In the aftermath of a pandemic that forced competitive gaming indoors and online, Brian 'Cosmos' Kalu found himself quietly renegotiating what it means to be a player. Rather than simply enduring the grind or abandoning it, he chose a third path — building an identity spacious enough to hold a fighter, an artist, and a storyteller at once. His story is a small but telling reminder that the healthiest competitors are often those who have learned to want something beyond the win.
Cosmos Pivots Beyond Smash: Pro Player Embraces Art and Content Creation
I don't want Smash to be the only thing I do anymore
Mark
So when he stepped back from online tournaments, was that a choice or did the format just break him?
Mimi
It was a choice, but the format made it inevitable. He was doing fine in online events—placed well at Pound Online 2020—but he never enjoyed it. At some point the fatigue won.
Luke
That's worth noting: he did compete and he did place well. This wasn't a player who couldn't hack it online. He actively chose to leave.
Mark
And now he's back, but with a different character. Does that mean Inkling is no longer viable?
Mimi
Not exactly. He still thinks Inkling is very good. But she demands a kind of meticulous consistency that other top characters don't require. In a best-of-five format against elite players, that's exhausting to maintain.
Luke
He's speaking from his own experience, though. He can't say whether another player with a different temperament might succeed with her. That's an open question.
Mark
What's interesting to me is that he's not trying to be the best anymore. He's trying to have a life.
Mimi
Right. He's explicit about it: knowing Smash isn't everything means he can compete with less stress. It's a deliberate trade.
Luke
Though we don't know yet if that mindset will translate to results. He's returning to offline play after a long break, on a new character. The proof is still in brackets.
Mark
His YouTube skits are outperforming his Smash content. That's a real signal.
Mimi
His VTuber skits especially. He credits Cilvanis for teaching him the craft, and he's genuinely invested in VTuber culture, not just chasing views.
Luke
One thing to watch: he says he wants a million YouTube subscribers in five years. That's ambitious. Most content creators never hit that. We should see if he's realistic about the work that requires.
Mark
And the art?
Mimi
He's planning to post consistently by December. He's working with a friend named Kuno, studying an anime style inspired by Ohisashiburi.
Luke
That's a timeline, not a guarantee. December is two months away from when this interview ran. We'll know soon if he follows through.
The Pulse
- The shift to online tournaments during COVID drained Cosmos of his competitive drive, pushing him to step back from Smash entirely for a stretch.
- Returning to offline play with new DLC characters Pyra and Mythra, he found the game again — but on different, more balanced terms.
- By spreading his energy across tournament play, YouTube skits, and serious art practice, he discovered that pressure on any one front becomes easier to carry.
- His VTuber-themed skits are outperforming his Smash content, opening an audience he genuinely cares about and pointing his channel toward a five-year goal of one million subscribers.
- With a December target for posting art consistently and a dream of running an art booth at the very tournaments he competes in, his two worlds are converging rather than competing.
In the aftermath of a pandemic that forced competitive gaming indoors and online, Brian 'Cosmos' Kalu found himself quietly renegotiating what it means to be a player. Rather than simply enduring the grind or abandoning it, he chose a third path — building an identity spacious enough to hold a fighter, an artist, and a storyteller at once. His story is a small but telling reminder that the healthiest competitors are often those who have learned to want something beyond the win.
Brian Kalu — known in the fighting game community as Cosmos — spent years defined almost entirely by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Then the pandemic arrived, online tournaments wore him down, and he quietly stopped entering them. When offline play resumed and new DLC characters gave him a reason to return, he came back as a different kind of player: one who no longer needed Smash to be everything.
What sets his story apart is the deliberateness of what he built in the space that opened up. He now holds three pursuits with genuine seriousness — competitive play, YouTube content creation, and visual art — and describes himself not as a Smash player who dabbles in other things, but as an artist who also competes. The distinction is not semantic. It has changed how he experiences tournament pressure. When a bracket loss no longer threatens his entire sense of purpose, he can lose more freely and, paradoxically, compete more clearly.
His YouTube channel has evolved away from the analytical content typical of top players. Living with skit creator Cilvanis taught him the craft, and his VTuber-themed videos have found an even larger audience than his Smash material — a development that genuinely excites him. He sees VTubing as a space where authenticity thrives, and he is aiming for one million subscribers within five years.
On the art side, he is developing an anime-influenced style with a friend named Kuno, drawing inspiration from the artist Ohisashiburi, with plans to post consistently to Twitter by December. His longer vision is grounded and specific: keep competing in Smash, deepen his art, and one day run an art booth at the same tournaments where he plays. He is not waiting for the right moment. He is already building it.
Brian Kalu, known in the fighting game world as Cosmos, sat down to talk about a shift that has quietly reshaped his life over the past year. Once a player consumed entirely by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate—grinding brackets, studying matchups, chasing rankings—he has deliberately stepped away from that singular focus. The pivot began when the pandemic forced tournaments online, a format he found exhausting. He competed in online events early on, even placing well at Pound Online 2020, but the grind wore on him. Eventually, he stopped entering them altogether. When the Pyra and Mythra DLC characters arrived, he returned to offline practice, but his relationship with the game had fundamentally changed.
What makes Cosmos's story worth attention is not that he quit—plenty of players have stepped back during COVID—but that he has deliberately built something else alongside competitive play. He now describes himself not as a Smash player who does art, but as an artist who plays Smash. The distinction matters to him. For years, he says, Smash was everything. Now he is balancing tournament competition, serious art practice, and YouTube content creation, treating all three with genuine weight. He takes his art nearly as seriously as the game itself.
The mental shift has been tangible. By diversifying his focus, Cosmos has found that tournament pressure loosens its grip. Knowing Smash is not his entire world means he can step into brackets with less anxiety about his placement, less weight on every loss. It is a calculus many competitive players never allow themselves to consider: that doing less of one thing, by doing more of other things, can actually make you healthier. He speaks about this without drama or self-help language—just as a practical observation about how his mind works better when it has room to move.
His YouTube channel has become a vehicle for this expansion. Rather than recycling stream highlights or making analytical content like most top players, Cosmos has leaned into video skits. He credits Cilvanis, a skit creator he lived with, for teaching him the craft. His Smash-focused skits have found an audience, but his VTuber skits have performed even better, which delights him because he genuinely loves virtual streamers. He sees VTubing as a space where people can be fully themselves, and he believes the community will continue growing. His ambition for YouTube is concrete: one million subscribers within five years.
On the art front, he is working with a friend named Kuno to develop his skills in an anime-influenced style, drawing inspiration from the artist Ohisashiburi. He plans to begin posting art consistently to Twitter around December. The timeline is deliberate, not rushed. He is building toward something, not fleeing from something.
When asked about his return to offline competition after more than a year away, Cosmos was candid about the difficulty. He had switched to Pyra and Mythra after abandoning Inkling, the character he once dominated with. Inkling, he explained, demands a level of consistency and precision that other top-tier characters do not require, making it brutally hard to maintain wins in best-of-five bracket sets against elite players. Pyra and Mythra appealed to him partly because he had been waiting for an anime character to enter Smash as DLC. He has not studied how other top players like MkLeo or Sparg0 use the characters; he prefers to learn through his own experimentation. The character has depth, he notes, the kind that takes months or years to truly unlock.
When asked where he sees himself in five years, Cosmos painted a picture of continuity with growth. He wants to keep competing in Smash for as long as he can, but with art taking up more space as his skills deepen. His dream is to have an art booth at tournaments he attends, merging his two worlds. The vision is neither grandiose nor modest—it is specific and grounded in what he is already doing. He is not waiting for permission or the perfect moment. He is building it now, one skit, one drawing, one tournament at a time.
Notable Quotes
I still really love competing and playing Smash, but I don't want it to be the only thing I do anymore, since for a few years I was only focused on Smash and nothing else.— Cosmos
It gives me a healthier mindset since now that I know Smash isn't everything, I can practice Smash and play in tournaments with less stress about my performance, knowing that I have other things I'm working on too.— Cosmos
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