Author: Sam "Trilby" Foxall

In the very first King of the Ring online tournament run by TheDutchBrawlers, France’s LeChatNoir has claimed victory and gained some all important Ranking Points towards a potential spot at the Killer Instinct World Cup. LeChatNoir’s Hisako did not drop a single game in top 16, beating Germany’s TDB|Goldbaum, Belgium’s TDB|Jitae82, Italy’s Emanuele46 to face two of the UK’s finest KI players in Winners’ and Grand Finals.

After losing to fellow UK resident Valoraxe in Winners’ Quarters, Drago900 made an impressive Losers’ run to take his revenge of Valoraxe’s Cinder and powerline his way into Grand Finals’ against LeChatNoir. Unfortunately, the punches and powerlines of TJ Combo could not deal with the ghostly tricks of Hisako and France won this round in the age old struggle between the two nations. Elsewhere in top 8, Italy’s Emanuele46 made waves with his Aganos and ARIA, before losing to fellow ARIA player JacketedBanjo19 from France. The sole Dutch representative Ki4Life finished at fifth place and seeing as he was casting, streaming and hosting the tournament as well as competing, is nothing to sneeze at.

By all accounts, the first edition of King of the Ring was a success, despite some difficulties setting up lobbies to stream matches, and raises the tension for Kombo Klash Netherlands next month. Will the Netherlands defend the house? Will the UK’s invasion force take another spot at the Killer Instinct World Cup? Will France ride the momentum of this victory to claim the top spot at in Utrecht? All will be revealed October 8-9th so mark your calendars for some great European KI action.

Due to the aforementioned problems with setting up lobbies, the VODs for this tournament are split between TheDutchBrawlers’ channel and Ki4Life’s channel so check both of them out for all the footage of this event. You can also sign up for the second King of the Ring tournament right here.

RESULTS

1. TYI|LeChatNoir (Hisako/France)
2. TM|Drago900 (TJ Combo, Sabrewulf/UK)
3. Valoraxe (Cinder/UK)
4. JacketedBanjo19 (ARIA/France)
5. Emauele46 (ARIA, Aganos/Italy)
5. TDB|Ki4Life (Hisako, Orchid/Netherlands)
7. CWOTC (Gargos, Arbiter/France)
7. TDB|ShadowCageNinja (Cinder/UK)

Sources: TheDutchBrawlers (Twitch), Ki4Life

Can anyone in Europe stop this man? In his continued string of continental victories, Mr. R has won the European Key to the Panda Global house, giving him a complimentary flight to The Big House 6, along with the honor of being a Panda Global member over the course of the tournament. The talent pool was quite a lot smaller for the European leg of this online qualifier, with only 365 entrants compared to the 1669 in the North American qualifiers. Even then, there were a fair few no shows and DQs, making the path to top 64 very easy for some competitors.

Even though Mr. R won yet another European event — mostly using Cloud rather than Sheik I might add — there was a fair amount of drama within top 8. The main standout performance came from the Finnish Little Mac ZartZu, who proceeded to smash his way through most of the competition with his Little Mac. While currently ranked fifth in his homeland, he finished at fourth place overall which is quite the achievement for a character considered near the bottom of the tier list. Elsewhere, Europe’s top Bayonetta and winner of Albion Badr came in second, showing that he is still a threat despite the 1.1.6 nerfs to Bayonetta. The Umbra Witch actually showed up a fair few times in top 8, with over half of the competitors using her in their bracket run so beware of witches when playing in Europe.

Will Mr. R find a permanent team in Panda Global after The Big House 6 concludes or will he return to his search for a top flight team? Who knows but based on his continued domination of the European scene, he certainly deserve a team like Fnatic or Alliance to pick him up. You can watch the VODs of the event over on the Unrivaled Tournaments Twitch and expect the edited versions of all the matches on YouTube very soon.

RESULTS:

1. Mr. R (Sheik, Cloud/Netherlands)
2. Badr (Bayonetta/Netherlands)
3. pM|cyve (Diddy Kong, Bayonetta/Germany)
4. ZartZu (Little Mac, Cloud/Finland)
5. BSD| vyQ (Mario, Bayonetta, Villager/Austria)
5. Space (Corrin, Captain Falcon, Bayonetta/Netherlands)
7. Spitfire (Bayonetta/Germany)
7. Miles (Diddy Kong/Germany)

Sources: Unrivaled Tournaments, smash.gg

Acting as one of the few characters that actually stand a chance of winning a major in Super Smash. Bros Melee, Sheik can give newer players a lot of trouble with her potent tech chase follow ups, super fast aerials and easy auto-combos on low to mid level players. In order to help those who are struggling in the fight against this sneaky Sheikah, Kira from SSBM Tutorials has compiled an extensive guide on how to beat Sheik.

This video guide lists how to deal with Sheik’s main two approaches options, how to exploit her mediocre neutral and how to avoid and exploit those who like to sit back and charge needles all day. The main thing to take from this guide is players need to stay calm against Sheik and not panic whenever they get tech chase grabbed or have to deal with her shield pressure. Mashing buttons straight out of shield will get you punished nine times out of ten so learning how to combat her specific pressure strings will go a long way in defeating Sheik.

Source: SSBM Tutorials

It may not be Capcom All-Stars but this fan game looks like the closest fighting game fans are going to get to a new crossover game. This reworked version of Mugen has Harambe escaping from an evil organization made up of reskinned Street Fighter characters, as he tries to reunite with Ryu and escape back to the jungles of Africa. You fight off zoo keepers, Evil Ken and even Shin Vega in your quest to return home.

Complete with a Harambe themed soundtrack, the Otaku Gang have created quite the tribute to the fallen gorilla. You can download and play this work of art over on the official HarambeGame page and work out any remaining emotions you may have towards the unjust murder of this proud simian. Get your Hurricane Kicks out for Harambe.

Source: Otaku Gang

Roy’s had a bit of a raw deal in the Smash series. He’s ranked 20th in Melee in F-Tier, he didn’t get invited back to play in Brawl, he arrived late to the party in Smash 4 and is considered to be the worst Fire Emblem character. Hoping to prove that Roy isn’t as bad as many people think he is, top Link main and newest member of the Beefy Smash Doods, IzAw, has created a guide for Roy as part of his “Art of” series for Smash 4.

This guide goes through all of Roy’s normals and specials and how to use Roy’s unique mix of raw power and speed to catch out opponents. While many of his moves are strong by themselves, Roy relies on players always having a setup to kill, as a Roy that blindly throws out Smashes is one who is guaranteed to be punished. He does have a fantastic grab game, but if you cannot get in to grab someone, a Roy player will struggle to build up damage.

While this guide will not convince anyone that Roy is top tier, it may prove to some people that Roy should not be placed at the very bottom of Smash 4’s tier list and that he can be quite a threat, if played properly.

Source: IzawSmash

When switching from a game like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct’s combo system seems weird at first glance. Rather than guaranteed damage, combos in KI are an on-going mindgame, with the attacking player trying to mix up and bait the opponent into breaking at the wrong time, while the defending player has to identify the correct attack and break when possible.

In this latest episode of his KI mini guide, Novril from the Chemical Lovers runs down the ins and outs of the combo system. Once you’ve get past the initial hurdle of understanding Auto Doubles, Linkers and Enders, the system is pretty simple. Novril goes through each step, explaining how to extend a combo with multiple Linkers, as well as how to cash out a combo to ensure the most damage. Tune in next time to learn more about Combo Breakers and how to make your combos harder to break. Also, don’t forget: the Chemical Lovers also runs a very informative Guilty Gear Crash Course, which you can find here.

Source: novriltataki

Besides maybe the Tekken Tag franchise, the Smash series is one of the only mainstream fighters that has doubles tournaments alongside singles events. Certain players, like Taiheita and Gomamugitya from Japan are known for their outstanding doubles play and creating one of the ultimate team synergies in Smash 4 of Lucas and Lucario. When playing doubles, individual player skill can mean nothing when you are fighting against a team with great synergy: where characters can utilize specific tactics or combos which only work when those two characters are combined.

The Lucas and Lucario team takes advantage of Lucas’ PSI Magnet to heal himself using Lucario’s aura, which increases in power as Lucario takes damage. The combination of Mr. Game & Watch and Sheik (which has since been nerfed), allowed this team to fill up Game and Watch’s Bucket in seconds and guaranteed a kill off a grab. In order to better explain how team synergy works, the Beefy Smash Doods have released a new video covering what factors make a good team.

Rather than focusing just on character synergy, cFive from the Beefy Smash Doods discusses how players can train in order to form a cohesive doubles team. This happens mainly through playing together, but it’s also by having knowledge of your team mate’s character, knowing how to aid their recovery back to stage if they need help, and knowing what moves you can throw out which can deal damage to an opponent while not hitting your partner. With several upcoming Smash tournaments having doubles tournaments with sizable pot bonuses, this guide may come in handy for earning the big bucks.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods