Picking up another Ryan who is amazing at Marvel vs. Capcom, Splyce have signed current number two on the Curleh Circuit–Rene “RyanLV” Romero–ahead of Evo 2017. With victories at CEO 2017, West Coast Warzone 6, Final Round 20, Frosty Faustings IX and SCR 2017 to name but a few, Splyce have certainly picked a winner in RyanLV.
With set wins over all previous Evo champions for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, RyanLV looks to be the player to lift that trophy on Sunday morning. He joins fellow Ryan and Marvel god, Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez as part of Splyce’s fighting game roster. We could even see a Splyce vs. Splyce final, should the spirit of Marvel look favorably on the two Ryans.
Picking up another Ryan who is amazing at Marvel vs. Capcom, Splyce have signed current number two on the Curleh Circuit–Rene “RyanLV” Romero–ahead of Evo 2017. With victories at CEO 2017, West Coast Warzone 6, Final Round 20, Frosty Faustings IX and SCR 2017 to name but a few, Splyce have certainly picked a winner in RyanLV.
With set wins over all previous Evo champions for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, RyanLV looks to be the player to lift that trophy on Sunday morning. He joins fellow Ryan and Marvel god, Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez as part of Splyce’s fighting game roster. We could even see a Splyce vs. Splyce final, should the spirit of Marvel look favorably on the two Ryans.
For those who are unable to attend Evo in person, you’ve got quite the weekend’s viewing ahead of you! Starting this Friday at 10am PDT, all of Evo 2017 will be streamed over five separate Evo Twitch channels, alongside the Tekken, CapcomFighters and NetherRealm streams.
If you want to get your Multitwitch ready, here is the schedule for each channel:
The core Evo channel will be streaming a variety of games across Friday and Saturday, with it hosting the Top 8s for every game, starting with KOFXIV on Friday.
Evo1 will be dedicated to Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The NetherRealm, CapcomFighters and Tekken Twitch channels will be dedicated to their respective games on both Friday and Saturday. Sunday finals will kick off at 7:45am PDT with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, with Street Fighter V planned to round off the night at 7pm PDT. That’s over 12 hours’ worth of fighting games on Sunday, so I hope you have your snacks ready.
Remember, Street Fighter V finals will also be broadcast live on ESPN2!
With Evo nearly here, you’ll no doubt be doing some last-minute lab work to prepare for your bracket. If you’re looking to improve your defence in Street Fighter V, the latest episode of Gfinity’s Training Series could be just what you need. Hosted by RZR|Xian–a pioneer of precise, defense based play–this guide should help improve your ability to block or escape anything that comes your way.
From backdashing out of block-strings to finding that one normal that can help you escape a combo, Xian lists a bunch of options that players should be aware of when they are on the defensive. Xian will no doubt put some of these options into practice at Evo, so this guide will give you that leg up, should you come across him during the tournament.
Continuing his “Art of” series, Izaw has set his sights on Ganondorf as the subject for his latest tutorial. While the King of Evil is currently trapped in the depths of bottom tier, this guide should help players make the most out of Ganon’s hard-hitting moveset.
Despite being the slowest character in the game and having one of the most linear recoveries, Ganondorf has some fantastic edge-guarding tools and his Flame Choke tech-chasing can be devastating if you get a read on your opponent. While his disadvantage state is crippling, not respecting Ganondorf’s tools will sow the seeds of your demise.
Playing Ganon well is all about cornering the opponent and making them afraid to push a button. He only needs two good reads to take a stock, so never underestimate this malevolent warlock.
Following its huge success last year, Evo will be returning to ESPN2 for 2017, with the sports channel broadcasting Street Fighter V finals live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Coverage of the finals will begin this Sunday at 10pm EDT/7pm PDT on ESPN2, with it also being available on mobile via the ESPN app.
“It’s great to be back at the Evo Championship Series Finals with Street Fighter V this year,” said Kevin Lopes, director of ESPN programming and acquisitions. “This final will provide no shortage of compelling competition, and we look forward to delivering this event to fans.”
“Fighting games bring a tremendous level of hype and excitement, and Evo’s mission is to share that experience with fans worldwide, said Joey Cuellar, president of Evo. “We’re pleased to team up with ESPN and Disney to bring these games to new audiences.”
Don’t worry if you do not have access to ESPN, all of Sunday finals will be livestreamed via Evo’s Twitch channel. Tickets are still available to watch Championship Sunday live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, so grab them while stocks last!
Being one of the numerous indie fighting games that will be playable at Evo, David Sirlin’s Fantasy Strike has just received a new trailer. Rather than having a super high execution barrier, Fantasy Strike is focused on being easy to get into, so novices can get to the meat of the game as quickly as possible. Rather than a few months to achieve even basic competency, Sirlin hopes that players will be able to pick up Fantasy Strike in mere minutes.
Fantasy Strike will be playable at Evo, so search out the Sirlin Games booth if you want to try it out for yourself. The game is currently in its crowdfunding stage, with the full game planned for release in Q3 of 2018, should it reach its funding goal. For more information, you can read our own interview with David Sirlin from back at PSX back in December.
Unless you’ve been locked in the Room of Spirit and Time for the past few weeks, you will have noticed that the FGC is quite excited for a little game called Dragon Ball FighterZ. Combining Dragon Ball characters, Marvel-esque 3v3 battles and the expertise of Arc System Works, many are heralding it as a gift summoned by the Dragon Balls themselves. While none of us at SRK were able to get to E3 to play DBFZ ourselves, we recently got the chance to go to Bandai Namco’s offices to spend several hours with the build shown off in LA. Despite it only being at 20% of its power, I can safely say that even at this early stage, the hype for Dragon Ball FighterZ is more than justified.
At its core, Dragon Ball FighterZ is what would happen if Marvel 3 did a fusion dance with Guilty Gear. You’ve Guilty Gear-esque movement with double jumping and air dashing, as well as the button layout, assists and Hyper Combos of Marvel 3. If you spent any amount of time with either game, you’ll pick up the basics of DBFZ very quickly. For those who aren’t as well versed in these franchises, Dragon Ball FighterZ is a six button fighter, with the build having two buttons reserved for shortcuts. Your basic buttons are Light, Medium and Heavy, along with a dedicated Ki Blast button and two Assist buttons. The basic combo structure of DBFZ is very similar to Marvel’s Magic Series, with players inputting Light, Medium and then Heavy to launch the opponent. From there, you can press Heavy again to chase the opponent into the air. Once airborne, you can then do a Light, a Medium, followed by a jump cancel, then another Medium and finally a Heavy to spike the opponent back down to the ground. You can also finish with a Super Move or a special, but that basic ground to air combo is what you should start with when you boot up DBFZ.
Don’t worry if that is a bit too challenging straight away; DBFZ has Persona 4 Arena-esque autocombos which can be performed by mashing any attack button. These autocombos will do less damage than the previously mentioned Magic Series, but it’ll get you started if you’re new to this style of fighter. They also each have a unique launcher, so experiment with each one to see how to maximize damage from these easy starters. As for specials, they can be performed with any of the basic attack buttons combined with either a Quarter Circle Forward, Quarter Circle Back or a Down, Down motion. Similar to MvC:I, there are currently no traditional SRK motions in DBFZ just yet, but keep in mind that the characters shown off in this build were deliberately chosen to be the easiest to pick up and play. If you perform a special with the Heavy attack button, you’ll do a powered-up version, which takes off one bar of your Super meter. These powered up specials usually add a second hit or increase the damage you deal, so use these when your combo needs a little more oomph.
If you want to throw out projectiles, the Ki Attack button has characters throwing basic Ki blasts. When combined with a Quarter Circle Forward, characters will either perform a basic Kamehameha or their equivalent long range projectile. Throws are a little bit different in DBFZ, being called Dragon Rushes. They have your characters dashing forward and grabbing their opponent, engaging them in a quick flurry of punches before kicking them into the air. You can also Dragon Rush in the air, meaning you go even further beyond when doing a basic aerial combo. To break out of a Dragon Rush, players need to hit an attack button as soon as they see their opponent glow with a red circle. When done correctly, you will fight back during the punch flurry and reset back to neutral.
There are also Vanish Attacks, which have players disappearing and then reappearing behind the opponent to perform a wall-bounce. It’s performed by pressing the Medium and Heavy buttons together and uses one bar. You mainly want to use this as a combo extender, or to catch someone off guard following an unsafe attack.
The other major mechanic in DBFZ is the Super Dash, which has a player flying towards their opponent. Mainly used to start an air combo or chase down a fleeing enemy, correct use of the Super Dash will be key in continuing offense in DBFZ. They aren’t that safe though, as every character can counter a Super Dash with their universal launcher, which is crouching Heavy. You can also Dragon Rush players out of a Super Dash, so don’t rely on this movement option too much if you are struggling to get in. If players Super Dash into each other, there is a small clash animation before you can move again. The best option here is to mash Light attack as fast as you can, in order to catch your opponent off-guard and start an air combo.
Let’s move onto Supers and Assists, which is where DBFZ really starts to shine. As opposed to Marvel’s five bars, there are a grand total of seven bars in DBFZ and trust me, you’ll be using them all. You gain a lot of meter while both performing and getting hit with a combo, but you can also fill up your meter by using your Ki Charge. It takes about two seconds for you to start filling up your Super bar, and there is quite a bit of cooldown so a bad Ki Charge can be punished easily. The main use of your bar will be on Supers, which can be performed by doing either a Quarter Circle Forward or Quarter Circle Back along with two attack buttons. Much like Marvel, you can perform an Ultimate Z Change—Marvel players will know this as a DHC—to bring in a fellow team to perform a select Super. You simply need to hold the Assist button during your Super to bring in a teammate, and the Ultimate Z Change window is fairly lenient. You can perform something like Goku’s Super Kamehameha in the air, let the opponent drop out of the sky and then Ultimate Z-Change to hit them with Vegeta’s Big Bang Attack as they reach the ground.
Much like MvC:I, you can also call in another character during a combo or while in blockstun, but this does take one bar. Otherwise, you can raw tag (or Z-Change) a partner in, which has them Super Dashing onto the battlefield. Like a normal Super Dash, incoming opponents are vulnerable to Dragon Rushes and crouching Heavies, so Z-Change at your own risk. While you don’t have to worry about incoming mixups when one of your team is knocked out and another one flies in, you can still ‘snap in’ enemy team members by pressing Dragon Rush and Assist at the same time. This costs one bar and allows you to create an incoming mixup, so be wary of Dragon Rushes when your anchor character is low on health.
Assist attacks work like they do in Marvel, with each character having their own unique attack which can be used to extend a combo or as a defensive maneuver. Using your Assists correctly will be the real meat of DBFZ, and I was already shown a handful of some filthy assist setups when playing Bandai Namco’s community manager. Vegeta’s Ki Barrage Assist was the best one in the build, as it forces players to block his energy blasts, giving you time to hit them with a low or surprise them with a Vanish. The combination of Cell/Freeza/Vegeta was particularly deadly, due to the synergy between Vegeta’s assist and both Cell and Freeza’s Supers. Cell could cancel into his Airburst Super from his light attack autocombo, which could in then be UZC’ed into Freeza’s Death Ball. There will be some super cheap stuff in DBFZ, so get looking for those unblockable setups when the beta launches.
As for defensive options, all characters have a universal deflect move, performed by pressing back and the Ki Attack button. This deflect knocks away basic Ki blasts, Super Dashes and standing normals. If someone gets too reliant on this deflect, hit them with a low attack and then begin a combo. You can also Super Dash through normal Ki blasts, so don’t rely on standard projectiles for effective zoning. While there is no Burst move like in Guilty Gear or BlazBlue at this time, everyone has access to the Sparking Blast—DBFZ’s version of X-Factor. When used in neutral, it emits a blast which knocks opponents back and it can be used mid-combo as an extension. It drastically increases damage dealt and your blue health regen and it levels up in strength based on the number of characters on your team, similar to X-Factor. It is best to save your Sparking Blast for the final character, as it only affects the fighter that activated it.
From rotating between the current six-person cast, Cell looks to be the best character in the build. With both a long-range command grab, great normals and specials, a versatile Level 1 Super and a devastating Level 3, expect loads of people running Cell as part of their team. Goku and Vegeta act as the Ryu and Ken of DBFZ, with Vegeta being better up close but lacking a Level 1 Beam Super. Freeza is the zoner of the group, with powerful projectiles like Death Ball and Death Saucer. Much like in the anime, Death Saucer does come back and can hurt Freeza, so don’t throw it out willy-nilly. You can also combine his Golden Freeza transformation with a Level 3 Sparking Blast to create one powerful anchor character. Gohan has the shortest range out of all six fighters, but he packs a huge punch if he manages to get in. His Kamehameha fires diagonally upwards, so it’s best used as an anti-air or following an air combo. Buu is probably the weakest of the group, due to his slow normals and relatively low damage. He can combo his command overhead into his Explosion super, and his jumping Medium has massive range on it, so abuse it whenever possible. Plus, it’s pretty funny to kill your opponent by turning them into a cookie and eating them.
Novril’s basic DBFZ tutorial is great if you want to prepare for the Evo side tournaments.
I do have a few quibbles with DBFZ, but they are fairly minor when you consider how fun the core fighting is. Due to the inability to remap buttons in this early build, you are stuck using pad if you get to have a go during Evo. For pad players like myself, this was no problem but dedicated stick users may need some time to adjust. The lack of any background music is quite disconcerting at first and if you aren’t used to seeing beams and explosions all over the screen, it is easy to lose track of your characters, especially if two people are using the same fighter. Outside of Buu and Freeza, the remaining four characters can all be played in roughly the same way, which may cause the combat to feel a little bit basic after a few hours’ play. Do keep in mind that Arc System Works purposely picked basic characters to show off DBFZ and the game is only 20% finished, so expect more advanced and diverse fighters in later builds.
When you’re in the thick of the combat though, DBFZ is some of the most fun I’ve had with a fighter in a long time. You do feel like you are acting out battles from the show, especially when many of the animations and poses are ripped straight from both the DBZ anime and manga. Seeing two Father/Son Kamehamehas clash on-screen is truly awesome, and the Destructive Finishes you get when you finish someone off with a Super are always satisfying. Even at this early stage, you can feel the love, care and attention that has gone in to making DBFZ not only a great fighting game, but a celebration of all things Dragon Ball. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Dragon Ball fan, a Marvel/anime player or someone who has never touched this style of fighter before, you will have fun playing Dragon Ball FighterZ. I only wish I actually had the Dragon Balls so I could wish for the game to come out now.
DBFZ will be playable on the Evo floor, so make sure to have a go in between your pools matches. While the smash.gg tournaments are all booked up, there will be side tournaments on the day which you can sign up for, so keep an eye out!
Acting as the final Smash 4 major before Evo, players of all stripes descended on Esports Arena for 2GGC: ARMS Saga last weekend. Hosting events for both Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and ARMS, the tournament was the place to put the finishing touches on any potential strategies and size up opponents before meeting them in the Evo bracket. It was the turn of world’s best Rosalina and number four on the PGR to take the gold at this Saga, with RNG|Dabuz claiming the belt after a grueling two-set Grand Finals against TSM|ZeRo.
It wasn’t an easy path to victory for Dabuz, with a fair share of his sets going to game five. His first roadblock was against Locus, who was working on a clean 3-0 for the first half of the set. Dabuz was able to steel his nerves though, with a ridiculously early Luma kill in game four giving him the momentum to finish the set 3-2. Ranai was next, with Dabuz managing to avenge his 3-0 loss at CEO with a 3-1 victory. Dabuz never let Ranai set up his projectile wall, harassing him in the air at every opportunity and forcing him to play on the back foot.
His next opponent in Winners’ Top 8 was Ranai’s static doubles partner and Cloud user 2GG|komorikiri. The Rosalina/Cloud match-up is notoriously bad for Rosalina, yet Dabuz managed to make the match-up even. Similar to his match versus Ranai, Dabuz pursued komorikiri relentlessly off-stage, forcing the Cloud to either burn his Limit or fall to his doom. Komorikiri did answer back to bring the match to game five, but the stars were clearly aligned for Dabuz.
The next three sets saw Dabuz doing battle against ZeRo, with Dabuz triumphing 3-1 in Winners’ Finals. The first set of Grands saw ZeRo switching from Diddy to Cloud, hoping to capitalize on the match-up advantage and succeeding where komorikiri failed. The switch worked, with ZeRo forcing a bracket reset with a 3-2 victory. The success was short-lived though, as Dabuz fired back with a 3-0 over ZeRo’s Cloud to win the entire tournament. It looks like Dabuz has really cracked the Cloud match-up, so players can no longer rely on a pocket Soldier 1st Class to beat his Rosalina.
The other notable performance of ARMS Saga has to be from SoCal native Charliedaking, who managed to make Winners’ Side of Top 8 ahead of players like CLG|VoiD, Ranai and even fellow Fox main MSF|Larry Lurr. After an astonishing 2-0 victory over LG|Abadango in pools, Charliedaking took out CLG|Nakat 3-2 and then DNG|Kameme 3-0 to qualify for Top 8. Not only that, but he managed to take ZeRo to game 5 in his first match of Top 8. Keep in mind that Charlie did not make the PGR–something that will no doubt be rectified when PGR v4 comes out. He was eventually eliminated by KEN’s Sonic, but a fifth place finish at the last major ahead of Evo is a good omen indeed.
Speaking of KEN, he is getting ever closer to finally winning an American major. The Japanese number 1 took out players like NAKAT, Kameme, VoiD, Larry Lurr, P1|Tweek and Eim during his tournament run, and he took ZeRo all the way to game five in their Losers’ Finals set. Based on bracket projections, KEN is scheduled to fight both VoiD and ZeRo back to back at Evo and with it being best of three, KEN might be causing quite a few upsets in Las Vegas.
Elsewhere in bracket, Vinnie turned a few heads by defeating StDx|Falln and Locus, while Cosmos made quite the return to offline competition by winning against NCJacobT, BSD|Aardvark and Vinnie. His Corrin still looks as deadly as ever, and a ninth place finish ahead of Evo certainly bodes well for the future. As for the Little Macs invited to ARMS Saga, Noble|Sol and BL|Lazyboredom managed to make top 64, with Sol actually taking the ARMS event. It seems mastery of the sweet science does translate across games.
With over half of the 2GG Championship Series now complete, ZeRo is currently at the top of the 2GGC leaderboard, with Dabuz in second and komorikiri in third. There is quite the points gulf between Dabuz and komorikiri, so there is still time to win a place at the Championship.
You’ll no doubt be looking forward to Evo after watching ARMS Saga, so make sure to check your favorite player’s path to Top 8 over on the Evo smash.gg page. If you need some ideas for your Evo fantasy team, make sure to check out our Smash 4 Evo preview for a list of eight players that could make some waves this coming weekend.
Just before they board to the plane to sunny Las Vegas, the UK’s Street Fighter V cohort are holding one last WSO Session to prepare them for Evo. Streamed live on the Capcom Fighters Twitch channel from 20:30 GMT/12:30 PDT, players like Problem-X, Packz, imstilldadaddy, Infexious and more will be making their last-minute preparations before they head across the Atlantic.
Capcom UK community manager Matthew Edwards and Logan Sama will be commentating proceedings, so tune in if you want to see what the UK will be bringing to bear at Evo 2017! If you got anyone from the UK in your pool, it’s probably in your interest to watch this stream.
