RWBY fans might be in for a treat at this year’s Evo. It’s possible that a fighting game with the characters from the Rooster Teeth show might star in a new fighting game. This past weekend, RTX 2017 took place, a convention dedicated to the media company’s franchises. According to AfterBuzz TV, Rooster Teeth teased that they will make an appearance at Evo and show an RWBY fighting game.
TEASING AN APPEARANCE AT EVO NEXT WEEK! #RWBY FIGHTING GAME COMING!
— #RoosterTeam @ RTX (@ABTVRoosterTeam) July 9, 2017
You heard us! They said it at their panel today!
— #RoosterTeam @ RTX (@ABTVRoosterTeam) July 9, 2017
If this is true, we’ll know later this week for sure. Now, as to what studio could be working on it is a tougher guess, but there is a link between Rooster Teeth and Arc System Works. While it’s true that ASW is busy with Dragon Ball FighterZ, Toshimichi Mori has expressed interest in working on an RWBY game in a Forbes interview last year.
“If I were to make a game based on something that wasn’t a complete original, which is what I have done in the past, it would be based on the intellectual property of RWBY,” the producer behind BlazBlue said. “So each girl has their own kind of color, theme that they are associated with and the original creator has sadly passed away. If we were to ever make a fighting game of this, I would want to really spearhead that if possible.”
A member of the Rooster Teeth forums stated that at a previous RTX, they asked whether they’ve been talking to ASW.
“We’ve said hello,” is the answer they received.
Is a possible collaboration in the works? We’ll have to see for sure at Evo.
As our eyes set on the Evolution Championship 2017 next week, we can’t forget to practice as much as possible to prepare. Tension Pulse, the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 online exhibition series, continues with a new set of matches this weekend on Sunday. It’s not quite the same as usual, however. Expect to see double the action, because this time, we have four exhibition matches with a total of eight players!
We have many returning faces as well. Keep reading for a breakdown of who’s fighting who:
Hotashi versus Lord Knight
Hotashi, Elphelt Valentine:
On his opponent: “He’s a fantastic player, there’s nothing more to say. I play against him often, so I am mostly focused on practicing fundamentals and a stable mindset before the set.”
On playing since the last exhibition in April: “I… have had a confidence deficit for months, or years, that I don’t do enough as a competitor, or my style of play is unacceptable, and that I don’t deserve much attention or accolades compared to my peers. My objective in playing the game was mostly to play a certain way others wanted me to go about things. Since CEO, I’ve let this weight go and moved my focus away from the game even though the tournament season is in full swing. I just look forward to having as much fun as I can, no matter whether I win or lose. I feel this has improved my performance as a player or at least reduced my anxiety.”
Lord Knight, Millia Rage:
On his opponent: “Hotashi has an unorthodox playstyle, so winning against him means minimizing how many awkward situations he puts me in. On the one hand, it’s a good style against Millia, since Elphelt does so much damage and Millia has no life. On the other hand, sometimes unusual decisions aren’t so good against Millia since her knocking down can close the round.
“I don’t really do any ‘extra’ preparation for most people, since I have a holistic approach to learning and playing fighting games.”
On his own playstyle: “Millia is a low life/low damage character, so I focus on learning the other character’s tools and finding counters to them, on both offense and defense. I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly ‘aggressive’ or ‘passive’ player — rather, I try to adapt to the situation based on the resources I have and my knowledge of the opponent’s character.”
MC|GcYoshi13 versus Nakkiel.exe
MC|GcYoshi13, Bedman
On his opponent: “I initially had my doubts about Nakkiel because he chose the team “No-Pineapples on Pizza,” [at a special exhibition at this year’s Frosty Faustings] which made me question his taste. I learned later that he was actually allergic to the fruit, making him the only one on that team with a worthy cause to fight for. I learned he is a person of conviction, resolve, and honor. He will be very difficult to beat. I’m preparing for this exhibition by watching the match where he shook the man known as Kizzie “Shook” Kay. My God, what a blow up. Please be gentle Nakkiel, it’s my first time.”
On his own playstyle: “My playstyle is a mix of run-away, zoning, and opportunistic pressure. Bedman should avoid playing with risk-reward in REV 2 due to several changes, so you might see a lot more run-away from me than usual. The goal is to play safe and solid. I feel like as I’ve grown as an FG player, I’ve developed an aptitude for screen pollution. I plan to suffocate Nakkiel’s options in neutral with various projectiles and leave him with only dangerous commitments. REV 2 Bedman has a lot of negative response, but if I play solid, I’ll do well.”
Nakkiel.exe, Sol Badguy
On his opponent: “I think GcYoshi is a very solid player. He knows Bedman well and has some of the stronger training partners available in the USA (daymendou/Xcel|BjornSonOfBear) to further himself along. I’ve been reviewing the admittedly scarce match videos of Sol vs. Bedman to help plan out my general gameplan and things to look out for!”
Advice for other Sol players: “I think there’s a unique sense of patience required to really excel at Sol. Many players see Sol run over others at low to mid-level play since he can be very overwhelming and win quickly for ‘small’ mistakes but high-level play can really display how intelligent Sol can be required to play. Mix-up opportunties end quickly and Wild Throw (his command grab) has a lot of recovery and can be very risky to use. My tip is to learn your normals and their uses well and try to remove high-risk gambles from your gameplay as much as you can.”
doren2k versus CATPION|DEB
doren2k, Jam Kuradoberi
On his opponent: “I think DEB is a really good player. He switched from Pot like a year or so ago, and he’s been doing really well with Sol from what I’ve seen on netplay. DEB and I actually play like all the time. Every morning before work we would get in like a quick FT7 or FT10 against each other, even back in REV 1, so we are very familiar with each other. And I haven’t really been preparing for DEB cause he’s free (LOL I’m joking ). But we have played so many times, I honestly don’t think I can prepare for him, we both know each other so well now. Everybody is going to see some wild stuff that doesn’t look normal. LOL, it’s gonna be a hype set though!”
On REV 2 changes: “Since the last time I played in the exhibition, my character got buffed a little bit! She’s more stable now. The sweep buff was really good, 6P buff is amazing, and of course everybody knows about Puff Puff (236S+S+HS). But also, I feel like I’ve gotten better at the game in general. Goals for this week is to beat Deb 7-0 and also get top 8 at Evo, LOL. SORRY DEB!”
CATPION|DEB, Sol Badguy
On his opponent: “I think very highly of Doren. He’s for sure one of the strongest players in North America, and his knowledge of Jam is pretty impressive. His experience definitely shows itself! Me and him play a lot, so we’re both pretty familiar with each other’s playstyles and habits. I’ll know what to expect, but again, he’s an incredibly smart player who adapts very fast, so that can change within a game. I’ll have to play very well to close it out vs. him.”
On the time since his last exhibition: “In the span of time, I’ve definitely learned a lot about pacing myself in neutral and worked a lot on my mentality. The previous exhibition with DotNova taught me a lot about not just the Jack-O’ matchup, but a lot of different ways to approach matchups — as my Evo pool has a lot of varied characters and names, that for sure will help me a lot in getting through it!”
Hamad.exe versus Xcel|BjornSonOfBear
Hamad.exe, Ky Kiske
On his opponent: “Bears is a very strong player that I have had the pleasure of meeting in the GG community. It’s been great watching him grow into one of the strongest US players. As of how I prepared for the fight, it’s really hard to get good practice against strong Chipp players, so I mainly focused on situational awareness in training mode and strategy. I have a couple of ideas I hope to try out.”
On his playstyle: “Honestly, I just do what I feel beats my opponent’s character and more importantly what beats their general strategy. I can play anywhere from the lamest play you’ve ever seen to the most aggressive. I think having good fighting game sense allows me to choose how I want to approach and when during a match. It won’t be any different for the fight against Bears. I just have to capitalize on his mental state at all times.”
Xcel|BjornSonOfBear, Chipp Zanuff
On his opponent: “Hamad’s progress has been amazing to track. It’s very impressive to see just how quickly he improves, especially considering that ‘anime’ games are considered so inscrutable by a large number of Street Fighter players. Maybe it’s a consequence of his background, but I feel like he approaches the game from a direction that most people don’t, so fighting him is always super interesting and makes me change my approach as well. We played a bunch as recently as CEO, so I’ve already got a decent idea of how things are gonna go. I feel like I’d be better served by going over our recent matches in my head and trying to fix some of the things that got me punished as opposed to trying to study Japanese match videos and the like.”
On his playstyle: “I play a pretty risky style. I definitely try to take things head on and I’m almost always trying to go in. On defense I try to avoid blocking as much as I can, and I’ll gladly take a lot of damage in a bad situation if I can return to neutral at the end of it. I’m confident enough in my ability to end rounds off of one good turn in the corner that I’ll take significant risks to get it, which can be exploited by calmer people who know what I’m looking for. In general my matches tend to be very fast pace, win or lose, meaning that against me a large part of winning is either not getting caught up in said pace or imposing your own on me instead.”
Tension Pulse starts up on Sunday evening on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel. The four exhibitions will be in the order as presented in the article, so if you want to watch all of them, tune in at the beginning to see Hotashi battle Lord Knight. That will start at 9:00 PM EST/8:00 PM CST/6:00 PM PDT. Each FT7 should take about half hour. Ryan Hunter and Sway will commentate the exhibition.
Last time, SQ played against Native, while Zinac faced Mr.Dolphin. Read up on their online Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 sets and then check out the results below.
Tension Pulse, a Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 online exhibition series, features quality matches between well-versed opponents with commentary. The organizers, Silva and zenzen, are going strong into their second episode of the mayhem, which continues later tonight. It’s a great opportunity to see some valuable Guilty Gear play with entertaining commentary and extra insight (and all in English)!
We have a new set of Daredevils this time, with one returning from the past. We’re going to see how much REV 2 changes have affected SQ’s Sin Kiske in comparison to Native’s Dizzy. We also have Zinac’s Faust going against Mr.Dolphin’s “Seaworld” May.
Native
On REV 2 changes: “Overall, I feel REV 2 completely changed who I play, she’s 100% stronger considering they really buffed some of her zoning tools, i.e. JH Fish, Bubble not going off screen, both Fire and Ice Dagger getting better. So I’d say that’s the newest thing for me, Dizzy’s a lot stronger!”
On his opponent: “I’ve never really seen or played SQ but I know he plays Sin, and he was a really strong Persona player, so I think he’s probably really solid. Usually in the Sin match-up, I have to be really careful of summoning. Since Sin has Beak Driver, I can’t really throw things out recklessly, so I’m going to really fish out for Sin’s air approach and react to Leap with either 2S or 6P then go from there. Also really looking out for Elk Hunt — since Dizzy’s dash goes under lows — and really capitalizing on a knockdown.”
On his own playstyle: “I usually main grapplers, so when playing other characters I try to translate that as best as I can, so I’m pretty nutty — I like to usually ride on good sequences/setplay. I’m 100% a nut though.”
SQ
On REV 2 changes: “I feel like Sin overall didn’t change much this version. Air Beak Driver not knocking down anymore and 6P not being jump-cancelable hurts his air control a bit, but it’s nothing too bad. Meanwhile, I’m Sure I’ll Hit Something knocking down let’s him convert his pokes more often, improving his ground game. While his changes might not be very impactful to his strength overall, I find him more fun!”
On his opponent: “I don’t know much about Native. I know he was an SF4 player before getting into Guilty Gear. So we both have some amount of a Street Fighter background, which is interesting. That’s all I know though.”
On his own playstyle: “I think I’m a patient, defensive player. I really try to focus on the neutral game and playing safe. I’m able to switch up my style to be more aggressive if need be, but I prefer a slower, more reactive approach!”
Mr.Dolphin
On REV 2 changes: “To be honest nothing significant enough changed for May. She had a change to Ensenga that doesn’t give her as good okizeme midscreen, but with how far she can corner carry, I hardly notice the change. All of her tools are still there, and she was relatively untouched.”
On his opponent: “I don’t know too much about Zinac, but I know he’s a solid player. Faust is a character I’m generally comfortable playing against. It’s an interesting match-up: Faust has tools to anti-air her properly, and May has a couple of ways to get around that and interact with his gameplan. I’m interested to see how comfortable Zinac is with the May match-up.”
On his own playstyle: “I think I have a very aggressive playstyle. I’m OK with sitting back and zoning with Seaworld but generally prefer to get in someone’s face and run an okizeme train. One of the things I find best about May is her ability to convert off pretty much everything with consistency.”
Zinac
On REV 2 changes: “Faust had a few changes in REV 2 that are mostly to his items. I haven’t had time to explore the new “Jackpot” items yet, but I’m sure I’ll find new setups.”
On my opponent: “I’ve heard from a few people that Mr.Dolphin is a serious May, so I’m not going to take him lightly. May has never been a character Faust can challenge directly. So I take advantage of Faust’s zoning ability and preemptive attack May before she can get any momentum.”
On my own playstyle: “The last match wasn’t that long ago. I’ve mostly been focusing on adapting to the REV 2 match-up changes for Faust.”
Tension Pulse starts up later tonight on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel. Look for the beginning at at 10:30 PM EST/9:30 PM CST/7:30 PM PDT. CH_tenpai!! and Mr. K will get on the microphones to talk about the matches.
To learn more about this online league, read all about its predecessor: the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League. Also, don’t forget to catch up on the premiere of Tension Pulse. There are matches between FaultyDefense’s Answer and TheArm’s Ramlethal, as well as TSB|Blaze’s Raven and my own Baiken.
Taking a breather from 2D fighters for a moment, let’s take a deeper look on what mechanics define the 3D titles. This episode of Exploring Fighting Games focuses on the recently-released Tekken 7.
One thing that may be intimidating about Bandai Namco’s fighter is its plentiful move list, but novril explains that in reality, not that many are used as frequently. The video goes on to explain the basic properties of all moves, such as their heights and how to block them. Mid moves tend to be fairly rewarding, so in general, it’s good to use those frequently and to throw in some lows occasionally. High moves don’t offer any mix-up, as they are evaded while crouching, however, they are usually among the faster moves in the game, which is very good against aggressive button-mashers.
It gets more complicated than that, however. Refer to the full video below to learn how to add nuance to your game. Also, Dragon Ball FighterZ enthusiasts have something to look forward to: novril teased in the comments that the next episode will be a real treat.
Everyone knows that learning frame data is essential to being good at any fighting game, but how many of us actively take the time to befriend the numbers? If you’re looking to get an edge over your competition in Tekken, there’s a mobile app to answer questions on the go.
Tekken Chicken released earlier this month for Android and iOS-powered devices. The app boasts data for every character in the game and lists their move sets. You can see detailed information for all of them, such as damage, hit level, and properties on block, hit, counter hit, and speed. It’s also possible to filter a character’s move list by those properties, including special ones, such as Rage Art, Drive, and more.
While the app doesn’t contain images, it teases that “more content, images, and stats [are] coming soon!”
Check it out — it’s available both on the Google Play Store as well as the iTunes App Store. And if you’re looking for a more basic introduction to Tekken either for yourself or for a friend, check out the new Marshall’s Dojo!
It’s time for a new exhibition series! Tension Pulse is the successor to the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League, an online series featuring players from all over the country and beyond in commentated first-to-seven matches. As the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- era drew to a close, the Steam launch of Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 (fixed up with some patches!) is also the inauguration of the “Season 2” of quality online exhibition matches.
It’s the same format as before: two sets of matches leading to FT7s, streamed and packaged with quality commentary. We’ll see the new REV 2 characters in the first set, some new players, and maybe a few returning ones in the future as well.
On deck are FaultyDefense with a brand new character, the Business Ninja Answer, versus TheArm’s Ramlethal Valentine. The other match-up features TSB|Blaze’s Raven–more excited than ever before–against yours truly, the one and only, SRK writer and old Baiken main: Woocash.
FaultyDefense
On REV 2 changes: “Well, I’m playing a new character, one that has a much more dynamic offense. I think his neutral game is actually very boring, but on touch he wants to be extremely aggressive, which is more in line with my history of picking characters.”
On his opponent: “I’m worried about getting blown-up in the corner. Arm watches good anime, which makes him a threat in any anime game. It’s a long-proven fact that if you have #### taste, you’re doomed to fail at these games.
“For real though, we’ve played several times and it always comes down to the wire. Most of my wins involve me put in some situation where I should have died, a scramble happens, and I luck out somehow. So I’m hoping that through some miracle, our first time playing online turns out to be a clean, fun set… fingers crossed. Sin and Answer probably play the match-up very similarly, but with Answer it’s easier for me to die off of a bad read or laziness, and it’s a bit harder to turn the random hit into big damage. We’ll see if I can hit the big stuff online, if not, I’m going to want to favor a long, slow game.”
On his own playstyle: “I’ve learned to tone down my rushdown tendencies to keep from dying in neutral, but I still get antsy when I’m not landing hits. Because of Answer’s poor meter gain and difficulty of punishes on both short and lightweight characters, I’m still unsure of how hard I need to be going in on a character like Millia and if I should be playing risk/reward or simply keeping her at bay with Answer’s amazing normals. I’d like to think I have a more calculated approach going into the match-up, but when the game is playing I tend to let my instincts take over more often than I should.”
TheArm
On REV 2 changes: “Basically nothing. Ram is functionally the exact same character. Her new moves have very few practical uses so you won’t see me use them much (if at all). 214S does not reach far enough to help safely confirm regular hit fS and the reward, even on hi,t is just some meter in exchange for no knockdown and a total loss of pressure. The air versions are massively unsafe when done anywhere other than right before you land and again have very little reward as you can’t combo afterward meterless.
The moves really don’t seem to have a place in Ram’s kit when she is so focused around getting one hit and running setplay as neither of them really help in that primary gameplan.”
On his opponent: “I think Faulty is a strong player who has an exceptional ability to pick up and play multiple/new characters. We haven’t played since 2016 CEO, where he beat me with Sin, so I am interested to see how it goes this time.”
On his own playstyle: “My playstyle focuses on movement and setting up traps. However, if I see a chance to hit someone or take my turn, I will, as Ram’s reward is off the charts once I am able to get the hit and run the setplay.”
TSB|Blaze
On REV 2 changes: “My character overall! He feels like a new character after his changes. At level 1 excitement, he’s worse than REV 1 Raven, but at level 2 and 3, he’s a lot better. Some of his combo routes are new and change up on the go depending on the excitement level. I feel he is a lot stronger in REV 2, but also a lot harder. He only gets stronger if the player gets him there.”
On his opponent: “I played Woocash at Combo Breaker for a couple of sets and was very impressed by how fast he caught up with Baiken. I’m expecting a good match, but I’m also going to try my best to body him .”
On his own playstyle: “My playstyle is pure rushdown. I don’t like giving my opponent a chance to think or breathe. I like putting them in difficult situations where they will desperately make a mistake, and I make them pay for it. And thanks to Raven’s buffs in this version, it also buffed my playstyle .”
SRK|Woocash
On REV 2 changes: “One of my old mains returns! It’s momentous, and I’ve only had a month to play so far. Despite a playstyle that looks similar, she’s quite different, and I can’t say that I have a good grasp of Azami yet. The counters are much more difficult to use than before but more rewarding. Tatami isn’t quite as broken it was once before, but YRC Tatami is great. Her normals are much more impactful up close and can lead to huge damage. Overall, I’m still adjusting! If you see me blown up a lot for no reason, I probably was trying to use Azami.”
On my opponent: “Blaze is quite aggressive, which is what will lead to his downfall. Baiken is the exact type of character than can take advantage of the opponent’s strength and aggressiveness against them. He does have a good grasp of Raven stuff already, and the REV 2 changes sure are scary. It will take on-point execution on my part to work him down as well as finely planned pressure. It will be tough, but doable.”
On my own playstyle: “Playing Sin in Xrd has made me an aggressive risk-taker (Bull Bash all day!) so I have to tone down quite a bit. In reality, my favorite thing is to pull off something effective that’s almost jaw-dropping to the opponent–think something like Baiken’s Azami super, out of nowhere. I love doing the exact counter at the exact right time to surprise my foe. I’m actually not a very analytical or thoughtful player. I play with feeling. As someone I value in the FGC has told me once, I’m someone who greatly uses intuition–often to good effect!
“It’s also an honor to play in an exhibition that I’ve written so much about, not to mention be the opener for Tension Pulse. It’s a lot of pressure, and I actually haven’t had many opportunities to be so directly involved with FG community stuff, so I hope to get out there more!”
Pray for my Baiken during the Tension Pulse kickoff, which is tomorrow, June 22nd, on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel as always. starting at 9:00 PM EST/8:00 PM CST/6:00 PM PDT. TheBeautifulDude and Samifish11 will grace the microphone stations.
Ever dreamed of a romantic, post-tournament beach walk with TO Alex Jebailey after a victory? Your sweetest dreams are slowly coming to fruition. After seven years at the Wyndham Resort, Community Effort Orlando is moving to a different spot for 2018.
It’s not just the beach that’s an attraction next year; the event will be hosted at a 200,000 square feet Ocean Center with an arena for the final matches. Rooms will be available this November at the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort. Check out the view in the trailer below:
If you’d like to view the full CEO 2018 announcement as it happened, check out the video below:
Read up on our CEO 2017 results to catch up on the tournament action from this past weekend.
A couple of weeks ago, Team Liquid’s Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma made headlines when he got on stage after winning the Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament at Smash ‘N’ Splash 3. Rather than making a victory speech, Hungrybox addressed Nintendo, calling them out for their lack of official support for the competitive Smash scene. For players like him and many others, it’s a lifestyle that has grown on years of dedicated fan support.
Kotaku caught up with Nintendo of America’s president, Reggie “My Body is Ready” Fils-Aime. Stephen Totilo asked him about Hungrybox’s speech, to which Fils-Aime had a somewhat lukewarm response about keeping the competitive scene “grassroots.”
“We’ve been in this social competitive space for a long time,” Fils-Aime said. “Smash Bros. Melee has been a mainstay in the competitive gaming space for a long time. What we’re doing — and our take on his space is we want to encourage the community. We want to enable them to put on tournaments and to have fun and for the players themselves to participate in these types of situations. That’s our view of this space.”
Fils-Aime pointed out that it’s not crystal clear what Hungrybox actually would want. The pro player followed up in an email:
What I meant by ‘push’ was not to ‘challenge,’ but to support. I feel that Nintendo could actually use the cult following that competitive Smash has accrued to their benefit. Similar to how Capcom runs the Capcom Cup circuit, it allows: a) a larger audience be exposed to competitive gaming (many casual gamers have no idea it exists) b) have potential for a large worldwide circuit + having it be broadcast on cable networks (see: ELEAGUE) c) have a massive bolster in Smash popularity if it came to re-releasing Virtual Console titles and ESPECIALLY a Smash 4 Port to the Switch d) open the doors to an entirely new branch of Nintendo (Nintendo Versus hinted at this, but to make it something that people could earn money from is a whole new animal)
The president, however, seems to remain adamant about keeping the competitive Smash scene mostly driven by fans and organizers:
“It’s community-oriented. It’s enabling the community to drive it forward. We have relationships, obviously, with entities like Evo and Battlefly. We want to do this much more at a grassroots level than others’ visions around leagues and big up-front payments and things of that nature.”
It seems that something along the lines of an ELEAGUE or official circuit isn’t coming any time soon. To that, Hungrybox diplomatically responded, “I hope the best for the future and I respect Reggie and the Nintendo execs more than words can describe,” he said.”It just is always a dismay for our parent company to not see a venture in the same golden light we’ve been viewing it for over a decade.”
While the Guilty Gear scene has been growing in terms of the number of sponsored players, there are still many “undiscovered” — or unclaimed — talented warriors playing REV 2. One of those, named daymendou, has become notorious for his excellent Slayer, especially since triumphing at Anime Ascension earlier this year. daymendou continued to place high at many tournaments, including at Combo Breaker 2017, where SRK took the time to learn more about him.
We discuss why daymendou decided to play Slayer, what distinguishes him from many other competitors, and whether he ever thought about being sponsored by an esports team.
Luke “Woocash” Siuty: Could you briefly introduce yourself?
daymendou:My name is Peter, and my tag is “daymendou,” and I play Slayer in Guilty Gear Xrd. I live in Northern California, that’s my scene. We’re kind of the smaller and younger scenes compared to a lot of other GG ones maybe. I guess for the past six months or so, NorCal has been doing pretty well.
Woocash: What’s your fighting game resume?
daymendou:I actually haven’t played fighting games that much before. It was never really a thing that I would spend my free time on. I didn’t have a PlayStation or go to an arcade when I was younger. When Xrd -SIGN- came out, I got a PS4, so that’s when I started playing games competitively.
Woocash: What made you do that?
daymendou:I always liked watching fighting games, and Guilty Gear is one of my favorites for sure. When Xrd was announced, I just remembered the trailer, so cool. At the time, I had not really been watching or paying attention to Guilty Gear. But that trailer sort of just sparked something within me. I said: maybe this time, I’ll decide to start playing other people. I used to just play the computer.
Woocash: Why did you gravitate to Slayer?
daymendou:Since I was starting at fighting games, I wanted a character that was easy to play. Well, “supposedly,” he’s easy to play. He’s kind of easy execution, especially his combos in Xrd. So that was one major factor. Another major factor was the launch trailer for Xrd. When I started watching a bunch of Accent Core +R on Goldenrody. I really liked watching Slayer. Before, when I just played casually, I used Sol, but watching those videos I thought Slayer looked really cool to play.
Woocash: If Slayer wasn’t in the game, who do you think you would play in REV 2?
daymendou:It’s hard to say, really. I never thought about this. I do play a couple of characters on the side, but I wouldn’t say I would main them if Slayer wasn’t in. Our NorCal Slayer, the old-man Slayer, went to Sol in Xrd. Xrd Sol has more combo flexibility. For me, I wouldn’t play Sol. I can’t do DP inputs very well. So it had to be someone without a DP or without a heavy reliance on it. It could be Leo, to be honest.
Woocash: Tell us a little about your matches today.
daymendou: It was Kizzie Kay first, then dotNova. Lost to Bears, lost to Dogura. This morning, even though Kizzie Kay was first, I was preparing for dotNova in the room. Jack-O’ is a really underplayed character, for whatever reason. I haven’t played against her in so long. The day before, when I played dotNova in casuals, it was getting worse and worse the more we played. I felt like if I wanted to make it to Winners Finals, I really had to be able to beat dotNova. Kizzie Kay, we ended up playing on finals day. The other thing is, Sin is a new character. The way he plays the game, you don’t have to do too much to remember how to play against him, at least to me. I had beaten Kizzie Kay every time we met in tournament, so I wasn’t that worried. Me versus Kizzie Kay was my first match in the top 16.
Combo Breaker did everything up to top 16 on one day, then top 8. If you have such a long break between tournament games, you really need to spend your first tournament match wisely. Not just warming up for that game, but thinking about how to get ready to play in the tournament again. When I played Kizzie, I almost 2-0’d him, but I had some pretty bad input drops, and he managed to take a game back. I did end up beating him, so I kind of have to watch my inputs more.
Woocash: What about versus Xcel| BjornSonOfBear? You’ve beaten him before in Grand Finals.
daymendou: I’ve beaten him sometimes… It’s very strange how we do against each other. Even though we play each other at locals, there is kind of a thing where whether I play him before the tournament matters. If I get to play him before the tournament, I generally beat him really easily. If not, I lose to him. Today, I was thinking, well last week, we just had a local. I had to go home early, because I had to go home for finals, so we couldn’t play casuals after. I lost to him really badly in Grand Finals in that tournament. I think that I wasn’t surprised that I lost. If you watched it, I would get him very close to death, and then I would make a bad decision on pressure, and he would just start running things back and kill me. I wasn’t too surprised about that.
Woocash: Have you ever thought about whether you want to be sponsored? Would you like to?
daymendou:I’ve thought about the issue a lot of times before. I was actually given an offer after Anime Ascension, but I turned it down, because I didn’t feel ready for it, more or less. For Guilty Gear, it would be good to have more sponsored players. We are one of those fighting games where money is kind of small compared to all the others. Exposure is small too, so it would be good to have that outside support.
Woocash: Why weren’t you ready back then?
daymendou:I think even right now, I don’t feel ready. There is sort of a responsibility and a weight on your shoulders when you do carry that sponsor name. You are expected to perform well not only by your sponsor but the community and yourself. Personally, I didn’t actually start traveling to tournaments until this year. A lot of the times, it didn’t work out. I only went to Evo last year and NEC this past December. I don’t feel like I can travel that much, it’s just too tiring to me. For tournaments, you have to prepare as well. You’re not just traveling, preparing and playing the game is even more tiring. I don’t have the stamina to do it once a month or even once every two months, which is what I’ve been doing sort of recently.
Woocash: Any tips for people who are looking to start playing Guilty Gear?
daymendou:If you want to start playing Guilty Gear, the first thing I would do is, well, play the game of course. I think a lot of people worry about picking characters, and there is a lot of minute information you need to worry about in Guilty Gear. I wouldn’t worry about the big things, I would just worry about playing your character in the beginning. If you do want to be able to compete, you’re going to have to learn a lot of things, but if you’re just starting out, you should at least make sure you’re having fun with the game. As long as you keep playing and thinking about it, you should get better.
Woocash: Any other advice?
daymendou:If you’re plateauing and struggling to get better, I think it’s very important to learn to deal with the tournament setting. That’s extremely important. I think my main advantage is, I don’t feel that I’m actually that much better than other people, I keep things very well together in tournaments. I can stay focused, I don’t get tilted from single errors or mistakes that I think happened. You have to accept that you won’t always be right because it is a fighting game, there’s a lot of guessing on both sides. You can’t let one big error just ruin your thinking process. You have to stay sharp when you’re playing.
In case you missed them, check out our interviews with PG|SKD and Fable|KidViper from Combo Breaker 2017!
If you’re a fan of Arc System Works games (or you’re curious to learn more about them), Arc Revolution Cup is a must-watch event. The event is part of Toushinsai, hosted by Taito, and includes the major ASW titles, namely Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Under Night In-Birth:Exe Late[st], and Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax.
While so far there isn’t much revealed, we know the date of the event: October 21st, later this year. Other titles included in the cup are: The King of Fighters XIV, Tekken 7, Pokkén Tournament, and more. Area preliminaries will start next month, in July. Last year, European publisher PQube sponsored qualifying events to the Arc Revolution Cup, so some sort of international support is likely this year again.
Stay tuned to SRK as we find out more about the event in the coming weeks.
). But we have played so many times, I honestly don’t think I can prepare for him, we both know each other so well now. Everybody is going to see some wild stuff that doesn’t look normal. LOL, it’s gonna be a hype set though!”
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