Category: Interviews

Combo Breaker 2017 provided plenty of opportunities to catch up with some skilled players. Fable|Jason “KidViper” El-Srouji made a name for himself with his exceptional Johnny in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, frequently winning tournaments and even beating the infamous CO|Dogura. His recent addition to a new esports team, as well as a growing interest in a new character, Baiken, made it a must-have interview on the spot at Combo Breaker.

KidViper speaks about Fable, learning Baiken in just under a month, and whom he considers a rising force in the increasingly visible competitive Guilty Gear scene.

Luke “Woocash” Siuty: Tell us a little about how the sponsorship with Fable came about.

Jason “KidViper” El-Srouji: They actually contacted me about three weeks before DreamHack, and we’ve been in talks this whole time. They got a little busy, I got a little busy. Bassem “Bear” Dahdouh [from smash.gg] put in a word for me, so that’s how they came in to me. DreamHack I feel also helped influence them to keep going through with the deal, that’s just how it went.

Woocash: Were you looking to get sponsored, was the proposition particularly attractive?

KidViper: It was definitely both, I definitely wanted to get sponsored again. Fable have what I’m looking for in a team. The big thing is communication. They’re always talking with us and their teammates. It’s very vocal compared to the last team I had. They definitely look out for us players, which is the most important thing for us players and me. And if I feel that you guys do that… that’s what it’s about for me.

Woocash: Can you talk a little about fighting Dogura? You fought both his Raven and his Sin.

KidViper: Going into that match, I didn’t even think I could get two games. I couldn’t make Frosty Faustings earlier in the year, during that time I was at home practicing certain concepts and strategies in case I ever run into Dogura.

I had never played him before that point [DreamHack] in tournament or casuals, so I had to do some things on the fly from what I practiced. Luckily everything went through, went pretty well. He’s super-adaptive, so not only was it was kind of a thrill to see how fast he adapted, but it was also refreshing to me because it meant that I can really see how my strategy works against him. It seems to have paid off really well.

About Sin, I’m pretty comfortable with Sin, I practiced a lot of with Fable|Kizzie Kay and FaultyDefense, and they have two varying styles, so Dogura’s kind of like a hybrid between them in terms of aggression and footsies. That match, as soon as he switched, I was like, I won, it’s over. It’s super comfortable for me.

Woocash: As REV 2 was approaching, and Baiken came out, what were you thinking? Were you eager to play the character?

KidViper: I was very interested in her. I thought, if she is fun, I’ll play her. Most of the time when I choose a character, they have to be fun for me. If I find something really cool or fun, then I’ll play them. Usually it isn’t about character strength. When I watch her, I was like, “yo, this is sick.” How parry works, and the parry really plays to my strengths in some aspects. I’ll definitely play her and Johnny together.

Woocash: Can you share any secrets on how you trained with Baiken? You only had a month, what was your regimen like?

KidViper: Most of my labbing was not particularly on the offensive side, it was more on the defensive end, and neutral. Baiken’s a character who gets stronger as you understand more situations and how to counteract them, so that was my primary focus. Learning how to Guard Cancel Azami is still my primary focus at the moment. Of course, it’s still all new, so I’m not really all too comfortable with it. There are situations that I understand and may be able to recognize, which has made me happy throughout this weekend, that I was able to implement. Offensively, it was pretty straightforward, so I didn’t really practice that.

Neutral was a little work because her buttons aren’t all-purpose. A lot of characters have buttons that can cover multiple options, but with Baiken, every tool she has has a specific purpose. Trying to get used to managing all of that and understanding when to use what was a little work, too. So those were my main focuses, defense and neutral.

Woocash: You’ve watched a lot of Guilty Gear play today [at Combo Breaker], we saw a good variety of characters and people. Who do you see in the FGC as an emerging force to be reckoned with?

KidViper: Well, Kizzie is already on his rise, he’s coming up. Also, daymendou. He’s also on the comeup in his rise. They’re both at this point up there already. Definitely those two. The other one is Hamad. I play with him all the time. I see things that people don’t always see. And finally, he started traveling, and he’s performing like the Hamad that I see all the time. I’m glad that it’s starting to show and hopefully people start seeing it, his strength.

Woocash: Care to comment on REV 2 balance so far?

KidViper: I think it’s OK. They added a few things to each character, changed some characters, but overall, the balance got smaller in terms of character strength disparity. From REV 1, it was pretty wide, the gaps in strength, but now it’s a lot smaller. Overall, most characters did not change in strength all too much. I think the S-tiers are still all the same, except for Millia, who dropped to A-tier. Sin, Johnny, Raven, Zato=1 are still top. Elphelt might have dropped to A as well. Chipp is A, I think. They’re right there, at that border.

As far as new characters, I think Baiken is high-tier in terms of strength, and I think Answer has room to grow substantially, but right now I think he’s high-mid.

Woocash: Plans in the upcoming months?

KidViper: I will definitely be at CEO and Evo. If I have enough time off, I will go to CEOtaku, because right now, these are definitely the three majors for anime for the rest of the year to look out for. When I’m not there, I plan on streaming more and practicing more, trying to prepare myself.

Woocash: Any other thoughts?

KidViper: Keep an eye out for this game. It’s starting to become pretty big, and the level is starting to become pretty high. A lot of matches are starting to truly show the development of the game in terms of how it’s going to play in the long run, since the balance wasn’t changed much. You’re really going to start some nice, high-level mindgames and adaptations, so it will be a lot of excitement to watch over the coming months and into Evo. Definitely look out for this game, please.

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Read up on Combo Breaker 2017 results and in case you missed it, check out the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 top 8 at the event.

Zavian “mushin_Z” Sildra: Please introduce yourself for our readers!

Sharpie: My name is Sheila, but I usually just go by dapurplesharpie or Sharpie. I’m an event and tournament organizer for Skullgirls, and the lead organizer of the Skullgirls Tour. I’m also the lead organizer/manager of Kick-Punch-Block, and an assistant organizer for House of 3000, a Smash Bros. group.

mushin_Z: How long have you been involved in the FGC?

Sharpie: I started playing fighting games competitively with Super Smash Bros. Melee back while I was in college. I hosted fests in my house during the week after the main organizer graduated. About three years ago, I got gifted a copy of Skullgirls from a friend, and I’ve been playing the game ever since.

mushin_Z: What games do you like to play?

Sharpie: I really enjoy playing League of Legends and Phantasy Star Online 2, but Skullgirls is still my favorite overall. In general, it has helped me improve the way I think about competition, and my reactions overall. I always feel like I’m improving when I play it, even after three years.

mushin_Z: What events do you help run or organize, currently?

Sharpie: The biggest event I’m organizing right now is the Skullgirls Tour. I was in charge of the recent Send the World to Combo Breaker event, which was basically the Skullgirls Tour teaming up with Stream.me. We actually managed to send 7 international players from places like Japan and Sweden to Combo Breaker 2017, to play over the Memorial Day weekend.

mushin_Z: What drew you into the organizing role?

Sharpie: It was hard for me to dedicate tons of time into playing, and because of that I had a hard time picking up some fundamental mechanics in Melee, which frustrated me a lot. Originally, organizing events was almost exclusively because I wanted to practice with people. I’d just hit them up saying “Hey, practice session at my place, bring whoever,” and anywhere from five to fifteen people would show up. After I got better at hosting, I realized that it was easier for me to organize an event than to compete in all the games I wanted to play, so I started focusing on setting up events for other players to enjoy. It was exciting watching so many people have a place to meet up in person, and share techniques or grow as players. I really think that organizers are important in every community, even if it’s a less glamorous, behind-the-scenes role; they contribute so much to their scenes.

mushin_Z: What is your own definition of “community,” in regards to the FGC in particular?

Sharpie: To me, “community” means a group of people interested in the same game, or genre of game. The Fighting Game Community is so different from other communities I’m a part of, specifically League, because it encompasses so many games and so many different types of people. I love seeing all these people of different races, genders, whatever just sitting together and playing the same games. It makes a better community when we don’t focus on our differences, because even when we play different games we’re all in the same community. The sooner we’re able to unify, the sooner we can all just get back to working on improving our community as a whole.

mushin_Z: Tell us more about Kick-Punch-Block.

Sharpie: Kick-Punch-Block is a streaming group based in New York, but has expanded to including team membership as well. Originally, I was brought on as a media contributor, but It became pretty clear early on that I was a better organizer, so they moved me to a management position and started putting me in charge of tasks like recruiting and day-to-day stream management. I’m really happy to be in this group, because I’m able to help communities I don’t usually interact with. It was really exciting at Winter Brawl, for example, to see the love and dedication the Pokkén Tournament community and SoulCalibur community had for their games. I feel really lucky to be able to speak with so many genuinely passionate people while I’m working for KPB.

mushin_Z: Why Skullgirls?

Sharpie: The Skullgirls community was really awesome to me, and very welcoming when I first joined. I was given a copy of the game shortly after the DLC character Eliza had started development, and everyone was playing her in the beta. I actually didn’t have access to the beta version of the game for the longest time, but Mike Zaimont, one of the developers for the game, let me play the beta. That’s personally my favorite thing about the Skullgirls community: everyone is willing to help, even the developers. It’s something that feels unique to the Skullgirls community.

mushin_Z: What is Combo Breaker’s particular significance to the Skullgirls community?

Sharpie: Skullgirls, as a whole, is much smaller than other communities. Though we have a really large online population, it used to be hard to consistently bring numbers to every major offline tournament, just because our community is so spread out throughout the USA. That led to a disconnect between offline tournaments and our community; tournaments didn’t receive enough registrants to justify running Skullgirls as a main game, and community members that did attend the event only had a small handful of people to play the game with. The most noticeable time for this was after Evo 2014, when our numbers dropped drastically from the year prior.

After this scattered turnout, the community ended up deciding to focus on specific events to boost entrants. Combo Breaker 2015 was the first time everyone really pushed to do this, and our effort convinced the tournament organizers to give Skullgirls a place as a main game, complete with stream time, multiple setups, and the main stage. Since then, we’ve made Combo Breaker the hub of all Skullgirls offline tournaments — and so far, it’s consistently been our biggest event of the year.

 

mushin_Z: Do you feel that the increasing interest in and exposure of “esports” events poses a threat to community involvement in the FGC?

Sharpie: Not necessarily. Community involvement will almost always trump esports events, because the community holds all the “cards” in the future of the game. A developer, third-party vendor, or even tournament organizer can try to pump as much money, time, or energy into an event as they want, and if the community doesn’t approve of it or latch onto it, nothing will happen. There are tons of other communities that have had the developers of the game try to “jump-start” their game to turn into something bigger, but when their community rejects it or doesn’t want to move in that direction, it’ll fail.

Community organizers are very important here; they’re the bridge between the community and third-parties, responsible for making sure that events align with the wants and/or needs for their community. As long as we have organizers who’re looking out for us, and as long as we have community members willing to step up to make a community everyone can enjoy, there’s no threat.

mushin_Z: Why should the average fighting game player take interest in community-building?

Sharpie: By building your community, you create more avenues and opportunities for the games you play. You create space for more people to play with, and even sometimes things like pot bonuses show up. A good example of the benefits is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. When community members noticed that developer support was disappearing, they stepped up and took things into their own hands. Because of groups like Marvel Live, UMvC3 stayed active and in the forefront of the FGC, even without developer support. The Curleh Cup is helping keep the community active by reawakening local scenes around the world. Community building helps everyone, even when it doesn’t seem to be having any effect sometimes.

 

mushin_Z: Do you have any advice for players that want to become more involved in their community?

Sharpie: You don’t need to be good at your game to become more involved. You don’t need to have amazing technical or mechanical skills. All you need is genuine passion for your game and a genuine desire to assist. If you don’t have a scene for the game you want to play around you, there are other avenues to help: you can work to set up an online tournament, you can make content on YouTube to help new players advance, you could stream, or you can even just start a podcast with a few other friends about the game and what they enjoy about it. Being a community organizer isn’t just about knowing how to run brackets or setup an offline event; the most important thing is being there to help when the community needs it.

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Sharpie is also partnered with Eighty Sixed, we published a spotlight on their fighting game merchandise last month.

Images courtesy of Sharpie; answers have been edited for clarity.

It was an exciting weekend full of top-tier competition: Combo Breaker 2017 featured top-level players from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and more. Among the many games featured, BlazBlue: Central Fiction included 132 entrants.

The finals included a heated match with quite the storyline behind it: Cyclops Osaka|Dogura versus Panda Global|SKD. This BlazBlue: Central Fiction Grand Finals match at Combo Breaker 2017 proved a different outcome between the two. They had faced each other in two different Grand Finals this year, already.

Jachin “SuperKawaiiDesu” Harte (a.k.a. SKD) talked to Shoryuken after the fight, and shared some insight into his personal development, how sponsorship changed his competitive career, and what he would like to change in BlazBlue: Central Fiction if there was a patch.

Luke “Woocash” Suity: What was your last event?

Jachin “SKD” Harte: It was Final Round. It was pretty good, I played well, up until Grand Finals. I played pretty good that entire weekend, especially those matches. I do feel like I choked up a bit… everyone went in on me, they were like, “you choked so bad,” I think both sets were 3-2 for Grand Finals. It was against Dogura.

Woocash: Leading up to Combo Breaker, what were you doing to change the outcome?

SKD: Mainly just, for my situation, taking better care of myself outside of the game. That was really important to me in terms of performing well, because it was a really big obstacle. I wasn’t ready for how significant these things would have an effect on me. I spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to get myself in a better frame of mind to actually play. And it’s finally bearing fruit, so it’s really cool.

Woocash: You got sponsored fairly recently with Panda Global. Tell us what it’s like, and what changed for you personally?

SKD: A lot of tournaments in the past, I would look at them, and be like, “I’m not really feeling that too much.” I really wouldn’t want to spend my own money on them. But at the end of the day, attending those things was really good for me in terms of practice, but it wasn’t feasible. Now, I can hit everything. It’s really good for me as a player, too. I get to play more in tournaments, it’s really helpful.

Woocash: Walk us through your matches with Dogura. What are some things that aren’t as visible to people who watched?

SKD: It’s really fun, because right after Frosty Faustings, we did a casual set off-stream. It was FT5, and this was right when I was struggling a lot with myself. I finally felt I dug really deep and went through it. The start was streamed, the rest wasn’t. I won the first game, lost the next three, then I had a moment, “Hey, I’m way better than this,” and won the next four. I knew I could do it.

After Final Round, he goes up to me and says, “You’re better than me,” and I’m like, “Ooh…” I felt a little bad. I was like, “You really don’t have to say that to me.” I don’t really think like that, I don’t think I’m better than him. I just want to play my best. That’s kind of where I felt like he was coming from, I didn’t really play my best.

Finally, I feel I’m getting closer and closer to that, every time I compete. It’s been really good, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to travel so much recently. I feel like that really helped speed up my recovery, so to speak.

Woocash: Specifically against Dogura, match-wise or strategy-wise, what kind of things were you doing to make sure that you beat him this time?

SKD: Right before the set, I watched my Grand Final matches from FR. I glossed over them, and looked at myself. Mainly, I looked at where he would respond, but also what my responses were very nervous. I needed to be more confident and impose a little more. My character is super strong. In that sense, the risk-reward is something I should really abide by and not be afraid to exercise. This time, I really stuck it to him. This is my advantage situation, and I’ll keep it like that!

I played very low-commit. I made sure everything was very safe. Didn’t take a lot of risk, and the spots where I would take risks are usually very unexpected. A lot of decisions happened very fast, so I feel like I caught him off-guard a lot. Which was not the most consistent strategy, but I felt it in the moment.

Woocash: Do you feel you figured him out as a player?

SKD: No, no… I mean, we’ve played before, and… I just feel like a lot of the times, especially in that match-up, the neutral is really bad for Azrael. [Izayoi] kind of wins that match-up. If we’re both playing well, I feel like it should go in my favor. That only ever happened if we played casual sets.

Having all my friends around me too is really nice. A lot of support from people. Everyone wanted me to do well, and I did. It was pretty uplifting.

Woocash: If there was a patch released, what kind of changes would you like to see in the game?

SKD: Mainly, the way I feel the game has turned, Overdrive is the most prominent separator between the strong characters and the weak characters. Especially the characters who have ways to deal with the Overdrive reversal, Exceed Accel. Some characters can ignore it completely, some characters have to respect it so much. I think they should slow it down very slowly, so that every character can jab into it on block, that would be very nice. I think a lot of characters’ offense could be toned down. I honestly don’t think it’s too bad, but I play a crazy character, defensively. She has all the options to deal with it. Without making the game super oppressive, every character would have to have options like she does. It probably would be best to just tone down the offense of those characters a lot.

BlazBlue used to be very… how to say this, the pacing wasn’t so urgent all the time. I don’t really have to escape this pressure situation, and I can sit here and wait, and if I want to get a hit on offense, you’d really have to subvert expectation. Do something that they’re not expecting. It’s a really nice, kind of fun dynamic, but now, a lot of top-tier characters can just steamroll you. It’s not terrible, it’s still fun. It’s very manageable. Honestly, I don’t have too many complaints about this version. Mainly, I think, universally characters should be able to pressure a little bit better too. It’s just homogenization of character ability to impose themselves in certain situations. Right now, some of the bottom tiers are super sad!

Woocash: What’s on deck for you next, in terms of events?

SKD: CEO! I’ll be going to CEO. Right after that, I want to go to UMAD, a Montréal tournament, Ultimate Montréal Air-Dashers. It’s an anime-only Montréal tournament, the scene there is great. I’ve been missing it for so many years. It finally came back, and wow, it’s time go. Finally, I have the opportunity to, I definitely intend to make it, it’s early July.

Woocash: Final thoughts?

SKD: I guess my moral for this tournament is, take care of yourself. You’re a human too. Whatever you do outside the game, you’re still you, you’re still there. It’s really important, it takes a lot of effort, it pays off. It does pay off. Definitely, it’s something to keep in mind.

[Feature image credit: TheSassageKing video stream; left: Ryo “Dogura” Nozaki, right: Jachin “SKD” Harte]

One of the most inspiring stories to come out of the fighting game community is that of Mike “BrolyLegs” Begum. In a genre as dexterity-demanding as fighting games, one would not expect that BrolyLegs–who has suffered from arthrogryposis since birth, can perform as well as he does. Yet through sheer determination, BrolyLegs had become one of the best Chun-Li players, and one of the most recognized names within the community.

Recently, Gamer Informer’s Javy Gwaltney got a chance to talk to BrolyLegs; in the interview, they talk about various topics, including how he learned to play video games as a child and adapt to his disability. As part of this they also discuss his book My Life Beyond the Floor, which goes over his early life and how he overcame his disability both in games and in real life. Along the way, they also talk about how far the industry has come to accommodating people with disabilities.

Of course, there are a few other topics that they discuss as well! Read the whole interview over at Game Informer.

Source: Game Informer