Month: June 2016

Editor’s note: Some responses have been slightly altered for clarity.

In the UK’s Street Fighter scene, they’ve started adding ‘Lord’ to the front of Benjamin “Problem X” Simon’s name. It’s hard to argue that he hasn’t earned it either, with the slew of results that he has accumulated since the release of Street Fighter V. A string of consecutive wins at London’s Bracket Reset weekly earned him his title, and it was at Hypespotting 5, one of the first Capcom Pro Tour Premier Events, that “Lord Problem” stamped his mark, wrestling first place from the likes of Luffy and Valmaster with his Bison.

We caught up to him at The Beatdown, an event held in Capcom’s UK Headquarters that played host to some of the best Street Fighter V players that the United Kingdom has to offer. During the tournament he put on a show for the crowd, pushing his opponents to the limit with Alex and ultimately only falling short against HFUM|Hurricane’s Cammy. Fresh off his second place finish, he spoke to us about bringing the hype, leveling up, and how he thinks the scene in the UK stacks up against the rest of the world.

 

Keegan “Interrobang!?” Spindler: After a strong start, you had a couple of lackluster placements. Do you think there’s a particular reason behind that?

Benjamin “PXP|Problem X” Simon: My character switch. It’s always going to do that. You’ve got to relearn the matchups, relearn what you already knew and get comfortable in a tournament environment. You’ve got to start making the right decisions with that character. I’ll still be pressing the Bison buttons in the clutch moments, but that’s kind of been eradicated now. I’m getting to grips with Alex, learning his tools, how to utilize the parry. I think I’m definitely on the rise. Even at Bracket Reset, the last one or two that I went to, I didn’t do that well. But here, everyone who attends Bracket Reset and more were here, and I’ve obviously got a good placing here. So I think I’m getting more comfortable with Alex now, and I’m back on the rise.

KS: The general consensus seems to be that Alex and Bison are among the weaker cast members–do you agree?

BS: Well I like Bison, I like his demeanor, I like the way they made him really feel like a boss character in this game, but there are a couple of reasons that I switched to Alex. One, I don’t feel like Bison’s that strong in this game. Obviously I’m not picking top tier, but he’s just not strong at all, I don’t feel. Alex is more hype, and I like hype in the game. He’s got a parry, a command grab and yeah, I really like the character. I liked him in 3rd Strike. I didn’t play 3rd Strike a lot, but I liked the character and yeah, I like Alex a lot. I think he’s got the tools to win. He’s not the best at any one thing, but he’s viable.

KS: How did you handle the transition to V where C. Viper and Seth–your mains–weren’t present?

BS: Well I just liked Bison, so I instantly went for him, but now I do think that Alex suits my style a bit better. He’s got 50-50s and he’s fast-paced and hype, so I think that’s kind of the closest to the sort of momentum that Seth and C. Viper built in SFIV. Obviously you have your Kens and stuff, but I’ve never liked Ken. I’ve just never liked him. I like parries though; I like anything that brings hype. Anything that brings guessing and hype, I’m interested in. I just liked Bison because he’s this big boss character, he’s got this boss stature. But I really feel like Alex is the sort of character that fits with the way I want to play.

KS: Would you say that Winner Stays On, your home tournament if you like, has helped with that transition?

BS: Winner Stays On has been great. I really like the show, and I think that it has helped transition to a new game. Not only that, it’s really helped levelling up in general because you’re able to sit down in a controlled environment and play. Everyone that gets invited is at an adequate level, so you really don’t want to be that guy who can’t win a set–it pushes you to perform at your best. I really like it.

KS: How are you feeling about the balance of Street Fighter V at the moment?

BS: I wouldn’t say that there’s any character that’s not viable full stop. I mean, Bison’s pretty weak, F.A.N.G appears to be weak at the moment, but they can still get wins. I mean, I’ve won tournaments with Bison, Xian’s doing really well with F.A.N.G. I do think there’s some characters that are extremely strong though. Like, unnecessarily strong–like Chun-Li and R. Mika. I personally think that the game is really random, to a degree where anything can happen when both players have an equal understanding of the game and their characters.

Ken’s also very strong. If he’s not top 3… well, he’s probably top 3. Ryu and Necalli are strong, too. I think the game’s more linear than Street Fighter IV, definitely, and it might just be because it’s early days but there seems to be a lot more of a random factor, so characters like Ken, who have access to things like Dragon Punch and big Crush Counter combos, make for good tournament characters.

KS: How strong do you think the UK is in comparison to the international scene?

BS: I haven’t actually travelled out of Europe for Street Fighter V yet but from what I’ve seen from streams, for some characters we are definitely behind, but for other characters I feel that we’re a bit further ahead. We’re definitely behind on Dhalsims compared to the US, I think Dhalsims there are very strong, and there are a few more F.A.N.Gs over there as well. I feel we have a few more Chun-Lis, better Bisons so it’s really different characters being played overall. I mean, when Wil2Pac went over there to DreamHack Austin he came Top 8, so that’s really the only indication I have on how we’re stacking up against at least the Americans. At Stunfest we pretty much got destroyed by Japanese players, so I guess that hierarchy is still there, that order is still in place.

KS: Do you have plans to head out to America this year? Is there anyone in particular you’d really like to play over there?

BS: Well I play Packz a lot, who is a very strong Karin so I’d love to play Justin Wong because I believe I know the matchup. I think it would be interesting. I’m not saying I’m going to win–not saying anything–but I know what to do in that matchup, so it will be interesting. If I lose, I will have definitely learned something. In terms of the USA, I’m definitely looking to go there. I don’t know if I’m going to touch Evo yet because of the amount of time I’d have to take off of work. I’ve got the time off saved up, but I need it for hitting Capcom Pro Tour events as well. I’m planning to go to as many European CPT events as I can, so that’s where my time off will probably go. I’m planning to visit the states this year for sure though.

KS: We’ve seen Infiltration, Justin Wong and, to a degree, you, dominate your respective regions. Why?

BS: Honestly I think some people are just faster learners than others. Character selection is also a factor; everyone was picking different characters when the game came out and then we started to decipher who is stronger. As it turns out, Ryu, Nash, they’re really strong characters. Karin is a really strong character. Bison wasn’t that strong, but I was winning with him and I think that comes down to tournament experience. In the UK now, obviously with the exception of Ryan Hart who’s not really attending UK events, I have the most tournament experience, so it comes down to that as well.

When you’re in tournament certain tactics are more viable than others and people have to calm down to find what works. For example, most of the players here today I will lose a lot to online, but that’s online. When you’re playing in tournament there’s certain things that you will or won’t do. So I think that experience is coming into play. Justin’s got years of experience, Infiltration has obviously been a part of the biggest and best tournaments, Tokido has been a high-level player for years and that’s what is proving important at the moment. I think that over time, we’ll see more people come to grips with the game and become threats, but I don’t think that the threats now will ever fall away. After all, they’re only gaining more experience. There might be more players that reach that level, but the likes of Justin and Infiltration will always stand a good chance.

KS: You’ve started your own team, Problem X Promotions. At the moment it’s just you and A F0xy Grampa. What are your plans going forward?

BS: Well I’m going to be looking for a Smash player. I mean, I’ve been taking my time with it because obviously I started it last year, so this year is the first full year of me being a team manager. I just want to see how everything goes with the one player before I take anyone else on board. It’s all going really well though, I’m really getting to grips with how everything should be, so I’m starting to get comfortable with looking at other games and representatives. At least Smash, I think, is the highlight going forward. Obviously F0xy is doing great, which is a great start.

KS: Do you have a dream character for the next set of the DLC?

BS: In the coming set I’m really happy about Urien. I think I’m going to be playing that character, it looks like he will bring the hype. Next year, well C. Viper was my main in IV, so I’d really like to see them bring her back. I’d love to see that sort of crazy momentum shift in this game. Her, or Sodom. I’d really want Sodom, I think he’s got a great design, he could be really fun.

KS: Is the whole 8 frames of lag thing a real problem or something the internet is overreacting to?

BS: I’ve been told that it’s a real thing. I haven’t really been affected though. Sometimes you feel like you’ve been affected–a moment where you’re sure that you threw out a Dragon Punch or whatever it is. How I see it is this: if there is eight frames of lag, everyone playing the game is affected in the same way. It’s not like it’s only player one, everyone is affected by it. I don’t think it’s all that big a deal–the people who are winning are winning consistently so it’s not a big deal. Just play the game.

Sources: Gaming Live Généraliste, Capcom Fighters