As our eyes set on the Evolution Championship 2017 next week, we can’t forget to practice as much as possible to prepare. Tension Pulse, the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 online exhibition series, continues with a new set of matches this weekend on Sunday. It’s not quite the same as usual, however. Expect to see double the action, because this time, we have four exhibition matches with a total of eight players!
We have many returning faces as well. Keep reading for a breakdown of who’s fighting who:
Hotashi versus Lord Knight
Hotashi, Elphelt Valentine:
On his opponent: “He’s a fantastic player, there’s nothing more to say. I play against him often, so I am mostly focused on practicing fundamentals and a stable mindset before the set.”
On playing since the last exhibition in April: “I… have had a confidence deficit for months, or years, that I don’t do enough as a competitor, or my style of play is unacceptable, and that I don’t deserve much attention or accolades compared to my peers. My objective in playing the game was mostly to play a certain way others wanted me to go about things. Since CEO, I’ve let this weight go and moved my focus away from the game even though the tournament season is in full swing. I just look forward to having as much fun as I can, no matter whether I win or lose. I feel this has improved my performance as a player or at least reduced my anxiety.”
Lord Knight, Millia Rage:
On his opponent: “Hotashi has an unorthodox playstyle, so winning against him means minimizing how many awkward situations he puts me in. On the one hand, it’s a good style against Millia, since Elphelt does so much damage and Millia has no life. On the other hand, sometimes unusual decisions aren’t so good against Millia since her knocking down can close the round.
“I don’t really do any ‘extra’ preparation for most people, since I have a holistic approach to learning and playing fighting games.”
On his own playstyle: “Millia is a low life/low damage character, so I focus on learning the other character’s tools and finding counters to them, on both offense and defense. I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly ‘aggressive’ or ‘passive’ player — rather, I try to adapt to the situation based on the resources I have and my knowledge of the opponent’s character.”
MC|GcYoshi13 versus Nakkiel.exe
MC|GcYoshi13, Bedman
On his opponent: “I initially had my doubts about Nakkiel because he chose the team “No-Pineapples on Pizza,” [at a special exhibition at this year’s Frosty Faustings] which made me question his taste. I learned later that he was actually allergic to the fruit, making him the only one on that team with a worthy cause to fight for. I learned he is a person of conviction, resolve, and honor. He will be very difficult to beat. I’m preparing for this exhibition by watching the match where he shook the man known as Kizzie “Shook” Kay. My God, what a blow up. Please be gentle Nakkiel, it’s my first time.”
On his own playstyle: “My playstyle is a mix of run-away, zoning, and opportunistic pressure. Bedman should avoid playing with risk-reward in REV 2 due to several changes, so you might see a lot more run-away from me than usual. The goal is to play safe and solid. I feel like as I’ve grown as an FG player, I’ve developed an aptitude for screen pollution. I plan to suffocate Nakkiel’s options in neutral with various projectiles and leave him with only dangerous commitments. REV 2 Bedman has a lot of negative response, but if I play solid, I’ll do well.”
Nakkiel.exe, Sol Badguy
On his opponent: “I think GcYoshi is a very solid player. He knows Bedman well and has some of the stronger training partners available in the USA (daymendou/Xcel|BjornSonOfBear) to further himself along. I’ve been reviewing the admittedly scarce match videos of Sol vs. Bedman to help plan out my general gameplan and things to look out for!”
Advice for other Sol players: “I think there’s a unique sense of patience required to really excel at Sol. Many players see Sol run over others at low to mid-level play since he can be very overwhelming and win quickly for ‘small’ mistakes but high-level play can really display how intelligent Sol can be required to play. Mix-up opportunties end quickly and Wild Throw (his command grab) has a lot of recovery and can be very risky to use. My tip is to learn your normals and their uses well and try to remove high-risk gambles from your gameplay as much as you can.”
doren2k versus CATPION|DEB
doren2k, Jam Kuradoberi
On his opponent: “I think DEB is a really good player. He switched from Pot like a year or so ago, and he’s been doing really well with Sol from what I’ve seen on netplay. DEB and I actually play like all the time. Every morning before work we would get in like a quick FT7 or FT10 against each other, even back in REV 1, so we are very familiar with each other. And I haven’t really been preparing for DEB cause he’s free (LOL I’m joking 
). But we have played so many times, I honestly don’t think I can prepare for him, we both know each other so well now. Everybody is going to see some wild stuff that doesn’t look normal. LOL, it’s gonna be a hype set though!”
On REV 2 changes: “Since the last time I played in the exhibition, my character got buffed a little bit! She’s more stable now. The sweep buff was really good, 6P buff is amazing, and of course everybody knows about Puff Puff (236S+S+HS). But also, I feel like I’ve gotten better at the game in general. Goals for this week is to beat Deb 7-0 and also get top 8 at Evo, LOL. SORRY DEB!”
CATPION|DEB, Sol Badguy
On his opponent: “I think very highly of Doren. He’s for sure one of the strongest players in North America, and his knowledge of Jam is pretty impressive. His experience definitely shows itself! Me and him play a lot, so we’re both pretty familiar with each other’s playstyles and habits. I’ll know what to expect, but again, he’s an incredibly smart player who adapts very fast, so that can change within a game. I’ll have to play very well to close it out vs. him.”
On the time since his last exhibition: “In the span of time, I’ve definitely learned a lot about pacing myself in neutral and worked a lot on my mentality. The previous exhibition with DotNova taught me a lot about not just the Jack-O’ matchup, but a lot of different ways to approach matchups — as my Evo pool has a lot of varied characters and names, that for sure will help me a lot in getting through it!”
Hamad.exe versus Xcel|BjornSonOfBear
Hamad.exe, Ky Kiske
On his opponent: “Bears is a very strong player that I have had the pleasure of meeting in the GG community. It’s been great watching him grow into one of the strongest US players. As of how I prepared for the fight, it’s really hard to get good practice against strong Chipp players, so I mainly focused on situational awareness in training mode and strategy. I have a couple of ideas I hope to try out.”
On his playstyle: “Honestly, I just do what I feel beats my opponent’s character and more importantly what beats their general strategy. I can play anywhere from the lamest play you’ve ever seen to the most aggressive. I think having good fighting game sense allows me to choose how I want to approach and when during a match. It won’t be any different for the fight against Bears. I just have to capitalize on his mental state at all times.”
Xcel|BjornSonOfBear, Chipp Zanuff
On his opponent: “Hamad’s progress has been amazing to track. It’s very impressive to see just how quickly he improves, especially considering that ‘anime’ games are considered so inscrutable by a large number of Street Fighter players. Maybe it’s a consequence of his background, but I feel like he approaches the game from a direction that most people don’t, so fighting him is always super interesting and makes me change my approach as well. We played a bunch as recently as CEO, so I’ve already got a decent idea of how things are gonna go. I feel like I’d be better served by going over our recent matches in my head and trying to fix some of the things that got me punished as opposed to trying to study Japanese match videos and the like.”
On his playstyle: “I play a pretty risky style. I definitely try to take things head on and I’m almost always trying to go in. On defense I try to avoid blocking as much as I can, and I’ll gladly take a lot of damage in a bad situation if I can return to neutral at the end of it. I’m confident enough in my ability to end rounds off of one good turn in the corner that I’ll take significant risks to get it, which can be exploited by calmer people who know what I’m looking for. In general my matches tend to be very fast pace, win or lose, meaning that against me a large part of winning is either not getting caught up in said pace or imposing your own on me instead.”
Tension Pulse starts up on Sunday evening on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel. The four exhibitions will be in the order as presented in the article, so if you want to watch all of them, tune in at the beginning to see Hotashi battle Lord Knight. That will start at 9:00 PM EST/8:00 PM CST/6:00 PM PDT. Each FT7 should take about half hour. Ryan Hunter and Sway will commentate the exhibition.
Last time, SQ played against Native, while Zinac faced Mr.Dolphin. Read up on their online Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 sets and then check out the results below.
Sources: interviews; Mdesilva