Author: Corey "Missing Person" Lanier

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Rumble in the Tundra, Buffalo’s Annual Major, to Play Host to Big Names and Pot Bonuses This Weekend

Brian “Cha Cha” Stone–upstate New York’s premiere tournament organizer–is in the throes of getting everything prepared for Rumble in the Tundra, Buffalo’s annual major. And with the two-day event scheduled to take place this weekend, it is shaping up to be quite the draw.

While the anime players will be converging on CEOtaku in Orlando, and Street Fighter V heads will want to head to ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown this weekend, Rumble in the Tundra will still feature more than enough action for you to want to be watching. Already promised is a $1000 pot bonus for The King of Fighters XIV, as well as a $500 pot bonus for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-. They further have $300 pot bonuses for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and $250 pot bonuses for Street Fighter V, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mortal Kombat XL, and Pokkén Tournament.

To top this all off, there will be a multitude of high level King of Fighters veterans making the trek to the East coast to the event, including the West coast’s best players such as Romance, Luis Cha, Kanibalito and TC|Yoshi. That’s not to say that the East coast will just lay down to the West coast, as they will be sending Coach Steve and A3 Religion to defend the Atlantic.

Taking place on October 1st or 2nd with four separate streams, this is the perfect tournament to pay attention to. Streams for The King of Fighters XIV and Pokkén will take place on Kick-Punch-Block’s Twitch channel; Toronto Top Tiers will be covering Street Fighter V and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3; NeoRussell will be hosting Guilty Gear, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat; and Bifuteki will be running both Smash events. Further, should you want to take part in the event, there will be emergency $40 passes available at the venue–in which you’ll be entered into the “pools of death” for the games you register for.

Sources: Brian Stone (Facebook); smash.gg

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Red Bull Releases Los Angeles Top 5 in Build-Up to Final Vanguard Event

We are coming close to the end of Red Bull’s Street Fighter V Proving Grounds. This weekend will feature the final event of the Vanguard series, and the competition is heating up–as everyone wants to reach the top 3, and earn their way into the final event.

There are, however, players that are rising up as the cream of the crop, and Red Bull has revealed their power rankings leading up to the final Vanguard based on point standings. The standings are as follows:

  1. Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera – 600 points
  2. Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez – 525 points
  3. Rommel “ROM” Macantangay – 500 points
  4. Brentt “brenttiscool” Franks – 425 points
  5. Wrathmatics – 350 points

You can check out the replays from Vanguard Episode 4 right here.

Source: Red Bull eSports

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Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Achieves 200 Entrants at CEOtaku, Receives $2000 in Pot Bonuses

The gauntlet was thrown down, and the air dash community stepped up. Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- reached 200 entrants for the tournament at CEOtaku, and Alex Jebailey remained true to his word, adding a $1,000 pot bonus of his own money to the Arc System Works title.

The giving doesn’t stop there; Aksys Games, the US publishers of Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, has decided to match Alex Jebailey’s pot bonus with an additional $1,000. With 200 entrants, that is a guaranteed $4,000 in the pot with registration to close on Sunday, September 25th.

There is still time to sign up and play at this event by going to their website.

Sources: Alex Jebailey; smash.gg

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Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Achieves 200 Entrants at CEOtaku, Receives $2000 in Pot Bonuses

The gauntlet was thrown down, and the air dash community stepped up. Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- reached 200 entrants for the tournament at CEOtaku, and Alex Jebailey remained true to his word, adding a $1,000 pot bonus of his own money to the Arc System Works title.

The giving doesn’t stop there; Aksys Games, the US publishers of Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, has decided to match Alex Jebailey’s pot bonus with an additional $1,000. With 200 entrants, that is a guaranteed $4,000 in the pot with registration to close on Sunday, September 25th.

There is still time to sign up and play at this event by going to their website.

Sources: Alex Jebailey; smash.gg

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Catch All of the Hype from the Philippines in these Manila Cup Replays

Did you fail to see EG|Justin Wong defeating AVM|Gamerbee? Did you miss everything and then some, and now you’re kicking yourself for not rearranging your sleep schedule?

Don’t worry, because Team Spooky has you covered! Now you can watch all of the Manila Cup action you’ve been craving at your earliest convenience, all without explaining to your boss why you’re a zombie the next day! Enjoy all of the Street Fighter V, BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend, Mortal Kombat X, and Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- action you can stand, at this low introductory price of: free.

There’s even more videos from Manila Cup on Team Spooky’s YouTube channel.

Source: Team Spooky

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Canada Cup 2016 Super Street Fighter II Turbo Tournament Will Feature Japanese Legends

Tonight, David “Atari” Bibona posted a trailer for the Super Street Fighter II Turbo event at Canada Cup 2016 taking place in Toronto, Ontario next month. While usually an overshadowed game nowadays, this is one tournament you would be remiss to sleep on this year at Canada Cup!

Already promised a $500 pot bonus should the event reach 50 entrants, there are a number of players making their way to the land of the maple leaf for the tournament. As evidenced by the trailer, already confirmed to attend are Southern California Super Turbo players Tania “MillerTime” Miller and Eugene “eltrouble” Lin. Also in attendance are Justin Wong of Evil Geniuses, Montreal great Lord Jimmy Bones, and Riz0ne.

However, to further add to the intensity of this tournament, three Japanese legends are making their way to Canada to take part. Already slated are Kusumondo–runner up of the first Tournament of Legends–Shougatsu, and Mattsun–winner of this year’s X-EST event in Japan. Moreover, with all hopes, and a little bit of pressure, there may be a chance of James Chen and UltraDavid for commentary.

With a month left to go, Super Turbo is in for a big revival in the West in Toronto. A multitude of players in multiple regions are training to bring up the level up play in this game, and it shows. At this point, even though the Japanese players are favored to win, it’s anyone’s game. Who will take it down? Will you try? Sign up to take part from October 28th through 30th on the Canada Cup website.

Source: Atari

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Red Bull’s Friendlies Lets Humble Jack “Duck” Ma Quack about His Play

Most of the best Smash players get a lot of media attention. This is typically due in part to their high profile status allowing them opportunities to speak their minds a lot. Jack “Duck” Ma is an exception.

Playing an exceptional Samus in Melee, Duck has quietly and humbly risen up the ranks of the American Melee scene to become a well-respected player. Enough that Red Bull eSports has given him a platform to talk about himself.

In the piece, Duck talks about his origins, starting off his competitive drive in sports and music rather than gaming. However, once he started gaming, the others frustrated him due to “cutting into my video game time.” They also discuss the griminess of the Midwestern scene, and the uphill battle of playing Samus competitively in Melee.

For the full interview, please visit Red Bull.

Source: Red Bull eSports

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Toggle Returns to Hawaii to Talk Melee in Latest Episode of Smash Scenes

Smash Scenes started its series chronicling the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U scene in Hawaii. After a lot of pond-hopping and puddle-jumping, the series returns to where it began and covers the Aloha State’s Super Smash Bros. Melee scene.

In the video, the scene opens up about its grassroots origins, hosting events in garages and gaming cafés. They also discuss how Brawl made the scene flat line for a while, before bouncing back after the demise of competitive Brawl.

As of now, they are currently hosting monthly events at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus, and are still working to grow.

Source: GosuJasu

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Daily Dot Lays Off 40% of Employees, Dot Esports and Best of III Affected

It is with great sadness we report that the Daily Dot, an Austin, Texas-based media company, has laid off approximately 40% of its staff. At first glance, this may mean very little to the FGC. However, the layoffs includes a large portion of the esports department, which in turn includes the staff that produced one of the best fighting game podcasts on the internet, Best of III.

We wish all parties the best, and certainly hope that the Best of III cast can find a home in some form or another elsewhere on the internet.

Sources: CNN Money; Sajam; Michael Martin

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Seraphyx Explains How DLC Has Affected Street Fighter V’s Player Count

DLC in Street Fighter V can be polarizing. Some content has been positively received by the hardcore community, while some has driven them away. However, what about the casual community, and the people on the fence that drive new revenue for Capcom?

Seraphyx seeks to answer these questions with scientific examination. Using the Bayesian Structural Time Series, and scraping daily Street Fighter V player counts on both the PlayStation 4 and Steam platforms, he attempts to find exactly how each DLC release has changed the player base in Street Fighter V. He also compares the player count to other fighting game titles, such as Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- and Mortal Kombat XL.

What was found was that after the releases of characters, the game enjoys a jump in players briefly, followed by a return to their usual numbers–not a surprise, really. However, with the DLC drop that included Balrog, Ibuki, and the cinematic General Story Mode, the game enjoyed a large and steady increase. It is therefore possible that Story Mode brought more players into the game than the new characters have.

For more of the science regarding this, please visit the link to read the full article.

Sources: pj (Twitter); seraphyx