Ultimate Esports sign Spark as first Super Smash Bros. Melee player
Image Credit: Bethesda
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A graphic announcing Spark's addition to Ultimate Esports.
Provided by @Ultimate_na via Twitter
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Smash

Ultimate Esports sign Spark as first Super Smash Bros. Melee player

The Sheik main will compete at Genesis 8 later this month
Image of Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate
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Published: Jan 6, 2022 04:28 pm

Ultimate Esports announced the addition of Zaid “Spark” Ali to its roster on Thursday. He joins the team of competitors and content creators as their first Super Smash Bros. Melee player.

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Spark previously competed under the banners of True AmBition and IlluZion Gaming. However, Spark had been a free agent since he parted ways with IlluZion in June of 2021, according to Liquipedia. Now, Spark will compete for a professional esports organization for the first time in over six months thanks to Ultimate Esports.

Spark’s first event with Ultimate Esports is currently scheduled to be Genesis 8, a supermajor taking place in San Jose, California, later this month. He has also registered for Smash Camp 2022 in March and The Function 2 in April.

https://twitter.com/Ultimate_na/status/1479163623847170048

More about Ultimate Esports’ Spark

Spark began competing at major tournaments in 2014. The Sheik main made his top 100 debut at No. 61 on the 2017 SSBMRank. In 2019, he climbed up to No. 22 in the world after earning wins over the likes of Joseph “Mang0” Marquez and Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto. Additionally, he finished that year ranked No. 1 in Northern California.

Spark kept up the momentum going into Smash Melee’s netplay era in 2020. He placed ninth or higher at every online major he entered. Spark’s high-level performances culminated at the Slippi Champions League Season 1 Week 4, where he upset both Cody “iBDW” Schwab and Griffin “Faceroll” Williams en route to second place.

The NorCal native skipped out on competition throughout much of 2021 as he temporarily moved to Pakistan. However, he returned to the United States in December, just in time to win the Smash Summit 12 VIP bracket over Faceroll and Joey “Lucky” Aldama.

Despite winning his return tournament, Spark underperformed the next weekend at the Smash World Tour Championships, where he failed to win a single set. With Ultimate Esports’ support, Spark will look to reassert his status as a consistent, top-level threat throughout 2022.

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Author
Image of Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate
Dylan Tate is an alumnus of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a gaming journalist with a love for Nintendo esports, particularly Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon.
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