Martin “Marn” Phan has always been an amazingly entertaining figure within the fighting game community. From his championship in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at Evo 2010 to his antics in front of the camera — including on ELEAGUE — he has always been someone the people cheer for.
He was recently in Toronto to play in the Northern Arena Knockout event. While his day was cut short with two straight losses, we sat took the opportunity to sit down to talk about what the future holds for Marn.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: You had a rough day today. Let’s go back through your matches really quickly. How did you feel about your opening round match with Imstilldadaddy?
Martin “Marn” Phan: I was actually really confident going into that one. He didn’t play like I was anticipating. He didn’t Flash Kick out of my mix-ups like I thought he would. Like I would start a mix-up and then block, and he wouldn’t Flash Kick. He kind of got into my head and I went, “Well, there goes everything.” So I lost to that. I wasn’t really mad about the loss. He played well.
Missing Person: Do you feel like it was an adaptation on his end, knowing what you were expecting?
Marn: I don’t really think he did. I think for lack of a better term, he just completely outplayed my thought process.
Missing Person: Let’s move on to the subject of the day, your match with Smug…
Marn: Yeah, I hate him.
Missing Person: [laughs] How did you feel about that match?
Marn: He always beats me at every tournament and in every exhibition we play. And you know, he’s just not smart. He plays Balrog.
Missing Person: How do you feel about the Northern Arena Knockout event?
Marn: It’s already gone very smoothly. They’ve already reached top 8 and it’s 9:00. They said it would end at 11:30. It’s actually surprising when a tournament says they’re going to start at a specific time and end at a specific time and it actually happens. That never happens.
They’re also very nice, and took care of us here. I haven’t had one complaint, and the one small thing I found was that the green room was too hot for us to play casuals in, and they didn’t even hesitate to turn on the air conditioning.
Missing Person: You grew up in the era of community-run events, and we’re now starting to see more events with corporate sponsorship. Do you feel like this helps to magnify the foundation that the community built?
Marn: It’s nice. The corporate run stuff is more professionally, and sometimes they tell me to tone it down, and that’s kind of not cool. But it’s better this way. It helps the scene grow with the exposure it gives to the games. I hope more of these come along. Lately it’s been a little here, a little there, and I hope it just gets more frequent.
Missing Person: You’ve always been known to go ham in front of cameras. Even at ELEAGUE we saw some of your flair. Do you feel like there’s still a place for that as the FGC moves toward the esports realm?
Marn: I think so. Sometimes you have to show your personality. We’re not robots. We’re not Japanese players. We’ve got to be real.
Missing Person: Have you played any of the Canadian players since you’ve been here?
Marn: I played Drae “Yomi” Games, the Laura player. He beat me. I don’t think he really bodied me though, it was really close. It was casuals. They’re really good. They beat all of our players here. They kind of destroyed us the first round, but we ultimately came back and destroyed them.
Martin “Marn” Phan playing Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite against Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley before Northern Arena Knockout.
Missing Person: Focusing on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, you’ve always been a solid Vs. games player. What are your thoughts on the game?
Marn: It’s probably the most fun game I’ve played in a very long time. There’s not been a game where I’ve felt like I could sit down and play 100 games and be fine. Street Fighter V in my opinion is not a bad game, it’s just a very stressful game. That’s what I don’t like about it. If I play 20 or 30 games of it, I can’t do any more. It just hurts my brain. I’m not saying thinking too much is bad, but there’s so many frustrating moments to it. Even in Infinite, there are frustrating moments. But it’s very fun to play. It’s very fun to get creative.
Everything about the game is fun to me. Everything you think you can do in this game, you can eventually get it to work. It’s so nice to be so creative with your combos. People keep saying that the easy combos do the same damage, but it’s never been about that for me. It’s always been about being stylish and execution heavy. I can do that in this game. In SFV I cannot express my play style as much as I can in Infinite.
Missing Person: Are you drawing any shades of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom into this game?
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.
It has everything you want in the game, except for the art. Some people just need to learn to look past that. They want to hate on this game for no reason. But if you’re having fun playing the game, does the art really matter?
Missing Person: So moving forward, are you going to be focusing on Infinite more?
Marn: I will only be focusing on Infinite until Season 3 comes out. That’s why I haven’t been travelling as much since I have given up on the CPT. But I will be going to all of the Battle of the Stones tournaments.
Missing Person: Your team is coming up really well. You’re setting yourself up for a run in Infinite, Smug is doing really well, and MenaRD has been a rising star of late. What’s your thoughts on this?
Marn: You know, at the beginning of Season 2, in my head I knew I wasn’t going to do well this season. It didn’t feel like a game for me. So I knew Rise was going to be mad if I tell them this. But if I hand them two great players who will do great and make Capcom Cup, they can’t be mad at me. So I gave them those players, and said, “I don’t want to travel anymore. You have two great CPT players. Just let me rock.”
Missing Person: So Marn is the harbinger of all the damage they’ve been doing?
Marn: Yeah, because I told them I want to focus on Marvel. I was going to give this game my 100% focus, so it would’ve been a waste of money to send me out for Street Fighter V, because my heart wasn’t there.
Missing Person: Are there any shout-outs you want to give?
Marn: Shout-outs to Rise and Kareem, the owner of the team. Shout-outs to the fans, I don’t know how many of them are still around. I’ll make it work once Infinite goes full throttle.
Hailing from the Great White North, a new dictator is preparing a reign of terror. Elias “L.E.S” Tsidku from Toronto has begun taking down foes left and right in a dominating fashion with his amazing spacings from his patented M. Bison playbook. He fought his way into an invitation to Northern Arena Knock Out — via the Canadian National Exhibition Open in Toronto — where he took out Montréal’s Drae “Yomi” Games in a nail-biting grand final. He followed that up with a top 8 spot at DreamHack Montréal.
While in Montréal, I sat down with L.E.S to discuss his approach to M. Bison.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: How do you feel about how DreamHack has gone so far for you?
Elias “L.E.S” Tsidku: So far so good. I’m not the type of guy that feels like I can sleep on anybody. This is especially true with Street Fighter V. It’s extremely volatile with so many characters that can do large bursts of damage. For me, I always keep an eye out for people, by playing them in person or online — even if I know them. That’s how I keep focused on doing what I do best.
Missing Person: Your character — M. Bison — is one of the most popular characters in the Canadian scene. How do you feel he does against the higher tiers that dominate the tournament circuit?
L.E.S: I feel like Bison is overhyped. He was even overhyped when the game first came out. At first, he and Dhalsim were characters where players struggled, feeling like they can’t do anything against them. Truth be told, and I’ve always felt this — players just aren’t taking these characters to the lab. He does well against certain characters. Other characters do blow him up. The top 5 in this season, such as Cammy, Balrog, Zangief, Karin, do very well against him. Their wake-ups do crazy damage. Bison can do a lot of damage as well, but the only thing he can really do on wake up is standing short into EX Scissor Kick.
He also struggles against command grab characters. I also technically count throw loop characters in there, and if you do that, there are nine in the game. What other Street Fighter title has this? None. With Bison’s walk speed, you have to know the match-up specifically and you have to know the person you’re playing. I know [how to play] other characters, but when it comes to tournaments, I stick with Bison. When it comes to the top tier characters, I have to know the person’s playstyle, and keep the personal metagame up. I try to abuse their knowledge of their character and lack thereof with Bison.
Missing Person: With that in mind, which do you feel is more important: character knowledge or player knowledge?
L.E.S: Player knowledge is way more important in this game. In any other game, character knowledge trumps it, then you have to have the fundamentals to back that up. In this game you can play two different R. Mika players. One can play really crazy, and the other can play a very neutral-based game. But when it comes to the ground game, who’s going to throw more? Who is going to go for meaties more? Who is going to send you to the corner faster? You really have to guess a lot more with this game.
That’s what I think a lot of people don’t realize about this game. This game is stressful because you have to think of the player rather than the character. They can be unsafe on block, and you miss a punish because you weren’t paying attention to that, which leaves them free to do whatever they want.
Missing Person: You also played Bison in Street Fighter IV. Do you feel like this version of Bison is better?
L.E.S: Nope. He’s doing better because of the changes in Season 2. They robbed characters of invincible DPs, so they have to take everything Bison dishes out until you guess correctly to escape the pressure. Some people tend to get afraid of the crush counter, and panic once it happens — ultimately giving up.
But if you think about it, Bison in SFIV had faster movement, 50/50 mix-ups with Psycho Crusher on your wakeup. I actually created one that was controllable in the corner late in Ultra Street Fighter IV. He also had cancels off of far standing strong, and he also had fully invincible EX scissor kicks, which completely shut down the fireball game.
Missing Person: Plus he had solid reversal options.
L.E.S: Yeah! He had three reversals. Sadly they nerfed his teleport, which I don’t think they should have done. With three bars, he could reversal EX scisssor kicks, and if it hit, you could Focus Attack Dash Cancel forward to extend the combo, and if it was blocked, you could FADC backwards, which made it completely safe.
In this game, they made him very slow but very strong if he touches you. But on the flip side, he has no reversal, and loses to grapplers because of that. You have to be very knowledgeable in the ground game. If you’re not and get afraid of the player you’re against, you potentially lose to yourself.
Missing Person: You did very well at the Northern Arena CNE Open. You earned $2,500 for your efforts there. How has that felt? Has the money changed anything for you?
L.E.S: It hasn’t really changed much, but it has helped me a lot. I was putting a lot of my money into travelling this year. I wanted to get out more. I’m a freelancer by trade, and I want to connect with people in my field as well as sponsors and sponsored players as well. But at the same time, the $2,5000 helped me out with my last trip to East Coast Throwdown as well as this trip to Montréal.
One great thing for me is that it has given me exposure to Canada. One of the people I work for is Cineplex, who is the parent company for World Gaming. Due to conflict of interests, I couldn’t join the World Gaming tournaments both years that they’ve happened. I feel like I could’ve won the one in 2016 that Chi-Rithy won, and I wanted to also join the one NuckleDu won this year. I also can’t attend EGLX for the same reason.
I was doing well at the start of Street Fighter V due to the overhype of Bison and people’s lack of match-up knowledge. My time is not now, but I believe it will come, and I just have to stay patient.
Missing Person: Does it change your mentality at all going into Northern Arena Knockout and appearing on TSN?
L.E.S: It doesn’t change it at all. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you are playing, because you’re playing the same game. The mindset of how to play this game cannot change whether you want to hype yourself up thinking you’re the best in the world, or you won a couple of money matches the night before then got scraped in tournament, or vice versa. It’s up and down in Street Fighter V.
But I’m personally psyched that Canada is finally getting attention in Street Fighter. Sin, Orangeman, Drae “Yomi” Games, and myself is a pretty good mix. I also just heard that some Japanese players will be making their way to Northern Arena Knockout, like AFG — the Sagat player from Street Fighter IV — is coming along with Momochi. This is pretty big to be hearing about players from different parts of the world. I had initially thought it would just be North American players, so this is bigger than I first anticipated.
Missing Person: How do you feel about your chances with all the killers coming out?
L.E.S: One thing I’ve noticed is that Japanese players do struggle playing against Bison. Some players do very well against him, but others still struggle against him. Europe and North America do better against him. You have players like Pnoy, Tampa Bison, Jeron and myself who play him in North America. In Europe you have players like Problem X, Tyrant and Phenom for a time.
I do think I have a chance. My goal is to at least make top 8. If I can do that, then I’m already in the spotlight. Then I can just focus on one guy. I hate having to focus on 50 players, and considering who I’ll have to play if I win or lose to someone. It becomes a matter of figuring out who they’ll pick and what they’re capable of. Case in point, I played FluxWaveZ — who’s known for R. Mika — and he picks Abigail. I had to see what his Abigail was capable of, and after I beat him, he went back to Mika. I could’ve lost because of that, because I had to change my mindset away from his Abigail and rely on what I know about his Mika.
It’s the same thing, I’m waiting however many days to see who I face, and who else I could see later down the line. I do still feel like I have the confidence in scaring my opponent and making sure they’re playing me. I want them to feel like they’re not just playing any other Bison.
Elias “L.E.S” Tsidku practicing against Kevin “Dieminion” Landon before Northern Arena Knockout.
Missing Person: You also went to the Red Bull regional battles last season, alongside your teammates VastEnd and Orangeman. How was that experience for you?
L.E.S: Well, I mean, a lot people were complaining about input lag on the setups there. It was crazy. People kept saying they were missing a lot of simple things. I dropped a couple of things and mistimed my reactions on a couple of things. I held off on complaining thinking it was just me, because sometimes I have to admit that I can choke. When they switched the monitors, it made a difference. Unfortunately, I lost to KruZee from Florida, but then I saw the whole Florida team lose to FluxWaveZ, and I knew I had this. I was starting to get a feel for everything. I was happy with my performance for going in there and getting two wins. Every city we played, the score was 3-2 or 2-3. It was really close.
Missing Person: How much time do you spend researching your opponent before a tournament?
L.E.S: I don’t spend that much time on research, unless it’s a player I’m consistently losing to. Then I start researching what I’m losing to. When I played Idom at Defend the North, I gave him the hardest time out of anyone else in the tournament — and that was the first time we’d played in tournament. Then we ran it back in casuals and I was beating him there. Watching is one thing. Being there and experiencing it first hand is the most valuable teacher. That’s when you understand why they do certain setups against you that they don’t do against anyone else. It all falls back to what I said before — it depends on the player, what they know about their character and the match-up.
Missing Person: You’ve been in the Toronto scene for a long time. How do you feel about Toronto right now in the larger scene?
L.E.S: We’re getting there. We’re getting very strong. I feel like Toronto has a lot of strong players in general against other scenes in the United States. I’ve been to NLBC and played strong players in Florida, and they do have strong players. When it comes to the top players, we get trumped. But when it comes to overall, the US may have a lot of players but I feel like the overall quality is better in Toronto. I wouldn’t do so well when I travel if it weren’t for the players I play in Toronto.
That goes for anybody. If your scene isn’t strong, you won’t do well in tournaments even if you play online. If you’re not playing the right people online, you don’t well in tournaments. I feel like Canada is doing well, but I especially think that Toronto is getting there. I feel like we’re going to get to the days where Toronto was dominant in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Japan was always best in the game, but the next spot below them was Toronto. Players like C-Royd and JS Master — Blitzman can confirm this. We’ve seen these players firsthand destroy everyone who came through Toronto. That’s where I want Toronto to be in this game.
Elias went on to finish fifth at DreamHack Montreal, defeating fellow Torontonian Adrian “STDxSin” Sin before falling to AW|Nemo in another nail-biter. After his elimination, I followed up with him.
Missing Person: You had a really great top 8 at DreamHack. You first had to team kill STDxSin, then face Nemo in a really close match. Take us back through that.
L.E.S: The first match, I had to get a feel for how he plays. We had played casuals at East Coast Throwdown, and every round I would have him down to the wire and he’d make these ridiculous comebacks. It’s part of the game; V-Trigger just lends itself to this. By the second game, I knew what to do. I didn’t mind giving him some space. I didn’t mind him trying to feel his way in, because as long as I was able to check him in neutral, he would have to go crazy or slow down. That’s when I took advantage of that, and was able to catch him with frame traps and delayed buttons, just to make sure he had to take everything I had. It worked and I was up 2-1. In the third game, he was going for a lot more armor, so I was trying to force him to go for the punish when I would jump in. So that would make him lose his armor. I don’t mind that so long as he doesn’t have armor anymore. But if I jumped in and he didn’t do it, then I’m in. For me, that’s a win-win. So his approach was likely to be charged fireballs, so I had to treat that match like an in and out match. It’s stick and move due to his comeback potential.
Missing Person: Yesterday, you talked about wanting to put Toronto on the map in the community. Do you feel like you did this?
L.E.S: It’s not enough, not for me. I feel like I could’ve gotten top 3, but even if I won DreamHack, it’s not enough for me. I need to let people know that you cannot sleep on a scene that’s growing rapidly. That’s my view on it, so I’m always hungry.
Missing Person: What’s your thoughts going into Canada Cup?
L.E.S: I believe we can do this. I believe in my city as well as Montréal. You can’t sleep on anybody, but we have strong players between these two cities.
Missing Person: Are there any shout-outs that you’d like to give?
L.E.S: I of course want to give a shout-out to everyone in the scene in Toronto. I wouldn’t be here without them. They’re my driving force, and I want them and Canada to get noticed. I also want to shout-out Montreal. I also want to shout-out my training partners in the US, because without them, I wouldn’t be able to have the strength I have going into tournaments. I also want to give a shout-out to my mom, who has been my biggest supporter. She has always appreciated the fact that I’m putting in the work. If it weren’t for the fact that I showed her why I was doing this, she’d be very worried every time I traveled to an event. Especially with what’s going on in the States right now. If it weren’t for my family’s support I wouldn’t continue doing this.
L.E.S ultimately finished just outside top 8 at Northern Arena Knock Out, defeating Echo Fox|Justin Wong in the opening round before falling to BX3|Phenom and being eliminated by Rise|Smug.
Echo Fox’s Tokido has learned from decades of experience what it takes to win. However, at the highest levels in today’s fighting game tournaments, he’s found even more tools in his arsenal to be the best.
At ESL, Ryan Hart sat down with Tokido to talk to him about his new rituals. They spoke of his new training practices, which include Karate and meditation. They also discuss his different approach to the game from his rival Hx.Twitch.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara, and spoke of his uncanny ability to read opponents’ emotions through the game.
Europe’s last Premier event before its Regional Finals — EGX 2017 — saw Mousesports’ Problem X defending the house from both continental and global threats. Capcom’s Matt Edwards was able to catch up with arguably world’s best Bison both before and after his third consecutive CPT win, to talk all things Street Fighter V.
Problem X recently quit his day job to pursue Street Fighter full-time, and that extra practice looks to be paying off. It certainly needed when you play a character like Bison, who requires considerable “mental strength” to play properly, according to Problem X. He is determined to rock out with solo Bison going forward, hoping that continued exposure to bad match-ups will cause him to improve. Cammy is the only character that he would consider swapping off Bison for, but that’s a last resort.
As for what he wants for Bison in a potential third season of Street Fighter V, Problem X would like to see Psycho Crusher return as a special move — only accessible when the dictator is in V-Trigger.
Problem X is guaranteed a spot in Capcom Cup 2017 after his EGX win, and he is currently ranked eighth with 1132 points. With Milan Games Week this weekend, he has the potential to gain even better seeding within the final 32-player bracket.
Echo Fox|Tokido has been on a tear lately, having won several high-paying tournaments since his win at Evo 2017. What’s next for him? According to the man himself, he has confidence in his abilities to take on this year’s Capcom Cup.
After Brooklyn Beatdown, Tokido sat down with The Game Haus to discuss his win. He discussed changes in not only his practice, but his lifestyle to improve his mental conditioning. He has not only started practicing Karate, but also has changed his diet to further promote better brain health.
During Brooklyn Beatdown Round 2 last weekend, ESPN Esports was on hand to chat to many of the top players attending this high-stakes tournament. With several pros jockeying for the top spot, they asked all their interviewees the same question — who is the best Street Fighter V player at the moment?
Based on the feature image above, you can hazard a guess as to who many players think is the best. Despite him coming second at Evo and not being able to conquer the Raging Demon Tokido, the majority of players said that Punk was the current best in the world. According to Daigo Umehara, Punk’s performances are just on “another level” compared to everyone else.
With his Karin busting everyone up, many of the players that ESPN talked to said that they were picking up a grappler just to deal with Karin. NuckleDu is working on his Birdie, Alucard was planning to counterpick Abigail, while Justin Wong noted that one of Punk’s bad habits is that he takes too many grabs. The overwhelming consensus is that grapplers may be the silver bullet to put down Punk. Even then, Smug noted that while he can beat Punk’s Karin with Balrog, he’ll just “switch to another character” to find a solution.
While Punk was the main person that people pointed to as the best, Tokido was in close second. With Capcom Cup 2017 fast approaching, we’ll soon have the answer.
If you ask anyone about dominant players in Injustice or Mortal Kombat, the first name that will usually come out of their mouths is Echo Fox’s SonicFox. Having amassed over $300,000 in tournament winnings on NetherRealm Studios games in a few short years time, he is definitely one of the premier North American fighting game pros.
Prior to his big win at the Injustice 2 Pro Series Finals, BET sat down with SonicFox to discuss his mentality on fighting games. They discussed his usage of many characters in each game he plays, saying, “If you could at least cover every single one of your matchups in any game ever with multiple characters, then you’re set.” He also discusses the mentality of losing, stating, “So long as I learned why I lost, it’s always considered a win for me because next time I come back five times stronger.”
Hx.Twitch.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara is known for his patented Ryu play across all Street Fighter titles. But what few may actually know is the first time the legend set his hand to a stick, he actually played E. Honda, with no success. What people also don’t realize is how much trepidation went into his switch from Ryu to Guile in Street Fighter V, with him saying, “I agonized over it for months and months.”
That is the mentality of most people who specialize in a character, as theScore reports, which discusses the character loyalty employed by Umehara, Echo Fox|Tokido, and Alliance’s Armada. Whereas some players, such as Peach specialist Armada in Super Smash Bros. Melee, state that characters “for me they’re more… I’m not sure if I want to say ‘tools’ because that sounds so impersonal in way (laughs), but I enjoy their character traits,” Umehara feels the character in a more intrinsic way. Says Umehara, “I am attached to him, and I feel motivated to conquer any difficulties I face when I play with him. Giving up is not a thought that comes to my mind.”
The article also has thoughts from League of Legends streamer Dyrus on this topic.
One of, if not the most outspoken people in fighting game development today is none other than Bandai Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada. The Tekken producer is no stranger to giving out his opinion on social media, especially when it comes to his own game.
Gaming industry site Gamasutra has gotten a chance to sit down and conduct a massive interview with Harada. The interview covers a large number of topics — almost too many to list, really. However, some of Harada’s answers do stand out. The one that may interest competitive players the most is what he says about how they changed frame data for online play. According to Harada, around a decade or so ago, not just the addition of online play — but the change to LCD based hardware itself — meant that it became harder to react to fast pokes due to the additional delay. With this in mind, they made a conscious effort to change the frame data and slow down the pokes, increasing their frames from around 8 for the fastest attack, to 10 or more in their later games.
Of course, he acknowledges that this doesn’t fix everything, and that online play is affected by the network infrastructure of a region. That said, he does state that he would like to continue to tailor the game to “absorb lag.” Though he does admit that there is a limit to how much he can do so, as it also affects the game’s tempo.
Another interesting topic he comments on is the growth of fighting games in esports. Harada states that “esports” for him is simply another term that the fighting game community is using to help communicate what they’re doing to other people. The community itself has been doing competitions and tournaments for fighting games for a long time now, long before “esports” entered into the scene.
Harada also talks about crossovers, including adding guest characters into Tekken 7. Surprisingly enough, he doesn’t really expect a large amount of players from the characters home franchises to cross over to Tekken (though admits that that does happen). It’s more about promotion and granting awareness of Tekken itself. These crossovers, he states, can create a lot of buzz around the game online. He also talks about the process of actually adding these characters into Tekken, stating that the goal is to make said characters play like they did in their home series, while still fitting into a 3D system.
Of course, this is just a small taste of what Harada talks about in the interview. Head on over to Gamasutra to read the rest of what Harada has to say.
It’s time for the next episode of the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 exhibition series, Tension Pulse! We’re looking at a special show this time, as it’s the Pre-CEOtaku Special. Unlike usual, when we have four players battling each other, we’re going to have eight!
Boomcube (Slayer) vs. XAQshinor (Dizzy)
BxA|dotNova (Jack-O’) vs. Mr. Dolphin (May)
1UP|PepperySplash (Johnny) vs. Kami (Zato=1)
TheArm.exe (Ramlethal) vs. zenzen (Ky)
That’s a lot of matches! Boomcube against XAQshinor will be first. Let’s hear from some of the players to see what they have to say about their opponents and how confident they feel in the match-up. Some of them are returning players, so it’s interesting to see how they have changed since participating in the exhibition since last time.
Boomcube
On the match: “After watching Xaq’s footage and taking a full inventory of my own knowledge of the match-up, I feel like my only real path to victory is to abuse Slayer’s inherent buffoonery and whisper mispronunciations of Xaq’s handle into the mic. I am definitely nervous, and trying to prepare as much as I can. I think, at the very least, I’ll be able to put on a good show and exorcise some stream nerves at the same time.”
On his opponent: “I know he’s surrounded by an extremely active Gear scene, including some strong Slayers, and he has tournament results that prove he’s very solid. I have an assumption about how he’s going to play the match-up, and if I’m right, it’s going to be incredibly important that I don’t tilt.”
On his own play-style: “I like making bigger reads early on in a set using backdash cancel, instant air-dash, and forward dash pressure to gain early momentum. I feel like this can disrupt the opponent’s gameplan and force them into situations that reveal how they react to Slayer in general and will allow me more time to adjust as needed. I’m also perfectly content with making people deal with Slayer’s nonsense (dash through cross-up, Helter Skelter, IAD resets, BDC jump) until they prove they have an answer for it.
Or, more succinctly, trash.”
XAQshinor
On the match: “This should be an entertaining set. Slayer is a very volatile character and can end rounds in a heartbeat with one clean hit. At the same time, Dizzy has the lowest stun so the threat is amplified, I’m definitely going to try to keep those explosive situations to a minimum during our games. Slayer also has backdash cancel so it can be tough for you to pin him down sometimes. Dizzy has an easier time of this than other characters though so hopefully I can showcase this a bit. More likely than not, this set will be decided by the neutral.”
On his opponent: “I’ve played Boomcube online before so I know firsthand how deadly his Slayer can be. He’s a strong player and shouldn’t be taken likely. I expect him to surprise people with his strength. He’s definitely someone to keep an eye on in the future.”
On his growth since the last exhibition: “Since the last time I was featured in this steam league, Dizzy got some buffs. Some changes dealt with some important flaws with her design and allow her to play a lot more open-ended than before. She’s not as telegraphed, and she also received help with some of her conversions. I feel that many people don’t give her enough credit and I’m hoping that I can show some of what she is capable of this time around.”
BxA|dotNova
As a competitive player, what kind of value do you get from an exhibition like this?: “Being able to play people in a competitive setting is super valuable. Being broadcasted or having something on the line really brings the tension and adrenaline one would feel at any tournament. It’s hard to replicate those kinds of conditions on normal netplay when you’re winding down from work or just casually relaxing. The experience is always appreciated.”
On his opponent: “I’ve heard good things about Mr.Dolphin. I’ve only very briefly played him a few months back, so it’ll be good to have an opportunity to play him in an extended set. He’s a programmer like me so he also understands pain and suffering. I look forward to the May experience as the only consistent experience I really get is against TectalEastside. Playing against another play-style will definitely help me recognize weaknesses in my play.”
On his growth since the last time: “Since my last exhibition, I feel my situational awareness has improved and I’ve developed a lot more Burst-safe routes. I’ve definitely become more comfortable with extending pressure and combos with servants and recognizing unique situations that happen due to the character’s nature. Recently, I haven’t been focusing on FGs at all, but I’m sure this match and CEOtaku will help bring my focus back.”
Mr. Dolphin
On the match: “I think the Tension Pulse series is a really cool idea, you get to see some players you probably wouldn’t have heard of/watched before and it’s something fun to watch on the weekends.”
On his opponent: “I think dotNova is strong, I was a pretty big fan in his Potemkin days, we’ve played before and I enjoyed our matches. A lot of folks hate Jack-O’, but I actually really enjoy that match-up, the interactions with the houses and stuff add a fun sort of mini-game aspect to it where I gotta kill them or her. I’m definitely looking forward to playing against him.”
On his growth since the last time: “I’m not sure if I can tell how much I’ve grown since my last exhibition to be honest, I think my play-style has sort of stayed the same. I just kind of go with the flow.”
Catch the next episode of Tension Pulse live on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel on Sunday, September 17th. It’s more sets than usual, and we’re starting at 9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT/6:00 PM PT. HellaBrett and drunkthechicken are going to commentate this extended episode.
Looking to catch up on the last episode of Tension Pulse? Catch up on that below.
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.
