This epic battle of Street Fighter V superstars continues!
Tune in to ELEAGUE’s Twitch channel at 4:00 PM ET on March 28 to watch Group B begin their battle! Results for Group A preliminaries can be seen below.
Last night saw the first showdown in ELEAGUE’s Street Fighter V Invitational: the preliminaries of Group A. ANBU|Punk tore through Group A with only a single loss to RZR|Infiltration, while despite their efforts RISE|MaRN and EG|Ricki Ortiz were eliminated. EG|Momochi earned a spot in the semi-finals with Punk–just ahead of Smug–while the other four Group A members advance to Group A quarter finals.
Even before bracket had started, 2GGC: Civil War had set the world of Smash 4 aflame. With players split into two factions—Team Ally and Team ZeRo—the first season finale of the 2GG Championship Series was set to be the most stacked Smash 4 tournament of all time. Most of the PGR Top 50 were in attendance, along with hidden bosses and local talent from around the world. It was fate then, that Civil War turned out to be the most exciting and volatile event that Smash 4 has ever seen.
Every Pool a Death Pool
With such a high concentration of Top 100 players at one event, each pool could have been the Top 48 of a big regional. Many potential Top 16 contenders were sent into Losers early, thanks to every pool being flush with talent. TSM|ZeRo was one of the first to sink into the depths, losing to SoCal Fox Xzax in Winners Finals of his pool, adding one big shark to the loser’s side. Genesis 4 champion Echo Fox|MVG|MKLeo soon followed with a 2-0 loss to Sonic main Meteor, proving that no-one would be spared a tough trip through pools.
Shulk mains were on pool cleaning duty with Nicko sending IMT|ANTi to Losers with a 2-0, while Kome from Japan was able to dispatch fellow blonde-haired swordsman user P1|Tweek with an impressive 2-1 victory. It seems after the success of M at BEAST 7, Shulks are really starting to come out of the woodwork and show their stuff.
Starting to pick up speed after his tournament absence, FOW was able to send MSF|Larry Lurr into Losers while the newly sponsored curse struck EG|Zinoto, losing 2-1 to the winner of the PG Key to Civil War online qualifier, Sonido. With other PGR players like RvL|Mr E, InC|Wadi, Ned, Mew2King and Samsora also in Losers, the chances of a historic run throughout the lower bracket looked impossible for any player.
The Rout of the Generals
With many of Team ZeRo’s heavy hitters already in Losers after the massacre in pools, it was looking grim for the bookie’s favorite going into top 96. MKLeo was the first of ZeRo’s lieutenants to fall, going out at an unheard of 65th place after losing to Falco and Meta-Knight main, AC, 3-2. The next round would actually see ZeRo himself go out at his lowest ever placing, losing to Arizona Zero Suit Samus player Luhtie 3-2. ZeRo’s Diddy was uncharacteristically aggressive, refusing to set up traps with the banana and running seemingly headfirst into Luhtie’s ladder combos. The final match saw Luhtie ripping victory from the jaws of defeat, with a Rage-boosted ladder combo sending ZeRo out at 49th place and catapulting Luhtie into the hall of ZeRo slayers.
This victory was a betrayal, since Luhtie had sided with Team ZeRo going into the tournament. This twist of the knife soon sowed the seeds of a rout, with other notable Team ZeRo players like ANTi, FOW and CLG|VoiD going out in quick succession. While Team ZeRo did look in tatters, Team Ally’s commander was not fairing too well either.
In top 96, C9|Ally was on the receiving end of yet another series of Dragon Punches by UBCEA|Locus. The iron forehead of Nintendo’s plumber could not beat the battle-hardened fist of Capcom’s world warrior, as Locus sent Ally flying into Losers’ 3-1. Much like Luhtie’s elimination of ZeRo, Locus had also sided with Ally, making him another unwitting turncoat in the Civil War. Ally would hold out longer than ZeRo, losing in the first round of Top 32 to PG|ESAM’s Samus. ESAM’s pop off was like something out of a sports movie, with him flinging his Pikachu plush into the crowd in triumph. Whether this is symbolic for his dropping of the electric mouse, who is to say.
Both Luhtie and ESAM would only last another round following their victories, the Saga Curse having outseen their usefulness. With this event, the curse continues to persist as neither Ally nor ZeRo were able to take the event for their chosen team. The Top 32 bracket began split perfectly between the two teams; 16 for Team Ally and 16 for Team ZeRo. However, outside of the two major teams, there was one group of players who had been slowly chipping away at both sides.
Go Team Japan!
14 Japanese players attended Civil War Saga, with representatives from Kansai, Kanto, Kyushu and Chubu acting as foreign detachments for both Team ZeRo and Team Ally. With players like Kirihara and Tsu getting quite the warm up at Frame Perfect Series 2 the week before Civil War, the Japanese contingent were prepared to perform well for their respective sides.
Of the 14 players, 12 of them made it to Top 32. 11 of them started off in Winners, while 9B tried to make the long fight through Losers to Top 8. Three of them made it through, leaving a trail of devastation behind them. Team Japan dispatched players like Larry Lurr, VoiD, ESAM, Trela, Zinoto and FOW on their way to Top 8, with a fair few teamkills peppered along the way. Surprisingly though, none of the usual Japanese titans made it to Top 8.
2GG|komorikiri, Ranai and LG|Abadango? Ranai was eliminated by 9B 3-2, komorikiri fell to Larry Lurr 3-2 while Abadango’s tournament life ended at the hands of DNL|Marss 3-1. It would be up to the newer crop of Japanese players to keep the flag flying and boy, was it an eclectic bunch of characters players in that Top 8.
The Next Generation Arises
Besides the eventual winner, seven of the eight players in top 8 were players who had come to the series with Smash 4. The Brawl gods had given up their seats on the pantheon and it was time for the new generation to strut their stuff on the main stage. The character spread was one hardly anyone expected, with a Captain Falcon and a Link in Winners’ while a Donkey Kong sat in Losers. For the first time in two years, a Sheik had missed Top 8, the nearest Diddy player had gone out at 17th and there wasn’t a Cloud in the sky. There was still top tier representation with a Bayonetta, two Rosalinas, a Zero Suit Samus and a Ryu in the mix but the lack of usual suspects like Diddy, Mario, Cloud, Sheik and Fox at the most stacked major of all time is worthy of note.
My personal favourite player of the tournament, Hikaru, had defied almost all expectation by making Top 8 with his DK. Defeating players like VoiD, Tsu, ESAM and Mr. R on the way, his DK flung the competition around like a ragdoll. Carefully using the power of Rage to guarantee kills off of a grab, Hikaru was able to conquer match ups that DK usually struggles with. Opponents were in a constant state of fear, as one grab would mean instant death past around 60% if DK had Rage. While eventually thwarted by Kirihara’s Rosalina—DK’s absolute worst match up—Hikaru proved that he is the leader of the bunch.
Speaking of characters defying expectation, T’s Link tore through bracket on its way to Top 8. His impressive bomb play and control of neutral saw him defeat players like K9, Tsu, Abadango and Fatality on his way to Winners’ Finals. Some of his recoveries using Link’s bomb were unbelievable, coming back from the bottom of the blastzone and weaving through edgeguard attempts on his way up. I’m sure Nintendo will be selling a few extra copies of Breath of the Wild after T’s performance. Expect plenty more Links trying to do that bomb recovery on For Glory for the next week or so.
While not the winner, the true breakout player from this tournament has to be FS|Fatality. Defeating players like Trela, komorikiri and NRG|Nairo is impressive enough, but doing it with Falcon is astounding. Falcon is already dangerous when a player is scared so combine it with the pressure of a grand stage like Civil War, and Fatality’s Falcon was untouchable in some situations. His use of Falcon’s dair footstool combos would rack up damage in an instant, meaning that he’d only need to land a single back air or knee to finish off a stock. Every match seemed to only give him more momentum, with his intense 3-2 with Kirihara turning into back to back 3-0s against CaptainZack and T to make it to Grand Finals against RNG|Dabuz. Having triumphed against arguably the second best Rosalina in the world and a previous win on Dabuz at Super Smash Con 2016, it could have finally been Falcon’s time to win a super major in any Smash game. Unfortunately, the stars had aligned for his opponent.
A King of Consistency
A presence in the Top 8 of almost every major he has attended, Dabuz has remained one of Smash 4’s most consistent players. However, he has never pushed through that barrier and took home the gold at a super major. With a second at Genesis 3, second at Super Smash Con, third at CEO 2016, seventh at Genesis 4 and third at Frostbite, Dabuz has always been the bridesmaid, but never the bride.
However, with the majority of the pressure on both Ally and ZeRo, Civil War gave Dabuz the chance to reach his full potential. He only dropped one game in his run to Top 8, defeating the world’s best Olimar in Shuton and second best Rosalina, Kirihara, on his way there. He even bested Kirihara in the Rosalina mirror, proving he is the world’s top space princess–at least for now. A close 3-2 victory over CaptainZack gave way to a 3-0 over T, placing Dabuz in the Winners side of a supermajor Grand Finals for the very first time.
Despite a previous loss to Fatality at Super Smash Con, Dabuz was able to put down the Falcon with a 3-1 victory, making him the winner of the most stacked tournament in Smash 4 history. Without his usual demon ZeRo blocking his path to Grand Finals, Dabuz finally notched up that first super major win.
Team Ally Reigns Supreme
Following the conclusion of the singles bracket, it was time for the final showdown between Team Ally and Team ZeRo. This grand 10 versus 10 crew battle saw Team ZeRo take the day, winning with three stocks to spare. The man of the hour was most definitely komorikiri, bringing Team ZeRo back from its two stock deficit by dispatching Mr. E, Mr. R and leaving final Team Ally member DNG|Kameme with one stock to fight against MKLeo.
However, this victory was not enough to win the whole war. With one of his compatriots winning the entire tournament, a point victory in the singles bracket and a point victory via the online ladder, Team Ally were crowned the ultimate victors of the Civil War. It will be up to Team ZeRo to regain their honor at 2GGC: Infinity Saga, which was announced as a future event in this Marvel-themed arc of the 2GGC.
Civil War is only the first season finale for the entire 2GGC Series, with there being nine other events left to go. With Ranai’s Greninja winning the April Saga round robin decider, next month’s event will be dedicated to the ninja frog. 2GGaming also announced that summer’s season finale will be 2GGC: Nairo Saga, giving another top player a chance to finally conquer the Saga Curse.
Civil War represented a new benchmark for Smash events, in terms of excitement, quality of play and production values. 2GGaming and Esports Arena have set a high bar both for themselves and other Smash TOs out there, and I hope they can repeat their success with future events. With ZeRo’s streak of winning 2GGC Sagas finally over, the new age of heroes can finally begin.
RESULTS:
1. RNG|Dabuz (Rosalina and Luma, Olimar/USA)
2. FS|Fatality (Captain Falcon/USA)
3. T (Link/Japan)
4. CaptainZack (Bayonetta/USA)
5. Kirihara (Rosalina and Luma/Japan)
5. DNL|Marss (Zero Suit Samus/USA)
7. HIKARU (Donkey Kong, Little Mac/Japan)
7. UCBEA|Locus (Ryu/Canada)
We’ve been getting a steady release of content for these DLC characters after their trailers; we got gameplay vids for both Yamazaki and Whip, and now its Vanessa’s turn. While we did get to see a bit of what she can do in the combo exhibition last week, we can to see how she performs in a real match this time around. Since it’s almost time for the next DLC character to be officially announced, take in all the Vanessa you can get before the next character swoops in to steal the show!
With the conclusion of the spring season of the 2GG Championship Series for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, 2GGaming have announced summer’s season finale. Titled Nairo Saga, this event will see the world’s greatest Zero Suit Samus player fighting to see if he can defeat the Saga Curse and earn a spot at the 2GG Championships at the end of this year.
This event will be held at the usual venue: the Esports Arena in Santa Ana, California from June 10th to 11th. As with other 2GGC Sagas, top 8 placers at this event will gain circuit points to go to an eventual spot at the Championships at the end of 2017. As it currently stands, RNG|Dabuz is at the top of the table following his victory at Civil War, with TSM|ZeRo in second and FS|Fatality in third. For more information on upcoming Sagas, check out the 2GGC smash.gg page.
To chart their player’s path to his Saga, NRG Esports has also released a short trailer which chronicles Nairo’s rise to prominence in the Smash community. From his early days back in Brawl to his recent successes, the video shows clips of big moments of Nairo’s career, along with words from the man himself.
For some of his fans, one of the biggest bits of news to have come out recently is that Twitch.Hx.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara would be switching to Guile for ELEAGUE, and likely for the rest of Season 2 as well. While Umehara has used Guile before in games such as Super Street Fighter IV–and Super Street Fighter II Turbo–the move away from his established “main” Ryu has caused a lot of discussion among fans.
In a recent interview with PVP Live, Umehara talks about his move back to Guile, as well as other topics relevant to Street Fighter V Season 2’s balance, the Capcom Pro Tour, Evo Japan, and more. Regarding his switch to Guile, he chalks it up to having to play at a competitive level, and having to play whoever suits him best as a competitive player. For now, that character is Guile. However, if he we just playing for fun, he would stick with Ryu.
Regarding Season 2’s overall balance, he feels that the update cycle happened a bit too fast, and that has forced him to have to adapt just as fast to the changes to the game.
As for the Capcom Pro Tour, Daigo’s main wish is to see more new players from other regions make it out to Capcom Cup. He points out that currently, we see established top players traveling a lot, which tends to limit the number of new faces making it out. At the same time, he also states that we still need to let the players who are dominating the scene (which he currently says are the U.S. players) set the bar.
Umehara also talks a bit about Evo Japan, stating that the country hasn’t seen an open tournament of its size since the now-defunct Tougeki tournaments. His hope is that Evo Japan helps create more hype for fighting games back in his home country.
Of course, this isn’t all that Daigo talks about in the interview. You can read the rest over at PVP Live.
For the first time since its November 1st, 2016 release, the current installment in the BlazBlue series is on a big sale. Whether you were holding off on owning a copy of BlazBlue: Central Fiction or that friend of yours has been on the fence, it’s cheaper than ever to try the 2D fighter.
PlayStation Plus members will be happy to see that the game’s regular $59.99 tag is sliced in half. The 50% discount comes out to $29.99. PlayStation users who aren’t Plus members are sadly out of luck. Make haste, as the deal lasts until the evening of April 3rd.
Would Guile’s boss be a welcome addition to the Street Fighter V roster?
On March 24th, voice actor Bill Rogers’ tweet listing other Street Fighter V voice contributors set social media ablaze with speculation that Byron Taylor from SFV’s General Story–as well as various individual character story sections–had been leaked as an upcoming DLC fighter. Subsequent tweets refuted this, but the idea–and expectation–is out there in the wild, now.
In the video below, VesperArcade recaps the “leak” and discusses how the general reaction to Taylor following Kolin out of Story Mode and onto the playable roster has not been very positive; characters ported over from other franchises, or created completely fresh from the ground up, seem to be what the FGC would generally prefer. However, there’s no denying that building on the existing story assets makes new fighters a less work-intensive proposition for Capcom. With this in mind, VesperArcade asks: do we really care who the next “all-new” character is, if their gameplay delivers?
This epic battle of Street Fighter V superstars has begun!
Tonight saw the first showdown in ELEAGUE’s Street Fighter V Invitational: the preliminaries of Group A. ANBU|Punk tore through Group A with only a single loss to RZR|Infiltration, while despite their efforts RISE|MaRN and EG|Ricki Ortiz were eliminated. EG|Momochi earned a spot in the semi-finals with Punk–just ahead of Smug–while the other four Group A members advance to Group A quarter finals.
The brackets for Groups A’s next bouts:
A detailed breakdown of the wins and losses can be viewed on ELEAGUE’s website. Tune in to ELEAGUE’s Twitch channel (below) at 4:00 PM ET tomorrow (March 28) to watch Group B begin their battle!
A look into a number of ways to utilize Kolin’s ice slide.
Following up on their stylish combo collection for the Phantasm of Snow and Ice, Smash and Grab now look closer at how to use Kolin’s Vanity Step–specifically what can be done by controlling the range of the medium kick version of the move, to set up potential frame traps and meaties. This is more of an open experimentation than a direct how-to guide, so check it out to join in and help find ways to exploit the vanity Step against your enemies.
Check out everything Kolin is capable of with all of our Kolin tech coverage to date:
Eternal Champions lives in the hearts of many old school fighting game players as one of the best titles in the 16-bit era. Having a unique niche as a console-only title, it and its Sega CD sequel–Challenge from the Dark Side–received large amounts of praise in the North American markets. It was a big enough hit that Sega of Japan actually canceled a third potential title for the Saturn, out of fear that it would draw too much attention away from Virtua Fighter. To this day, the intellectual property has been unavailable to series producer Michael Latham.
That has not prevented him from moving on. He has recently released a poll to the community, asking players if they would like a “spiritual successor” to the Eternal Champions series. As a spiritual successor, it would not retain any of the characters or story of the original, but would be using mechanics similar to the original in a more modern format.
