After the success of its first season last year, the Rivals Championship Series is back for a new season. With its first major offline event being at Shine 2017 in August, the Rivals of Aether team have announced some of the changes they are making to the overall tournament circuit for this year.
First off, the tournament circuit is being expanded from two regions to three regions. Alongside Europe and North America, Australia is now joining the Rivals Championship Series. Alongside the top four players from North America, the top player from both Australia and Europe will get travel vouchers to attend the season finale in early 2018. The finals location has yet to be confirmed but it is promised to be “the biggest Rivals event ever.”
Alongside offline events, RCS Season Two will host regular online monthlies running up until December. If you are unable to make it out to big offline events, this monthlies will be your best bet for grinding out RCS points and potentially winning that travel voucher out to the season finale.
Hoping to raise the stakes for its first two monthlies, the RCS have teamed up with Big Blue Esports to make their first two online events qualifiers for Shine 2017. Alongside additional goodies, the top 8 from each of these qualifiers will enter a special 16-man bracket, where the overall winner will win a trip to Shine 2017. These qualifiers are only available to those in North America, so Australian and European players will have to wait for their respective monthlies.
Right after Texas Showdown this past weekend, two new fighting game players have joined the Fable GG squad with a sponsorship: the first is Keenan “Kizzie Kay” Kizzie, and the second player is Christian “Suicine Master” Patierno.
Kizzie Kay is famous for his Jin Kisaragi in BlazBlue: Central Fiction and Sin Kiske in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-. This sponsorship comes right off a triumph at Texas Showdown over now-fellow Fable GG player Fable|KidViper, who also recently got signed on.
Suicune Master triumphed at the CEO 2016 in Pokkén Tournament, and scored 5th place at last year’s Evolution Championship.
Congratulations to both players; make sure to give them a follow on Twitter at @Kizzie_Kay310 and @SuicuneM.
Nintendo’s slow pivot towards accepting esports continues. Among their recently revealed E3 plans, Nintendo just announced that they will be running two tournaments at E3: a Splatoon 2 invitational, and a tournament for their more experimental limb-stretching fighter, ARMS. While this is not their first time allowing the unreleased Dhalsim-simulator to be in tournament (that would be its appearance at Tokaigi 2017), it is the first time there will be an ARMS tournament on American soil, and the first Open Invitational tournament for the game.
Considering E3 is open to the public this year, there’s a chance some true fighting game heads will be able to enter the tournament. No announcement on price of entry or prizes have yet been made, so its safe to assume–until further notice–that this is a free-to-enter affair.
Can’t stop, won’t stop, just like Ky Kiske’s corner pressure. But rather than seeing the King of Illyria battle again, we’re going to see some nasty mix-ups from Beautifuldude’s Zato=1 against Dekline’s big boy damage from Sin. The Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League continues with new Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- matches.
The other battle is between Ryyudo’s Faust and WindGodDude’s Millia Rage. Let’s learn first about Beautifuldude and Dekline.
Beautifuldude
On the match: “It’s pretty awesome to finally have a chance to play in SSXrd league! Even though the REV 2 demo is currently out, I still feel like I can show a bunch of cool REV 1 Zato stuff in this exhibition match with Dekline. I hope I’ll be able to win, but I know it’ll be a good time regardless of the result!”
On his opponent: “Dekline is a cool dude with lots of Zato experience he acquired by playing his fellow Nebraska bro David Cue, so I’m sure it will not be easy for me to take him down in the slightest. His strong showing at Texas Showdown with Sin proves that he’s not gonna be an easy opponent for me! Also, Dekline is a fellow Mario Party player, so his fortitude has been tried and tested by the rigors of that evil game.”
On his own playstyle: “I would describe my playstyle as DEADMAN’S HAND AT ALL TIMES. If there’s a will, then there’s a DMH setup! In all seriousness, I like to play puppet characters! Not only do I play Zato in Guilty Gear, but I also play Relius Clover in BlazBlue: Central Fiction, who plays somewhat similarly to Zato. I usually play these characters in a somewhat defensive style, as I feel like I can force my opponent to make a bad decision through their oppressive neutral options, then run my game once I get the knockdown.”
Dekline
On the match: “I think it’s a pretty cool idea. It’s nice to be able to have a “serious” set outside of an actual tournament. It also helps promote the game.”
On his opponent: “He’s a solid player. I’ve only played him a few times though, we just don’t seem to run into each other much.”
On his own playstyle: “I think I’m more of a reactive player. I try to feel out my opponent and see what they do and don’t know about a match up, then play around that instead of having a specific game plan.”
Ryyudo
On the match: “Honestly, as much as I want to win, I don’t fully expect to; Millia is a strugglebus for Faust. I felt it was a matchup I understood better with my recent growth as a player… until Northwest Majors where WindGodDude cleaned my clock, putting me in 9th. Talk about a wake-up call! I’m excited for the opportunity to play WindGodDude again! It’s given me motivation to study one of Faust’s hardest match-ups. Our local Millia hadn’t pushed me to learn and LordKnight, the other Millia I’ve played a few times, was far beyond my understanding months ago. Subconsciously, I feel I was waiting for an opportunity to find the next foothold to step up to, and that this is it.”
On his opponent: “His movement is polished, he plays intelligently safe, and his understanding of his and his opponents’ options is well-versed. If he gets started, that round will end quickly for me. I think the biggest miss was not introducing myself after Northwest Majors. He seems nice, and it would’ve been nice to play him after the event, regardless of SSXrdEL, because I feel he would provide great insight.”
On his own playstyle: “I’d call it ‘compartmentalized.’ I have different ‘boxes’ I pull from, per situation, but I have a difficult time mixing up those options to stay unpredictable. As a whole, I appear all-around solid, but I feel once my opponent finds something that works, it takes me WAY too long to combat it because of that compartmentalizing, and I’m too slow at finding answers in a different box. It’s why I’ve begun taking lengthy water and snack breaks after every match, win or lose, at tournaments to give my brain time to search for answers. I plan to do the same here too… sorry stream monsters! <3.”
WindGodDude
On the match: “I see it as a nice way to say goodbye to Millia, considering that I am switching over to Johnny in REV 2. It’s also good practice to help me adapt over the course of a long set while under the pressure of an audience. Above all, I hope to have a good time.”
On his opponent: “I haven’t played too much with him, but I know his offense is strong so I have to make sure that my defense will be at least equal to match.”
On his own playstyle: “I aim to play solid and clean above all. I consider myself to be on the safer side of Millias, however, if the opponent shows patience to match, I don’t mind taking risks.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how those turn out, as it feels it could go either way. As usual, catch the action on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel tonight, starting at 9:30 PM EST/8:30 PM CST/6:30 PM PDT. RaphTx and SamiFish11 will get on the microphones this time.
On the last online Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- set, between DEB and BxA|dotNova, as well as Dead Spike and LTL, things got a little… interesting. While not everything went as planned, enjoy a few additional exhibitions, including an intense Potemkin mirror between the two ex-Potemkin users!
With Injustice 2 is now less than a week away from release. If you chose to pre-order either the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate editions of the game, you will receive some extra bonuses–in addition to Day 1 access to Darkseid. These pricier versions will provide players will exclusive Premiere Skins that will change certain fighters into completely separate characters aesthetically, with their own voice actors and pre-match intros with the entire cast. Though we’ve seen a bit of Reverse-Flash in some Story mode trailers and on a Watchtower livestream, we’ve yet to see anything of John Stewart or Power Girl–who can also be obtained in the Digital Deluxe edition–while the other two are exclusive to the Ultimate. Owners of these versions will also receive exclusive “Gods” and “Demons” Gear Shader packs, that will allow you to outfit the entire roster with a red and black color scheme, complete with pale skin and dark, listless eyes–or a more divine tint of white and gold, with the glowing white eyes of a deity.
Thanks to an item listing on the Microsoft Store for the Ultimate Edition, the wait ends early, as we now have fully-detailed renders of each Premiere Skin and Gear Shader pack for your viewing pleasure, which you can see in the gallery below.
Do you have a favorite amongst these Premiere Skins and Gear Shaders? Will you be picking up the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Editions for this content? Did finally having a look at their renders influence your decision? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to check out the “Everything You Need To Know” trailer here, or have a look at the first 3 DLC characters that you’ll receive with these Editions, upon their post-launch release, here.
Injustice 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on next Tuesday, May 16th.
As some of you may know, SNK recently held a press conference in China, where they talked about The King of Fighters XIV. While the biggest bit of news to come from this was the announcement of the PC version, it seems that there the company may have let on more than they were planning to.
As part of a presentation on the game’s upcoming appearance at Evo 2017, they put on a slide showing the characters that are in the game. Among these characters however is one character who isn’t like the rest… As shown in the tweet below from Shiki, a portrait of Chizuru Kagura was seemingly included in the slide.
For those not familiar with the character, Chizuru originally debuted in The King of Fighters ’96 as a mid-boss, before becoming a recurring cast member in later installments. As a member of the Yata family, one of three families who carry the sacred treasures that power the seal that keeps Orochi from our world, she’s a pretty important part of the series’ lore.
As for whether or not this is a hint that she is coming to The King of Fighters XIV, or just an honest mistake on SNK’s part, we have no idea. Stay locked on to Shoryuken for more on this and other news related to The King of Fighters XIV as it develops.
Touhou, if you have not run into it before, is an underground cultural phenomena of bullet hell shooters and fighting games, made by the one-man team “Team Shanghai Alice”. Recently, the team has announced the release of a new fighting game “Touhou 15.5 Antinomy of Common Flowers”–and a demo dropped for the game on the 7th. Well, sort of.
For those wanting to try the game, the only legal means to obtain it would be with 200 yen at Reitaisai, a yearly Touhou festival in Japan. As for what we know of the game itself, it’s going to be at least a 20-character roster with it’s own twist on a tag/assist mechanic. Sanae & Koa Gaming has put together this demonstration of combos for the character Marisa, and from it we can see the game has characters floating permanently in the air. Those hoping for a return to the more grounded style of Immaterial and Missing Power, arguably the series’ most well-known fighter, may be disappointed. For the rest, though, this weird fusion of Marvel‘s tag system and Astra Super Stars‘ floating may be just what they are looking for.
The hype around Injustice 2 is reaching a fever pitch, as its launch is just over a week away. Hoping to prepare fans for May 19th, DC Entertainment have released a special video, telling fans everything they need to know about Injustice 2 ahead of next Friday.
Providing an overview of the game’s Story Mode, as well the Multiverse, Gear, and Guilds features, this video hints at some elements of Injustice 2 that fans may not necessarily be aware of. Based on the wording in the Story Mode segment, it sounds like players can actually pick the faction they ally with, rather than playing through the game as every character like in the original Injustice, or Mortal Kombat X. Based on a previous achievement leak, we already know that there are alternate paths through Injustice 2’s Story Mode, but they may actually be larger than previously thought.
As for the Guilds feature, they function much like the Factions in Mortal Kombat X. Rather than being forced to pick between five pre-made Factions, Injustice 2 players can now create their own Guilds. You will now receive Guild-specific rewards based on your achievements as a group, and you can even challenge other Guilds to special Group Battles. These Group Battles have two players fighting a traditional Injustice match, while teammates fire off special buffs and attacks to help their ally win.
It looks like a fun distraction, but I doubt we’ll see Group Battles on the Evo main stage anytime soon.
MomoCon is coming back for 2017, returning to the Georgia World Congress Center for another packed weekend of fighting game tournaments alongside its regular panels and events for various games, anime and comics. As well as tournaments for non-fighting games like Overwatch and League of Legends, MomoCon will be running events for:
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Pokkén Tournament (complete with $1,000 pot bonus, courtesy of Evo)
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
BlazBlue: Central Fiction
Mortal Kombat X
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
For Smash 4 alone, top players like TSM|ZeRo, NRG|Nairo, C9|Ally, Fatality, Ranai, 2GG|komorikiri, CaptainZack, MSF|Larry Lurr, CLG|VoiD are already confirmed to attend, so MomoCon is already set to be one exciting tournament. Registration is still open over on MomoCon’s official website if you are looking to attend. Don’t worry if you cannot make it out to Atlanta though, as all of the action will be streamed over on MomoCon’s Twitch channels.
After deciding to expand to the top 10 Street Fighter V Plays of the Week, YogaFlame24 keeps the momentum rolling–closing out his first month of clips with a variety of highlights.
From World-Combu recreating Evo Moment #37 with Alex’s Sledgehammer en route to a victory, to Panda Global’s Punk telling his fellow Karin Rithius to stop “reaching in his cookie jar,” as only he can. OddBlaze gets extremely salty after a classic Balrog comeback, while Boltstrike makes an absolutely beautiful one with Vega against the boxer. Cygames Beast’s Snake Eyez and Maoi demonstrate the true meaning of Muscle Spirit, while Echo Fox’s Momochi secures the Fighter’s Spirit 2017 Capcom Pro Tour Ranking Event so decisively, the announcers let out a yell that would make World Cup commentators blush. We also get some ELEAGUE highlights from Group C’s matches, as Razer’s Xian battled Grpt|Fuudo and Wolfkrone, and even more. You can catch the full video below.
YogaFlame24 also announced that he will be expanded this series to Injustice 2, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Tekken 7 and possibly even Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, though he admits his knowledge of that game is pretty lacking.
If you’d like to see your clips featured in future episodes, you can contact him on Twitter at YTYogaFlame24, or leave a comment on the video. Let us know which of these moments was your favorite, and how you feel about him bringing this series to several of the upcoming titles, in the comments below.
