Month: April 2015

Over the weekend, competitors from across North America, Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States jumped online to throw down in ESL’s very first preseason cup for Mortal Kombat X. Over five hundred entrants would take part in the three separate tournaments, bringing together some of the best early players in the newly-released title.

North America in particular featured a ridiculous amount of talent, including Fatal 8 exhibition winner and eventual champion cR|Sonic Fox. Although it wasn’t broadcast officially, a number of participants captured their tournament matches. Two in particular, provided by Perfect Legend himself, showcase the former Evo champion’s late-stage sets against Kitana Prime, who would go on to take second place, and storied veteran REO.

If you’ve been fiending for competitive footage of Mortal Kombat X, this pair of videos is the perfect place to start, as all of the participants show great skill with their characters thanks to rigorous practice over the past week. Check them out and let us know what you think.

Source: Perfect Legend

The importance of maintaining momentum in fighting games can’t be stressed enough. If you can keep the pressure high, all but the most seasoned opponents will be forced into making poor decisions due to a lack of time to take a step back and assess the situation. While important to every character in every game, there are some fighters who make a favorable momentum look good.

These characters often have high mobility, good setup and mix-up options, and an overall flashy style that makes them a joy to watch. In Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guy can definitely count himself among the characters that, once they get going, are quite difficult to stop.

In the latest installment of their Spotlight series, the folks at Olympic Gaming picked out TBR|Alumni, a Guy player who shows plenty of familiarity with controlling the flow of the match. Whether dealing with fireballs or just slamming out combos, this student of the Bushinryu shows their strength time and again against a handful of big names in the fighting game community.

You can also check out the video’s description for a brief text-based interview with Alumni to learn more.

Source: Olympic Gaming

Well known Mortal Kombat and Injustice: Gods Among Us player–not to mention two-time Evo finalist–Brant “Pig of the Hut” McCaskill kicked off a new podcast series last week to celebrate the launch of Mortal Kombat X. At the moment, McCaskill plans to make The Armory a bi-weekly production loaded with tournament news, interviews with top players, tips and tricks for how to get better, and plenty more.

The first questions that everyone has when something like this starts up is, why watch this podcast? What is it, exactly, that makes this specific series stand out from other videos of a similar nature? In an effort to preemptively answer these questions, McCaskill decided to step up The Armory’s production value, making it as professional as possible. Everything from the set to the information provided to the tone in which McCaskill delivers that information combines to create the same sort of feeling as SportsCenter or other similar programs.

In this week’s episode, McCaskill offers up a Twitter-based contact sheet filled with tournament organizers and important fighting game community members across North America to help players get involved in their local Mortal Kombat X scenes. As you might expect, this list includes folks from NorCal, SoCal, and Chicago–the home of Mortal Kombat–but also provides contacts for people in Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, and more. If you’re looking to get involved locally, definitely check out this list.

McCaskill also spends some time talking to Slips about fundamentals, footsies, and mixups, focusing on topics important to improving that may not be quite so easily defined for new players. The video rounds out with a collection of tips for Quan Chi and Kenshi as well as some final tidbits of assorted information.

If you missed out on last week’s episode, you’ll find that here.

Like what you see? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Source: Pig of the Hut via Test Your Might