Corey “Missing Person” Lanier – Page 3

December 13, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Momochi put his opponents on ice?

Momochi is now the lone representative of Kolin. While she may have had a strong start early in the season, the character’s popularity at the latter half of the season waned. But with his ability to play the character, he has earned a Capcom Cup berth yet again… Will this year be different than last?

Let It Go

Last year saw Momochi in the midst of a character crisis. Bringing out Zeku and Bison in Winners Bracket, he put his back to the wall and ran Ken all the way through Losers Bracket. The result was a disappointing top 16 finish for the former Capcom Cup champion.

One of the things that Momochi was famously chided for by Punk was that he should pick a “real” character: someone whose deficiencies didn’t put him at a disadvantage. Momochi did so with Kolin, whom he was able to use to create the very aggressive style he was known for while also using amazing reactions to cause people to be afraid to push buttons against him. His usage of parries and mixups has made her very dangerous in his hands.

The Unsponsored Assist

I think one thing that surprisingly works in Momochi’s favor is that he famously lost his sponsorship with Echo Fox near the end of the season. While it can be demoralizing to lose a sponsorship, for Momochi this could be a blessing in disguise. The pressure is off to prove yourself in front of your sponsor. Now it’s about just playing for yourself.

Many top athletes always feel like they play better when they don’t feel any major pressure to win. Some of the best underdog stories come out of just going out there and doing your best, and being shocked at your best being better than everyone else’s. Certainly, Momochi hasn’t been winning lately, but being able to just play for himself could be a benefit for him that he hasn’t had since signing with Evil Geniuses in 2010.

The Flip Side

The problem with that pressure coming off could be that Momochi does exactly what he did last year, and use Capcom Cup to experiment with new characters. He no longer feels like he has to prove himself, which could make him even more loose in his choices. This is something he has done throughout his career. 2014 saw him using Cody, Juri, and Ken all in Evo top 8, making his choices more erratic. It was only 2015 onward that saw him more steadfast in his picks until last year changed that.

Any evidence you need that Momochi could knee-jerk back to his old main — or anyone else, for that matter — would be on display at SoCal Regionals against Chris Tatarian. While running the mirror may have been a respect thing, it’s that lack of cutthroat attitude from Momochi that makes me wary.

Final Thoughts

To top it off, his school and his newly founded esports team shows how many coals he has on the fire to begin with. Competing is starting to take a back seat. He’s still a loose cannon that will be fun to watch, but he’s definitely a long shot at the title.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 13, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Itabashi Zangief shift into overdrive?

Itabashi Zangief started off the season with ranks 1-10 of Top Ten Anime Betrayals of All Time. Having for years been a steadfast Zangief main, the massive nerfs the character saw in Season 3 forced his hand in switching to Abigail. For the most part, he has stood pat on his switch.

The character certainly helped him get into Capcom Cup. Now will he be able to reprise his role in the top 8 with a big body?

One Gear

One of the most exciting things about watching Itazan play last year was how aggressive his Zangief was. Well, when you take that aggression and multiply it, then you get Abigail.

This is one of the reasons why Itabashi Zangief’s transition to Abigail has been so smooth. He has few problems getting in, while also hitting like a truck any time he gets a touch. He also adds a few additional mixups beyond what Zangief ever had. This has been a great thing for Itabashi Zangief, who has always been able to condition people to fall for the few mixups that Zangief did have. The ability to do this in a myriad of ways has made him especially dangerous.

Big Body, Big Problems

The problem is that with a big body character, you run into so many problems. While Itabashi Zangief has done well with the character, the problems are inherent. Characters like Rashid do well, given his multi-hitting projectiles cause issues with Abigail getting in, while its upward arc also shuts down his air game, where the character has jump arc issues. Zoners also still reasonably well, with Guile holding down the fort very well.

This is reasonably what we can expect in his very first round, and he’s paired up against NuckleDu. While Du has lost to Itazan this year, one could expect that his Guile will be prepared to go up against him now — or at the very least, He’ll bring out G to cover the neutral at the beginning of the match, then level up in order to deal with the end game to out-hit Abigail with his V-Trigger I.

But even worse is the army of Menats that Itazan could face… he’s only beaten one out of seven. While he may have time for that — unless of course he ends up having one in his way in Losers Bracket — he still has to get through possibly Akuma, Rashid, Kolin, all with decent multi-hitting and zoning moves that can cause Abigail problems. Given his narrow win-rates against all of them, save for Kolin (a character we haven’t seen him face) this could be an ugly road for Itazan.

Final Thoughts

He’s got a character that can plow through people, provided he gets in. Against characters that make him struggle in that respect, the only character he can switch to is a character that suffers in the same regard. For him to also be facing one difficult character right out the gate makes me pessimistic about his chances.

It’s hard to count Itazan out, but the odds are he doesn’t make top 8 based on the road he has ahead.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 13, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Mago’s top tier pick work out for him?

Everyone knows Mago is one of the 2D gods of fighting games. He has always been one of the men to beat in any bracket he puts himself in. From Street Fighter IV to Street Fighter V, Mago continually finds himself in the highest echelons of competitive play. And it’s no surprise that he once again finds himself in Capcom Cup. With him being on the lower end of the seeding, how does he fare?

Shifting Focus

When you look at Mago’s competitive history in Street Fighter V, you see results upon results of him using Karin, with a couple of Rashid counter-picks littered in there. But that all changed in 2018 as Mago metaphorically hit the brakes and went to Cammy full-time.

Opting to go the route of using the inarguable highest-tier characters, Mago has done well playing catch up with dedicated Cammy mains. He has the pressure down, the spacings, the usage of every tool she has nearly perfect. He is one that is capable of picking up new characters fast, and it shows. Even in the instances where he has picked Rashid — typically as a counter for Birdie — he has shown a great sense of understanding of the character, his tools, and exactly why it’s a good counter for the characters he uses him to counter.

Master of None

But this shift is exactly the problem I have with Mago, and exactly why I can’t see him doing as well. I understand full well that character balance is always ebbing and flowing in Street Fighter V with seasonal patches. But truth be told, Karin never fell far enough in the tiers to warrant Mago to knee-jerk into changing to Cammy. Yet, he did so anyway.

What I view this is as textbook Mago, who typically shifts to whatever the highest tier is in any revision of a game without stopping to look at his previous character to see if they still hold any merit in the competitive meta. Often, they do, and yet he still switches to what’s the highest tier at any given moment. In Street Fighter IV, he started with Sagat, then switched to Fei-Long as soon as he started looking strong in Super. As soon as Ultra released, we saw him abandon Fei-Long in search of success with Yang. There was even a point within the arcade release of Ultra where we saw him play Chun-Li as rumors swirled that she might be top tier in the revision, only for him to ultimately choose Yang when it wasn’t the case.

And this is where Mago finds himself again. Karin was definitely a strong character through the first two seasons, and because she wasn’t top 5, Mago found himself a new character in Cammy. And the problem with that is he has had to play catch-up, and while he has done well with that, he isn’t able to fall back on mounds of experience that dedicated Cammy mains have had. This is why you see players like NL and Xiao Hai doing better than him on the circuit. It’s because all the situations that Mago struggles in, they’ve been there and know the answers. Mago doesn’t.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard truth time. Mago has been Tokido’s long time training partner, but there’s no secret that he’s not the last boss everyone hoped for. With his fear of commitment to a character that he doesn’t deem stronger than the rest, he actually suffers more than he benefits.

Do not get me wrong, I don’t oppose someone switching mains completely when it fits them better — or when their main gets nerfed into the ground. But I feel like neither one of these situations fit Mago. With him going up against the polar opposite in Luffy first round, someone who has tons of experience against better, more-experienced Cammys, I don’t see him doing well at all.

With that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mago go 0-2. While I would personally advise Mago to stick with Cammy or go back to Karin for Season 4, I’m not going to be surprised to see him switch to whatever character tops the tier list yet again.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 13, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Has Punk put himself in the right position for this year?

One thing that could easily be said about Punk is that he’s not the player he was before Evo 2017. Prior to that moment, people could only speculate on who would finally topple him. After Evo’s devastating loss to Tokido, he definitely began to struggle. Nothing could be more evident of that than Capcom Cup. While he avoided being the number one seed — much like Infiltration in 2016 — and going 0-2, he did self-fulfill a prophecy he laid out at Wednesday Night Fights prior to Capcom Cup, where he lost to the Last Chance Qualifer winner, Nemo.

This year, he doesn’t have to worry about this. But what he has to do, as a lower seed, is prove that he still has what it takes to win in the most-stacked brackets.

Back to His Roots

So much about Punk’s approach — and lack of results — in the game can be attributed to his experimentation this year. This can’t really be anything to fault him for. He’s young, and he needed to work out his own identity within fighting games.

This approach saw him not only switching characters (using Cammy and Cody, to name a couple) but toying around with different games, as we saw him playing more Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. While many could allude to this Punk not caring, nothing could be further from the truth. It was him being able to get a breath of fresh air to hit the reset button on his psyche.

When the chips have fallen, he has brought out his Karin where it counts, and proven that she is still just as deadly, if not more so, than she was last year. Whereas very few Karins exist on the Pro Tour at this point, he has still done everything nearly immaculate with the character to this date.

Netting Wins

Last year saw Punk string together Premier win after Premier win. He also earned a smooth payday at ELEAGUE, showing he was the man to beat last year. This year… not so much. While he was able to nail down a few ranking events, he was unable to capture the magic he had last season.

This was of course, until he reprised his role as champion in North America Regional Finals, where he beat a streaking CJ Truth twice on his way to the title. This was a far bigger test than last year, where Punk seemed to skate through the top 8 bracket with relative ease. This means that although many felt that Punk had been caught up to, he is still on pace.

Scree

But one of the biggest problems I have with Punk right now is not only the fact that there are things he hasn’t figured out, but his visible signs of frustration in that fact. Even before the CPT season begun, Punk found himself visually tilted at THE COOL KID93 at Frosty Faustings upon being eliminated by his Abigail.

When you fast forward, not much has changed in that exact match-up. NorCal Regionals saw the same look when he fell to Problem X. Come DreamHack Montréal, nothing had changed. The ironic thing is, at the latter event, he counter picked Chun-Li against Itabashi Zangief’s Abigail to great success. So you have to think his frustration is ultimately at his own doing.

Final Thoughts

Punk just needs to trust his instincts. They’re very strong, and while his second-guessing may stem from his loss at Evo to Tokido, he ultimately needs to finally shake it off and not be stubborn. He has a great blend of characters that can counter nearly every player in the tournament.

Even if he’s afraid of Problem X, he needs to buckle down, ask for blind picks, and do his thing. Whether he has to play catch up or not in the score, he is ever capable, he just needs to be prepared to leave everything out on the table this year.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 12, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Bonchan let out a roar?

Bonchan has had sort of a rocky year. Able to take two ranking events and a Premier event in 2017, he was unable to come close to that sort of success this year. While there are certainly many factors that could be at play, this makes people doubt his abilities in 2018. Regardless of that, he was able to find his way into Capcom Cup yet again… Will he make up for lost time this weekend?

The King

Bonchan has been known for his stellar Nash play since 2016. He was still able to ride the character through much of 2017, while also throwing out a Karin to take care of his worst match-ups.

But we all knew what was coming late in the year: the return of Sagat, his long-time main. While we’ve seen very few instances of him bringing out the character — outside of TWFighter Major — there have been hints on social media that Bonchan may decide to ride Sagat through Capcom Cup.

And if he does, it’ll be a risky proposition, but one he could muster. Everyone expects Nash or Karin at this point from him. But his Sagat is definitely a force to be reckoned with, playing him as optimal as you can. He has great usage of his V-Skill for big bursts of damage when he gets the chance. He does great at zoning while taking care of his bad ranges with good reads into kara-cancelled DPs and resetting the situation with yet another V-Skill. This shows that he may be playing the character right, but just needs to give himself opportunities to throw him into the wild to see what happens.

Dethroned

But the issue lies in how dominant he became in 2017 and the lack of that same success in 2018. While a lot of late 2018’s issues could be attributed to the character crisis caused by Sagat’s release, it definitely can’t be attributed to his early results. In fact, he has done equally as well — if not better — after Evo than before it.

In fact, so rare are the times that anyone not qualified for Capcom Cup finishes above him in the ranks that you have to realize that Bonchan is still on pace with everyone else at the highest levels. The problem is, he still has yet to reach the level it takes to capture something like Evo or Capcom Cup.

Final Thoughts

For Bonchan, all is going to depend on whether he sticks to his guns and plays Sagat throughout the bracket. In fact, I think this is the gamble he needs to take to stand a chance. People have always prepared as though he could bring the King out at any time since the character released, only to been met with a Karin or Nash that they’re more than prepared to dispatch.

To throw himself fully into Sagat at this tournament would probably rattle them. Especially so if Bonchan has new tech or approaches with Sagat that people would never have thought to prepare for. This will leave people scrambling to find an answer to him: provided he dances around the likes of Sako, Justin Wong, or any other player/character that deals with heavy zoners well.

If he blinks and we see him go back to Karin or Nash, I fear it’s lights out for him.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 12, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is momentum on CJ Truth’s side?

CJ Truth has propelled himself into the stratosphere this year. Relatively unknown in the pro ranks at the beginning of 2018, he began to rally after Evo to find himself in the hunt for a Capcom Cup berth. With his win at Red Bull Conquest, is he able to parlay that momentum into a huge payday?

On Guard

There are two different styles of Cammy play that have prevailed over the course of three years. There’s the ever-popular aggressive Cammy where you put players into a lot of frame traps and bad situations. This is the style that has been popularized by NL, and subscribed to by Verloren.

On the other end of the spectrum is the very patient, counter-poking style of Cammy play that Xiao Hai has always made his calling card. When you watch CJ Truth, you can see obviously which side of the coin he falls on. Rarely jumping, you don’t see too many of NL’s divekick gimmicks. But what you’ll see is a stable ground game, with a few calculated risks thrown in just to throw you off. This is the type of play that fits CJ Truth well, and is part of the reason why he’s done so well.

You often see players perplexed by him and Xiao Hai, who aren’t adverse to sitting around and waiting to get their hits in. Once they do, they try to put their opponents into bad situations with their movement more often than frame traps, and it works wonders.

Wins Across the Board

No one has been able to shake CJ Truth this year — even with the “Cabagate” issue of noise behind players offstream causing him problems in a top 24 run at NorCal Regionals. What this did was only further his resolve, where he was able to string together a run of top 16s and top 8s to prove exactly where he stood in the grand scheme of things.

Had it not been for his determination and perseverance, his win at Red Bull Conquest’s Premier side would have maybe only been relevant in determining who I’d pick for Capcom Cup 2019. But his grind of points helped to propel him to Capcom Cup off of that win.

But to further illustrate how good he is, he was able to take it off of resetting Tokido in Grand Finals, after the man put him into Losers Bracket. When you further take into account that he eliminated Tokido at CEO, and realize that CJ Truth has a winning record overall against the #1 seed, it becomes less of a question mark of if he can take the whole thing.

The Pure Mirror

Here’s his issue going into Capcom Cup: Xiao Hai. As mentioned, they both play very similarly, and to think Xiao Hai doesn’t know how to deal with his own style would be laughable. Given this is his very first match in the bracket, and Xiao Hai beat him four straight rounds at DreamHack Montréal, this is going to be a hard start for the Capcom Cup rookie.

It’s all going to depend on the homework CJ Truth has done and whether Xiao Hai is aware of the threat CJ Truth has become. He could hypothetically do it, but this is the hardest start he could’ve had.

Final Thoughts

The thing is, Xiao Hai does everything in this style better than CJ Truth. I’m almost ready to chalk his first round up to a loss. He may be able to pull together some magic going through Losers Bracket, but given the likelihood of players like Mago, Punk, and the like being their to spoil his day, it could be a situation where CJ Truth just has to prepare to go back to the drawing board for 2019.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 11, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Phenom stand out as phenomenal?

Phenom is the last of the high-level Necalli mains. While many have walked away from the character, Phenom has stuck with him, and has proven he can still hang with the best in the world. For the third straight year, Phenom has found himself ready to devour the competition at Capcom Cup. In 2016, he placed just outside of top 8; in 2017, he went 0-2. Will he return to form, or even better?

Never Stops

Where many others saw a ceiling with Necalli and abandoned ship, Phenom was able to stick with the character, and still perform at a high level. While his spacing game ultimately became a non-issue, Phenom was able to press forward, proving that he could still persist to find new ways to make the character work.

You can see that in his play, where his spacing and his corner pressure has become an increasing problem. When his neutral game got nerfed, it had to. But given the corner was where Phenom tended to excel, it’s unsurprising the character still works in his hands. He plays similar to Xiao Hai when he gets you to the corner, making you make bad decisions that he capitalizes on.

Still Winning

While Haitani did drop Necalli and was less successful, Phenom was able to keep his winning ways. With ten top 8s to his name in 2018, he has been one of the most successful Europeans on the circuit — outside of Problem X, of course.

While the bulk of his tournament success was in European ranking events (he won three) he also managed to finish top 3 at CEO behind Xiao Hai and Fujimura. This does show that there’s been gas left in his competitive tank.

But Not Quite Enough

But here’s the issue, his best results have only been in Europe. While he did well at CEO, outside of Red Bull Conquest, that seemed to be a flash in the pan for Phenom. Top 16 at Canada Cup is a strong result, given how tough it is to break through in that bracket every year, but is it enough? It’s not his third place finish at the same event two years ago. This makes it hard to really count on his durability these days, especially when you look at who he’s going up against and losing to. Losing to StormKUBO at Red Bull definitely shows issues in this match-up, whereas this was GamerBee’s pick of choice against the same player at NorCal Regionals. But then also losing to John Takeuchi not only shows that he struggles even against players who were unable to qualify for Capcom Cup outright, but Rashid specifically. Bad news for if he runs up against Oil King, Big Bird, or Gachikun.

Final Thoughts

While he may tentatively avoid all three Rashids by being on the opposite end of the bracket, he could ultimately be playing Problem X in the second round should he find himself in Winners Bracket that long. Given that he struggled against StormKUBO, how much more would he struggle against Problem X should he pick Abigail on him?

I feel like Phenom is a promising player that possibly needs to re-adjust. By re-adjust, I think unless something major happens in the Season 4 patch, he needs to find a new character that suits him well. Given that it’s hard to do so with so few days left, I don’t see Phenom making it that far.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 10, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Caba prove Dominican domination at Capcom Cup?

RISE|Caba has had an interesting year this year. One of three Dominicans who qualified for Capcom Cup outright (with one of them having to withdraw due to visa issues), he has helped to prove that the burgeoning Latin and South American scenes have amazing players who are capable of competing with the best in the world.

Now the question is, in his first foray into Capcom Cup, will Caba become the second Dominican to win the biggest event of the year?

Sonic Speed

One of the strongest things about Caba’s gameplay is his control of the pace of the match. While you see a lot of aggression at times with NuckleDu’s Guile, and Daigo being on the other end of the spectrum playing far more patiently overall, Caba lies somewhere in the middle.

While both have had strong doses of success with their play, they often can be figured out easily and countered. This forces NuckleDu to rely on counter picks in order to keep alive in a match, and can actually see Daigo crumble more. Caba’s mixture of play allows him to stay solidly in control throughout the match, giving all players issues in dealing with him.

Strongest Year Yet

And this play has made Caba rise to the top. While he has done a great deal in his home region — three ranking event wins speak for themselves — his international play has proven the fact that he is just as solid as any other player on the Tour. Getting seventh at Evo was already a strong answer to the question of how good he truly is. But to further prove his point, his first two tournaments following Evo sent him to Asia, where he made top 8 in both TWFighter Major and Esports Festival Hong Kong: the former of which saw him finish third, losing only to the top 2 of Tokido and Sako.

Out of the tournaments he attended, he only finished outside of top 8 three times. This level of consistency is hard to pull off, especially when you’re just truly getting your feet wet in the international circuit. For Caba to do this shows that he is for real.

Final Thoughts

The problem that I worry about is how much would have to go right for him to take it all. For him to do this will require him to dodge some major killers early. Right out of his second match, should he defeat Xian, he’ll likely be required to take on another Ibuki in Fujimura: the best Ibuki in the game today. While he has to worry about Sako and Tokido far later, to even get there will require him to face a virtual murderer’s row of characters he’s struggled with in Ibuki and Menat before even get to those demons as a possible Winners Finals.

For me, I feel like he’s for real, and could easily dance his way through the bracket to top 8. All bets are off there. I’m sure Caba is on the grind and is probably one of the most hungry players to prove himself at the moment. He could very well give us all a surprise when he goes up against the players who have been the most problematic for him. But at face value, top 8 could very well be the furthest he goes.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 10, 2018

Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is Big Bird big enough to take it?

Big Bird has come on strong in the past two years. Having given himself to traveling for the Capcom Pro Tour, he has truly proven himself a formidable foe. While last year may have seen him go 0-2 at Capcom Cup, this year his changes have put him in an even better position going into the biggest tournament of the year.

Now, will he find himself in a similar position as MenaRD: putting the Middle East on the map for fighting games for the first time since Latif won Evo in Guilty Gear XX AC?

A Wide Range of Characters

Last year was a whole lot of Ken, and Big Bird was one to walk to his own beat with Ken. While many have kept a mass amount of aggression, Big Bird was able to play a more patient game with the character, and make it work to the point that he was able to make it to the big dance. Of course, one of the worries I had last year was that he’d bring an untested Zeku — similar to his Guy in Street Fighter IV — into battle. He refrained, and while he brought out a fresh Rashid, it was not enough for him to bank a win at all.

2018 saw him retool, with his Rashid being brought more to the forefront. From Capcom Cup on, no tournament saw him without using Rashid, and it has paid off, despite the nerfs to the character. Big Bird has actually upped his aggression a hair, which has helped him to put players on edge when playing against him.

But 2018 has also saw him — much like his Emirati and aviary counterpart Angry Bird — bring out a Zeku to some results. People who have slept on this character will be shocked to find two possible competent Zekus that could find their way into the bracket to shake things up.

Wins Where It Counts

While Big Bird struggled to find wins across the circuit, there was one point where he finally shined. At Southeast Asia Major, he was finally able to cap off his hard work with a Premier win. But when you look at who he played against to win it, it shows how capable he is of taking a major at any point. For him to be able to beat the likes of Tokido in Grand Finals shows the capability he has when he gets on point. But then to also be able to take games off of the likes of Mago also shows that he is not just a one-off fluke, he’s simply been working to find his stride.

Final Thoughts

Big Bird is currently my dark horse pick to win. He has a good blend of characters he can utilize to make it really hard to peg him. Further, he has shown the capability to make serious runs through the bracket, no matter where he is.

Yes, he could run into trouble against Tokido: he only won 3-2, and could potentially face him in the second round. He could even run into troubles against Gachikun first round, regardless of whether he chooses to mirror him or not. But when you’ve seen Big Bird fully-focused, it’s a thing of beauty, and if he brings that focus he had in Singapore to Las Vegas, all bets are off.

CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES

December 8, 2018

Noclip sets us free with amazing documentary chronicling the career of Victor “Sp00ky” Fontanez

If you’ve ever watched a fighting game stream — odds are if you are reading this right now, you have — you’ve been a witness to the amazing production quality of Team Spooky. Starting from humble beginnings in New York City, it is one of the premier stream production teams on the planet for fighting games.

This documentary features multiple figures within the community, including Seth Killian and Sp00ky himself. Through the interviews, you get a history lesson on how Team Spooky not only became a legend within the community, but how the team helped to push fighting game tournament production and scheduling into an unprecedented level.

Source: Noclip