In the right hands, Street Fighter V’s Birdie is a real menace–and MenaRD from the Dominican Republic has managed to toss around EG|Ricki Ortiz, Liquid’s NuckleDu, and ANBU Punk with his unpredictable techniques, hungry for the win. Olympic Gaming features MenaRD in this Spotlight episode: providing lots of match footage for aspiring Birdie mains to study up on, as well as an exclusive interview, allowing us to get to know the player a little better (in the video’s description section). Check it out below.
VesperArcade puts forth who–and what–in Season 2 needs some more “balancing.”
VesperArcade opens this video by stating plainly some common sense about game balancing: specifically, how nerfing is a tricky method of creating balance in a roster, and needs to be handled carefully–preferably by offering the nerfed character something new in exchange for the benefits taken away. That said, there are a number of characters and moves that–in some player’s opinions–are just begging for some rebalancing in Street Fighter V’s promised March patch; in the video below, VesperArcade breaks his own wish list down for us.
He starts with Urien–of course! VesperArcade cites his EX tackle (which is faster than Guile’s EX Sonic Boom), Urien’s standing heavy punch, his crouching medium kick, and Aegis Reflector as items that all need addressing in a balance patch. VesperArcade also calls out Guile, on account of his forward heavy (upside-down) kick, his back throw (because of throw looping), and his 2-bar V-Trigger–and how they work together too well. Cammy needs some adjustments–in VesperArcade’s view, despite her already-nerfed EX divekick–to some of her normals, and her side-switching safe-on-block V-Reversal. Balrog additionally draws ire for his EX Dash Straight (+1 on block), his standing heavy kick, and his high V-Trigger damage. Lastly, VesperArcade talks about the tricky business of finding a happy medium between Season 1’s and Season 2’s “poor man’s R. Mika” Laura.
In each instance, VesperArcade offers his own suggestions for applicable frame data/hurtbox adjustments; check out the video for the details.
Korea’s M. Lizard is one of the best players on the peninsula who rarely travels. Having only made it to Evo as far as overseas tournaments are concerned, not much is known of his play outside of Korea, despite his Vega being top notch.
In this compilation, we see M. Lizard’s Vega make its way toward master rank. For aspiring Vega players, this is the best example of how to push the character to its limits. For the casual onlooker, this is a look at one of the Korean players that should be on the circuit.
Following last year’s overwhelming success which saw players from the US and beyond converge on the Puerto Rico Convention Center, First Attack is launching a pre-emptive strike by announcing that it will return this September. Releasing a short teaser video ahead of its full reveal, First Attack 2017 is set to run from September 2nd to 3rd and promises yet another action-packed weekend.
With it being a Ranking Event during the CPT 2016 season, I would not be surprised if the event keeps its Ranking status for this year. First Attack 2016 saw the West’s first real introduction to the young Rashid wonder, John Takeuchi, who took his first international tournament at the age of 18 by beating veteran Street Fighter player Go1. Here’s hoping the Turbulent Wind will return to Puerto Rico to defend his throne. With the Caribbean and Central America being full of undiscovered talent, I can image this year’s event will not be easy for any visiting challengers.
Expect more details from the First Attack team very soon and make sure to watch the teaser below in anticipation for the big reveal.
A lot has been going Echo Fox|Justin Wong’s way lately. Between his signing in January and getting an invite to TBS’ ELEAGUE, he is one of America’s hottest commodities in fighting games right now.
In the most recent episode of Conversations & Fireballs, Justin talks about his invitation to the event. He also comments that he is committed to attending Combo Breaker–which is hosted on the same weekend as ELEAGUE finals–no matter what, also stating that he will no be at Red Bull Kumite in France that weekend.
He also talks with Michael Martin about the potential of Street Fighter V team events, stating that they can be bigger than they currently are–but stresses that he thinks 2 vs. 2 is the way to go.
With Street Fighter V confirmed to receive a second balance patch next month, VesperArcade’s latest video takes a look at some of the characters he believes are the most deserving of buffs in this update. Specifically, Vesper proposes how he would improve Alex, F.A.N.G, Nash and Ryu.
For Alex, he suggests restoring some of his neutral tools. This would such as reverting his Medium normals back to their original state and improving EX Air Knee Smash as an anti-air, and possibly restoring his previous oki setups.
In the case of F.A.N.G, he feels that his poison is a “missed opportunity for something unique in Street Fighter V.” He feels that it is not threatening right now, with many players tanking his V-Skill, just to hit him and remove it, as opposed to dodging. However, Vesper also feels that it is currently too easy for F.A.N.G to poison enemies, preventing Capcom from making it powerful. He proposes a somewhat radical change of having F.A.N.G’s V-Skill be the only move in his arsenal that can poison, but it would do immense damage in a short period. This would force opponents to play F.A.N.G’s game, as well as causing players to devise more setups to land the V-Skill, creating a sense of urgency for players and spectators alike.
Vesper acknowledges Capcom’s attempts to make Nash into a more aggressive character in Season 2, to further differentiate him from Guile, but feels his mobility options were over-nerfed. He feels his 19 frame dash should be reduced to 17-18 frames, as well as returning his Season 1 V-Trigger, so he can have a limited defensive option.
With Ryu getting significant nerfs in every aspect due to the Season 2 changes, Vesper would like to see his zoning improved by altering the speed and/or damage of his Hadoukens, on top of making them safer, so he can deal with the improved anti-projectile attacks. Lastly, Vesper would also like to see Ryu gain Dash Cancels with his charged fireballs in V-Trigger, to give him some mind games.
With Street Fighter V confirmed to receive a second balance patch next month, VesperArcade’s latest video takes a look at some of the characters he believes are the most deserving of buffs in this update. Specifically, Vesper proposes how he would improve Alex, F.A.N.G, Nash and Ryu.
For Alex, he suggests restoring some of his neutral tools. This would such as reverting his Medium normals back to their original state and improving EX Air Knee Smash as an anti-air, and possibly restoring his previous oki setups.
In the case of F.A.N.G, he feels that his poison is a “missed opportunity for something unique in Street Fighter V.” He feels that it is not threatening right now, with many players tanking his V-Skill, just to hit him and remove it, as opposed to dodging. However, Vesper also feels that it is currently too easy for F.A.N.G to poison enemies, preventing Capcom from making it powerful. He proposes a somewhat radical change of having F.A.N.G’s V-Skill be the only move in his arsenal that can poison, but it would do immense damage in a short period. This would force opponents to play F.A.N.G’s game, as well as causing players to devise more setups to land the V-Skill, creating a sense of urgency for players and spectators alike.
Vesper acknowledges Capcom’s attempts to make Nash into a more aggressive character in Season 2, to further differentiate him from Guile, but feels his mobility options were over-nerfed. He feels his 19 frame dash should be reduced to 17-18 frames, as well as returning his Season 1 V-Trigger, so he can have a limited defensive option.
With Ryu getting significant nerfs in every aspect due to the Season 2 changes, Vesper would like to see his zoning improved by altering the speed and/or damage of his Hadoukens, on top of making them safer, so he can deal with the improved anti-projectile attacks. Lastly, Vesper would also like to see Ryu gain Dash Cancels with his charged fireballs in V-Trigger, to give him some mind games.
Chun-Li has had several ways to confuse her opponent by crossing over and under them in Street Fighter V. Let’s just add another possibility to do so to the list, shall we?
While we have known she can cross under after an anti-air, and can cross over their knocked-down bodies with forward roundhouse, a setup to do so has been found with light Spinning Bird Kick. While this is entirely situational–requiring not only V-Trigger, but scoring a crush counter with back fierce–by timing your SBK properly, you can either cross over or stay on the same side of a quick rising opponent. This puts them into a 50/50 mixup that can deal a mass amount of damage.
As lab monsters continue to experiment with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, yet another weird Brawl hangover has found to still exist in the game. Called ‘Shadow I-Frames’, these instances of brief intangibility happen when a special move transitions from the air to the ground on a specific frame. If timed correctly, players can avoid being hit on landing, but the number of moves these Shadow I-Frames exist with is painfully short.
Previously observed in Brawl with Donkey Kong’s up B, Shadow I-Frames only occur when a special move has unique grounded and aerial properties. In Smash 4, characters like Shulk and Little Mac have moves which are capable of activating Shadow I-Frames, but only Shulk can really apply them in a match. In a lengthy video created by Paradigm and Erico and with the help of the Shulk Discord, they show how Shulk players can use the Shadow I-Frames of his aerial Vision Counter to create interesting baits.
If Shulk players land on exactly the eighth frame of Shulk’s aerial Vision Counter, the Shadow I-Frames will persist for the rest of the move’s animation. This creates situations where Shulk players either bait players into activating the counter, or cause them to throw out a punishable move, as they do not realisze the Shulk is currently intangible. Do note that while the first usage of this can result in up to a second of intangibility, Shulk’s counter does depreciate in length the more you use it, so the I-Frames won’t last as long.
Debow | Swillo is a top tier Pokkén Tournament player that truly loves his game. His credentials speak for themselves- 3rd at Evo, 4th at Nationals, 5th at St. Louis Showdown, and a proverbial boatload of smaller tournament wins all over the country. But it’s not just tournament play he’s good for- the man is a lab monster constantly looking to push the game’s engine. We featured his work before with his tournament main MewTwo, and now he’s set his sights on the fire starter Blaziken.
Am I allowed to say this is fire? Is that bad? Whatever. It’s too late. I did it.
Despite representation from top tier players like BadIntent and AngelDarkSong, Blaziken generally finds himself near the bottom on accepted Pokkén tier lists. But that’s only because on the attack triangle Pokkén uses (Attack > Throw > Counter > Attack), Blaziken places all his bets on his relentless attacks and high damage combo starters. On top of that, his one thing- high octane offense- costs him health to use. This video shows why he has to pay a price for his damage. He may struggle to hit you, but when he does, you’ll feel it… and as Swillo shows, he can burn you up in style.
Starting off slow with beginner combos, Swillo quickly turns up the heat with a wide variety of flashy, phase shift pushing flair. You’ll see lowest-height possible High Jump Kicks to create new combo opportunities near the wall. Execution heavy charge-release flop enders. Multiple low dive kick links in the same combo. Over half screen carrying juggles. And if you’re willing to spend Blaziken’s health currency to enhance your moves, these combos will quickly shave off 45% or more on your opponent’s lifebar easily.
As demonstrated, Blaziken’s damage output doesn’t care what tier you place him in.
