Month: October 2016

Feature Image: PG|MarlinPie on the right

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

Anime fighting games were in harmony this past weekend as Alex Jebailey’s CEOtaku event provided two days of competition and lots of “dakimakura” merchandise (body pillows). As for 2016 CEOtaku results, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, amidst 517 total entrants, saw 238 fighters competing for the title. It definitely proved to be one of the hypest brackets, seeing less common characters like Shine’s Potemkin and Doren2k “DaGawd’s” Jam Kuradoberi make top 8. Ultimately, it was Japan’s Kedako, with May, who emerged victorious in both Xrd -REVELATOR- as well as XX Accent Core +R.

After the tournament, I caught up with Panda Gaming’s MarlinPie, who placed second in the tournament with his Zato-1. We talk about his performance, as well as his general thoughts on Guilty Gear and his upcoming trip to Japan to the Toushinsai event, October 16-17th.

Q: So you placed second in the CEOtaku tournament, what are your thoughts on your matches and the top 8?

Kyohei “MarlinPie” Lehr: I’m actually a little sad, because I know there were some things I thought of doing and not doing before the match. I couldn’t help myself to do the things I didn’t want to do, and not do the things I wanted to do. It was like a mental… I don’t know. It was hard to break out of a habit. For example, I guess May, even from far-range distance, I shouldn’t be whiffing any buttons in the air, because one small hit will confirm into a knockdown with a hefty 100-200 [damage] combo. I’m actually kinda sad at myself.

Q: You’re using Johnny sometimes as an alternative to your main, did you think about using him at all?

MarlinPie: I actually did think about him after I lost two matches straight in Grand Finals. Regardless of how the match was going to go, if I lost with Johnny, and he was the last character I used, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep well. Losing to an opponent, thinking I should have stuck to my main, is something I didn’t want to do.

Q: What were your afterthoughts on your Evo 2016 performance, being the only American player who qualified for top 8?

MarlinPie: I’m kind of sad that not many American players made it. I thought some would make it to top 32, but it was pretty much one Korean guy [TopGaren], and one American, myself, the rest were Japanese. That was surprising. I had a motivation to play at the top, at the highest of my level. That was not a confidence booster, but support, in a way. I didn’t want to let the country down, kind of thing. I did get top 8, but didn’t win a match in top 8 [laughs].

Q: There was a big patch post-Evo, but you’re sticking to your character. What are your thoughts on game balance?

MarlinPie: The balance patch made sense to me. It didn’t do anything drastic, because it’s not a new game, just a patch. The way they nerfed the characters that were ovepowered and buffed the characters that were weak, made sense. They were simple property changes, they didn’t take away anything, didn’t add anything, so the characters can be a little more fair. There are obvious stronger characters in the game still, but this was a good thing they did. Plus, they didn’t touch Zato-1, so that was more of a motivation for me to play him, as all the top-tier characters got nerfed. I don’t have to suffer as much, so it was good for me.

Q: Metagame-wise, have you seen shifts in that as well?

MarlinPie: The two biggest changes in the meta are Sin and Johnny. I don’t have to think about really being on point punishing Beak Driver, since it’s insanely bad on whiff now. I used to sit there and wait for my opportunity to poke out on whiff, but now I can neutral jump instead of sitting there, and if I see it whiff, I can air dash in. If I did that pre-patch, I would get 6P’d for free. That’s one gameplan change. And Johnny—you just don’t die from getting hit. That’s it. You used to actually die getting hit once in the game. That was extremely unfair. It’s like a simple change, but it really makes sense.

Q: Looking ahead to Toushinsai coming up, you’re one of two American players who qualified. What are your thoughts, how are you preparing? You’ll be back with all these Japanese players.

MarlinPie: I’m actually kind of happy that Chaz [Mynus] is going with me. BjornSonofBear forfeited his spot to Mynus. Mynus and I have been playing together for longer than a decade, so I’m glad he’s going to be with me in Japan. It will be more enjoyable.

How I’m preparing for Toushinsai is kind of weird. I’m actually not playing, myself, but I’m watching every possible Guilty Gear match on YouTube. Seriously, if I see any GG content that resembles the players in Toushinsai, I’m there. I’m watching, I’m mentally training, I do some training mode if I see something iffy or have some idea—this guy is doing this, maybe I can counter it with this, kind of thing. Otherwise, I just watch.

Q: Any final thoughts?

MarlinPie: Damn it, May… I actually oversaw May. I kind of underestimated May, I guess. The characters I was focusing on were Johnny, Sin, Zato-1 mirror match, Jack-O, and strangely, Potemkin. I wasn’t even thinking about May, but [Kedako] just comes to the tournament and wrecks me. That kind of thing.

Sources: Interview at CEOtaku 2016 and CEOGaming Twitch; Funky P (YouTube); Photo courtesy of Panda Global.