Last week, we were thrilled to have received such positive feedback for the first edition of Challengers. Eve was a wonderful interviewee, and we’re extremely appreciative of all the people who took the time to read about someone they might have otherwise not known. We were also touched by how many community members her story seemed to resonate with.
In this next edition of Challengers, we stuck with the theme of rising regional talent. We spoke to cliché, a top-ranked Falco from SoCal. Some of you may recognize him for getting 33rd at Genesis 8 after the return of offline events, but in the past year, he’s had wins over multiple Top 100 players, including nut, Stiv, Franz, Zeo, and Jah Ridin’.
To start, tell me a little bit about yourself. What’s your tag, who do you play, and where are you from?
My name is Bryan, my tag is Cliché or Cleesh, I’m from SoCal, and I play Falco.
When did you start playing Melee? What was your origin story?
Do I really need to say the origin story? Ok, uhh…I’ll just say I got banned from League of Legends. I won’t elaborate. I’m kind of a doc kid but I didn’t enter anything until – the first tourney I watched was Apex 2015. I talked to some people who played Melee at my high school, but I didn’t enter anything until late 2018, my last year of college. My first tournament was a UCSD local and the only reason I even entered was because that spring, I got banned from League of Legends for 2 weeks and I didn’t know what to do with my time anymore. So I started grinding Anther’s Ladder because my friend gave me an adapter to play with him. I would play with him until I got unbanned but I kept playing on Anther’s. I played Khalid, his old tag was BlueBuddy. Ever since then, I’ve been going to locals.
After your unban, why didn’t you just go back to League after that? Why did you go back to Melee?
Melee was a lot more fun. First of all, there’s an actual social aspect to it. The game is way more fun; League is not fun when you’re taking it seriously.
Yeah, I can relate to that.
I was having a fun time at the locals even though I was going like 0-2 and 1-2. People at the UCSD local were very welcoming – Ripple Overdrive and Teesung. I can shout out Khalid, too. He was part of the Melee club and he talked to every new person.
Besides those people, was there anyone else that inspired or encouraged you to keep playing?
They’re not even that old in the grand scheme of things, but they had probably started playing around 2015-2017. I think of them as old ‘cause they don’t show up anymore. But there was a crew of old San Diego players that I would look up to. They weren’t top level, but I would look up to people like Ace, Gulu, and flomoney. Gulu was in NorCal for a bit, so you might know him, but yeah. These were the people that would show up to every local. They let me stay with them for Genesis 7, the one in 2020. That was the first out of region tourney I went to.
How did you do at Genesis 7? Was it the one in Oakland?
Yeah, the Oakland one. Hmm…I was 5th seed in the pool and I beat the 4th seed, or something like that. I don’t even remember who the guy was, but I made an upset against a Puff player. After that, I played Nut which was funny to look back on. I think I got 2-0ed. And then I stomped the next guy to make it out of pools in losers. In round 2 pools, I played Tyler Swift on a non-UCF setup.
You could tell that it was a non-UCF setup? Could you not shield drop and stuff?
Yeah, I remember that Tyler Swift played htwa on the same setup and he crashed out too. But yeah, I made, like, one upset and I got like 193rd.
Was there anything that drew you to Falco?
Falco was the only character I could beat my friend with – the friend that originally got me into the game.
There was no other reason?
Not really.
Did you have any rivals or demons back in the day?
Sahib (a Fox player and amateur commentator from SoCal) was my rival for a little bit.
Did you start playing around the same time?
Well, I technically started a little bit before him. After COVID, he’s beat me like once, but back then our set history was a lot more competitive. As for a demon, hmm. I don’t know. At the time there were a lot of people that I couldn’t beat. Looking back, probably Suf/Android 0. Or Franz. Wait, no, fuck, um…Franz’s brother, Xela. I probably lost 14 in a row before I won one. I would just go to tournaments and get double eliminated by Franz and Xela.
And you guys would carpool together since you lived in the same city, right?
Yeah, Temecula.
When was your first big win? Not necessarily a PR player or top 100 player or anything, but a win you felt was big.
Everyone will say Gooms. He was technically my first PR win but he rage-switched to Sheik game 2 so I didn’t really count it. The first real PR player I beat was Nishi, a Peach player. He won the 2019 SoCal Arcadian over Gooms. He was pretty good, he beat Westballz and a bunch of other Falcos.
Was it a one off win or did you carry that momentum?
That was my only legit PR win before COVID. I technically beat Zack Fair but he was throwing. Casper did the same thing where he lost as Falcon for 2 games and then switched to Fox for a game and lost. So I don’t really count that. I wouldn’t say it trended for big wins, but I was getting better and better wins around the Arcadian level. And then the next season after that, I got ranked in SD for the first time.
When did you first get ranked in SoCal again?
Second half of 2023, I think… yeah. Summer-winter 2023. In SD, I got ranked in the first quarter of 2020, right before COVID.
Do you have a favorite player?
Back then, my favorite player was PPMD.
And that’s Mr. Quantum Touch.
Yeah, my goat’s washed. Nowadays…Fiction is probably the best answer I can give. Sometimes I think about this question and I think I’m my favorite player. But most of the time it’s Fiction…but he plays Fox too much now so I don’t know.
Why do you choose yourself? How are you sick in different ways than other Falcos?
I just move really fast and I’d like to believe that I’m always trying to hit people or find a way to open people up. I don’t know if that actually pans out that way when other people see my play because I’m just getting reversals all the time. But I promise I don’t really play for them, they just kinda happen. I tend to use my movement to hit people in tricky ways and when I hit them, I also do cool stuff sometimes.
Why was PPMD your favorite player back in the day?
There’s a clip of him just doing dash forward wavedash back a bunch. He does this in some set, I don’t remember. And it looks really fast and I thought his play was very dynamic. He was playing Falco, but he wasn’t really laser camping, he was trying to bait people instead. I thought that was sick. Falco’s hard to bait people with because his horizontal movement is kinda limited but PPMD would just use it as best as he could and be able to bait people with it.
Yeah I think that was… vs M2K at Apex 2014? That or like, Zenith 2013.
Yeah, he was the only one baiting that way in neutral. Mango was cool but he was attacking a lot of the time and forcing pressure, which is also cool, but the PP style was a lot more interesting to me at the time.
Honestly, I was kinda surprised you didn’t answer Louis, haha. I don’t think I’ve heard you glaze anyone more than Louis.
How is your 2025 going? In life and in Melee?
Um, so I won’t answer about life. In 2025…I feel like everyone should always be the best they ever are as time goes on. I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good this year, noticeably. I don’t know if other people around me feel this way, but my skill has increased a lot this year. I don’t think it necessarily shows in results. I don’t think I’m gonna make the ballot this year ‘cause I lost a lot of game 5s, but I feel like my play is good. I’ve been doing super well at locals recently. I’m having a lot of fun with the game and I also feel like I’ve been doing a lot of cool stuff outside of the game. Like, I made a website for SoCal to host information about locals and whatnot and other important information. I’m also starting a Falco Discord for SoCal Falcos and answering their questions. So I have a lot going for me this year. In Melee.
Thanks for clarifying that it’s just in Melee. You mentioned first being PRed in 2023 – do you think you’ve gotten dramatically better since then?
Tech skill-wise, I feel like I’ve always been this fast? I don’t know if others would agree. But the biggest difference is confidence. In years before, I definitely wasn’t as confident about my own play and I would always second guess myself, but I’ve been working a lot on the mental aspect of the game. So that could be a big difference. I’m also slowly introducing new options all the time, so the accumulation of that could be a big part of it. It’s hard to say what the biggest factor is, but I think it’s having more confidence.
Why did you get more confident? Was it working on gameplay, specific situations, or was it more like a fake it ‘till you make it sort of thing for you?
I think in the past, I just wouldn’t listen to people when they said I was good. You probably did this to me too, and I didn’t listen. But this is something very personal to me – when Steech died, I went through our Facebook messages. And I found this (message) and I decided in my head that it was time to stop counting myself out.
How did Steech inspire you and what was his role in your life and Melee career?
We were talking about demons earlier. Steech was truly my demon from 2022 onward. I just could not beat him, and I think around 2023 I set it as my main goal. Like, I just need to beat this guy one time. So I would always look forward to playing him because he was the guy I was always working to beat, and he was getting better. So it was more engaging to pursue. I would get so close every 2 or 3 sets but he would win eventually. It was something that was really motivating, like I just need to keep improving so I can eventually reach this goal of mine. I’ve said it before in other places, but he was one of the first people I met in Anthers and then real life. He was the one of the first people that was welcoming to me that wasn’t a UCSD person. He was a good person that I wanted to play with all the time and talk to and eventually be able to beat. We would talk at every local about how our sets went. He was a constant source of motivation for me. I don’t know if a lot of people get that in their time in Melee.
How did Steech’s passing affect you and the people around him?
Everyone was heartbroken, even if they spoke to him rarely. He didn’t show up to much in other parts of SoCal, but the ones that did meet him that came up for Lombardi or SSL…he left an impact on them. I don’t know. From people I’ve talked to, there’s a void that’s missing sometimes. It’s made people want to be more kind to each other because he was so kind to everyone at the local.
Seeing as how he was such a huge milestone and friend for you, how did you deal with not only the loss of your friend and rival but also your motivation?
After it happened, I didn’t really play Melee for a while. I didn’t know how to reshape what I wanted out of the game. This was a thing before this even happened, but I’ve been kinda jaded on the idea of aiming for top 100. This is a whole different topic. I try not to play with that goal in mind so I didn’t want to set that as my new goal. What I ended up shaping as my new goal was that I just wanted to continue carrying on his legacy in my own little way. So sometimes when I go to tournaments that I have to travel to and I get on stream, I’ll wear the Steech tag. Just so if I play and I do something cool or make a big upset or make a long run, he’ll be part of the history of the game too. Because he never got to a place where he wanted to travel.
What motivates you to continue to grind and play now?
I just think the game is a lot of fun. I feel like I’ve surrounded myself with a lot of pretty good Falcos recently, so that makes it more fun. I talk to some of the other top Falcos around my level and we exchange ideas. It’s really fun to play and talk to them about new ideas and stuff. That’s a motivating thing. I don’t have a bigger answer, I just play ‘cause it’s fun, traveling is fun, you get to meet people, you get to go on big runs and your friends are watching. That’s part of it.
I know you were pretty down about the game a while back – I remember you talking about how a lot of the people you came up with stopped playing and coming around. How did you get over that and deal with it?
You have to seek out people that do wanna keep playing. And that’s how you let yourself not get disillusioned. I talk to you guys in netplayge and some of the East Coast people in Melee Online. Moving to San Diego has also helped ‘cause it’s a lot more active down here too.
Do you have any tips for people who are trying to improve and reach the next level?
Talk to people. Share what you think you’re supposed to do in certain situations with others and get feedback. I think talking to people and being open to others’ perspectives and ideas is the foundation. If you have that foundation, it’s impossible to not improve.
Do you need a community around yourself to improve?
You don’t need it, but it’s way easier to improve.
Do you do anything else outside of Melee?
Not right now. I don’t play League at all right now. I don’t really have other hobbies right now. I want to get into game dev, but I need a job first before I can justify sinking time into two hobbies. I think the website – the SoCal website – is something I do. Maintaining and updating that with ideas that people suggest.
What’s your favorite in-game feeling?
I definitely have one, I just need to think about what it is. Uh…so sometimes in tournaments I play very irresponsibly in the sense that I will go for combos or options that I don’t really do or practice or go for commonly in friendlies. So when I execute that in tourney, that feels crazy. That’s probably one of my favorite things – super on the fly conversions.
What’s your favorite out of game aspect about Melee? Do you have anything that feels irreplaceable for you?
Every now and then, I like making combo videos. That feels really fulfilling to me when I gather enough clips I like and make an end product that I enjoy.
Do you wanna plug any of your combo videos?
No. They can find them on YouTube.
If you could have dinner with any Melee player, who would it be and why would it be Hbox?
Dude, I feel like Hbox would ignore me at dinner. Even if that would be my instinctual answer…it’s my instinctual answer but I don’t think it would be that fun of a time. Umm…fuck it, just Hbox.
Dinner with Hbox or 5 million dollars?
Probably dinner with Hbox.
Is there a reason?
Not really.
Who is the strongest Melee player you think you could take down in a fistfight?
Dude, I’m so weak. Um…this is a hard question for me. I think I’d get pieced up by everybody.
Everybody? Could you take down Salam?
I don’t know. He has really long arms. I would go with my friend Henry (The Wheel) because even though he’s really strong, he says he wouldn’t fight back against any of his friends.
I can’t believe you would wail on such a peaceful guy. That’s kinda fucked up. And he wouldn’t fight back..
Do you have any advice or anything to say to new players in the scene?
Just uh, always focus on having fun. If you’re not having fun, you have to make sure you’re having fun. The end goal is to have fun. That’s the shortest thing I can say. I have too much to say otherwise and it gets to a point.
What would you say people in your community think about you?
Dude, I don’t know. They probably – I hope they think I’m funny. They probably do. I think people have mixed opinions on whether or not I’m cool and fun to play against, but I don’t really care about that. I just hope they think I’m funny, at least. I think some people think I play cool and other people are like, meh, top platform waveland, I can’t deal with this.
Is there anything else that you’d like people reading this to know about you?
Mm. Let me think. Dude, how funny would it be if I said I’m single. Fuck it. I’m single.
Ladies.
Also, I need a job. Please hire me.
In one word, how would you describe yourself? It could be you as a person or you as a Melee player.
This is a side note. I feel like I – you know how Fiction has this whole thing about your playstyle being your personality? I don’t know if you agree or not.
Mm…I think how you react to things is literally your personality. I feel like, more often than not, it tends to line up, but not everyone is like that.
Hmm.. my play style..
Or you as a person.
Me as a person… Can I cheat and use 3 words?
Yeah, sure.
Heart of gold.
Do you wanna elaborate on what that means?
No.