moky crowdfunded to attend Shine 2019 in less than an hour

Kurtis “moky” Pratt raised over $500 in order to attend Shine 2019 in less than an hour on Aug. 13. The money came just in time, as registration for Shine 2019 is closing later tonight.

Originally, moky said that he would not be able to attend any Super Smash Bros. Melee majors during the summer. This is because he hoped to find a job to fund his Smash competition but was unable to do so. Despite his strong start to the year, it seemed moky wouldn’t get to confirm his skill at any other tournaments.

However, moky’s chances of attending Shine 2019 increased thanks to Matthew “MattDotZeb” Zaborowski. MattDotZeb started a GoFundMe to raise money to cover the costs for moky to attend Shine 2019. He also agreed to pay for moky’s hotel, his entry fee, and half of his plane ticket. MattDotZeb even got the ball rolling on the donations, giving $250 himself.

Before an hour passed, seven donors contributed in order to meet the donation goal. In total, the fundraiser raised $540. Another Melee player, Rosario “Darktooth” Fuschetto, contributed $100. Darktooth said he could no longer attend Shine 2019, so he gave moky all the money he had set aside.

Moky before Shine 2019

Prior to Shine 2019, moky was ranked No. 14 in the world on the Summer 2019 MPGR. He has been one of the fastest-rising players in all of Melee. In 2017, moky was ranked No. 96 in the world. In 2018, he leaped up to No. 52. As it stands, moky’s improvement shows no signs of stopping.

Though his tournament attendance was limited, moky made waves at the events he could make it out to. He started the year with a modest 25th place finish at GENESIS 6. He then dropped out of Battle of BC 3, claiming he was retiring from competitive Smash.

However, moky made an explosive return to Melee in May. He placed 7th at GOML 2019 and 2nd at The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0. He even earned a spot in Smash Summit 8. This year, moky has wins on a plethora of strong opponents, like Justin “Plup” McGrath, Zachary “SFAT” Cordoni, James “Swedish Delight” Liu, Joey “Lucky” Aldama, and Kalindi “KJH” Henderson. Hopefully, moky will be able to accrue even more good wins at Shine 2019.