In a historic double-signing by North American esports team Renegades, Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby and James “Swedish Delight” Liu have joined the team as their first Super Smash Bros. players. The esports team, owned by Boston Celtics player Jonas Jerebko, has picked the perfect time to sign these two big names: just ahead of The Big House 6 in Dearborn, Michigan this weekend.
Dabuz is currently ranked third on the Panda Global Rankings for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, gaining second place at Genesis 3 and Super Smash Con, first at WTFox 2 and Apex 2016 as well as third at CEO 2016. Widely regarded as the world’s best Rosalina & Luma player and one of the most consistent Smash 4 pros playing at the moment, Renegades have certainly picked a winner with signing Dabuz. Talking to ESPN Esports about his new team, Dabuz stated that “I have a lot of faith that Renegades will help me grow as a competitor and personality as I keep pursuing my dream to pursue being the best player I can be.”
Known for his top level Sheik and a surprisingly good Luigi, Swedish Delight is surging up the ranks of Super Smash Bros. Melee, racking up some great placings throughout this year, like a second place finish at Smash ‘n Splash 2, fifth at Pound 2016 and ninth at both Evo and CEO 2016. While currently ranked 31st on the MIOM Annual Rankings, Swedish Delight looks to surge up the table for this year’s ranking and his performance at The Big House 6 should only bolster his immense growth as a player.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Anime fighting games were in harmony this past weekend as Alex Jebailey’s CEOtaku event provided two days of competition and lots of “dakimakura” merchandise (body pillows). As for 2016 CEOtaku results, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, amidst 517 total entrants, saw 238 fighters competing for the title. It definitely proved to be one of the hypest brackets, seeing less common characters like Shine’s Potemkin and Doren2k “DaGawd’s” Jam Kuradoberi make top 8. Ultimately, it was Japan’s Kedako, with May, who emerged victorious in both Xrd -REVELATOR- as well as XX Accent Core +R.
After the tournament, I caught up with Panda Gaming’s MarlinPie, who placed second in the tournament with his Zato-1. We talk about his performance, as well as his general thoughts on Guilty Gear and his upcoming trip to Japan to the Toushinsai event, October 16-17th.
Q: So you placed second in the CEOtaku tournament, what are your thoughts on your matches and the top 8?
Kyohei “MarlinPie” Lehr: I’m actually a little sad, because I know there were some things I thought of doing and not doing before the match. I couldn’t help myself to do the things I didn’t want to do, and not do the things I wanted to do. It was like a mental… I don’t know. It was hard to break out of a habit. For example, I guess May, even from far-range distance, I shouldn’t be whiffing any buttons in the air, because one small hit will confirm into a knockdown with a hefty 100-200 [damage] combo. I’m actually kinda sad at myself.
Q:You’re using Johnny sometimes as an alternative to your main, did you think about using him at all?
MarlinPie: I actually did think about him after I lost two matches straight in Grand Finals. Regardless of how the match was going to go, if I lost with Johnny, and he was the last character I used, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep well. Losing to an opponent, thinking I should have stuck to my main, is something I didn’t want to do.
Q:What were your afterthoughts on your Evo 2016 performance, being the only American player who qualified for top 8?
MarlinPie: I’m kind of sad that not many American players made it. I thought some would make it to top 32, but it was pretty much one Korean guy [TopGaren], and one American, myself, the rest were Japanese. That was surprising. I had a motivation to play at the top, at the highest of my level. That was not a confidence booster, but support, in a way. I didn’t want to let the country down, kind of thing. I did get top 8, but didn’t win a match in top 8 [laughs].
Q: There was a big patch post-Evo, but you’re sticking to your character. What are your thoughts on game balance?
MarlinPie: The balance patch made sense to me. It didn’t do anything drastic, because it’s not a new game, just a patch. The way they nerfed the characters that were ovepowered and buffed the characters that were weak, made sense. They were simple property changes, they didn’t take away anything, didn’t add anything, so the characters can be a little more fair. There are obvious stronger characters in the game still, but this was a good thing they did. Plus, they didn’t touch Zato-1, so that was more of a motivation for me to play him, as all the top-tier characters got nerfed. I don’t have to suffer as much, so it was good for me.
Q: Metagame-wise, have you seen shifts in that as well?
MarlinPie: The two biggest changes in the meta are Sin and Johnny. I don’t have to think about really being on point punishing Beak Driver, since it’s insanely bad on whiff now. I used to sit there and wait for my opportunity to poke out on whiff, but now I can neutral jump instead of sitting there, and if I see it whiff, I can air dash in. If I did that pre-patch, I would get 6P’d for free. That’s one gameplan change. And Johnny—you just don’t die from getting hit. That’s it. You used to actually die getting hit once in the game. That was extremely unfair. It’s like a simple change, but it really makes sense.
Q: Looking ahead to Toushinsai coming up, you’re one of two American players who qualified. What are your thoughts, how are you preparing? You’ll be back with all these Japanese players.
MarlinPie: I’m actually kind of happy that Chaz [Mynus] is going with me. BjornSonofBear forfeited his spot to Mynus. Mynus and I have been playing together for longer than a decade, so I’m glad he’s going to be with me in Japan. It will be more enjoyable.
How I’m preparing for Toushinsai is kind of weird. I’m actually not playing, myself, but I’m watching every possible Guilty Gear match on YouTube. Seriously, if I see any GG content that resembles the players in Toushinsai, I’m there. I’m watching, I’m mentally training, I do some training mode if I see something iffy or have some idea—this guy is doing this, maybe I can counter it with this, kind of thing. Otherwise, I just watch.
Q: Any final thoughts?
MarlinPie: Damn it, May… I actually oversaw May. I kind of underestimated May, I guess. The characters I was focusing on were Johnny, Sin, Zato-1 mirror match, Jack-O, and strangely, Potemkin. I wasn’t even thinking about May, but [Kedako] just comes to the tournament and wrecks me. That kind of thing.
This August, SNK announced The King of Fighters XIV World Championship: set for sometime next year, the tournament will see competitors from all over the globe fight it out in The King of Fighters XIV. Now, we know of the first of the global qualifiers. In a recent tweet, Canada Cup Gaming announced that Canada Cup 2016’s King of Fighters XIV tournament would be a qualifier for this KOFXIV World Championship.
SNK and Atlus will be flying the winner of the event out to the KOFXIV World Championship next year, wherever that may be held. Interested competitors can sign up at smash.gg.
This makes the KOFXIV tournament at Canada Cup the third major qualifying tournament at the event; Canada Cup is a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event, with the winner of the Street Fighter V tournament flying to Anaheim for Capcom Cup 2016. It is also a part of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2016: North American TEKKEN TOUR, with the winner qualifying for the North American finals later in November.
With the previous episode dealing with his underwhelming performance at EGLX, the final episode of Red Bull TV’s Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection has him returning to his position in the upper echelon of Super Smash Bros. Melee. This episode shows how Leffen earned the title of Godslayer, running through Alliance|Armada, Liquid|Hungrybox and finally, C9|Mango to finally take Get On My Level 2016 after a long absence from that top spot.
While we know that the following months have left Leffen locked out of the USA, the recent news of his visa approval means that the other amazing Swedish Melee player can return to the homeland of Melee to wreck havoc. Check out the final episode “Reclaim” below–and look forward to another possible Red Bull TV series in the future, dedicated to another of their sponsored players.
With the previous episode dealing with his underwhelming performance at EGLX, the final episode of Red Bull TV’s Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection has him returning to his position in the upper echelon of Super Smash Bros. Melee. This episode shows how Leffen earned the title of Godslayer, running through Alliance|Armada, Liquid|Hungrybox and finally, C9|Mango to finally take Get On My Level 2016 after a long absence from that top spot.
While we know that the following months have left Leffen locked out of the USA, the recent news of his visa approval means that the other amazing Swedish Melee player can return to the homeland of Melee to wreck havoc. Check out the final episode “Reclaim” below–and look forward to another possible Red Bull TV series in the future, dedicated to another of their sponsored players.
With the recent patch for Mortal Kombat X, Kung Lao received noticeable frame data changes, mostly for the better. As such, lab monsters have been quick to jump into Training Mode and see what this new version of the Shaolin Monk can do.
ETC McFly has put together quite the compilation of day one combos, with ones that work across all versions of Kung Lao to specific combos for Tempest and Buzzsaw Variations. There are some pretty beastly combos in this collection, with a 57% combo in Tempest and a 58% combo for Buzzsaw. Expect at this early stage for the combos to be quite costly meter-wise, but with additional lab time and optimization, you’ll be seeing powerful stuff from Kung Lao players soon.
With the recent patch for Mortal Kombat X, Kung Lao received noticeable frame data changes, mostly for the better. As such, lab monsters have been quick to jump into Training Mode and see what this new version of the Shaolin Monk can do.
ETC McFly has put together quite the compilation of day one combos, with ones that work across all versions of Kung Lao to specific combos for Tempest and Buzzsaw Variations. There are some pretty beastly combos in this collection, with a 57% combo in Tempest and a 58% combo for Buzzsaw. Expect at this early stage for the combos to be quite costly meter-wise, but with additional lab time and optimization, you’ll be seeing powerful stuff from Kung Lao players soon.
A few words with some of the MTLSF scene’s most prominent players.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
It was my pleasure this summer to meet Chi-Rithy and other members of the FGC from Montréal, Canada while attending Evo 2016; as I was impressed by both their gameplay and how friendly and approachable they were, I set out to get more information on these Street Fighters and their scene, possibly one of the toughest and most active in Canada.
It was Chi-Rithy (in the feature image above, with EG|Justin Wong to his right) that first caught my attention–as Canadian players go, he’s certainly a rising star: getting more attention with his high Street Fighter V placements. He took first place in Street Fighter V at DreamHack Montréal 2016:
He also took the top spot at Canada’s Cineplex/World Gaming Street Fighter V Championships:
Chi-Rithy also placed 13th in SFV at the recent Brooklyn Beatdown, sharing the rank with RZR|Xian and Evo 2016’s SFV champion RZR|Infiltration, and beating out top players including GGP|Kazunoko and BST|Daigo Umehara.
But of course, Chi-Rithy is not the only significant player to emerge from Montréal’s Street Fighter scene! I reached out to six of MTLSF’s most prominent personalities to conduct a written interview; I asked each of them the same questions, and compiled the answers to gain a detailed look into what it’s like to be part of this vibrant and competitive community. The first three I will feature here in Part 1 are Richard “Snafoo” Tuok, Rami Rammal, and Chi-Rithy himself.
mushin_Z: You’re all born and raised in Montréal; how long have you been involved with the MTLSF scene?
Richard “Snafoo” Tuok: I’ve been with the MTLSF scene since 2009, when SFIV came out.
Rami Rammal: I started going to MTLSF weeklies in 2010, during the Super SFIV era.
Chi-Rithy: I’ve been in the scene since 2006, and still active.
mushin_Z: How long have you played Street Fighter games? How did you get started?
Snafoo: My first SF was SFII on the Super Nintendo. I didn’t play Alpha/CvS/SFIII, I didn’t know they existed back then, since I was a kid and I didn’t go to arcades. My brother bought me SF EX and X-Men vs. Street Fighter on the PSone, and I played it a lot by myself. When SFIV came out I didn’t have a PS3 nor an Xbox, so I spent a lot of time playing at the arcade. I did this until the PC version came out.
Rami: I started playing casually when I was 4. I didn’t know there was such a thing as competitive Street Fighter until 2010. One of my friends I used to go to school with told me there would be a tournament in Montréal; back then I was only playing online and thought it’d be a good way to measure myself against the best players in town.
Chi-Rithy: I’ve been playing Street fighter games since I was maybe 3 or 4 years old. I am now 26. My family was a huge influence for me, in terms of getting into the SF series. My older brother brought me to every arcade in Montréal, and each one of them had an SFII machine. He also bought a Super Nintendo with SFII Turbo–and sometimes my mom had nothing to do, and would play with us when she was bored.
mushin_Z: What is your favorite game in the Street Fighter series, and why?
Snafoo: My favorite SF would probably be Capcom vs.SNK 2. In around 2005, I started going to the arcades a lot when I started college, and I would always watch people play CvS2. I liked everything about the game; the grooves, music, character art, and character choices. I remember this one time player 2 was trying to chip player 1 with Joe’s tempest super, but player 1 just defended enough (k-groove) to survive and kill him off with his own super. I’ve never saw anything like that before. Turns out player 1 was FreddyLoCo, an OG player.
Rami: I would have to say that SFIV is still my favorite game. I feel like exploring training mode back then had a more direct impact on your performance. The game was less accessible than SFV, but I still liked it better.
Chi-Rithy: My favorite game ever is Street fighter III: 3rd Strike. It was the first game that introduced me to the competitive scene–thanks to the famous Justin Wong vs. Daigo Umehara moment–and I still find the system to be complex and exciting to watch, to this day.
mushin_Z: Do you prefer a fightstick, pad, or hitbox?
Snafoo: I play on fightstick because I find it easier to execute moves over a pad. I’ve never tried a hitbox.
Rami: I used to play on pad back in IV, but then switched to an arcade stick.
Chi-Rithy: My main choice would always be a fightstick.
mushin_Z: Who do you main, and why? Is there a character you wish was selectable in Street Fighter V, but isn’t (yet)?
Snafoo: I main Dhalsim in IV and V. Local players here have a very aggressive style, so I decided to take the defensive approach and zone them over slugging them. Eagle would be pretty cool to see in SFV, or Sagat.
Rami: I main Rashid, at first it was a running gag since we’re both Middle-Eastern. But I was able to mold him to my playstyle. He has the offensive tools I look for in a character, very cool character design as well. And also because my main in SFIV is still not available: Akuma.
Chi-Rithy: My main character is Chun-Li, and she has been my main in most Street Fighter games as well. She is quick and agile, which suits my style. I’d like to see more characters from the Street Fighter III series, such as Oro.
mushin_Z: What’s your best match-up, in your opinion? Worst?
Snafoo: Zangief would probably be my best match-up. He has a tough time to go through Dhalsim’s limbs, and the grey life prevents him playing too patient. I think the worst is Balrog because of his dash punches. They cover a lot of space and it’s in his favor for every trade. He has also a great comeback factor with his V-trigger.
Rami: Best match-up: Dhalsim; worst match-up: Chun-Li or Karin.
Chi-Rithy: Chun-Li’s best match-up would be characters who have a hard time getting in, such as Birdie or Laura. Her worst match-ups would be against herself and Cammy, I still consider them to be 5-5.
mushin_Z: Where do you usually play?
Snafoo: I usually play at my friend’s house that lives nearby on weekends. Every Tuesday I try to go to the weekly hosted by Mixed Virtual Arts [Tatsumaki Tuesday]. Sometimes I will play online Battle Lounge with other friends that live further away.
Rami: I usually play on Tuesdays at MVA where we have our weeklies. Or at home in training mode.
Chi-Rithy: I play at the gaming lounge/LAN center named Mixed Virtual Arts.
Snafoo: MVA is a venue that holds twelve PC stations. They sell drinks and give away free snacks at every SFV weekly on Tuesday. The venue is very cozy; there are sofas near the entrance along with a big projector that shows the match on stream. They also provide a venue for other games such as Smash, anime games, Overwatch, etc.
Rami: It’s a breath of fresh air for the Montréal scene, a lot of new players, great venue.
Chi-Rithy: It offers PC stations where you can play multiple games other than SFV, and offers drinks and snacks with a nice-looking lounge! Please check them out if you ever visit Montréal!
mushin_Z: Do you play online? Your thoughts on online competition?
Snafoo: I don’t play as much online because most of my sessions are done locally. However, I find the competition is very good once you reach Platinum League.
Rami: I haven’t touched online for SFV in about 3-4 months, I usually find all my tech in training mode and practice offline, in a tournament-like environment.
Chi-Rithy: I used to play online a lot, but it doesn’t compare to offline play and having matches with people face-to-face. It can be a good learning tool for unfamiliar match-ups.
mushin_Z: In your opinion, who are the players to watch in the MTL community?
Snafoo: I’d say the two players that stand out for me in the MTL community would be Chi-Rithy and Rami. Both placed in the top 50 at Evo this year.
Rami: Chi-Rithy and Snafoo.
Chi-Rithy: The players to watch for mainly are the veterans Snafoo, Rami, Lord Jimmy Bones, Jedah, Yomi, and the new kids on the block such as Coton, FluxWaveZ, Paco, and Bootsy.
mushin_Z: How has the Montreal FGC impacted your experience with the game? Has your own skill improved through interaction with the MTLSF scene, and has involvement with MTLSF increased your enjoyment of fighting games?
Snafoo: The game is more fun because I play with people that share the same passion as I. Victory has more impact because everyone is trying their best to win. My skills have definitely improved since I joined the scene back in 2009. There’s a lot of OG players, they’ve been playing back in 2000 in the Alpha/CvS/SFIII era. Without them I would be nowhere near the level I am today. I’m a very competitive person, so being part of a fighting community makes fighting games more fun. Everyone wants to be a winner.
Rami: The people in my local are most likely the reason I enjoy playing on a competitive level. They’re all my friends, close to a “second family” kinda thing. We’re all very competitive people by nature, we share everything we find about the game and we’re all levelling up together, so it’s always great atmosphere. The OGs from the MTL kind of molded me to the player I am today. I owe it all to these guys. I don’t think I’d say I enjoy fighting games more necessarily, but I learned to enjoy more and more the competitive aspect of it.
Chi-Rithy: The MTLSF community has been amazing in terms of support since I was 16, and I treat them like family. Without MTLSF, I wouldn’t even be here right at this moment. My skills have improved drastically since then. It made the game more enjoyable, since you fought better players and made new friends
mushin_Z: Has any particular player acted as a mentor, or a rival for you?
Snafoo: Back in 2009 the scene was quite different, it had the arcade feeling where if you’re new, no one is going to help you. This one player named Rameo would help me when I started playing the game in the arcade. He mentored me through all of vanilla SFIV and Super Street Fighter IV. All my friends within the community, I consider them rivals. Shout-outs to Chi-Rithy, Rami, freddyl0c0, TJ, Yomi, Lord Jimmy Bones, Panko, Heero (always dodging tournies!).
Rami: Chi-Rithy, Snafoo and freddyl0c0 are probably the players that impacted me the most. They taught me a lot about fighting games when I was getting started; they helped me improve a lot in a very short period of time.
Chi-Rithy: I had a mentor that taught me the concept of zoning, footsies, and movement in general. He goes by the handle PTS One.
mushin_Z: How would you describe Tatsumaki Tuesday’s atmosphere and competition? How well do you usually do?
Snafoo: Most of the players at the weekly are new to the scene, so I try to help them by giving tips and tricks. We range about twenty to thirty-five players participating in the weekly in average. I usually get top 3 in the weekly.
Rami: It’s always a good weekly, same core of people every week but new face every now and then. I usually rank pretty well, but it’s very hard to stay consistent in SFV, so it can go from 2nd place to 8th or 9th.
Chi-Rithy: The Tatsumaki Tuesdays have been great, especially for SFV. It allowed us to have weekly tournaments to push ourselves, and we see new faces with massive potential. I usually take 1st place, but sometimes Snafoo takes some weeklies as well.
mushin_Z: What major tournaments have you attended? Have you traveled to tournaments outside of Canada?
Snafoo: The biggest major I’ve attended in SFV was Toryuken. I have not yet attended any majors outside of Canada for SFV.
Rami: Outside of Canada, I went to CEO and Evo.
Chi-Rithy: I’ve been to major tournaments since the 3S days. I have traveled through many areas around North America, Europe and Asia.
mushin_Z: How well have you placed? How would you describe the experience of traveling to compete?
Snafoo: I believe I got 9th place, losing to Justin Wong and PR Balrog. Because of my competitiveness, travelling to compete always excites me. I want to know my skill level and get new experience to grow as a player.
Rami: I didn’t do so well at CEO, I lost early in pools. But had a very close set against Snake Eyez, last round last game. At Evo I did pretty well, I got 33rd. Lost to Sako (Chun-Li) and Lud (Chun-Li) It’s always exciting and different, because knowing your local scene is something. But competing against complete strangers is the best way to truly measure a fighting game player’s skill, in my opinion.
Chi-Rithy: If we count 3S, SFIV and SFV, my rankings went from taking victory at some tournaments, and placing as low as in the top 64. Traveling to compete is the best, since you are there to see how you match up with some of the best players, and you get to meet people that share the same passion.
mushin_Z: How often do you encounter players from other cities in Montréal? Do they fit in easily while visiting the MTLSF community?
Snafoo: It is pretty rare to see other players from other cities passing by Montréal. Usually it is the Toronto players that pass by from time to time. Due to the long history of rivalry between the two cities, many Toronto players are friends, so they crash at a friend’s house when they visit and the same goes when we go to Toronto. We get along really well!
Rami: Not very often, aside from the Toronto events. We’ve known the Toronto community for a while, so we all get along pretty well.
Chi-Rithy: The FGC is a big family and you usually get to see the same faces you know, if it’s a big major tournament. The MTLSF community is very welcoming, and we get to show you places around the city, hang out and have a few drinks besides playing SF. Most people from out of town have an awesome time here in Montréal.
mushin_Z: Are there any players from outside Montréal you see/compete with regularly?
Snafoo: I haven’t travelled much this year, so there are no players outside of the city that I compete with regularly.
Rami: Probably all the players from the Toronto scene since the SFIV days, Italdan, Blitzman, and all the Toronto crew.
Chi-Rithy: The MTL and Toronto scene have been rivals since forever, and we are one big family when we go up against Americans and Internationals.
mushin_Z: Do you stream?
Snafoo: Currently I do not stream, since I don’t really play online that much anyway.
Rami: I don’t have a stream yet, but it’s a work in progress.
Chi-Rithy: You can see me stream from time to time at chirithy.
mushin_Z: What games other than Street Fighter are you into, and why?
Snafoo: I’m a big fan of esports, so I watch any competitive video games such as Counter Strike, DOTA2, LoL, fighting games, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Overwatch, etc. I like to play RPGs too, but haven’t played one lately. Hit me up on Twitter @SnafooMTL and suggest RPGs for me on PC/PS4!
Rami: I’m into competitive trading card games, Force of Will, and Cardfight Vanguard. They’re just really fun in general, also makes you work a lot on getting reads on people. Some of my close friends also have been into TCGs since forever, so I just tagged along.
Chi-Rithy: Currently, I’m in love with the Dark Souls series, since it’s an unforgiving game, it punishes your mistakes and it actually has footsies!
I proceeded to inquire a little further into Chi-Rithy’s recent tournament experiences.
mushin_Z: How you felt about your placement in Evo 2016 and your matches against EG|Justin Wong and LI Joe?
Chi-Rithy: At Evo, I felt that I placed around 49th, which is alright compared to previous years–I am usually one match away from top 16. I felt pretty confident vs. Justin Wong since I know how he plays and I’ve beaten him before. My match vs. LI Joe was an eye-opener, since he got the read on my fireball game pattern and made me whiff grab, which he punished really hard. It made me want to improve on my defence.
mushin_Z: At the Cineplex/World Gaming Street Fighter V Championships, what was it like moving from an online qualifier into a live tourney, and how stiff was the in-person competition?
Chi-Rithy: For Cineplex, I had no expectations at all. It went from an online qualifier to a spectacular live tournament. The energy and ambiance from the crowd was amazing. I took a few seconds to look at them, and it made me realize how far the FGC has come and how appreciative that I was at that position. The competition felt strong, since it featured some of the best Canada has to offer.
mushin_Z: SFV Chun-Li’s getting a lot of flak lately for being overpowered–if not top tier, then just outright broken. As a Chun main, what do you think? Is that reputation deserved?
Chi-Rithy: Sometimes, it takes time for a metagame to be developed, especially for a fighting game. In this case, Chun-Li is considered to be the number 1 character at this moment, with which I heartfully agree. However, as the game evolves, I think many counters strategies will be available against her. As for her being overpowered, I don’t think she is currently. She would win every single major tournament, which is not the case.
mushin_Z: DreamHack Montréal 2016–were you confident going in? Were there matches/moments you thought you were about to be knocked out?
Chi-Rithy: I was pretty confident going into Dreamhack Montréal since I knew and had faced most of the players that were present at the event. The only match I was concerned was against CountBlack, since he beat me in tournament before and has a dangerous Laura.
[Many of the matches from Tatsumaki Tuesday, and some from DreamHack MTL 2016 can be viewed on the MTLSF YouTube channel.]
mushin_Z: After winning DreamHack, what’s your mindset approaching Canada Cup 2016?
Chi-Rithy: Going into Canada Cup, I am mostly excited to face players from all around the world, and represent Montréal and Canada to its finest!
That concludes Part 1 of my look into the MTL scene–unless you’d like to also check out this video of Chi-Rithy going first-to-5 with The Beast at Brooklyn Beatdown. The technical play seen here demonstrates clearly how much time and effort these players are putting into this game:
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of this interview set, featuring Lord Jimmy Bones, WoolieWoolz, and FGC commentator JakyoManor! Learn the origin of Tatsumaki Tuesday, what it’s like to be an “FGC mom,” and how Lord Jimmy Bones got started on Super Street Fighter II Turbo–and more.
While setplays came to dominate Street Fighter IV, Capcom actively tried to stop setplays entirely in Street Fighter V, by introducing different wakeup and rise options off of a knockdown. Without the obvious “Technical” visual pop-up to indicate a delayed wakeup, the combination of quick rising, back rising and normal get up make it almost impossible to create a setplay. I say almost impossible, as PugilistPenguin has found a way to create setplay-like setups in Street Fighter V by correctly using framekilling in certain situations.
If you are not aware, framekilling is the act of deliberately whiffing moves to automatically time a setup. Using his main F.A.N.G, PugilistPenguin is able to cover every single wakeup timing by using knowledge of framekilling to guarantee damage from a knockdown. However, using these setups does create an obvious visual cue for your opponent, meaning they can counter your attempt at a setplay with an invincible reversal. But, this does mean you can even double bluff your opponent, make them whiff an invincible reversal and guarantee even more damage.
Check out this Gief’s Gym supplement below, and watch out for F.A.N.G players using this setup in the future.
Known as one of the best tournament organizers out there for any Super Smash Bros. game, 2GGaming’s Champ has decided to start a new series of “2GGuides,” where he plans to pass on information he has learned during his time as a TO to other budding players and event organizers who want to grow their scenes. While Champ’s background is in Smash, this information is really applicable to anyone who wants to see their particular scene grow, whether it is Street Fighter, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear, Smash or so on.
First off, it’s best to check if your school or college already has a pre-established scene. Check local Facebook groups, ask in game-specific Reddits and check if your school has a general gaming club or society set up already, before you start building your own scene. As someone who did help start a small Smash scene within my own university, working with your local esports society to share room space and cross promote events is great for getting people to try your game for the first time or to help establish your own group of players. If not, collaborating with a local group of players outside of your school and using university rooms or spaces as places to hold your events can be super helpful in kickstarting the growth of your scene.
If you are really dedicated to starting your own scene for whatever game you play, make sure to watch the whole video and take some notes. Champ is planning to make more guides and improve his microphone quality for future videos so if you want him to cover a specific topic, let him know!
