Connor McNeil is a newly-minted esports journalist, fresh out of college with an English degree. Connor’s passion for games was ignited in preschool, when they started learning chess. After winning a junior tournament in kindergarten, Connor went out on top and retired from competitive chess. They found tournaments again in high school, these for Super Smash Bros. Going by the tag “Genghis Connor,” they have been competing in and helping run Melee tournaments since 2014. If not playing Melee netplay, Connor can often be found in a Valorant server, meditating in the woods, or working on their upcoming book, The Mycelian Dialogues – a collection of short stories, poems, and lyric essays centered on communing with Nature in these troubled times.