Author: Crow_Spaceboy

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Lay Down the Law: For Honor’s Lawbringer Guides and Glitches

As it stands right now, For Honor’s meta is largely defensive. Play is centered around the strength of reactions, to greatly reduce your opponent’s options, and taking advantage of stamina drain from 50/50 situations. It just so happens this is what the Lawbringer, arguably the game’s most defensive character, excels in.

YouTuber Evil Canadian has put together two great guides to playing the polearm-wielding class. Starting with the basics and working up, these videos cover his strengths, weaknesses, and general thought processes during battle.

Additionally, Evil Canadian recorded and explained how the controversial Unlock Glitch impacts Lawbringer. Unlocking mid-combo in For Honor sometimes allow characters to perform some combos they otherwise normally can’t–and in this instance, the unlock bug allows Lawbringer to get some small guaranteed damage off of his main pressure tool, the unblockable shove.

Source: rooflemonger

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Set To Destroy Signs Their First Pokkén Tournament Player in Allister “ALLISTER” Singh

Founded in 2010, Set To Destroy is Canada’s oldest esports organization. It’s also one of the world’s most eclectic, sponsoring players from a lengthy list of different games. STDx has decided to add Pokkén Tournament to that list by picking up Pokkén Arena Mod and high-level Suicune Player Allister “ALLISTER” Singh. Noting his commitment and community experience, Allister will make his major tournament debut with his new STDx prefix at Final Round 20 in Atlanta, Georgia. STDx has even slated him to appear at KVO x TSB 2017 in Osaka, Japan in May, making him the only official American player announced thus far to attend.

You can read more on the full press release.

Source: Set To Destroy

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Characters In For Honor Switch Guards at Different Speeds

When For Honor was announced, Ubisoft made the bold claim that the game would change the way fighting games are played. With mechanics like this, they clearly weren’t kidding:

It would appear that every character in the game has to go through a set amount of lag time between switching guard stances. This is particularly brutal for some of the characters with slower switches, as they may be forced to guess–instead of react–to some moves and strings. Surprisingly, this decision seems to have been done with a knowing hand: nearly everyone that suffers from slower switches also has strong, relevant defensive options to compensate. Nobushi has range, Shugoki has passive armor on attacks, Conqueror has All-Block stance, and so on. Even the routinely-claimed worst character in the game, Raider, saw a massive high-level tournament win with Vitraxx defeating odds on favorite iSkys in Panda Global’s 256 1v1 tournament, despite his 22-frame switch.

Still, this seems like incredibly important information to apply to in-game strategy.

Sources: SkyRayFox

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Take a Stance! How to Use–and Fight Against–Ling Xiaoyu’s Tricky Tekken 7: Fated Retribution Stances

Take a Stance! is an article series designed to help you analytically approach the wide world of stances in Tekken.

Most of the cast in Tekken has a stance of some kind. If you are new to 3D fighting games, you should know that this isn’t really that uncommon in the genre as a whole. Stances allow for a wide variety of play and creativity from different characters, and make up a large bulk of both your pressure and your combos. Often times, understanding stances is understanding the character, or at least a very large part of it. And there may not be a character that this is more true of than the Wushu practitioner, Ling Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu cannot be played competently without stance use. She lacks the range and damage of other characters, but makes up for it with a dizzying supply of options and evasion. Each of her three stances (Hypnotist, Rain Dance, and Art of Phoenix) have their own different options, openers, and goals. Knowing when and why Ling would go into each of these stances will help you play as–and counter–this slippery fighter. The fact that these stances are all so varied and powerful also means that no two Lings will ever be quite the same; you may very well find your own preference over the others as you develop your personal style.

Let’s start with what might be the most straight forward stance Ling has, Hypnotist.

Note: for those unfamiliar, here’s how to read Tekken notation.

Hypnotist

You are least likely to use or encounter Hypnotist when fighting as/against Ling. That doesn’t mean the moves from it are bad! Far from it. In fact, Hypnotist is a flashy way to break up your rhythm and keep your opponent on their toes.

Unlike her other stances, there’s really only one way to go into Hypnotist: B+1+2. Once Hypnotist begins, Ling takes up to three steps while sidewalking. You can input Hypnotist moves during this time, and after the first step is completed, you can also input normal moves from your movelist. This means that you can cancel Hypnotist into your other stances! HYP 1+2, in fact, cancels back into an opposite direction walking Hypnotist, and just mashing B+1+2 will repeatedly cancel back into the same HYP startup.

As far as the Hypnotist moves themselves… there’s only a few you really should be concerned about.

Input Hit Level Impact Frame Block Stun Hit Stun Counterhit Stun
HYP 1+2 (HYP)
HYP 1+4 (Special), Parry 18~19 (27~) +5
HYP 2 (After on step) m(HYP) 42 +1 KND KND
HYP 2 (After two step) m(HYP) 72 +5 KND KND
HYP 2 (After three step) m(HYP) 102 +24 KND KND
HYP 4 h 34(64,94) -4 +1 CS
HYP 3+4 h (TJ) 45~46 (75,105) -1~0 KND KND
HYP 2+3 (After on step) !(HYP) 81 KND KND KND
HYP 2+3 (After two step) !, m(HYP) 111 KND KND KND
HYP 2+3 (After three step) !, m(HYP) 141 KND KND KND

In my opinion, aside from using Hypnotist as a way to fake out an opponent before canceling into a normal move/RD/AOP Transition, Hypnotist’s most valuable asset is HYP 2. This move is one of your faster attacks in stance, has huge plus frames on block, knocks down, and tends to stick in your opponent’s head if they get hit by it. (3-step HYP 2 does nearly 20% damage!) Both HYP 2 and HYP 2+3 get more powerful the more steps you take in Hypnotist. HYP 2+3 has the disadvantage of being an easy-to-see unblockable, but can also be canceled with a b,b input into your Rain Dance stance. The only other real noteworthy move here is HYP 3+4, which is close to even on block. If your opponent doesn’t know this, they are more likely to fall prey to jab pressure afterwards.

In general, though, your other hypnotist moves aren’t terribly great. HYP 4’s CH state is okay but you won’t find yourself landing it often. HYP 1+4, your parry, guarantees nothing and comes so late into the animation as to skew the risk/reward.

If you’re fighting against HYP, you have to be mindful of HYP 2. HYP is mostly used as a pump fake to get you to freeze or press a button at the wrong time, but HYP 2 will always be at +frames and push you out at uncomfortable ranges if you just try to block. Backdashing in these situations after a blocked HYP 2 is likely the safest option. It’s also possible to sidewalk HYP 2 but you have to already be committed to the sidewalk usually to avoid it.

Just for a little bit of trivia, I typically see top players use Hypnosis to mess with the heads of opponents on wake up. I distinctly remember seeing Princess Ling during the Wizard World Tour mixing up HYP 2 and HYP fake into d/b+4 low when he knocked people down. Even Korean Pro Wekka has gone for HYP 2+3 shenanigans after knocking someone down, although more often than not he gets hit out of it by wake-up attacks.

Rain Dance

Rain Dance is arguably Ling’s primary stance. You automatically enter it anytime you go into a back turned state, and you can also enter it manually from any of her other stances with a B+3+4 input.

The real power of Rain Dance, however, comes from the fact that it can be entered from a very large part of your movelist.

Here’s a list of moves from your normal movelist that lead into Rain Dance:

Input Hit level Impact Frame Block Stun Hit Stun Counter Hit

Stun

 Notes
1, d+2 h, m(RD) 10 RBT -3 +8 +10  2nd hit only on CH links into RD B+3
2, 1 h, m(RD) 10 RBT -4 +7 +7
d/f+1 m (TC)(RD) 14 RBT(cs6) -4 +7 +7
b+1 m(RD) 8~12( RBT) +1 +1
u+1+2, 2, 1, b (Cancel) mm, m, (RD) 16~17, 22~23 RBT -19 -8 -8
u/f+1+2, B m (TJ)(RD) 27~29b +2~+4 OC +7~+9 OC KND
f, F+2, 1, b (Cancel) m, (RD) 15 RBT(16~) -19 -8 -8
FC+d/f+2, D/F l (TC)(RD) 19 RBT RC -8 +3 +3
FC+d/f+2, 1, D/F l (TC), l (TC)(RD) 19 RBT RC -8 +3 +3
SS+3, b (Cancel) (RD) RBT, RC
AOP 2, 1, b (Cancel) m(RD) 13? RBT -14 -3 -3
AOP u or u/f+4, B m (TJ)(RD) 15~16 RBT -15~-14 -4~-3 -4~-3

Ling’s stance transitions tend to fall under one of two categories: safe but disadvantage on block, or very unsafe but part of a string. That’s why things like AOP 2,1,b might look really bad on paper, but because of what’s happening visually, it’s actually difficult for the opponent to make the decision to capitalize on its poor frame data.

Now that you’re in stance, what can you do with it? Here’s your list of options from Rain Dance:

Input Hit level Impact Frame Block Stun Hit Stun Counter Hit

Stun

 Notes
RD d/b (Special)   Blocks Low.
RD u/f, f (Special) Blocks High
RD u/f, f, D/F (Special) RC Blocks Low
RD 1 mid 16 -5 +4 CS
RD 1, 4 mid, high (TJ) 16 -6~-5 KND KND Tail spin
RD 2 h(RD) 12 T 0 +6 +6
RD 2, 1 h, h 12 -1 +6 +10
RD 2, 1, 4 h, h, m 12 -18~-17 Launch (JG?) Launch (JG?)
RD 2, 2 h, m 12 RBT -6~-5 +4~+5 +4~+5
RD 2, 2, 1 h, m, mmm 12 RC -13~-9 (-18) -2~+2 OC -2~+2 OC
RD 2, 2, 1, D h, m, mmm, (AOP) 12 -12~-8 (-17) -1~+3 OC -1~+3 OC
RD 3 m (TJ) 18~19 RBT -19~-18 KND KND
RD 4 m 13~14 -18~-17 Launch (JG?) Launch (JG?)
RD 1+2 mm 16,22~23 -5~-4 +6~+7 +6~+7
RD 1+2, 1+2 mm, mm 16,22~23s -11~-10 0~+1 OC 0~+1 OC
RD 3+4 or u+3+4 (Special) 16,22~23
RD db+2 sM(TC) 11  -4  +7  +7
RD 1+4 Parry(RD) 1?~ +5
RD f+1+2 m(h or m punch parry) 23 -8 +3(CS) +5
RD f+3+4 (RD) RBT
RD f+3+4, 3+4 m(RD) 25 RBT -11 Launch (JG?) Launch (JG?)
RD d+3 l 16 -12 +7s +7?s
RD d+3, 4 l, h 16 -5 KND KND? Tail spin
in rage RD d+3, 3+4 l, m, (Special) 16 -4 SCD SCD Rage art, Tail spin
RD d+4 l 23s -24? 0?s KND
RD d/b or d or d/f+1+2 (RD) 23
RD d+1+4 Low parry(RD) 1~
RD d/b or d/f+4 l(!)(RD) 15 +2 +2 OC +2 OC
RD b+3 h 10 -8 KND KND
RD b+3+4 (RDS) RBT
RD u or u/f+1 l (TJ), (Special) 33 -8 +12s? +12s
RD f, F+3 m (TJ)(RDS) 16 RBT(17~) (js4) -5 +6 KND
RD f, F+3+4 m (TJ)(, !(Throw)) 46~49 (47~) +4~+6 KND(Throw) KND(Throw)
RD 1+3 or 2+4 h(Throw)(RDS) 12 KND
RD f, F+1+3 or f, F+2+4 (Special) (TJ), h(Throw)(RD) 12(~) (js2) Throw(KND)
d+1+2 or FC+1+2 RD d+1+2 (Special) (TC)(AOP) (cs1)

tl;dr: A lot. You can do a lot.

For whatever reason, Xiaoyu’s crouching jab (db+2) is 1 frame slower than the rest of the cast. This is rarely an issue, but it’s important to note if you intend frame-tight pressure with it from Rain Dance.

If Xiaoyu wants to beat i10 jabs, she must rely on either RD b+3, or a crouching move, depending on how much advantage/disadvantage she’s at. As you can see from her list of starters, this means she only has one stance transition that gives her real pressure: the slow and easily identifiable uf+1+2. All other pressure is “fake” pressure: it either preys on your opponent’s lack of knowledge of when she can and cannot go into Rain Dance, or it relies on fakes and cancels from other (usually unsafe) strings. We’re exclusively talking about on block, here. On hit, Ling has a much wider range of options, as her opponent’s backdash won’t be able to get them away from as many options.

Speaking of which, backdash is the real problem for RD options. Nearly all stance transition options lose to crouch jab or backdash. What can you do? Well, you have a few options. If you want to play it safe, simply pressing d/b in RD is a way to cancel into crouch that pivots Xiaoyu far away from the enemy. It’s a curious quirk that allows her to create a lot of space safely after RD.

But what if you want to pressure? FF+3 is a great, fast mid that jumps over lows and special mids, like your opponent’s crouch jab. It’s a very strong option, but if your opponent does a standing jab and you didn’t have enough frame advantage to interrupt, you’ll get floated for potentially a full juggle. Yikes! You could also mix this up with d+3, a low mixup that’s a lot more likely to hit a backdashing opponent, but is a little linear and still loses to mashed jabs if you started your pressure on block.

Thus, we have a weakness: jabs (both standing and crouching) and backdashing. What can you do actively to maintain pressure versus these options? Enter: the California Roll.

"MBC

 MBC (Bob) vs. Wekka (Xiaoyu) demonstration of RD > California Roll vs. Backdash

California Roll is what allows Xiaoyu to always make an opponent think twice about mindlessly backdashing and jabbing. The built-in attack, though quite unsafe, is a source of giant damage. In the example above, MBC recognizes DF+1 as a Rain Dance stance transition, and attempts Backdash > df+2 to whiff punish any Rain Dance poke attempt. You can see how well that worked out for him! Had he backdashed and blocked he might have been safe, but the risk there is that this just allows Ling to roll in for free and do anything from Rain Dance. (California Roll does not have to commit to its attack.) He could have also stood still and buffered a crouch jab after blocking Ling’s d/1, but then he loses to Ling’s ff+3 and if he was even a few frames off, the roll can duck under crouch jabs. That is the true power of California Roll: the ability to chase down backdashes, duck under large parts of opponents movelists, and force the opponent right back into the Rain Dance mixup they were hoping to avoid for free.

And if they just freeze up and start blocking after all your transitions? Well. That’s what you want, isn’t it!

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Ling’s new Rage Drive is from her RD stance. It’s a safe, unseeable, low-to-mid combo starter. As if your mixups aren’t scary enough, you have one-time access to something like that when you’re low on health. That alone validates Rain Dance use, at least sometimes.

Art of Phoenix

And here is where the fun begins. Or frustration, if you’re Ling’s opponent.

AOP is the centerpiece of Ling’s evasiveness. This stance ducks all highs, and many mids. If that wasn’t enough, when you go into AOP from neutral, Ling takes a small sidestep, which allows her to also avoid many linear moves. Because of this, anytime Ling is at a minor disadvantage, she can make a gutsy move by going into AOP and attempting to punish a whiffed button. Believe it or not, this is another way you can combat the crouching jabs that your opponents will occasionally do to stuff RD.

Here’s her ways to go into AOP from neutral:

Input Hit level Impact Frame Block Stun Hit Stun Counter Hit

Stun

 Notes
f+3+4, d+1+2 (Special), (AOP) 24,32,34 (~)
D+1 mmm, (AOP) 17~18, 21~23, 28~32 RC -11~-7 0~+4 OC 0~+4 OC
u/b+3+4, d+1+2 m (TJ), (AOP) 22~23 -21~-20 Launch Launch
u or u/f+1 l (TJ)(AOP) 33 -8 +9s +9s
u/f+4, d+1+2 m (TJ), (AOP) 23~24 -9~-8 +2~+3 OC KND
f, F+1, D m, (AOP) 15 RBT(16~) -8 +3s +3s
FC+d/f+4 l (TC), (AOP) 18 -7 +4 +4
SS+3, d+1+2 l (TC), (AOP) 27(36~) –

Much like Rain Dance, the reason AOP is so good may not be immediately apparent from her frame data. In fact, the situation is quite bad–she has no way on block to interrupt the fastest attacks that can hit her. This situation is remedied by the fact she simply ducks under a large part of many opponents movelists! If your opponent (or you, as her opponent) have not taken the time to see what hits Ling when she’s in AOP, you will likely get run over by this stance in short order. You must know what moves you have that will hit low enough to stop AOP. Xiaoyu also have the added difficulty of not being able to block instantly out of AOP, so for all iT’s strengths, there is an inherent risk to it.

Once she’s in stance and her opponent hasn’t stopped her properly, the sky’s the limit:

Input Hit Level Speed Block Stun Hit Stun Counter Hit Stun Notes
AOP 1 m 18 RC -5 +6 +6
AOP 1, 2 m, h 18 RBT -6 +5 +5
AOP 2 m 13? -11 0 0
AOP 2, 1 m, m 13? -12 KND KND
AOP 2, 1, b (Cancel) m(RD) 13? RBT -14 -3 -3
AOP 3 l (TC) 24~s -16~-9? +? KND
AOP 4 m 12 -4 +7 +7
AOP 4~3 l (TC) 22s(a) (23~) -26? KND KND
AOP 1+2 m 19 -1 KND CS
AOP 3+4 mmm (TJ) 24,32,34 RC -13 +6 +6
AOP 1+3 or 2+4 h(Throw) 42 Throw(KND)
AOP f+4 l (TC), (AOP) 18~19 -7~-6 +4~+5 +4~+5
AOP f+4, 4 l (TC), l (TC) 18~19 RC -6 +5 +5
AOP d+1 l (TC) 19 RC -12 -1 KND(Throw) +19
AOP d+1+2 m 26 -9 Launch(JG?) Launch(JG?)
AOP u/b or u or u/f+3 m (TJ) 15~16 -15~-14 Launch (JG?) Launch (JG?)
AOP u/b or u or u/f+3, 1 m (TJ), m (TJ), (AOP) 15~16 -4 +7 OC +7 OC
AOP u/b or u or u/f+3, 3 m (TJ), h (TJ) 15~16 -5 KND KND
AOP u/b or u or u/f+3, 4 m (TJ), m 15~16 -14~-13 -3~-2 +22~+23g? (KND)
AOP u or u/f+4 m (TJ) 15~16 RC -10~-9 +1~+2 +1~+2
AOP u or u/f+4 (Far) m (TJ) 23~25?s -2~0? +9~+11? +9~+11?
AOP u or u/f+4, B m (TJ)(RDS) 15~16 RBT -15~-14 -4~-3 -4~-3
AOP u or u/f+4, d+1+2 m (TJ), (AOP) 15~16 -12~-11 -1~0 -1~0
AOP u or u/f+4, 4 m (TJ), m (TJ) 15~16 RC -12 -1 -1
AOP u/b or u or u/f, n+3 m (TJ) 28~30 -22~-20 +6~+8OB +6~+8OB
AOP u/b or u or u/f, n+3, d+1+2 m (TJ), (Special) 28~30 -10~-8 +19~+21OB +19~+21OB
AOP u/b or u or u/f, n+4 m (TJ) 12(23) -8 KND KND
AOP u/b or u or u/f(When landing)4 m (TJ) 12(40) -10 +1 +1
AOP u/b or u or u/f(When landing)3 l (TC) 16 RC(46) -18 KND KND
AOP d/b or b or d/f or f (Special) 16(46)
AOP b, b or f, f (Special) 16(46)
AOP d (Special) 16(46)
AOP u/b or u or U/F (Special) (TJ) Air
AOP b+3+4 (Special) RBT
AOP f+3+4 (Special) (TJ) RC
AOP f+3+4, D (Special) (TJ), (Special) (TC)(AOP)
AOP Rage b+1+2 m – KND KND Rage art

AOP is easier to interrupt then RD from a frame data perspective, but it’s also objectively a better stance option wise. AOP 4 is basically your WS 4. AOP D+1+2 is a safe, high-damage mid launcher. AOP 4~3 is a difficult, annoying low that leaves Ling grounded. Many string cancels into RD. AOP 1+2 is a counterhit combo starter. AOP U/F+3 tech jumps and has three different extensions that all either knock down or cause juggles. The trick to using AOP is not using the moves out of it–they are almost all good for one reason or another. (Don’t use AOP 3+4. It sucks. I honestly think that move is there to punish sloppy 4~3 inputs.) The real trick to AOP is reading your opponent in a way that lets you go into it safely.

Your win rate vs. Xiaoyu will directly correlate to knowing what options your character has to shut down AOP. And vice versa, your win rate as Xiaoyu will dramatically increase if you learn how to take control of AOP to exploit your opponent’s habits.

And that’s the basic gist of Xiaoyu’s stances! Nothing replaces playing as, or against, Ling, but hopefully seeing this on paper will help solidify some concepts about how these things work. Ling can run wild over anyone that doesn’t understand her stances, but once both players know how real and fake her transitions are, it becomes a very different battle. Mid-level Xiaoyu’s can crumple completely to you if you choose optimal options versus her. And high level Xiaoyu’s can tear you apart without any effort if you don’t.

Sources: INATEKKEN [for frame data]; MBC (YouTube); TekkenZaibatsu

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Klyka’s “Class Warfare” Series Examines High-Level For Honor Gameplay, with Player Commentary

For Honor–depending upon who’s opinion you ask for–is Ubisoft’s first crossing into the world of fighting games. A community has already begun to coalesce around this strange over-the-shoulder fighter, and the way it’s being played by its top players is quite fascinating.

Klyka’s “Class Warfare”series has some of the best examples you can find of the inner workings of For Honor‘s combat right now. Showing off high-level matches from each of the players’ perspectives is a great idea, and getting the players to break down what they were thinking about during the matches is both educational and entertaining. When Kensei player EnderVexc casually mentions “He feinted an attack, so I feinted a parry attempt so that I can parry his parry,” I knew I was watching some special.

As both players have been playing their mains since the Beta, they show off impressive tech, footsies, and mind games. If this series progresses, hopefully the meta will remain as interesting as it is here!

Sources: Klyka

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Debow | Swillo Shows Off Sizzling Combos For Pokkén Tournament’s Blaziken

Debow | Swillo is a top tier Pokkén Tournament player that truly loves his game. His credentials speak for themselves- 3rd at Evo, 4th at Nationals, 5th at St. Louis Showdown, and a proverbial boatload of smaller tournament wins all over the country. But it’s not just tournament play he’s good for- the man is a lab monster constantly looking to push the game’s engine. We featured his work before with his tournament main MewTwo, and now he’s set his sights on the fire starter Blaziken.

Am I allowed to say this is fire? Is that bad? Whatever. It’s too late. I did it.

Despite representation from top tier players like BadIntent and AngelDarkSong, Blaziken generally finds himself near the bottom on accepted Pokkén tier lists. But that’s only because on the attack triangle Pokkén uses (Attack > Throw > Counter > Attack), Blaziken places all his bets on his relentless attacks and high damage combo starters. On top of that, his one thing- high octane offense- costs him health to use. This video shows why he has to pay a price for his damage. He may struggle to hit you, but when he does, you’ll feel it… and as Swillo shows, he can burn you up in style.

Starting off slow with beginner combos, Swillo quickly turns up the heat with a wide variety of flashy, phase shift pushing flair. You’ll see lowest-height possible High Jump Kicks to create new combo opportunities near the wall. Execution heavy charge-release flop enders. Multiple low dive kick links in the same combo. Over half screen carrying juggles. And if you’re willing to spend Blaziken’s health currency to enhance your moves, these combos will quickly shave off 45% or more on your opponent’s lifebar easily.

As demonstrated, Blaziken’s damage output doesn’t care what tier you place him in.

Source: Swillo

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Pokkén Arena’s Milln Talks about Evo’s Donation Drive, Final Round, & the Pokkén World Championship Series

Outspoken and insightful, PokkénArena’s Admin FlySociety|Jonathan “Milln” Conway has definitely been one of the most entertaining personalities I’ve talked to while I’ve been at SRK. As an admin of Pokkén Tournament’s largest competitive-centered website, few are more in-the-know of what’s happening in the Pokkén scene than this man. He was a commentator at KiT, just recently won the large Georgia monthly GwinnetBrawl, and has obtained and relocated his ever-expanding work to PokkenArena.com. The man seems to have 48 hours in a day, all dedicated to advancing Pokkén. I couldn’t think of a better person to talk to about the string of good fortune that’s happened in the series lately, then America’s most visible Lucario player.

Crow_Spaceboy: Last time we talked, we were discussing the state of the Pokkén scene. A lot has transpired between then and now, that’s directly tested the scene’s health.

Milln: Well, it’s all been great. [laughs] Yeah, we’ve had a lot of really good events. Let’s see, we had Worlds, we had Summer Jam, we have the Fall Classic, we were at KiT last January, we’re going to be at Winter Brawl with free entry and a $1000 dollar pot! Big E really believes in us, and has said as much. He’s said he wants his events to be our home, and I’m okay with that, for sure. We’ll see how the rest of the community feels about that over time.

Crow_Spaceboy: Were you surprised at what happened with the Evo 2017 Player’s Choice donation drive?

Milln: Pleasantly. I went into it very cynical. We’re going against Marvel vs. Capcom 3 which… unanimously, everyone across the FGC agrees should have already been at Evo. And it’s kind of unfair and annoying and silly to put it up against 8 other games. And.. half of them.. weren’t even choices. Like… whose really going to donate to Nidhogg, over Marvel and Killer Instinct? I like Nidhogg, respect to anyone that did donate to them, I guess. But it’s not an Evo game.

Crow_Spaceboy: I hear ya. I wrote about Windjammers. [laughs]

Milln: [laughs] Yeah, and that’s a great game. But for Evo? It doesn’t need to be there. Same reason eSports don’t need to be at the Olympics. [pauses] Windjammers, though…!

Crow_Spaceboy: Oh, Olympics. For sure.

Milln: After about five days it became clear that the battle was going to be between Marvel and Pokkén. Everyone else put in their meme money and just kind of watched. ARMS got $1,337. That was funny. Yeah, overall, I was happy with what the Pokkén community accomplished. I got us on Jet Set Radio Live, got a little cross-promotion going on between them and PokkénArena. We got the involvement of lots of Pokémon VGC players, got them to shout us out. We just did what we could. We presented our story, did a 24-hour stream of going through our history, hyping the game, played some ranked. And hey, we raised 60,000+ for charity, that’s most important.

Crow_Spaceboy: Pokkén has its roots in Final Round, in a lot of ways. That was the first non-invitation tournament in the US, and it was the first time anyone could really just sit down and play. As the admin of PokkenArena, talk to me about what you think Final Round means to your community.

Milln: It’s our anniversary event. I kind of don’t want to say anything else? It’s a great place, we’ve got decent registration numbers. I think I heard some Japanese players were going to come, but then the Evo drive happened. I’m not sure what their status is on that anymore. Europe is definitely coming, though. A lot of people around the states are coming, obviously.

Crow_Spaceboy: That’s a good segue, because I wanted to ask about some big names you were looking forward to seeing at Final Round.

Milln: Well, Crow, everyone’s a big name to me because I love everybody in the community…

Crow_Spaceboy: [laughs] Okay, that is the most political answer…

Milln: Honestly, I do think very highly of our community. I’m just excited to see people. To answer your question though… CatFight, Swillo, SuicuneMaster if he ever gets back from Australia, Ouroboro, myself, Deity… ANGELDARKSONG. Make sure you type that in all caps. There’s so many strong players coming.

Crow_Spaceboy: Do you have a favorite to win?

Milln: Me!

Crow_Spaceboy: Of course. You just won Gwinnet Brawl, right?

Milln: The joke is that I told everyone I was going to win everything in 2017. Didn’t in win KiT because I made excuses all weekend, but not Gwinnet! That’s one! That’s one down. Georgia is a very strong state. They have Ouroboro, Scatz, JDA7, Teejay… Had Obscure, but he moved to Florida. So, like, Charizard, Machamp, Pikachu, Lucario… lots of matchup knowledge. We have a great new Lucario named Nexinitus that took out Ouroboro at Gwinnet Brawl. Ouroboro just got 2nd at KiT. That’s not a random he beat. Nexinitus was pretty excited too, when he won, heh. Outside of him… even though I won the tournament, I feel like Jda7, our Pikachu player, was the protagonist of that event. [laughs] Him doing well at Gwinnet Brawl really set him up to do well at Final Round. He beat a lot of his demons in bracket.

Crow_Spaceboy: I didn’t know all these great players were Georgia. That’s fascinating to me, because Georgia is also known for being really strong at Namco games. Their Tekken scene is really strong. RTD is one of the best in the world in Soul Calibur. It seems like Pokkén’s just another 3D game for them to flex in, I guess.

Milln: Georgia is just really strong and knowledgeable in fighters, in general. Jda7 is a really good example of what I mean by how strong practice mode can make you. I think every Pikachu 6Y he did was a just frame this weekend, except maybe one? In the entire tournament. His combos are point. His spacing is on point. He took out Nexusinitus and Ouroboro. I was really proud of him. My grand finals set versus him was so nutty. Lucario’s mix-ups don’t work on Pikachu because of Volt Tackle. Also, Pikachu is just, in general, a neutral-heavy character. The majority of the game was just in this teeth-grinding footsie war. We had two time outs, and how they happened are crazy. Dude, let me tell you. I am a super fan of that kind of neutral. It’s so intense. I remember one of the Evos with USFIV, and the two characters are not pressing buttons, and just moving in and out of poke range, I’m in the crowd just… going nuts, screaming, getting progressively louder. I feel that type of game in my heart.

Crow_Spaceboy: Any thoughts on the new arcade characters?

Milln: I’m going to wreck with Scizor. I’m going to play the hell out of that Bug/Gundam. Not Bug/Steel. He’s Bug/Gundam.

scizor-announcement

Crow_Spaceboy: [laughs] And Gundam’s weak to nothing, right?

Milln: You can’t destroy Gundam metal!

Crow_Spaceboy: What do you like about Scizor over Lucario?

Milln: He has mobility options. Scizor looks so much fun. He looks difficult and complex, but satisfying to play. He’s boosting around everywhere. He can dash infinitely. He has an air stall with his R option. He has jump cancel combos. He has actual cool things and meter management. Swords Dance is going to be so fun to screw around with. It’s a counter attack move that gives you a set of swords behind your back. You can have up to 2 sets at a time, and each sword gives you followups to your special moves. He’s got a dragon punch. Long combos. He can shoot the swords from Swords Dance as a projectile.

Crow_Spaceboy: He sounds like a character designed for the air dasher crowd.

Milln: Bug. Gundam.

Crow_Spaceboy: More appropriately, I guess… He’s Virtual On.

Milln: Right? It really feels like I’m playing Ex Versus now in field phase.

Crow_Spaceboy: Did you have anything you want to say about the new World Series announcement, and patch? [TPC did announce yesterday that the Pokémon Championships would run the Wii U version this year, but no word as to if it would be patched/DLC would be offered prior to the event. – Editor]

Milln: I don’t have much to say because there’s not enough information yet. They basically said “Yeah, this is a thing.” My reaction is “Oh, okay. What else ya got?” We need more information about locations and tournament version. The balance changes in 1.5 are cool. Lots of buffs and lots of new stuff. It doesn’t sound too crazy but it really is rounding out and polishing the game. One of the cool things about Pokkén is that every character is really strong, and this patch really focused on helping out the bottom tiers. I’m glad that the air recover tech is being fixed. I didn’t have a problem with the buffer on that state not being there, but it’s just so weird that you can’t buffer in this one state in the game when you can everywhere else. All in all, we just need it here, in the States. I think if they finally release the arcade characters, it’d do really well.

As usual, I left my conversation with Milln excited about Pokkén Tournament’s future. It’s hard not to feel that way after you talk to him. He’s an effective hype man for his game, and given recent his tournament results, he’s looking to position himself as a top player, too. Any community that wants to bolster numbers the way Pokkén has could use someone that’s as open and loud about their excitement for their game as Milln is for his.

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Watch Over 3 Hours Footage from Japanese Arcade A-Cho’s 2v2 Ultra Street Fighter IV Team Tournament

A-Cho Arcade in Kyoto, Japan is a popular spot for hardcore fighting game players. Though the arcade itself mostly runs events for anime games like BlazBlue and Melty Blood, at the end of January A-cho ran a nice Ultra Street Fighter IV Team Tournament. The footage was just uploaded this week and, in addition to the individual strengths of its players, there’s a wide variety in their character selection.

I never like seeing games “go away,” and places like Mikado and A-Cho always remind me why. The T-Hawk player “Pork,” in particular, really impressed me. Then again, I’m a real sucker for the traditional grappler vortex he makes such strong use of. I get hype for command grabs, and if you do too, this tournament is for you. It’s also just interesting to see how this game continues to develop in 2017!

What do you think? Does Game A-Cho’s throwback tournament make you want to run your own USFIV event?

Sources: A-Cho

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Japanese Pokkén Tournament Player GINE Shows Off Pikachu Buffs from Recent Arcade Patch

GINE, a dedicated Pikachu player since the game’s release, has been kind enough to record 30+ minutes of his arcade grinding in the latest patch for Pokkén Tournament. Pikachu, the series’s iconic mascot, received a few new attack cancel options in field phase, allowing him to make it more difficult for his opponents to close in. As evidenced by the video, GINE seems eager to explore these new attack methods, peppering them into his zoning-heavy neutral. Many of his opponents are also sporting recently buffed characters–if you’re looking for lots of footage of Scizor, Gardevoir, Mewtwo and Machamp, this is a great place to look, too!

Source: GINE

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Check Out Peru’s Collision 2017 Tekken 7 and Tekken Tag 2 Tournaments, Happening Now!

Collision 2017 in Lima, Peru is the largest Tekken tournament in Latin America. Sponsored by Bandai Namco, Collision is running tournaments for Tekken 7 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Even Harada-San himself will be attending!

 

You can find the tournament stream here:

Watch live video from TEKKEN on www.twitch.tv
And if you were curious, here’s what the pools look like! Looks like there’s no escape: where there’s Tekken 7, Saint and JDCR are going to find a way to be there. Don’t think their pools are free though: that’s LordTKD in Saint’s pool, a long-time tournament vet from Chile known for his taekwondo characters!

Tournament schedule, in local time, is below.

Source: Collision2017 (Twitter)