A selection of good talent across the board is not the only plus of last week’s TSB: Yabai Invasion event, which included several prestigious Guilty Gear and BlazBlue players. Another big advantage of the tournament is diversity of games, from old classic to current fighters.
The hype reel below covers a lot of the titles that were played and showcases the best moments. It starts with Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late[st], moving onto some Vampire Savior action. Then the hype reel proceeds to some BlazBlue: Central Fiction gameplay. There are some great matches between PG|SKD’s Izayoi and Milk_Kaichou’s Rachel. After that there’s a nice surprise — it’s Sailor Moon S! Just what you ordered.
Lastly, there’s a long segment on Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, which finished it up with a very exciting top 8. Check out our Yabai Invasion Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 results page for more information and sink your teeth into the Hype Reel below.
Early impressions of new characters are always incomplete and inevitably colored by the opinions of the player. That’s why I think Spooky’s analysis of Geese’s early moveset is more than just entertaining, it’s insightful. He got a lot of play time, got to hear a wide variety of opinions from other players, and managed to retain a fairly complete picture of what Geese has to offer for Tekken 7.
If you have around 20 minutes to spare and want to start building your notes for Geese’s release, Spooky‘s analysis video is a great place to start. He goes through all of the previously recorded moves from Jebailey and attempts to break down the properties of each move as he remembers from his TWT Finals experience.
To hype up fans for Capcom Cup and PlayStation Experience, Capcom have dropped a new Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition trailer, showing off some of the new V-Triggers you’ll see this coming January. Some of them are subtle remixes of old V-Triggers — Guile for example powers up his legs instead of his arms, giving him access to chain Flash Kicks — while others are brand new, like Ibuki summoning a giant shuriken to cross opponents up.
Just from the few on show, Birdie gaining use of his chain as a long-range sweep and Nadeshiko coming in with the steel chair are my favorites, but the return of Bison’s Psycho Crusher will get Dictator mains excited. There were some notable characters missing from this showcase — we didn’t get to see what is going to replace Urien’s Aegis Reflector — but these new V-Triggers do look like they will spice up Street Fighter V’s combat.
If you’re chomping at the bit to try these new V-Triggers out, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition will be playable at PlayStation Experience. But one question still remains: where was the Season 3 character announcement? Well, if you looked closely at the Capcom Cup slide that played after the AE trailer, you could see sakura petals flying across the screen. Besides Muay Thai juggernaut Sagat, Sakura is the other character whose name has appeared most in leaks/rumors relating to Season 3, so keep your fingers crossed.
Team Razer’s Kun Xian Ho had a tumultuous year in 2016. The former Evo champion — notorious for taking lower tiers to their competitive limits — was taken to his own limits by his character of choice: F.A.N.G. The decided bottom tier of the game did not do him any favors on the circuit — while he was able to reach Capcom Cup last year, the handicap issued by F.A.N.G limited him to just making top 16 of the event.
Armed with a new main in Ibuki and early success on the Capcom Pro Tour with a win at Final Round XX, Xian looks far more poised than last year to take it all. But is he strong enough to do so?
Quality Over Quantity
While I have discussed players’ tournament schedules before, Xian is one of the least-traveled players on the Capcom Pro Tour this year. Listed on his results are a grand total of seven Capcom Pro Tour events. Of those seven tournaments, he has won four of them. Outside of the win at Final Round XX, he has won events in two other regions, including Europe (VSFighting 7) and Asia (Thaiger Uppercut). This already shows poise to take on various regional stylings, as he was able to take victory in England over the ever-aggressive Luffy, and took the Thai event over the mix-up-heavy Oil King.
It is also worth noting that out of these seven events, the only time he placed outside of top 8 was at Evo, where he finished in the top 64. It’s also worth mentioning that off of the CPT circuit, Xian was able to take two events, including China’s LAN Story Cup, where he faced off in Grands against Tokido, who was at the time the hottest player on the circuit. Even in the non-circuit events he has played in, he has chosen quality over quantity, and has provided a ton of the former to offset the latter.
The Original Ibuki
While Yukadon may enjoy a higher seed than Xian, don’t let that deceive you. All the griminess that has been Ibuki’s modus operandi over this year was found in Xian’s play starting with his win at Final Round. Xian has always done well with characters that have solid mix-up potential — even his initial play with F.A.N.G showed glimpses of it. His Gen was notoriously hard to read, as his wall dive mix-ups were always on point.
While Ibuki may have different tools, Xian has found his own way to keep the mix-ups coming. But one thing that is often understated about Xian, that needs to be discussed, is his patience in the neutral. While a lot of focus was on his setups in Street Fighter IV, you cannot talk about his Evo championship without talking about his ability to wait for the hit, occasionally fishing with low strong to confirm into Super. While Ibuki has a plethora of gimmicks and mix-ups in Street Fighter V, you can’t rely on this alone. If you watch Xian, he is one of the most patient players in the neutral zone, and definitely so when you consider other high-octane Ibukis.
But to top it off, Xian is one of the best at working Ibuki at all ranges. He understands when to throw Kunai at long distance, and when also to safely reload. He understands not only when to bait at close range, but how even to force huge mistakes from his opponents. This makes him far more dangerous that most people will give him credit for.
The Danger Zone
Xian’s biggest issue going into Capcom Cup is himself. He has been perpetually known as streaky. At some points he’ll be hot, at some points he’ll be cold. While he had successes and failures on the CPT last year, and much of it could be attributed to the difficulty he faced using F.A.N.G, last year was not the only year he faced issues of waxing and waning performance. While 2013 saw him at the top of the heap for the former half of the year, he struggled beyond Evo. He waxed and waned throughout 2014 and 2015, and that’s something that is always in the back of your mind when you think of Xian.
Granted, the only sign you could take of his waning performance this year is his Top 64 finish at Evo, but he soon bounced back with a win in a CPT online ranking event against a legion of Singaporeans. He was also able to win LAN Story Cup and VSFighting 7—all after Evo. If that was his waning, he is still waxing. Perhaps his commuted schedule is his answer to his streaky play—recharging his batteries instead of grinding tournaments every weekend.
A Possible Character Switch?
We all know Xian’s most loved character is Gen, and a carrot has now been dangled in front of him. Zeku — albeit having moves similar to Guy — bears a striking resemblance to his former main with two stances. Naturally, Xian has gravitated to the character, and is trying to bring him up to task online.
This could be either the greatest move ever, or the worst idea he’s ever had. While it’s obviously something to consider for next season, bringing it out now — untested in tournament play — could be disastrous. It could also possibly put people off guard, much like his change to Ibuki did early in the season. He has just over a month to do it, so it’s a question to how much time he puts in and how seriously he plans to bring Zeku out in Anaheim.
Final Thoughts
Xian is not to be slept on. He could truly be on pace to put together a strong full season — he has the character to do it, and he may finally have the confidence to do it. He certainly is confident enough to not feel like he has to prove himself week in and week out.
The only big issue right now is which character he’s going to pick. I do believe he is the best Ibuki on the planet, but if he is in the midst of a character crisis and tries to pick Capcom Cup to test drive Zeku, it’s hard to bet on him.
I’m of the belief that he’s smart enough to not do so right now, so if all goes well, then Xian could take this event. But with his performance this year, it would be an odd experience to not see Xian at least make top 16 — no matter his choice of character.
I always recommend new 3D fighting game players to pick straight forward, poke heavy characters when they first start playing. These types of characters have an obvious, simple game-plan that really force you to learn how the game’s rules operate, and you can easily pivot away from that character into someone more “complex” if you want to later. For this reason alone, I can’t recommend Kazumi enough to those just starting out in Tekken 7.
You can learn the Matriarch Mishima’s move-list quickly and easily with That Blasted Salami‘s latest tutorial video, which thoroughly breaks down her play-style, top moves, combos, and punishment options.
As some of you may know, Sega is bringingback their seminal arena mech fighter VIRTUAL-ON, with a new crossover game. Toaru Majutsu no VIRTUAL-ON crosses the franchise over with Dengeki Bunko’s Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel series, setting the game up as a pseudo-esport in that universe.
For those who’re cautiously looking forward to this new VIRTUAL-ON installment, Sega has just released the opening cinematic for the game. Animated by J.C. Staff (the same studio behind the Toaru Majutsu no Index and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun), the cinematic features the song “Get Ready!”, sung by voice actresses Yuka Iguchi (Index) and Rina Sato (Mikoto Misaka).
Check out the opening cinematic below.
Toaru Majutsu no VIRUAL-ON launches in PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on February 15.
After his hype-inducing run at Red Bull Battle Grounds’ Last Chance Qualifier, you’ll probably want to know more about Marcus “The Cool Kid 93” Redmond. A pillar of the Chicago Street Fighter community, the former Alex main has really found his feet with Abigail, smashing up both the LCQ and Red Bull Proving Grounds with the Mad Gear gang boss.
While Redmond is tearing it up on the sticks, he’s got someone cheering out in the crowd. Redmond’s wife — Joy Goodwin — is his most ardent supporter, screaming her lungs out in support for her husband and to trash-talk his opponent. Inspired by the duo, Red Bull Esports have created a short profile of the two, following them through Red Bull Proving Grounds earlier this year. Goodwin is not a gamer herself but she is not only appreciative of the positive community surrounding the game, but proud of her husband’s work ethic and drive to be the best there is.
Goodwin was unfortunately not there to see her husband’s victory live last night, but Red Bull are flying her in today especially so she can provide her full support. Expect to hear her enthusiastic cheers on stream tonight as The Cool Kid 93 battles Punk in the first round of the CPT North America Regional Finals.
Thanks man I appreciate. Red Bull actually sending her out tomorrow morning too
As the fighting game genre moves to the future, more than a few people have been wondering about how developers and publishers will find ways to make it more profitable for them. After all, both developing and maintaining these games post release isn’t cheap.
One method rears its ugly head in this humorous video from Fighter101.
Yes, the video above shows ads being played in between rounds. While this may sound preposterous, the way its presented — ads come in in a manner similar to how video ads are presented in YouTube and other similar video services — seems familiar enough that it does make for a scary proposition.
Here’s hoping that fighting game developers don’t resort to doing stuff like this in their games in the future.
Several months back, Injustice 2 player Raptor discovered an option select with Firestorm that allows The Nuclear Man to meter burn his Molten Trap special only on hit. Knowing whether or not your opponent knows how to preform this in and of itself is a frustrating mix-up, and makes it difficult to approach from full screen without taking big commitments.
That’s where UltraDavid comes in. It’s only fitting to fight an OS with an OS — and that’s exactly what he’s created here with the above outlined dash-block technique. Once you block the first hit of Molten Trap you can safely dash forward (UltraDavid is using Swamp Thing’s dash as an example, which should put into perspective how universal it is), and block most (not all) of Firestorm’s potential zoning tools. It takes an esoteric read (and meter) for Firestorm to punish your dash, which ultimately means you can control the situation if you can react and properly execute this OS.
Fighting games are a genre that most people don’t necessarily associate with speed running. The nature of the genre is more conducive to head to head competitive play than trying to beat the games as fast as possible. That said, there are still some people who do speedrun fighting games.
One such players is Cross Counter TV’s Dr. Fatbody who, aside from playing fighting games competitively, also does speedruns for many games. His latest run however mixes both, in the video below, he not only speedruns arcade mode in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, but he also sets the world record for the game.
Prior to this, the world record for Marvel vs. Capcom 2 speedruns (tournament settings) was held by EC Zangief, himself another competitive player, at 8 minutes and 55 seconds. Dr. Fatbody beats that record by 44 seconds, clocking in at 8 minutes and 11 seconds.
