| Magi | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Name | Sasha Italia Sullivan |
| Nationality | American |
| Career information | |
| Game | Super Smash Bros. Melee |
| Team history | |
| 2021–2023 | Beastcoast |
| 2023 | Counter Logic Gaming |
Sasha Italia Sullivan, known by her gaming handleMagi, is an American professionalSuper Smash Bros. Melee player fromBaton Rouge, Louisiana.
Sullivan began her competitive gaming career in 2015. Mainly using the characterFalco Lombardi,[1][2] Sullivan's improving tournament placements led her to be ranked as a top 100Melee player in the world by 2018, according topower rankings presented byRed Bull and esports teamPanda. She is the first woman to appear on formal power rankings ofMelee players.[3][4]
Sullivan was sponsored by the esports team Beastcoast from 2021 to 2023, and was briefly sponsored byCounter Logic Gaming prior to its dissolution in 2023. Panda ranked her as the 21st bestMelee player in early 2022.[5]
Sasha Italia Sullivan[6] competed inYu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game tournaments at a young age, during which she started to go by the handle "Magi". Her interest in playing thefighting gameSuper Smash Bros. Melee grew in January 2014 after she watchedThe Smash Brothers, a documentary series on the history ofprofessionalMelee competition.[7] She then began to attend tournaments forProject M, a fan-made modification ofSuper Smash Bros. Brawl,[3] and in 2015 began to seriously compete inMelee tournaments. After she started to attend more tournaments in 2018,[8] she eventually rose to the top placing on her state's community-organizedpower rankings by the spring of that year. Later in 2018 she would achieve high placements at major tournaments, specifically a 17th-place finish atCommunity Effort Orlando (CEO), 49th place atThe Big House, and 5th place atDreamHack Austin.[3][9][8] Power rankings presented by esports teamPanda[a] in 2018 ranked Sullivan as the 97th bestMelee player in the world.[9] This made her the first player from Louisiana, the first woman player, and the firsttransgender player to appear on formal power rankings forMelee.[3][4]
Sullivan, then ranked as the 98th bestMelee player by Panda,upset top player Joseph "Mang0" Marquez atGENESIS 6 in 2019.[10][11] She rose to 43rd place on Panda's power rankings for the following year; the entry on her power ranking highlighted her victory against Mang0 and four tournament placements earlier that year: 7th place at CEO 2019, 1st place at We Need Some Space II, 2nd place at DreamHack Dallas 2019, and 2nd place at Fortcon 2019.[10]
In 2020, Sullivan placed 13th at two events, Smash Summit 9 and Smash Summit 10 Online, both invitational tournaments consisting of a small group of topMelee players. The latter tournament was held online amidst theCOVID-19 pandemic.[12][13] Due to the pandemic, there were no formal player rankings released from 2019 to 2021.[4] In 2021, Sullivan placed 4th at Low Tide City 2021, 13th at Mainstage 2021, 7th at Smash Summit 12, and 9th at theSmash World Tour 2021 Championships.[4][14][15] She also secured a sponsorship from esports organization Beastcoast, which sponsored top professional Johnny "S2J" Kim andmatch commentator Brandon "HomeMadeWaffles" Collier.[8][12]
Sullivan's placements in major tournaments in 2022 include 13th atGENESIS 9, 2nd at DreamHack Dallas 2022, 2nd atCEO 2022, and 7th at Double Down.[5][16][17] At CEO 2022, she notably defeated top player Justin "Plup" McGrath before reaching the grand finals.[5] She also participated in the 2022Ludwig Smash Invitational, organized by live streamer and formerMelee commentatorLudwig Ahgren.[18] Panda later ranked Sullivan as the 21st bestMelee player through early 2022.[5]
In March 2023, Sullivan ended her sponsorship with Beastcoast and joinedCounter Logic Gaming's roster, although Counter Logic Gaming was dissolved less than a month later.[19][20]
Sullivan is fromBaton Rouge, Louisiana.[3] She is a graduate ofLouisiana State University, where she studiedsociology.[7][21]
Sullivan is atransgender woman.[3] In a 2022 interview with her university's student newspaper, she credited other professional video game players who are transgender, such asRicki Ortiz andScarlett, with easing her doubts on whether she would find success as a transgender player in theMelee gaming community.[21] Sullivan spoke in an online panel discussion at the 2021Athena Film Festival about how she found an online community where she could comfortably express herself when she was young.[22] She has also said success in her gaming career "transformed my life completely" and has allowed her to live on her own, independent of her family.[23]