Kim1234 just jumped in on Arman “Phenom” Hanjani last week, and the interview couldn’t be any better. As always, Kim1234 brings the hard questions, and BX3.TP-Link|Phenom follows through with solid answers. In the interview, they discuss Phenom’s switch to Necalli from Bison, as well as his opinions on the changes in the input lag in Street Fighter V. They also discuss the Capcom Pro Tour’s qualification system, which many have agreed to be difficult to comprehend this year.
They also talk about how Phenom got his name, which may come from a source you wouldn’t necessarily expect. For more, please watch the video.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not reflect Shoryuken as a whole.
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi. When I think of him, I think of the epitome of a fighting game player. This guy has played it all, and has done well at it all to boot. It would take me forever to list off every game that he has played and done well at, and Street Fighter V is no exception.
He is one of only a handful of players who has seen his name at the top rank of a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event, having won Southeast Asia Major and Community Effort Orlando. He has had one of his best years to date, but will that be enough to allow him to win Capcom Cup?
The Utility Player
One of the most impressive things about Tokido is his ability to play multiple games well. He had a brilliant mind for being able to switch games at the drop of a hat, and making top 8s in multiple games at multiple Evolutions. However, the result of doing so was that he was always viewed as the FGC’s equivalent to a utility role in baseball. He was great at everything, but excelled at nothing.
Only once, in 2007, has he made multiple top 8s at Evolution and won a title, taking the prize in Super Street Fighter II Turbo while making top 8 in Capcom vs. SNK 2, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Virtua Fighter 5, and Guilty Gear XX Λ Core. This is an impressive feat–no doubt–but when you struggle to close out events due to stretching yourself too thin over the course of a weekend, when the goal is to win tournaments, most people are going to overlook the otherworldly level of skill it takes to make multiple top 8s and ask, “Well, what have you actually won?”
This year, we have seen Tokido settle himself down as far as what is he is entering is concerned. We saw him focus on Street Fighter V alone. The results have been that he made more top 8s, and won 50% as many majors this year as he has in the prior three years combined. Further, he captained Team Topanga to a win in Street Fighter V Crash. This is most definitely Tokido’s banner year, and one can only assume he has his eyes fixed on Capcom Cup to crown it.
Art of Ryu
In Street Fighter V, Ryu is often played in a very scientific way, slow and straightforward. Tokido would love to show everyone that this is not the way to play him, and I believe he has over the course of the year. Whereas players like Daigo Umehara or XSK_Samurai tend to play Ryu more robotically and in a cookie-cutter manner of merely relying on their fundamentals, Tokido has turned Ryu into an art form. You’re more likely to see him in Oddshots and Twitch clips than any other Ryu, thanks to his artistic exchanges and crazy baits–and it’s tough not to love him for it.
If you were to play Tokido with nothing more than Ryu match-up knowledge, it would take him just a few sets to deconstruct every notion that you had, and send you back to the drawing board. That is how different his Ryu is. To top all of that off, he has some of the best execution in the world, and is one of few Ryus to be able to confirm standing short into Critical Art at will. The number of tools he has in his arsenal is amazing, and makes him a legitimate threat anywhere.
The Fear of the Unknown
If I was put one thing down as his biggest flaw, it is losing to something he is clueless about. One of the specific moments showcases this failing came at Never Give Up, in the final game against Jiewa. Near the end, Tokido used a V-Trigger cancel to bait out Jiewa’s V-Reversal, then parried the V-Reversal. He then tried to Shoryuken the V-Reversal. What Tokido didn’t plan for was the fact that Ken’s V-Reversal counts as airborne, thus causing the Shoryuken to reset Ken instead of do full damage. The result of that caused Jiewa to win. When the cameras panned to the players, Tokido looked visibly shocked that the air reset happened, which leads me to believe that for all the work Tokido puts in, there is still so much that he doesn’t know about the game–and when he is playing mostly by instinct, that can lead to his doom.
Preparedness
Tokido is always prepared to cruise through the bracket. However, there is one thing I’d like to point out from seeing and talking to him; he prepares more for situations than he does the long haul. Tokido tends to focus his preparation for beating specific players than general high-level match-up situations. When it works out for him, the results are great. He spent his time preparing for Infiltration by playing against Yukadon, and went on to beat him at CEO. He stated at Southeast Asia Major that his goal was to beat Momochi, and did just that on his way to a tournament victory.
This is just taking into account grand finals, of course. He does tend to cruise by in top 8 for the most part fairly well. At no point when he has made top 8 in Street Fighter V has he finished outside of the top 4.
Outside of Infiltration, though, look at those who have defeated him on his way to those lower finishes. NuckleDu. Jiewa. Xiaohai. Fuudo (whom Tokido had dispatched of in SFV Crash). Eita. Yukadon. Mago. Momochi. These are all strong players. However, given Tokido’s consistency in numbers compared to theirs, they simply should not be beating him on a regular basis. Yet, they are. Why? Partly because he overlooks what he views as smaller fish to go hunting for sharks. But there’s more to it than just this, or else it would merely be a matter of more effort on Tokido’s part to overcome this.
All Eyes on the Murderface
With Tokido’s consistent records over this season comes the attention of everyone looking to make their mark on the world of Street Fighter. If he’s not going to prepare for them, they’ll prepare for him. The lack of attention he gives to some players while they’re studying his tapes is deadly.
Tokido doesn’t give away much with his fluid play style, but the top players are obviously finding something to abuse, because they are beating him. Further, sometimes Tokido has unwittingly given away things without knowing it. For example, he trained against Yukadon to defeat Infiltration. While Tokido–in the short term–benefited from doing so to win CEO, Yukadon has certainly benefited equally–if not more–than Tokido by being able to send him to Losers Bracket on his way to top 8 at Evolution. While Tokido was allowed to prepare for Infiltration, Yukadon was far more prepared to dispatch Tokido because he simply knew how he would approach the match–and he knew that Tokido’s focus wasn’t totally on him.
While that sort of direct download doesn’t happen often, it does factor in to his ability to win Capcom Cup, since many of those players will be there to face him. He will have to contend with at least a few players from Japan, including those from the Topanga house that he trains at. This could stunt his progress in the bracket.
Is His Training Method Right?
He has most notably said to Yahoo! Esports that his new training method–which sees him playing less and studying videos more–is correct. He claims this off a first place finish at SEAM and now a second place finish at the North American Regional Finals. That is quite the small sample size to confirm his theories, albeit good results to show for his new training regimen.
Right after he won SEAM, he took an abbreviated break. This is not the Infiltration-style break, and he has certainly continued his business as usual training regimen. But what will truly prove that he has chosen the right path is his results at Capcom Cup.
Smaller Pool
One thing that does benefit Tokido is the fact that very soon, he will know every name that will be at the tournament. Unlike larger pools—where he won’t know who will make top 32 or above—he knows this time exactly who he will face. He will have some time to research each player. While he will likely focus on players he’s found himself to struggle against, he will at least have some grasp of each player before he reaches Anaheim. His careful scrutiny of players he wants to beat may actually guide him to victory.
Final Thoughts
The biggest X-factor with Tokido is how he spends this last month before Capcom Cup. If he goes deep into research, and doesn’t overlook anyone, he has to be the odds on favorite.
With that, I would easily bet that Tokido makes grand finals. How he does from there will depend on who ends up on the other side, and how much time he has spent preparing for them.
Previously covering how to optimize kunai usage as Ibuki, FGC Academy is back with another video dedicated to the young ninja. This time, they focus on pressuring as Ibuki, listing guaranteed pressure setups which can exploit your opponent mashing buttons to interrupt your attack.
FGC Academy shows different ways to pressure from different ranges, using moves like Ibuki’s far heavy kick to catch the recovery on an opponent’s move, or to cause a Crush Counter if they are throwing out buttons. Finally, they show off how to deal with people who are a little bit too patient, by racking up white life to build V-Trigger and force the opponent to hit buttons to wipe off that potential damage. These white life pressure strings are becoming a popular tactic in Japan, according to FGC Academy, so utilizing this specific pressure tool now may give you the leg up for when other top players start following suit.
Previously covering how to optimize kunai usage as Ibuki, FGC Academy is back with another video dedicated to the young ninja. This time, they focus on pressuring as Ibuki, listing guaranteed pressure setups which can exploit your opponent mashing buttons to interrupt your attack.
FGC Academy shows different ways to pressure from different ranges, using moves like Ibuki’s far heavy kick to catch the recovery on an opponent’s move, or to cause a Crush Counter if they are throwing out buttons. Finally, they show off how to deal with people who are a little bit too patient, by racking up white life to build V-Trigger and force the opponent to hit buttons to wipe off that potential damage. These white life pressure strings are becoming a popular tactic in Japan, according to FGC Academy, so utilizing this specific pressure tool now may give you the leg up for when other top players start following suit.
Zhuojun “Xiaohai” Zeng has been rapidly climbing the rankings in every game he is currently playing. He has clearly been working hard this year, and it has shown with his play. Having been on a tear of firsts and seconds in The King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V, he looks to be virtually unstoppable.
Over the course of Canada Cup, I had a chance to sit down to some fine dim sum with Team Qanba Douyu’s Xiaohai, and get a rare glimpse into what he views as the greatest attributes a high-level player can possess.
Missing Person: You’ve been having a really good year. This is your best year on the circuit to date. What do you attribute your success to?
Xiaohai: I’ve been utilizing all of Cammy’s advantages and abilities very well. I also have spent some time surveying the best players, such as Daigo, Infiltration, Momochi, regarding their personas and how they project the kind of demeanor. There are times where they are not playing exceptionally well, but when lower level players play them, they are afraid of playing against them.
Missing Person: So you’re using a different attitude when playing than normal?
Xiaohai: It’s not really my demeanor or attitude that changes, but how I play against players that are affected by playing against top players. When lesser players play against us, they get into situations where they are afraid or feel trapped. At that point, you have to maximize your proper spacing, isolate the errors that people make, and capitalize on those. When they play top players, they feel pressure to be aggressive because they feel smothered by those players. When you get into that spot, you leave more room for error and unsafe moves that pros will capitalize on. What I’m trying to do is put people in those positions where they feel smothered and are under pressure to do something, and then jump on those opportunities that they give me.
Missing Person: You’re already showing yourself as amazing in Street Fighter V. King of Fighters XIV just released, and you’re also doing well there. How are you feeling about KOF this iteration?
Xiaohai: It’s just normal to me. I don’t think it’s a better game than The King of Fighters XIII, personally.
Missing Person: So if it were up to you, you would be playing XIII over XIV?
Xiaohai: I love The King of Fighters XIII. The newest iteration feels like you get hit, get put into a combo after that, and someone’s already dead. In XIII, it feels like there’s more room for mix-ups, resets, and combos, so you really have to read your opponents more in that game. Plus the game speed in XIII was faster than XIV, so there’s that that I like as well.
Missing Person: Two weeks ago, you went to SoCal regionals, and won both The King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V. I want to go back on both those grand finals sets, which provided a lot of fireworks. First, let’s talk about the one with Reynald in King of Fighters. He put you in losers bracket. What adjustments did you make leading up to grand finals that allowed you to completely shut down Reynald?
Xiaohai: I trained with a friend, who basically taught me how to counter Mian after losing to him on winner’s side. After that, I already knew how to beat the other characters. The main problem was Mian. The dive kick pressure was getting to me, but with practice, I realized that blocking the dive kick pressure didn’t affect as much as I initially thought. The reason for this was that my guard meter was building up faster than Reynald could drain it using dive kicks. He was banking on me getting scared by not knowing that. So once I realized that my guard meter was safe, I could block without being scared, and wait for him to do something unsafe to punish.
Missing Person: Did it affect you at all when Reynald made the switch to Chin as anchor?
Xiaohai: After the first round of that, I was able to download and dissect his Chin very quickly.
Xiaohai playing The King of Fighters XIV at Canada Cup 2016. Photo courtesy Jennifer Lee.
Missing Person: In Street Fighter V, Haitani managed to get a reset on you when you so easily beat him in Winners Finals. What caused that to happen?
Xiaohai: Because I was on the winner’s side of grand finals, I felt more relaxed and wasn’t taking it as seriously as I should have been. I didn’t feel as pressured or rushed to attack in the ways I was the first time we faced off. So in the first set, he was changing up the way he was coming in and attacking, and I conditioned him in the end. So after the reset, I had made Haitani remember how to approach, and I flipped a switch, and was countering everything that I had conditioned him to do. He thought what he was doing was safe and it wasn’t. He was always throwing out meaties, and I would just use my reversal.
Missing Person: You are currently ranked second in the world rankings. Does this change your mindset at all knowing that everyone is looking up the hill at you? [Editor’s note: at time of publication, Xiaohai has fallen to the #6 spot.]
Xiaohai: I’m more focused on this point on what I can do better, and the psychological games that go along with playing at a high level.
Missing Person: Who are you looking forward to playing at Canada Cup, and who are you wanting to avoid in the brackets?
Xiaohai: I’m up to play anyone at this point.
Missing Person: Not even worried about Infiltration, who sits above you on the leaderboard? [And is still #1! – Editor]
Xiaohai: For me, it’s just practice. I’m not afraid. A lot of people think that Infiltration is dropping in the ranks, and I agree that he is. They know how to play against him at this juncture. The thing is, at Evolution and most events, they’re sitting side-by-side, and he can see what other people are doing by watching their sticks. When I was watching him play in the team tournament at the head-to-head setup, Infiltration cannot rely on that sort of information because it isn’t there. When it’s like that, Infiltration simply struggles.
Missing Person: That’s true, because he also struggled at Street Fighter V Crash, but did well at Evolution. Does this format affect you at all? Do you find yourself looking at sticks, or do you treat matches like they’re always head-to-head?
Xiaohai: I’m at a bigger advantage with head-to-head, because I can stick out attacks that other people can’t anticipate because they cannot see my inputs. If I’m playing side-by-side, I can still do those moves, but because they can see my joystick and know what I’m doing, it gives them time to react.
Missing Person: So obviously you prefer head-to-head play.
Xiaohai: Definitely. On top of that, this is how I grew up playing in arcades in China, so I’m already used to it compared to other players that didn’t have that luxury. Also, the larger tournaments in China run the games head-to-head, so it is exactly what I’m used to.
Missing Person: How do you like your chances going into Capcom Cup this year?
Xiaohai: I’m feeling fifty-fifty at this point.
Missing Person: I personally have you pretty even on the odds going into this.
Xiaohai: Yes, someone had shown me your article before. It’s very long, and my English is not good enough to understand everything, but I saw that you were optimistic.
Missing Person: You got your start in The King of Fighters ’98, and won Super Battle Opera for the game in 2007. What was the feeling knowing that you were one of, if not the first foreigner to win an event there?
Xiaohai: It was nerve-wracking, and it made it hard for me to do my best. In most events, it’s double elimination with multiple game sets. That gives me time to adjust my play. But with it being one game for single elimination, I had to win against players I haven’t played before or go home. So with that pressure, it was very difficult to compete at my best, so it was nerve-wracking trying to take home the title.
Missing Person: How do you feel about the new Chinese players coming up in the scene? You have Abao, Weili, and Jiewa showing up and doing well. Do you think China is the future of fighting games?
Xiaohai: If they are able to go to more events, and play as many players as they can, it’ll be better for them competitively. Even for me, even though I went back to China right after SCR, I haven’t practiced since SCR. Even though I don’t get a chance to practice often, I cherish and utilize the time that I do get to practice wisely.
Missing Person: Do you think playing the top players keeps you fresh, knowing that you always have to be able to play on the highest level?
Xiaohai: It’s not necessarily keeping up my skills, because that stays sharp no matter what after you learn it. It’s more keeping up the mentality that it takes to out-think my opponents. One of the most important things I’ve learned about Street Fighter V, is that it’s not so much how much aggression you can put on your opponent, but also being defensive-minded and knowing when to block and when to counter. Not only that, but trying to get maximum damage whenever you can. I cannot stress enough that most players feel the need to attack because they feel like if they don’t attack, they will get hit. But ultimately, that mentality leads to most players’ downfall.
Missing Person: Do you feel like that mentality stems from trying to prove themselves against top players by playing totally aggressive?
Xiaohai: Not at all, I merely think that they feel like if they don’t attack, they will get hit, and that leads to them being aggressive in stupid situations. It’s like Sunzi says in The Art of War. He doesn’t retreat and then the opponent attacks. He attacks, and puts the opponent in the corner to where they feel like they have to attack. Then he takes advantage of their desperation.
Special thanks to Hulk-Jen for Cantonese-to-English interpretation for this interview.
Zhuojun “Xiaohai” Zeng has been rapidly climbing the rankings in every game he is currently playing. He has clearly been working hard this year, and it has shown with his play. Having been on a tear of firsts and seconds in The King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V, he looks to be virtually unstoppable.
Over the course of Canada Cup, I had a chance to sit down to some fine dim sum with Team Qanba Douyu’s Xiaohai, and get a rare glimpse into what he views as the greatest attributes a high-level player can possess.
Missing Person: You’ve been having a really good year. This is your best year on the circuit to date. What do you attribute your success to?
Xiaohai: I’ve been utilizing all of Cammy’s advantages and abilities very well. I also have spent some time surveying the best players, such as Daigo, Infiltration, Momochi, regarding their personas and how they project the kind of demeanor. There are times where they are not playing exceptionally well, but when lower level players play them, they are afraid of playing against them.
Missing Person: So you’re using a different attitude when playing than normal?
Xiaohai: It’s not really my demeanor or attitude that changes, but how I play against players that are affected by playing against top players. When lesser players play against us, they get into situations where they are afraid or feel trapped. At that point, you have to maximize your proper spacing, isolate the errors that people make, and capitalize on those. When they play top players, they feel pressure to be aggressive because they feel smothered by those players. When you get into that spot, you leave more room for error and unsafe moves that pros will capitalize on. What I’m trying to do is put people in those positions where they feel smothered and are under pressure to do something, and then jump on those opportunities that they give me.
Missing Person: You’re already showing yourself as amazing in Street Fighter V. King of Fighters XIV just released, and you’re also doing well there. How are you feeling about KOF this iteration?
Xiaohai: It’s just normal to me. I don’t think it’s a better game than The King of Fighters XIII, personally.
Missing Person: So if it were up to you, you would be playing XIII over XIV?
Xiaohai: I love The King of Fighters XIII. The newest iteration feels like you get hit, get put into a combo after that, and someone’s already dead. In XIII, it feels like there’s more room for mix-ups, resets, and combos, so you really have to read your opponents more in that game. Plus the game speed in XIII was faster than XIV, so there’s that that I like as well.
Missing Person: Two weeks ago, you went to SoCal regionals, and won both The King of Fighters XIV and Street Fighter V. I want to go back on both those grand finals sets, which provided a lot of fireworks. First, let’s talk about the one with Reynald in King of Fighters. He put you in losers bracket. What adjustments did you make leading up to grand finals that allowed you to completely shut down Reynald?
Xiaohai: I trained with a friend, who basically taught me how to counter Mian after losing to him on winner’s side. After that, I already knew how to beat the other characters. The main problem was Mian. The dive kick pressure was getting to me, but with practice, I realized that blocking the dive kick pressure didn’t affect as much as I initially thought. The reason for this was that my guard meter was building up faster than Reynald could drain it using dive kicks. He was banking on me getting scared by not knowing that. So once I realized that my guard meter was safe, I could block without being scared, and wait for him to do something unsafe to punish.
Missing Person: Did it affect you at all when Reynald made the switch to Chin as anchor?
Xiaohai: After the first round of that, I was able to download and dissect his Chin very quickly.
Xiaohai playing The King of Fighters XIV at Canada Cup 2016. Photo courtesy Jennifer Lee.
Missing Person: In Street Fighter V, Haitani managed to get a reset on you when you so easily beat him in Winners Finals. What caused that to happen?
Xiaohai: Because I was on the winner’s side of grand finals, I felt more relaxed and wasn’t taking it as seriously as I should have been. I didn’t feel as pressured or rushed to attack in the ways I was the first time we faced off. So in the first set, he was changing up the way he was coming in and attacking, and I conditioned him in the end. So after the reset, I had made Haitani remember how to approach, and I flipped a switch, and was countering everything that I had conditioned him to do. He thought what he was doing was safe and it wasn’t. He was always throwing out meaties, and I would just use my reversal.
Missing Person: You are currently ranked second in the world rankings. Does this change your mindset at all knowing that everyone is looking up the hill at you? [Editor’s note: at time of publication, Xiaohai has fallen to the #6 spot.]
Xiaohai: I’m more focused on this point on what I can do better, and the psychological games that go along with playing at a high level.
Missing Person: Who are you looking forward to playing at Canada Cup, and who are you wanting to avoid in the brackets?
Xiaohai: I’m up to play anyone at this point.
Missing Person: Not even worried about Infiltration, who sits above you on the leaderboard? [And is still #1! – Editor]
Xiaohai: For me, it’s just practice. I’m not afraid. A lot of people think that Infiltration is dropping in the ranks, and I agree that he is. They know how to play against him at this juncture. The thing is, at Evolution and most events, they’re sitting side-by-side, and he can see what other people are doing by watching their sticks. When I was watching him play in the team tournament at the head-to-head setup, Infiltration cannot rely on that sort of information because it isn’t there. When it’s like that, Infiltration simply struggles.
Missing Person: That’s true, because he also struggled at Street Fighter V Crash, but did well at Evolution. Does this format affect you at all? Do you find yourself looking at sticks, or do you treat matches like they’re always head-to-head?
Xiaohai: I’m at a bigger advantage with head-to-head, because I can stick out attacks that other people can’t anticipate because they cannot see my inputs. If I’m playing side-by-side, I can still do those moves, but because they can see my joystick and know what I’m doing, it gives them time to react.
Missing Person: So obviously you prefer head-to-head play.
Xiaohai: Definitely. On top of that, this is how I grew up playing in arcades in China, so I’m already used to it compared to other players that didn’t have that luxury. Also, the larger tournaments in China run the games head-to-head, so it is exactly what I’m used to.
Missing Person: How do you like your chances going into Capcom Cup this year?
Xiaohai: I’m feeling fifty-fifty at this point.
Missing Person: I personally have you pretty even on the odds going into this.
Xiaohai: Yes, someone had shown me your article before. It’s very long, and my English is not good enough to understand everything, but I saw that you were optimistic.
Missing Person: You got your start in The King of Fighters ’98, and won Super Battle Opera for the game in 2007. What was the feeling knowing that you were one of, if not the first foreigner to win an event there?
Xiaohai: It was nerve-wracking, and it made it hard for me to do my best. In most events, it’s double elimination with multiple game sets. That gives me time to adjust my play. But with it being one game for single elimination, I had to win against players I haven’t played before or go home. So with that pressure, it was very difficult to compete at my best, so it was nerve-wracking trying to take home the title.
Missing Person: How do you feel about the new Chinese players coming up in the scene? You have Abao, Weili, and Jiewa showing up and doing well. Do you think China is the future of fighting games?
Xiaohai: If they are able to go to more events, and play as many players as they can, it’ll be better for them competitively. Even for me, even though I went back to China right after SCR, I haven’t practiced since SCR. Even though I don’t get a chance to practice often, I cherish and utilize the time that I do get to practice wisely.
Missing Person: Do you think playing the top players keeps you fresh, knowing that you always have to be able to play on the highest level?
Xiaohai: It’s not necessarily keeping up my skills, because that stays sharp no matter what after you learn it. It’s more keeping up the mentality that it takes to out-think my opponents. One of the most important things I’ve learned about Street Fighter V, is that it’s not so much how much aggression you can put on your opponent, but also being defensive-minded and knowing when to block and when to counter. Not only that, but trying to get maximum damage whenever you can. I cannot stress enough that most players feel the need to attack because they feel like if they don’t attack, they will get hit. But ultimately, that mentality leads to most players’ downfall.
Missing Person: Do you feel like that mentality stems from trying to prove themselves against top players by playing totally aggressive?
Xiaohai: Not at all, I merely think that they feel like if they don’t attack, they will get hit, and that leads to them being aggressive in stupid situations. It’s like Sunzi says in The Art of War. He doesn’t retreat and then the opponent attacks. He attacks, and puts the opponent in the corner to where they feel like they have to attack. Then he takes advantage of their desperation.
Special thanks to Hulk-Jen for Cantonese-to-English interpretation for this interview.
All of the modern day hype for newer titles often leaves older titles shelved and forgotten; even though Vampire Savior is still being played today, with a modest showing as recently as CEOtaku, it’s not often that players sit down with it and break it down on any level.
jmcrofts is not such a player, and decided to sit down with the cult classic Darkstalkers 3. He goes over basic system mechanics, the theme of the game, character playstyles, and does some in-depth analysis on high level play. If you’ve ever wondered what the competitive landscape of this legendary game is like, be sure to check out this breakdown.
After chronicling the History and Evolution of Cammy, Xuses returns to take a look at both Crimson Viper and Sagat, two characters that could be likely candidates for future Seasons of Street Fighter V.
Starting with Viper, he spotlights a handful of the most notable players who brought the CIA agent into battle throughout the lifespans of Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, such as Wolfkrone, Latif, MF|Tonpy, BT|Marlinpie, and Unkn0wn doing what they do best against the likes of RB|Luffy, Chris Hu, Secret|Poongko, RZR|Xian, BST|Daigo Umehara, Kawaguuchi, RDK, and AlukardNY. He closes with a look at Viper’s three appearances in the SFV Prologues of M. Bison, Juri, and Urien, perhaps laying the groundwork for a Season 2 appearance? You can catch the video below.
Moving on to Sagat, who has a much deeper Street Fighter history, Xuses begins by showing him playable in the original Street Fighter (via hacks) before moving on to a showcase of his proper playable debut in 1992’s Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. He also looks at his trio of appearances in the Alpha series, as well as 1995’s Street Fighter: The Movie, Street Fighter EX2 Plus and EX3, as well as his involvement in the Vs. series via Capcom vs. SNK and CvS2, and SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom. Finally, he moves on to the Emperor of Muay Thai’s more recent appearances, such as Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix in 2008, a rare non-fighting game appearance as a Boss Character in Street Fighter X Mega Man Version 2.0, and of course, Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken. Like with Viper, Xuses ends the video with a clip from Rashid’s Street Fighter V Prologue, where the Turbulent Wind discovers, through the Street Fighter universe’s version of Twitter, (the Capcom Fighters Network?) where the King may be residing these days, as Abel says that he “Found Sagat, former member of the Shadaloo Kings. What’s he doing here deep in the mountains…” You can see his video below.
Having just recently dropped in the US, Blazblue: Central Fiction is on everyone’s minds. As is tradition with anime titles, many American players have been looking to Japan for early impressions of the game. Today, let’s look at some content being produced by Japanese players, ranging from combo videos to tutorials.
Up first we have some snazzy CMVs. The first features Mai, one of the new characters in the cast, and the other is for Hakumen.
We also have some tech videos, featuring some basic confirms and some setups for two of the new members of the cast.
Lastly, we have an Izanami combo tutorial, showing off many confirms and specific combos.
Lap Chi Duong is one of the pioneers of running majors in the modern era. His event, Canada Cup, has run annually since 2011, and has seen massive results due to the unique spin that Duong puts on his events. The best-known event in Canada, it has become one of the most popular events on the circuit for FGC members from all over the planet. This year’s event saw players from the USA, Japan, Mexico and a whole host of other nations converge on Canada to fight it out for a coveted CPT Premier Event victory–and plenty of bragging rights.
Before Canada Cup started, I sat down with Lap Chi to discuss the event.
Missing Person: How many Canada Cups is this for you?
Lap Chi Duong: If you’re talking about main Canada Cups, this is my seventh Canada Cup in total.
Missing Person: I remember a few years back you had stated publicly that you were done with organizing Canada Cup. Yet you’re still here. What keeps you doing this?
Lap Chi: You could call me crazy, but there’s something addictive about it. When people start messaging about you, saying, “Hey Lap, when is Canada Cup? I need to schedule the time off,” eight months in advance, and pro players are calling me to say, “Wow, we like what you’re doing, Lap,” and what happens is that we all fall back into doing it. The whole team comes back and says, “If you’re down, we’re down.” So even with all the money we’ve lost and the time and effort we put into it, it’s just addictive. We’re passionate about it, and we want to do a bigger and better event every single year.
Missing Person: And the developers’ support must be helping you out a lot more, as opposed to the years where it wasn’t there, correct?
Lap Chi: Yeah, of course! We were all on our own for the first few years. Almost everything came out of our own pockets. We did have a few big sponsors like MadCatz and Twitch, and if it weren’t for them, the losses would’ve been bigger and we would have had to fold. But everyone, like Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Atlus are coming to me, saying, “Hey, Lap, you throw a great event. We’re looking to do qualifiers.” And I think that’s a great way to promote your game. It is one of the greatest paths to rate of increase is to throw money at these tournaments for the players that support your game, and hold qualifiers to your own tournament series. The amount of marketing you have to put into that isn’t really that much at all.
Missing Person: You’re known for bringing Canada Cup to venues across Canada. Every other major is anchored down in one city. What are the logistical difficulties in doing that?
Lap Chi: Many people may not know that we tried moving to Toronto back in 2012. We had no support from the organizers in Toronto and Montréal. We had to abandon that plan, and move on to Calgary. We did find someone to help out in Vancouver, so we tested it out there and it wasn’t as successful as we thought it would be. That was where we thought, “Well it didn’t work out in Vancouver, so let’s just end it.” But instead, we decided that since we were always testing things out, we decided to run it in Calgary and not run anybody down about the event. If they came, they came, and if they didn’t, they didn’t, but we’re going to have fun. We’re going to entertain the people that show up, and in that year—2014—we didn’t lose any money. That was just from hosting it in Calgary. That’s when I realized that our brand was improving, and people were coming on their own volition. Once I realized that, I wanted to give Toronto another shot. Last year was a pretty big success, and this year doubled last year’s numbers.
Missing Person: Are you thinking that Toronto may be the permanent home for Canada Cup, or are you thinking of heading back to Calgary?
Lap Chi: I could never say that there’s going to be a permanent home for the event. Calgary, however, with the population and demographics being the way they are, is not the ideal place to host the event. We’re considering trying Montréal one day, because everyone always seems to want to visit Montréal.
Missing Person: But of course with that, there’s issues of language barriers in Québec, being a French-speaking province playing host to a mainly English-speaking audience.
Lap Chi: We would definitely have to aim to be bilingual there, but as of now, there are no plans to move out of Toronto. Additionally, DreamHack has already touched base with Montréal, so we may just stick to Toronto. We’ll see.
Lap Chi Duong at the after party for Canada Cup 2016. Photo courtesy Jennifer Lee.
Missing Person: Excellent. As far as you personally, I’ve known you to travel internationally to play in events, like going to Korea and Singapore for Capcom Pro Tour qualifiers. Are we going to see you doing any of this again?
Lap Chi: When I was doing that, I was still taking competing seriously. I’m terrible at Street Fighter V, so for now, no travel plans. Possibly in the future I’ll start back up.
Missing Person: You have Canada Cup which is a big success. Any other things coming down the pipeline, such as collaborations with Toryuken and MAT?
Lap Chi: We would always love to collaborate with them. I think MAT was a pseudo-qualifier for Canada Cup this year for preferential seeding. There may have been additional prizes such as free venue pass or VIP passes, so we’ve done it before with a lot of events across Canada, so we may try something next year. But I feel like there’s way too many events out there, including not just MAT and Toryuken, but locals, and even the Red Bull events. I look at that and go, “Holy cow. That’s oversaturation.” If it’s going to continue like that, I may just focus on running the one event, and may not even bother with qualifiers, just to prevent people from getting burnt out.
Missing Person: With Canada Cup, you’re always doing something exciting, such as team tournaments and regional battles. What other interesting twists do you have up your sleeve?
Lap Chi: We had a crazy marquee match this year between Lupe Fiasco and Sisqo, but they had conflicting schedules. We tried six months in advance to book this, but it’s really hard to book celebrity matches. We’re going try next year, and see what kind of celebrities we can put together, but definitely something fun and fresh. We all know there’s the regular tournament standard systems, but I think the spectators truly enjoy seeing something new and exciting. We’re always willing to test it.
Missing Person: Other than Street Fighter V, which is the biggest tournament, what games are you looking forward to seeing played?
Lap Chi: I’m definitely looking forward to the 5-on-5, but Melee and Smash 4 are both really big, so I can’t wait to see what kind of hype they can bring to their respective scenes in Canada, and to see if we can build them up.
Missing Person: And you are currently hosting the largest Super Street Fighter II Turbo tournament that the west has seen in a long time. How do you feel knowing that the whole world is coming for this one event?
Lap Chi: It’s a community effort, and the community worked really hard to try to everyone in for this event. I cannot thank them enough for that. They have made Canada Cup hype for Super Turbo, and I for one and am shocked at how big that event became. It was shocking, it was not like that at all last year. This year had tremendous support.
