Plup
American professional esports player
Plup McGrath at The Big House 7 in 2017
Team Red Bull Games Name Justin McGrath Born (1993-11-24 ) November 24, 1993 (age 31) Nationality American Playing career 2010–present 2015–2022 Panda Global 2018–present Red Bull
Ranked #2 (Summer 2018)
Ranked #10 All-Time
2x DreamHack champion (2017, 2018)
GENESIS champion (2018 )
Smash World Tour champion (2021)
2x CEO champion (2022, 2023)
Riptide champion (2023)
Twitch information
Channel Followers 104 thousand Last updated: September 2023
Justin McGrath , better known as Plup , is an American professional Super Smash Bros. player from Orlando , Florida . McGrath is considered to be one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world, having been ranked as one of the top 10 Melee players every year since 2015.[ 1] [ 2]
McGrath initially rose to prominence in 2015 after placing highly in several major tournaments.[ 3] [ 4] Among his best placings are first at GENESIS 5 , second at The Big House 7 and Smash Summit 9, and third at EVO 2016 and EVO 2018 . McGrath was initially the best Samus player in the world but later switched to primarily playing Sheik . In addition to playing Samus and Sheik, McGrath uses Fox as a secondary. McGrath has also competed professionally in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , playing primarily with Mega Man and Ridley , and Project M playing primarily with Samus. McGrath was formerly sponsored by Panda Global.[ 5] A 2021 list compiled by PGstats ranked McGrath as the tenth-greatest Melee player of all time.[ 6]
Early life
When McGrath was seven years old, he received a Super NES from his father.[ 7]
Career
McGrath began his Super Smash Bros. career in 2010. He entered the CEO 2010 tournament as a Samus player and finished in 13th place out of a total of 62 players.[ 8] In 2014, he finished in 13th place out of over 600 players at Apex 2014 . In 2016, McGrath finished in third place at CEO 2016 Prologue, CEO 2016 , and EVO 2016 . After finishing in the top 10 at Shine 2016 and Summit 3, he was ranked as the sixth-best placer of the season. In 2017, McGrath won his first major at DreamHack Atlanta 2017 after defeating Hungrybox in the finals and placed second at Big House 7. In 2019, he finished in second at Smash Summit 9.[ 7]
Notable tournament placings
Only Majors and Supermajors are listed.
Offline tournament
Online tournament
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Tournament[ 9] [ 10]
Date
1v1 Placement
2v2 Placement
Partner
CEO 2010
June 5–6, 2010
13th
9th
Nasty
Apex 2012
January 6–8, 2012
33rd
2nd
Hungrybox
Apex 2013
January 11–13, 2013
17th
2nd
Hungrybox
Tipped Off 9
December 14–15, 2013
7th
1st
Hungrybox
Apex 2014
January 17–19, 2014
13th
3rd
Hungrybox
MLG Anaheim 2014
June 20–22, 2014
9th
5th
Hungrybox
CEO 2014
June 27–29, 2014
5th
2nd
Hungrybox
EVO 2014
July 11–13, 2014
9th
1st
Hungrybox
Tipped Off 10
September 20–21, 2014
5th
1st
Hungrybox
The Big House 4
October 4–5, 2014
9th
2nd
Hungrybox
Paragon 2015
January 17–18, 2015
5th
1st
Hungrybox
Apex 2015
January 30–February 1, 2015
49th
13th
Colbol
Smash 'N' Splash
June 13–14, 2015
2nd
2nd
Wizzrobe
CEO 2015
June 26–28, 2015
7th
7th
DruggedFox
EVO 2015
July 17–19, 2015
4th
3rd
Hungrybox
Paragon Los Angeles 2015
September 5–6, 2015
9th
—
—
HTC Throwdown
September 19, 2015
25th
7th
Wizzrobe
The Big House 5
October 2–4, 2015
13th
7th
DruggedFox
Smash Summit
November 7–8, 2015
4th
5th
PPMD
Eclipse 2015
November 14–15, 2015
4th
1st
Axe
DreamHack Winter 2015
November 26–29, 2015
3rd
7th
Wizzrobe
GENESIS 3
January 15–17, 2016
9th
25th
M00NShoez
Battle of the Five Gods
March 17–19, 2016
5th
—
—
Pound 2016
April 2–3, 2016
5th
1st
Hungrybox
Smash Summit 2
April 21–24, 2016
5th
2nd
Hungrybox
CEO 2016
June 24–26, 2016
4th
2nd
Axe
EVO 2016
July 15–17, 2016
3rd
—
—
Super Smash Con 2016
August 11–14, 2016
769th
129th
Wizzrobe
Shine 2016
August 26–28, 2016
7th
1st
Mew2King
The Big House 6
October 7–9, 2016
17th
5th
Westballz
Smash Summit 3
November 3–6, 2016
5th
5th
Hungrybox
GENESIS 4
January 20–22, 2017
5th
4th
Axe
Smash Summit 4 - Spring 2017
March 2–5, 2017
5th
5th
Westballz
CEO: Dreamland
April 14–16, 2017
5th
5th
Axe
DreamHack Austin 2017
April 28–30, 2017
5th
2nd
Mew2King
Smash 'N' Splash 3
June 2–4, 2017
5th
4th
Axe
CEO 2017
June 16–18, 2017
2nd
—
—
Bad Moon Rising 2
July 1, 2017
13th
1st
Druggedfox
EVO 2017
July 14–16, 2017
5th
—
—
DreamHack Atlanta 2017
July 21–23, 2017
1st
1st
Mew2King
Super Smash Con 2017
August 10–13, 2017
3rd
2nd
Mew2King
Shine 2017
August 25–27, 2017
5th
4th
Swedish Delight
GameTyrant Expo 2017
September 29–October 2, 2017
5th
3rd
Mew2King
The Big House 7
October 6–8, 2017
2nd
5th
Mew2King
Too Hot to Handle
October 28–29, 2017
3rd
1st
Crush
Smash Summit 5
November 2–5, 2017
5th
2nd
Mew2King
GENESIS 5
January 19–21, 2018
1st
1st
Mew2King
EGLX 2018
March 9–11, 2018
2nd
1st
Mew2King
Smash Summit 6
May 3–6, 2018
5th
3rd
Mew2King
Get On My Level 2018
May 18–20, 2018
2nd
1st
Mew2King
DreamHack Austin 2018
June 1–3, 2018
1st
1st
Mike Haze
CEO 2018
June 29–July 1, 2018
2nd
1st
Mew2King
EVO 2018
August 3–5, 2018
3rd
—
—
Shine 2018
August 24–26, 2018
4th
2nd
Swedish Delight
The Big House 8
October 5–7, 2018
2nd
3rd
Westballz
Smash Summit 7
November 15–18, 2018
9th
1st
Mew2King
GENESIS 6
February 1–3, 2019
3rd
3rd
Mew2King
Pound 2019
April 19–21, 2019
3rd
1st
Mew2King
Get On My Level 2019
May 17–19, 2019
9th
4th
Wizzrobe
Smash 'N' Splash 5
May 31–June 2, 2019
5th
3rd
Mew2King
Smash Summit 8
June 13–17, 2019
7th
2nd
Zain
CEO 2019
June 28–30, 2019
5th
2nd
IBDW
Super Smash Con 2019
August 8–11, 2019
17th
2nd
Mew2King
Shine 2019
August 23–25, 2019
17th (DQ)
1st
Mew2King
The Big House 9
October 4–6, 2019
9th
1st
Mew2King
Mango's Birthday Bash
December 7–8, 2019
7th
1st
Mango
GENESIS 7
January 24–26, 2020
25th
1st
Mew2King
Smash Summit 9
February 13–16, 2020
2nd
—
—
LACS 2
July 25–26, 2020
4th
—
—
Smash Summit 10 Online
November 19–22, 2020
17th
—
—
Smash Summit 11
July 15–18, 2021
4th
—
—
Riptide
September 10–12, 2021
2nd
1st
Hungrybox
Smash World Tour 2021
December 17–19, 2021
1st
—
—
GENESIS 8
April 15–17, 2022
13th
1st
aMSa
Smash Summit 13
May 12–15, 2022
2nd
—
—
CEO 2022
June 24–26, 2022
1st
—
—
Riptide 2022
September 9–11, 2022
2nd
1st
Hungrybox
Lost Tech City 2022
September 30–October 2, 2022
2nd
1st
Hungrybox
Smash Summit 14
November 3–6, 2022
9th
—
—
GENESIS 9
January 20–22, 2023
4th
1st
Hungrybox
MAJOR UPSET
April 1–2, 2023
2nd
1st
Hungrybox
The Big House 11
October 20–22, 2023
2nd
2nd
Joshman
Tipped Off 15
June 15th-16th, 2024
3rd
3rd
Oaty
Supernova 2024
August 8th-11th, 2024
9th
1st
Mang0
Riptide 2024
September 6th-8th, 2024
5th
3rd
Hungrybox
Nounsvitational 2024
December 7th-8th, 2024
5th
—
—
References
^ "SSBMRank 2017" . Red Bull .
^ "#MPGR2019: 10-1" . Red Bull . Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
^ "Plup could be first ever to defeat all of Big 6" . July 10, 2016.
^ "CEO 2016 Smash Bros preview - the rivalry, the robot, the rest" . June 22, 2016.
^ Justin McGrath [@Panda_Plup] (December 3, 2022) "I'm quitting Panda. I've truly enjoyed my time there, and they treated me well. I know that, at a certain point, they had the community's best interests in mind. I just don't think I can support them anymore. Now I must sleep 1000 years in preparation for da next tournament " (Tweet). Retrieved December 3, 2022 – via Twitter .
^ "The Melee Stats Top 100: The Top 10" . PGstats . November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021 .
^ a b "Justin 'Plup' McGrath: Esports – Red Bull Athlete Page" . Red Bull . Retrieved May 11, 2021 .
^ "Get to know Smash Bros. star Justin 'Plup' McGrath" . Red Bull . Retrieved February 13, 2023 .
^ "Melee - Pluplue" . SmashBoards . Retrieved November 25, 2021 .
^ "Results - Plup" . Start.gg . Retrieved September 29, 2022 .
Notable players
Notable teams
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