Group C’s finals at ELEAGUE ended up being an intense spectacle for a lot of reasons, and both of the players interviewed by FGC News‘ David Gama were largely at the center of that hype.
On one side of this coin was Splyce’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez, the storied Marvel and Street Fighter pro who came so close to making it out of Group C, only to fall in a last round vortex versus 2013 Evolution Street Fighter Champ RZR|Xian. Conducted just after his elimination, FChamp vents and reflects on his path both in Street Fighter V, and in the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
And on the other side, Joshua “Wolfkrone” Philpot, coming off his win against the same threatening Ibuki, Xian. Wolfkrone kept it brief: offering advice on how he personally leveled up, expressing his frustration with some characters, and his general love of ELEAGUE. And, of course, he talks about what caused his now-legendary beef with EG|K-Brad.
Following in the path of Cloud 9 and Team Liquid, Splyce have hired a coach specifically to guide their Super Smash Bros. Melee players. A familiar face in the Melee scene, old training partner of Echo Fox|MVG|Mew2King and current rank 60 on the 2016 SSBM Rank, Charles “Cactuar” Meighen has joined Splyce as their dedicated Melee coach.
Hoping to bring his years of experience as both a high-level player and an analyst, his guidance should help continue the success of Splyce’s current Melee players, McCain “MacD” LaVelle and Michael “Nintendude” Brancato. Cactuar is no stranger to helping Melee players improve, having created the YouTube channel Smash Practice alongside boxr|Zhu.
He will be making his debut for Splyce at Royal Flush this weekend, both as a player and a coach.
Focusing their efforts on the remaining villains in Injustice 2, NetherRealm Studios have devoted their latest Watchtower stream to showing off Black Adam, Brainiac, and the Joker. As Injustice 2 releases in the US next Tuesday, there was plenty of stuff to run through.
Newcomer Brainiac is the big bad for Injustice 2, descending on Earth to catalog its inhabitants and eradicate the last remnants of Krypton. His tentacles make him the perfect fighter for someone who loves playing the neutral game, but beware of the long recovery on most of his normals and specials. While a master of whiff punishing, he is also prone to being whiff punished himself.
Black Adam retains much of his toolkit from the original Injustice, keeping his role as a defensive powerhouse that excels at punishing the slightest misstep. His new special Riddle of the Sphinx is a three-hit rekka that ends with a powerful lightning blast, which is great for hitting opponents who over-extend. Many of his strings are still the same, so old Black Adam players should be right at home with this new iteration. He hits super hard, so beware of challenging this Egyptian champion.
Finally, the Clown Prince of Crime has indeed returned in Injustice 2, bringing with him a bag full of various lethal gags and pranks. While his normals have stayed the same, many of Joker’s specials have received a noticeable rework. His Gun Shot now has a meter-burn option, with Joker firing out a Bang! flag which sticks in the enemy and explodes after a short delay. Joker can now run full screen with his Crowbar, similar to Leatherface’s chainsaw charges in Mortal Kombat X, with it turning into an unblockable once he breaks into a run. It can even be meter-burned to gain a hit of armor. His character trait no longer requires him to land a parry, Joker can just start laughing to speed himself up. As long as Joker keeps laughing, he’ll retain his speed boost but continuous laughs do decay the meter faster.
Kelvin Gastelum will be eligible to return to active competition in approximately one month’s time after completing a USADA approved drug awareness and management program.
In the wake of YOMI Gaming’s demise, and with Injustice 2 just over the horizon, many of the original team members are being signed by various Esports organizations. Forever King was recently signed by Circa eSports, while his younger brother, Forever King Jr. was picked up by BxA Gaming. Last week, it was confirmed that another top pair of former YOMI players have inked contracts–as the Terry brothers, best known as DJT and MIT, have been signed by Team No Surrender Gaming.
Denzell’s resume includes a 2nd place finish at Evo 2013 and a 5th place finish at Evo 2014 for Injustice: Gods Among Us, as well as becoming the Evo 2013 champion for Mortal Kombat 9, on top of countless placings in Mortal Kombat XL. By comparison, Malik placed 13th at Evo 2013 and 3rd at Evo 2014 for Injustice, as well as getting 9th at MLG Anaheim and 4th at Evo 2015 for MKX, among other accomplishments. These two join an already impressive stable of players that includes Footwurk, Saltface, Cupcake, and Ludovic.
All of us here are Shoryuken would like to congratulate both the Terry brothers and Team No Surrender on this fantastic signing, and wish them all the best as they enter the super-powered battlefield.
Injustice 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 16th.
