Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley of Evil Geniuses just had a breakout year: making Capcom Cup 2016, he was able to send fan-favorite Daigo Umehara of HyperX into losers bracket in a stunning upset, and continues to show his prowess in Street Fighter V. He also notably stayed put in the major shuffling of players between Evil Geniuses and Echo Fox.
When I caught up with him at Frosty Faustings IX, he had a lot to say about his feelings regarding Cammy in SFV Season 2, among other topics–including the changing of the guard in EG.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: K-Brad, you did well at Frosty Faustings. You had a good performance in Street Fighter V this time around.
Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley: Yeah, but I didn’t do great in Marvel. I made to Winners Semis in my pool, then lost to RyanLV, who eventually won the tournament. But I did pretty good in Street Fighter.
Missing Person: How are you feeling with Season 2 so far?
K-Brad: I’m honestly not sure. It’s one of those things where I’m not exactly sure what direction Capcom was trying to go. I think they’re trying to make it a crazy rushdown game where defense isn’t really rewarded. I don’t know. I’m not really an offensive player anymore. When I look at the changes, I think, “They have to do something to make defense a little bit better.” And with Cammy, you have to be able to play at least some defense.
Overall, they made Cammy weaker in Season 2 because her divekick was a big deal; she could do it whenever she wanted. But on the ground, she has gotten better. Her frame traps are really good and her buttons are better. They made standing medium kick and back medium punch better. They did a lot of stuff on the ground that’s good, but a lot of her game play revolved around divekick. Her whole plan was to bully you on the ground, then after she has done that, then she can take to the air. She is just one of those characters where divekick really does matter.
You could still be risky and do EX divekick into EX dragon punch, but I don’t play like that. I would say that if she was S-tier in Season 1, she’s probably A+-tier in Season 2. She’s still amazing, but there was a minor drop.
Missing Person: You not only made it to Capcom Cup last year, but you had a great start, putting Daigo Umehara into losers bracket to start things off. Go through that with me.
K-Brad: I love playing players like Daigo because there is so much thought involved. There’s a lot of mind games involved when we play. I knew his fireball game is amazing. I knew he was going to be able to read a lot of things that I was going to do. I started off losing the first two games off of bad mistakes on my part. He was able to DP through a couple of my block strings. In the third game, I decided to play a little safer. In the latter half, I was able to block a lot of those DPs and just punished accordingly.
But the whole time, I was thinking, “I’m down 0-2. There’s no way I’m going to win three straight on Daigo. Nobody wins three straight on Daigo.” It was a pretty great experience being able to put him into losers bracket.
Missing Person: After that, do you feel like your confidence has improved going into Season 2, having pulled an upset on someone that people were betting on, against you?
K-Brad: That’s the thing. It doesn’t matter who I’m playing, people are betting against me. Even when I played Infiltration at Canada Cup, nobody expected me to beat him there, and I did. When I beat NuckleDu at SoCal Regionals, nobody expected that either, because he was beating me the entire season. I’m used to being the underdog. As long as I believe in myself, that’s all that matters.
Missing Person: What are your feelings on the big free agency season that saw PR Balrog, Momochi, ChocoBlanka, and Justin Wong all leave Evil Geniuses?
K-Brad: I knew something was coming up. But when PR Balrog left, then Justin and Momochi, I had no clue what was going on. I knew that PR Balrog wanted to leave and do his own thing. But when Justin, Momochi, and Choco all got signed to Echo Fox, I was pretty happy. However, I was more upset at Echo Fox buying out all the talent. I’m happy for my friends getting a nice deal. Who knows how long gaming is going to be relevant or how big it can actually get, so these guys should get rewarded for their success. It’s just that Echo Fox didn’t need to buy out so many players. But I got over it. I know that to be the best, you have to get the best players, so it was a smart move on their part.
Missing Person: But now you guys have NYChrisG. How does that fit with you and Ricki on the team, and do you feel positive about it going forward?
K-Brad: It’s going pretty well. Chris just got second in Street Fighter V at Frosty, and honestly it was one of the best picks on the free agent market. He’s a dominant player in Marvel, he’s good at Street Fighter V and was good at Street Fighter IV. I’m very happy that Chris got signed. It was the smartest choice that Evil Geniuses could’ve made out of all the free agents available.
Missing Person: You’re known as one of the biggest foodies on the tournament scene. What tournaments do you look forward to going to just based on food alone?
K-Brad: Australian tournaments are the best, because you can get literally anything in Australia, and it’s good. They have a bit of everything that I love. When I go to Japan, the things that are usually out of this world are the typical sushi and ramen. But you can get Italian, burgers, sushi, and it’s all amazing. But domestically, I love to go to Texas for events. I love barbecue, and they have amazing briskets there. They definitely have the best barbecue there.
Missing Person: In 2016, we saw you hit the four corners of the Earth for tournaments. Are we going to see that much travel out of you this year?
K-Brad: For sure. At the end of 2016, I started to think, “I did so much travel this year. I’m not sure if I want to subject myself to that again.” I went to a lot of these events alone, and it made me feel a certain way. When I was at all these international events, I was usually the lone American.
But all in all, I think I’m going to do it all over again this season.
Missing Person: Do you feel like jet lag affects you when you play?
K-Brad: If I fly in the day before the event, absolutely. But typically when I fly in for an international event, I do it a couple of days in advance. That way the first day I’m there, I can do whatever I want. Then on the second day, I can sleep as much as I want. By the time the tournament starts, I’m ready.
Missing Person: Do you have any advice for Cammy players that are struggling in Season 2, after doing well in Season 1?
K-Brad: If you were a Cammy player in Season 1, you have to let go of going to the air. I would focus more on the ground. If you can do that, then you can start to pressure. If you’re only focused on the ground, sooner or later, your opponent will forget about the air game. Then you can sneak in a few EX divekicks. But for the most part, you should be more focused on establishing a strong ground game this season.