawl units.
“I simply f***ing love enjoying this recreation,” Chia stated. “It’s bizarre the way it can nonetheless lure my consideration, much more than the present titles. Greater than each different recreation. I’ll get sucked right into a Zelda recreation for, like, three hours lately. However if you happen to sit me in entrance of a Brawl bracket, I’m hooked eternally.”
Brawl is a recreation 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 group. It’s for the love of the sport. The rivalries, the storylines. I’ve at all times marveled at how video games like Melee and Brawl have esports scenes fueled solely by ardour. There may be actually no cash available, no sponsors, no groups, no large 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 Manner
Regardless of the clear quantity of ardour it takes to play a recreation competitively for almost twenty years, Chia admitted that among 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 are not any strict laws that apply to each occasion. Crappy folks can generally slip via the cracks, Chia stated, as a result of each match organizer has their very own guidelines and bans in place.
This generally is a downside whenever you’ve handled “relentless hate” like Chia.
“I’ve loads of supporters and other people will defend me,” she stated. “However there’s a lot toxicity, and I can’t actually attain out to TOs and inform them about points with folks. It seems like a endless loop of whether or not they’re allowed or not. It at all times seems like weekly discussions on stuff they’ve finished 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 actually be finished about it besides banning them from my very own 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 group. And it’s simply as exhausting to compete when there are folks saying sure issues that ship you into shock, throwing round useless names and slurs. Chia doesn’t need to lose her aggressive consolation recreation, however she’s getting “too outdated” to cope with these things. It’s not value her time to compete in opposition to 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 most important in measurement and talent – to guard her psychological well being. She was additionally invited to a Brawl Invitational final yr that included the 2 folks she doesn’t need to cope with, so she missed out on the match (and the free flight that was supplied to her).
“It simply sucks that almost all of these items occurred just a few years in the past, but it surely’s by no means been ‘dealt with.’ I need to transfer on as nicely. However I need to stick up for myself and different minorities locally,” she stated. “These downside folks don’t have a private challenge with me; they speak very down on different LGBTQ+ members of the group.
“After they’re allowed, I simply don’t enter.”
The 20-Plus Yr Grind and the Hate That Might Cease It
Once you consider the preferred esports scenes on the market – VALORANT, League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2 – you notice that the gamers retire fairly early. It’s not fairly often that you just see professionals competing for over twenty years.
Regardless that 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 recreation for 20 years?
“A technique is that, whether or not we notice it or not, we had been educated for this,” Chia instructed 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 intervals 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 one Smash recreation you’ll have for years, so that you gotta keep it up.
And also you gained’t be alone. With no high quality on-line play, Brawl apply and tournaments are at all times in-person. This made fixed grinding extra rewarding, realizing you’d be part of the group and journey everywhere in the world.
Even whereas practising at house, forward of GENESIS, Chia instructed me she might go on Discord and ask different aggressive gamers to apply and there was at all times somebody keen. 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 practising, consuming nicely, and sleeping had been all useful, being constant was nonetheless a battle for her. She realized that she would typically really feel that sense of combat or flight in opposition to lesser gamers, spiraling if she felt herself slipping in opposition to 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 concern… I’ve to do this for each bracket set,” Chia stated. “Now I observe my coronary heart price variability – decrease means your physique goes via it. Regular is like 40-50 coronary heart price.”
She was within the single digits.
“Me and You: Finals”: Confidence, Victory, By no means Letting Go
Picture Credit score: Chia / X
You’d by no means know Chia was that terrified if you happen to noticed her at GENESIS X3. She appeared solely in her factor, speaking with different professionals and practising forward of units. However perhaps that’s all a part of the method. A part of getting out of your head.
Nonetheless, Chia instructed me she was frightened in regards to the third seed of the match, ISH, a mid-tier Wolf participant ranked round 14th-18th on the time. Chia beat them finally yr’s GENESIS, however admittedy dropped some video games. R.O.B., Chia’s foremost, 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 the whole lot in need of “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 gained huge occasions main as much as GENESIS X3, however by no means a significant of this measurement. Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma had beforehand instructed her: “Upon getting 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 engaging occasions lined up after GENESIS X3 she didn’t need to miss. Alternatively, she wasn’t certain she might cope with the drama behind the scenes for an additional decade.
Whereas the uncertainty of her future in Brawl remained, Chia was clearly very centered 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 finished. She took house $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.
ppl on the after celebration hyping me up over my win and making it a (optimistic) huge deal yellin it out n stuff received me all teary eyed 🥹Been via a hell of a yr to lastly expertise a victory— Chia ✈️ NAIC (@Chiamikaa) February 15, 2026
After profitable GENESIS X3, I requested Chia once more whether or not she was going to retire. It didn’t seem 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 along with her new girlfriend.
However is she absolutely finished with Brawl? Is she retired? I’d enterprise to say no. It could be onerous to go away a small scene after you gained a large match. It’d be onerous to go away a small scene you’ve been part of for many years. That’s simply the way in which it goes for Smash. You don’t depart. You possibly can’t.
Chia, I’ll see you on the subsequent Brawl main.
