"I'm the guy to beat": Sandstorm is ready for the bold new world of Brawlhalla

On the surface, Brawlhalla doesn’t look like much.

The 2D cartoon aesthetic makes it seem simple. The cultural crossovers it has achieved make it seem young. The aesthetics hold a lot of viewers and players back from the game.

But make no mistake — the simple visuals belie a surprisingly electrifying game built around speed, movement, and hard-read punishes. If you’re still skeptical, that’s understandable. After all, it’s possible you’ve never seen Stephen “Sandstorm” Myers play the game.

Sandstorm is a transformational player, so successful that he defines the current era of Brawlhalla. He has won far and away more prize money than any other competition and, in my interview with him, is coming off of three-peating the 1v1 Brawlhalla World Championships (2018, 2019, and 2020).

He’s also every bit as flashy as he is good. He pulls of montage-worthy strings and three stocks on other top professionals. For some messy shorthand, Sandstorm is a bit like the Joseph “Mang0” Marquez of Brawlhalla.

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Movement, style, and Sandstorm

For some context, Sandstorm took Brawlhalla by storm in 2018, when he began going to LANs. Not long before that, the game made one of its largest and most controversial changes — adding a freeform, perform-any-move-out-of-dash style of mechanic reminiscent of Melee or Rivals of Aether.

The mechanic came as a replacement to overpowered and overcentralized directional ground doges - ultimately speeding up Brawlhalla’s tempo and rewarding savvy punishes.

Prior to the dash update, Sandstorm was a Smash 4 Ryu main. Inside those dash changes and the new Brawlhalla, Sandstorm found a new and a new calling.

Q. What do you think has kept you on top of the game so long? What are you doing better than your opponents [in general]?

I’m extremely good — the best — mechanically at the game. My movement, what I can do with the mechanics in the game, platform movement, dash canceling. I think I’m faster than my opponent.

I would say I’m not super passive as a player but I optimize my punishes the most. Like I know when to aggress, when to fall back, stuff like that.

Q. One of the things that stands out most to me about your play is the movement. It’s very clean, fluid, and tricky. When did Brawlhalla’s movement system first click with you? Was that immediate?

When they released dash I started to grind the game a lot more. So I’ve been playing this [movement-focused] way of Brawlhalla since it came out and I’ve just practiced it a lot.

Q. So dashing, that was the moment?

Yeah, I think it helped me out a lot. If it didn’t directly help me, it made me want to play the game more, which helped me get better.

Q. Do you prefer Brawlhalla’s movement to other games?

Yes. You can be as creative as you want with Brawlhalla’s movement, which is really attractive to me. In platform fighters like Smash — and I’m pretty sure Rivals — your movement is limited to your character pick.

But that’s not the case in Brawlhalla. Your movement can change depending on the weapon you play but everyone runs the same, everyone jumps the same, everyone has access to a certain set of movements. I like the fluidity and creativity of the movement.

Q. Do you feel like that’s another thing that draws you to the game? The ability to really fluidly switch between characters whenever you’d like?

Yeah, yeah I really like that.

Q. What do you think makes your movement so strong? Are there any aspects of the movement system that you feel like you use better than your opponents?

I think platform dashing — you can dash onto a platform and you’ll run on a soft platform. It’s unreactable. You can use it for punishes and it can be used against you [when you’re in advantage]. I’m really good at reading and doing both of those things.

Q. Boomie’s also said in his analysis videos that you rarely ever drop or miss punishes, and that’s one of the things that make you so good at the game. How did you get there and how do you maintain that consistency?

So, a regular thing in young FGC players, before we get really good game sense... I’ve noticed we all had a thing in common: We would overhype and accentuate how important a punish game is — way too much over, like neutral or movement.

When I played Smash all I would think about is punish game and I would optimize my punishes as much as I could. I had that same mentality going into Brawlhalla. Before I got really good at Brawlhalla itself my goal was to hit you as hard as I can and have the most optimal punishes. That’s where that started.

I was very pushy about getting the best possible combos constantly. Make sure you punish things that can be punished, always. Never drop a punish opportunity. I see more punish opportunities because I focused on it more a long time ago, so it’s just always in the back of my mind.

Q. In earlier interviews, you’ve said that you want to go down as one of the game’s flashiest, most exciting players. What pushed you towards that style? Was it just being young?

Yeah, it’s kind of the same mindset of when I was younger. Just try and disrespect your opponent as much as possible because that’s what we thought was fun or cool. And in this game, there are so many ways you can just kill someone. It’s a lot of fun.

Image via Steam

Q. Did you start your journey in fighting games in Smash 4?

Yeah, I did. That was the first competitive fighting game I tried to go hard on. My friends got me into it and I just got hooked. Like late 2015, I’d say, was when I first entered tournaments.

Q. In Smash 4, reading an airdodge was crucial. Do you feel like the prevalent air dodge reads in Smash 4 translated over to Brawlhalla? Like, did that help you build that [ability to] read [opponents]?

Yeah, I think that helped me a lot cause I would just wait or bait out dodges in Smash 4 for punishes and I can do the same in this game.

Q. Were there any other elements of Smash 4 that carried over?

General knowledge about spacing was really important, so I’m really good at that. But really the same, like, punish style of Smash 4 carried over the most, I’d say.

Q. I also think you have a very bait and punish style in Brawlhalla and I think you play a very bait-and-punish-heavy character in Smash [Ultimate] in Ken. What do you think draws you to that style?

The big punishes. That’s what I like about Smash and about Smash 4 Ryu when I first started playing him. I was like, this can dish some damage! I like playstyles and games that allow me to do that.

Q. Do you think that’s like the optimal style for Brawlhalla?

I do, yeah. Playing slow is important sometimes but you need to always be applying pressure to your opponent in some way and if you’re literally not approaching it’s not gonna work.

So, if you’re constantly moving, it’s gonna make it harder for your opponent to know what you’re gonna do next. I'm just really mechanical so I'm able to scare people the most that way.

Image via Tempo Storm

Q. How optimal do you think bait and punish is in Brawlhalla?

It’s very optimal, cause you can do it as much as you want with your movement. It works most of the time that I do it, as long as I’ve been playing.

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Doubles and creating Brawlhalla’s top team

Doubles might just be where Brawlhalla outshines the rest of the FGC. Where most fighting games heavily prioritize the 1v1, Brawlhalla actively balances around the 2v2 and 1v1. Both game modes carry a lot of weight and respect in the community as well. Watching 2v2’s, it’s clear why.

The game’s pace kicks up another notch. The engine requires reads and baits on dodges for players to combo in 1v1, but not in 2v2. Team combos are both lethal and prevalent and things like stage and weapon control become even more dynamic as well. In Brawlhalla, the 2019 and 2020 2v2 World Champions are Boomie and Sandstorm.

For the uninitiated, Boomie is one of the game’s all-time greats. If Sandstorm is Mang0, then Zack "Boomie" Bielamowicz is Mew2King. He reigned directly before Sandstorm and is basically a given in the top four of most brackets.

He’s also probably Brawlhalla’s best doubles player of all time.

Q. Can you walk me through how you two became teammates and started playing together?

In 2018 Worlds, Ethan was my partner and we got third. I had no intention of dropping him at all, but Boomie… Boomie and his old teammate Remmy won like almost every LAN in 2018. They were the favorites to win for 2018 — the World Championship -—and they got 9th. After seeing my performance, Boomie was actually the one to hit me up and was like, “I think if we played together we could dominate more than anyone.”

“Boomie was the better player,” I just straight up told Ethan. “It’s smarter for me to play with Boomie from a competitive standpoint.”

So I tried it out and now we’re here. [...] Boomie was rank 1. Of course, I’m gonna pick the rank 1.

Especially when the rank 1 reaches out to you too. That has to be really big, especially starting out.

I didn’t think I was good at doubles at all. Like 3rd? That Championship tournament was the highest Doubles placement I’ve ever gotten up to that point.

Q. What do you think were your weaknesses at that time?

Oh man, I just didn’t have the two’s game sense down. I was a pretty selfish player. I was good in doubles, obviously, but I didn’t have the right way of thinking for it yet. But Boomie taught me all of that. I told him, I don’t think I’m the best pick for this but he helped me a lot and we became the best team.

Q. What makes you two a top team?

We have really good synergy and communications and our combos are all trained and we know what moves to do together. We know how to move together, we know how to talk to each other, which are the most important parts.

Image via ALLOWNET

Q. Did it help that Boomie kind of taught you 2v2 to build that synergy?

Yeah for sure.

Q. What does communication look like, given how fast-paced things are?

Certain things like offstage, if one of us is dead, it’s like, “Yo, try and save me, keep someone away,” something like that. If there’s an edgeguard opportunity it’s like, “Okay I’ll cover the wall you go out far,” or, “Keep his partner away so he can’t save his teammate.”

Whenever we get a combo opportunity we say something so that they know to follow up and get there as fast as possible. Every hit, we say something. If there’s potential for a combo it’s like, “Ok try and get here, if you can’t it’s okay.”

We make it audible that a combo is available.

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Greatsword: Brawlhalla’s Own Bayonetta

Brawlhalla takes a very radical approach to character design. Rather than giving each character radical differences in hurtboxes and movesets, each character gets unique stats, unique signature moves akin to a special, and a combination of two weapons. The weapons arguably matter the most as they’ll determine much of the character’s style and play pattern.

Over halfway through the competitive season, Brawlhalla’s biggest tournament, the developers released a new weapon: Greatsword. It is heinously overpowered. I asked Sandstorm a few questions about Greatsword, his favorite weapons (Scythe and Cannon), and the role of weapons in the competition.

Q. Do you feel like there’s been a bit of power creep overall, where the characters have gotten faster, less lag?

Yeah, the newer characters, 2019 and up it’s been heading that direction for sure.

Q. I’d imagine that would make bait and punish even stronger because something looks punishable but it’s just not.

Yeah, that helps me out. Like Greatsword, that’s literally all that is.

Q. Do you think this is the most over-tuned weapon that you’ve seen in Brawlhalla?

Absolutely. There’s nothing close. [Thinks briefly] Yeah, there’s nothing close at all.

Q. Do you feel that it would have been possible for you or any other player to win the championship without using Greatsword, with it being legal?

No, I don’t. I think if you weren’t playing Greatsword you could not win if you tried to. If no one played it, then yeah. If it wasn’t legal.

Q. Do you think it should’ve been legal for the championship?

No, I don't think it should’ve been legal. It’s too early, halfway into the competitive season, to add a new weapon. It’s never been done before and we now know why. We now know why.

Q. Was that a bit of a disconnect between you [the competitive scene] and the devs?

Yeah, it threw everyone for a loop for sure. It was definitely very, very questionable. [...] It’s comparable to Smash 4 Bayo[netta], I’d say.

Oh, wow really?

It’s that strong, yeah. I would argue even better actually. It’s like really bad, it’s like really, really bad. [...] It’s definitely not as long-lived because we have frequent patches but it’s definitely broken.

Q. Do you think that Greatsword hurt the championship in terms of viewership or competition?

In terms of viewership, no. We reached record numbers, I think the highest being over 160,000 viewers. But for competition, yeah. This year, being all online already is like, okay, that steps its integrity down. Offline is the best to play for tournaments, that’s not arguable.

But adding something this overpowered over halfway into the competitive season, people just don’t… people view it as a joke pretty much. It’s kind of like a “go next” type of year, in my opinion. The results still stand, they’re still valid, it’s just different, you know?

Q. If you could nerf Greatsword, what would your nerf be?

I think you shouldn’t be able to dash-cancel moves or cancel moves on whiff into each other. You can only use opener moves in neutral. And air moves.

The weapons should only be really strong on stage. The moves like recovery, nair, and dair are all too strong. I think the air kit especially makes the Greatsword too powerful.

Q. Given it gets rebalanced, what would you want to see Greatsword combo with in terms of items?

Scythe. I need a Cannon-Scythe and I need a Greatsword-Scythe. Those are the ones I’m still waiting for. [...] I am interested in continuing to play Greatsword, I wanna see how they nerf it, and then I’ll consider it.

Q. How many of your extensions with Greatsword are true as compared to reads?

They’re all reads. For me it’s all reads, all the strings are not true. All the strings Greatsword does are not true, they have certain true combos but everything from jumps to dodges is read - that’s how you play the weapon most effectively. I’m just really good at reading.

You condition your opponent with certain movies and then the reads become really easy.

Q. That’s something that I’ve heard about Scythe as well. Is that the same thing? Is it all reads with the Scythe?

Yes, there are no true combos. So being able to learn Greatsword like I did, did not take as long as I thought.

Q. Was it kind of like overturned Scythe?

Yeah, almost. You could look at it that way.

Q. Do you feel like the meta stars aligned for you in that sense?

Uh, probably. I think it would’ve been foolish for me not to learn a weapon that just became legal with kinda similar gameplay to how I play Scythe.

Q. What in particular appeals to you about Scythe and then also Cannon? Why are these your go-to’s?

Long, heavy punishes and gimps too. Anything with heavy bait and punish opportunities, those have been my best weapons for a long time. Cannon [also] helps with movement creativity, when Cannon is good, I feel untouchable.

Q. How much do you think weapon strength affects the meta for what players are top-level?

You could definitely see it a lot last year, in 2019. The meta leaned towards Katars being the best and Wrench, who was the best Katar player, won multiple tournaments in a row. And this year, with a meta favoring things like Guns, Axe, Gauntlets, and certain characters being the way they are, you saw the rise of Cody Travis.

Towards the end when Barraza [Cody’s main] got nerfed, he got 5th at Mammoth [Cup 2020]. So you can definitely see how individual legends or weapons strength affect a player’s performance.

Q. How do you stay consistent with it?

I just pick what’s most comfortable. I’ve won a couple tournaments where the meta didn’t entirely favor me this year. I won two tournaments in the Spring and they were on Scythe, they were just characters I felt comfortable on, and then I played my best.

Q. You went Xull in 2019. That’s an example of that, I’d imagine.

Xull was considered really bad and I didn’t think so, so I showed what Cannon could do. Then everyone’s minds changed.

Q. Was what that made you pick him in 2019?

Yeah, I’m like there’s no way Cannon is bad. I was like the only person playing Cannon and there was so much on Cannon that you could do back then and I was the only one optimizing it. So I just decided to show it off for a tournament.

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Going online and growing Brawlhalla

Brawlhalla has one of the FGC’s most active esports arms. The developers of the game seem genuinely invested in the competitive community and not only generate large prize pools but tune the game in direct response to professionals. Even with what Sandstorm calls “the Greatsword Debauchery,” Brawlhalla came out the other end of 2020 with fewer scratches than most fighting games.

2020 marked another year in a five-year trend of good growth for Brawlhalla as a game and esport. According to Steam Charts, the game started at about 3,000 average players with its open beta in 2015 and now has 18,000.

This section covers Sandstorm’s thoughts on the future of Brawlhalla, how going online felt, and the growing competition.

Q. How do you feel about the situation going on with Nintendo and competitive Smash?

That makes me sad. It’s more confusing than anything because I don’t know why — as a dev, I would support my scene for the growth of my game and the sales of my game as much as possible. It’s confusing to me why they wouldn’t, why they’re actively trying to shut it down.

Q. How do you feel with Brawlhalla, as like a contrast?

It’s amazing. It’s embarrassing for Nintendo, is the only word I can say. It’s really bad.

Q. How do you feel Brawlhalla’s netcode holds up?

I’m thankful. I’m very thankful because before I played a lot of Brawl, when I played Smash 4, any type of online Smash is like not the same as all. It’s really bad.

As soon as I went over to Brawl and played the online tournaments, the netcode is just amazing. I can play without worrying about any lag and I never worry about misinputs or lagging off stage or anything. It works amazing.

Q. Do you think that competition is about the same online and offline?

Yeah, yeah for sure. There are some names that pop up that are different from LAN to online but mostly the top three to top five players would perform the same on LAN as they do offline, me Boomie, Cody.

Q. Is there some mentality stuff, where some players kind of do a little better online or do a little worse?

A handful of players that are considered pro or could be pro, like Eggsoup, LDZ, Blood Diamond, live on the West Coast and all the tournaments played for NA are on East servers so they cannot perform as well as they would on LAN even if they tried.

We saw last year LDZ got top four I think in two or three LANs offline but didn’t place at all online because you can’t play on East servers at a high level like that. And some people do play better online, just because comfort of their home, right? But not me. I know some other people that it’s not like that. I need the crowd, I need to travel to play my best. That’s where I’m at.

Q. Given that, do you think that NA should do split coastal tournaments at any point?

I think they have in the past before I entered the scene. Like 2017, I think there were US East and US West qualifiers. I think it is a possibility but I don't know if it will happen.

Q. For you, what was it like being shut off from the competition this year?

It was pretty hard. What I like to do the most is travel and when end of 2018 beginning of last year I kicked off my career by traveling and gaming. That’s what I love to do. Just abruptly not being able to do that anymore is like… It took a toll on me mentally for a while but by the end of summer I bounced back and I’m warmed up to it.

Q. So by the World Championship, you’d warmed up a bit. How did it feel at that point to win from the comfort of your own home and not on the big stage?

I had the mentality going in like, it was just any other tournament. Like it felt no different at all from the tournament I won last month or two months before that.

Q. Does it dampen it a little bit, that there’s not any crowd?

Yeah, it really does. The crowd is like an insane factor on performance, actually. I love playing for the crowd so when I can’t do that, it’s like eh, but I can do it if I need to. [...] I don’t play as good without a crowd.

Q. Do you think it shakes up the bracket at all that you don’t have international competitors?

Yeah, that shakes it up a lot but I think I’d be able to beat them no problem. NA is the best region in brawlhalla and I’ve played a lot of international players and I’d think I’d be able to beat them if I could play them this year. I think Cody Travis, Boomie, and STING RAY, those three players are all better than the best of each international region, in my opinion.

Image via Baggel Productions

Q. You’ve been at the top for a while, has that changed how the community or fans have perceived you at all?

There’s definitely been a change in how the community views me. When I won Worlds in 2018, I was the underdog. I was the underdog for all of 2018 and then come 2019. I started to win all these tournaments.

Then people were like, “Okay, someone needs to shut this guy down.” So I’m like the guy to beat instead of the guy that everyone roots for. I have a lot of supporters - a lot of fans - still, but there are people that want to see me lose more than ever.

[...] I think most people root against me now, but nothing in, like, bad taste. Nothing bad towards me, it’s just for the sake of competition. I haven’t gotten real threats or stuff like that.

Q. Does that change your feeling at all going in?

No. I just play my game. [Laughs] That’s it.

Q. In many ways, Brawlhalla is proving it has a lot more steam to it than people assumed. What do you think Brawlhalla will look like in the future?

Everything you see this year but even better. More viewership, more viewership rewards, better dev communication, more characters, more game modes, updated ranked, I think everything’s gonna come and settle. Updated game mechanics also. I think everything’s gonna flesh out nicely.

Q. How do you feel about some of the experimental changes already, like marking the third jump?

I think they’re very smart. They need a couple more changes and then I think they’re ready to go live.

Q. Since the days when you were starting out, has the overall level of competition in brawlhalla improved?

Yeah, for sure. Players are getting much better.

Q. As the scene is it becoming easier for players to get better?

Yeah, you can just jump into game, get to playing, there are many guides online. You can play the game as long as you want because there are always people in the queue.

Q. Let’s say the devs add a Cannon and Scythe character to the game, but the character’s sigs and stats are flat-out bad. Do you still main the character?

Probably. Unless it’s like really, really unplayable, I’d probably still play it.