The Big 10 #5 - EMP Grimm (Max Brass)

Empire Arcadia (Twitter: @EmpireArcadia) has been a solid supporter of ARMS from its launch so it was a great privilege to be able to get one of its sponsored players to take part in this week's The Big 10 interview. EMP Grimm has been putting in serious work with Max Brass and you can find his thoughts on all things ARMS after the page break.

Question 1

APC: Please tell us a little about yourself?

G: Hey there! My name is Alex, but I go by Grimm in the gaming community. I play ARMS for the eSports organization Empire Arcadia, as well as playing Pokemon competitively. I also used to own a much smaller org that focused primarily on Smash 4, but I’m no longer associated with that group. Outside of gaming, I have a B.A. in Political Science after graduating from Rutgers University this year. I’m extremely happy to be a part of this awesome new community that ARMS has helped spawn.

Question 2

APC: When would you say you fell in love with competitive fighting games/eSports?

G: I remember watching some of PG| Esam‘s Smash 4 matches on Youtube as I used to play Pikachu in the earlier Smash games (casually). At one point I simply decided after watching how much fun people had at tournaments and went out to a local event, and I was lucky to find my way into the North NJ Smash scene for a while. After retiring from Smash, I started playing Pokemon again and have never lost my hunger for competition in any form.

Question 3

APC: What gaming achievement are you most proud of in your career so far? 

G: For ARMS, there hasn’t been much time since the game came out, but I was part of the victorious Max Brass team for the JMU Crew Battle VS the Spring Man team. I really enjoy playing with the people in the character discords, and thanks to Wasspix, Lapsy, Blast, and Nexas for fighting alongside me. #GAINZ

Question 4

APC: What was it about ARMS that made you decide to take it seriously on a competitive level? 

G: I originally had no intention of buying this game at all, actually. When it was first revealed, I wasn’t too too interested. But a couple of weeks before the game came out, I was given some extra money and was looking to get a new game. I ended up pre-ordering the game because I really like the designs of Ribbon Girl and Ninjara. I got the game the morning of the launch, and hopped right into Grand Prix, not particularly expecting much. But once I had unlocked a few ARMS and the ability to play ranked, the sheer variance between ARMS choice, movement options, and other character traits such as Ribbon Girl’s jumps, Spring Man’s knockback, and others opened my eyes to the potential this game has for a deep, well-rounded meta game in both customs and defaults.

Question 5

APC: What made you pick your main over the other characters in the game? 

G: I actually split main Ribbon Girl and Max Brass. I chose Ribbon Girl because she’s all about movement and creating mind games with aggression. Obviously, you can’t just wail your ARMS out at people incessantly, but because of Ribbon Girl’s mobility options through her trait, I’m able to play my favored hyper aggressive style with her default ARMS. Even in customs meta, I just put Hydras or Kablammer over Popper/Sparky and have a go!

With Max Brass, I LOVE how obnoxious the character is. Listen to his win screen and you’ll know what I mean ;D I also really like the mechanics of his default loadout - Nade has a LOT of combo potential with sour spot explosions, as does Kablammer. Also, the tracking that most ARMS have for aiming aren’t present in his Nade nor on Roaster, which after practice with aiming allows them to have a bit more versatility than standard gloves. I really enjoy the ARMS that were given to him and look at him as a slower but sturdier Springman, which contrasts nicely with my Ribbon Girl’s hyper playstyle.

Question 6

APC: What is your favourite arm loadout & stage. (Please explain why) 

G: In defaults, I personally enjoy Ribbon’s default ARMS as either Ribbon Girl or Max Brass on Sky Arena. The corners of Sky Arena have great camera angles, which allow me to cover all of my options if I circle around in a corner. This allows me to keep my distance and charge my Rush attack at the same time with relative safety. In Customs, I have little shame in going Hydra / Kablammer / Cracker on DNA Lab the most since those arms have strong elemental charges and cover most movement options really well.

Question 7

APC: Thoughts on custom vs standard arms for tournaments. 

G: For the near future, I think that IRL events should be up to the organizer, but leaning more often to default/standard ARMS. This is because of two main points - the Switch itself is very hard to obtain, and if TOs are providing systems they have to spend a LOT of time to unlock everything on every system. It’s hard to guarantee that people bringing Switches will unlock everything and unrealistic to demand so shortly after the game’s release, which goes along the same idea. I do feel there is a point in time where TOs should have everything unlocked but it should be up to the specific organizer. As for online tournaments, being that players are using their own systems, they should be rewarded for the time they commit to the game with their in-game ARMS choices being open to customs. So far since the game came out, it seems most offline events are standard ARMS and most online ones give access to any ARMS unlocked (at least in the United States).

Question 8

APC: What advice would you give to someone just getting into the game? 

G: The biggest piece of advice I have, whether someone wants to play default/standard or they want to play customs, is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. This game has only been out for a month and a half - not only do we ALL have room to improve, but there is so much this game has to offer that probably hasn’t been discovered yet. Whether you use the in-game Training mode available through Versus, or you join one of the many ARMS communities on Discord and elsewhere on the Internet and exchange findings, tips, and ideas, there is always something new you can refine or learn about in this game. The metagame for both formats is extremely young, and throughout my professional gaming career, I’ve found that the mantra of “Knowledge is power” rings true 99.9999999% of the time. The tech you discover, the character interaction you accidentally trigger - you never know what you might discover that can elevate you to the next level. As my friend Catfight and many other top players constantly emphasize in the array of games they play, the lab is your friend. You never know what you’ll find until you look for it!

Question 9

APC: What are your hopes for the future of ARMS? 

G: ARMS has a bright potential. The local scene in my state, as well as my region, is bustling with excitement, and there are regional tournament events across the US and the world that are picking up the game. I hope that as a community we keep pushing each other forward. My hope is that our game becomes a respected fighting game in both the competitive and casual scenes and that more and more positive experiences come out of our collective efforts.

Question 10

APC: Where can people find out more about you? 

G: You can follow me on:

Twitter - @EMP_Grimm

Twitch - twitch.tv/emp_grimm

And I’m active in the following ARMS Discord Communities:

ARMS Discord: https://discord.gg/3gKSnR4

Max Brass - ARMS Character Discord: https://discord.gg/RjNURWH

Ribbon Girl - ARMS Character Discord: https://discord.gg/6zVNr3m

I always respond back to anyone who wants to chat, so feel free to send me a message if you want to play ARMS, talk about the game, or anything else! Thanks to APC for giving me the opportunity to speak with them in this interview. I hope to meet more of our wonderful community soon!