Category: Fighting Games

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

YouDeal MJS|Tatsuya Haitani came out of the gates swinging on the Capcom Pro Tour. He has a consistent attendee on the circuit this year, and his efforts have put him into a respectable 10th place on SRK’s global leaderboard.

Not only that, but Haitani has easily qualified for Capcom Cup with a mountain of points. How does the Necalli main stack up against the field?

Innovation

I have already mentioned several Necallis who have qualified–including BX3.TP-Link|Phenom, ZOWIE|GamerBee, and SOA|Brolynho–and have discussed their strengths with the character. But what they are currently doing, Haitani blazed the trail for early on.

Haitani was the first Necalli to make his mark on the circuit, proving the strength of the character as early as Final Round. If you want to see Phenom’s grimy mix-ups, Haitani knows when to pull them out. GamerBee’s aggressiveness with frame traps? Haitani has that. Brolynho’s patience? Haitani can go there too.

But one thing that doesn’t get mentioned about Haitani is his trust in his reads. His Necalli is willing to believe his opponent is going to go for a meaty, DP, and be right. He has a fantastic understanding of what his opponent is looking for, and always seems to be ready with the buffer into super.

Despite losing to Tokido, the above match shows the full breadth of Haitani’s range with the character. You can’t take anything away from any other Necalli player in Capcom Cup, but if you want an early example of top level Necalli play, this is where to look. It’s no wonder James Chen noted the Japanese were calling Haitani the best player early on.

More Top Eights Than God

Haitani has been on the grind this year, and his results prove how his devotion to traveling to events has paid off. Of the 24 tournaments he has attended this season, he has made 18 top 8s. That’s a staggering 75% success rate.

Equally impressive is that out of those 18 top 8s, he has finished 4th or higher two-thirds of the time. To play that volume of top level matches with those level of results is staggering. Of the players in in the top 10 on Shoryuken’s rankings, only EG|Justin Wong and RB|Luffy have attended as many tournaments as Haitani. Justin only has only one more top 8 than Haitani from the same number of tournaments. Luffy has 17 top 8s out of 26 tournaments.

In that context, Haitani’s rate may not seem like an amazing statistic. But the proof is in the pudding. Luffy did nearly everything, with the exception of Brooklyn Beatdown and Evo 2016, in Europe. Justin pulled off the same feat Haitani has with only four excursions outside of North America. Haitani has not stayed put. 14 of his 24 events were played in Asia, the rest internationally. Two of his three worst tournament results were inked in Asia. His only tournament win on the circuit was achieved in Australia. This man has gotten around more than any player on the circuit this year, and has managed to stay consistent throughout the year despite that.

Complacency

One of the biggest concerns for Haitani is that some of his worst results have come near the tail end of the season. He placed 25th at two consecutive events in the run up to the Capcom Cup–Japan Cup and Manila Cup. It’s also worth noting that around the same time, conversations were being had about whether he could make waves at all.

While a lot was said of his recently lackluster performance, we can also look back at the start of the season, where there were claims that he was the best. He was basically defining proper Necalli play at that point. You almost wonder if Haitani has just gone on autopilot in the home stretch.

If you look at his match with Xiaohai at SoCal Regionals, some signs point to this. He was not doing anything stellar–it just looked like cut and paste Necalli play. Xiaohai took advantage. As a matter of fact, Xiaohai conditioned him to do just that to punish him.

Has Haitani plateaued with his character? Or is it something else?

Jet Lag

It’s quite possible that Haitani is just worn out. As mentioned, he has one of the most extensive travel schedules of all the pros on the circuit. He has made it his goal to compete as much as possible this season. Has he pushed himself too hard in his travel? Perhaps the reason that he is on autopilot with his play is that he’s just tired?

If that’s the case, then he is doing the right thing right now. After SoCal Regionals, he has retreated to Japan. While he is still playing online, he is certainly taking a sabbatical from traveling, sitting out Canada Cup and Red Bull Battlegrounds. If it’s burn out he’s suffering from, this should help him recharge before he jumps back into competition in Busan for the Asia Regional Finals.

Final Thoughts

Haitani has been a divisive player this year. He has the tools, the focus and the deep character knowledge to be a threat to go far in a tournament. But his results have slid over the last two months, and there is concern that he doesn’t have enough fuel left to propel him deep into the fray at Capcom Cup.

If he utilizes his much-needed break properly and returns firing on all cylinders, I’d call him to go top 8. But he could range anywhere from there to top 16 at this point. He’s definitely more of a wildcard than he should be, but he could make it to the depths of the bracket–provided he focuses.

While everyone loves a flashy combo video, you sometimes just want pure optimization. In the spirit of the refined Ms. Kanzuki, HitBox Sora has compiled a list of Karin’s most damaging and optimal combos, collected from tournaments throughout 2016. These 10 combos are designed to be as powerful as possible, and very hard to drop in a high-pressure environment. If you are looking to main Karin, these are the combos you should go about learning ahead of all else.

This list is by no means exhaustive and you should try to learn as many combos as possible, but this selection is designed to be as reliable as can be, so prioritize memorizing these inputs first before you start getting creative. As the name suggests, all of these combos are performed on a HitBox controller, but Sora has left the notation on screen so you can replicate these sequences, no matter your input method.

Source: HB Sora

Outside of maybe Super Smash Bros., very few fighting games use the environment as a way to extend or start off certain combos. Thanks to the interactables present in the backgrounds of stages in Mortal Kombat X, certain characters can use the brief invincibility created by jump interactables to create situational combo opportunities.

Expanding on his initial video discussing how to armor launch opponents with certain interactables, MK_REO has created a video to display how characters can use these jump interactables to escape strings and start their own combo, providing they have enough stamina. Using Kung Jin as an example, REO is able to mash out the interactable while blocking a pressure string, then use the first few frames of invincibility gained from jumping off the interactable to instantly input a divekick and start his own combo. Characters with divekicks like Sonya and Kung Lao, as well as fighters with aerial specials like Alien’s EX Flip or Tremor’s instant air Earthquake, are able to utilize this tactic to get round enemy pressure and lead into a combo.

This tactic is stage specific, but plenty of stages to have jump interactables like:

• Dead Woods with the tree stump
• Refugee Camp with the truck
• Outworld Marketplace with the lion
• Destroyed City with the car
• Krossroads with the right side rock
• The Kove with its two posts
• Quan Chi Fortress with the chest
• Lin Kuei Temple with the upright coffins
• The Pit with the two lanterns

Source: MK_REO

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang of Zowie is one of the leading players to emerge in the Street Fighter IV era. Hailing from what was once a vacuum of top fighting game players in Taiwan, he emerged as a sudden powerhouse in the game, proving the viability of what was then-considered a weak character in Adon, and becoming one of the most popular players in the FGC.

Despite his popularity, Hsiang has never been the favorite when it comes to major tournaments. Has that changed in this season?

Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride

The first thing that comes to mind with GamerBee is his perpetual underdog status; although he’s always a threat, GamerBee registers an unusually low number of tournament wins. Over the course of his career, he has seen–at most–three wins per season. This is by far the lowest out of any player analyzed so far, save for Liquid|NuckleDu.

Also of note is the fact that, much like NuckleDu, Hsiang is yet to capture any sort of win at Evolution. Sure, he has come close many times over. He has been runner-up twice, made three top 8s, and has not been outside of top 16 since he began competing at Evo.

The consistency of ‘Bee is well noted, and he is never not a threat in any tournament. He is always on the verge. But often, when it’s time to show that he well above the echelon of players that just come close, he fails to set himself apart.

Learning Curve

Much like Daigo Umehara, GamerBee had a difficult transition to Street Fighter V. This was evident in ‘Bee’s early results. Even at Street Fighter V Crash, where he fought on Team Southeast with Secret|Poongko and HuomaoTV|HumanBomb, GamerBee appeared the weakest out of the three, with Poongko and HumanBomb doing the brunt of the work in taking out teams on their own.

GamerBee actually admitted to not understanding the game during an episode of the Jump-In Podcast, and it is evident in his early play. He was relying on what he already knew from Street Fighter IV, and was playing Necalli as though it were his patented Adon. The similarities between the two are duly noted: both have strong DPs, both are able to change their jump arcs, and both have amazingly strong pokes in the neutral.

It was the differences in the characters and the core mechanics of their respective games that hindered GamerBee’s progress this season. Once he began to understand this and overcome the differences, he became a more complete player in Street Fighter V, and the results began to reflect that.

Ramping it Up

Any doubts whether GamerBee could compete in SFV were wiped clean at Japan Cup. Facing a top 8 that included two Evo 2016 top 8 players, as well as other strong players like Poongko, Mago, and GGP|Kazunoko, GamerBee stood out on top of a stacked bracket. To further prove that win wasn’t a fluke, he went ahead and took EGX in a field that included Daigo Umehara, OR|Onuki, and BX3.TP-Link|Phenom–two of the three with tickets punched directly into Capcom Cup.

If GamerBee weren’t a real threat, would he seriously be able to do that?

Proving Himself

GamerBee has always had a hard time in a field that, given his strength as a player, he should be able to trounce easily. It could be attributed to a number of things that may be true or not, and only Hsiang may fully know the reason. Some could be bad luck, such as losing momentum after the stick disconnect issue in Evo 2015 grand finals against EG|Momochi. Some could be choking under pressure, such as Evo 2013. It could even be attributed to just coming up against players who were just absolutely impossible to beat at the moment they played him, such as Infiltration at Evo 2012.

The account of his losses have been more telling than his wins over the years. In 2014 he missed out on Capcom Cup, and nearly made the decision to retire in 2015. He has obviously decided to stick around, and you know that in his mind, he is wanting to prove in every instance he was right to do so.

When a man has so much to prove, it can be a double-edged sword.  GamerBee has been known to play more emotionally at times than other top players, so it’s definitely a worry that, by attempting to prove his worth at Capcom Cup, he do just the opposite. It will take a lot of chutzpah to keep himself focused, but he is capable of doing so. We’ll know in December which side of the coin he lands on.

Final Thoughts

Going into his second Capcom Cup, GamerBee will to want to win. So does everyone else, but no other player has as much emotionally invested into this as Hsiang.

Bruce will–in my opinion–not finish lower than top 12. If he is able to treat this as just another tournament, and not let his emotions or nerves get the better of him, he has the capability to finish top 8 or even higher off the strength of his Necalli pick alone. The risk is the fact that when he is emotionally invested, he tends to lose more often, and I have a hard time seeing him not doing so here.

The field is irrelevant because he has proven he can outdo the best in the world. At this point, GamerBee’s worst enemy is himself.